Older workers and organizational change: corporate memory versus potentiality

Philip Taylor, Libby Brooke, Christopher McLoughlin and Tia Di Biase

International Journal of Manpower, 2010, vol. 31, issue 3, pages 374-386

Abstract: Purpose – Drawing on the recent work of Sennett and others who considered the position of older workers in dynamic economies subject to rapid change, this paper aims to examine the perceived fit between employees of different ages and their employing organizations in four Australian workplaces. Design/methodology/approach – Analysis of qualitative data, collected among workers and managers in four Australian organizations, was performed. Findings – Results suggests that potentiality tended to be prized as an asset over corporate memory. While managers were frequently paternalistic towards their older employees, ageing human capital was often devalued as managers tried to balance operational budgets and organizations sought to remain responsive to changing market demands. Originality/value – The paper discusses the implications for the prolongation of working lives.

Keywords: Australia; Case studies; Older workers; Organizational change; Qualitative methods (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations Track citations by RSS feed

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?issn=01 ... 864915&show=abstract (text/html)
Cannot be freely downloaded

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:ijmpps:v:31:y:2010:i:3:p:374-386

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
Emerald Group Publishing, Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley, BD16 1WA, UK
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/ijm.htm

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Manpower is edited by Adrian Ziderman

More articles in International Journal of Manpower from Emerald Group Publishing
Series data maintained by Chris Harris ().