Age-Based Stereotyping in the Workplace - Research Paper Example

Age-Based Stereotyping in the Workplace Supervisor Introduction In a typical workplace around the world, people of different ages, ethnicity, religion, race, gender and disability status work in the same environment. This diversity in the workplace is sometimes assumed to be a contributor to creativity and increased competitive advantage. However, in most cases than not, it results to damaged morale, increased turnover, and is a cause of conflict and communication problem in the workplace. Management of diversity is important to avoid stereotyping that comes with workplace diversity (Roberson & Kulik 2007). Stereotyping refers to judging individuals on the basis of perception towards a particular group (Robbins & Judge 2013). It is difficult for any workplace to be without stereotypes. This is because the nature of a workplace has an evaluation aspect, and stereotypes are responses to evaluation (Kray & Shirako 2009). The generalisations arising from stereotyping are usually done to make the decision making process easier, and are not deliberate attempts to make others feel incompetent. Stereotyping thus reduces the effectiveness of organisations. Correct organisational behaviour practices minimize the negative effects of stereotyping in the workplace. The purpose of organisational behaviour, as a field of study, is to make the organisations work with more effectiveness (Robbins & Judge 2013). This research paper will discuss the effects, evidence and applications of stereotyping based on the grouping of age. The issue of age in the workplace is an important aspect for at least three reasons. One, there is a perception in most cultures that the productivity of a person decreases with increasing age. Two, the workforce is aging in many developed countries including Australia, UK and USA. And three, many countries are increasing the retirement age, or completely doing away with the concept of retirement age. Effects of stereotyping The influence of negative stereotype can affect ones performance at work. A case reported by Roberson & Kulik (2007, p.26) describes a situation where older workers have mastered ‘the look’ when they are introduced to persons who feel that they are too old to do work. A fifty seven year old accountant will conclude that a person finds him to be incompetent because of his age with comments such as ‘you had such a young voice on the phone’. A comment similar to the one describe can be concluded to mean that the commenter would have preferred (and was expecting) a younger accountant for one reason or the other. Desmette and Gaillard (2008) report that older workers are often stigmatized in the workplace because of their age and perceived capabilities. This sometimes makes them work unnecessarily harder to disapprove the stereotype that they cannot reach certain targets. Alternatively, as in most cases, older workers opt for early retirement to escape the stigmatization. The overall effect of age stereotyping in this case will be less experienced workforce, and disproportional execution of duties at a workplace. Kray & Shirako (2009) recommend that one of the ways of reducing stereotyping is enhancing positive stereotypes in the workplace. According to them, a mechanism of reducing the potency of negative stereotype is to raise awareness of a positive stereotype that may be useful for a specific task, for instance, a manager may choose younger employees to design a presentation that is required to be technology savvy. A common way the older people in the workplace take advantage of their stereotype is by demanding a higher salary because of their greater experience (Desmette & Gaillard 2008). However, Von Bergen et al. (2002) argue that reinforcing positive stereotypes is many at times taken as an equivalent to affirmative action. This might make the other employees, and even the employee in question, to think that the responsibilities or rewards from the positive stereotype are a result of being different, and not being exemplary. Roberson & Kulik (2007) present the concept of stereotype threat. They posit that it places additional burden to members of a stereotyped group. While it is normal to feel some anxiety before performing a task which has great professional or personal implications, stereotyped groups become a little bit more anxious before such tasks. This is because they are aware of the stereotype among their group, and put excessive pressures on themselves to disapprove the stereotype. Unfortunately, because of the pressure, they sometimes confirm the stereotype they work so hard to disconfirm. The effects of stereotype threat on age are illustrated by Roberson & Kulik (2007). They gave a group of old people (> 60 years) a test on memory. They later deliberately created awareness to the old people doing the test that the memory ability of humans decreases with age. Upon giving the group the same test again, the scores were significantly lower. Two reasons are given for the worse performance. One, stereotype threat makes the interviewee to be extra keen to answer the question (to disapprove the stereotype) to the extent that he/she answers fewer questions. Secondly, it reduces the interviewees’ morale such that they lose confidence that they can memorise well. Evidence of stereotyping Arguably the greatest evidence of stereotyping being a feature of the workplace can be presented by the amount of money companies invest in managing diversity. Prior to 1993-1994, companies in the USA spent at least US$ 10 billion a year in diversity training. Additionally, in attempts to achieve diversity in the USA, only 15% of new workers in the workforce in the year 2011 were White, despite them being the majority race in USA; making more than 70% of the population (Von Bergen 2002). These trends show that stereotyping is happening, and companies are trying to control it. From the extant literature, it appears that age based stereotypes do not receive much attention by companies and media. Nevertheless, the age based stereotype has a fair share of studies. In general, most western countries view older people in the workplace as sweet and feeble, but research in the regions of Asia, Hong Kong, Arabia and South Korea rated older workers to have status and competence (Cuddy et al. 2005) Research by Santora and Seaton (2008) show people aged above 50 years experience considerable age discrimination in the workplace. Additionally, people of White ethnic group also experience disproportionally age discrimination, while there is no difference of frequency in age stereotyping among the different genders. The most common way of exercising stereotyping in the workplace includes termination (66% of the cases), harassment (12%) and exclusion from hiring (10%). According to Desmette & Gaillard (2008) stigmatization resulting from stereotyping forces most old workers (aged over 50) opt for early retirement. Their study of Belgian old workers concluded that older workers behaviour was consistent with self-categorization theory. In accordance to this theory, older workers tend to consider retirement after identifying themselves with older groups. Thus, the stereotype threat works against the older individuals in a workplace as soon as they classify themselves as old. Older people are stereotyped to have less drive in the workforce while their younger counterparts are energetic (Santora & Seaton 2008), although the present generation (born after 1970) of young people are considered less hardworking (Trzesniewski & Donnellan 2010). Trzesniewski & Donnellan (2010) research showed that there is little difference between the youths of different generations. They christened the individuals born between 70s and 90s as Generation Me. This is because the society usually perceives the individuals born in this time period to be egotistical and narcissistic compared to any other generation. It was concluded that the psychological profiles of the youths between generations showed remarkable similarities. The only difference occurred in education achievements, whereby the youths of year 2000 and beyond had higher expectations for education success compared to the youths of 70s and 80s. The perception that Generation Me youths are egotistical arises from the advancement of technology. The advent of television, and especially reality shows, makes it possible for repeated exposures of young celebrities’ escapades. Inasmuch as the behaviour exhibited by the celebrities would not be typical for the generation, they end up serving as salient exemplars for the observers. A technology such as YouTube has similar effect. As in many cases, stereotypes are not the generalisation for a group. Similarly, some research has shown that the productivity of individuals in a workplace for most jobs does not decrease with the increase of age as most people assume (Cuddy et al. 2005; Desmette & Gaillard 2008). This may not be true for physically demanding job such as construction, and as such they are the jobs with highest cases of age discrimination (Santora & Seaton 2008). What has been scientifically proven to affect performance in the workplace is well-being. According to Judge and Lessen (2001), people with higher well-being also tend to have more successful careers (cited in Sutin et al. 2013). Research by Sutin et al. (2013) showed that one’s well-being increased with age if all other factors are controlled. This evidence suggests that the older worker, who is often christened as less able, is scientifically backed to be more productive. Application to organisations According to Roberson & Kulik (2007), the existing diversity management strategies concern themselves with managing the manager’s attitudes and behaviours. However, stereotypes are embedded in our cultures, and even if they are managed in the working environment, they will still be present in the community. The efficient strategy of managing stereotypes will therefore need to be long term. It is good to acknowledge that stereotype based on age exists. This is stereotype awareness and should not be confused with stereotype endorsement. Only after acknowledging the presence of stereotypes will appropriate corrective action be put in place. Additionally, organisations ought to strive at improving the working environment and not only managing the manager’s perceptions if stereotypes threats are to reduce in organisations. Managements in organisations should strive at building a common organisational identity rather than age based identities. It is not ideal to group workers such as old and young in the workplace if the negative effects of age based stereotyping are to be reduced (Desmette & Gaillard 2008). Following this recommendation, distributing activities based on age such as reserving technology work to the young members of the organization ought to be discouraged in the workplace environment. It is the work of the management to ensure that age discrimination does not occur in the workplace because research has proven that in many professions, age does not influence productivity. Companies that tolerate stereotyping based on age risk being sued on age discrimination lawsuits, and it is more likely for the complainant to win (Santora and Seaton 2008). Conclusion Stereotyping in the workplace is present and is here to stay. Stereotyping in the workplace can only end if it ends in the society. In most cases, people are not aware of the negative effects of stereotyping in the workplace. The bottom-line for the negative effects of stereotyping in organisations is reduced productivity emanating from reduced morale and increased animosity. Age based stereotyping is common in most workplaces. In general, the young are perceived to be energetic and rebellious, while the older staffs are perceived to be sweet and less enthusiastic by most Western cultures. Quantitative and longitudinal research have disapproved most of the stereotypes, especially the one deeming that old people are less capable of undertaking responsibilities while at work. Nevertheless, the stereotype is still persistent. This forces some older, but capable, workers to retire early. Organisations need to put emphasis on eliminating age based stereotypes, because they can cause the company huge losses in terms of qualified personnel. Additionally, they might cause expensive lawsuits, and the resulting irreparable reputation damage. The first stage in eliminating stereotyping is admitting that it is occurring. Reference List Cuddy, A., Norton, M. & Friske, S., 2005. This old stereotype: the pervasiveness and persistence of the elderly stereotype. Journal of Social Issues, 61(2), p. 265—283 Desmette, D., & Gaillard, M., 2008. When a “worker” becomes an “older worker” The effects of age-related social identity on attitudes towards retirement and work’, Career Development International, 13(2), p. 168-185. Kray, L.J., & Shirako, A., 2009. Stereotype Threat in Organizations: An Examination of its Scope, Triggers, and Possible Interventions,’ IRLE Working Paper No. 195-09. Roberson, L., & Kulik, C .T., 2007. Stereotype threat at work’, Academy of Management Perspectives, 21(2), 24-40. Robbins, S.P. & Judge T 2013, Organizational behavior, Boston, Pearson. Santora, J.C., & Seaton, W.J. 2008. Age Discrimination: Alive and Well in the Workplace?’ The Academy of Management Perspectives, 22(2), p. 103-104. Sutin, A. R. Terracciano, A., Milaneschi, Y., Ferrucci, L., & Zonderman, A. B., 2013. The effect of birth cohort on well-being: The legacy of economic hard times. Psychological Science, 24, 379-385. Trzesniewski, K. H. , & Donnellan, M. B. 2010. Rethinking "Generation Me": A study of cohort effects from 1976-2006. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 5(1), pp.58-75. Von Bergen, C.W., Soper B., & Foster, T., 2002. Unintended negative effects of diversity management. Public personnel management, 31(2), p. 239-251. Read More