THINKING AND MANAGING ETHICALLY

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

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Affirmative action

• Affirmative action means taking positive steps to improve the material status of the less advantaged in society, usually through the provision of educational or economic benefits

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Social Determinants of Health

• SDH are the economic and social conditions that influence the health of individuals, communities, and jurisdictions as a whole (WHO, 2011).

Affirmative actions are not limited

– Early childhood development;

– Education,

– Employment, and work

– Food security

– Health services

– Housing

– Income, and income distribution

– Social exclusion

– The social safety net

– Job security

– Economic and social conditions

PROS AND CONS

• Action policies is to remedy the effects of past discrimination.

• Affirmative action do not contest the moral obligation to remediate past harm.

• Not always positive results

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Introduction

• Discusses internal conflicts in business – job discrimination

• Inequities prevalent in business

• Affirmative actions needed to address exclusion of individuals

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Nature

• Discrimination in its root meaning refers to the act of distinguishing one object from another.

• In modern usage, the term refers to "wrongful discrimination," or distinguishing among people on the basis of prejudice instead of individual merit.

• Discrimination in employment involves three basic elements: – It must be a decision not based on individual merit. – The decision must derive from racial or sexual prejudice.– The decision must have a harmful impact on the interest of employees

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Discrimination

• Discrimination exists when a disproportionate number of a certain group's members hold less desirable positions despite their preferences and abilities.

• Comparisons provide evidence:– Average benefits given to various groups, – Proportion of a group found in the lowest levels of the institution, – Proportion of a group found in the most advantageous positions in

the institution.

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Average Income Comparisons

• Income comparisons are the most suggestive indicators of discrimination.

• Income gap between whites and blacks has not decreased – black average family income remains about 65% that of whites.

• Similar inequalities found based on gender. – Ratio between male/female earnings getting equal, largely due not

to a rise in female earnings but a drop in male earnings.

– In every occupational group, women earn less than men.

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Low Income Group in Society

• Poverty rate among minorities• Families headed by single women• Statistics showed that:

– Larger proportions of minorities and women are poor, – Larger proportions of people have the most desirable jobs as per

links, gender and religion. – The more women who work in an occupation, the lower the

average pay for that job.

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Discrimination: Utility, Rights and Justice

• Inequalities found in businesses should be address and if wrong should be changed.

• Arguments against discrimination fall into three groups: – utilitarian arguments, – rights arguments, – justice arguments.

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Utility

• The utilitarian argument against discrimination maintains that society's productivity will be highest when jobs are awarded based on competence or merit.

• Discrimination based on anything else is inefficient and counter to utility.

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Rights

Other, non-utilitarian arguments against discrimination maintain that it is wrong because it violates people's basic human rights.

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Justice

• A third group of arguments against discrimination views it as unjust.

• Another argument sees it as a form of injustice because individuals who are equal in all relevant respects cannot be treated differently just because they differ in other, non-relevant respects.

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Discriminatory Practices

• Despite difficulties of arguments against discrimination, five recognized categories of discriminatory practices: – Recruitment practices– Screening practices– Promotion practices– Conditions of employment that do not award

unequal wages and salaries to people doing the same work.

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Affirmative Action

• The policies discussed in above are all negative, aimed at preventing further discrimination.

• Affirmative action programs, in contrast, call for positive steps designed to eliminate the effects of past discrimination.

• Such begin with a detailed study, a "utilization analysis"

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THE FUTURE

• Affirmative action remains enormously controversial, and political and legal battles over the issue are sure to continue.

• In the courts, challenges to affirmative action programs may gain additional momentum with a change in the composition of the Supreme Court.

• The survival of government affirmative action programs is a topic likely to be considered again in the years ahead.

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