Page 237 - Discrimination at Work The Psychological and Organizational Bases

SHORE AND GOLDBERG
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A number of studies that have examined employee age relative to the
workgroup have supported relational demography theory. Dissimilarity in
age between an individual and his/her workgroup was shown to be posi­
tively related to turnover intentions (Tsui, Egan, & O'Reilly, 1992), turnover
(O'Reilly, Caldwell, & Barnett, 1989; Wagner, Pfeffer, & O'Reilly, 1984), and
negatively related to social integration (O'Reilly, Caldwell, & Barnett, 1989),
identification, organizational commitment, group performance, and group
citizenship behaviors (Riordan & Weatherly, cited in Riordan, 2000), and
communication among members (Zenger & Lawrence, 1989). Less support
was found for relational demography theory in research that has focused
on age similarity in manager-employee dyads (Epitropaki & Martin, 1999;
Liden, Stilwell, & Ferris, 1996; Shore, Cleveland, & Goldberg, 2003; Tsui &
O'Reilly, 1989).

Career Timetables

Whereas relational demography assumes that matches result in more
favorable outcomes than do mismatches, Lawrence's (1984, 1987, 1988)
notion of career timetables posits that some age differences have positive
effects and some have negative effects. Her research suggests that there are
clear norms regarding where one should be on the organizational chart at a
given age. Individuals who are promoted at a rate consistent with their peer
group (based on age similarity) are viewed as "on schedule," those who
are promoted more quickly than their peer group are considered "ahead of
schedule," and those who are promoted less often than their peer group are
considered "behind schedule." Although the latter two groups both rep­
resent target-referent mismatches, the career timetable approach makes
very different predictions about these two groups. For example, Lawrence
(1984) found that managers who see themselves as "behind schedule" (10
or more years behind the typical age) have lower work satisfaction and
work orientation than other managers do. A subsequent study (Lawrence,
1988) showed that "ahead of schedule" managers received the highest
performance ratings whereas "behind schedule" managers received the
lowest performance ratings.
A number of other studies suggest the value of treating different age
mismatches differently. Cleveland, Montgomery, and Festa (1984) found
that the proportion of older workers in a workgroup influenced decisions
about older workers. Similarly, Cleveland, Festa, and Montgomery (1988)
found that as the number of older applicants in an applicant pool increased,
an older applicant received more favorable ratings of job suitability and
potential for advancement. Field studies have shown that age relative
to the workgroup significantly impacts performance ratings, attitudes,