Our ageing population is the result of two demographic trends: decreasing fertility levels and higher life expectancy. As a corollary to these demographic trends, the working population is ageing and shrinking at the same time. This development will affect the performance of organizations in the next decades. As today‟s economy and the performance of organizations is mainly based on knowledge, the ageing workforce will mainly affect the organizations ability to be knowledge productive. As current knowledge management (KM) and intellectual capital (IC) literature hardly addresses the issue of ageing, the aim of this paper is to explore this topic in order to formulate an agenda for further KM/IC research. Combining the temporary consequences of ageing (brain drain and talent gap) and the false assumptions about the capabilities of older workers (older workers contribute negatively to a firm‟s performance), the current ageing of the working population reveals two main risks for organizations and management: underutilization of older employees, and loss of knowledge. Based on the exploration of these two risks in this paper, several issues are proposed for further research. These issues focus on the specific competences of the older knowledge worker, the implications for talent development programs, the benefits of inter-generational learning, and effectiveness of knowledge retention strategies. Today, the main fear is that large scale retirement will lead to a shortage of skills, talents, knowledge. Although acknowlegding the risks and threats of this brain drain, the current temporary ageing of our workforce might also contribute to a structural better valuation of the potential of the older knowledge worker and its specific contribution to the process of knowledge creation. In an ageing knowledge economy, increased understanding about the abilities and distinct qualities of older workers will provide opportunities for organizations to enhance knowledge productivity and thus gain competitiveness.
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The crossroads of living in cities on the one hand and ageing of the population on the other is studied in an interdisciplinary field of research called urban ageing (van Hoof and Kazak 2018, van Hoof et al. 2018). People live longer and in better health than ever before in Europe. Despite all the positive aspects of population ageing, it poses many challenges. The interaction of population ageing and urbanisation raises issues in various domains of urban living (Phillipson and Buffel 2016). According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD 2015), the population share of those of 65 years old is expected to climb to 25.1% in 2050 in its member states. Cities in particular have large numbers of older inhabitants and are home to 43.2% of this older population. The need to develop supportive urban communities are major issues for public policy to understand the relationship between population ageing and urban change (Buffel and Phillipson 2016). Plouffe and Kalache (2010) see older citizens as a precious resource, but in order to tap the full potential these people represent for continued human development (Zaidi et al. 2013), the world’s cities must ensure their inclusion and full access to urban spaces, structures, and services. Therefore, cities are called upon to complement the efforts of national governments to address the consequences of the unprecedented demographic shift (OECD 2015). Additionally, at the city level there is a belief to understand the requirements and preferences of local communities (OECD 2015). An important question in relation to urban ageing is what exactly makes a city age-friendly (Alley et al. 2007, Lui et al. 2009, Plouffe and Kalache 2010, Steels 2015, Moulaert and Garon 2016, Age Platform Europe 2018)? Another relevant question is which factors allow some older people in cities to thrive, while others find it hard to cope with the struggles of daily life? This chapter explores and describes which elements and factors make cities age-friendly, for instance, on the neighbourhood level and in relation to technology for older people.
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Ook uit internationaal wetenschappelijk onderzoek blijkt dat er verschillen zijn tussen ouderen in de stad en op het platteland [3-5]. In de rijke delen van de Europese Unie hebben ouderen in de landelijke gebieden een hogere levenstevredenheid dan in de stad. Mensen lijken tevreden in een dorp, wellicht omdat het verwachtingspatroon geringer is. Als het op veroudering aankomt, biedt de hogere dichtheid van de stad een grotere nabijheid tot allerlei diensten die de kwaliteit van leven van ouderen vergroten. Door specifieke economische factoren kunnen deze diensten niet in dezelfde mate worden aangeboden in landelijke gebieden [6]. Woonomstandigheden, zo blijkt uit onderzoek [7], zijn beter voor onze ouderen in de stad dan op het platteland, hoewel de verschillen niet zo uitgesproken groot zijn. En dan heb je nog de gesegregeerde woonwijken voor ouderen, zoals in de Verenigde Staten. Denk daarbij aan Sun City Arizona en The Villages in Florida [8, 9]. Deze wijken bieden een eenheidsworst en zonderen ouderen af in een cocon van geboden comfort, waarbij zij verdwijnen uit het reguliere straatbeeld van omliggende steden. Een in vrijheid gekozen gevangenschap. Een echte seniorvriendelijke stad is een generatievriendelijke stad zoals u wilt, waar niet alleen ruimte is voor één generatie, maar voor alle generaties: van wieg tot graf.
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Europeans are living longer than ever in history, because of the economic growth and advances in hygiene and health care. Today, average life expectancy is over 80, and by 2020 around 25% of the population will be over 65. The increasing group of older people poses great challenges in terms of creating suitable living environments and appropriate housing facilities. The physical indoor environment plays an important role in creating fitting, comfortable and healthy domestic spaces. Our senses are the primary interface with the built environment. With biological ageing, a number of sensory changes occur as a result of the intrinsic ageing process in sensory organs and their association with the nervous system. These changes can in turn change the way we perceive the environment around us. It is important to understand these changes when designing for older occupants, for instance, care homes, hospitals and private homes, as well as office spaces given the developments in the domain of staying active at work until older age.
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The structure and financing of collective long-term care and support in the Netherlands changed dramatically with the introduction of the Social Support Act (WMO) the 1st of January 2015. This act arranged that municipalities assist people to live in their homes for as long as possible by providing various forms of aid and support. This aid and support however, is in addition to the help that people arrange for themselves and / or receive in the form of volunteer aid (mantelzorg) by family, friends and neighbours. Furthermore under this Act people only become eligible for state financed sheltered accommodation in the exceptional case of severe physical or mental illness. The fact that under the new regime of the Social Support Act municipal support is made additional to volunteer aid, it is important to understand what role family, friends and neighbours potentially can play and in fact do play. This is especially important in regions were unbalanced population decline through out-migration of young people, effectively changes social structures and accelerates the ageing of the population. For this reason we designed a limited pilot-study to test the possibilities and the necessity of a broader study focussing on potential and every day practice concerning volunteer aid for elderly in regions characterized by unbalanced population decline. In this pilot study we will focus on a rural municipality in the north of the Netherlands: Oldambt.Within the framework of this pilot-study we focussed on living arrangements and social network of two groups of senior citizens; one group of men and women aged 65-79 and one group aged 80 years and over. Based on demographic data kindly made available by the municipal office of Oldambt, in this paper we will draw a picture of these citizens living in the municipality. Going deeper into the material and the municipality’s structure we will than focus on one of the municipality’s communities, Finsterwolde, with its village, hamlets and surrounding rural area. For the purpose of this pilot-study we constructed a sample of 30 men and women aged 80+-elderly and asked them to fill in a questionnaire. Based on the outcomes of these questionnaires we than had five in-depth interviews with some of them. Finally, on the basis of the gathered material, we will draw some general conclusions while presenting some new questions for further research into the living conditions and social support systems for elderly in a region with unbalanced population decline and accelerated ageing.
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As societies age, the development of resources and strategies that foster healthy ageing from the beginning of life become increasingly important. Social and healthcare professionals are key agents in this process; therefore, their training needs to be in agreement with societal needs. We performed a scoping review on professional competences for social and health workers to adequately promote healthy ageing throughout life, using the framework described by Arksey and O’Malley and the Joanna Briggs Institute Guidelines. A stakeholder consultation was held in each of the participating countries, in which 79 experts took part. Results show that current literature has been excessively focused on the older age and that more attention on how to work with younger population groups is needed. Likewise, not all disciplines have equally reflected on their role before this challenge and interprofessional approaches, despite showing promise, have not been sufficiently described. Based on our results, health and social professionals working to promote healthy ageing across the lifespan will need sound competences regarding person-centred communication, professional communication, technology applications, physiological and pathophysiological aspects of ageing, social and environmental aspects, cultural diversity, programs and policies, ethics, general and basic skills, context and self-management-related skills, health promotion and disease prevention skills, educational and research skills, leadership skills, technological skills and clinical reasoning. Further research should contribute to establishing which competences are more relevant to each discipline and at what level they should be taught, as well as how they can be best implemented to effectively transform health and social care systems.
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The purpose is to give an overview of the extent, range and nature of existing definitions of the concept ‘ageing in place’. Providing such an overview may be helpful, for policy makers, researchers, communities and service providers, to make sense of the versatility and uses of the concept, and allow the improvement and increase the success of efforts to contribute to the quality of life of older people. The overview was created using Arksey and O’Malley’s scoping review methodology. Out of 3,692 retrieved articles, 34 met the inclusion criteria. These studies concentrate on the following five key themes concerning ‘ageing in place’: ‘ageing in place’ in relation to place, to social networks, to support, to technology and to personal characteristics. Each of these key themes consists of other aspects, like physical place and attachment to place for the keyword place. This study concludes that the concept ‘ageing in place’ is broad and can be viewed from different (i.e. five) key themes. A more thorough understanding of ‘ageing in place’ provides knowledge about the existing key themes and aspects. These findings might provide practical support for professionals and governments when they develop their policies about ‘ageing in place’ integrally and to develop fit policies.
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Background: The increase in life expectancy has brought about a higher prevalence of chronic illnesses among older people. Objectives: To identify common chronic illnesses among older adults, to examine the influence of such conditions on their Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL), and to determine factors predicting their HRQoL. Method: A population-based cross-sectional study was conducted involving 377 individuals aged 60 years and above who were selected using multi-stage sampling techniques in Olorunda Local Government, Osun State, Nigeria. Data were collected using an interviewer-administered questionnaire comprising socio-demographic characteristics, chronic illnesses, and the World Health Organization quality of life instrument (WHOQOL-BREF) containing physical health, psychological, social relationships, and environmental domains. Results: About half (51.5%) of the respondents reported at least one chronic illness which has lasted for 1–5 years (43.3%). The prevalence of hypertension was 36.1%, diabetes 13.9% and arthritis 13.4%. Respondents with chronic illness had significantly lower HRQoL overall and in the physical health, social relationships and the environmental domains (all p<0.05) compared to those without a chronic illness. Factors that predicted HRQoL include age, marital status, level of education, the presence of chronic illness and prognosis of the condition. Conclusion: This study concluded that chronic illness is prevalent in Nigerian older people and significantly influence their HRQoL. Age, marital status, and level of education were associated with HRQoL in this group.
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The so called Second Demographic Transition (Lesthaeghe and Van der Kaa, 1986), which surfaced in the sixties of the twentieth century in Western Europe and North America, resulted from a significant change in the pattern of norms and values. This again resulted in delayed fertility, a declining population when there was no replenishment through "replacement migration” and an increasing variety of household structures (with a rising number of one-person households). The rise in life expectancy coupled with a declining fertility, evolved into a gradual ageing of the population.The concept of ‘unbalanced population decline’ (Van Nimwegen and Heering 2009) enables us, while studying population decline, to take into account different motives underlying the decision to migrate during the life course; young people migrating in search of higher education and job opportunities and elderly clustering in places with a high facility level. This unbalanced population decline is taking place in some rural parts and smaller towns in the Netherlands. Especially the two migration flows mentioned above determine the structure of the population and the possibilities for effective family, kin and other social support systems for the elderly.Method:Analysis using amongst others recent demographic data from de community of Oldambt (Netherlands)Results:It will be shown that the effects of the demographic transition in the North of the Netherlands are accelerated because of unbalanced population decline. Furthermore it will be argued that because of this combination in parts of the Northern Netherlands family, kin and social support systems for the elderly are deteriorating more rapidly than in other parts of the county.Conclusion:Combined effects of demographic transition and unbalanced population decline urge for a reconsideration of the possibilities to rely on family, kin and other social support systems in different regions in the Netherlands.
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This literature review explores ways older workers might continue to make waves and impact their work organization. The topic of the paper is grounded in the problem of an ageing organizational population looming in the near future. The work presented here is a start to helping management in knowledge-intensive organizations to understand how to effectively utilize the capacities of older knowledge workers by stimulating intergenerational learning as a means to retain critical organizational knowledge, encourage innovation and promote organizational learning through knowledge building. First, the concept of intergenerational learning is developed followed by a discussion of the organizational factors important for it to take place. The last section presents ideas on how to design and implement intergenerational learning as an organizational development program.
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