Affirmative action in the workplace Since the 40 years, affirmative action in the workplace has been, the hottest topic, in United States of America. Therefore, there’re countless controversial debates based on it, but, why? The main reason, for congress to pass the ‘’Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964’’ is to eliminate the workplace injustice and discrimination based on color, religion, race, gender, and national origin. As a pro Affirmative Action in workplace, I strongly believe that, the laws, which have been passed by the congress, aren’t the particular solution toward the issue. However, it’s only delaying the issue, which may cause greater complexity from top to bottom in the future. Moreover, Affirmative Action in workplace is a highly complex problem due to many factors. First of all, the main purpose of creating Affirmative action plan in the workplace is, to avoid discrimination, when hiring, and give the same opportunity to every American citizen. After my research on Affirmative action in the workplace, as an international student, I have notice that, it’s harder for me to see deeper issues in the society due to my limited time in the country, however, I can undoubtedly vision that, it has been one of the most controversial topic in today’sworkplace. On the other hand, there’re obvious improvementsfor lower income and minority conditions comparing to historical events that occurred in the workplace. Therefore, it’s extremely important to analyze the both sides of the arguments to be able to provide best result for the society overall. In the workplaces today, it is clear that minority groups are still underrepresented. For instance, if a minority group makes up 5% of the population, it is unlikely that their representation in a particular company has reached 5%. Therefore, the management of the organization may feel the need to take hire particularly from that particular group. Such actions are never meant to favor such people but rather to promote equality at the organizational level and hopefully that will be done in other organizations and the impact felt on a national scale. Every organization has many stakeholders including the society and this would be a way of the organization playing its part to improve the society. Affirmative action taken to increase representation of communities in a particular organization can greatly improve the image of the company in the eyes of the society. An organization that has equal representation of both genders and various races will most likely receive positive reviews. (Strachan et al., 2004) Good press is always good for a company and when it is listed on a stocks exchange, its share market price is likely to appreciate. Other benefits that will accrue to the organization include the ability to attract talented employees because they will feel the organization accepts diversity. Employees are also likely to settle quite quickly after joining such an organization because of th.

1. Affirmative action in the workplace
Since the 40 years, affirmative action in the workplace has
been, the hottest topic, in United States of America. Therefore,
there’re countless controversial debates based on it, but, why?
The main reason, for congress to pass the ‘’Title VII of the
Civil Rights Act of 1964’’ is to eliminate the workplace
injustice and discrimination based on color, religion, race,
gender, and national origin. As a pro Affirmative Action in
workplace, I strongly believe that, the laws, which have been
passed by the congress, aren’t the particular solution toward the
issue. However, it’s only delaying the issue, which may cause
greater complexity from top to bottom in the future. Moreover,
Affirmative Action in workplace is a highly complex problem
due to many factors. First of all, the main purpose of creating
Affirmative action plan in the workplace is, to avoid
discrimination, when hiring, and give the same opportunity to
every American citizen.
After my research on Affirmative action in the workplace,
as an international student, I have notice that, it’s harder for me
to see deeper issues in the society due to my limited time in the
country, however, I can undoubtedly vision that, it has been one
of the most controversial topic in today’sworkplace. On the
other hand, there’re obvious improvementsfor lower income and
minority conditions comparing to historical events that occurred
in the workplace. Therefore, it’s extremely important to analyze
the both sides of the arguments to be able to provide best result
for the society overall.
In the workplaces today, it is clear that minority groups
are still underrepresented. For instance, if a minority group
makes up 5% of the population, it is unlikely that their
representation in a particular company has reached 5%.
Therefore, the management of the organization may feel the

2. need to take hire particularly from that particular group. Such
actions are never meant to favor such people but rather to
promote equality at the organizational level and hopefully that
will be done in other organizations and the impact felt on a
national scale. Every organization has many stakeholders
including the society and this would be a way of the
organization playing its part to improve the society.
Affirmative action taken to increase representation of
communities in a particular organization can greatly improve
the image of the company in the eyes of the society. An
organization that has equal representation of both genders and
various races will most likely receive positive reviews.
(Strachan et al., 2004) Good press is always good for a company
and when it is listed on a stocks exchange, its share market
price is likely to appreciate. Other benefits that will accrue to
the organization include the ability to attract talented employees
because they will feel the organization accepts diversity.
Employees are also likely to settle quite quickly after joining
such an organization because of the open mindedness of the
members.
The need for affirmative action is often the fact that a certain
population group has been neglected in the past. The limited
opportunities for self-improvement mean that they cannot
compete for equal opportunities with members of other
communities who have all it takes to develop their skills.
Another reason for affirmative action may be beliefs by society
that one gender is superior to the other and should enjoy all
positions of power. Therefore, organizations are right to try and
use affirmative action to help the disadvantaged because by
doing so, they are fighting the impediments to the growth of the
disadvantaged persons (Strachan et al., 2004).
It is important to consider what diversity can bring to an
organization once affirmative action is applied to bring in
people from minority groups. First, the organization is likely to
experience diversity in terms of the ideas shared and could
potentially increase the level of innovation. In addition, an

3. organization with a wide representation in terms of staff is
likely to appeal to a wide pool of customers because it better
understands the culture and needs of different people (Agocs &
Burr, 2006). Lastly, diversity is likely to lift the ethical
standards within an organization, mostly because having people
from different backgrounds leads to ideas and actions being
challenged (Strachan et al., 2004). As a result, leaders in
particular will be careful not to commit actions that can be
interpreted as unethical by the rest of the organization's
members.
Conclusion
Affirmative action in workplaces today is occasioned by
the fact that there are some issues that laws against
discrimination have been unable to address. In addition, some
communities have been disadvantaged for so long that it would
take years to bring them up to same level with the rest of the
country. However, affirmative action has received criticism
from those who feel that the US society has managed to
eliminate issues of discrimination that justified the need for
special considerations for some people. Still, individual
organizations can practice affirmative action for the several
advantages it brings. The organization gains a favorable image
in the eyes of the public and gets to contribute in pushing the
society towards equity between various social groups.
References
Agocs, C., & Burr, C. (2006). Employment equity, affirmative
action and managing diversity: assessing the differences.
International Journal of manpower, 17(4/5), 30-45.
Strachan, G., Burgess, J., & Sullivan, A. (2004). Affirmative
action or managing diversity: what is the future of equal
opportunity policies in organisations?. Women in Management
Review, 19(4), 196-204.
According to the United States Labor Department, the primary
beneficiaries of affirmative action are white women. The

4. Department of Labor estimated that 6 million white women
workers are in higher occupational classifications today than
they would have been without affirmative action policies. This
pays off in dividends in the labor force andto (mostly) white
men and families. You can see how some of these benefits
accrue to white women in the following infographic from
theCenter for American Progress (from 2012):
These groups include women, Blacks/African Americans,
Hispanics/Latinos, Asians/Pacific Islanders, and American
Indians/Alaskan Natives.
Other underrepresented groups include veterans, disabled
veterans, veterans who served on active duty during a war or
campaign, veterans who participated in a military operation for
which an armed services medal was awarded, pursuant to
Executive Order 12985; and recently, separated veterans.
According to the United States Labor Department, the primary
beneficiaries of affirmative action are white women. The
Department of Labor estimated that 6 million women workers
are in higher occupational classifications today than they would
have been without affirmative action policies.