Equal Employment Opportunity Through Affirmative Action

• DOI: 10.1177/027507407400800111
• Date: 01 January 1974
• Published date: 01 January 1974
• Author: Thomas F. Lewinsohn
• Subject Matter: Articles

71

Equal

Employment

Opportunity

Through

Affirmative

Action

THOMAS

F.

LEWINSOHN

Director

of

Personnel,

City

of

Kansas

City,

Missouri

The

following

article

hopefully

will

stimulate

discussion

and

contributions

to

the

Forum,

"Enforcement

of

Equal

Opportunity

Provisions

in

Contract

Compliance."

The

Equal

Employment

Opportunity

Act

of

1972,

rather

than

being

considered

a

curse,

may

have

been

a

blessing

in

disguise.

Some

of the

requirements,

admittedly

overwhelming

burdens

for

some,

nonetheless,

are

just

good

personnel

practices.

One

requirement

of

the

1972

Act,

affirmative

action,

serves

to

make

employers

more

aware

of

the

needs

of

minorities

and

females.

It

is

through

this

awareness

that

not

only

may

employers

strive

to

comply

with

the

law,

but

also

actually

benefit

from

affirmative

action

by

utilizing

this

often

disregarded

source

of

personnel,

minorities

and

females.

The

establishment,

implementation,

and

success

of

an

affirmative

action

program

should

be

a

prime

concern

for

administrators.

The

same

concern

should

permeate

the

entire

organization

because

a

combined

effort

is

necessary

to

make

affirmative

action

a

success.

It

isi

of

no

value

to

have

the

best

recruitment

and

testing

procedures

if

the

organization

has

appoint-

ing

authorities

and/or

supervisors

who

are

disinterested

in

affirmative

action.

Disinterested

appointing

authorities

may

have

the

tendency

to

over-

look

the

qualified

minorities

and

females.

By

the

same

token,

supervisors

not

attuned

to

affirmative

action

may

neglect

persons

hired

under

affirma-

tive

action

with

the

resulting

loss

of

their

service

(even

though

such

per-

sons

may

still

be

employed

they

are

&dquo;tolerated&dquo;

or

token

and

non-produc-

tive).

In

establishing

an

effective

affirmative

action

program

that

is

meant

to

convey

the

same

meaning

to

all,

do

not

rely

upon

oral

communi-

cations.

Affirmative

action

programs

should

be

formalized

by

ordinance,

administrative

regulation,

or

other

written

regulation,

all

of

which

are

made

known

to

the

organization’s

employees

as

well

as

to

the

general

public.

This

is

to

be

a

positive

program

whereby

minority

and

female

applicants

are

actively

recruited,

not

just

referred

on

word-of-mouth

or

walk-in

bases.

Special

emphasis

is

necessary

to

bring

into

being

and

sup-

port

effective

equal

employment

opportunity.

A

good

affirmative

action

program

is

a

fundamental

part

of

this

special

emphasis.