Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity in the United States - Research Paper Example

The paper "Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity in the United States" is a worthy example of a research paper on human resources. Diversity at workplaces has become very important and the government aims to ensure that every workplace has a right combination of different people from over the world without giving importance to gender or race (Foothill, 2004). There have been various different regulations that have been made to fight against discrimination at workplaces. This paper aims at understanding two such laws relating to employment discrimination and comparing the two on various basis.

Affirmative Action: In 1965, the orders of President Lyndon Johnson passed an executive order which required federal contractors to take affirmative action to ensure they were not discriminating among employees. Since then the US government has taken a number of steps to increase the inclusion and representation of women and other minorities in areas of employment, business, education etc. This has been developed in two paths, one being the legal path and the other path includes public debates.

The contractors have been set down with time tables and goals to ensure that there were no racial or gender preferences in the selection processes (Fullinwider, 2005). Equal Employment Opportunities: The Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) was set up to ensure that every employee has equal access to employment opportunities that are available at work. The Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) was set up to enforce a number of different laws relating to employment discrimination at workplaces.

The laws that EEOC enforces are varied from Civil Rights Act of 1964, age discrimination in employment act, American with disability act, civil rights act of 1991, etc (Labor law Journal, 1980). Affirmative Action (AA) and Equal Employment Opportunities (EEO): Both AA and EEO, have a few laws that fall under them like Equal Pay Act of 1963, Civil Rights Act of 1964, Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, Civil Rights Act of 1991, Current proposed EEO/AA Legislation, etc. An executive order 11246 was passed in 2002, which entailed the details for AA and EEO and the required steps to be taken to ensure complete diversity and no discrimination at workplaces (OFCCP, 2002).

Also, the laws have been enacted in many cases to ensure that every person gets equal chances to work without any discrimination based on race, gender or age. Reverse Discrimination: Reverse discrimination refers to the fundamental where the majority is given importance. For instance, in gender discrimination, the men generally fall into the category of reverse discrimination, unlike the women who face discrimination. It refers to the importance that is given to the majority while discriminating a set of people.

Reverse discrimination falls under Title VII or the 14th amendment of the US Constitution and also under the equal protection clauses of the state constitutions these prohibit any sort of preferential treatment to any individual or group. The normal kinds of discrimination suits that occur are based mainly on race, gender or age (Gillian, 2003). Effective Diversity at work: Diversity at work along with the laws to ensure no discrimination at work has improved the working conditions in a number of aspects.

The implementation of diversity at work will help the organization achieve optimum results through factors like: a) Improved Employee performance: It is proved that employees that are satisfied at work are more productive. With the implementation of diversity at work it allows employees to contribute in teams which makes the employees feel more committed to their jobs b) Improved Customer Satisfaction: Achieving customer satisfaction requires the workforce to be responsive and with the diverse employees within the organization, it would help the company deliver better and more efficient results.

It is essential for organizations to know the market to deliver efficient and effective services to the community. Thus employees that mirror the customer needs are most essential to cater well to the needs of the markets. c) Improved Organizational Performance: Every organization requires to give importance to diversity. A mix of staff within an organization allows the productivity of the organization to improve in a number of ways since there are are a number of different perspectives and different interpretations to problems which can help the organization to move towards its goals and improve its performance.

Decision making within a firm can also be more firm with the introduction of diversity. Also, different ways of working towards the same goal is always appreciated by all (Office of equal employment opportunities, 2008). Also, Affirmative action and reverse discrimination play a very important role and help the companies to perform better and increase dignity and respect for all. Conclusion: Diversity plays a very important role in all countries and the government of every country has taken this issue very seriously and attempted to improve the working conditions.

Also after having discussed the benefits of diversity at work, it is quite evident that the incorporation of diversity at a workplace not only improves the business however also helps in improving the employee productivity. Diversity also emphasizes on learning from others and focuses on dignity and respect for all. Also, the laws that have been introduced by the government have helped improve the situation of the minority in a number of ways and has shown very positive results.