How might cultural differences impact on the job application process Essay

How might cultural differences impact on the job application process - Essay Example Depending on the country and organization, job application process varies. In addition, the course also faces opposition from different factors ranging from legal to training requirements. People differ in attitudes, personalities, understanding and values around the world. Interestingly, consolidation of these differences is necessary to achieve a single working environment. People spend their lives working and moving from job to job frequently. This is partly to maximize their potential while at the same time maintaining their productivity and happiness. The diversity in working environments furthermore allows them to earn enough money for survival and maximize their potential (Blommaert 2010, pp. 113). The difference in self-identity and self-opportunity has initiated a strain in job application process. Notably, cultural differences pose challenges to the job application process in various ways. Understanding cultural differences can be a nightmare. In many instances, people fail to show up to the relevant jobs advertisement for fear of discrimination based on their culture. From this perspective, capacitated people fail to manifest their potential hence limiting maximization of profits. It, however, is imperative to note that not all people who fail to turn up have the technical requirements (Fiske 2011, pp. 67). Therefore, in as much as we try to harmonize the job application process, more attention should lean on quality and not culture. Despite the different priorities, the economy has to grow. It, however, cannot grow if cultural differences onset the application process. Maintaining a cultural fit is difficult, however, the separate cubicles of culture also needs attention. According to Boone and Kurtz 2011, ideal candidates can cause a disaster if a mismatch of culture exists in an organization. The multifaceted culture presents employees with different background, which subjects the job application process to tests. In terms of religion several laws exits, which govern people from given races and religious affiliations. In this regards, the laws prevent them from answering to or committing to some activities that contravene their faith. It, therefore, is the role of various application agencies to harmonize the job application process to limit stereotyping or the thought of discrimination (Samovar, Porter and McDaniel 2007, pp. 67). Notably, the job application process ought to be smooth and fair to all; however, cultural difference has developed it to be a nightmare for different people. The lifestyle job market requires women and men fit physically as well as emotionally. To ensure candidates qualify for the respective job advertisements, some recruitment agencies go to extra lengths of physically examining applicant bodies. In as much as it might be a challenge to all people, it mainly presents a challenge to the Hindu and Islam culture who disguise their bodies to be holy. In addition, their women cannot expose any part of their body except to the husbands (Avery, Lerman & Volpone, 2010, pp. 331). This is a major challenge to the job application process where one has to balance quality and culture. Notably, this is the same trend in military job application processes where several parts of the body have to undergo examination. Empirical evidence exists to support cultural diversity in workplaces under efficient management strategies (Samovar, Porter and McDaniel 2007, pp. 69). However, the differences play out in the job application process where different companies specify the nature of person required. In terms of race many black, Asian, white and Chinese people have faced problems in the application p

Economic Benefits Of Daylight Saving Time Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Economic Benefits Of Daylight Saving Time - Essay Example Daylight Saving Time also has the added benefit of an extra hour or so of daylight after work hours for people to get home safely and to engage in social and recreational activities. Regardless of what one decides to do, whether go home and spend time with the family or go out and spend time with friends, DST can also save energy. The combination of these advantages of DST – working when there is sunlight, finishing work and safely getting home (or going out with friends) when there is still light, spending time with people one cares about and saving energy while doing so – will help the world get out of its economic crisis if DST is extended the whole year round. The reasons are easy to understand. First, finishing work early allows everyone to do many things while there is still light. It is these â€Å"many things† that one cannot do in the dark that has the power to help solve the economic crisis. One can decide to do things on one’s own that would save money and increase savings, like clean the car, mow the lawn, or paint the roof. One could also decide to do things to spend money and keep the economy running, like go bowling, visit friends, or have a beer. As mentioned in several portions of his book Seize the Daylight: The Curious and Contentious Story of Daylight Saving Time, David Prerau enumerated many proofs of the beneficial economic effects that DST has had on many sectors of the economy, such as candy manufacturers, amusement parks, restaurants and shops, movie houses and theaters, and the sporting goods industry. While there are objections that the cost of air-conditioning warm rooms and spending on outdoor activities may increase, the overall benefits to the economy were proven by DST’s role in bringing America out of Depression.

Enzymatic Route for the Production of Biofuels

Enzymatic Route for the Production of Biofuels CHAPTER 1 : INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of Study Many compounds are currently produced through reactions that use chemical catalysts or expensive experimental conditions. However, this practice is aggressive to the environment, generating effluents with high cost of treatment, and consuming too energy. Enzymatic catalysis appears thus to reduce the energy demand contributing to a reduction in by-product formation. However, the acquisition cost of enzymes is still high, making difficult the access of biocatalyst to industries. An alternative to this financial barrier is immobilize the enzyme (ZHENG et al., 2012). Constant efforts are being made to improve the enzyme’s activity, efficiency, reproducibility and stability during industrial processes (Wang et al. , 2010). Enzyme immobilisation is confinement of enzyme to a phase (matrix/support) different from the one for substrates and products. Inert polymers and inorganic materials are usually used as carrier matrices. Apart from being affordable, an ideal matrix must encompass characteritcs like inertness, physical strength, stability, regenerability, ability to increase enzyme specificity/ activity and reduce product inhibition, nonspecific adsorption and microbial contamination (Singh, 2009). Immobilization generates continous economic operations, automation, high investment/capacity ratio and recovery of product with greater purity (D’Souza, 1998). There are several factors affecting the immobilization processes such as adsorption, covalence bound, entrapment and cross- linking. During the initial years of the development in the field of immobilized enzymology, researchers used to find only the advantage of the immobilized enzymes in comparison to their soluble / free counterparts. Advantages of immobilized versus soluble enzymes included comparative studies in pH profile, various denaturing agents organic solvents, and temperature. Now recently during the last couple of decades, immobilized enzyme technology has advanced into and ever- expanding and multidisciplinary fields to analyze clinical, industrial and environmental samples. Examples of the recent developments and used of immobilized enzymes in different fields such as in medicine, antibiotic production,drug metabolism,food industry, biodiesel production and bioremediation. 1.2 Problem Statement The use of enzymatic route for production of biofuels is growing up due the mild reaction conditions. In fact of that, we must find a way to reduce the cost to ensure the experimental that are highly cost can be carried out and despite of that, immobilize enzyme is the best way that can be used. In addition, it also can be use multiple or repetitive in a single batch of enzyme. It become more economics as it also has the ability to stop the reaction rapidly by removing the enzyme from the reaction solution. By finding this solution, so that there are no problem arise to continuously used it as a biocatalyst. 1.3 Objectives To provide an alternative way to reduce the experimental cost by using immobilized enzyme To study the differences on the enzyme activity when using pH and mass media To develop the easiest method that can be use by the others as it does not need a professional qualitification. CHAPTER 2 : LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Enzyme First and foremost, enzymes are the active components in the cells, where they induce chemical transformations. Besides, enzymes are large, complex macromolecules, consisting largely of protein and usually contain a prosthetic group (one or more metal atoms). It also acts as biocatalyst that catalyzes all chemical conversions needed for the system’s survival and reproduction (Buchholz et al., 2005; Idris et al., 2008). Besides, enzyme also act as catalyst to boost up the rate of chemical reaction by factor up to more than and result to the reduction of activation energy compared to uncatalyzed reaction (Buchholz et al., 2005) as shown in figure 3.1. On top of that, enzymes have unique characteristics for instance high activity, selectivity, and specificity which permit their performance in their complex process. Figure 2.1: Free energy diagram for an uncatalyzed and enzyme-catalyzed reaction (Buchholz et al. , 2005) Enzymes are specific to the types of reactions that they catalyze. In addition, they are more stable and easier to handle than the original microorganisms from which they were isolated. On top of that, enzymes play an important role in biochemical analysis and it is widely used in many industrial processes especially in food production and many more. On the other hand, properties of most enzymes are dependent on pH of their environment. Dependence of catalytic activity on the concentration of hydrogen ions in solution is given by protonable groups. These groups are the parts of active site of enzymes and also are present in substrate molecules. Thus, the reaction between the enzyme and the substrate is dependent on the degree of protonation. That is the reason why majority of enzymes are catalytically active in specific interval of pH values. If the pH value is higher or lower than pH optimum of certain enzyme, catalytic activity of enzyme decreases. pH optimum is value of pH at which the activity of an enzyme reaches the maximum. Changing of pH values of reaction medium is one way how to regulate the activity of enzyme (Vodrazka et al. , 2001). Even though enzymes give benefits in many application, there are some restrictions should be stated. Enzymes are excellent reactions catalysts but without any improvement thus in pure state, they are not very suitable for use in reactors in industrial scale. On the other hand, enzymes may be instable due to spontaneous oxidation, self digestion, or denaturation and they work properly only on natural substrates and under physiological conditions. In addition, they are soluble in water and also in organic solvents and can be strongly inhibited by excess amount of substrates, product formed during enzyme-catalyzed reaction and however by certain by-products of the reaction. 2.2 Immobilized Enzyme Enzyme immobilization can be described as the attachment of free or soluble enzymes to different types of support. This process turns the soluble enzyme into insoluble form by interaction with specific type of support. As a result, the mobility of the enzyme is reduced or lost (Khan et al . , 2010). Immobilized means enzyme has been confined or localized so that it can be reused continuously (Ramachandra et al . , 2002). Immobilized enzyme are currently the subject of considerable interest because of their advantages over soluble enzymes or alternative technologies, and the steadily increasing number of application for immobilized enzymes (Tisher et al. , 1999). Numerous methods for achieving the immobilization of lipases are available, each involves a different degree of complexity and efficiency. There are various methods used to date are adsorption, ionic bonding, covalent bonding, cross linking, entrapment, and encapsulation (Ramachandran et al. , 2002). 2.3 Support Chen et al (2011) studied the effect of hydrophobicity of membranes used as support for the immobilization of lipase by covalent bond in the activity and stability of the enzyme, and obtained better results when used more hydrophobic membrane. Studies claim that the region surrounding the active site of lipases is hydrophobic, and because of that, they recognize hydrophobic surfaces as similar to their natural substrate and undergo interfacial activation (FERNANDEZ- LAFUENTE et al. , 1998). Zhou (2012) showed that, in general, substrates with high specificity had greater surface area for adsorption capacity, while the more hydrophobic again, the best results are attributed to the improved interfacial activity of the lipase. It is possible to predict, taking into account the objectives in view, the selected substrate should have high surface area, be thermally stable, chemically durable, resistant to contamination and reasonable cost (KANDASAMY et al. , 2010). Because of all these cha racteristics was chosen support material, the MCM41, whose family is characterized by having a hexagonal arrangement of uniform pores and well- defined size, with linear channels constructed with a silica matrix (KRESGE et al. , 1992). 2.4 Methods of Immobilization Many review and books on the immobilization of enzyme have been published during the last two decades (Bahulekar et al. , 1993 Kennedy Cabral, 1983). In the course of the last decades, numerous methods of immobilization a variety of different materials have been developed. However, different types of immobilization may have different effects on the enzyme activity or stability, is not always predictable at forehand (Arroyo et al. , 1999; Cao, 2011). Therefore, advantages and disadvantage have been described in Table 3.1 below. On the other hand, it is known that any type of immobilization method has the potential to stabilize the enzyme relative to their native form (Cao, 2011).Basically, there are four ways to immobilize enzyme onto surfaces as explain below : Adsorption This method immobilization is the connection between enzyme and support without any chemical modification. Besides, this is the most used method for immobilization due to some advantages such as low cost, no chemical additives required and high activity (Fukuda et al. , 2011). Covalence This method of immobilization is based on covalent bound between enzyme and carrier. During the catalyst action, the interaction between enzyme and support is very strong which makes the enzymes very stable. Instead having an advantage, covalent binding also has some disadvantage as well like the reaction conditions are complicated, there is a high risk of loose of enzyme activity during the process, and some coupling reagents are toxic (Fukuda et al. , 2011). Entrapment This method of immobilization is process of capture of the enzyme into the inner hollows of some specific matrix or into microencapsules of polymer. Thus, an enzyme inside of the matrix is not attached to the polymer and its free diffusion is only restrained (Fukuda et al. , 2011). Cross Linking This method of immobilization is the interaction between enzyme, coupling reagent, and carrier will form the three dimensional network structures. This method lead to strong interaction between the protein and the carrier, but activity of the immobilized enzyme is low. That is the reason why cross linking is often combined with adsorption to achieve higher immobilization efficiency (Fukuda et al. , 2011). Table 2.1 :The advantages and disadvantages of immobilization method 2.5 Advantages of Immobilized Lipase Although lipases presently account for no more than 3% of all enzymes produced worldwide, the use of immobilized lipases for the modification of melted fats and oils is currently a subject of expanding interest (Ramachandran et al. , 2002). This interest is due in part to the fact that the use of lipases has the potential to be more cost effective when enzyme are employed in immobilized rather than in free form (Ramachandran et al. , 2002). Besides, there are several reasons to use immobilized enzymes such as easy separation of enzyme from the product and reuse of the enzyme. Easy separation of the enzyme from the product simplifies enzyme applications and permits reliable and efficient reaction technology. Enzyme reuse provides a number of cost advantages (Tisher Kasche, 1999). Furthermore, the use of immobilized lipases leads to a decrease in potential for contamination of the product via residual lipases, thus avoiding the need for downstream thermal treatment (Ramachandra et al. , 2002). The immobilization of enzyme is a useful tool to meet cost targets and has a number of technological advantages (Tisher Kasche, 1999). Immobilization also permits multiple uses of the lipases and often enhances its thermal and chemical stability, thus leading to predictable decay rates. It also enhance oppurtunities for better control of both the process and product quality. In fact the increment costs of using an immobilized biocatalyst in a continuos process are more than 20 times lower than with a traditional one (Ramachandra et al. , 2002). Owing to the world wide variety of properties of individual enzyme species and the varying requirements of reaction technology for the target compounds, it is necessary to exploit the wealth of methods and techniques of immobilization (Tisher Kasche, 1999). The main disadvantage of immobilization can be loss of activity due to immobilization, limitation in substrate’s diffusion, possible leakage of the biocatalyst from the support (Ramachandra et al . , 2002). 2.6 Classification of Enzyme Enzyme can be classified into six categories according to the reaction catalyzed. Every enzyme is defined by a unique set of 4 numbers. The first number denotes the reaction they catalyze, the second number indicates chemical structure that are changed in the process, the third shows the properties of the enzyme involved in the catalytic reaction and the forth implies the running number (Buchholz et al. , 2005). Table 3.2 shows the six group of enzyme and the type of reaction catalyzed (Knez et al. , 2001). Table 2.2: Classification of enzyme and the reaction catalyzed (Knez et al. , 2001) 2.7 Lipase from Candida Rugosa Lipase from Candida rugosa sp. is one of the most attractive commercially available lipases for complete hydrolysis of triacylglycerols because it has ability to liberate all types of acyl chains, despite of their positions in the triacylglycerols (Virto et al. , 1994). Candida rugosa sp. is one of the most extensively studied microorganisms by biotechnologists due to its powerful lipase ( E.C. 3.1.1.3) production capacity. In addition, Candida rugosa sp. lipase has extensive substrate specificity which provides successfully used in a variety of hydrolysis and esterification reactions. Furthermore, it is possible used in synthesis of several pharmaceuticals (Benjamin Pandey, 1998) due to its high stereoselectivity and regioselectivity. The yeast of Candida rugosa sp. secreted several extracellular lipases and they differ in terms of molecular weight, carbohydrate content, isolectric point specificity (Pernas et al. , 2000). Besides, it is commonly used for several streoselective esterification reactions in organic medium under mild reaction conditions (Abdul Rahman et al. , 2005). CHAPTER 3: MATERIALS AND METHODS Materials and Equiment Table 3.1: List of chemicals and equipment Experimental design 3.2.1 Preparation of Buffer solution In conducting this experiment, at pH 7.0 and 8.0, three buffer solutions of 50 mM of Potassium phosphate at pH 6.0 are made. Preparation to remove organic part on support 1 g of MCM 41 support are mixed with 10 mL of 10% HNO3 v/v and are strirring for 30 minutes. The solution are filtrate and the successive washes of water and buffer solution are removed. 3.2.3 Dilution for the p-NP (p- nitrophenol) 0.0014g of the reagent are weighed and are dissolve in a buffer to complete 100mL in volumetric flask. Dilutions of p-NP are made in the same buffer and are analyze on a spectrophotometer with absorbance 410nm using blank reaction buffer solution. Determination of enzymatic activity The substrate are using lipase and p-NFL (p-nitrophenillaurate). 0.018 g of the substrate are dissolve in 1 mL of DMSO and buffer are add until 100 mL flask are complete. For preparing the lipase solution, 0.1 g of the enzyme solution are dissolve in a 100mL of the buffer solution and subsequently performing various dilutions. Lipase solution with substrate are place in 2mL of cuvette at 40s for contact time. The pH variation is due to buffer at pH 6, 7 and 8. Immobilization process A beaker containing 20mL of p-NPL is place on magnetic stirrer is use for immobilization. To know the influence of the mass of support for immobilization, different mass of MCM 41 are add. The samples is collect and is being analyze by spectrophotometer at interval 10 minutes. CHAPTER 4 : EXPECTED RESULTS The expected results for this study are: The increasing of the enzyme activity as the concentration of p- NF concentration is add and at what concentration it direct to to the enzymatic activity. By using the enzyme concentration ( lipase enzyme), the curve of enzymatic activity is expect to fall. The time for adsorption between the enzyme and support at pH 7 is just short if smaller mass support is use. The pH 7 is most convenient than pH 8 for the adsorption of the mass support of MCM 41. CHAPTER 5 : CONCLUSION The use of enzymatic route for the production of biofuels can be overcome by using the immobilization of enzyme. The influence of pH and mass media used will effect enzyme activity. The experiments that carry out at pH 6 will show a fall absorbance with the increasing of the enzyme concentration. This experiments also show that the lipase is best at pH 7 and pH 8 where the results are better at pH 7.0. As the optimal immobilization at a very short time where it shows high affinity of the enzyme for support.The mass support also shows best in a very small amount of adsorbed enzyme. This also shows that the cost benefits with the use of support, which will be smaller.

Movie Essays - Shakespeares Henry Plays - A Comparative Study of Falst

Shakespeare's Henry Plays - A Comparative Study of Falstaff on Film The Character of Sir John Falstaff is an integral part of any adaptation of Shakespeare's "Henry" plays. The treatment of this character effects the way the production will be taken by the audience as the treatment of Falstaff is directly related to the understanding of the character of Prince Hal (later Henry V). Kenneth Branagh's Henry V, the BBC versions of parts one and two of Henry IV, and Orson Welles' amalgamation Chimes at Midnight all show Falstaff in different lights, producing three different takes, not only on the character himself, but also on the interpretation of Prince Hal, and the entire workings of the production. In the case of Kenneth Branagh's Henry V Falstaff is seen only in flashback. This version of Falstaff (portrayed by actor Robbie Coltrane) is displayed as the jovial and kind side of Falstaff with little of the nefarious nature that is seen in the texts of Henry IV parts one and two. Branagh as the screenwriter actually reassigns certain lines to achieve his end, including, but not limited to, the reassignment of some of Falstaff's lines to others, as well as the reassignment of lines from one scene to another, all to display Falstaff as a happy Santa Claus of a man all but devoid of evil intentions or Machiavelian deceit. The first of the myriad flashbacks in the film begins with the assignment of Falstaff's description of himself as "A goodly, portly man in faith," (1 Henry IV.II.iv.421) to Pistol. This shows that in Branagh's version Falstaff is as well respected by his comrades as he is by himself. This is somewhat in contrast to the way he is commonly illustrated, which is as a man who abuses deceit, but is not fooling ... ...Falstaff as played by Welles. It is this multifaceted nature that has Hal attempt (in a scene paraphrased from the text of Henry V) to go back on his decision toward the end and grant Falstaff favor (albeit too late). Welles' Falstaff is the best example of the cross section of aspects that Falstaff has in the texts. While certainly each portrayal of Falstaff is from it's own school of thought, ranging from the idea of Falstaff as the pure, kind friend, to that of Falstaff as the selfish villain, to that of Falstaff as the moderate, complex character, each effectively displays an accurate Falstaff with his own hold on Prince Hal. These three versions show that the treatment of Jack Falstaff, regardless of his prominence in each production, can change the interpretation of the actions of Henry V as well as the reasons behind his choices for many of his actions.

Influence in Politeness

Influence in politeness -Culture †¢Politeness id considered a desirable characteristic in most cultures. However, cultures are different in how they define the politeness. Example: the English speakers showing consideration for others and presenting the confidence and polish as their politeness; on the other hand, the Japanese showing respect and presenting their selves with modesty as their politeness. †¢Cultures differ in the rules for expressing politeness or impoliteness and also in the punishments for the violation of the accepted rules.Example: in the Asian cultures, people who emphasize more politeness are often singled out when interview for a job; on the other hand, they will also receive harsher punishment for violation than the western cultures. †¢Politeness is recognized as an important part of interpersonal interactions in the business world. The rudeness in the workplace, it is been argued, reduces the performance effectiveness, hurts creativity, and lead s to increase the worker turnover. Example: because of her boss’ bad temper, my sister did not want to stay any longer in her previous company and search for a new job. Personality and professional training †¢Your personality and personal training will also influence your degree of politeness and the way you express the politeness besides cultures. Example: my degree of politeness is different when I interact with my classmates and interact with the lecturers. This condition depends on my personality in how I think of them. Another example: when I do the presentation, I speaks in formal language to show my respect to the audiences, and it will be different if I just attend the generally class. Politeness in Inclusion and Exclusion Inclusive messages include all people present and acknowledge the relevance of others and normally considered polite. Example: using English language in this university. When we discuss our homework, we will use English language to adjust to th e foreigners and respect them. oExclusive messages shut out specific people or entire cultural groups and are normally considered impolite. Example: when I talked to my family on the phone, I usually used my native language in order that the surrounding people could not understand what I said.

A Brief Analysis of Reverse Discrimination

Racial discrimination is defined as unfavorable treatment, or having fine judgement or taste against a distinct race or minority. It is an epidemic that has been occurring for hundreds of years. Throughout different time periods people have been discerning others because of physical characteristics uncommon to each other. In 1607, English colonists in Jamestown, Virginia, became the first Americans to bring African slaves to the New World thus beginning hundreds of years of discrimination. There have been many improvements in the area of racial discrimination through laws and personal views, but racism still exists, and probably will for many years to come. In the workplace racial discrimination is so prevalent that there is one whole title in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 specifically dedicated to quelling this issue. The problem today is deciding where to draw the fine line between racial discrimination and making a choice for the better of your business, and when that line is crossed. But racial discrimination effects people other than those being directly discriminated. By definition, racial discrimination is due to a bias against minorities. But there is another form of discrimination – that of reverse discrimination. In this case it isn't the minority that is being discriminated against, it is the white man. Obviously both forms of biased views are, in simplest form, still discrimination, but reverse discrimination is sometimes not thought of as a serious problem and is an issue that must be addressed. Civil Rights legislature has made major strides in establishing equal rights in the work place but as minorities gain civil rights the issue of reverse discrimination becomes a problem. Before we can take a look at reverse discrimination, we must first look at the laws that establish our basic civil rights. There are two main pieces of legislature that frame these basic civil rights. They are the Fourteenth Amendment of the constitution and the C! The Fourteenth Amendment was ratified on July 9, 1868, and is one of the most important legal weaponS in Black America's struggle for equality (Davis, 11). Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment declares that † No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws† (Bagley A-6). The basic meaning of the amendment is that people are equally entitled to fundamental rights (Schwartz, 100). Its intention was for the individual to possess basic civil rights and to describe how he is affected by basic agencies of the states. In theory the â€Å"people† of the United States were now whites and minorities, and everyone should enjoy freedom equally (101). The Fourteenth amendment did have its shortcomings though. The way it was designed, lent itself to work on a state level rather than a federal level (Loevy 7). This meant that the federal government didn't have as much power as the individual states in enforcing the law and therefore allowed for discrimination by private citizens. There was the notion of a â€Å"free white jury that will never convict† (8). White southerners knew that a jury of their peers would never convict them for crimes such as murder, lynching, and blatant discrimination. It became routine that whites had their free will to personally enforce racial segregation. The first landmark case in the fight for racial integration and equality was Plessy v. Ferguson. In this case a railroad attendant refused to provide a sleeping car for an African American. It went to court under the fourteenth amendment and the Supreme Court eventually ruled that segregation of blacks and whites was constitutionally legitimate as long as the accommodations for each were equal. Separate but Equal† was now precedent and the fight for equality had won its first battle. This verdict soon came into question though when the notion of racial segregation in public schools was taken to court. Brown v. Board of education was probably one of the biggest landmark decisions in the fight for equal rights. The Supreme Court ruled that â€Å"separate but equal† was by definition – unequal. The court stated that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional and also implied that all forms of segregation were illegal (Loevy 17). Although this decision implied that segregation was illegal it did little to enforce the idea. There was still an opposition to integration that held the equal rights movement back. It was seen that there was a need for firm legislation that would not only lay down terms for equal rights but be able to enforce them too. >From 1866 to 1965 there were six Civil Rights Acts passed through congress. By far the most far-reaching Act was the Civil Rights Act of 1964 . It consisted of eleven titles and of those eleven; there was one that directly impacted discrimination in the workplace. Forty percent of all median income differences between black and white workers is the result of employment and occupation discrimination (Bell 717). Title VII forbids discrimination by employers (Karst 284) and makes it unlawful to even ask a prospective employee any information about race, color, gender, religion, or national origin (Zigarelli 2). The agency that enforces Title VII is the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission). Since the creation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VII has been the source of more litigation than any other titles in the act (Karst 285). The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was indeed firm legislation that did in fact protect the civil rights of Americans, but with the legislative laws of the act also came a host of Common Laws. When a judge makes a decision in court, that decision is said to create a precedent. If a similar case comes to court the precedent will be what is followed when making that decision, and the precedent, although not a legislated law, becomes in affect, a law – or Common Law (Zigarelli 11). Now the citizens of the United States had a strong backing to achieve racial equality. But what happens when the system that is in place to provide these rights actually does the opposite and allows for discrimination of another group other than the minority. Reverse discrimination in the workplace is defined as preferential treatment for minority group members in that workplace (Goldman 4). It can be either giving special treatment in considering an applicant for employment or in considering an employee for promotion or termination. Some of the ways that reverse discrimination is introduced is by the use of quotas, percentages, and set-asides. In an effort to speed up the process of racial integration in our society, the government put forth these certain employment policies. Quotas and percentages are held to encourage minority hiring while also keeping with the existing workplace standards (Goldman 22). The idea is that if the percentage of minority employees working at an establishment is radically lower than the percentage of non-minority employees it is probably because of past discrimination. A quota is established to raise these numbers and create a racially equal working environment. In its basic form a quota is intended to be a goal the company wishes to achieve to be more of an equal opportunity employer. The problem that arises with this type of policy is that it becomes very easy to instead of hiring minority workers based on their competence and skill level, just say â€Å"The next certain n! umber of minorities that apply for the job I'll hire regardless of how skilled they are or how skilled their non-minority competition is. † It becomes a case of white man applying for a job, and his race, not his credentials being the reason for not hiring him (Baer 135); therefore loosing the job to a less qualified minority simply because the company wanted to correct for its past discrimination practices. In January 1972 the NAACP sued the Alabama state police because they had one of the least racially integrated police organizations in the country. The court ordered them to integrate their organization by hiring one African American police man for every white one until they possessed a 25 percent minority work-force (Urofsky 19). Court orders were followed and twelve years later the Alabama state police had one of the most integrated police forces in the south. Obviously the policy worked in integrating their organization but what would happen if a more qualified white man applied for the job and was rejected only because he was white? Is there any difference between the discrimination of African Americans and the discrimination of whites simply because an organization is trying to erase past prejudices? There is a belief that compensation should be made for wrongs done and that there is a need to improve the economic status of minorities, but by making special treatment for some, it is inevitable that others are discriminated against (Fullinwider 2-5). The only thing that is accomplished by these reverse discrimination practices is that the injustice is merely shifted from one group to another (Urofsky 30) rather than working on a solution to abolish it . Alan Goldman, author of Justice and Reverse Discrimination states that strict quotas for raising the percentages of blacks will, unless carefully controlled, result in the decrease of competency standards (22). The reason for this decrease, is that the employer can much more easily resort to hiring less qualified minority workers than properly screening the competency of all people that apply, thus lowering that standard. Quotas also have another drawback. While minorities have long been discriminated against as groups, the process of installing a quota discriminates against non-minorities as individuals (Urofsky 29). Most people believe that African Americans as a group do deserve some sort of compensatory treatment for past prejudices against them (Fullinwider 58). But preferential hiring does not accomplish this. It only benefits individuals and does nothing to further the racial acceptance of that group. The concept of Equal Opportunity in America creates another problem with preferential hiring. As plainly as it can be stated, Equal Opportunity, is a concept that should lend opportunities to all races equally. But since the conception of quotas and preferential hiring, Equal Opportunity has taken on a somewhat different meaning. It now seems to mean; instead of an equal opportunity for all, if one is a minority he will sometimes receive better treatment than a non-minority. Robert Fullinwider in his book The Reverse Discrimination Controversy goes so far to state that preferential hiring is unconstitutional because it violates the â€Å"principle of equal opportunity† (23). Now certainly there is no â€Å"principle of equal opportunity† in the constitution itself, but Fullinwider puts forth the idea that equal opportunity is analogous to the constitutional right of a fair trial or even of free speech. When thought of this way it is easy to contend that there is in fact a â€Å"princi! ple of equal opportunity† that is somewhat similar to a constitutional right. In a simpler form it can be stated that preferential treatment to minorities can be considered if not unjust, at least unfair because it allows minorities to achieve less, and still be just as competitive as non-minorities (Fullinwider 21). It is interesting to note that while Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is the main piece of legislature that frames our civil rights, it is also the main framework for allowing reverse discrimination. Section 706(g) essentially gives the court power to order preferential treatment if the accused employer â€Å"has intentionally engaged in an unlawful employment practice charged in the complaint. † The statement: â€Å"which may include but is not limited to, reinstatement or hiring of employees †¦ or any other equitable relief as the court deems appropriate,† is basically the court's right to impose any type of preferential treatment it sees as being necessary. It becomes more confusing to note that section 703(a) and (j) seem to give an opposite opinion of preferential hiring. 703(j) even goes so far as to state the following: Nothing contained in this title shall be interpreted to require any employer †¦ to grant preferential treatment to any individual or any group (Fullinwider 125). It seems to be an odd complement of ideas to be put together in the same Title. On one hand you have a part of the Title that states that the decision is up to the judgement of the court and on the other hand you have another section that states that it is actually not up to the court to decide – it is simply wrong. Fullinwider gives an explanation for this. He states that the two different sections can be thought of as two different rules that will be interpreted differently. Depending on the situation the court is given the power to propagate whatever remedy will work best. All the previously mentioned terms such as preferential hiring, quotas, and set asides are all part of a whole known as Affirmative Action. This plan undertaken by Lyndon B. Johnson as an extension of Kennedy's civil rights campaign was a series of steps made to overcome the present effects of past discrimination (â€Å"Affirmative Action† 241). Although the plan accomplished great strides for minorities it also gave rise to the issue of Reverse Discrimination. And while it did advance minorities it left behind one major idea. The whole concept of discrimination comes not directly from the fact that minorities are held back physically or economically in society. It comes from the idea that we live in a race-conscious society where minorities are sometimes thought of as being a part of a lower economic standard. Critics of Affirmative Action do not see it as being a way for minorities to become more equal in society because with Affirmative Action comes the unending belief th! at ultimately, there is such a thing as race. If we are to overcome racism we must first learn that there is no such thing as race – there are only people. Affirmative Action is therefore thought of as simply another way for America to become an even more race-conscious society, thus keeping minorities from progressing. A good way to further understand the intricacies of Reverse discrimination is to look at specific cases where the policies of preferential hiring, quotas, set asides were put to the test. The first case will explore the rights of a man who was working for ten years and finally had to sue his employer to get a promotion. His name is Joseph Ray Terry and he has been a civil rights attorney at the EEOC for more than ten years. It has been said that workers should roughly be represented proportionally with their numbers in the general population but fifty percent of the white-collar jobs at the EEOC are held by blacks, who make up less than ten percent of the civilian workforce. Terry decided to sue and in 1996, the U. S. district judge of Memphis Jon McCalla ruled that the EEOC violated the laws that it was supposed to defend. Over his career, Terry was overlooked for a promotion more than ten times, and the jobs were given to less qualified minorities. In 1987, the EEOC ha! d 21 district directors; 19 minority, and 2 white. Terry had the credentials; education, experience and high-level government training but he still didn't get the job. One minority who was appointed over him didn't even have a high school diploma and most of the minorities appointed over him had little, if any of the qualifications that he had. The judge ordered the EEOC to pay $150,000 in damages, $8,000 in stress, and ordered him to be given the position of deputy general counsel, and entitled him to back pay. In this case it can clearly be seen that quotas and preferential hiring, while advancing many minorities, did hold back a perfectly capable white man from a promotion he deserved. The next similar example is of a female denied a position because of a less qualified minority. Patricia Steffes, a forty-six year old white female was awarded 2. 6 million dollars by federal jury on Wednesday May 6th, 1999. In this reverse discrimination case she was denied a management position in favor of a less qualified black man. Pepsi claims she lacked sales in front line management experience. Steffes had worked her way up the corporate ladder from payroll clerk to a $73,000 a year management position when she applied for a higher position. She started at the age of eighteen in 1972, following in the footsteps of her father and other relatives. Steffes was promised the next promotion opportunity, which opened in Lansing, Michigan. Even though she happened to be well qualified for it, a black employee got the job. Pepsi was ranked by Fortune Magazine as one of the â€Å"Top 50 Best Places for Minorities to work† and reserved 285 million dollars of its budget for minority and women owned businesses. The recent 2. 3 billion dollar IPO was handled by a minority owned! firm. Two of the top eighteen paid employees are minorities and twenty five percent of the entire workforce is comprised of minorities while thirty six percent of their hires in 1998 were minorities according to Fortune Magazine. In Steffes case, a minority held the job initially and when the word got out that Steffes might get hired, other minority employees complained and another less qualified black male got the job. Steffes wrote a letter to the EEOC and senior executive at Pepsi with no response. She then mailed a letter to Mr. Charles Stamper, the Supervisor at Pepsi. The officials weren't pleased so they put Steffes in their process called â€Å"developmental feedback† which is designed to improve an employees job performance. It resulted in Pepsi offering Steffes a transfer to a different facility on a â€Å"take it or leave it† basis. Steffes rejected it and took a leave of absence as advised by her doctor due to stress. She returned to work in September and supervisors allegedly ignored her. She was then ordered to train another black man who was being promoted to a job similar to the one she didn't receive. Steffes quit that day. One can see this is a case of blatant discrimination against a perfectly qualified white female. In the next case we will finally look at the concept of the set-aside. In the case FayComm v. US Small Business Administration a set-aside – designed to leave a certain number of contracts for minority firms to claim, ultimately was the cause of lengthy court battles and FayComm's loss of a contract they deserved. FayComm was a promising but small video production company. They had been working with FEMA for many years when a new (and expensive) contract came up to bid. FayComm bid on the job but was told that it was going to be given to a minority firm. Apparently the US Small Business Administration had taken the matter out of FEMA's hands and given it to the minority, so FayComm sued for the right to bid fairly and competitively. The issue here is the idea of the set-aside. It is practice in some businesses to take a certain number of contracts and set them aside to give to minorities. This serves two purposes. One is to satisfy Affirmative Action supporters, and the other is to skip the time consuming process of bidding for the contracts by simply â€Å"giving† it away to the minority. The problem arises in the fact that the contract is usually given to the minority regardless of its qualifications. In one hearing on this matter the judge was quoted as saying: â€Å"You mean to tell me that if the ‘minority firm' can demonstrate that it is not competent to do the work, and therefore cannot win the award in open, competitive bidding, then the lack of competence qualifies them to be given the contract? Apparently that's how the idea of set-asides is written. To this day FayComm is still in business but never was given a chance to bid on the job. These cases clearly show that Reverse Discrimination is a serious issue in American Society. Through the use of preferential hiring, quotas, and set-asides the government while trying to end discrimination, only succeeded in creating more discrimination. It is obvious that there is a need for some kind of solution to stop all discrimination. Though this paper was not written to solve discrimination, only analyze it, we will offer this final thought. It became increasingly evident to us that the reason for discrimination in the first place is because humans have this preconceived notion that for some reason, all people are not equal. No matter what the Constitution states or what laws are passed this idea seems to be engrained so deeply that it is quite difficult to overcome.