Beyond numbers, one can also attest to the qualitative impact of affirmative action. Law enforcement officials believe that police departments are more effective when they are representative of the communities they serve. And major corporations view affirmative action as sound business policy. In a 1985 survey of chief executive officers of large corporations, more than 90 percent of the respondents said that their companies' affirmative action programs were established in part to satisfy corporate objectives "unrelated to government regulation." Moreover, their answer was a decisive "yes" to the question: "Do you plan to continue to use numerical objectives to track the progress of women and minorities in your corporation, regardless of government requirements?" In the words of one executive, "Affirmative action is a way of life here."

A representative of the National Association of Manufacturers recently explained to a congressional committee: "[B]usiness... sets goals and timetables for every aspect of its operations—profits, capital investment, productivity increases, and promotional potential for individuals. Setting goals and timetables for minority and female participation is a way of measuring progress and focusing on potential discrimination."

Before leaving this subject, it is necessary to say that affirmative action cannot be applied in exactly the same way in all countries and with all groups. Indeed, even in the United States, the adaptations of affirmative action are often, and necessarily, different with respect to gender than with respect to race. Similarly, each nation must devise its own distinctive method for increasing access to full participation for each individual. What is common to all countries employing affirmative action measures is a drive to remedy the crucial problem of unfairly distributed civil and political rights and economic opportunities, a problem that frays and can ultimately destroy a nation's social fabric.

To promote pluralism and diversity, the Ford Foundation has concentrated on three explicit objectives:

• increasing the effectiveness of affirmative action policies and broadening their application through our grant program;

• developing an "external" affirmative action policy to encourage diversification of boards and staffs in grantee organizations; and

• establishing internal rules and procedures to shape the Foundation's own operations.