Critical Perspectives on Management and Organisation - Coursework Example

CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON MANAGEMENT AND ORGANISATION due: Table of Contents Table of Contents 1 Introduction 2 Bibliography 13 Introduction Spedale, Coupland & Tempest in their paper Gendered Ageism and Organisation Routines at Work argue that, the practice of day-parting in broadcasting contributes to the social development of a concept of ‘youthfulness’ resulting in discrimination. At the Centre of their discussion is the argument that BBC (British public service broadcaster) promoted inequality on the basis of gender and age. They suggest that the corporation enhanced ageism through a master plan of ‘brand rejuvenation and refreshment’ that was used to nominate individuals. In addition, it promoted youthfulness through a combined abstraction, generalisation and decentralisation that preserves power inconsistency in the workplace. Furthermore, at BBC ageism is more dominant than sexism as a way of oppression. The authors also state that, lack of understanding about ageism motivates the supremacy of it over sexism (Spedale, Coupland & Tempest 2014, p.1585-1604). A statement to give thought to ‘is ageism an element of prejudice that creates inequality at workplace?’ Discussion of Spedale, Coupland & Tempest (2014) paper The discourse by Spedale, Coupland & Tempest (2014), is an advocacy to comprehend ageist behaviours and attitudes that focus on the psychology of prejudice and humiliation. For one to comprehend ageism, there is the need to pay attention to aspects above persons to its structural foundations that involves power relations. Definition of ageism Ageism is defined as the norm that ‘people stop to be people, halt to be the same individuals or begin to be people of difference and subordinate, by the honour of living a certain number of years. Ageism is influenced by practices and beliefs that hinder people to perform at full potential. As argued by Bill, ageism is a concept that is utilised by dominant groups to maintain and justify the inequalities between age groups (Cruikshank 2009, p. 138). Ageism occurs both consciously and unconsciously and, therefore, people become victims or perpetrators when they are aware or not. A unique feature about ageism is the fact that anyone can be a target of stereotype as long as he or she lives long. In addition, people of colour and women embrace the belief as part of their lives. Also, individuals over the age of seventy look at ageism as an identity. All in all, the word ageism entails three interconnected aspects. The first dimension is the institutional policies that promote stereotypes concerning old people. The second perspective is the prejudicial feelings towards the old and lastly, discriminatory activities against them (MüHlbauer, Chrisler & Denmark 2014, 76). Therefore, the aim of the article The Case of Day-Parting in Television Broadcasting (2014) is to condemn inequality based on age. The study carried out in BBC discovered that the old workers above the age of 50 years were continually wiped out from their resources. This is despite the fact that the organisation has a public commitment to equal job opportunities (Sargeant 2011, p. 49). Ageism in an organisation In an organisation, age discrimination is a problem for aged individuals. There are stereotypical tales about old people, policies that favour young employees over old staff. In addition, there is partiality against the old worker’s abilities, as well as discriminatory and abusive implementations by employers that demoralise the old employees. Every human being has the fundamental right to work where an individual is free from arbitrary dismissal and discrimination. Nevertheless, around the globe, these human rights are denied to millions of older people just because of age (Brownell & Kelly 2013, p.3). Ageism in a workplace comprises of ageist discussions, hiring, firing and training decisions that are grounded on age, and expressed attitudes about ageist. These activities are directed consciously and unconsciously by stereotypical presumptions about the manner they are supposed to communicate and behave in a workplace. The workplace stereotypes reflect the entire societal cliché about the elderly. These stereotypes include ideas of them being cranky, cognitively deficient, irritable, weak, feeble-minded, decrepit and verbose. In some cases, the old people are seen as ugly, asexual, useless and impotent. In an organisation, the communication and memory performance is different between the old and young. In most events, memory failure is associated with ‘lack of ability’ in old people but in young persons as ‘lack of effort’ (Nelson 2004, p. 166). The old people are viewed to be incapable of coping with change. This perception is created by the belief that old people resist new technology. The perception is grounded on the stereotypical belief that the elderly are rigid, inadaptable and resist to execute new techniques. As a result, the old employees are left out in training programmes because of the concept ‘one cannot teach an old dog new tricks’. In addition, old individuals miss tanning opportunities on the ground that they learn slowly, and will not be in work for long. On the grounds of a decremental theory of ageing, the old are perceived as people who produce and perform at low levels. The decremental theory of ageing states that the performance by an employee declines naturally as a natural role of age. From this perspective, the old staffs is viewed by the management as having a low job performance, lack creativity, unable to handle job stress and slow in work (Nelson 2004, p.172). In addition, the old people are not hired for employment because of perception that they will cost the organisation much money. It is linked to their reducing productivity because of their mental and physical deterioration. The most affected are those in countries where the benefits and wage systems are connected to the length of service and age (International Labour Office 2007, p. 64). In addition, the old individuals suffer from displacement from the workplace. According to the employers, it is financially responsible because it is cheaper to hire young employees as replacements. In other cases, the old are forced to resign from work to escape from harsh working setting. The structural changes and technology advancement makes it hard for the old employees to adapt. As a result, more costs are incurred in training and hiring new staff which leads to loss of expertise that is impossible to replace (Paludi, Paludi & Desouza 2011, and p.5). However, the difference in the treatment of various employees on the basis of age is allowed under specified situations in Directive Framework. Indirect and direct discrimination at the workplace is forbidden apart from a situation where there is an objective justification through a legal aim and where channels to attain it are necessary and suitable. There are three distinct age treatments are justifiable on the basis of a legitimate aim that comprises vocational training objectives, legitimate employment policy and labour market. The legitimate employment policy permits positive activities for different groups including old and young workers and motivates their incorporation into the workforce. The vocational training objectives specify the maximum employment age on the basis of academic qualifications for the post. In addition, the maximum age is specified because of the need to work for a given period before retirement. On the other hand, the legitimate employment policy provides advantages that are related to age, seniority or experience (Sargeant 2006, p.19). The type of ageism that is common in today’s society is media ageism. Media ageism is the degradation of the older individuals as obnoxious on physical and intellectual basis. Ageism like any other kind of discrimination and prejudice is attained and not inborn. The origin of the perception is in people’s cultural and social environment. The media plays a significant duty in defining the image of old people. For example in print and non-print describe the older adults with stereotypic behavioural and physical factors associated with old age. The media influences children’s literature, art, humour, adolescent literature and advertising. As a result, a lot of the media generated information is absorbed into the mind of people from a tender age that generates development of negative attitude towards aging and old people (Stavros, Grossmark & Miller 2002, p.35). Ageism in UK In the UK age, discrimination is categorised according to age groups. Old age discrimination falls under the age of 50-SPA1 while senior age discrimination affect individuals over SPA. The age group of old age discrimination starts at the age of 50 and ends at 65 years excluding women who have a state pension age of 60 years. Most individuals at this age do not apply for jobs because they feel that their age is an obstacle because they have been turned away from job application on this basis. In the private sector, employers consider the age as a key factor where most preferred young people. This is because they believed that the young individuals are flexible, motivate and ready to learn new expertise. In addition, employers avoid recruiting old people because, at this age bracket, one out of eight is economically inactive, that is, as a result of chronic diseases (Sargeant 2006, p.93). A study carried out established that 33 per cent stopped working because of health issues while 15 percent retired before time and 16 percent became redundant. Looking at the percentage of young people who stopped working or became redundant, the percentages are higher. The consequences of the study show that only 11 percent of young employees became redundant and 13 percent gave up work. Due to these reasons and others, old people often find themselves being removed from the workforce without consideration (Sargeant 2006, p. 94). Protection against ageism in workplace As a way to protect the old people in UK, anti-discrimination law is being introduced. This is implemented as European Employment Directive 2000. The Directive states that discrimination in employment area on the basis of sexual orientation, age, disability and religion should be banned in all EU countries (Spedding & Rose 2008, p.331). The EU member states had until December 2003 to execute the order. However, the member states requested more time of a maximum of three years to introduce the legislation. The UK government asked for an extension of three years to forbid age discrimination and one year to initiate the law to make disability discrimination as illegal (Spedding & Rose 2008, p. 333). Furthermore, the UK Equality Act 2020 entails provisions in regard to employment discrimination that are now in force. For instance, PSED (the public sector equality duty), that expects the public bodies to remove behaviour that is forbidden by the Act. In addition, the public bodies are expected to promote good relationships and give equality to individuals that share something in common as well those who do not (Doron & Soden 2012, p.65). All in all, there are international policies that aim at protecting the old people against ageism. One of these policies is the Vienna plan that recognises three major factors. First, the policy is concerned with maintenance of growth in a world where the population is advancing in age. Secondly, it concentrates on the sustainability of well-being and good health of the old individuals. Lastly, the policy focuses on the creation of a supportive and suitable setting for all age groups. The Vienna Plan includes the effect of negative narratives and attitudes against the old generation. It argues that negative narratives used in making decisions about when a person should retire based on age instead of looking at their abilities, results in isolation from society (Brownell & Kelly, 2013, p.6). Opinion about sexism and ageism at workplace Sexism is a form of discrimination that women are supposed to be subordinates to men, unjust treatment on the basis of gender and the norm that women are inferior. In other words, sexism is the behaviour, attitudes and beliefs that underpin the unequal status of men and women. Sexism at the workplace is manifested through attitudes that are meant to sustain inferior functions and underestimate females (Brown & Gaertner 2001, p. 219). Sexism is described in two kinds; benevolent and hostile. The hostile sexism is rooted on the dislike of women where they are seen like putting efforts to manage men. In this position, women are assumed to use their sexuality to go ahead. On the other hand, benevolent sexism does not exhibit any hatred towards women. This form portrays women as human beings in need of protection and help. The benevolent sexism is a set of interconnected perceptions toward women that are sexist from the way they view women in stereotypical manner and limit their functions. However, benevolent sexism holds a positive tone and feeling and tends to display conduct that can be seen as intimacy-seeking. From this perspective, sex discrimination can be defined as the harmful and unequal treatment of people based on their sex. It is manifested in three ways; covert, subtle and blatant sex discrimination. Blatant sex discrimination involves the use of sexual offensive language, language and physical violence. Subtle sex prejudice includes a conduct that is not recognised as sexism because they have been accepted through mythologies, ‘scientific’ concepts and laws. Covert sex discrimination is the maliciously motivated action that is directed towards women. An example in a job environment is assigning roles to women that are difficult to fulfil in order to blame them for failure. In a workplace scenario, it may involve giving out jobs with no time to complete before the deadline to ensure that a woman is not paid or does not get a promotion (Paludi 2008, p.113). The difference between sexism and ageism is that sexism is sex discrimination among women and men regardless of their age. Contrary, ageism is discrimination of males and females in respect to their age. In ageism stereotyping applies to all age groups and ages (Sargeant 2011, p. 1). Ageist perceptions and attitudes separate the old people from the society, describing them as people who breed on the young people and a social menace. As a result, discrimination of the old and the differences among them is not identified. Old women are more humiliated through sexism and ageism. It is because the society views old women significance in their role as child bearers and sex objects. The ageist attitude develops from changes in functioning of their bodies and physical appearance. The society looks at the old women from the world of advertisement perspective that exhibit female role models of young people with beautiful bodies. The modern culture put emphasis on the young women body as a source of negative or positive self-identity. It is evident from numerous prints produced advising women to perform surgeries to correct sagging buttocks, skin and breasts to conform to the image of a desirable woman (Davis 2006, p.50). Therefore, older women encounter on sexism and ageism that makes them take a contradictory position. They are united and divided from their fellow old men as well as other women. There is a two-way connection between sexism and ageism. To start, the influence of ageing on women determines the extent to which the old woman can fit into the image of womanhood portrayed by sexism. Secondly, the old women arouse primitive pictures of women as witches and mystics because of their participation in the procedures of nature such as giving birth (Day & Langan 2002, p.223). How management can stop ageism and sexism in an organisation In an organisation, employees are always concerned with leadership positions. Sexism and ageism is an obstacle to the individual’s growth in employment. An employer should, therefore, identify the best strategies that recognise and establish a diverse work environment. In addition, the management should recognise the ways to prevent oppression among the employees. The staff may be oppressed through actions, words and glances of superiors whose aim is to manage them. The pedagogy of the oppressed by Paulo Freire (1970), describe oppression as the exploitation executed by an individual to limit the growth of another person. In such a case, the employees are seen as less human and it is the role of the supervisors to initiate behaviour that can be followed by the workers (Lyons 2010, p.16). The most effective way of curbing sexism and ageism is through cultural diversity in the organisation. For diversity to take root in an organisation, there is the need for a philosophy that reinforces it without resistance. The diversity philosophy needs to go beyond reacting to legislative requirements by incorporating diversity into daily processes and activities in the organisation. Hence, a corporate philosophy that embraces diversity results in a culture of empowerment, fairness, inclusion and openness for all employees. Some organisations use human relations strategy to tap the abilities of workers regardless of sex and age based on academic qualifications. The human resource unit is the entry point by which all the workers go through to become a part of the organisation. Various initiatives by human resource generate ease adoption of diversity. For instance, initiatives such as periodic cultural audits that permit a thorough examination of techniques. These techniques include promotion, performance appraisal, compensation, recruitment, and employee growth. In addition, activities such as creating practices and policies, holding diversity conferences and workshops with an objective for results such as entire structural incorporation. Other anticipated results include strong social support networks for minorities, leadership diversity and reduced level of employee conflict and prejudice free work setting. When these initiatives are put in place, they demonstrate the company’s commitment to diversity (Lussier & Achua 2010, p.402). In addition, an organisation should put emphasis on how to communicate the message of diversity amongst the employees. The companies use various forms of communication that include regular surveys of staff opinions and attitudes, calendars, newsletters and posters. In addition, an organisation may produce items such as coffee mugs celebrating diversity successes that serve as an effective way of creating diversity awareness. Moreover, a strategy of repeated exposure to diversity themes enhances the message that diversity is normal and embraced as a component of daily life in the company. Furthermore, an organisation may establish diversity as criteria to measure success. An example of a criterion is a situation where compensation is attached to diversity metrics, progress and goals. Activities such as company article writing, promoting many minorities into managerial posts, addressing diversity problems in time increases the level of awareness. From this perspective, success is measured in terms of the manager’s ability to meet the diversity goals, as well as financial success. Different criteria for success that is explained in multiple dimensions create managerial accountability in various roles. The management should ensure that a proportion of a manager’s salary is linked to fulfilling quantifiable diversity goals (Lussier & Achua 2010, p.403). Conclusion In conclusion, ageism is an illness that creates social disharmony. The main challenge of ageism is that people do not recognise it and execute policies that oppress the old without consideration. It is a problem that threatens the welfare of the aged and everyone else because people fear the process of ageing. Sexism, on the other hand, is unfair and should not be part of organisation culture in this century. The management of every organisation should put in place measures that promote diversity and suppress ageism and sexism. In addition, managers should promote the minorities in leadership positions to create an all-inclusive work environment. In such a case, every employee is satisfied and happy and in turn increases their performance. On the other hand, the establishment of strict policies that restrict the use of discriminatory language will reduce the rate of ageism as well as sexism at the workplace. Giving the old employees an opportunity to train may encourage them and maintain them at workplace performing at the expected capacity with the right skills. As a matter of fact, the old age workers can contribute positively to an organisation through applying their experience to train the young employees to fit easily into the organisation. From the research carried out, it is evident that ageism is an element of prejudice that creates inequality at the workplace. Old people are discriminated because of their age and this acts as a way of isolating them from the society. Most of the aged have the potential to perform in various jobs and through their experience can give much more to an organisation. Leaving them out of employment renders them useless and makes them become a burden on the caregiver. It is because they are forced to depend on the young people to survive. Therefore, from this point of view, ageism should be wiped out totally because it is not fair at all for people with old age and in good health. It is also a waste on the part of the government because it loses a valuable workforce with a rich expertise to degenerate. Bibliography BROWNELL, P. J., & KELLY, J. J. (2013). Ageism and mistreatment of older workers current reality, future solutions. Dordrecht, Springer. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5521-5 BROWN, R., & GAERTNER, S. L. (2001). Intergroup processes. Malden, Mass, Blackwell Publishers. http://site.ebrary.com/id/10233057 CRUIKSHANK, M. (2009). Learning to be old gender, culture, and aging. Lanham, Md, Rowman & Littlefield Pub. http://public.eblib.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=466814. DAY, L., & LANGAN, M. (EDS.). 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