Race can be seen as how people are taken in respect to any particular social group as well as their differences as noticed from the visual point. As compared to the earlier days, racial issues are less burning in the context of the present-day society amongst American people. Basically, in the contemporary society, a number of racial equality measures have been undertaken in order to make sure that all the people in the United States are resolved as within the single nation ("A Growing Divide on Race").
Introduced as a tool in the fight against racial, ethnic and gender discrimination, affirmative action is now highly criticized. Ideally, affirmative action is aimed at providing equal opportunities for representatives of minorities and vulnerable classes of society who have suffered from biased attitude in the past.
Today, affirmative action is an increasingly controversial phenomenon. It is considered to be a necessary, but imperfect tool for solving complex social issues. Affirmative action is often expected to result in reverse discrimination, i.e. when the preference is given to the representatives of minorities in prejudice of the majority.
On the one hand, affirmative action is the recognition of the fact that some groups of people were mistreated in the past and this injustice can be corrected due to privileged attitude in the processes of recruitment and admission to education establishments. The controversy about affirmative action has to do with the controversy about justice in general. The fundamental principle of justice in a society is that every person should be treated on equal terms. On the other hand, it can be argued whether such measures as affirmative action are still needed to ensure justice in the modern society or this problem can be approached in a different way: when preference is given only to person’s qualifications, skills and talents rather than his or her belonging to any given group of people. It is offensive to assume that representatives of minorities can make certain contributions in any given sphere, since it gives an idea that minorities think in a certain way.
Every person is unique. Despite the fact that people share many common features and traits of character, they still remain different in a great number of ways. Differences here may be both of visible and non-visible nature, for example, some personal characteristics like: cultural background, personality, accent, language, so on, and so forth. The role of discrimination law here is to cover some of the most vital personal characteristics by protecting people against unfair treatment. The core of diversity management is consideration of every person as an individual. With regard to the relevance of diversity in the modern world in all spheres of life, it is essential to understand that ‘one-size-fits-all’ principle is no longer appropriate, since it cannot help achieve desired results and equality for all people. It is clear that all people have different needs and values in life ("Poll: What do Americans feel about race relations?",).
In order to understand the nature of diversity in the modern environment better, it is vital find out what are the roots of this phenomenon. These days, it is essential to get familiar with the impacts of diversity on efficiency of an organization along with overall company’s performance and levels of satisfaction among employees. Diversity management is considered to be both a moral imperative and a legal obligation. Apart from the two, it is also a significant aspect of company’s performance. These days, the concept of diversity embraces implementation of affirmative action programs and the use of people’s differences with an eye to make a company more effective. Therefore, it is necessary to view diversity in the context of organizational effectiveness in order to comprehend it.
One of the major advantages of diversity in the workplace is that it helps to increase company’s efficiency and productivity. Moreover, it is argued that diversity improves the ways how decisions are made and provides a number of alternatives and new ideas that are relevant to the world of business. Thus, diversity can introduce a source of personal growth and new learning and training potential for employees of any given company that employs diverse personnel. Here, the bottom line is how diversity is managed within a company, since management can either make diversity a beneficial factor or the one that interferes with activities of an organization.
Another tool in the fight against racial discrimination is affirmative action. As a matter of fact, affirmation action is targeted at taking all the steps necessary in order to ensure equal opportunities for all the people within a business unit irrespectively of their background. As a result of proper implementation of affirmative action, representatives of different minority groups as well as unprotected social groups, who are considered to be victims of unfair attitude in the past, get what they do deserve.
Today, affirmative action thought faces a lot of controversy. It is often viewed as essential tool to solve discrimination issues, though has a number of substantial drawbacks that interfere with proper solution for vital problems in the society. One of the major disadvantages of affirmative action is that quite often it leads to the reverse discrimination, specifically, when an individual is chosen for a particular position only because of their belonging to any given minority group, whereas a majority representative is rejected despite the merits he or she potentially has ("Race relations in U.S. at a low point in recent history, new poll suggests").
At the same time, there are certain substantial advantages about affirmative action. Thus, it is can be considered as acknowledgement that certain classes and groups of people suffered from biased attitude in the past. Here, this injustice can be corrected with the help of privileges that are granted when a person is being recruited for any given position or admitted to an educational establishment. One of the most controversial factors about affirmative action is the one that deals with the notion of justice in general. It is important to recognize that the core of justice is that each and every person in the society is expected to be equally treated. Therefore, there are some doubts as to if such methods as affirmative action can be considered as those that ensure fairness and justice in the society, or it is more sensible to look for other alternatives to the problem of discrimination and unfair attitude. One of the best approaches to fair treatment in the workplace is a practice when any given individual is chosen for a position on the basis of their merits, namely: skills, qualifications and abilities instead of their relation to a particular class of people. Moreover, it can be viewed somewhat offensive to maintain that an individual can succeed in any given sphere only because their belonging to any given minority groups make him or her think in a different way.
Although there is some evidence that members of racial minority groups benefit from such methods as affirmative action, it is also clear that it imposes some political and employment limitations in the eyes of the majority representatives.
Apart from the legal side of matter, there are also practical arguments in favor of affirmative action. Primarily, it provides several internal organizational incentives for workplace managers.
Basically, there are three possible outcomes of affirmative action application in the workplace. Firstly, application of affirmative action practices in the workplace suggests that preference is given to a certain group of people who suffered from racial discrimination in the historical context. This approach can restrict any given organization in the use of American diversity to the full. Secondly, modern affirmative action policies can result in stereotyping or oversimplification of the major characteristics of diversity. Thirdly, there is a likelihood that there will be a tension created between recruitment processes with regard to the merits and diversity. This situation is likely to cause controversial signals to recruitment managers and well-motivated applicants. Therefore, in terms of employment procedures affirmative action can be viewed as the one that is imposed by external factors that have somewhat contradictory nature and can either contribute to company’s success or do much harm.
The phenomena of diversity and affirmative action are often confused, though there is a number of significant differences between them regarding targeted groups and desired results. The term ‘affirmative action’ was first introduced in Executive Order No. 10925, which was signed by John F. Kennedy in 1961. In accordance with this order, federal contractors were supposed to use affirmative action measures in order to provide new employment procedures without distinction as to person’s race. Later on in 1967, the functionality of the order was expanded in order to embrace rights of women as well. Thus, affirmative action functions in the domain of laws, regulations and agencies that are called for eliminating social inequity. In addition, it is necessary to mention that affirmative action addresses mostly historical discrimination with regard to such groups of individuals as people of color and females. The principal difference between diversity and affirmative action is that the latter one is recognized as a legal requirement, more specifically, an equal employment opportunity. It is also related to those discrimination problems that have a historical basis, rather than contemporary ones.
All in all, affirmative action is a phenomenon that has brought about positive social changes, but sometimes it has the reverse social effects. All things considered, it can be seen as a good beginning in the process of building a society with equal opportunities for all people.
Needless to say, in the past the theme of racial relation was of paramount importance for the American society, currently its importance somewhat minimized and now other issues prove to be of greater importance, rather than racial relations.
Works cited
"A Growing Divide on Race." The New York Times. The New York Times, 2015. Web. 27 Mar. 2016.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/07/23/us/race-relations-in-america-poll.html?_r=0
"Poll: What Do Americans Feel about Race Relations?" CBSNews. CBS Interactive. Web. 27 Mar. 2016.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/cbs-news-poll-state-of-race-relations-in-america/
"Race Relations in U.S. at a Low Point in Recent History, New Poll Suggests." PBS. PBS. Web. 27 Mar. 2016.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/race-relations-low-point-recent-history-new-poll-suggests/
