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MINORITIES IN AMERICAN GOVERNMENT.
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Discusses the importance of hiring minorities.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Discusses the importance of hiring minorities. America as a multicultural society. Need for government to reflect makeup of society. Recruitment efforts. Aggressive outreach. Recruiting sources. Networking with minority professionals & groups. Advertising on the Internet. Motivating employees to remain on the job. "Soft benefits" (day care, flex time, job sharing etc.).

Paper Introduction:
Recruitment and Retention of Minorities in Government I. Importance of Having Minorities Represented in Government Among the government offices and divisions that are aggressively hiring minorities is the United States Department of State. As Eun-Kyung (2001) explains “We represent the United States and we'd like to make sure we have a Foreign Service that looks as much like America as possible. We don't today," (Eun-Kyung, 2001, B4). She also explains that in 2000, 83 percent of all Foreign Service officers were white. Blacks made up 5.6 percent, Hispanics about 4.3 percent, Asians, 3.5 percent and Native Americans made up less than 1 percent. The figures have remained constant in the last several years. In that article, she points out that the State Department plans to hire about 1,500

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Network with Minority Professionals This is accomplished by making contact with professionals throughcommunity outreach programs, among others. EEO BiMonthly, Equal Employment Opportunity Career Journal, 23. (1982, June), Socialstereotypes and judgments of individuals: An instance of the base-ratefallacy, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 23-42. Retention of Minorities in Government With the current recession and the loss of jobs at a scaleunprecedented, the problems of losing government workers to outside jobshas been lessened somewhat due to the fact that there are not that manyjobs to go to. Heilman, M.E. (1994, June 1), Get the most from recruitment efforts, HRMagazine, 12 Locksley, A., Hepburn, C., & Oritz, V. Pettigrew, T. Even the State department has placed ads "on dozens of Web sites,including Saludos.com, Native Web, Black Enterprise and the Association ofGovernment Accountants [calling upon viewers] to 'be the face of America tothe World,' and some prominently feature a photograph of Powell, a blackretired general who 'wants to talk to you about a really important job'"(Eun-Kyung, 2 1, B4). (1987, March), Shaping theorganizational context for black American inclusion, Journal of SocialIssues, 41- 78. The people they suggest will probably have similar qualities. Women ages 3 to 39 list work/family conflicts as being their biggest problem, with discrimination second. Other Retention Methods Since no organization, whether government or private sector, cancontrol the things that most seem to concern employees, (Heilman, 1997, 23)the human resources sector has done a great deal of innovation in itsdesire to keep employees on board. Registration among blacks nearly tripled from last year to more than 3, ; among Hispanics, it nearly doubled to more than 2, (Eun-Kyung, 2 1, B4). Minority Conduits There are many of these conduits, including church groups, hospitals,PTA organizations in schools, Chambers of Commerce and even Minority BarAssociations (the American Bar Association lists dozens of minority andethnic Bar Association, including Mexican Bar Association, Cuban BarAssociation, Asian American Bar Association, Nisei Bar Association, as wellas Bar associations for Latvians, Russians, Italians, Spanish, Chinese andso on).D. Other Ways The ubiquity of the Internet and its transnational nature has made ita perfect medium for recruiting officers to let minorities know about thecareer possibilities (Esposito, Garman, Hickman, Watson, & Wheat, 2 1,122). The professionals involved in the recruiting andretention of minority employees -- whether for government or the privatesector have found certain consistencies in approach to be valuable.A. The challenge is to keep it clear that these are "benefits" andnot "rights" (Nisbett, Zukier, & Lemley, 1982). Nisbett, R. Many different recruiting sources are available, but organizations sometimes fall into recruiting source ruts (Barclay, 1994, 16). F., & Martin, J. V. Additionally, these referrals are relatively inexpensive (Barclay, 1994, 17).B. Nacoste, R. B. Organizations wanting to maintain a competitive edge try to recruit the best [minority] employees for their organizations. That is the issue that theHopwood case addressed. II. As Eun-Kyung(2 1) explains "We represent the United States and we'd like to make surewe have a Foreign Service that looks as much like America as possible. An article in Commentary observed Over the past three decades, the once-honorable aim of affirmative action--combating racial discrimination--has been replaced by its inverse. (199 , Winter), Sources of stigma: Analyzing thepsychology of affirmative action, Law and Policy, 175-195. 28), Fair Hiring Practices: Are theyImproving? 11, 2 1) getting time off to docharity work. (2 1, Sept. It is essential that, since America is a multi-cultural society, thatthe government that services that society also be multi cultural. (1996, June 1),Race, lies, and "Hopwood."(Supreme Courtdecision in 'Cheryl Hopwood v. (1997, June 1), The affirmative action stigma ofincompetence: Effects of performance information ambiguity, Academy ofManagement Journal, 23 Kim, E.Y. Wedon't today," (Eun-Kyung, 2 1, B4). (1995, Feb. Major, M.J. However, organizations don't always spend the necessary up-front time to ensure success. (1981, Feb), The dilutioneffect: Nondiagnostic information weakens the implications of diagnosticinformation, Cognitive Psychology, 13: 248-277. The journals are filled with articlesextolling the benefits of mentor programs wherein a skilled person helpsguide the lesser skilled, and diversity training where new skills aretaught as part of an ongoing training session (Locksley, Hepburn, & Oritz,1982; Nacote, 199 : 1992). 8), State Department recruiting minorities forForeign Service, Detroit News, B4Barclay, L.A. State of Texas' outlawed all considerationof race in college admissions, reversing the effect of 1978 case,Commentary, 39-46 Esposito,F.; Garman,S.; Hickman,J.; Watson,N.; & Wheat,A., (2 1, July9), America's 5 Best Companies For Minorities, Fortune, 122+. As a matter of fact, she goes so far as to suggest that one veryvaluable way of finding potential minority employees is to enlist thecurrent minorities in an operation for help and advice to find moreminorities. References Cohen, C. This providing of services is in line with a number of surveys andstudies asking what employees want. Summary From the examples shown, it is clear that the dynamic posited tounderlie the stigma of incompetence of retention and motivation methodsbased on affirmative action must not be allowed to create a discounting ofan employee's qualifications as a basis for selection and the assumptionthat the individual was hired only because of his or her group membership(Pettigrew & Martin, 1987). Importance of Having Minorities Represented in Government Among the government offices and divisions that are aggressivelyhiring minorities is the United States Department of State. Nacoste, R. In that article, she points out that the StateDepartment plans to hire about 1,5 employees this fiscal year (beginningOct. (1992, June), Toward a psychological ecology ofaffirmative action. Both women and men aged 4 to 49 list the economy as their major problem, with women listing discrimination second. Importance of Outreach in Recruiting Minorities in Government Most articles and seminars, when discussing Minorities tend to makethe assumption that there are two minorities in the United States --Blacks, and Hispanic. In fact, according to a 1995government survey and study, challenges seen in the work place that cancause minority employees (male or female) to leave the public sector forthe private sector include the problems connected with staying current with technological advances, motivating employees, long hours, incompetent upper management, and government regulations or bureaucracy. And many workers are finding that staying with the securityof a government job is a valuable benefit. E. IV. Her challenge to the HRperson or the professional in charge of finding minorities is to Stay flexible in your approach and continually clarify needs to guarantee success. 1, 2 1) and that Minorities made up about 35 percent of this year's applicants, an all-time high. The figures have remained constantin the last several years. E., Zukier, H., & Lemley, R. For most Americans, affirmative action now means not the combating of discrimination but rather its enforcement through a system of preferences (Cohen, 1996, 42) In general, all across the nation, government organizations at theFederal, State, County, and City levels are offering a wide variety of"soft benefits" such as assistance with day care (either throughreimbursements or providing facilities on site), flex time and job sharing,employee assistance programs ranging from paying for education to helpingarrange transportation, and (after Sept. B. Finding Minorities Barclay (1994) suggested several ways to find the best workers for anorganization, including minority recruitment. "With an extra half-milliondollars for marketing, the Department has taken out national advertisementsfor the first time, including in The New York Times, Miami Herald and TheWashington Post. The State Department, forinstance, is currently conducting a massive marketing effort to focus onthe theme "What Does an American Look Like?" It is interesting to notethat State has money slotted for marketing. And though women over 5 list gender discrimination, they, along with men, are most apt to be bothered by age discrimination. However, there is still acertain salutary effect when certain benefits are offered, such as day careand so on. This is so, even with the blurring of hiring practices between thepublic and the private sector. She also explains that in 2 , 83percent of all Foreign Service officers were white. But whereas men's obstacles tend not to change that much with age, women's do...Women in their 2 s tend to feel they have control over their future, and list discrimination far down the list. In other words, discrimination is at least somewhat modified by other concerns (Major, 1995, 12). III. Blacks made up 5.6percent, Hispanics about 4.3 percent, Asians, 3.5 percent and NativeAmericans made up less than 1 percent. This is a valid way to pursue the issue, since Current employees are committed to the organization and have a good understanding of how it operates. Social Justice Research, 5: 269-289. Hoping to draw minorities and servicemen, ads also wereplaced in Jet Magazine, Hispanic Magazine and The Army/Navy/Air Force Times(Eun-Kyung, 2 1, B4).C. Recruitment and Retention of Minorities in Government I.

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