This and publicizing job notices in locations that

This and publicizing job notices in locations that

This paper was written to show how Affirmative Action took place. It deals withthe idea that diversity management does not decrease ethnic and gender tensionswhile increasing profits, productivity and creativity, but it has served ageneral purpose to aware people of different cultures, and establish ajustification to make everybody equal in opportunity not based in race, sex, norculture. It also includes a history of the Affirmative Action. The differentpaths it has taken along the development it has undergone as time has gone by,from its beginning as a Civil Rights Act to the Affirmative Action it is today.Statement of Purpose The three members of the group are members of minoritiesand the purpose is to acquaint other minorities with what could be encounteredin finding a job. Scope This paper contains arguments that stand for and againstAffirmative Action programs with cases to substantiate the claims. It alsocontains a history of the Affirmative Action and its original purpose.

Sourcesand Methods The material needed for this paper was gathered from several on-lineresources and a book. Such sources were gathered by searching the Internet andthe School’s Library. Report Organization The paper starts by giving the readerthe original purpose of the affirmative Action and its history. Then, it statesseveral pros and several cons supporting each with a case.

At the end of thepaper a summary of the same is given together with the conclusions formed by thewriters of the paper. WHAT IS AFFIRMATIVE ACTION? Affirmative Action is the namegiven to programs that try to correct past and ongoing discriminations againstwomen, racial minorities, and others in the work force and in education. Theprincipal goal of Affirmative Action is to create more diversity and equalopportunities in jobs or schools that used to be all or mostly male, white, orboth. Affirmative Action programs have been in place only a little over thirtyyears throughout Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. There are threeaspects of Affirmative Action.

One, Affirmative Action in employment. It canconsist of posting and publicizing job notices in locations that are likely tobe seen by a wide rang e of people so that not only white people, but alsominorities can see that there are job opportunities that they can apply to (Casul,1). Two, Affirmative Action in contracting.

This consists of highly regulatedgovernment agencies that help minorities to get jobs without haven to go throughdiscrimination because of their background (Casul, 1). Three, Affirmative Actionin education. This consists of various programs that schools have to be able toprovide minorities with the equal opportunity of an education (Casul, 1). THEHISTORY OF AFFIRMATIVE ACTION Affirmative Action was started in 1965 with theExecutive order of President Lyndon B. Johnson. He stated that something elsehad to be done to move beyond the non-discrimination laws that were alreadyenacted. At the same time something had to be done to enable women andminorities to move up in their jobs.

After President Johnson, President Nixonimplemented that same Executive order. With this done President Ford, a fewyears later the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Vietnam Era VeteransReadjustment Act of 1974. This acts assured that federal contractors hadAffirmative Action regulations in hiring or firing employees. Again, some yearslater President Carter created a centralized office to handle all AffirmativeAction cases named the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP).Now, during his presidency, President Clinton has articulated four standards forall Affirmative Action programs: no quotas in theory or practice, no illegaldiscrimination of any kind, no preferences for people not qualified, and as soonas the program has succeeded it must be retired. THE CASE FOR AFFIRMATIVE ACTIONSince the day that thanks to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 African-Americancivilians were able to attend school with everybody else; since the day thatthere was no difference between a “white water fountain” and a”black water fountain”, the achievements reached with the help of anAffirmative Action are evident.

Affirmative Action has caused a debate and sometension to rise in the American society (Lewis, 1). The paragraphs that followwill be intended to show to the reader that an Affirmative Action can indeedhelp the business environment in getting the most qualified people the job theydeserve, without their race, culture or sex prevent them from getting it.Arguments For Affirmative Action Since the day that Affirmative Action programsstarted to take place, minorities have been able to be treated fairly and havebeen able to get job opportunities also. The next few paragraphs state severalarguments that point to the conclusion that an Affirmative Action is needed toprovide fairness in every aspect to minorities. The programs are needed becausethere are still cases in which minorities and women earn less money than whitepeople and men regardless of the place they studied and got their degrees from.

They still earn less money regardless of the qualifications and past experiencethey might have, to prove this look at any community. How many members of aminority are in leadership positions? How many members of a minority are electedinto office? Affirmative Action programs are created to provide minorities withthe opportunity to be chosen in better jobs. Affirmative Action programs areneeded as a tool that the Federal government has to provide minorities with theopportunity to be treated equally (LCCP, 4). These programs are needed becausesome institutions in society are not ready to hire minorities just because theyare minorities unless they are forced to do so by law. As long as this is soAffirmative Action programs should be preserved and improved (Rothstein, 1). THECASE AGAINST AFFIRMATIVE ACTION As time has gone by, and as discrimination hasbeen legally reduced to the point that it is easier tolerate with the help ofseveral Affirmative Action programs, the idea that such programs are not neededanymore is rising.

Together with the question of Affirmative Action being neededor not debate has been rising too. Just as there are arguments that protectAffirmative Action, there are arguments that reject it. The following paragraphswill show the reader that an Affirmative Action is not needed anymore because ofthe way society is handling such problem. Arguments Against Affirmative ActionAfter all the years that Affirmative Action programs have been taking place inseveral institutions to provide and end to discrimination; there are somearguments that point to the fact that such programs are not needed to provideminorities with fairness.

The next few paragraphs state what those argumentsare. The first argument is that people should be able to think what they want,to establish their own values about everything. This holds true as long as theydo not deny anybody else’s rights. The opponents of Affirmative Action programsbelieve that “to be free is to be wrong” therefore racists should beable to believe what they want and be against what they want too.

They believethat to be forced to do something they do not want to do could be harmfulinstead of helpful to minorities. In other words racists are only fair whenforced to do so legally (Jemal, 1). The second argument is that the opponents ofsuch programs believe that to be forced to work with minorities against theirwills is not the solution to stop racism and discrimination. This only makesdiscrimination stronger and immune to reason. Opposition believes thatAffirmative Action programs were created to free “White America” ofthe feeling of guilt after the atrocities committed against minorities yearsback and that they are no longer effective. Opposition believes that those timeshave passed and therefore the programs are not needed. The third argument thispaper states is that Affirmative Action programs are nothing but quotas,therefore the economic aspect of it becomes clear.

This programs stigmatizes andcalls into question the credentials of the qualified minorities (Lewis, 2). Theyforce qualified people to surrender their jobs to less qualified people justbecause they are not a minority. This understates that the economy of thecountry is in risk of going down due to that fact.

Just as Affirmative Actionhelps minorities it harms the other people, because it takes away the jobs theyhave worked so hard to get. HOW DOES THIS AFFECT BUSINESSES The way thatbusinesses are affected by the debate that takes place because of AffirmativeAction programs should be considered. The Business Industry can be affected intwo ways. One, businesses are helped by such programs because they can getworkers from other cultures to work with them and even be able to help thecompany with ideas to expand, to create better products, etc. After all,Americans do not only populate United States but it is a mixture of severalcultures that have to learn to live together. Businesses can also be negativelyaffected if because of Affirmative Actions companies are forced to indeed hireminority members that are not highly qualified for the job.

The fact that theseprograms are created to help minorities can result in harm for the people whoare not members of the minorities in question, and therefore would not beelected to get the job because of their origin. This could definitely cause adecrease in the industry’s revenue and could cause a fall in the Americaneconomy. Therefore in order to keep Affirmative Action programs in an equalscale so that they do not affect industries they have to be carefully revisedand planned taking in consideration the men and women that are not members ofthe minorities in question. SUMMARY The paragraphs above are an explanation ofthe facts that are behind Affirmative Action, both for and against. AffirmativeAction like everything else that involves public opinion has created debate insociety, a debate that has to sides.

One, the one that believes that theseprograms have helped tremendously because they have given the opportunity tomany members of minorities to get better positions in the job they have and tobe treated equally like it should have always been. This side of the coinbelieves that in order to stop every kind of discrimination Affirmative Actionprograms should be kept and improved because without them this society would goback to the times in which Negroes were slaves and not able to vote. On theother hand the other side, which believes that Affirmative Action programs areuseless, has also strong arguments to believe so. This side believes that whenpeople are forced to hire people against their will it will only increase thetension and in some cases the grudge held against minorities. This feelings cangrow to such point that are considered dangerous causing fatalities like thecases that have been seen on television lately in which minority members arekilled just because of who they are. CONCLUSIONS After the research done for thecompletion of this paper, the members of the group have gotten to the conclusionthat the world that would be faced by hem because of the fact that they areminorities is not a very gentle one. They will be faced by all kinds of people.

People who are not against Affirmative Action programs and by some that are.People should be aware of the fact that to achieve one’s goals they have to doall that they can to become the best in the things they do whether it iseducation or job. The facts shown in this paper are a proof that society as wellas the law are still harsh on minorities even if law protects such people therisk of being treated in a inadequate manner is there and very much alive.RECOMMENDATIONS The opinion that the authors of the paper took is thatAffirmative Action does nothing wrong, but to help minorities in achieving thatliberty that has been wanted for many years back. Affirmative Action is thereason why Mexican students are allowed to come to United sates looking for abetter place to become somebody in life by achieving a good education.Affirmative Action should be kept an improved by government always to helpeverybody everywhere in United States.BibliographyCasul, Algeo.

What Is Affirmative Action? http://www.wco.com/acasul/algeo/aa.htm23-Mar-1999. Pages 1-2 Jemal, Alison.

What’s Wrong with Affirmative Action andWhy It Must Go. http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/1320/affirmative_action1997. Pages 1-4. Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. The Case For AffirmativeAction.

http://www.civilrights.org Last modified 21-Nov-1997. Pages 1-6 Lewis,Brian. An Ethical and Practical Defense of Affirmative Action.

http://www.princeton.edu/blewis/action.htmPages 1-5 Rothstein, Richard. Can The Case Against Affirmative Action Stand UpAgainst The Evidence? http://www.epn.org Last modified 15-Oct