Today I was looking at my phone on my lunch break and started reading The New York Times. I stumbled upon an interesting article called “Three Men, Three Ages. Which Do You Like?”. At first I was I was confused but after reading the synopsis of the article I noticed that it had to do with age discrimination in the work force. While many people have heard about other discrimination in the work place, I cannot help but feel that many forget that age discrimination can still be prevalent. The brief summary of this New York Times article was that participants agreed to do an experiment where they watched three men talk about themselves. There was a 25 year old, a 45 year old, and a 75 year old. These men, though, were actually three actors from Princeton University who had nothing really “special” about them. On the video, these men all had the same script except for one line, which varied half the time. This line was whether they were generous with sharing their money with relatives or if they were not generous with them. Turns out this study showed that when the elderly man said that he was not necessarily generous with his money with relatives, he was viewed in a much more negative way than his younger counterparts if they said that they were not generous either. The point of this finding was that the more assertive and up-front the elderly person was, the more likely they may be seen negatively by coworkers or bosses compared to an assertive or up-front 25 year old.
Age discrimination has been really hard to identify in the past and the math to calculate if people are actually being discriminated against is not as straightforward as it is with race and gender (Winerip, 2013). Race and gender have statistics that show minorities and women getting paid lower than majorities and men, but with age it is not as clear cut. Recently 22,875 people filed age claims with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission which is 7,100 more people than it was in 1997 (Winerip, 2013). Additionally, it takes laid-off older employees an extra six months to find a job compared to younger job hunters (Winerip, 2013). In the end there is evidence to show that age discrimination is currently on the rise (Winerip, 2013).
This discussion brings up good points about ethics. In Northouse’s Leadership: Theory and Practice, he mentions five principles of ethical leadership: respecting others, service, showing justice, manifesting honesty, and building community (Northouse, 2013, p. 431). Any sort of discrimination does not follow any of these principles. Respecting others means that leaders should be able to communicate and approach people with a sense of their worth and distinguishing differences (Kitchener, 1984). Discrimination in any way limits the opportunity for someone to see someone’s potential simply because they are blinded by a terrible stereotype of predetermined idea of someone. This can then limit what the company could be capable of because that one person who was discriminated against could have been a great asset to the business.
Times are tough and it is hard to retire younger. Therefore more and more baby boomers are still continuing to work in order to stay financially stable (Winerip, 2013). They have a lot of knowledge and experience yet their honesty and assertiveness can backfire. While this issue may take a good amount of time to correct because of its ambiguity, it is important to note that leadership ethics should begin even as a follower and it is important to keep an open mind throughout any career.
References:
Northouse, P. G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and Practice (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
Kitchener, K. S. (1984). Institution, critical evaluation, and ethical principles: The foundation for ethical decisions in counseling psychology. Counseling Psychologist, 12(3), 43-55.
Winerip, M. (2013, July 22). Three Men, Three Ages. Which Do You Like?. The New York Times, pp. 1A. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/23/booming/three-men-three-ages-who-do-you-like.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.