Age-Discrimination in Australian Organisations: An Exploration through the Lens of Behavioural and Phenomenological Psychological Theories.  

Abstract

There is an abundant body of research that shows Australians are living longer and having fewer children; that to remain competitive we need to find ways for people to remain gainfully employed for longer; and that age-discrimination is a significant barrier to older workers. Both behaviourism and phenomenology offer useful conceptual frameworks for understanding negative stereotypes associated with older workers – behaviourism, through the lens of observational learning in organisations, and phenomenology, through the need for positive regard from managers and peers. A hypothetical model of how each theory might help to understand the issue of negative stereotypes and age-discrimination in organisations is presented. Suggestions for how the theories could be applied to reducing age-discrimination in organisations include focusing a re-education program on reconditioning stereotypes and behaviours enacted, increasing awareness in managers of the need for positive regard and applying positive regard to behaviours that counter age-discrimination, and targeted interactions between employees and older workers that lead to positive experiences. Finally some research from Australia is presented that shows that a combination of awareness-raising and deliberately inducing cognitive dissonance has been successful in combating negative stereotypes of older workers, and at increasing the likelihood of their participating in the workforce.

Keywords:  age-discrimination, ageism, phenomenology, behaviourism, positive regard, cognitive dissonance, Australia

Age-Discrimination in Australian Organisations: An Exploration through the Lens of Behavioural and Phenomenological Psychological Theories.

Australians are living longer, and having fewer children (Gringart, Helmes, & Speelman, 2013). One consequence is potentially a workforce that is unable to support its population: where, in 1975, the ratio of workers to retirees was 7:1, it is currently 4:1, and expected to decline to 2:1 by 2056 (OCPE, 2017; NSW Treasury, 2017). One solution is to support older Australians to stay in paid employment longer (Gringart, Helmes, & Speelman, 2008). However, older Australians face difficulties in finding employment, and staying employed, and prejudice and age-discrimination are significant barriers (Gringart et.al, 2008, Gringart et.al 2013; Syed, 2016; Taylor, Brooke, McLoughlin, & Biase, 2010; Speelman, 2008; Ng & Feldman, 2012).

This essay explores the issue of age-discrimination in Australian organisations, and particularly age-related stereotypes, through the lens of two key psychological theories: behaviourism, and phenomenology. It is challenging to apply a psychological theory that emerged primarily in the therapeutic setting to a wider organisational setting. However, that is one reason I chose behaviourism and phenomenology, to explore their applicability at an organisational level. The other reason is they are so vastly different from each other—behaviourism views a person as a result of their conditioning with no regard to an inner “self”, whereas phenomenology views the person entirely in terms of inner-self and subjective experiences. Can such disparate theories help organisations overcome age-discrimination, either alone or together?

In reviewing the literature I draw primarily from Australian research (on the understanding one should not assume automatic transferability from one country to another), and demonstrate that both theories, independently or combined, can provide a useful conceptual framework for explaining and addressing the issue. 

Two reasons this has importance for the wellbeing of Australia’s future include:

• Older Australians who are meaningfully employed have better health and life-satisfaction (AIWH, 2017); and
• Australia’s future competitiveness and efficiency rests on the performance and productivity of our ageing workforce (Taylor et.al, 2010; NSW Treasury, 2017).

Discrimination is a behaviour that enacts a prejudice based on a stereotype, as eminent psychologist Gordon Allport taught over 50 years ago (Allport, 1954). Stereotypes are exaggerated beliefs associated with a category whose function is to justify (rationalize) our conduct in relation to that category (p.191). An alternative definition is “generalized images that we have about groups of people, particularly about their underlying psychological characteristics or personality traits” (Lee, Jussin, & McCauley, 1995, cited in Matsumoto & Juang, 2017 p.351).

Stereotypes of  older Australian workers compared to younger workers include that they are less motivated, resistant to change, less healthy (Ng & Feldman, 2012); less productive (Wei & Richardson, 2010); have more sick days, can’t communicate with young people, can’t learn new technology, are grumpy (OCPE, 2017); are less trainable, less strong, less creative, less flexible, less ambitious, not as clever, have deteriorating intelligence, less mental alertness, less cooperative, prone to accidents, and poor decision-makers (Gringart et.al, 2013).

Despite this barrage of negative stereotypes, research finds little support for them. In actuality older workers embrace change readily, have fewer sick days, are more reliable, are interested in technology, have better communication skills (OCPE, 2017) and increase their productivity until the age of 50, at which point it starts to decline but remains more productive than younger workers (Wei & Richardson, 2010). The only stereotype of any substance is that older workers are less willing to participate in training and career development (Ng & Feldman, 2012).

With little evidence, how then do these stereotypes come about, and can psychological theories explain them?

In behaviourism, all behaviour is a result of experience: experience is learned through a combination of situations, responses, and consequences. Behaviourism takes an essentially mechanistic view of the person: humans are like machines that can be conditioned to act, or “behave” in certain ways (Burton, Kowalski, & Westen, 2012; Cervone & Pervin, 2016). This implies then that age-discrimination—a behaviour predicated on stereotypes—is “conditioned”.

Classical behaviourism—the classical and operant conditioning of Pavlov and Skinner—suggests an individual must personally experience a situation, response, and consequence in order to learn a behaviour. Whilst we can imagine an individual might have had a negative experience with an older worker and became conditioned therefore to discriminate in future situations to avoid repeating that negative experience, this does not provide an elegant explanation of how age-discrimination pervades whole organisations.

The observation-learning theory which emerged from behaviourism, however, does (Bandura, Ross, & Ross, 1961). Through the now-famous Bobo-doll experiments, Bandura et.al (1961) demonstrated that children learn by observing others. Is it possible that, in the same way children learn aggression by observing and modelling the behaviour of adults, employees learn age-discrimination by observing and modelling managers? And as they themselves move up and through the organisation, they reflect these prejudices back to younger employees, thereby perpetuating negative stereotypes so that the organisation itself becomes, like the child in Allport’s commentary on Theories of Prejudice, “knowing not of the history or the reason for such values … all he knows is that he must conform to the complex and inconsistent teaching that he receives. His discrimination is thus merely a mirror image of what he now see around him” (Allport, 1954, p.213)

A hypothetical model of how observational learning might explain the issue is below.

Where behaviourism might explain age-discrimination through observational learning, phenomenology takes an almost opposite approach. Phenomenology is very much person-centred, focusing on a person’s concept of Self and Ideal Self:  who I am, and who I want to be, my subjective experience of reality, and my journey towards self-actualisation of my Ideal Self. On that journey, several things can interrupt or cause distress, including a large discrepancy between my concept of Self and Ideal Self, and, importantly to this discussion, an almost overwhelming need for the positive regard of others (Rogers C. , 1961).

According to phenomenology, “the expression of positive regard by a significant social other can become [so] compelling”that a person becomes more attuned to “the positive regard of such others than toward experiences which are of positive value in actualizing the organism”(Rogers, 1959, cited in Cervone & Pervin, 2016, p.159).

If we apply the metaphor of an organism to the organisation (Morgan, 2006, pp.33-70)this starts to make sense. Workers, needing the positive regard of significant social others—managers and peers—may act in a way that is contrary to the best interests of the organization. If holding positive views about older workers would lead to a lack of positive regard, people may actually disregard or distort their own views in favour of the significant social others’ views (Cervone & Pervin, 2016, p.159).

A hypothetical model of how need for positive regard within an organisational context may explain the issue is below.

Returning to the issue at hand: can such disparate theories as behaviourism and phenomenology help organisations overcome age-discrimination, either alone or together? I suggest yes.

From a behaviourist perspective, we would need to change the dominant behaviour being observed, and the stimuli, responses, and consequences being experienced within the organisation. Mere exposure to older workers on its own is not enough; nor are informational programs and educational initiatives (Gringart et.al, 2008. p.753). A combined approach is proposed:

• Focusing a behavioural change program on reconditioning the stereotypes held and behaviours enacted by managers within an organisation (Benne, 1976).
• Targeted interactions between employees and older workers that lead to positive experiences.

In the first instance, changing the observable behaviours of managers is likely to lead to change of behaviours in those observing, i.e. employees. In the second instance, providing interactions that lead to positive experiences is likely to generate positive reinforcement of the desired non-discriminatory behaviour.

From a phenomenological perspective, the issue to be addressed is the need for positive regard of socially significant others. Rogerian theory suggests it is difficult to change the need for positive regard and indeed, to work in an organisation where you do not care about the regard in which you are held may be unwise. What we can do however, is change the circumstances under which positive regard is given. This again implies a re-education of managers and again, a combined approach is proposed:

• Education of managers to make them aware of their role in perpetuating age-discrimination within their organisation, and the need to give positive regard to behaviours that negate age-discrimination both amongst themselves and to employees; and
• Awareness-raising of the correlation age-discrimination has to inhibiting the organisation’s “actualisation”.  

This brief exploration shows that, although phenomenology and behaviourism predominantly arose from the study and therapy of individuals, they provide useful frameworks for defining and potentially solving the problem of age-discrimination in Australian organisations. Behaviourism suggests that managers should deliberately display positive behaviours towards older workers and provide opportunities that reinforce positive experiences interacting with older workers: Phenomenology suggests managers should give positive regard to non-discriminatory behaviours, and be cognisant of the need to act in congruence with the organisation’s “ideal” model of itself. 

Some important research shows promise in this area. Gringart et.al (2008) studied 267 Australian employers, and found a behaviour-change program that combined awareness-raising and deliberately inducing a state of cognitive dissonance led to changes in negative stereotypes, promoted positive attitudes toward older workers, and increased the likelihood of their hiring. They suggest that the need to reduce cognitive dissonance provided the motivation for attitude change and stereotype amendment, which then facilitated acceptance of the counter-stereotypical information provided (p.770).

It is important for Australia’s future that this issue remain “on the table”: for the quality of life of our older citizens, for the competitiveness and efficiency of our economy, and for the richness, diversity, and inclusiveness of our workforce.

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