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... from the minorities, instead of having the possibility to choose simply the best available employee. This bothers employers as well as employees who do not qualify for Affirmative Action; the employers feel they ended up with a lesser quality worker. Here we come to yet another disadvantage of Affirmative Action, namely that now every employee from a minority that benefits from Affirmative Action bears a mark of "not being the best pick, but only the best pick from a limited group", even if the person was selected for being the best available on the complete job market. The bypassed employees feel tricked by the government or the minority. This could lead to claims of racism among the bypassed group, while Affirmative Action was introduced to decrease racism.
Affirmative Action does provide people from certain minorities with a job they would not have gotten otherwise, that is, after all, what Affirmative Action was introduced for. But if, after reading all of the above, you think of the quality of this job, in a surrounding hostile towards the minority the employee is from, one could seriously doubt the fact that this employee is happy with this job. It is better than no job, but thats about it. This brings me to the last negative aspect of Affirmative Action, and that is: Affirmative Action. In a situation like this, nothing, no matter what kind of regulation you think of, will change unless the people (employers in this case) are willing to cooperate. I find it sad that in America, the "Melting-pot" of cultures, there is such a problem with discrimination.
As long as people are not willing to live with each other and respect each other, then the "Melting-pot" will never really be melted. Despite the few negative aspects of Affirmative Action that I have mentioned above, I feel that Affirmative Action is necessary. Until a better solution is found or until the people of America finally stop quarreling about race, color and culture and establish peace in the country itself, Affirmative Action should stay, being the best solution available: a compromise. There are a few possible alternatives to affirmative action, some of them are very simple and some are a little more complex. The alternatives I will discuss in this paper will include: reconstruction of civil society in minority communities, increasing minority and female applicant flow, and also the promotion of broad policies for economic opportunity and security that benefit low and middle income Americans, black and white. "Building up civil society means strengthening 'intermediate' institutions, lying between the state and the individual, such as community associations, schools, media, and independent social agencies, which provide the organizational foundation for collective development and effective public representation" (Starr p. 4). If the same capital was made available for minority institutions, as other institutions, they would be able to develop in the society and eventually become a strong part of the minority community.
These institutions would give direction and guidance that is needed by all to play a major role in his or her community. Increasing minority and female applicant flow would be very easy for a company to do. They simply need to include minority colleges and universities in campus recruitment programs, place employment opportunities in minority oriented print and broadcast media, and retain applications of united minority applicants to be reviewed as a position opens. This would be a great opportunity for applicants and employers.
We should work toward broad based economic policies by consistently emphasizing broad-based, race-neutral policies, public investment, national health reform, an enlarged earned income tax credit, child support assurance, and other policies benefiting families with young children. Widely supported programs that promote the interests of both lower and middle-income Americans and that will also deliver substantial benefits to minorities on the basis of their economic condition, will do more to reduce minority poverty than narrowly based, and poorly funded, measures for minority groups or the poor alone. These efforts can also be designed to coincide with intermediate institutions and thereby to contribute to the overall process of civil reconstruction and renewal. Government regulated affirmative action is slowly transitioning into voluntary policies of inclusion in the business community. The changing demographics of our workforce and of the United States population as a whole has caught the attention of government officials and business leaders. Women and minorities will be entering the workforce at a greater rate than white males as we enter the twenty-first century.
The markets that businesses are competing for will also be shifting in a similar fashion. We often hear The President speak of the importance of recognizing the diversity in this country. Everyone has something to contribute; ideas or perspectives that have been shaped and influenced by their heritage, culture, ethnicity, race, gender, etc... Besides possibly realizing anti-discriminatory policies are simply the right things to follow, there is a growing awareness that if businesses dont recognize diversity inherent in the emerging workforce and markets they are competing for, future growth is at risk. More and more companies planning for the future and expecting to be influential forces in the years ahead are including diversity initiatives in their agendas. There are significant efforts in many companies to raise the awareness of its managers relative to the importance of the diversity issues.
There is an air of intolerance growing in corporate America when it appears that there is discriminatory activity taking place, recall the Texaco example. What once was legislated is slowly changing to a voluntary movement. Progress will probably be slow, but its a beginning. Bibliography Fram, David K.
Managers Journal: What Employees Should Know About the ADA. The Wall Street Journal 16 Sept. 1996, p. 18. Lowery, Mark. The War on Equal Opportunity. Black Enterprise Feb. 1995: p. 148 - 152. Palmer, Thomas C.
Racism Fight: MBTAs Unfinished Business. The Boston Globe 24 Feb. 1997, 3 rd ed. : A 1 +. Starr, Paul. Rebuilding Black Institutions. The New Democrat May/June 1995: pgs. 3 - 6. Welch, Susan, et al.
American Government: Sixth Edition. St. Paul, Minnesota: West Publishing Company, 1996.
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Research essay sample on On Affirmative Action In America
