Affirmative Action and the Human Resource Manager in the Twenty-first Century Workplace in the United States of America

John W. Coverdale
(College of Business, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, USA)

Abstract: An analysis of affirmative action as public policy in the United States. The author explores the Civil Rights Movement as it relates to the birth of affirmative action in the early 1960’s. Within that context, affirmative action as public policy is examined from its origins, in the areas of government, business, and higher education. To assess the impact of affirmative action, as well as the arguments over the merits of affirmative action, Human Resource Management professionals in the aforementioned industries were surveyed to determine their attitudes toward affirmative action and whether affirmative action has worked as originally intended. While the Human Resource Managers who responded to the survey indicated that in general they understood the history of affirmative action, and the original intentions of affirmative action, more than half of them disagreed with affirmative action plans in the workplace. Nearly seventy five percent of the respondents wanted to see hiring based on merit and qualifications, not race and ethnicity. However, when asked if the United States still needs affirmative action programs to assure equal treatment for minorities, over one third of the respondents indicated that such programs were still needed.

Key words: affirmative action; human resource manager; American workplace

JEL codes: M12, D23, J18, J24, J78, I24, M51