The Influence of Age on Teamwork

The input of every employee in an organization is vital for its success. Consequently, the management of any organization that wishes to compete favorably must ensure everyone is actively participating in work. The best strategy of attaining one`s objective would thus entail blending fresh and experienced employees in groups to complement one another.

Teamwork is an integral element in every organization. This is because the team spirit enables employees and the management to work in unison to attain one goal. Additionally, it allows effectiveness and efficiency in the work environment. An example of a vital component in the organization that needs examination is whether age differences influence teamwork in firms.

Background

Bed Bath & Beyond organization is my employer that recognizes the importance of blending the young and experienced employees in the organization. Its work philosophy is performance, teamwork, and accountability. Through this school of thought, its recruitment policy is open to all categories of employees with age being one of the factors. It believes that experienced people have enough knowledge acquired over the years that will aid its organization to its vision through teamwork. Consequently, all employees work in various departments with a mixture of the young as well as the old.

Also, the good interpersonal relationship in the diverse workforce regarding the old, middle, and old is given a lot of importance to enhance harmony in the workplace. Hence, the non-consideration of age as a limiting factor in job appointments by employers, the Human Resource, and the top management of organizations.

According to age meta-stereotypes, the age factor plays an integral role in the workplace: the study involved, the old, the middle age, and the young ones in the organization. The middle-aged workers were found to be more detrimental to younger workers as compared to the old ones. The younger workers were found to be negative for both old and middle age employees (Finkelstein, King, & Voyles,2015, p.31). The study had both positive and negative perceptions from other age groups to others. The positive attribute of the younger employees was energetic and responsive to new technology with lack of experience as their undoing. The old workers apart from being viewed as experienced were also considered as selfish, unwilling to change, and unwelcome to training majorly from the young employees. Accordingly, age influence affects teamwork and can be a source of conflict which can prevent an organization from achieving its goals. It has been proven to be complex from each group stereotyping the other thus curtailing proper interaction and work engagement.

The linking of old age and inefficiency in the workplace is unjustified. The study conducted in Hong Kong found that older employees could work at the same level or even better than the younger counterparts. Additionally, all the good and adverse work-related outcomes are not related to the age of the employees (Scheiber,2018, p.33.). Moreover, the older employees are stronger mentally and psychologically thus not affected by mood swings that can negatively impact the work output.

According to the study review, the old people in the workplace positively relate to their fellow employees. Through this, teamwork is enhanced. The study disagreed with those who assumed that as one gets old, work motivation also reduces. On the contrary, such individuals get satisfaction from assisting their fellows to serve the community as a motivator thus enhancing teamwork (Truxillo, 2015, p. 358).

The output in work performance is two-fold concerning age in an organization. A study in the Belgian workforce established that a mixture of ages in work enables the company to perform well and is positive. However, whenever an organization engages in a particular age group in employment, the output and teamwork get negative due to competition. On the same note, differences in age group can lead to disagreements as a result of value differences by the employees (De Meulenaere, Boon, & Buyl, 2016, p.1.).

The age and sitting arrangements impact significantly in the co-operation among employees. This kind of arrangement differed regarding collaboration, personal service delivery, transport, and adoption of the office climate. The young employees were found to have no problem with open offices were not distracted. Hence, could work freely and collaborate with other employees. On the other hand, the old employees were found to be uncomfortable with such an environment as they considered it infringing on their privacy.

Consequently, they did not work well in such an environment. On the other hand, the middle-aged employees could work on both enclosed and unenclosed environments because of their ease in adjusting to the distractions. However, mixing the ages led to co-operation due to the sharing of ideas and collaboration (Haynes, Suckley, & Nunnington, 2017, p.8).

Positive associations arise between the young and the old when it comes to growth and advancement in career. This makes both groups learn from one another operating to new skills. The old get the opportunity to acquire new technological skills regarding their work as the young get intricate and unique skills possessed by experienced colleagues. However, the young employees were more advantaged from the interactions. (Henry, Zacher, & Desmette, 2015, p.249)

The old people have been found to be strong in coping with emotional stress. This makes them recover from any strenuous activity faster than the younger employees. Their endurance in challenging work assignments gives them an upper hand when it comes to job concentration. The ability to cope with stress is attributed to their advanced skill and mental experiences that have been gained over time. Through this development, they can handle stress from both external and internal sources. They can passively cope with external pressures from the job due to their ability to control the job. Through the job control mechanism, they can decide to work with their fellow staff or share some ideas which will then lead to finding the solution (Hertel, Rauschenbach, & Thielgen, 2015, p.215)

The effect of changes in legislation regarding retirement age has compelled employers to adjust their systems to incorporate old employees. Consequently, calculations on salary, training, and pensions have been reviewed. This has made the young employees work with old employees. The study was done in Italy also indicated the training costs incurred in enabling the old employees to perform new tasks that require the use of technology. This has led to the shrinkage of new hiring. This has made their retention expensive to the firm because of the many costs incurred in bringing them on board (Berton, Guarascio, & Ricci, 2018, p.6)

In manufacturing firms, the retirement of employees needs to be planned to avoid disruptions into the system. This emanates from the little time given by the departing employees to train the young and inexperienced fellows (Börsch-Supan, 2016, p. 2).

The impact of age on productivity has not yet been proven due to lack of supporting empirical studies. This is attributed to the complexity of measuring performance because of its influence by various factors. Elements that affect the productivity of an individual include the structure of the organization regarding technology, work environment, the health of the individual and the cognitive element of the individual. A sick person cannot perform to best of his or her ability. Additionally, an individual`s speed of reasoning, memory, and alertness reduce at fifty years onwards. Through this, training such an individual becomes a daunting task. Such an individual cannot perform in an organization and may lead to conflict with fellow employees (Boenzi, Mossa, & Mummolo, 2015p.6).

Conclusion

Age differences among employees can affect an organization`s team spirit in both positive and negative fronts. It is, therefore, paramount for the managers of an organization to consider how to blend different age groups to enhance co-operation for success. The mature employees have a lot of skills and experience which is vital for the middle age and young employees career development. On the other hand, the old employees can learn from the young ones of any new developments in technology which are applicable in their organization.

The management needs to ensure met stereotyping among employees is eliminated in its organization. This can be done by conducting meetings, and other get together functions that draw the employees together. Through this, they get an opportunity to learn from one another, know their strengths and eventually work as a team.

References

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Börsch-Supan, A., & Weiss, M. (2016). Productivity and age: Evidence from work teams at the assembly line. The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, 7, 2.

De Meulenaere, K., Boone, C., & Buyl, T. (2016). Unraveling the impact of workforce age diversity on labor productivity: The moderating role of firm size and job security. Journal of organizational behavior, 37(2), 1.

Finkelstein, L. M., King, E. B., & Voyles, E. C. (2015). Age metastereotyping and cross-age workplace interactions: A meta view of age stereotypes at work. Work, Aging and Retirement, 1(1), 26-40.

Haynes, B., Suckley, L., & Nunnington, N. (2017). Workplace productivity and office type: an evaluation of office occupier differences based on age and gender. Journal of Corporate Real Estate, 19(2), 111-138.

Henry, H., Zacher, H., & Desmette, D. (2015). Reducing age bias and turnover intentions by enhancing intergenerational contact quality in the workplace: The role of opportunities for generativity and development. Work, Aging and Retirement, 1(3), 243-253.

Hertel, G., Rauschenbach, C., Thielgen, M. M., & Krumm, S. (2015). Are older workers more active copers? Longitudinal effects of age‐contingent coping on strain at work. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 36(4), 514-537.

Scheibe, S., Yeung, D. Y., & Doerwald, F. (2018). Age-related differences in levels and dynamics of workplace affect. Psychology and aging.

Truxillo, D. M., Cadiz, D. M., & Hammer, L. B. (2015). Supporting the aging workforce:   A review and recommendations for workplace intervention research. Annu. Rev. Organ. Psychol. Organ. Behav.,2(1), 360.