Page 400 - Discrimination at Work The Psychological and Organizational Bases

15. COMBATING ORGANIZATIONAL DISCRIMINATION
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Indeed, the female hiree in each of the four conditions involving any form
of affirmative action was rated less favorably in terms of competence and
likely career progress than the female hired purely on the basis of merit.
Evidently even when merit criteria are prominent in the decision process,
there is a distinction made between those who are selected as part of an
affirmative action effort and those who are not.
Nonetheless, the data also attest to the importance of distinguishing
among different forms of affirmative action policies. They demonstrate
the mitigating effects on competence perceptions when it is made clear
that although affirmative action has occurred, merit was a major factor in
the decision. Those in preferential-equivalent conditions were rated more
favorably than others selected preferentially, and prognoses for their career
progress also were more optimistic. However, it is noteworthy that the
minimum standard policy, which also provided some information about
merit, did little to assuage the negative effects of affirmative action. It was
no different in effect than a policy in which merit was not a consideration
at all. So, it was not the incorporation of any type of merit information
that tempered the effects of affirmative action, but only information that
clearly assured that merit standards had been maintained. These findings
have since been supported by the work of Evans (2003), who distinguished
between "illegal" affirmative action policies (those in which unequal or
unqualified candidates are chosen) and "legal" affirmative action policies
(those in which equal or comparable candidates are chosen), finding that
Black targets were rated more negatively in achievement-related traits than
were White targets only when the policy was an "illegal" one.
It also is noteworthy that in the absence of information about the role of
merit in the decision process, participants acted as if they had received in­
formation of a policy in which merit criteria had been totally disregarded.
This result is consistent with the idea that, unless given reason to think
otherwise, people assume that affirmative action is little more than pref­
erential selection without regard to qualifications. This finding thus em­
phasizes the need not only for the inclusion of a strict merit criterion, but
also for explicitly conveying this policy information, if the unintended and
unwanted by-products of affirmative action initiatives are to be quelled.

WHEN AFFIRMATIVE ACTION IS INFERRED

Thus far we have presented empirical evidence that demonstrates how
being associated with affirmative action can lead to perceptions of incom­
petence. However, in much of this work it is clearly stated that the indi­
vidual in question is "an affirmative action hire." But, often, there is more