Affirmative Action
As the manager of human resources (HR) in a medium-size company that is involved with several Affirmative Action initiatives, you have noticed that the racial makeup of your workforce has an increasing number of multiracial employees (or workers who are the offspring of a biracial couple). You are wondering how these employees should be counted in any kind of attempt to implement Affirmative Action.
In other words, if future hiring is meant to make the workforce relatively proportionate to the population's racial mix, should workers who are, for example, offspring of an African-American mother and a Caucasian father be counted as White, African-American, or neither? Explain your answer.
Discuss the following information:
• The trend being seen in the general population in terms of people who could be characterized as biracial.
• Study the following table and comment on the views of multiracial people regarding Affirmative Action found
Interviewees' Attitudes Toward Affirmative Action
|
View on Affirmative Action
|
Overall
|
|
Pro-AA and in favor of biracial persons qualifying
|
58%
|
|
Mixed feelings about AA but believe all biracial persons should qualify
|
23%
|
|
Pro-AA but unsure whether or not biracial persons who appear white should qualify
|
4%
|
|
Pro-AA but believe biracial persons who appear white should not qualify
|
4%
|
|
Opposed to AA but believe biracial persons should qualify as long as it exists
|
11.5%
|
(Korgen, 1999)
How do you think biracial people should be counted in terms of Affirmative Action initiatives? Explain your answer from an objective perspective. This should be the main focus in your discussion.