Stereotypes

Within the workplace there are often stereotypes that are placed upon older employees whether they are intentional or not these stereotypes are a form of discrimination and should not exist. According to Stark, "one of these stereotypes is that older workers experience greater fatigue and have less energy than younger workers. A second prevailing stereotype is that older individuals are more resistive to change, less interested in receiving training and less willing to gain new knowledge than younger workers (Swift, 2004). A third prevailing stereotype is that old individuals are less knowledgeable than younger workers regarding the technical aspects of their jobs due to the half-life of technical knowledge (Latchman, 2004), and they do not possess the intellectual ability necessary to cognitively master advances in technology (Kanfer and Ackerman, 2004)". These are all false statements and misconceptions about a group of people based on person accusations. According to Kreitner, "another stereotype regarding age within the workplace includes the idea that older workers are less satisfied, not as involved with their work, less motivated, not as committed, less productive than their younger co-workers, and more apt to be absent from work". In my personal experience within the workplace I would think it was exactly the opposite. Someone's age has nothing to do with their motivation level, commitment, or productivity; it is based more accurately on that particular person work ethic. These stereotypes are based more on fiction than fact. A study that was done by researcher Susan Rhodes, she discovered that as age increases so do the employees' job satisfaction, job involvement, work motivation, and organizational commitment. According to Kreitner, "based on data that was obtained from 24,219 individuals, results revealed that age was positively related to performance for younger employees between the ages of 25 to 30 years of age". Older employees were not less productive. When discussing workplace age stereotype the area where a lot of misconceptions lie is within turnover and absenteeism. According to Kreitner, "A research containing 45 samples and a total of 21,656 individuals revealed that age and turnover were negatively related. According to that study older employees quit less often than did younger employees". According to Krietner, "in spite of stereotypes older workers are ready and able to meet their job requirements". Another study that was given revealed that age and turnover were negatively related, older employees quit less often than did younger employees. The studies show that mostly all of the stereotypes are based on fiction of what others have said or thought in the past. Employers should find ways to concentrate with older employees and have open lines of communication and lower turnover rates among the younger employees.

According to Kreitner, "A stereotype is an individual's set of beliefs about the characteristics or attributes of a group". Stereotypes can be positive as well as negative. Stereotyping involves an act of categorization where we look at a person and by virtue of an attribute, physical feature, or behavior we can assign that person to a group. Some basic features on which people stereotype others are age, race, and gender; however, there are probably an infinite number of categories in which we can stereotype someone. A person must be careful when placing stereotypes on people whether it is based on age, race, or sex. According to Kreitner, Stereotyping is a four-step process that includes categorizing people into groups according various criteria, next we infer that all people within the category possess the same traits or characteristics, then we form expectations of other and interpret their behavior according to our stereotypes, and finally stereotypes are maintained by overestimating the frequency of stereotypic behaviors that is exhibited by others, incorrectly explaining expected and unexpected behaviors,