Affirmative Action

Essay by ahoffman69College, UndergraduateA+, January 2009

download word file, 4 pages 0.0

Affirmative action is a plan to promote the efforts of employers, schools and other organizations to recruit and hire groups that have previously been discriminated against. It is important to note that affirmative action programs do not require employers to hire unqualified people for a job. “Equal employment opportunity is used to describe policies that prohibit discrimination of any kind (EEOC).” Affirmative action is a program that analyses the make up of the current workforce, establishes guidelines to ensure an employer is not underutilizing certain groups and identifies and removes barriers for employment. “Equal employment is the legislation that provides the oversight and investigates any allegations of discrimination and unfair treatment (EEOC).”In order for an organization to develop and promote equal opportunity in the workplace, a proactive rather than reactive approach should be taken when prohibiting discrimination. Prohibiting acts of discrimination should start first with the adoption of policies that clearly identify the organization's intolerance and consequences of these behaviors, and should follow with strict adherence to the policies.

These policies need to be constantly presented to the workforce, as well as reflected in management's own actions and attitudes. “The development of equal opportunity starts from the top, where it is unrealistic for workers to experience equal opportunity if management does not set the environment (EEOC).”When implementing an affirmative action program, it is important to have management support. This is not the type of program that can be successful at the grass roots level.

The first step is to designate a high level manager as the champion. This person will be responsible for setting the overall tone for the program and will ensure that his managers at all levels throughout the organization take part in the implementation process as well as ensuring that the program is being effectively managed. (ACLU)The...