Is Affirmative Action Right for Your Company?

An effective strategy and plan regarding implementing affirmative action contributes to creating a diverse environment in the workplace. The designed plan should concentrate on numerous aspects of a business and stimulate positive company progress, growth, and change. The executives should feel enthusiastic about making a positive change to their company in hopes success will follow.

Positive vs. Negative Reactions
There will always be both positive and negative factors when following a business trend such as affirmative action. The most important factor to focus on is whether the positive reactions outweigh the negative reactions. Affirmative action is a difficult and complex procedure to begin implementing and I believe it is important as company executives to review both the pros and cons before taking action.

Positive Reactions
A company will benefit from creating and implementing an affirmative action plan by allowing a more diverse group of people to be employed such as disabled individuals and society's minorities. You will be giving minorities that are disadvantaged a helping hand in the workforce, breaks the typical stereotypes, and draws people to our company that may not have before. People suffering with mental or physical disabilities that have adequate qualifications which meet our hiring expectations will bring a much needed diverse network to our company. You will also be able to connect with other businesses and their partners because of this newly created network.

Negative Reactions
Groups and individuals may argue affirmative action leads to even more discrimination in the workplace than before. A company can prevent outsiders from opposing our plan by focusing on hiring a more diverse group of people based on their merit rather than just for their race, gender, and/or disability. Some companies may lower their standards in the hiring process, but we should not. Minorities may feel as if we are "doing them a favor" or being condescending by enforcing affirmative action, but we should not even address their minority status during the interview and hiring process.

Affirmative Action
Efforts of affirmative action should be met with specific, dependable, and realistic factors. The strategy should have set guidelines that all management abides by, is a dependable method which we are able to utilize without question, and be realistic. You should be able to measure our success after implementing the plan and tweak it if necessary.

Recommendations
Would it really be too troublesome to accommodate a disabled individual? The Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which was amended in 1974, is very similar to The Americans with Disabilities Act. The act states we are prohibited from "discriminating against disabled individuals in any program or activity." (2007, Bohlander & Snell). Most companies already have elevators, ramps, wheelchair accessible bathrooms, rails, brail signs, and much more. You should look at applicants with disabilities and not even consider hiring a more able-bodied individual if the disabled person is qualified for a position. The same goes for people of all ages, race, gender, and ethnicity. Their calendar age, anatomy, beliefs, or skin color should not be taken into consideration when we hire them. If they are qualified for the job and we can afford to hire them, why aren't we? Yes, it would be harder to assign certain tasks to someone who is in a wheelchair because they will be physically limited, but they may do a much better job than someone who can walk normally. You need to be fair and realize everyone qualified and experienced for a position is equal. You cannot discriminate, by law, but also because it will hurt a company.

Conclusion
One thing I want to leave you with is it truly does not matter who is doing the job, but how the job is done. Implementing affirmative action can be a very positive and beneficial business plan, but I would like to think it is not absolutely necessary. You want all employees to feel equal and as if they were hired based on their merit, not because you are following an affirmative action plan. You should be able to hire individuals that will be assets to our company that come from all different parts of the World to build a stronger network base without having to enforce affirmative action.

References
Bohlander & Snell. (2007). Equal Employment Opportunity and Human Resources Management. Managing Human Resources. Thomson South-Western. Chapter 3, 14th Edition. Retrieved July 1, 2007 from Course Materials.