Diversity Paper

Diversity Paper



Diversity Paper

Introduction

Robert Butler is credited with originating the term ageism in 1968. Ageism involves negative attitudes and discriminatory practices against individuals based on age. Such attitudes and practices often result in age discrimination, specifically against older individuals. Ageism has been evidenced in our media's excessive emphasis on youth, in our medical and mental health fields, and in employment settings (Glenn, 2003)

Ageism and age discrimination are based on negative attitudes fueled by stereotypes about older people. These stereotypes contain the following incorrect assumptions: that all aging people are ailing physically and are frail and disabled; that older individuals are impaired cognitively and lack mental acuity; and that older people are perpetually depressed, gloomy, or hostile. These stereotypes involving the physical, cognitive, and emotional functioning of older people converge to produce common assumptions that older individuals lack vitality, productivity, sexuality, and the ability to learn new things—all of which contribute to age discrimination toward older individuals (Elder, 2003).

In this paper I have explore the available literature on the subject of age discrimination. Then the results of empirical research was carried out to analyze the impacts of diversity on organisational performance.

Research and Analysis

Although evidence regarding the relationship between worker age and work performance suggests that worker age is a singularly poor predictor of work performance, older workers encounter a variety of barriers to employment opportunities that reflect discrimination on the basis of age. Studies have documented age discrimination in many occupations with respect to hiring, promotions, salaries, and access to development opportunities. Sometimes the discrimination is fairly blatant, but at other times it represents more subtle (and often unintentional) differences in the way older workers and younger workers are treated at work (Garstka, 2005).

One of the most common explanations for age discrimination is that managers and other decision makers are influenced by stereotypes that depict older workers as less capable, less energetic, less creative, more rigid, and less willing to learn than younger workers. This has the potential to put older job candidates at an unfair disadvantage when competing against younger applicants for jobs, promotions, and development opportunities. An additional unfortunate consequence of age discrimination is that it creates an environment in which older workers sometimes feel threats to their job security and, quite reasonably, experience anxiety about becoming re-employed should they lose their jobs. Age discrimination most commonly occurs as older workers seek new jobs, make efforts to sustain current employment, or compete for a promotion. Older workers are frequently highly compensated. These individuals tend to be employed for a lengthier period of time, achieving senior-level positions and progressively higher compensation (Nelson, 2005).

Some individuals maintain that employers target these workers for replacement because they are more costly to keep than younger workers. Younger workers tend to be compensated at a lower rate, benefits are less costly, and there is a longer time horizon before retirement. These individuals are less expensive to hire and employ. A company may also consider younger workers as opposed to older ...