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Affirmative Action in the Workplace

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Affirmative Action in the Workplace

Negative and Positive

Rebecca Mikell

Human Resources

BUS362

Affirmative action in this time and place is a very hard area to keep in place when it comes to keeping jobs even at work for the employees. Sometimes this type of equality in the working world can be good and sometimes it can be bad, but it depends on how it is used that really makes how a person can feel when it comes to this type of treatment of employees no matter what color or sex a person is during this time period. If you take a look at what might be good about this type of action where I work five days a week, you would say that it is better on the day shift than on the night shift that is for sure, because on the night shift this is very unevenly played out as far as equality. In this day and time, affirmative action is a continuous issue in the working world. It was put into place to encourage diversity and reduce discrimination based on ethnic background and skin color. (What are the Pros and Cons of Affirmative Action) Affirmative action is used basically to show that people with ethnic backgrounds are capable of doing the same job as another person of a different color or that a woman is capable of doing the same job as a man. These days, sometimes both statements are true but not in all cases all the time. I’m sure a woman believes that she can do a job better than a man, and sometimes I am one of those people , but there are some positions that companies would rather have a man and sometimes it is hard to understand that situation when it comes right down to the nitty gritty of how a job is performed. The company that I presently work for, as far as I am concerned has great affirmative action in plan and I know for a fact that there is no discrimination and that the women are treated just as fairly as the men when it comes to jobs. We have women welders, and we have plenty of

women workers, but the only thing is , we do not have any women supervisors, which I am sure a woman could probably do just as good a job of a man if she was given half the chance to do so. Sometimes if today’s society will just think about things, affirmative action will bring negativity in a workplace, because there is always going to be a position open where you know an employee of a non -ethnic background is more suitable for a position, but the manager will pick an employee of an ethnic background just so it will seem like he or she are not showing favoritism towards any minority. I have seen it happen plenty of times in my work place and I have heard of it happening in other places. It does not matter how qualified a person is for a job or how many years they have been there with this company, the minority will get the job over that person and to me, that is wrong in itself and other employees will start talking and having negative attitudes towards the member of management. I have seen it happen at my place of employment and that is the negative side of affirmative action in my opinion amongst employees, and a lot of this negativity is caused by the employer. In today’s society I believe women are treated more fairly sometimes in some places, but not in every place. There are just some places in this world that believe that a man can do a job better than a woman and it will always be that way no matter what type of job it is they have to offer. I love my job I have, but I know that I could do the Human Resource Manager job better than the man who has it now, because I know how to do every job in the front office and I know all the laws that go along with how you treat employees and I know all about the paperwork necessary to be filled out, but my company believes this job should belong to a man because he

could keep better order. So to me that is not the right way to judge someone just because they are not the right sex for a job. There is one Bible verse that I have found that kind of deals with affirmative action in places and that is Acts 6:13 which says, Now, in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. (Holy Bible , NKJV) No employees, not matter what color, sex, or race should be treated unfairly in a work place. It is not the fair thing and to me you should not have to put any type of action in place to make people see what’s right and wrong when it comes to hiring someone for a job in this society today. I know there are people who do not treat others fairly, but they should have to be the ones who have to follow a rule, and not the ones who are treating everyone equal.

Works Cited

Holy Bible , NKJV. 2011.
What are the Pros and Cons of Affirmative Action. 01 June 2011. 22 March 2014 <http://www.prosandconsof.net/what-are-the-pros-and-cons-of-affirmative-action/>.

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