Affirmative Action Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Affirmative Action - Essay Example The United States Department of Labor has implemented the affirmative action in a number of ways that include but are not limited to targeted recruitment, employee support programs, outreach campaigns, and management development. The American society has conventionally suffered a lot from racism and discrimination. There is a strong need to make such public organizations as the health care organizations, universities and the police increasingly representative of the needs of the respective populations that they cater for. Affirmative action has conventionally been subjected to a lot of debate and controversy. Policies implemented in the name of affirmative action including the gender quotas and the racial quotas for admission in the colleges in the USA have been identified as measures to promote reverse discrimination. Accordingly, the majority in the American constitution has rendered the implementation of these actions as unconstitutional. This paper supports the affirmative action because it is a way of increasing diversity in the American society at all levels, eradication of disparity in the earnings of people based on gender, and enhancement of the literacy rate of minorities in the USA. There is dire need of the affirmative action in the American society for the creation of diversity. ... John Stuart Mill asserted that the University intends to create diversity by providing people with frequent opportunities of interaction with people who differ from them. Diversity of students in terms of race, ethnicity, religion and culture is conducive for the development of a healthy educational environment in the schools and universities as it allows students to remove their differences and enhance their understanding of one another’s culture. This is particularly beneficial for the studies of sociology and psychology as students get to look at things from a wider perspective. Patricia Gurin who is the professor of psychology at the University of Miuchigan says that students in a diverse educational setting gain better learning and their tendency to play an active part in the democratic and pluralistic society after the end of their studies is enhanced. Therefore, affirmative action is the need of universities in America. Critics see diversity as a cause of dysfunctional conflicts among the organizational personnel. However, this is a very pessimistic and extremely biased assessment of the impacts of diversity upon the organizational culture. Although there is some possibility of arise of dysfunctional conflicts among the organizational personnel because of their cultural differences, yet this problem can be tackled with effective management and the conflict-resolution practices in place in the organization. Affirmative action is the need of the society because of the widespread lack of equality in the socioeconomic status of people in the USA. There are a lot of places where some people earn more than others simply because the former belong to the majority while the

Tourism and Corporate Social Responsibility Essay

Tourism and Corporate Social Responsibility - Essay Example However, like in any other industry, the value of CSR in tourism operations has not been practiced universally though recognized by industry players in recent years. One of the main reasons for the limited practice is the view that it is often considered non-essential in operations or is a secondary financial and operational priority (Campbell, 2006). At the same time, most management principles designed for the industry are focused on direct clients and sustainability has only become a recent priority for the industry (Voultsaki, 2000). Henderson (2007) points out however that recent global events, such as the Indian Ocean tsunami, have greatly challenged this viewpoint. The realization is that as tourism industries have become more significant for economies and become more accessible to global markets, it is impacting social interactions, communications and collaborations in a similar scale. In a study developed by Weaver and Lawton (2004), the concern that tourism is affecting local communities negatively developed from the limited insight on how visitor's movements and activities can change social, political and cultural dynamics. Though tourism generally boosts local economies, it also increases the demand for social services, potential for crime and victimization and environmental stress (Voultsaki, 2000). The scale of tourism has been increased dramatically by innovations communication transportation and has challenged even long-established tourist hot spots to deal with the influx of visitors (Henderson, 2007). Though many of the issues have been dealt with effectively as they developed, there was also the realization the most efforts were reactive rather than responsive to the developing needs of tourism industries. Thus, the initiative to improve industry sustainability concepts and practices became a major area of interest for research and management. According to Campbell (2006), one of the challenges for the adaptation of CSR principles is communicating effectively that the quantified costs of CSR programs are justified. Since CSR-based or initiated program benefits can not be justified directly by quantitative measures, the cost-benefit analysis often negates implementation. Though companies may be able to have fiscal justification, Henderson (2007) points out that such perspectives do not only diminish the social involvement and participation of company and ultimately lessen not only their own social value but the rest of the industry as well. This in turn can compromise public support for tourism initiatives or create deterrents to the development of policies and regulations for the industry. From the other end of the spectrum the when companies adapt CSR philosophies, the state and the community are able mitigate or regulate corporate social power which may be pervading particularly in the case of large multinational operat ors in least developed countries (Whitehouse, 2003; UNCTAD, 2002). Thus, in establishing their social relevance and concern, tourism operators are able to maintain socio-political