Walmart Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Walmart - Article Example Wal-Mart purchases directly from the manufacturer. This coupled with the effective use of technology and warehousing strategies, Wal-Mart is able to provide its customers with quality products at competitive prices. Such decisions made by companies, which help them gain a competitive edge against their rivals in the market are termed strategic decisions. These decisions involve some degree of innovation and thus, help companies gain advantages which are sustainable (Hayden et al, 4). One of the key components of Wal-Mart’s business model is its human resource. The company has a frugal culture yet the working environment is pleasant. The employees are called associates as opposed to employees. An associates’ well being is of high priority for the management. There is no concept of work-union, as the company takes care of associates’ needs and demands. The promotion criterion for managers is dependent upon the profits made by their particular outlet; thus, it leads to maximum work efficiency. In order to inculcate spirit of competitiveness, the stores are not only encouraged to compete with other retail franchises, but also amongst themselves. The organization is well equipped with the latest technological innovations, which are like real time market research, satellite system and store performance tracking. In addition to this Wal-Mart is very particular about its logistic partnerships with various vendors from around the world. Low cost logistics are the reason why Wal-Mart has its present competitive edge. Thus, the company pays special attention to its procurement process (Canak, 5). Over the years Wal-Mart has thrived by using a number of various different factors to its advantage. This includes a business model which till date is a mystery to those outside the organization. The company is also very good at hiding its deficiencies and covering its faults. Thus, it provides an example of organisational model to the competitors seems which virtually seems flawless and is overall very efficient and effective. Such effective strategies by the company, has made it one of largest retailers of America. Wal-Mart follows three fundamental and generic strategies - Focus Strategy, Differentiation Strategy and Cost Leadership. Wal-Mart started its operations by opening large stores in small shops (Canak, 5). At that time, all the other companies focused their efforts and resources on large metropolitan cities. However, Wal-Mart saw a gap and thus, capitalized on it by opening stores in small towns, not only did the company had a monopoly, but also had to pay low rental costs and goods were available at cheap local prices. Wal-Mart aims to not only provide products at low prices, but also provide unique and differentiated products to its consumers. The store’s USP is high quality products at lowest possible prices. This is one strategy that Wal-Mart has followed since the very beginning and plans to follow for its future strategic plans as well. It order to reduce its product cost, the company streamline its procurement process by getting products manufactured from different parts of the world. This reduces the production costs and thus, the eventual end price of a product (Hayden et al 12). High inflation has plagued the world over the past few years. Even though countries have found their way out of the recession, high economic inflation is still a problem. Wal-Mart plans to provide goods at affordable

Sonoco HR Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Sonoco HR - Essay Example The industry’s shift towards a more involved supplier that offers end to end packaging solutions made it hard for SONOCO to compete directly with its competitors until serious change are implemented in the company. In response SONOCOs leadership implemented strategies designed to control cost that is juxtaposed to its new business model of generating top line growth. The strategy involves retooling its consumer packaging divisions to meet the large demands of clients that is sensitive to consumer taste or preferences. The new business model practically granted more autonomy to the General Managers of each division in terms of managing his or her own talent pool despite the new business model’s demand for more cross functional cooperation to respond to the dynamic customer needs. SONOCOs corporate culture is family-oriented, paternalistic, collaborative, and team oriented. Due to its long profitable history the company in its entirety tolerates underperformance so long a s the company can afford it. But the employees are also extremely loyal to the company with majority of them enjoying tenures of more than 20 years. The company’s employees pride themselves of being able to set the phase in the packaging industry. The Issues Cindy Hartley was hired to assist SONOCO to support the strategies of DeLoach the company’s CEO that is aimed at: (1) increasing GMs accountability for talent management; (2) distribute HR talent and support more evenly across the company’s divisions and make HR systems and process consistent; and (3) to optimize HR’s ability to provide customize strategic support to the GMs businesses. These priority areas are designed to align the organization with the dynamic demands of the packaging industry. After conducting a comprehensive assessment of SONOCO’s HR needs, Hartley identified three priorities that she needs to resolve at once to respond to the challenge posed by DeLoach. First, the mechanic al and arbitrary compensation and performance-management systems needed to be linked and made consistent and more accurately reflective of employee contributions to company performance. Second, the company needed to create an employee-development process to refine employees’ skill and to identify and develop deficient skills. Third, develop succession planning to identify and prepare the next generation of leaders was urgent. It would be prudent to ensure that whatever changes and initiatives that will be implemented by the organization it will also change the corporate culture and psyche of SONOCO to sustain its continuous implementation (Devero, 2007). The onus should be geared towards continuous improvement through iterative compliance to dynamic policies and procedure of a learning organization (Senge, 2006). The transformation should also be complete that it will positively influence or impact the correct core values of the organization (Whiteley & Whiteley, 2006). Analy sis of the issues SONOCOs steady growth through acquisition of other companies over the years has contributed to the redundancy of several departments across divisions when the acquired companies were eventually consolidated to their respective divisions (DePamphilis, 2009). One of these departments is the HR department. Operational imperatives or requirements that call for expedient filling of positions to meet orders from customers also contributed to

Qualities A Person Must Possess Essay Example for Free

Qualities A Person Must Possess Essay In this fast paced world , highly competitive labour market and lesser jobs for every individuals , Sometimes it becomes very hard for a person to get a good job for himself if he does not possess good qualities required from him . Every individual is born with some qualities but one cannot say that those qualities are the best and suited for all jobs . For different jobs different types of qualities are required from a person such as for a student , commitment towards his studies is the most important aspect that can lead him/her to success . If a student has a quality of being committed to his studies then he will never give priority to any other task other than studies and will be fully absorbed in it until he gets what he wants . Apart from that there are some qualities that are equally important in any field of work you are doing . In this essay I will focus on three particular qualities I have identified that a person practicing in the field of work you want to go into must possess. The first quality that I have identified as important for a person doing any type of work is Communication skills . Communication skills means Ability to communicate with other people. It includes Oral and written both mood of communication. A person who is able to communicate effectively and with confidence is said to have a good Communication skills. This type of skill is almost required in any field of work, whether it is military , teaching , marketing or finance . Here it is important to note that Knowing good English doesn’t mean a person is a good communicator but how and when he uses a particular word or phrase can tell if a person is good communicator or not . Suppose if a marketing manager wants to tell his boos that the product Is in declining phase but says that the product is not liked by the customer anymore will entirely just change the whole meaning. Therefore in order to success in any field of work ability to communicate effectively can be considered as the most important quality. (Alessandra , 2002) Pressure Handling is another quality that employees should possess. Having pressure handling quality means controlling oneself when the pressure of work is tremendous. A person whose work and dealing with other people remains unaffected even when he has a lot of work to complete is said to have a good pressure handling quality. There are many fields of work where individuals remains in pressure of work, some of the jobs are management, labor working in factory, freelance writing, etc.. Moreover A person who has been on a job for years will feel less pressure towards his job as compare to a person who is recently employed. Suppose if there are two project managers, A and B, A has been recently hired and is a fresh graduate and B has been working for 10 years in the same field. Because of difference in experience, Manager A will have more pressure from his jobs, his personal life and professional life will both be disturbed whereas manager B will do the work without effecting is personal and professional life. Fortunately this quality can also be learned through books and experience Third and Last quality that I have identified is of Emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is a new phenomena but a very important one especially for decision makers Emotional intelligence means how intelligently a person behaves when emotions comes in between. A person who makes a wrong decision when an emotion is involved means that the person is not emotionally intelligent. We encounter plenty of situations in our daily lives when we don’t act logically but emotionally. We buy cars for young children even when we know that the child is not big enough to drive it. Decision over Laying off an close employee when he has committed a wrong deed can only be made by a person who is emotionally intelligent because he knows that it can hurt the organization’s reputation very badly. (Alessandra , 2002) Any field of work you want to go into you must possess some qualities that will differentiate you from the rest of the employees. Qualities like good Communication skills, Pressure Handling and Emotional Intelligent are some of those qualities. At the same time we should always keep in mind that a person is not born with all the qualities but he can learn it anytime during his lifetime

Reason and faith in religion

Reason and faith in religion Reason and Faith are sources of authority whereby the belief of an individual can rest. Belief is referred to as the values that emanate from a methodological process of inquiry. This process can either be religious, aesthetic, moral or even intellectual. On this basis, reason does not emanate from the wisdoms of traditional authority, or oracles, or assumptions. However, reason requires the existence of real life evidence to proof a fact. Once there is a clear demonstration of this evidence, a claim can be understood and justified as either to be false, or true. Faith is the opposite of reason, and it does not require any evidence for an individual to believe in a given issue or authority. On this basis, faith is a demonstration of assent or trust (Albl, 22). Faith therefore involves an action of commitment that emanates from the believer, in relation to a given belief. Religious faith involves the belief of an individual to a supernatural deity, or God. The root cause of this faith always comes from an individual revelation of God, or the workings of God (The Bible, 3). On this note, revelation can either be direct, personally experiencing the powers of God. It can also be indirect, that is experiencing the powers of God through the testimonies of other people. Faith that emanates from religion is of two types, namely evidence insensitive faith, and evidence sensitive faith. Evidence sensitive faith is built upon by demonstrable truths, which includes testimonies brought forth by believers or people who ascribe to the same Faith. Mueller (27) denotes that this type of faith is also built on the teachings and lives of people who believed in God. On the other hand, Mueller (29) denotes that evidence-insensitive faith is built upon the individual experiences of a person with his God. Albl (26) explains that it is very possible for a person to believe in God, through faith, or through reason. This paper take a stand that the bible is the main book that provides guidance on an individual’s Christian faith. Reason is only used to confirm and provid e support on the various religious beliefs. Prickett and Robert (36) denote that the main factor that led to the problems associated with reason and faith comes from the concept of revelation. All religious believes are based on revelations. Revelations always entails an individual’s experiences with God, which in turn they are described through sacred pronunciations (Prickett and Robert, 33). These revelations are then written in canonical writings or are passed through oral traditions. An example of a person who experienced revelation and passed the message through canonical writings is apostle Paul. Paul had a personal experience with God, and wrote the messages which are always reffered to as epistles. Hicks (36) denote that these writings are always immune from a rationale critique, or evaluations. On this basis, any attempt to evaluate and critically analyze these messages is a mistake. However, in the current century, Hicks (41) denotes that various religious organizations encourage a rationale critique of the Bible. One main issue that surrounds the problems regarding reason and faith is to find out how the authority of reason, and that of faith interrelate with one another in this process whereby a religious belief is either justified or not. There are four major ways in which reason and faith can interact. The first method of interaction is the conflict model. Under this model of interaction, the objects, aims and methods of faith and reason usually depict different notions and concepts. On this basis, there is a rivalry between reason and faith. An example of this rivalry is depicted in the different explanations of the existence of earth. Christian’s belief that God created the world, scientists on the other hand belief that God did not create the world, but it came as a result of evolution (Hicks, 56). The story of creation is effectively explained in the book of Genesis chapter number 1. Charles Darwin on the other hand denotes that the world came as a result of evolution of species. Darwin elaborately explains this concept through his theory of evolution. He came up with this concept of evolution after a careful study of the various species of animals, including mankind. On this basis, his evolutionary theory was developed out of a methodological study, satisfying the principles of reason. This view by Darwin directly conflicts the views of the origin of man, as prescribed by the Bible (Mueller, 28). This therefore challenges the existence of God, putting faith and reason in a conflict with each other. The next mo del of interaction between reason and faith is the incompatibility model. Under this model, objects, aims and methods of faith and reason are distinct. Under this model, faith concerns itself with seeking the divine truth, while reason on the other hand concerns itself with seeking for an empirical truth. On this basis, rivalry between faith and reason does not exist. This relationship between reason and faith is divided into two main categories. The first category is transrational (Hick, 43). Under this category, believers denote that faith is higher than reason, and reason can only be used to explain certain religious practices that occur within an individual’s religion or sets of believes. The second category holds that religious believes are irrational, and on this basis, it is not appropriate to examine it through a rational evaluation. Under this principle, it is only possible to understand God, by analyzing what God is not. People who ascribe to this principle believe that there is no need of subjecting faith to a rational justification. This is because it is beyond human understanding (Mueller, 41). The weak compatibi lity model on the other hand believes that it is possible for there to be dialogue between faith and reason. This is even though reason and faith maintain different methods of evaluations and clarity. Under this model, faith is developed from the existence of miracles, while reason on the other hand involves scientific evaluations of the miracles under consideration. The final relationship between faith and reason can be termed as the strong compatibility model. Under this relationship, faith and reason have some parity. Proponents of this relationship denote that it is possible to demonstrate articles of faith, by applying reason within it. It is possible to demonstrate articles of faith by using either inductive method, which is depending on experiences to justify faith (Prickett and Robert, 51). It can also take a deductive approach, which is depending on the teachings of faith to justify a belief. An example of an inductive approach is the miraculous healing of a lame man, whom science could not cure. An explanation to this concept is that God has a healing power, thus he healed the man under consideration. Science on the other hand would denote that there wasn’t any scientific method of healing the man under consideration; hence it is only the power of a divine deity that did the job (Prickett and Robert, 51). An example of a deductiv e approach would always start with an argument that the principles of science would not have existed, unless the power of God was there to ensure that the science under consideration is successful. For example, God gave men the capability and wisdom of making vehicles, and airplanes. In conclusion, Christians normally rely on the bible as a basis of their faith. For a long period of time, the information contained in the scriptures have never been challenged or critiqued. They are always held as true, no matter how controversial they may be. However, in the 21st century, there is always a demand of evidence and reason in the various teachings of Christianity. This paper manages to effectively explain this concept of reason, and how it used to justify certain aspects of faith. For instance, in this paper, we are able to denote that reason can directly contradict faith. This is by use of science to proof certain aspects of the scriptures as untrue. This paper explains how the Bible depicts the origin of the universe, and how science explains the origin of the universe. The Bible denotes that God created the world, while science denotes that the world came about out of evolution. These two areas are very contradicting and rival each other, and those who believe in t he evolution story, do not have any faith in God, nor religious beliefs. In as much as reason can contradict certain aspects of faith, reason is also used to explain certain religious practices or elements of faith. For example, how can one explain the movements of birds in the air, or even the existence of rivers, mountains, and lakes? Initially, the practices of a religious belief were not questionable. Whatever the scriptures said, was always true. However, in the 21st century, religious organizations encourage a rationale critique of their practices. Works Cited: Albl, Martin C. Reason, faith, and tradition: explorations in Catholic theology. Winona: Saint Marys Press, 2009. Print. Hick, John. Between faith and doubt: dialogues on religion and reason. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. Print. Mueller, J. J.. Theological foundations: concepts and methods for understanding Christian faith. Winona, Minn.: Saint Marys Press, 2007. Print. Prickett, Stephen, and Robert Barnes. The Bible. Cambridge [England: Cambridge University Press, 1991. Print. The Bible. Harlow, England: King James Version, 2010. Print.

The Effects of Forgiveness on Mental Health Essay -- Mental Health Psy

Forgiveness has been defined in many ways by psychologists and researchers with no one universal definition. Hill (as cited in Maltby, Day and Mackaskill 2001) state that it is widely agreed that forgiveness involves a willingness to abandon resentment, negative judgement and indifferent behaviour towards the person who has hurt them Although research is recent, from the last 15 years, it has helped develop our understanding of forgiveness . Research has shown that forgiveness gives positive mental health and prevents the development of mental disorders such as anxiety, depression and stress. Two major models of forgiveness are Enright’s model and Worthington’s (2001) pyramid model to REACH forgiveness. Both these models involve steps and processes we go through in order to reach forgiveness. Individual differences are also taken into consideration such as personality traits such as the big 5 and narcissism which helps our understanding of why some individuals forgive a nd others do not and why as a result some individuals have poorer mental health as they are unable to forgive. This essay will therefore argue that the process and structural models have helped our understanding of forgiveness in terms of individual differences and mental health as they have shown steps we need to go through to reach forgiveness and research has additionally shown that those who do not forgive have poorer mental health. Furthermore it has shown that individual differences affect whether people can forgive or not taking into account personality traits. A process model of forgiveness is Enright’s model. Originally this involved seventeen stages incorporating cognitive, affective and behavioural elements (Enright and the human development group 1991) ... ...bes-bolyai, thrologia catholica Latina, LI, 1 Maltby, J., Day, L., Mackaskill, A. (2007) Personality, Individual Differences and Intelligence. Harlow, Pearson prentice Hall McCullough, M.E, Pargament, K.I., Thoreson, C.E (2000) Forgiveness; Theory research and practice (eds) New York, The Guilford press Mccullough, M.E., Sandage S.J., and Worthington, E.L.Jr. (1997) To forgive is human: How to put your past in the past. Downers Grove, IL, Intervarsity press. Walker, D.F., Gorsuch (2002). Forgiveness within the big 5 personality model. Journal of personality and individual differences, 32, 1127-1137 Worthington, E. L. Jr. (2001) Five steps to forgiveness: The art and science of forgiving, New York, Crown Younger,J.W., Piferi, R.L.,. Jobe, R.L., Lawler,K.A. (2000) Dimensions of forgiveness. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships 21: 837

Democratic Implications of the Bible :: essays research papers

Democratic Implications of the Bible   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the form of government known as democracy, the power lies in the hands of the people. Be it to change the laws or the structure of the government, the decisions of the legislature are made by either the people or representatives that are elected by the people. Under most government systems, elections are used for people to express their views and beliefs. There is equality for all, including basic freedoms such as freedom of speech and religion. There has been a conflict of opinion among people for many years regarding the presence of democracy in the Bible. The Scriptural Tradition of both the Old and New Testament can be viewed as either democratic or non-democratic. Many instances are present throughout the texts that can point in either direction, depending on a person’s personal views and point of view. After reading select books of both the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Testament, along with Brian J. Walsh and Sylvia C. Kessmat’s â€Å"Col assians Remixed†, I could easily see how an argument could be made either way. After much deliberation with each of the two sides pulling me their way, I chose the democratic side.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The issue of democracy arises early in the Bible with Genesis, the first book in the Old Testament. The creation of the world was presented in Chapters 1 and 2 of the Genesis. In this creation, there was no hierarchy among the people, as none of them had to face oppression from a higher individual. In a democracy, all people are meant to be equals. Also similar to a democracy, the people had various freedoms, such as the freedom to develop creation and the freedom to disobey. The freedom is also displayed vividly in the broad mandate that is given to human by God. It is a cultural mandate where the people can create their own cultural institutions, from cities to agriculture to art.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  An instance where some people consider inequality to arise is between man and woman. Eve was created out of Adam, which can be considered as man’s superiority over woman. â€Å"†¦and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh; and the rib which the LORD God had taken from the man he made the woman and brought her to the man.† (Genesis chapter 2: 21-22) Despite Eve being created out of Adam’s ribs, I still do not view this as an inequality.

The History of Affirmative Action

The history of affirmative action has its roots in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act provided the initial legal basis for affirmative action for women in the workplace. Affirmative action is a policy to encourage equal opportunity and to level the playing field for groups of people who have been and are discriminated against. According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, affirmative action, â€Å"Is considered essential to assuring that jobs are genuinely and equally accessible to qualified persons, without regard to their sex, racial, or ethnic characteristics. Over the past few decades† roles for women in the workplace have increased. Many of the predominately male occupations have increasingly become more diverse. Affirmative action helps to promote diversity in employment and equality between genders. The effectiveness of affirmative action and Equal Employment Opportunity legislation has been vigorously debated for years, with advocates citing gains made by women and people of color in pay, organizational representation, and organizational status. Women, in general, have been the main beneficiaries of affirmative action and will be the biggest losers if it is overturned. The number of women entering the professions, including medicine, law and accounting, has increased substantially in 30 years. Women of all races have increased their share of professional positions in corporations. However, women have yet to achieve equality in the workplace as the gap in wages continues. Nationally, women earn 74 cents for every dollar earned by men. A National Academy of Science Report found that a significant proportion of these wage gaps could not be explained by factors such as education or work experience. Affirmative Action promotes the hiring of qualified people. It does not mean people should be hired just because they are minorities. It helps to broaden the range of people to be considered for employment in hopes of creating a more diverse applicant pool from which to choose. Groups of people are often stereotyped. In the case of sex stereotypes, these are attributes that are imparted to individual men and women simply by virtue of their sex. The impact of affirmative action on women may cause them to suffer the stigma of second-class citizenship as a result of preferential treatment, because they will be subjected to the presumption that they were hired not because of their qualifications but because of their gender. Affirmative action may therefore lead to the conclusion that the women hired under affirmative action are incompetent. If someone is thought to be hired or placed as a result of affirmative action efforts, then that supplies onlookers with a plausible and compelling explanation for the selection decision ndependent of the job incumbent†s qualifications for the position. Then the individual may be assumed to have been hired only because of her sex, with qualifications irrelevant to the selection process. Sex bias also has been demonstrated in decisions about pay raises, promotions, and employee utilization and training opportunities. Although sex may only be taken into consideration after hiring a person for their qualifications, it may only be assumed that they received their position because of affirmative action. Sometimes, affirmative action may create rather than alleviate problems for women by causing people to perceive them as possessing fewer of the characteristics deemed necessary for success in a traditionally male work context. If affirmative action promotes these negative conceptions, then there is a distinct possibility that rather than being a remedy for sex discrimination, it can be yet another contributor to the problem. Often, sex discrimination can be viewed through the â€Å"Glass Ceiling†. The Glass Ceiling refers to invisible, artificial barriers that prevent qualified individuals from advancing within their organization and reaching full potential. The term describes the point beyond which women managers and executives are not promoted. Although the barriers exist, it is hard to imagine how anyone can believe that treating people differently, or not promoting someone based on their sex is morally acceptable or financially responsible. Affirmative action policies are instrumental in providing women and minorities with the tools to help break through the glass ceiling, and create a more diverse workforce. Affirmative action policies provide equal opportunity to those groups who have been systematically denied it. Affirmative action is not the source of discrimination, but the vehicle for removing the effects of discrimination. Affirmative Action plans do not discriminate against anyone competing for any position. They actually increase the pool of qualified applicants by using aggressive recruitment and outreach techniques. The policies developed from the Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action legislation do make a difference and are still necessary to assure a more equitable workforce. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, prohibits employers from discriminating on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. Title VII is presumed to promote the hiring it is designed to protect. The logic underlying this presumption is simple: by making employers liable for failures to hire based on gender, the law raises the price of such discriminatory activity and produces less of it than would occur if employers were left completely free to hire whomever they wished. Women are more likely to be promoted in organizations with human resource programs that have affirmative action policies that consider the demographics of employees. Affirmative action in employment encompasses a broad range of actions and programs intended to ensure a fair chance at job opportunities for all Americans. Although it is suppose to eliminate discrimination, affirmative action is sometimes thought to be a source of reverse discrimination. When affirmative action was first implemented it was designed to be temporary, and now more than 30 years later it is still being used. The definition of it has grown and become far more intrusive than its designers could have imagined. Opponents of affirmative action believe no government law, program, or policy that makes distinctions based on race or gender can be beneficial. Government mandated reverse discrimination, under the politically correct guise of â€Å"affirmative action,† has failed to help minorities in a positive manner and has succeeded in continuing the trend of racially divisive policy. The majority group in an organization may sometimes feel threatened by diversity, because it means sharing their space with people who are different from them. Many people, both men and women, are opposed to affirmative action standards. Often, men do not like it because they think it will take away from their opportunities for employment or advancement within the organization. Some men also feel that they are being discriminated against just because they are men. Although affirmative action has been successful in helping women, they may still be opposed to the stigma attached to it if they are thought to be promoted due to the affirmative action standards, regardless of their qualifications. Some critics believe that affirmative action overcrowds the workforce with minorities or women with substantially lower qualifications. In the last several years cynical forces have tried to use race and ethnicity to divide America by claiming that affirmative action is detrimental and unfair to the majority because the programs contain â€Å"quotas† and â€Å"preferences† for people of color and women. After all, it is often assumed that if women were as qualified, as men were, they would not need help from affirmative action. This is a very negative connotation describing the women†s work ethic and the reason women have the need for affirmative action policies in the first place. Affirmative action is only in place to allow the opportunity for a more diverse applicant pool; the qualifications needed to perform the jobs remain the same. Both men and women can be equally qualified for a job, but the one that receives the offer should have an edge over the other candidate. Although some people view affirmative action as a form of reverse discrimination, it was originally conceived with good intentions. It has helped society to create a more diverse workforce. Affirmative action strengthens the nation by helping to provide equal opportunities to those who have been excluded unfairly. Affirmative action programs were never intended to last forever, however they are expected to remain in place so long as discrimination continues to deny equal opportunity to women and people of color. Affirmative action in employment encompasses a broad range of actions and programs intended to ensure a fair chance at job opportunities for all Americans. Affirmative action programs seek to remedy past discrimination against women, minorities, and others by increasing the recruitment, promotion, retention, and on-the-job training opportunities in employment and by removing barriers to admission to educational institutions. Because of the long history of discrimination based on sex and race, most affirmative action programs have been directed towards improving employment and education opportunities for women and minorities. Race, ethnicity, or gender may be but one factor considered among many others in evaluating qualified candidates. Discrimination continues to permeate American society and results in too many lost opportunities for everyone. The simple reality is that we have not reached the day where an individual†s gender, race or ethnicity is no more important than the color of their eyes or hair. As General Colin Powell noted when speaking about the current state of discrimination, â€Å"We†re not where we want to be- We are where we gotta be. † Reducing the nation†s commitment to equal opportunity by eliminating affirmative action programs for women and other minorities does not move us in the right direction. Until everyone is truly considered equal, affirmative action policies are needed to help ensure equality among genders. Affirmative action has been successful in promoting the advancements of minorities in the workplace. When affirmative action is used correctly, it is helpful by promoting equality for all. When it is abused, it has bad effects on society. Affirmative action may stigmatize or call into question the credentials of the qualified minorities. I believe that affirmative action was necessary to get where we are today in terms of equality. We have come a long way since the 1960†³s. Although, I think that if we were to do away with affirmative action, we would still continue to become a more diverse society. With women and minorities in the management positions of companies it is more likely that this diversification would continue even if we didn†t have affirmative action policies in place. This would probably eliminate some of the doubt people have when it comes to women being hired or promoted just because of affirmative action. It would totally be based on her qualifications. As of now, we cannot dismantle affirmative action and other organizational initiatives aimed at promoting equality in the workplace, and assume that sex discrimination will not occur. Sex discrimination has a long history and has proved highly resistant to efforts to eliminate it. But it is equally clear that Affirmative action as it is currently constructed, creates its own set of problems for those it intends to help. I believe that affirmative action policies will soon not exist, and everyone will be considered equal regardless of race, origin, or gender. Perhaps more than any other sentence in our rich written political heritage, these words from the Declaration of Independence embody the highest ideals of American democracy. We should remember these words and realize they are meant for every person in society. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.