Affirmative Action

Affirmative Action In the Workplace

Lawrence Phillips

Human Resources Management HRM 335

Western International University

Professor: Michael Corp

November 27, 2005

Throughout our lives at some point or another we have all felt slighted. We have all felt that we were not giving the same opportunity or chance. What if you were not given the same opportunity do to your skin color, sex, or ethnic background? Some feel that this is exactly what happens when you implement affirmative action. While other may feel that without affirmative action many people would not have the same opportunities to succeed in life. Throughout my life there have been several opportunities that I have seen first hand how affirmative action has affected me. To fully understand affirmative action you must first understand what affirmative action is, and how it was originally designed to work. With any federal developed program there will always be those who are for and against it. In order to get a true assessment of how effective or ineffective a program works you must address both the pros and cons of the program. With affirmative action there are many programs and practices that have been put into place to help resolve racial equality issues. Affirmative action is necessary in today’s society in order to help educate people, as well as give opportunities to people in lower classes. The way affirmative action operates, however, is something that needs to be continually reformed as our society grows.

Affirmative action policy relates to equal employment opportunity where as they both affect all employees according to race, gender, religion, or national origin. Job opportunities are one of the most effective measures of affirmative action. Therefore the policy of equal employment opportunity protects the employee of their job. Under affirmative action employees are hired as being judge by whom and what they are. I think affirmative action is necessary in our company, because it will educate our people, as well as give opportunities to people in lower classes. The way affirmative action operates, however, is something that needs to be continually reformed as our society grows. With the initial introduction of affirmative action, the intent was to create a system to make opportunities more equal. As our country continues to grow and become multicultural, it becomes more of a driving point to ensure that we are educating ourselves about our variety cultures and their individual’s needs. Many minorities and women are still underrepresented in government and academic leadership, as well as in the private sector throughout our nation. To get a better understanding of the history of affirmative action we must address how affirmative action came in to place. In March l961, after about two months after assuming the office, President John F. Kennedy issued Executive Order 10925, which established the President's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity. The mission was to end discrimination in employment by the federal government and all of its contractors. This order required that every federal contract would include the pledge that stated "The Employer will not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, creed, color, or national origin. The Employer will also utilized affirmative action, to ensure that applicants are employed, and that employees are treated while employed, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin. (Murell &, Jones, 1996, pg 77-92)

President Lyndon B. Johnson would later argue that fairness required much more than just a commitment to unfair treatment. He was still concerned that people were still not receiving the same opportunities. In a 1965 at a commencement address at Howard University, Lyndon B. Johnson said: “You do not take a person who for years has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of a race and then say, "you're free to compete with all the others," and still justly believe that you have been completely fair. Thus it is not enough just to open the gates or opportunity. All our citizens must have the ability to walk through those gates. We seek not...just equality as a right