50 Activities for Promoting Ethics within the Organization

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44. Ethical Teamwork

Information Age-ing

Approximately 10 minutes

OVERVIEW

Team leaders work hard to establish an environment that is casual, open, and

relaxed. However, if that environment allows or—worse yet, encourages—

age-related comments, an organization may be liable for violations of the Age

Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). This exercise asks participants to

compile a list of phrases that team members might innocently use in reference to

older employees—phrases that could serve as the basis for subsequent lawsuits.

PURPOSE

To sharpen awareness of casual phrases that could lead to charges of age

discrimination.

GROUP SIZE

Any size group. Participants will meet in small groups.

ROOM ARRANGEMENT

No special arrangement required other than seating that permits easy group

formation.

MATERIALS

•

Flipchart and marking pens

•

Masking tape

PROCEDURE

1.

Introduce the exercise by reviewing the Points of Interest.

2.

Divide the class into small groups and distribute a sheet of flipchart paper and

a marking pen to each.

3.

Ask them to write phrases such as “Young Turks” and others that, however

innocent their original intention, may in fact produce subsequent legal

difficulty.

4.

Have a spokesperson from each group come forward and hang the list on the

wall. As he or she reviews the items on the list, ask the other groups to cross

off any duplicates on their own lists.

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5.

Continue to have each group send a spokesperson forward to review the

phrases.

6.

Debrief with a reminder that teams are expected to do more than accomplish

their mission. They are also expected to accomplish that mission in a safe and

respectful environment.

VARIATION

Prepare a script ahead of time for a team leader and a team member. The script

should have several phrases that could be viewed as discriminatory, such as, “Are

you thinking about retirement?” Have two volunteers enact the script in a

fishbowl setting while the remaining participants take note of the potentially

dangerous comments.

DISCUSSION

•

How uncomfortable does it make you to know that simple phrases like “you

can’t teach an old dog new tricks” could be used in an age-discrimination

lawsuit?

•

What kinds of ethical guidelines should a team leader establish at the first

team meeting?

•

How old do you have to be to receive protection from ADEA? (Answer: 40 or

older.)

QUOTATION

“Age is a question of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it don’t matter.”

– LeRoy Satchel Paige

POINTS OF INTEREST

In Buffalo, New York, a 48-year-old salesman for a steel company was awarded

nearly $1 million in damages when he claimed his dismissal was the result of age

discrimination and not the result of poor work performance or even customer

complaints as the company charged. Included in the evidence he offered was the

fact that rising stars were often called “young tigers” by his manager.

A 64-year-old Missouri school bus driver used the phrase “old enough to retire” to

help convince a jury she was discharged for age discrimination and not speeding,

as the company claimed. Further proof was her supervisor’s comment at her

birthday party: he told her he “didn’t know that she was that old.” The jury

awarded her $76,000 in damages.