Affirmative Action and How Affirmative

¶ … affirmative action and how affirmative action may be affected by growing workforce diversity.

Affirmative action is generically understood as an integrated effort through which more opportunities of employment, education and business presence are created for women and other minority categories (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2009). The reasons as to why I agree with these efforts are numerous, including the belief in the morality of such an effort, as opposed to the immorality of women and minorities being subjected to more restrictive and discriminative conditions. Aside from this however, the primary reason is a socio-economic one, which makes women and minorities more prone to poverty, as they earn less, are less educated and presented with fewer opportunities for employment and development.

The growth of the workforce diversity, concomitant with the efforts towards affirmative action, might eventually lead to the integration of the regional demographics with the construction of the workforce (Striving to Thrive, 2011). In other words, the increasing diversity would support the principles of affirmative action.

3.4. Use additional sources and this website the U.S. Department of Justice website (www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada) to identify what is reasonable accommodations and how it is determined.

Reasonable accommodations represent adjustments made by the state, the employer or another party, through which the general conditions are adapted so that they are fair for a special category of individuals, based on proven needs (Americans with Disabilities Act, 2001).

The reasonable accommodations are intended to eliminate or remove the impact of a disability, but also to ensure that the treatment of all parties is equitable. Reasonable accommodations are determined after they are solicited by the individual, and they are based on the assessment of the information provided by the solicitor. "When applying for a reasonable accommodation, care should be taken to ensure that the completed application form contains sufficient pertinent information to allow decisions to be made appropriate to the circumstances of the individual candidate" (State Examinations Commission, 2010).

4.1. Describe how diversity of workers has been impacting organizations, including organizations for which you have worked recently.

The diversity of the workers has been impacting organizations on multiple levels. For instance, it has forced them to become more attentive in order to avoid any accusations of discrimination; in other words, it has forced them to become even more focused on performance, rather than other criteria, such as gender, race, ethnicity, religious appurtenance, sexual orientation and so on. Also, the growing workforce diversity has generated an increased awareness of relationships and authority within the work climate (Skaggs and DiTomaso).

Then, aside from these, the increase of workforce diversity has generated an increased organizational capability of adapting to change; it has improved communications and has allowed the employees to become more flexible and understand and accept the cultural differences (Jensen, 2011).

4.2. For many individuals, the nature of work and jobs is changing. Describe these changes, some reasons for them, and how they are affecting both HR management and individuals.