Analysis of the Problem of Age Discrimination in the Workplace - Essay Example

Age Discrimination in the Modern Workplace Table of contents Page Introduction 3 Evidence of age discrimination 4 Potential impact of age discrimination 5 Conclusion 7 References 9 Introduction There are many relevant problems linked to age discrimination in the modern workplace. In particular there are important laws that at some point will have to stand against this unfair practice, as there is a point of giving everyone a chance to have equal rights in the workplace. Age discrimination in the modern workplace is a common practice in the work environment. In fact, there are various individual cases that could support this view point. In the first place, many firms are trying to hire human resources that they think are truly equipped or competent to be part of their team. In the first place, firms try to optimise everything and one subject of the optimisation process is the human resource. For this reason, the human resource department may be picky in dealing with finding the human resources that are truly competent or will have optimum contribution for the firm’s future success. There is a prevailing notion that the younger are the chosen employees, the better it will be for the company. However, there might also be substantial flaws in this argument because there are also prevailing young age discriminations in the workplace. In particular, young people might be less likely promoted because of their age (Sargeant, 2006, p.84). At the other end, old age discrimination is also prevalent, because older people are perceived to be somewhere in the portion of economic inactivity, leading to the firm’s likelihood of obtaining less possible output from them (Sargeant, 2006, p.91). Added to this, people belonging to senior age group are also under the area of discrimination, especially on the ground of promotion, training opportunities and redundancy (Sargeant, 2006, p.90). On the other hand, the group that will be less likely to experience possible discrimination at the workplace is composed of the middle-age employees, but these are also the people who have most of their needs for feeding their children and some women in this group suffer a significant discrimination (Sergeant, 2006, p.88). In other words, in all possible ages of workers, discrimination might be remarkable in the workplace, because they are subjects to the firm’s prevailing requirement of optimising what seems to be substantial for the company’s welfare. In other words, not everyone of varying age has the chance to be given the optimum break in a firm. The work at hand tries to depict the actual probable problems linked to inequality through age discrimination in the workplace. Evidence of age discrimination According to the study of Roscigno et al. (2007, p.318), people who have substantial likelihood to be fired without any remarkable reasons are either skilled or semiskilled, somewhere at the age of 50, those who are close enough to retirement. However, in the event that an issue like this will move to the court of law, the proof will always end up to the argument that the use of age for firing an employee is “appropriate and necessary” (Sargeant, 2006, p.88). Sargeant (2006, p.79) presented the following age bracket of people experiencing work-age-related discrimination. Table 1. Age of the employee that may be under varying type of work-age-related discrimination Young Age Middle Age Old Age Senior 16-24 25-49 50-SPA > SPA Other remarkable proof that age discrimination exists in the work place is the existence of poor employee attitudes, performance and organisational effectiveness. This is a remarkable claim according to the research study initiated by Snape and Redman (2003, p.78). According to Snape and Redman, bias and unfairness probably exist against those employees who are either too young or too old. In other words, the study of Snape and Redman reminds that the major age groups that are thoroughly affected by age discrimination at work are those somewhere at the young age level and the old age level. Now it is important if there is truly a significant impact of age discrimination at work such as the claim that it will lead to employee’s poor attitude, performance and organisational effectiveness. Potential impact of age discrimination A relevant research study was conducted to find why employee may not help coworkers. The study employed 233 front-line hotel employees and findings reveal that those who are not willing to work or participate with their supervisors show higher level of envy than those who are more willing to participate and perform their duties (Kim et al., 2010, p.530). This is clearly relevant to the issue of self-esteem. A certain study reveals that age discrimination, regardless of age, will result to lower employee “self-esteem and perceived control”, which are also the remarkable reasons for burnout, complaints, job satisfaction and eventually, employee’s intention to turnover (Perrewe et al., 1991, p.245). This finding supports what Snape and Redman found out concerning the potential drawbacks of age discrimination in the workplace. In other words, there are other potential associations of age discrimination to other probable problems involving employees in the workplace. Clearly, there might be an emotional touch involved when employees find that they are not valued or less likely considered so. There are some theories suggesting that one important source of conflict in an organisation might be the inability of the leaders to consider the welfare of its employees (). In fact, there are many reasons why conflict at work may exist (). However, unfair treatment is part of the list (). This leads to the point that the inability of a firm to strengthen its employees self-esteem might lead to a remarkable drawback in the future. As already stated, age discrimination in the actual workplace might lead to employee’s dissatisfaction with the company and might lead to higher rate of turnover. However, prior to that, employee’s attitudes are viewed to deteriorate, leading to inefficiency in the workplace. Sad to say, a firm might be able to use this performance of the employees as a point against them and as potential ground for the level of their actual qualification of fitness to work in the firm. However, it might be hidden in the actual scenario that the bottom line of the employee’s prevailing attitude might be their slowly deteriorating self-esteem, because of the existence of any potential unfair treatment in the workplace. For sure, as supported by essential findings, age discrimination is one potential reason that can degrade one’s self-esteem. On the other hand, an employee’s degrading self-esteem will lead to other substantial impacts on the firm’s performance. With employees having low self-esteem, an organisation is vulnerable to the peril of less creativity, allowing the firm to create a less remarkable output in the long run. For this reason, it is important to always boost the employee’s self-esteem in order to ignite their passion to go more creative. This is a remarkable strategy that is clearly viewed in highly dynamic and creative companies today (). For instance, the case of Apple Inc. is a significant example. This company adheres to the principle that in order for its employees to always discover something new, it is important that everyone should be fairly treated. In fact, everyone is considered the best, and that what they might have to be created in the future are always the best, but that does not mean that there will be no best among the best. This is the reason that everyone will always have the chance to excel. The door is not closed for everybody, because they are motivated to excel in their own way, at some point. The concept of age discrimination is possibly giving deep emotional harm that may always reflect on the employee’s actual performance at work (). The less motivation to do what is necessary might be a significant indicator of this (). Furthermore, the higher turnover might be secondary, but the issues like that of not being able to cooperate with subordinates or higher ranking authorities at work is a clear manifestation of an employee’s poor attitude. This poor attitude is clearly showing a domino effect on the firm’s actual performance in the future. If employee’s performances are poor enough, then the firm is at the verge of the peril of losing its remarkable control for more productive output in the future. There are many studies revealing that poor employees’ performances are remarkable obstacles of the firm’s good future (). In fact, the reason why there is a need to motivate every employee is to allow them to be more productive in the long run (). A productive employee is highly motivated in the first place. However, the presence of age discrimination may only lead to potential employees that will stand on their ground as say something against the company, allowing others to participate in the same stand. Thus, this must be a perfect recipe for the conflict at work. The conflict at work is common. However, every firm should learn to understand that it is absolutely within their control whether a certain conflict will proliferate until it reaches to worst case and without remedy, or simply put it to a halt in just a short span of time possible. In either way, the management will always have a choice. The management will always have to see the bottom line causes of every complex consequence at present. In other words, there is a need to look things at their deeper sides and what might be the triggering forces that ignited their existence. Without question, there is a strong case that will have to link age discrimination to the conflict at work. This information is quite intuitive in its sense, but the most important point is to consider the level of its impact on the firm. Conclusion The work at hand considers the evidence of age discrimination at work and then finds the remarkable impact of it in the work place. It was stated that age discrimination may harm employee’s self-esteem, which means there is a significant reason to believe that such action might be able to bring potential attitude problems or drawbacks in the long run. It was presented that such attitude problems or drawbacks, in theory are relevant sources of conflicts at work. In other words, age discrimination might be an issue that should be considered as a potential igniting factor that will also lead to the existence of complex problems at work. This idea sounds intuitive, but it is actually backed by significant findings and remarkable theories, linking human behavior and the actual performance at work. In other words, age discrimination cannot be simply overlooked, because there are associated complex problems with it that may just only come right away in the future. References Roscigno, V. J., Mong, S., Byron, R., and Tester, G. (2007). Age discrimination, social closure and employment. Social Forces, 86(1), 313-334. Sargeant,M. (2006). Age Discrimination at Work. In: Sargeant,M Age Discrimination in Employment. Hampshire: Gower Publishing Litmited, 79-103. Snape, E., and Redman, T. (2003). Too old or too young? The impact of perceived age discrimination. Human Resource Management Journal, 13(1), 78-89. A causal model examining the effects of age discrimination on employee psychological reactions and subsequent turnover intentions Original Research Article International Journal of Hospitality Management, Volume 10, Issue 3, 1991, Pages 245-260 Pamela L. Perrewé, Robert A. Brymer, Lee P. Stepina, Barbara L. Hassell A causal model examining the effects of age discrimination on employee psychological reactions and subsequent turnover intentions Original Research Article International Journal of Hospitality Management, Volume 10, Issue 3, 1991, Pages 245-260 Pamela L. Perrewé, Robert A. Brymer, Lee P. Stepina, Barbara L. Hassell When does an employee not help coworkers? The effect of leader–member exchange on employee envy and organizational citizenship behavior Original Research Article International Journal of Hospitality Management, Volume 29, Issue 3, September 2010, Pages 530-537 Soo Kim, John W. O’Neill, Hyun-Min Cho Read More