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Several British Women Said That They Sometimes Found Older People A Bit ...

Several British women said that they sometimes found older people a bit reluctant to listen to younger people, to take them seriously, to give them credit, and they were not always very keen to accept younger people's ideas or waved their opinions aside Johansson, 2003, p. 146). A British woman from the private sector said (Johansson, 2003, p. 148):

Especially if you are a very young person and you want this progress and you think that you have this fantastic idea. It is quite demoralising when you can go to an older manager and say ‘We can do this and this' and he says: ‘Well, no, I do not think that would work.'
Several interviewees were indicated as talking about the natural authority of older people and the natural respect that older managers inspired Johansson, 2003, p. 148).

Younger managers, on the other hand, could experience it as a problem when managing older people because of their lack of natural authority. Thus, it could be difficult to get older people to accept them as managers and to establish credibility and trust Johansson, 2003, p. 146). None of the nine interviewees who had experiences of having people much older than themselves reporting to them mentioned any advantages of managing older people 68. On the contrary, they found the situation to be more or less difficult and uncomfortable. A British woman concluded that a bad experience of managing older people could result in a gross generalisation, i.e., all older people were looked upon as a problem (Johansson, 2003, p. 148).
3.3 Psychological Contract

One economic implication of the aging population is that workers may need to work longer and retire later than has been typical for several decades (Griffiths, 2003, p. 111). However, much needs to be done to ensure that work remains as positive an experience as possible for workers throughout their careers, and that it does not damage their health or productivity (Griffiths, 2003, p. 111). Traditionally, much of the effort towards improving older workers' health has concentrated on improving the physical work environment, or on health promotion. But we should not neglect to examine the effects of psychosocial factors (concerning the management and organisation of work) on psychological and physical health. This is the major focus of occupational health psychology (Griffiths, 2003, p. 111). Most research in this area, notably concerning stress, has produced 'age-free' models of the relationship between the psychosocial work environment and health.
3.3.1 Psychosocial Hazards for Older Workers

Occupational health psychologists have focused on workers' own judgments of the way their work is designed, organised and managed and how those perceptions drive their emotions, their work-related and health-related behaviors and, ultimately, their health outcomes (Cox, et al, 2000).


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