Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T06:19:37.016Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Prolonged or preserved working life? Intra-organisational institutions embedded in human resource routines

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2020

Roy Liff  and
Ewa Wikström Open the ORCID record for Ewa Wikström [Opens in a new window]
Roy Liff
Affiliation:
Gothenburg Research Institute, School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
Ewa Wikström*
Affiliation:
Department of Business Administration, School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
*
*Corresponding author. Email: ewa.wikstrom@handels.gu.se
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to provide an understanding of why people are still retiring earlier than would have been expected, despite policies that increase the retirement age. This is a qualitative study in a large public-service organisation in Sweden focusing particularly on how human resource routines aimed at middle management tend to inhibit the promotion of a prolonged working life, despite government efforts aimed at changing these actions. The results highlight three key routines (development talks, salary talks and internal recruitment) that inhibit prolonged working life. These routines seem rational and appropriate to the organisation's managers, because the demands of the job must have priority over employees’ capabilities in recruitment routines. Furthermore, it could be considered economically rational to prioritise salary demands of younger employees over those of older employees, and it may appear economically rational to stop further training efforts for older employees. In general, then, it seems reasonable to managers to make decisions based on objective criteria like age. Nevertheless, our results suggest that these routines may need to be redesigned in order to support a prolonged working life and to avoid a discrepancy between accepted prolonged working-life policies and the actions of organisational actors. The study further reveals how intra-organisational institutions (e.g. taken-for-granted mind-sets and norms) embedded in human resource routines may promote or inhibit prolonged working life, suggesting a need for change in those institutions.

Keywords

prolonged working lifehuman resource management routinesembedded institutionspreserved working life
Type
Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 42 , Issue 8 , August 2022 , pp. 1781 - 1799
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aaltio, I, Mills, AJ and Helms Mills, JH (eds) (2018) Ageing, Organisations and Management – Constructive Discourses and Critical Perspectives, Vol. I. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Ainsworth, S and Hardy, C (2004) Critical discourse analysis and identity: why bother? Critical Discourse Studies 1, 225–259.10.1080/1740590042000302085CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berger, PL and Luckmann, T (1966) The Social Construction of Reality. New York, NY: Random House.Google Scholar
Brooke, L (2003) Human resource costs and benefits of maintaining a mature-age workforce. International Journal of Manpower 24, 260–283.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brooke, L and Taylor, P (2005) Older workers and employment: managing age relations. Ageing & Society 25, 415–429.10.1017/S0144686X05003466CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Charmaz, K (2006) Constructing Grounded Theory: A Practical Guide Through Qualitative Analysis. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Corbin, J and Strauss, A (2008) Basics of Qualitative Research, 3rd Edn. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Czarniawska, B (2014) Social Science Research: From Field to Desk. London: Sage.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Denzin, NK and Lincoln, YS (eds) (2011) The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Dickens, L (1999) Beyond the business case: a three-pronged approach to equality action. Human Resource Management Journal 9, 9–19.10.1111/j.1748-8583.1999.tb00185.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Diermeier, D and Krehbiel, K (2003) Institutionalism as a methodology. Journal of Theoretical Politics 15, 123–144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duncan, C (2003) Assessing anti-ageism routes to older worker re-engagement. Work, Employment and Society 7, 101–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elsbach, K (2002) Intraorganizational institutions. In Baum, JC (ed.), Blackwell Companion to Organizations. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 37–57.Google Scholar
Feldman, MS and Pentland, BT (2003) Reconceptualizing organizational routines as a source of flexibility and change. Administrative Science Quarterly 48, 94–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feldman, MS, Pentland, BT, D'Adderio, L and Lazaric, N (2016) Beyond routines as things: introduction to the special issue on routine dynamics. Organization Science 27, 505–513.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flynn, M (2010) The United Kingdom government's ‘business case’ approach to the regulation of retirement. Ageing & Society 30, 421–443.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friedland, R and Alford, R (1991) Bringing society back in symbols, routines, and institutional routines. In Powell, W and DiMaggio, P (eds). The New Institutionalism in Organizational Analysis. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, pp. 232–263.Google Scholar
Furunes, T, Mykletun, R and Solem, P (2011) Age management in the public sector in Norway: exploring managers’ decision latitude. International Journal of Human Resource Management 22, 1232–1247.Google Scholar
Granovetter, M (1985) Economic action and social structure: the problem of embeddedness. American Journal of Sociology 91, 481–510.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Halvorsen, B (2019) Seniorer, arbeid og pension i norden (Senior Citizens, Work and Retirement in the Nordic Countries), Underlagsrapport till Delegationen för senior arbetskraft, rapport 10, S2018:10.Google Scholar
Henkens, K (2005) Stereotyping older workers and retirement: the managers’ point of view. Canadian Journal on Aging 24, 353–366.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henkens, K and Leenders, M (2010) Burnout and older workers’ intentions to retire. International Journal of Manpower 31, 306–321.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henkens, K, Van Solinge, H and Cozijnsen, R (2009) Let go or retain? A comparative study of the attitudes of students and managers about retirement of older workers. Journal of Applied Social Psychology 39, 1562–1588.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hess, M (2016) Germany: a successful reversal of early retirement? In Hofäcker, D, Hess, M and König, S (eds). Delaying Retirement. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 147–171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hofäcker, D and Radl, J (2016) Retirement transitions in times of institutional change: theoretical concepts. In Hofäcker, D, Hess, M and König, S (eds). Delaying Retirement. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 1–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ilmarinen, JE (2001) Aging workers. Occupational Environmental Medicine 58, 546–552.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ilmarinen, JE (2006) The ageing workforce – challenges for occupational health. Occupational Medicine 56, 362–364.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
König, S, Hess, M and Hofäcker, D (2016) Trends and determinants of retirement transition in Europe, the USA and Japan: a comparative overview. In Hofäcker, D, Hess, M and König, S (eds). Delaying Retirement. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 23–53.10.1057/978-1-137-56697-3_2CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kvale, S (2006) InterViews. An Introduction to Qualitative Research Interviewing. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Lain, D (2012) Working past 65 in the UK and the USA: segregation into ‘Lopaq’ occupations? Work, Employment and Society 26, 78–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loretto, W and White, P (2006) Employers’ attitudes. Routines and policies towards older workers. Human Resource Management Journal 16, 313–330.10.1111/j.1748-8583.2006.00013.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marshall, VW (1998) Commentary: the older worker and organisational restructuring – beyond systems theory. In Schaie, W and Schooler, C (eds), Impact of Work on Older Adults. New York, NY: Springer, pp. 195–206.Google Scholar
Maurer, TJ (2001) Career-relevant learning and development, worker age, and beliefs about self-efficacy for development. Journal of Management 27, 123–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muller-Camen, M, Croucher, R, Flynn, M and Schröder, H (2011) National institutions and employers’ age management routines in Britain and Germany: ‘path dependence’ and option exploration. Human Relations 64, 507–530.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nilsson, K, Östergren, P-O, Kadefors, R and Albin, M (2016) Has the participation of older employees in the workforce increased? Study of the total Swedish population regarding exit from working life. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health 44, 506–516.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Oliver, C (1992) The antecedents of deinstitutionalization. Organization Studies 13, 563–588. doi:10.1177/017084069201300403.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (2017) Pensions at a Glance 2017: OECD and G20 Indicators. Paris: OECD Publishing.Google Scholar
Peters, BG (2005) Institutional Theory in Political Science: The New Institutionalism. London: Printer Publications.Google Scholar
Silverman, D (2013) Doing Qualitative Research: A Practical Handbook. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Statistics Sweden (2014) Övergång från arbete till pension 2012 [Transition from Work to Retirement 2012]. Stockholm: Statistics Sweden.Google Scholar
Taylor, P (2006) Employment Initiatives for an Ageing Workforce in the EU15. Dublin: European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions.Google Scholar
Taylor, P and Urwin, P (2001) Age and participation in vocational education and training. Work, Employment and Society 15, 763–779.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, P and Walker, A (1998) Policies and practices towards older workers: a framework for comparative research. Human Resource Management Journal 8, 61–76.10.1111/j.1748-8583.1998.tb00174.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thornton, P and Ocasio, W (1999) Institutional logics and the historical contingency of power in organizations: executive succession in the higher education publishing industry, 1958–1990. American Journal of Sociology 105, 127–172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thornton, P, Ocasio, W and Lounsbury, M (2012) The Institutional Logics Perspective: A New Approach to Culture, Structure and Process. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Truxillo, D, Cadiz, DM and Hammer, LB (2015) Supporting the aging workforce: a review and recommendations for workplace intervention research. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior 2, 351–381.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Dalen, HP, Henkens, K and Wang, M (2014) Recharging or retiring older workers? Uncovering the age-based strategies of European employers. The Gerontologist 55, 814–824.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed