Rob Ranzijn

Intellectual capital: Mapping employee and work group attributes

This paper aims to extend the understanding of human and structural capital as key components of intellectual capital by refining their definitions and outlining their relationships. It argues that psychology and sociology can further develop the understanding of intellectual capital despite having not previously been sufficiently recognised as relevant to the debate. The paper draws on these disciplinary areas to develop a model that specifies subsets of human and structural capital, of intellectual capital and the relationship between them, as a basis for a more comprehensive definition and effective measurement of it across a range of industries and firms. Finally, it argues that it is important for employers to determine how to capture human capital and convert it into structural capital so that it is not lost in times of rapid restructuring and high staff turnover.

Towards a Positive Psychology of Ageing: Potentials and Barriers

This paper indicates how recent trends in the emerging science of positive psychology can be applied to the development of a positive psychology of ageing. Given that an increasing proportion of the clients of psychologists in the future will be older adults, it is important for clinical psychologists and other professionals working with older people to understand the potential, as well as the limitations, of older adults for development and responsiveness to interventions. Gerontology, the study of ageing, is an ideal field in which to explore the possibilities of positive psychology because relatively little work has been done to identify gains and areas of growth. Historically, the decrements of older age have been over-emphasised. It is argued that the reasons for this imbalance are both theoretical and methodological. It is easier to operationalise attributes in which older people perform more poorly than younger ones than those in which older people may excel. Furthermore, while psychology has emphasised the individual, older peoples strengths are more likely to be evident in the context of their social and physical environment. Empirical evidence is emerging that demonstrates the hitherto under-recognised skills, potentials, and contributions of older adults. The emerging science of positive psychology can contribute a great deal towards enabling the potential of older adults to be realised.

Active Ageing —Another Way to Oppress Marginalized and Disadvantaged Elders? Aboriginal Elders as a Case Study

This article questions whether the concept of active ageing unintentionally devalues the life experiences of disadvantaged groups of older people. It is argued that talking up the expectation that older people will continue to be physically active may further marginalize significant groups of elders, including those from diverse non-dominant cultural groups. The article draws on a study of Australian Aboriginal Elders to illustrate this point, with suggestions about culturally appropriate ageing policies. The article concludes that alternative conceptions of ageing, such as ‘ageing well’ or ‘authentic ageing’, may better capture the cultural diversity of ageing and promote social inclusion.

Bounded choices in work and retirement in Australia

Australia, together with most other developed and developing countries, faces a difficult demographic pattern in the first half of the twenty‐first century, due to a low and declining birth rate and an ageing population. This has led to an ageing workforce, with a relative shortage of younger entrants. One issue for government is what further steps they could initiate to persuade more people to remain in the labour force beyond the currently median retiring age of around 55 years. Employers will need to consider the degree to which they are prepared to reverse present negative attitudes towards employment of older staff, and workers need to resolve whether they need or desire to keep working and under what conditions. Boundaries constructed by government policy and employer actions, and their resolution by older individuals, form the content of this paper. The paper concludes that employers now face the management of up to four generational groups and resolving their intergenerational differences will present as a major future challenge. Revisiting practices for managing older workers will be essential and the paper offers suggestions for employers towards more effective utilisation of their older staff and more effective integration of workers of all age groups.

Towards cultural competence: Australian Indigenous content in undergraduate psychology

This paper discusses the development and preliminary analysis of psychology undergraduate courses on cultural competence in relation to Indigenous Australians. The paper summarises the process that led to the formation of draft curriculum guidelines for psychology academics, including the need to critically examine the assumptions and history of Western psychology in relation to Indigenous peoples, the inclusion of non-conventional teaching and learning methods, staff and institutional support, and appropriate staff development. The paper then discusses the responses of students to one of the courses developed from these guidelines. The courses were well received by students and although they do not in themselves teach professional psychological skills in working effectively with Indigenous people, they provide a solid basis for the development of such skills. Because this is a relatively new area, it is likely that there will be much refinement of these courses in coming years.

Measurement of subjective quality of life of elders.

There are two aims in this article, to define subjective quality of life and to suggest a way to standardize its measurement to enable comparisons to be made across studies. One of the unresolved issues in gerontological research has concerned the definition and measurement of quality of life (Lawton, 1991). This article focuses on subjective well-being, one of the four components proposed by Lawton (1991). There seems to be a growing consensus that most scales of well-being have at least two concepts in common, positive and negative affect. To test this hypothesis, two well-being scales, the Philadelphia Geriatric Center Morale Scale (Lawton, 1975) and the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale (Radloff, 1977), were subjec ted to confirmatory factor analyses, using data on 1717 participants in the Australian Longitudinal Study of Ageing aged between 70 and 103 years. Each scale was shown to contain factors of positive and negative affect. The article concludes with a suggestion that the measurement of quality of life in elders should include, at a minimum, scales of positive and negative affect as well as other measures relevant to the aspect of quality of life under consideration.

On the scrap-heap at 45: The human impact of mature-aged unemployment

This paper reports on a qualitative study conducted in Adelaide, South Australia into the impact of mature-aged unemployment and under-employment on the individual. Data were collected by means of six individual and group interviews with a total of 27 participants (17 men and 10 women). The participants were asked about the impact on their quality of life, their expectations for the future and their short-term and long-term financial situation. The results suggest that there is a substantial ‘lost generation’ of mature-aged unemployed people who are characterized by shrinking horizons and impaired quality of life. The participants expressed frustration at being unable to contribute to society and support their own adult children. Inability to use their skills and talents, with consequent skill depreciation, can lead to what we label the ‘peg-down phenomenon’, an intermediate step between becoming unemployed and entering the ranks of the discouraged job-seekers that ultimately leads to a premature exit from the workforce. This cohort is different from other age groups of unemployed people because of the unique developmental characteristics of middle-aged people, compounded by financial and caring demands from both the younger and older generations. The paper concludes with policy recommendations, including expanding social inclusion policies to address the needs of this cohort and early intervention with more focused job-specific training.

Predictors of heteronormativity in residential aged care facilities

Objectives:  The aim of this paper is to examine the factors influencing heteronormativity (the implicit assumption that a heterosexual orientation is the normative one), and heterosexism (prejudice against non‐heterosexual people) among the staff of residential aged care facilities.

Independence and self‐provision in old age: how realistic are these goals?

Objectives:  The aim of the present paper was to examine the relationship between perceived choices in work and retirement in middle age and financial security and confidence about the future in old age.

Proactive coping in community-dwelling older Australians.

This article reports on a study of older community-dwelling Australian adults which aimed to test whether a relatively unexplored construct, proactive coping, could have a role in purpose in life, personal growth, and life satisfaction. A total of 109 women and 115 men (Mean age = 75.04 yrs, SD = 6.66) completed a questionnaire containing Greenglass et al.s (1999) Proactive Coping Inventory, the Purpose in Life and Personal Growth ***sub-scales of Ryffs (1989) Psychological Well-being Scales, and the Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener et al., 1985). The results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that proactive coping was a highly significant predictor of all three measures of well-being, after controlling for age and health. The effect on personal growth and purpose in life was particularly strong. Proactive coping does seem to be an important variable in the psychological well-being of older adults. However, the correlational nature of the design, and the likelihood of some conceptual overlap between the well-being variables, suggest that these inferences can only be tentative. Designing psychological interventions to improve proactive coping may help to improve quality of life at older ages. There is a need for experimental research to further explore the causal influence of proactive coping and for further theoretical work to determine the exact nature of proactive coping.