This document provides an overview of affirmative action. It begins by defining affirmative action as a means of promoting equal opportunity in education and employment for women and minority groups as established by the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It then discusses groups that have benefited from affirmative action policies, particularly noting that white women have benefited the most. The document also examines how affirmative action relates to hiring in the public sector and current requirements for affirmative action policies in public organizations. Finally, it considers groups that may be disadvantaged by some affirmative action policies and practices.

1. Running head: AFFIRMATIVE ACTION 1
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION 7
Affirmative Action
Shekima Jacob
South University
Affirmative Action
What is a current, legal definition of “Affirmative Action?”
Affirmative action was introduced as a means of equalizing
aspects of education, employment and opportunities for women
and various minority groups. It is also referred to as
employment equity. This policy came into place from the Civil
Rights Act of 1964. Women needed to receive some form of
special consideration in gaining entrance to universities, getting
employment opportunities and as receiving federal contracts.
The gender issue also presents itself as women in most cases;
find themselves competing with their male counterparts to gain
access to various services in the society (Sally, 2003).
Affirmative action, therefore, revolves around the concept of

2. civil rights and equality with regards to social aspects and at the
same time, the provision of the same opportunities to different
groups.
Groups that have benefitted from Affirmative Action hiring
policies and practices.
Popular belief has it that the African Americans are the sole
beneficiaries of affirmative action. Rather, the majority of the
people have benefited from this aspect, where resources have
been adequately redirected to the neediest sector. Various
groups have benefited from affirmative action. These include;
women, blacks or African Americans and American Indians or
Alaskan natives. Other groups include; veterans who served in
the war, the veterans who took part in military operations,
disabled veterans and separated veterans.
According to the labor department in the United States, the
primary beneficiaries of affirmative action are white women
(Richard, 2012). More than six million women workers based on
estimates are in much higher occupational classifications, which
would not be the case without policies on affirmative action.
Affirmative action, in the long run, benefits everyone, either
directly or indirectly. Affirmative action programs lead to the
development of employment norms and more so, equal access to
jobs, training and promotions to workers. These distinctive
policies have resulted to the increased women representation as
well as minority groups across various levels in the field of
employment in the United States.
Affirmative action also expands the talent pool for jobs and
leads to the creation of diversity in the workforce. Typically,
white makes enjoy more earnings as compared to white women.
On average, they get $9000 more than minority men and $14000
more than white women. The inequality in salary payment needs
to be done away with; hence affirmative action should be
encouraged. 40% of the American population comprises white
men, yet they occupy 86% of faculty positions. White women
have benefited more than anyone due to the implementation of
affirmative action policies and practices.

3. Originally, white women would not get legislative positions and
due to affirmative action, hurdles of opportunities are available
for this group on the contemporary world. An original lawsuit
was filed on affirmative action on behalf of Abigail Fisher, who
was denied admission into the University of Texas because she
was white (Richard, 2012). Fisher is exactly a good example of
those white women who have benefited from the poles
introduced on behalf of minority groups. White women in the
United States have, therefore, had similar opportunities with
regards to social services. In the long run, equality would
prevail regardless of age, color or ethnic background.
Groups that have been disadvantaged by Affirmative Action
hiring policies and practices.
Strong affirmative action has been attributed to
preferential treatment, which has faced major controversies over
the years. This may come in as a result of discriminating or
favoring particular members in the society or at the same time,
giving representative positions just to satisfy the principle of
equality while at the same time, doing injustice to other
members. Preferential hiring, preferential training or
nontraditional casting, as well as minority scholarships of race
norming, has been rampant in the United States (Sally, 2003).
Most citizens agree that the government has greatly abandoned
its responsibility to provide the necessities to every American.
This makes the situation worse on a daily basis. Despite the
evidence of a prosperous economy in the United States, women,
and children, as well as the poor significantly, suffer. The ideal
equality opportunity for all, to them, is a clear joke. African
Americans are viewed as a legacy to slavery and this may, in
the long run, may lead to the fall of a nation and division. Two
wrongs, therefore, do not make a right, and the federal
government should be on the forefront to ensure that as services
are extended to specific groups, thers are not discriminated after
all.
Parents and children from all backgrounds should be considered
as well. The black women should be treated equally as the

4. white, to prevent the black society from suffering
discrimination as a result of reinforcement of affirmative action
policies and practices. Native Americans, Hispanics and the
handicapped need to be well looked after. Amendments should
be introduced but has over the years; bee interpreted as "Equal
protection for all equals, but some equals are more equal than
others”. Back women and children should, therefore, be
protected against unrealistic enforcements of policies in the
society and the nation at large, for both Americans.
How does it relate to hiring in the public sector? In particular,
what is currently allowed and not allowed in terms of hiring
policies and practices?
The public sector is the most influenced as a result of
affirmative action and implementation of various practices. For
instance, employment and hiring practices in the public sector
have been tuned to workforce analysis, availability analysis,
utilization analysis and goals and timetables. Use of
incumbency versus availability analysis is used to calculate and
estimate underrepresentation, which entails hiring personnel and
formulation of hiring goals (Leora, 2005).
A collection of employee workforce data and collection of
external availability data are considered to be of the essence,
especially in the labor market. In terms of the hiring policies
and practices, the fair representation of women is allowed in the
public sector, while discrimination among races and ethnic
groups is discouraged. It is, therefore, essential to ensure that
most of the groups in the society are well represented, and at
the same time, the required participants or groups well
acknowledged.
What is currently required of public sector organizations either
at the federal level or in your particular state or city, in terms of
Affirmative Action policies?
Some organizations are required by law to establish written
codes to ensure that they fit into distinct categories. Various
regulations include; a depository of all amounts of government
funds, an issuing and paying agent of the United States bonds

5. and each employer is required to create written documents to
implement the anti-discrimination lawsuits (Leora, 2005).
Affirmative action policies, therefore govern the public sector
requirements based on various implemented acts. The hiring
procedures in the public sector narrow down to the enhancement
of equity and at the same time, representation of all in various
positions.
References
Sally, K. (2003). Affirmative Action Has helped White Women
More Than Anyone. Retrieved from
http://ideas.time.com/2013/06/17/affirmative-action-has-helped-
white-women-more-than-anyone/
Richard, S. (2012). Mismatch: How Affirmative Action Hurts
Students. London: Routledge Publishers
Leora, M. (2005). Affirmative Action. New York: John Wiley
and Sons
Running head: ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

6. 6
Annotated bibliography
Name
Professor
Institution
Course
Date
Aaron Wildavsky. 1966. The Political Economy of Efficiency:
Cost-Benefit Analysis, Systems Analysis, and Program
Budgeting. Public Administration Review 26(4): 292-310.
In his article, Aaron looked at the role of politics in economic.
The role of politics in a country can affect the country’s
economy by either boosting it or making it worse depending
with the direction it takes. In his article, he focused on the
impact and the indicators which one can use to understand the
expected results in the long run.
Efficiency has also been attributed with the movements in
which they can understand the ideas lying behind it. In his work
he further tries to show the correlation of economics and the
share they play in the economic position while contrasting it
with the role played by the politicians in improving the
efficiency.
He further looks at the evolution which has taken place over
time. This means things have changed from what they were able
to understand to a complicated position where one can explain
what has happened. In this case he shows the trend moving to
fissionable performance to unpredictable state.

7. In his article, he shows the need for efficiency in order to
reduce the operation cost and improve on their efficiency. These
objectives are derived to help attain the expected results which
make the country’s economy into a more desirable position with
more efficiency. He shows the boundaries which should be done
to make the situation better.
Allen Schick. 1966. The Road to PPB: The Stages of Budget
Reform. Public Administration Review 26(4): 243-258
In most cases, budgeting takes the wrong procedure which leads
to misconception of the good budgeting procedures. Financial
reporting procedures are discussed in this article to make sure
they manage their resource efficiently. This article shows what
measures need to be put in place to embrace equitable
distribution of their resources. This article is consistence with
the utilization of the national resources which embrace
development of parts of the country.
Budget reforms are essential in any country as they are aimed at
rectifying the in efficiencies which lead to misuse of the
countries resources and other drawbacks. His article plays a
vital role in showing the stages which needs to be used to make
sure the right budget is used to put it in place.
Hal G. Rainey, Robert W. Backoff, and Charles H. Levine.
1976. Comparing Public and Private Organizations. Public
Administration Review 36(2): 233-244.
Public and private sectors have for long been a ground for
comparison. When you look at the differences they create it
helps make a difference on the administrative strategies
employed. Different parties have tried to make a comparison on
the two bodies. It’s important to make sure they are looked at
keenly to make sure one can understand where to institute
changes and make it better and more effective.

8. Looking at this article composed by these authors they were
trying to make a comparison of the two so that they can tell
which one of the two governances is better and where they need
to make changes so that they can be much better. This
comparison plays a vital role in boosting and improving public
administration practices as they are poor as compared to each
other. Private are known to be better but they can help in make
it better than the other one.
Herbert Kaufman. 1969. Administrative Decentralization and
Political Power. Public Administration Review 29(1): 3-15.
Power has been centralized for several decades. According to
Herbert, he shows the reasons as to the governments and other
state institution should embrace decentralization if power to
help in boosting development of public organs. Dispensing
public services needs to be distributed across the spectrum and
not to stick on one side alone. This move will help in boosting
their development and improve on the public administration
processes.
Political power should be spread across the county and that is
what makes the difference between good governance and poor
governance. If power is distributed across the boundaries it will
help in boosting the state of governance. Public administration
calls for good controls to make it effective. The article covers
more of decentralization of power.
Joseph S. Wholey, and Harry P. Hatry. 1992. The Case for
Performance Monitoring. Public Administration Review 52(6):
604-610
Monitoring helps in boosting the quality of services. In this
case, public sector requires to be monitored at all times to make
it better and effective. Looking at the josephs and Harry’s ideas
they were trying to evaluate the nature of operations and that
make sure they meet the intended results. Monitoring of public

9. services is more influential than any other as it shows exactly
what they are.
Public administration is a huge field which needs to be put into
consideration and proper consideration to make it effective and
improve on their services. By identifying these differences, one
can make sure they are in a position of seeing the differences
and make the necessary changes which would increase their
performance and attain the best results as possible in public
administration.
Stephen K. Bailey. 1964. Ethics and the Public Service. Public
Administration Review 24(4): 234-243.
As it happens in other areas, ethics are required to be followed
when it comes to public service. Stephen in his article puts
emphasis on the needs for adhering to the ethical standards to
make sure they meet the required results in both short and long
run.
According to his beliefs, he devised a normative model which
lays more emphasis on personal ethics as he believes failure of
personal ethics goes further to spread to the public domains
hence affecting the overall performance of the public services.
The administrative pattern goes further to take effect if the
standards are followed well. He looks at several connotations
perceived by the prominent scholars. He believes that the
greatest failure originates with the imperfection of arrangements
within institutions.
Martin Landau. 1969. Redundancy, Rationality, and the Problem
of Duplication and Overlap. Public Administration Revew
29(4): 346-358.

10. Public administration is associated with redundancy, rationality
and duplication of certain services. In this case, this article
looks at these positions in a manner that they affect the
functioning of the public work. Martin looked at the
inefficiencies which were taking place in government and they
needed to be corrected to improve their performance and make
better use of the available resources.
Some state functions don’t operate but when you look at the
budget estimates they are financed for. Moreover, some
functions are duplicated while they could be effected from one
point instead of having multiple stages. These are effective in
the dispensing of the state functions. In this case, the
government needs to have a clear picture of their roles which
they need to manage and make their administrative functions
more efficient and useful to their people.
Nicholas Henry. 1975. Paradigms of Public Administration.
Public Administration Review 35(4): 378-386.
Public administration calls for different models, patterns or
styles to be used to make sure they get to the bottom of the
matter. Nicholas identifies the trends in management which
should be put in place to help them in realizing the challenges.
With these models they will be able to know where to use which
style and to make sure they meet the intended results.
These moves leads to initialization of the options which make
sure they get the standards which help in changing the steps
which make sure the challenges arising in the governance and
they make sure they attain the intended motive in administration
of services. This article looks at the style which will lead to the
best performance of the state organs and aid in boosting public
administration services.

11. Theodore J. Lowi. 1972. Four Systems of Policy, Politics, and
Choice. Public Administration Review 32(4): 298.310.
Theodore looks at the possible alignments which can be put in
place to boost their performance and understanding of the
public administration processes. Public administration involves
different alignments which help in making things better and
realizable in return. These systems play a crucial role in helping
attain the intended objectives in the long-run. The four systems
are used to make sure they meet the intended requirement. In
his ideas he realized the need to put these measures in place and
make sure they are properly vouched.
Governance structure should always be protected at all times to
make sure they are doing the right thongs at all times. In this
case, the administrator needs to know the four systems and what
they are capable of doing.
Vincent O. and Elinor O. 1971. Public Choice: A Different
Approach to the Study of Public Administration. Public
Administration Review 31(2): 203-216
Public services need to be selected in accordance with the
priorities they have on the basis of their benefits. It’s essential
noting that the spread of services needs to be looked at keenly
so that a selection is made according to their merits. Vincent
and Elinor discovered the need for selection of the public
services so that they can have the most gain as possible.
In order to get to the most effective, they discovered that, they
need to make sure they are in the forefront of understanding the
most essential services which they need to fulfill so that they
can make it work better for them all. Public administration
services require to administered with due diligence to help them

12. realize the ultimate goals.
The article covers the different approaches which can help them
attain their intended goals. The movement of the services is
based on the selection they have. Therefore, it’s recommended
to use different approaches which improve on their overall
performance and development of the services and improve on
their quality.