ColB

Originally Posted by Maniac Craniac

... Discrimination seems to be a part of our internal mechanics, whether ingrained in to our psyches or a part of our collective social heritage. There is no such thing as "color blindness" in today's world and ignoring the problem will not magically make it go away. If we are serious about making an even playing field (pardon the pun) then awareness is step one, but what is step two?

Affirmative action? Something about it doesn't sit right with me. It certainly makes people aware of the decisions that they are making, but the artificial nature of it and the fact that it is entirely forced makes me wonder what good it can really do. Then there is the issue of duration. Will affirmative action policies be permanent, even as more women than men graduate college and the white population are projected to be a numerical minority (though probably not a social minority) within the next century?

I agree that discrimination between people is inevitable, how we make these choices determines whether or not the discrimination is acceptable and lawful.

As to the benefits of affirmative action, opponents claim that it makes minority groups lazy and unambitious, ruins their reputations and in some instances fuels the fires of discrimination within the workplace where they have been employed. Left unsupported and poorly mentored by their peers who are resistant to change it is not surprising when these people fail and are labelled as incompetent (Bergmann, 1996). Unfortunately affirmative action by its very existence encourages minorities to believe that they have been victimised and they do not need affirmative action to convince them of the fact. Affirmative action while inefficient and unfair to candidates also has the potential to leave the beneficiaries devoid of emotions of success, self-pride and a sense of belonging to the organisation (Affirmative Action Initiative in South Africa, n.d. & Nagel, 1998).

We should not forget the casualties of affirmative action i.e. other minority or immigrant groups who have through no fault of their own been disadvantaged but have not been afforded the same opportunities or preferential treatment or, the victims of reverse discrimination where the individual has been overlooked for the sake of fulfilling a goal or quota. Discrimination is evident in the Asian-Indians and Indonesian immigrants even though their education and economic attainment is well above the United States average (Eastland, 1996).

While affirmative action allows minorities to achieve advantages this group needs to lift their sights and become more visible in order to break the bonds of dependency and the sense of entitlement (Eastland, 1996).

As to the duration, affirmative action has since 1958 gained in popularity with 70% of respondents in 2007 favouring this approach. With the buying power of minority groups growing businesses are as eager as ever to achieve work force diversity and increase their talent pool in order to grow their bottom line (Carroll, & Buchholtz, 2009). While there are laws to protect against discrimination such as the Human Rights Act 1993 in New Zealand there is, I believe, a necessity to develop a colour-blind law which will respect the rights of all individuals. However, until this eventuates it is up to the various governments to shoulder some social responsibility and improve educational and training prospects of individuals at a grass root level and where possible improve family life. As free agents in business it is our responsibility as future and present managers to ‘choose the candidate most suited to the position’ thereby aiming for the greatest satisfaction of all (Richards, 1993). However, for the mean time affirmative action is here to stay.