Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T19:57:44.721Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

L'Influence de l'âgisme sur la prise de décision: la perception des cadres supérieurs*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2010

Daniel Tremblay
Affiliation:
Université du Québec à Hull

Abstract

The aim of this research was to study the relationship between aging and decision-making. Specifically, it deals with managers' views on the hypothetical effects of age and experience on decision behaviour. Do the numerous beliefs and stereotypes related to the supposed effects of aging (i.e. agism) affect the decision-making process and its results? Are younger managers more creative, quicker or more audacious than older managers? Are the experienced managers more skilled, cautious or pragmatic than the less experienced ones? Given the fact that mean age of managers in many contemporary public organizations is rising, further information is needed on how this trend will affect the behaviour and state of mind of public managers who make daily decisions bearing important economic and social consequences. To investigate these questions, interviews were conducted with managers employed by Quebec's public service. These interviews were aimed at collecting data about the way managers themselves perceive the effects of aging on decision behaviour. Results indicated that managers do not readily link age and decision behaviour. However, the relationship between experience and decision behaviour is perceived as comparatively strong. The relevancy of further research on the effects of experience on decision behaviour and, more generally, on the effects of experience on working abilities is discussed.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 1995

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

Références

Arenberg, D. (1982). Changes with age in problem solving. Craik, Dans F.I.M. & Trehub, S. (Éds.), Aging and Cognitive Processes. New York: Plenum Press.Google Scholar
Avolio, B.J., Waldman, D.A., & McDaniel, M.A. (1990). Age and work performance in nonmanagerial jobs: the effects of experience and occupational type. Academy of Management Journal, 33, 407422.Google Scholar
Bird, C.P., & Fisher, T.D. (1986). Thirty years later: attitudes toward the employment of older workers. Journal of Applied Psychology, 71, 515517.Google Scholar
Cacioppe, R., & Mock, P. (1984). A comparison of the quality of work experience in government and private organizations. Human Relations, 37, 923940.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, C. (1983). Governments Under Stress: Political Executives and Key Bureaucrats in Washington, London and Ottawa. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Campbell, C., & Szablowski, G.J. (1979). The Superbureaucrats: Structure and Behaviour in Central Agencies. Toronto: Macmillan of Canada.Google Scholar
Cervoni, J. (1987). L'énonciation. Paris: Presses universitaires de France.Google Scholar
Côté, M., de Guise, M., & Marquis, M. (1992). Portrait statistique des effectifs régulier et occasionnel de la fonction publique du Québec, 1992. Québec: Office des ressources humaines.Google Scholar
Doering, M., Rhodes, S.R., & Schuster, M. (1983). The Aging Worker: Research and Recommendations. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Donaldson, G., & Lorsch, J.W. (1983). Decision Making at the Top. New York: Basic Books Inc.Google Scholar
Fidler, J. (1981). The British Business Elite. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Gagnon, L. (1990). Le vieillissement des effectifs de la fonction publique du Québec. Québec: Office des ressources humaines.Google Scholar
Guérin, G. (1991). Les pratiques de gestion en matière de vieillissement. Blouin, Dans R., Ferland, G., Larocque, A., Rondeau, C. & Poulin Simon, L. (Eds.), Vieillir en emploi. Ste-Foy: Les Presses de l'Université Laval.Google Scholar
Heilman, M.E., & Hornstein, H.A. (1982). Managing Human Forces in Organizations. Homewood, IL: R.D. Irwin Inc.Google Scholar
Heller, F.A., & Wilpert, B. (1981). Competence and Power in Managerial Decision-Making. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Henderson, J.C., & Nutt, P.C. (1980). The influence of decision style on decision making behavior. Management Science, 26, 371386.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunt, R.G., Krzystofiak, F.J., Meindl, J.R., & Yousry, A.M. (1989). Cognitive style and decision making. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 44, 436453.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kerbrat-Orecchioni, C. (1980). L'énonciation: de la subjectivité dans le langage. Paris: Colin.Google Scholar
Lefebvre, S., & Delisle, M.-A. (1990). Le rappel des aînés: étude portant sur l'employabilité des travailleurs âgés et des retraités. Québec: Centre de recherche sur les services communautaires, Université Laval.Google Scholar
Lind, N.S. (1985). The Aging of Public Bureaucracies. Ph.D. thesis. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota.Google Scholar
Maingueneau, D. (1981). Approche de l'énonciation en linguistique française: embrayeurs, «temps,» discours rapporté. Paris: Hachette.Google Scholar
Maingueneau, D. (1987). Nouvelles tendances en analyse du discours. Paris: Hachette.Google Scholar
McDaniel, M.A., Schmidt, F.L., & Hunter, J.E. (1988). Job experience correlates of job performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 73, 327330.Google Scholar
McEnrue, M.P. (1988). Length of experience and the performance of managers in the establishment phase of their careers. Academy of Management Journal, 31, 175185.Google Scholar
McEvoy, G.M., & Cascio, W.F. (1989). Cumulative evidence of the relationship between employee age and job performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 74, 1117.Google Scholar
Meltzer, H. (1981). Aging realities in managing organizations. Meltzer, Dans H. & Nord, W.R. (Éds.), Making Organizations Human and Productive: A Handbook for Practitioners. New York: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Mitchell, O.S., Levine, P.B., & Pozzebon, S. (1990). Aging, job satisfaction, and job performance. Bluestone, Dans I., Montgomery, R.J.V. & Owen, J.D. (Éds.), The Aging of the American Work Force. Detroit: Wayne State University Press.Google Scholar
Nutt, P.C. (1986). Decision style and strategic decisions of top executives. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 30, 3962.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nutt, P.C. (1990). Strategic decisions made by top executives and middle managers with data and process dominant styles. Journal of Management Studies, 27, 173194.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perrucci, R., & Rothman, R.A. (1969). Obsolescence of knowledge and the professional career. Perrucci, Dans R. & Gerstl, J.E. (Éds.), The Engineers and the Social System. New York: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Pharand, F., & Vézina, C. (1991). Mythes et stéréotypes liés à l'âge dans le milieu du travail. Cégeps, Dans Fédération des (Éd.), Actes du colloque La carrière au mitan de la vie. Montréal: Fédération des Cégeps.Google Scholar
Plasse, M. (1981). Les chefs de cabinet ministériels au Québec: la transition du gouvernement libéral au gouvernement péquiste (1976–1977). Revue canadienne de science politique, 14, 309335.Google Scholar
Poirier, J., Gamache, M., Pépin, M., & Dubé, Y. (1986). Les cadres féminins et masculins retiennent-ils des comportements différents pour résoudre des problèmes de gestion? Québec: Office des ressources humaines.Google Scholar
Presthus, R. (1974). Elites in the Policy Process. London: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Riverin-Simard, D. (1984). Étapes de vie au travail. Montréal: Éditions St-Martin.Google Scholar
Rosen, B., & Jerdee, T.H. (1976). The nature of job-related age stereotypes. Journal of Applied Psychology, 51, 180183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosen, B., & Jerdee, T.H. (1985). Older Employees: New Roles for Valued Resources. Homewood, IL: Dow Jones-Irwin.Google Scholar
Sales, A., & Bélanger, N. (1985). Décideurs et gestionnaires: étude sur la direction et l'encadrement des secteurs privé et public. Québec: Conseil de la langue française.Google Scholar
Schaie, K.W. (1988). The delicate balance: technology, intellectual competence, and normal aging. Lesnoff-Caravaglia, Dans G. (Ed.), Aging in a Technological Society. New York: Human Sciences Press.Google Scholar
Suleiman, E.N. (1974). Politics, Power, and Bureaucracy in France. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Surwillo, W.W. (1964). The relation of decision time to brain wave frequency and to age. Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, 16, 510514.Google Scholar
Taylor, R.N. (1975). Age and experience as determinants of managerial information processing and decision making performance. Academy of Management Journal, 18, 7481.Google Scholar
Teegarden, S. (1988). The mature worker within the mature industry. Lesnoff-Caravaglia, Dans G. (Éd.), Aging in a Technological Society. New York: Human Sciences Press.Google Scholar
Touyer, R. (1989). Établissement d'une problématique du vieillissement de la fonction publique du Québec: résumé du rapport d'étude. Québec: Office des ressources humaines.Google Scholar
Welford, A.T. (1969). Age and Skill: Motor, Intellectual and Social. Welford, Dans A.T. & Birren, J.E. (Éds.), Decision Making and Age. Basel: S. Karger AG.Google Scholar