Journal of Emerging Trends in Economics and Management Sciences: Home

Abstract:
Ageism can be expressed in the form of forced retirement, stigma, ostracism, or inequitable performance assessment practices. It is demoralizing to older workers. Ageism can be understood from the perspective of specific ecological processes, defined at a microsystem level, within particular organizational contexts, Segregation is an example of a process by which ageism may be sustained in organizations. Older workers understand well that a key to success is participation in ongoing cooperative activities. Those who are invited to join cooperative groups are able to work on projects that lead to survival and advancement. Given prevailing ageism in organizations, older workers require opportunities to effectively cooperate. Another technique used to support ageism is information control. Managers attempt to maintain and disseminate organizationally prescribed reality based on stereotypes of the aging worker. When these processes become policies in organizations, valuable resources in the form of human capital are lost. Recommendations made in this paper are designed to help managers to change and eliminate conditions that support ageism in organizations by creating a workplace supportive of older workers who are able and willing to contribute to the organization.

Keywords: ageism, organizations, segregation, information control, ecology

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