Impact of Age Discrimination on Employee Performance: A Study on ASDA

RESEARCH PROJECT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................4
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.....................................................................................................7
DATA ANALYSIS..........................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION.............................................................................17
Conclusion................................................................................................................................17
Recommendation......................................................................................................................18
REFLECTION...............................................................................................................................18
Effectiveness of research methods............................................................................................18
Alternative research methods....................................................................................................19
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................20
APPENDIX....................................................................................................................................21
QUESTIONNAIRE..................................................................................................................21

INTRODUCTION
For attaining success in the highly competitive world it is very important for the company
that they properly manage the equality and diversity within the workplace. This is probably due
to the fact that equality is defined as the act of company in which they provide for the equal
opportunities to each and every employee irrespective of their gender, age, income, experience
and many others (McLaughlin, 2019). Also, for getting success it is essential for the company to
be diverse that is it must have employees being recruited from different cultural backgrounds.
This is essential as equality and diversity takes the company in the direction of growth and
development.
But in this the major problem being faced is the age discrimination. This is a type of
discrimination which takes place on the basis of the age of the employees. In simpler words it
can be defined as the mistreating of the employees on the basis of their age. The current research
it based over company ASDA which is a large retailer in UK and is headquartered in Leeds. The
current research will outline the impact of high age discrimination prevailing in company and its
impact over the company and its performance.
Aim
“To investigate the impact of age discrimination with respect to workplace discrimination over
the capabilities of employees and performance of company. A study on ASDA”
Objectives
 To articulate the concept age discrimination.
 To identify the impact of age discrimination over the performance of the employees and
company.
 To evaluate the challenges being faced in managing age discrimination with respect to
ASDA.
 To suggest some improvement in policies to manage age discrimination in ASDA.
Research question
1. What is the concept of age discrimination?
2. What is the impact of age discrimination on the performance of employees?3. What are the challenges being faced by ASDA in managing age discrimination?
Rationale

For getting successful it is very essential for the business to keep the working
environment equal and diverse for all the employees. But this is not taking place and because of
this the research is directed towards the topic of age discrimination. If the age discrimination is
high within the company, then the productivity of the company will decrease. Thus, this research
will outline the ways of managing the age discrimination and its negative impact over the
productivity of company. Also, the personal and academic interest of the researcher was the
reason behind the selection of age discrimination as a topic.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Theme 1: Understanding the concept of age discrimination.
As per the views of Paraskevopoulou, Drydakis and Sidiropoulou (2019) discrimination
is defined as the misbehaving or mistreating the employees on several discriminating bases like
age, gender income, experience, knowledge and other discriminating points. Among all these
different factors the most common type of discrimination is the age discrimination. This is a type
of discrimination under which the employees are mistreated on the basis of the age of the
employees. This is pertaining to the fact that when the employees become old then the
management of the company thinks that they are less competent to working as compared to the
young people. Thus, because of this reason that the old people are less competent to working
they are mistreated within the company.
On the flip side, Stokes and Moorman (2017) states that managing of age discrimination
is very important as this will increase the working capacity of the company. This is due to the
reason that if there will be no age discrimination then the employees of the company will work in
more proper and effective manner. Thus, this will increase the working efficiency of the whole
company and takes it into direction of growth and development. Also, hiring of older employees
is beneficial as they more of the experience and knowledge relating to each and every aspect
relating to business. this is due to the reason that they have worked within the company since so
long.
Theme 2: Impact of discrimination relating to age over the performance of employees and
overall productivity of company.
Button (2017) articulates that managing of age discrimination is very essential for the
success of the company. This is particularly because of the fact that if there will not be any
discriminating activity then the employees will feel motivated and satisfied with the work. Thus,

this will have a positive impact over the working of the company as if the employees will be
happy and satisfied then they will work in good and effective manner. But on the flip side when
the discrimination relating to age is more then there are many different negative impact which
the company has to face because of the fact that this decreases the working capacity of the
employees.
In the views of Rychtaříková (2019) the major impact of the high age discrimination is
the negative impact of the morale of employees. The major reason underlying this fact is that
when the old employees are mistreated then they do not like this as they are losing their respect
among the group of people. Thus, this creates a negative behaviour of old employees towards the
company and also the morale of employees within the company decreases. Also, in addition to
this the major impact of the high age discrimination is the increase in employee turnover. This is
an impact as when the discrimination is high then the employees does not like this and they try to
go to other companies. Thus, due to this reason the working of company and the employees
degrades and this creates a negative impact over working of the company.
Theme 3: Challenges faced by company in managing the discrimination relating to age.
As per the thinking of Peres (2018) there are many different challenges which are being
faced by the company at time of managing age discrimination. This is particularly because of the
reason that the age discrimination result in the creation of negative working environment and this
result in facing many challenges which result in the reduction in working of company. The major
challenge faced by the companies is the employee resistance. This is a challenge because when
the older people are working in the company and some new task or activity is being given to
them than the other employees resist. This is due to the reason that when the old people are given
some task the other people think that they will not be able to manage the work as they have
become old and they will not be able to work in proper manner.
In addition to this Perron and McCann (2018) argues that the major challenge being faced
by companies in managing the age discrimination is the communication barrier. This is a
challenge because the older people has different thinking and perception and mind level. Thus,
when it comes to taking of any decision or any other discussion there is conflict between the
thinking of young employees and the older employees. Thus, this creates a challenge in
managing age discrimination as when there is conflict of thoughts then the efficiency of
companies decreases. Adding to it Horton (2020) states that there might be resistance to adaption

of new and advance things from the side of old employees. This is particularly because of the
fact that the business exists in the environment which is dynamic and changing. Thus, the old
employees resist from adapting to the latest changes and work in the old and traditional
principles only.