You Can’t Teach an Old Dog New Tricks!

Or can you? This saying has been widely used to express how hard it would be, or even impossible, to teach older people new techniques, or for example technologies.

And even though it might apply in some fields, or to some individuals, we dare to disagree in the world of employment! In fact, it is a widely held stereotype that older employees find it hard to adapt to new techniques and methods. What studies has come to show is that there is a general overview and perspective of this stereotype, where older workers are considered as relatively inflexible, resistant to change, and less trainable than younger workers, especially in relevance to information technology skills.

What we have come to show here is that this perception is wrong, and the evidence indicates that older workers are eager to learn but also just as capable of learning as any other employee age group. Now it is true that older employees do seem to be somehow less efficient in acquiring complex or demanding skills and require longer time to train, but once they do, they perform at equivalent levels to other groups and in particular younger workers.

There has been much research on the trainability, being the ability to acquire knowledge, skills, or behavior necessary for performing at a specific level. Evidence has shown differences among people regarding trainability..it is there. YET among the number of highly influential difference factors that have been found do not include the age group among them. Hence trainability is not influenced by age group.

So in short, we have another BUSTED MYTH .. you CAN teach an old dog new tricks!

Resource : Stephen P. Robbins – 2009 – Organizational behavior

Photo Credit By gurdonark

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