Human Resource Management And Organizational And Employee Behavior

Affirmative action is an action that was purposefully designed to provide full and equal opportunities for employment and education for women, minorities, and other individuals belonging to disadvantaged groups. This paper will assess the rudiments of Affirmative Action as it applies to public and private sector employers. The paper will also evaluate what employers are subject to affirmative action plans, what the plans require employers to do, and what happens if employers do not meet the objectives of the affirmative action plan.

2. What is meant by affirmative action, and how does it tie in with EEO legislation?

Affirmative Action is an outcome of the 1960’s Civil Rights Movement. Its purpose is to provide equal opportunities for members of minority groups and women in education and employment. It is not until 1961 did the term “affirmative action” was first used by President John F. Kennedy. He made it very clear in an Executive Order that directed government have to take “affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin.” Since a lot of cooperation still tends to hire white male, by enforcing affirmative action, the number of minority groups and women in the labor force will increase.Affirmative Action helps to eliminate the imbalance in the society and reform the American system. The US Department of Labor describes affirmative action as the banning of discrimination.

(Goldman, 1976, p. 181) An affirmative action program is a management tool designed to ensure equal employment opportunity. A central premise underlying affirmative action is that, absent discrimination, over time a contractor's workforce, generally, will reflect the gender, racial and ethnic profile of the labour pools from which the contractor recruits and selects.

According to Raymond A. Noe, affirmative action is an organization’s active effort to find opportunities to hire or promote people in a particular group (Fundamentals of Human Resource Management 68). There are various arguments for and against affirmative action. Some believe that it gives certain groups of people an equal opportunity to find employment where they would otherwise be kicked under the rug. Others believe that even though it creates an opportunity for minority groups, the issue of reverse discrimination comes into play where once predominantly white male jobs offerings go to women and minority groups instead. The topic of affirmative action remains very controversial and

“Affirmative Action began as a plan to equalize the educational, employment, and contracting opportunities for minorities and women with opportunities given to their white, male counterparts.” There’s a difference between equal opportunity and affirmative action policies. “Equal employment opportunity (EEO) means freedom from discrimination on the basis of protected classes such as race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability or genetic information.” Affirmative action is considered to be an honest and social obligation to alter historical wrong doings and disregard the present effects of past discrimination.

Affirmative action is a necessary discrimination in today’s society because qualified individuals are given an opportunity they may not have received without it. Affirmative action mandates that minority populations be considered for positions. While this may mean that more qualified candidates, whether it be for a university or employment position, are passed over for acceptance for someone who is less qualified due to race or gender, it is necessary for now because of the history of discrimination in this country.

In the United States justice is defined as equal treatment of all citizens under the law. When one citizen is treated unfairly, an injustice has been committed against all people. It is the duty of Americans to make sure such injustices are eliminated. Affirmative Action is one such program whose purpose is to make sure that equal citizens are treated equally under the law. In today’s society it is imperative that all people regardless of race or gender are given equal opportunity in the admissions and job applications processes. Affirmative Action was designed to create this equality.

Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity guarantees similarity in provision on benefits as well as services to the workforce. The two laws go hand in hand in the workforce world. These laws are set in place to make it illegal for discrimination on any qualified employee in specific type of jobs by managers in certain workplaces. Discrimination can be in the form of racial, ethnicity, religion, sex, age, color or racial boundaries. The main goal with EEO and affirmative action is that there isn 't unfairness against people of a particular group,A qualified person on a job search should be able to access the available jobs equally. The key to this process is that all levels of management be involved with the EEO procedures. Since I am a woman, I am going to touch on the subject that women wasn 't giving equal rights to employment comparing to men. The rights of women in the workplace include many aspect, the main one is the right to work while with child. The employer can 't leave out a woman from a position due to pregnancy. Furthermore an employee of any organization where a woman works may not sexually harass the woman in anyway. This includes a belligerent work environment where the woman must deal with sexual comments, touching , or unwanted sexual advances that put her in fear of losing her job if she does not obey. At this present time affirmative action policies, allows managers the ability to secure and advocate for the rights of all employees.

Affirmative Action is defined as “a set of procedures designed to eliminate unlawful discrimination between applicants, remedy the results of such prior discrimination, and prevent such discrimination in the future. Applicants may be seeking admission to an educational program or looking for professional employment.” (“Affirmative Action”). Diversity within the communities, needed a way to be maintained in both school and places of work. Affirmative action was originally put in place to ensure that this happened.

Legally, affirmative action refers to policies offering compensation to groups formerly targeted for discrimination and identified along social cleavages racial groups in the United States and South Africa, and religious groups in Northern Ireland. Affirmative action is also described as a federally mandated program for federal contractors as it relates to employment. Civil Right results from federal and state laws against discrimination. Some groups of people have been discriminated and harassment based on race, color, gender, age, and others. Since Americans differ on the physical characteristics, race and ethnicity, American society is described as a “Melty Pot”. Diversity includes individuals’ thought, experiences, backgrounds and others; consequently, multiracial and multicultural mixtures have impacted the life of minority groups. Therefore the purpose of affirmative action is to promote equal opportunity to compete for a job or a career. As a result, every American has fair opportunity at the moment of applying for a job; it means that race, ethnicity or gender is not considered as an impediment to be hired. Affirmative action, deals with fairness and justice for all. “For federal contractors and subcontractors, affirmative action must be taken by covered employers to recruit and advance qualified minorities, women, persons with disabilities, and veterans. Affirmative actions include training programs, outreach efforts, and other positive steps. These procedures

Affirmative action’s goal was to create policies that increase the representation of women and minorities in the workplace. This new policy would be used by the employers and institutions of higher education through two means; equal opportunity and preferential treatment policies. Equal

The Universal Human Rights declaration states that all human beings have a natural right to equal freedoms thereby providing the basis for proactive measures to guarantee the enjoyment of equal rights in employment. Discourse on the controversial employment edicts of affirmative action and exceptions to the at-will employment doctrine signify the ambiguity in the implementation of the declaration on equal freedoms. White-male employees feel that the preferential treatment of women and racial minorities at the place of work is exerting undue pressure on their ability to compete effectively in the job market. Consequently, the employers vehemently object to the restrictions imposed on the at-will employment

Over the last five weeks, this learner has learnt a lot about human resource management. According to (Youssef, 2012) human resource management is the managing of human skills and talents to make sure they are used effectively and in alignment with an organization’s goals (Youssef, 2012). In addition, human resource management activities exist throughout an organization whether or not there is a human resource department. They are also involved in handling legal issues such as hiring, training, compensating, promoting, demoting, and even firing people (Youssef, 2012).

Women, people of color, non-christen, and non U.S citizens have historically not been given the same employment opportunities as those in the majority. Thus, affirmative action is a practice designed to ensure that member of these groups have opportunities for employment and evolution equal to those in the majority