ABSTRACT
As evidenced by the collection of work in this volume, discrimination on the basis of group membership clearly has been and continues to be a pressing organizational issue. Many organizations have not turned a blind eye to this problem and have implemented programs in an attempt to eliminate harmful discriminatory practices from the workplace. These efforts have taken numerous forms, varying not only in degree of formality, but also in level of organizational implementation (from recruitment to selection to promotions). Perhaps the most well known and hotly debated of these programs is couched under the policy umbrella “affirmative action.” Affirmative action is intended to rectify past discrimination and prevent current discrimination. Nonetheless, there is a growing body of research that suggests that affirmative action also can have deleterious consequences for those targeted to benefit from it. This chapter explores this research and examines these hidden potential costs of affirmative action-costs that paradoxically may undermine its intended objectives.
