Implementation Of Affirmative Action Research Articles

Affirmative Action Application or Black and White in South Africa Higher Education Institutions: Is it the way forward or not?

We will, demonstrate what affirmative action entails, its origin and the relationship with discrimination and equality. The paper will also highlight the implementation of affirmative action in the Higher Education sector in South Africa. Affirmative action or black and white are the additional corrective steps which must be taken in order that those who have been historically disadvantage by unfair discrimination before 1994 are able to derive full benefits from an equitable employment environment. While there has been a significant increase in the number of women appointed into management positions, the proportion in relation to the total number of women in senior posts such as those of Vice Chancellors, Deputy-Vice Chancellors and Executive Deans still remains problematic. Considerations should be taken with regard to issues of access, equity and relevance. Indeed, affirmative action should be located within a rigorous process that will ensure that those who are for example, promoted to senior positions both in private and public sectors are able to demonstrate strategic thinking and action, quality execution of tasks, efficiency and effectiveness in achieving organisational goals. This will also be followed by a brief South Africa’s case study of different entities (South African Breweries and Sowetan Newspaper). A comparison of USA’s affirmative action and whether “there is a light at the end of a tunnel – affirmative action” will be done.

RELAÇÕES RACIAIS, CULTURA ACADÊMICA E TENSIONAMENTOS APÓS AÇÕES AFIRMATIVAS

As ações afirmativas no Ensino Superior colocam em pauta uma série de questões sobre a universidade pública e sobre as relações raciais na sociedade brasileira. Trazem à cena uma discussão que não pode mais ser adiada: o papel da universidade frente aos desafios contemporâneos e a sua efetiva democratização. O presente trabalho tem como objetivo analisar a cultura acadêmico-curricular e suas configurações derivadas da presença de estudantes negros cotistas no cotidiano da Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. Para isso, utilizamos como procedimentos metodológicos: a análise dos documentos normativos e os projetos pedagógicos de nove cursos de graduação; questionários aplicados a professores e coordenadores de cursos e depoimentos de estudantes negras. A pesquisa permitiu identificar desafios e tensionamentos que a implantação das ações afirmativas traz ao cotidiano da universidade para assegurar o acesso e a permanência (material e simbólica) com qualidade social aos estudantes cotistas negros.

Divergence or Convergence in the U.S. and Brazil: Understanding Race Relations Through White Family Reactions to Black-White Interracial Couples

Different approaches to race mixture in the U.S. and Brazil have led to the notion that they are polar opposites in terms of race relations. However, the end of de jure segregation in the U.S., the acknowledgement of racial inequality, and subsequent implementation of affirmative action in Brazil have called into question the extent to which these societies are vastly different. By examining race mixture as a lived reality, this study offers a novel approach to understanding racial boundaries in these two contexts. I analyze 87 interviews with individuals in black-white couples in Los Angeles and Rio de Janeiro to examine the cultural repertoires and discursive traditions they draw on to understand white families’ reactions to black spouses. I find that U.S. couples employ “color-blindness” to understand opposition to Blacks marrying into the family. Brazilian couples perceive overt racism and the use of humor from white family members. Nevertheless, couples with black males experienced more hostility in both sites. In addition, white male autonomy was related to the lower hostility that black female-white male couples experienced in both societies. By examining contemporary race mixture as a lived reality, this study complicates simplistic understandings of race relations as similar or different in these two societies. Furthermore, with the increase of multiracial families in both societies, it reveals the family as an important site for redrawing and policing racial boundaries.

Affirmative action: Pre-implementation criteria, purpose and satisfaction with diversity management

This study assesses employees’ perceptions of the important criteria that need to be in place before the implementation of Affirmative Action, the purpose of Affirmative Action and, their level of satisfaction with the manner in which diversity issues are communicated and managed in the organization. The study was undertaken in a public sector Electricity Department in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The population includes 100 employees in the organization, from which a sample of 81 was drawn using simple random sampling. Data was collected using a self-developed, pre-coded, self-administered questionnaire whose reliability was assessed using Cronbach’s Coefficient Alpha. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results indicate that employees felt that preparing them and managers is imperative for the successful implementation and management of Affirmative action and diversity issues. Whilst employees understood the purposes of Affirmative Action, all employees, irrespective of gender, age, language, tenure and race, are unhappy with the manner in which diversity issues are communicated and managed in the organization

Students’ Perception of Girlchild Affirmative Action in High Schools in Masvingo Urban, Zimbabwe

This study sought to evaluate the effectiveness of the girlchild affirmative action policy in secondary schools in Zimbabwe using Christian and Ndarama high schools as case studies. Both theoretical study and empirical research methods were used to ensure a balanced evaluation of the problem. Ninety nine of the 230 Form six students at the two schools were used as questionnaire respondents, and 2 focal point teachers of the 20 A level teachers at the schools were sampled for the interviews. Case study, descriptive survey and qualitative participatory approaches were used as the main research methodologies. The study established that male students are more than female students in all advanced level disciplines studied at the schools; both male and female students do not support the idea of affirmative action in their schools; authorities are not doing enough to conscientise both teachers and their students on the need for affirmative action in schools; the affirmative action policy is not being implemented in secondary schools in Zimbabwe and thus the policy is not yet effective in meeting the desired goals. The main challenge faced by secondary schools in the implementation of affirmative action was found to be mainly the issue of negative attitudes towards affirmative action. Entering school at lower points than boys reinforces the idea that women are academically weaker than men. The study recommends intensive awareness campaigns and advocacy to remove negative attitudes towards affirmative action; formal training sessions on affirmative action in the schools to help students contextualize the concept of affirmative action; government monitoring and follow-ups to ensure that the affirmative action policy is being implemented; among other recommendations.

The incentive effects of affirmative action in a real-effort tournament

Affirmative action policies bias tournament rules in order to provide equal opportunities to a group of competitors who have a disadvantage they cannot be held responsible for. Its implementation affects the underlying incentive structure which might induce lower performance by participants, and additionally result in a selected pool of tournament winners that is less efficient. In this paper, we study the empirical validity of such concerns in a case where the disadvantage affects capacities to compete. We conducted real-effort tournaments between pairs of children from two similar schools who systematically differed in how much training they received ex-ante on the task at hand. Contrary to the expressed concerns, our results show that the implementation of affirmative action did not result in a significant performance loss for either advantaged or disadvantaged subjects; instead it rather enhanced the performance for a large group of participants. Moreover, affirmative action resulted in a more equitable tournament winner pool where half of the selected tournament winners came from the originally disadvantaged group. Hence, the negative selection effects due to the biased tournament rules were (at least partially) offset by performance enhancing incentive effects.

Writing change: affirmative action as a tool for newspaper transformation at the Durban Post

This study explored the use of affirmative action as a tool for transformation in the mainstream English-language press in South Africa through a case study at The Durban Post. It seeks to understand the extent to which the newspaper has transformed its staff, coverage and readership in the eyes of its reporters and editors. Additionally, this paper investigates staff views on the implementation of affirmative action in their workspace and this policy's potential to impact on transformation. Observation, interviews and document analysis were used for data collection. This study finds that though The Durban Post's staff has transformed to some extent, the majority of staff members interviewed feel that the paper has yet to achieve significant transformation of coverage, readership and power structure, due to societal and internal systematic factors.

Minding the gap: attitudes toward affirmative action in South Africa

Since its introduction, affirmative action has become an increasingly controversial policy to address labour market inequalities in South Africa. Yet, in spite of this public debate, nationally representative, empirical research on patterns of opposition to and support for the redress policy remains relatively circumscribed. In this article, attitudinal data collected over the past decade is employed to examine the factors that influence these perceptions, and the extent to which they have been changing. The results reveal that attitudes to race- and gender-based affirmative action in employment have been favourable on aggregate over the last decade. The specified beneficiary of affirmative action appears to matter, with more positive evaluations evident when the policies target women and disabled persons than when racial disadvantage is targeted. Furthermore, while there is a broad-based, resolute belief in racial equality in principle, there is less agreement on the implementation of particular redress policies. Affirmative action for instance enjoys less support than compensatory policies or those focused on addressing class-based disadvantage. An element of self-interest appears to be informing evaluations among designated beneficiary groups, with black respondents more inclined than other population groups to support race-based affirmative action and women more partial to gender-based affirmative action than men. While the beneficiaries of affirmative action have typically been the better educated and skilled among the designated groups, highest support for this policy is reported by the more marginalized and vulnerable who are least likely to have personally benefitted from affirmative action implementation to date. This support may reflect a sense of collective self-interest or possibly an expectation that this redress policy will bring benefits in the future. Finally, views on whether affirmative action is producing a more skilled workforce and socially cohesive society are again broadly positive, though the profile of those believing in such outcomes deviates somewhat from those supporting affirmative action generally. In this instance, those least likely to have gained from affirmative action in practice are those least confident in the policy’s outcomes, possibly due to a gap between perceived performance of affirmative action policy and expected benefits.

Identifying the barriers to affirmative action training: Perceptions of affirmative action appointees in Mpumalanga public hospitals

Orientation: Since the advent of democracy in 1994 numerous policies and programmes were put in place to address the imbalances of race and gender in the South African labour force.Research purpose: The aim of this study is to gauge the perceptions about existing barriers in the implementation of affirmative action (AA) training interventions at public hospitals in the Mpumalanga Province.Motivations for the study: The research conducted in this study provides valuable information which would enable the Mpumalanga health department and public hospital management to develop improved interventions associated with AA training interventions.Research design, approach and method: The population of the study consists of two groups of participants which are AA appointees and AA mentors. The study mixed qualitative and quantitative research methodological processes.Main findings: Results of this study show that there are differences in perceptions between Black respondents who believe that mentors should be held liable for the failure of the mentees and White respondents who disagreed. The findings suggest that employees are of the opinion that internal policy guidelines on the implementation of AA are not communicated to all employees.Practical implications: Public hospital management should articulate the purpose of AA interventions and its targets to both mentors and mentees and continuously review the implementation thereof.Contribution: The study contributes towards explaining the importance of training interventions that are useful for the success of AA appointees in their respective duties and also give account of barriers that are experienced by these appointees.

The minor roads to excellence: positive action, outreach policies and the new positioning of elite high schools in France and England

Increased academic attention has been drawn to democratisation in higher education, following the implementation of affirmative action in America. However, the models of Access policies presented by certain European educational systems deserve more attention. France and Britain share a common position on elitism, although they define it according to very different principles: on the one hand, France emphases the old model of meritocracy through academic performance, whereas in Britain, some institutions still tend to favour a more hereditary transmission of ethos. A comprehensive comparison of ‘positive discrimination’ and Outreach policies allows us to try and rebuild the political conditions (and debates) around the implementation of these policies, which now target individuals rather than the usual macrosocial or territorial categories. Regulation patterns – although not yet finalised – reveal to some extent a general willingness for ‘potential and ability assessment’, which would make recruitment systems for higher education in both France and Britain less socially exclusive.

Affirmative Action in the Legal Profession

This article examines whether the legal profession should use quotas and decision‐making preferences in recruitment and promotion in favour of women, ethnic minorities, and those from socially disadvantaged backgrounds. It argues that this is necessary to eradicate current patterns of discrimination and disadvantage. It also argues that quotas and decision‐making preferences do not necessarily conflict with appointment or promotion on merit, and hence that consequent unfairness to other applicants is more apparent than real. Moreover, any potential stigmatization of the beneficiaries of affirmative action is outweighed by the advantages in reversing the under‐representation of women, ethnic minorities, and those from socially disadvantaged background, thereby challenging perceptions of their inferior qualities as lawyers. Finally, practical problems in the implementation of affirmative action are considered and argued to be insufficiently serious to stand in the way of its introduction.

Empirical Findings on the Impact of Affirmative Action on the Training and Development of Black Managers for Corporate Organizations in South Africa

The implementation of affirmative action is an important consideration in organizational dynamics and a strategic priority in South Africa. Training and developing blacks to fill managerial positions is also fraught with the concern to avoid tokenism and is compounded by the shortage of skilled black managers. Some organizations have adopted a proactive stance to accelerate the advancement of blacks into supervisory and managerial roles. Companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and elicited from a special survey of top companies were the target population for the study. The simple random sampling technique was used to draw a sample. Primary data for the survey were collected by means of a structured questionnaire, which was personally administered by trained field research assistants. A response rate of 83 percent was obtained. Key findings emerged with regard to the implementation of affirmative action as a strategic business intervention.

From "Racial Democracy" to Affirmative Action: Changing State Policy on Race in Brazil

By analyzing the Brazilian government's surprise endorsement of affir- mative action in 2001, this article explores how the state constructs race in society and how ideas drive policy change. After decades defending the myth of democracy, the state admitted to racism and endorsed an extreme form of affirma- tive action—quotas—for Afro-Brazilians in government service and higher educa- tion. Based on fieldwork conducted in 2002, this article explains the recent policy turnaround as a dialectic between social mobilization and presidential initiative framed within unfolding international events. The presidency of Fernando Henrique Cardoso nurtured a transformation in political action on race at the same time that the president himself initiated major shifts in official discourse; later, preparations for the World Conference on Racism, held in Durban, South Africa, in 2001, pro- voked national soul-searching on racial inequalities. The conference itself provided an occasion, and a moment of reckoning, for Brazil to jettison past policies and embrace a new approach. I conclude that ideas emerging from social networks, made salient by presidential interest, and legitimized by international agreements may account for discursive policy change, but that implementation of affirmative action will require attention to material interests and electoral incentives.

From “Racial Democracy” to Affirmative Action: Changing State Policy on Race in Brazil

By analyzing the Brazilian government's surprise endorsement of affirmative action in 2001, this article explores how the state constructs race in society and how ideas drive policy change. After decades defending the myth of “racial democracy,” the state admitted to racism and endorsed an extreme form of affirmative action—quotas—for Afro-Brazilians in government service and higher education. Based on fieldwork conducted in 2002, this article explains the recent policy turnaround as a dialectic between social mobilization and presidential initiative framed within unfolding international events. The presidency of Fernando Henrique Cardoso nurtured a transformation in political action on race at the same time that the president himself initiated major shifts in official discourse; later, preparations for the World Conference on Racism, held in Durban, South Africa, in 2001, provoked national soul-searching on racial inequalities. The conference itself provided an occasion, and a moment of reckoning, for Brazil to jettison past policies and embrace a new approach. I conclude that ideas emerging from social networks, made salient by presidential interest, and legitimized by international agreements may account for discursive policy change, but that implementation of affirmative action will require attention to material interests and electoral incentives.

Diversification of U.S. medical schools via affirmative action implementation.

BackgroundThe diversification of medical school student and faculty bodies via race-conscious affirmative action policy is a societal and legal option for the U.S. Supreme Court has recently ruled its use constitutional. This paper investigates the implications of affirmative action, particularly race-conscious compared to race-blind admissions policy; explains how alternative programs are generally impractical; and provides a brief review of the history and legality of affirmative action in the United States.DiscussionSelection based solely on academic qualifications such as GPA and MCAT scores does not achieve racial and ethnic diversity in medical school, nor does it adequately predict success as practicing physicians. However, race-conscious preference yields greater practice in underserved and often minority populations, furthers our biomedical research progression, augments health care for minority patients, and fosters an exceptional medical school environment where students are better able to serve an increasingly multicultural society.SummaryThe implementation of race-conscious affirmative action results in diversity in medicine. Such diversity has shown increased medical practice in underserved areas, thereby providing better health care for the American people.

Examining the Implementation of Affirmative Action in Law Enforcement

This study examined some of the factors involved in implementing Affirmative Action Programs (AAP) in three Arizona police departments: Phoenix, Mesa and Tempe. In light of recent efforts to end affirmative action in some states, the article suggests that AA is one of the few ways to keep public safety organizations focused on diversity and equity.

Employees' perceptions of the implementation of affirmative action in the health sector in the Standerton District in South Africa.

Since the inception of a fully democratic government in South Africa in 1994, government and trade unions have been placing increasing pressure on government departments and public institutions to introduce steps to correct racial discrimination through the implementation of affirmative action (AA). This study, which was carried out in the Standerton Health District, assesses employees' perceptions of and attitudes towards the implementation of AA. A quantitative design was used. Data was gathered from a total population of 360 employees by means of a questionnaire. The study revealed the following major themes: Respondents feel that if AA were effectively implemented, there would be an increase in productivity. There is strong support for the implementation of AA appointments. The implementation of AA will fail if the goals of AA are not properly and effectively communicated to all employees.

Job queues, discrimination, and affirmative action

If employers have different Becker‐type discrimination coefficients for different demographic groups, then the implementation of affirmative action may have a differential impact on those groups. We estimate two vector autoregressive models of the U.S. economy, including the unemployment rates of four demographic groups. We find that a job queue existed before the implementation of affirmative action and that affirmative action changed the ordering of the job queue in manner that had a negative impact on nonwhite males. We find evidence that affirmative action may have increased the unemployment rate of nonwhite males by increasing their duration of unemployment.

Job queues, discrimination, and affirmative action

If employers have different Becker-type discrimination coefficients for different demographic groups, then the implementation of affirmative action may have a differential impact on those groups. We estimate two vector autoregressive models of the U.S. economy, including the unemployment rates of four demographic groups. We find that a job queue existed before the implementation of affirmative action and that affirmative action changed the ordering of the job queue in manner that had a negative impact on nonwhite males. We find evidence that affirmative action may have increased the unemployment rate of nonwhite males by increasing their duration of unemployment.

Running steel, running America: race, economic policy, and the decline of liberalism

The history of modern liberalism has been hotly debated in contemporary politics and the academy. Here, Judith Stein uses the steel industry--long considered fundamental to the U.S. economy--to examine liberal policies and priorities after World War II. In a provocative revision of postwar American history, she argues that it was the primacy of foreign commitments and the outdated economic policies of the state, more than the nation's racial conflicts, that transformed American liberalism from the powerful progressivism of the New Deal to the feeble policies of the 1990s. Stein skillfully integrates a number of narratives usually treated in isolation--labor, civil rights, politics, business, and foreign policy--while underscoring the state's focus on the steel industry and its workers. By showing how those who intervened in the industry treated such economic issues as free trade and the globalization of steel production in isolation from the social issues of the day--most notably civil rights and the implementation of affirmative action--Stein advances a larger argument about postwar liberalism. Liberal attempts to address social inequalities without reference to the fundamental and changing workings of the economy, she says, have led to the foundering of the New Deal state. |Using the steel industry to examine liberal policies and priorities after World War II, Stein shows that economic policy--not racial conflict--led to the feeble liberalism of the 1990s.