Mentoring and the transfer of organizational memory within the context of an aging workforce : cultural implications for competitive advantage

Organizational memory, the knowledge gained from organizational experience, has significant potential for competitive advantage. Many authors in the knowledge management and human resource management literatures consider mentoring to be a particularly effective method of transferring organizational memory. In addition, older workers are often considered ideal mentors in organizations because of their experience and alleged willingness to pass on their knowledge to less experienced employees. There is an associated assumption that these workers also anticipate and experience positive outcomes when mentoring others. This chapter considers whether these assumptions hold up in the workplaces of the 21st century, particularly within Western countries. Individualistic cultural norms and some discriminatory practices towards older workers, along with a changing career contract that no longer guarantees employment in one organization for life, may discourage knowledge sharing in organizations. This chapter discusses the constraints and motivations that may operate when older experienced workers consider mentoring others. It considers relevant global and organizational cultural characteristics that may influence mentoring to transfer knowledge, and accordingly suggests strategies for those eager to capitalise on the knowledge experienced employees possess.

Organisational memory and the propensity to mentor

In many countries, people are retiring earlier than ever before and the retirement of the baby boom generation over the next two decades further intensifies this trend. Accompanying this phenomenon is the potential loss of organisational knowledge and memory and with it, potential loss of the organisation's competitive advantage. Organisations, while recognising that older workers possess valuable organisational memory, seem to assume these same workers will readily divest themselves of their knowledge, if given the opportunity. Furthermore, offering experienced workers the opportunity to act as a mentor to pass on their knowledge is often mentioned in the management and related literature as a way of attracting and retaining these workers. While the relationships between age and the possession of organisational memory has been supported through age's positive relationship with organisational tenure and rank, past research on mentoring reveals a negative relationship between age and willingness to mentor. Employees, especially older workers in the possession of considerable organisational memory may, or may not be willing to divulge that information to others for a number of reasons. Their willingness to act as a mentor may be constrained by awareness of possible costs involved in the mentoring relationship. This paper investigates the relationship between an individual's estimated level of organisational knowledge and memory, and their inclination to mentor others. In doing so, it considers the expected costs and benefits of mentoring. It also investigates the role of mentoring in the psychological adjustment to retirement for older individuals, and discusses the rationale for a research agenda to address these issues and the likely variables of interest. The proposed research aims to go beyond the prescription of "mentoring others" as a general panacea for utilising the skills and experience of workers while ensuring the transfer of potentially threatened knowledge within organisations, by suggesting other motivations that may be operating when employees are invited to share or volunteer their prized knowledge.

The relationship between time of founding and the composition of the workforce in Australian workplaces

This paper presents the results of an analysis of the relationship between organisational age and two specific aspects of labour flexibility-numerical
flexibility and workforce skill composition (as one facet of functional flexibility)that extends earlier work in two ways. First, it uses data from a large-scale national survey (the Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey [AWIRS)1995). Second. it focuses on two widely studied facets of labour flexibility, numerical flexibility and functional flexibility. Previous research has investigated the relationship between organisational age and aspects of organisation such as strategy and structure (Baum and Oliver, 1991; Henderson, 1999; Reed and Blunsdon, 1998). Henderson (1999) found that age effects were contingent on different organisational strategies and process. Reed and Blunsdon (1998) found that organisational maturity is associated with goal directed, or strategic flexibility characterised by low levels of formal rules and regulations but clarity a/purpose. But a more complex relationship was also identified - for example; very young organisations (founded in the 1990,) appear to have higher levels of formalisation at founding than organisations established in earlier periods. This paper investigates these questions further. The results show that the relationship between age; numerical flexibility and workforce skill composition is non-linear, but the data do not make it possible to separate age effects associated with aging, time of founding and changing environmental conditions.

The Australian and New Zealand dialysis workforce

Aim: To capture a "snapshot" of the current Australian and New Zealand dialysis workforce in order to contribute to the future renal workforce challenges.

Methods: A web-based survey of dialysis managers (n=221) were asked fifteen questions relating to demographics, age, full-time equivalent information, workforce designation, post-registration qualifications, subjective perceptions of staffing levels, staffing strategies and future dialysis research recommendations

Results: In Australia in 2008 there were 2433 registered nurses, 188 enrolled nurses and 295 dialysis professionals (technicians) and 327 registered nurses (RNs), 8 enrolled nurses (ENs) and 64 dialysis professionals in New Zealand. There were significant variations in staff/patient ratios, workforce profiles and post-registration qualifications. There is a significant association between staff/ patient and home dialysis ratios. A high proportion of renal staff worked part-time, particularly in Australia. The dialysis workforce reflects the aging nature of the general nursing population in Australia and New Zealand. The majority of dialysis nurse managers perceived they had sufficient staff.

Conclusion: Workforce variations found in this study may be useful to identify future workforce challenges and strategies.

Aging studies on conducting polypyrrole

Change of tensile properties, electrical conductivity and microwave shielding of electrochemically synthesized polypyrrole films with time are presented. Highly doped films had good electrical stability, retaining high microwave reflectivity throughout the aging period. Lightly doped films were less stable and partially reflective and absorptive of microwaves. FT-IR spectral observations revealed a progressive increase in intensity of an unsaturated conjugated carbonyl peak, which was not observed in the highly doped films, suggesting that the concentration of the dopant had an influence on the mechanism of degradation of conductivity.

A conceptual model for recruitment and retention : allied health workforce enhancement in Western Victoria, Australia

Attracting and retaining allied health professionals in rural areas is a recognised problem in both Australia and overseas. Predicted increases in health needs will require strategic actions to enhance the rural workforce and its ability to deliver the required services. A range of factors in different domains has been associated with recruitment and retention in the allied health workforce. For example, factors can be related to the nature of the work, the personal needs, or the way an organisation is led. Some factors cannot be changed (eg geographical location of extended family) whereas others can be influenced (eg education, support, management styles). Recruitment and retention of allied health professionals is a challenging problem that deserves attention in all domains and preparedness to actively change established work practices, both individually as well as collectively, in order to cater for current and predicted health needs. Changes to enhance workforce outcomes can be implemented and evaluated using a cyclic model. The Allied Health Workforce Enhancement Project of the Greater Green Triangle University Department of Rural Health (GGT UDRH) is working towards increasing the number of allied health professionals in the south west of Victoria. Based on themes identified in the literature, an interactive model is being developed that addresses recruitment and retention factors in three domains: (1) personal or individual; (2) organisation; and (3) community.

Impact evaluation of a five-day short course in health promotion: workforce development in action

Issue addressed: This paper reports on impact evaluation of a series of five-day Short Courses in Health Promotion that have been delivered to more than 2,000 people since 2002 as part of a statewide workforce development strategy.

Methods: A triangulated mixed methods research design was selected for the evaluation. Data were collected through a mail survey, key informant interviews, focus groups and organisational case studies. Stakeholder and participant involvement were central to the evaluation.

Results: Organisational change emerged as a key theme. Impacts of the short course were felt in relation to health promotion practice and on organisational capacity to conduct health promotion, while the development of confidence and skills of participants to engage in collaborative opportunities was a not unexpected, but important, benefit of the course.

Conclusions: A short course is effective if attention is given to quality delivery, adult learning methods, participant involvement, appropriate targeting, good planning, and adequate funding. However, respondents commonly report the need for organisational change in order for health promotion practice to be embedded into organisations and for practitioners to be supported in their efforts to re-orient services towards health promotion.

Aging effects on the metabolic and cognitive energy cost of interlimb coordination

Many everyday motor tasks have high metabolic energy demands, and some require extended practice to learn the required coordination between limbs. Eight older (73.1 6 4.4 years) and 8 younger (23.3 6 5.9) men practiced a  high-energy two-hand coordination task with both 1808 and 908 target  relative phase. The older group showed greater performance error in both conditions, and performance at 908 was strongly attracted to antiphase coordination (1808). In a retention test one week following the acquisition trials, the older group had learned the 1808 condition but did not learn the 908 condition. Metabolic energy cost was not different between groups, but the older men showed higher heart rate and both conditions imposed  greater cognitive demands as revealed in auditory probe reaction time. Older adults’ motor learning may be inhibited by elevated heart rate at the same  oxygen cost, increased cognitive cost, and an attraction toward more  established low-energy in-phase or antiphase coordination.

Gait termination : a review of experimental methods and the effects of aging and gait pathologies

The study of human gait has expanded and diversified to the extent that it is now possible to identify a substantive literature concerning a variety of gait tasks, such as gait initiation [Halliday SE, Winter DA, Frank JS, Patla AE, Prince F. The initiation of gait in young, elderly, and Parkinson's disease subjects. Gait Posture 1998;8:8–14; Mickelborough J, van der Linden ML, Tallis RC, Ennos AR. Muscle activity during gait initiation in normal elderly people. Gait Posture 2004;19:50–57], stepping over and across obstacles [Patla AE, Prentice SD, Robinson C, Newfold J. Visual control of locomotion: strategies for changing direction and for going over obstacles. J Exp Psych 1991;17:603–34; Chen, HC, Ashton-Miller JA, Alexander NB, Schultz AB. Effect of age and available response time on ability to step over an obstacle. J Gerontol 1994;49:227–33; Sparrow WA, Shinkfield AJ, Chow S, Begg RK. Gait characteristics in stepping over obstacles. Hum Mov Sci 1996;15:605–22; Begg RK, Sparrow WA, Lythgo ND. Time-domain analysis of foot–ground reaction forces in negotiating obstacles. Gait Posture 1998;7:99–109; Patla AE, Rietdyk S. Visual control of limb trajectory over obstacles during locomotion: effect of obstacle height and width. Gait Posture 1993;1:45–60] negotiating raised surfaces such as curbs and stairs [Begg RK, Sparrow WA. Gait characteristics of young and older individuals negotiating a raised surface: implications for the prevention of falls. J Gerontol Med Sci 2000;55A:147–54; Mcfayden BJ, Winter DA. An integrated biomechanical analysis of normal stair ascent and descent. J Biomech 1988;21:733–44]. In addition, increasing research interest in age-related declines in gait that might predispose individuals to falls has engendered a very extensive literature concerning ageing effects on gait. While rapid locomotor adjustments are common in the course of daily activities there has been no previous review of the findings concerning gait adaptations when walking is terminated both rapidly and unexpectedly. The aims of this review were first, to summarise the key research findings and methodological considerations from studies of termination. The second aim was to demonstrate the effects of ageing and gait pathologies on termination with respect to the regulation of step characteristics, lower-limb muscle activation patterns and foot–ground reaction forces.

Methods for aging and sexing the Black-eared Miner, Manorina melanotis, and Yellow-throated Miner, M. flavigula

Morphometric data on 92 Black-eared Miners and 47 Yellow-throated Miners that had been independently sexed using molecular techniques were analysed to investigate size dimorphism between the sexes. We found that both species are sexually dimorphic in size, with males being the larger sex. Discriminant analyses of morphometric data were used to develop a simple method for sexing both species in the hand. Additionally, alula shape was consistent with other methods that we applied for ageing individuals. Sex-specific size differences between Black-eared and Yellow-throated Miners detected here add further support to the contention that they represent different taxa. The application of these sexing and ageing techniques for both species of mallee miner will improve ongoing field management of the endangered Black-eared Miner.

Predictors of job strain and intention to quit in a reorganised Australian workforce

This study examined the role of working conditions in predicting the psychological health, job satisfaction, organisational commitment and intention to quit of employees working in an industry sector that had undergone large-scale organisational change. The working conditions were assessed using an augmented job strain model- whereby job demand, job control and social support had been augmented by industry-specific stressors - and the psychological contract model. The results of regression analyses indicate that social support was predictive of all of the outcome measures. Job control and the honouring of psychological contracts were both predictive of job satisfaction and commitment, Furthermore, job satisfaction and organisational commitment were found to mediate the relationship between working conditions and intention to quit. Collectively, these findings suggest that strategies aimed at combating the negative effects of organisational change could be enhanced by addressing several variables represented in the models - particularly social support, job control and psychological contracts.

Learning from facial aging patterns for automatic age estimation

Age Specific Human-Computer Interaction (ASHCI) has vast potential applications in daily life. However, automatic age estimation technique is still underdeveloped. One of the main reasons is that the aging effects on human faces present several unique characteristics which make age estimation a challenging task that requires non-standard classification approaches. According to the speciality of the facial aging effects, this paper proposes the AGES (AGing pattErn Sub-space) method for automatic age estimation. The basic idea is to model the aging pattern, which is defined as a sequence of personal aging face images, by learning a representative subspace. The proper aging pattern for an unseen face image is then determined by the projection in the subspace that can best reconstruct the face image, while the position of the face image in that aging pattern will indicate its age. The AGES method has shown encouraging performance in the comparative experiments either as an age estimator or as an age range estimator.

Influence of aging pre-treatment on the compressive deformation of WE54 alloy

The effect of aging pre-treatment on the compressive deformation of a commercial WE54 alloy is studied. Age hardening treatments were performed at 170 °C, 250 °C and 300 °C. Compression testing was then carried out for the peak aged samples at temperatures between ambient and 450 °C. Twinning dominated the deformation at lower temperatures for all initial microstructures. This behaviour was replaced by slip dominated flow when the temperature was raised. The temperature of the transition from twinning to slip dominated flow was only mildly sensitive to the pre-treatment. It is also evident that dynamic recrystallization is retarded in this alloy.

Workforce trends in specialist and GP obstetric practice in Victoria

OBJECTIVE: To provide a contemporary picture of the general practitioner and specialist obstetric workforce in Victoria.

DESIGN, PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: Postal census by questionnaire of all 317 Fellows and 961 Diplomates on the Victorian database of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in September 2003.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Sex, age and geographical distributions and patterns of retirement from and recruitment to the GP and specialist obstetric workforce in Victoria.

RESULTS: 244 Fellows (77.0%) and 652 Diplomates (67.8%) participated. The average age of Diplomates was 42 years; only 20% were involved in procedural obstetrics. Of GPs practising procedural obstetrics, 56% intended to cease within 7 years. Two-thirds of specialist obstetricians continued to practise obstetrics. Among those ceasing obstetrics, almost half had done so since 2000. Among Fellows ceasing obstetric practice, there is a peak in the 50-60-years age group, but cessation of obstetric practice occurred across all age groups.

CONCLUSION: The proportion of GPs involved in procedural obstetrics has fallen markedly over the past decade, with half of those ceasing practice in the 40-50-years age group. New GPs entering the workforce with the Diploma and overseas doctors are unlikely to meet the procedural workforce shortfall. Attracting the large cohort of doctors aged 40-50 years back to obstetric practice must be a priority. Given the pattern of retirements from obstetrics, there will be insufficient numbers of specialists to maintain current levels of service. The reasons include non-participation in obstetrics by new graduates and international medical graduates, the inadequate number of new graduates, and the predominance of women among specialists aged under 40 years, whose work output tends to be affected by family commitments.

Automatic age estimation based on facial aging patterns

While recognition of most facial variations, such as identity, expression, and gender, has been extensively studied, automatic age estimation has rarely been explored. In contrast to other facial variations, aging variation presents several unique characteristics which make age estimation a challenging task. This paper proposes an automatic age estimation method named AGES (AGing pattErn Subspace). The basic idea is to model the aging pattern, which is defined as the sequence of a particular individual's face images sorted in time order, by constructing a representative subspace. The proper aging pattern for a previously unseen face image is determined by the projection in the subspace that can reconstruct the face image with minimum reconstruction error, while the position of the face image in that aging pattern will then indicate its age. In the experiments, AGES and its variants are compared with the limited existing age estimation methods (WAS and AAS) and some well-established classification methods (kNN, BP, C4.5, and SVM). Moreover, a comparison with human perception ability on age is conducted. It is interesting to note that the performance of AGES is not only significantly better than that of all the other algorithms, but also comparable to that of the human observers.