Introduction
Affirmative action also termed as positive discrimination refers the policies which take factors including color, religion, race, national origin, gender, or sexual orientation into consideration to benefit the group that is underrepresented in areas of business, education, and employment. Every institution or organization is actually required to be committed to the equal opportunity principle in employment and education. The board of directors have the responsibility of ensuring that employment related actions are monitored to prevent any form of discrimination from occurring in addition to detecting and eliminating it when it occurs. Thus, the board of directors in a company need to implement affirmative action policies that are aimed to ensure that no worker is discriminated whatsoever.
Affirmative action is essentially a two prolonged effort, which includes all people’s right to be accorded equal and full consideration on basis of merit. In addition it includes the provisions for monitoring its compliance through seeking to establish equality standards using quantitative system that is used to measure progress towards a certain goal. Importantly, the process of goal setting in planning affirmative action is normally utilized in targeting and measuring the effectiveness of efforts of affirmative action to wipe out and prevent discrimination.
The company board of directors therefore should implement the affirmative action policies. There are various factors for them and also against them. The implementation of these policies will bring diversity. This means that they will help to create a work environment that is diverse and as a result of this there will be more adaptability in problem solving through offering many possible solutions.
Additionally, these policies implementation will bring moral commitment in the company. This will in fact aide in fostering a work environment that is more tolerant. Moral commitment created will also reassure the employees who come from the historically underrated groups that this company will consider them for any available job promotions in the company.
Furthermore, the implemented affirmative action policies will lead to increased opportunities. By maintaining these policies, the company will be in a better position to expand its opportunities to take in the contracts from the government. This will be in accordance with the requirement by the government of companies to both establish and maintain the affirmative action policies. Therefore, the company board of directors needs to implement the affirmative action policies and as a result, the company will be in a better position to accommodate people from various ethnic backgrounds, ages, genders, and color among other groups. Therefore, these underrated groups will feel that they are wanted in the company hence it will achieve its objectives.
In spite of the many benefits that are associated with the recommendation of implementing affirmative action policy in an organization, there is still a lot of controversy that follows this vice. Most of this controversy emanates from public perceptions or rather misperceptions towards the policy that are coupled with the unequivocal nature of the policy. Consequently, various arguments and contention points have been brought forward against this policy.
One argument is that affirmative action policy leads to a division of the society along the lines of ethnicity, race, nationality, and gender through the creation of group whose membership status is mainly determined by the stated labels. Affirmative action stimulates racial tension due to a rise in the consciousness of race.
Critics of the affirmative action also argue that demeans minority groups in organizations by portraying a message that they do not possess enough capability to deserve their own merit of consideration.
There is also an argument that affirmative action exhibits contradictory tones in the sense that it requires the establishment of specific goals to overcome to reduce underutilization of minority groups but at the same time selection is based on a criteria that is nondiscriminatory in nature.
Another argument forwarded against affirmative action is that to rectify the cultural obstacles that exist in an organization, it should not the organization itself or the government that should be involved. Instead, it should be the minority group who should take the necessary steps to rectify these obstacles.
Finally, affirmative action violates the value of merit and individualism in the society. It eliminates the individuality concept when it places people in varying groups that are based on characteristics such as gender or race.
Affirmative action will ensure that the organization fully complies with the law of equal employment opportunity. This law requires all individuals to be treated equally in all actions of employment that include recruitments, selection, promotions, separations, lay offs amongst others.
Affirmative action ensures that this law is complied with by affirming that the organization overcome past discrimination effects against members of the female gender, minority groups and disabled persons by making positive continuous efforts when it comes to the employment actions like interviewing, selection, retention, promotions amongst others.
Affirmative action also requires various federal contractors like the employers to immediately take steps that will lead to the employment of women together with minority groups and disabled persons whenever they are not fully represented in an organization’s workforce.
Therefore the affirmative action guarantees that everyone is accorded an equal employment opportunity and no one is discriminated on the basis of their gender, race or physical state of their bodies.
