Beyond dynamic homeostasis: reflecting on gamma change and the importance of recalibrating how older workers shape work and relationships
Continuous adaptation to changes and the ability to respond positively to opportunities as they emerge contributes to successful development over the course of one’s lifespan (Olson & Shultz, Reference Olson, Shultz, Baltes, Rudolph and Zacher2019). The concept of dynamic homeostasis, as originally conceptualized by Katz and Kahn (Reference Katz and Kahn1966) from an open systems perspective, delineates how changes that occur within a system require continuous adaptation to facilitate growth and survival. The literature focused on P–E fit and proactive behaviors in organizational psychology delineates a wide range of behaviors that are related to successful aging at work through dynamic homeostasis and adaptive behaviors that facilitate effectiveness in role performance. For example, job and career crafting serve as key mechanisms that describe proactive approaches older workers use to optimize the fit between the strengths they possess and the processes used to achieve important work-related goals and results (Feldman & Shultz, Reference Feldman, Shultz, Shultz and Adams2019; Kira et al., Reference Kira, Van Eijnatten and Balkin2010; Wrzesniewski & Dutton, Reference Wrzesniewski and Dutton2001). Active adaptation to both internal and external changes is essential for successful adaptation as workers progress through their careers. As workers expand and change through the adaptation process, new skills and talents emerge and are integrated into the system (Olson & Shultz, Reference Olson, Shultz, Baltes, Rudolph and Zacher2019).
Over the life course, the processes of adaptation, learning, and development affect not only the experiences workers have; those experiences are integrated in ways that lead to a redefinition of the meaning and perceived success of one’s career and life overall (Olson & Shultz, Reference Olson and Shultz2013). This is related to Golembiewski et al.’s (Reference Golembiewski, Billingsley and Yeager1976) classic conceptual framework for measuring change by delineating the distinctions among alpha, beta, and gamma change. In this framework, alpha change is defined as changes that are reflected through mean-level differences that are observed over time in response to specific changes. For example, when an organization changes work-scheduling processes and then measures the effect on employee job satisfaction, pre- and postintervention. Observed changes would be attributed to the new approach to work scheduling that positively influenced workers’ job satisfaction levels.
Beta change is the result of a recalibration of the scale by the respondents, for example, the initiative that one would take as a new employee who is seeking clarity about task completion versus older workers who understand through tacit knowledge accumulated over the course of their careers in different jobs and roles that the tasks being completed need to be changed significantly to remain competitive in the market. Newly hired, younger employees may not perceive the pattern of change that the older worker observes, and thereby the older worker takes initiative to change processes and eliminate non-value-added tasks and activities that would not contribute to effective performance given the emerging changes (beta change initiative). Beta change is thus reflected in dynamic homeostasis as characterized by Kooij et al (Reference Kooij, Zacher, Wang and Heckhausen2020) in their focal article, “proactive efforts to maintain, or adaptive efforts to recover and restore, high ability and motivation to continue working result from self-regulation process that involves goal engagement and disengagement strategies to maintain, adjust, and restore person–environment fit” (p. 345). As such, active goal engagement and disengagement can facilitate development in older workers as a beta change that positively affects motivation and successful aging, and results in recalibration of the response scale or outcome.
Gamma change, however, is conceived as a complete redefinition and reinterpretation of the construct itself and not just a recalibration of the rating scale. For example, the gig economy and contract work (listed as #3 in SIOP’s Top 10 Workplace Trends in 2020) fundamentally alter the definitions of organizational commitment, initiative, and the employee/employer psychological contract. For individuals who hold gig jobs, the psychological contract between the worker and the employer changes, whereby the individual in the new economy becomes responsible for building relationships that facilitate a pipeline of “gigs” that create a continuous stream of projects. An older worker engaging in gig jobs or assignments needs to build credibility and be perceived by organizational leaders and HR professionals as the one to hire to complete specific work at a high level of expertise that meets the goals and strategic outcomes of the organization.
For older workers who have continued to sustain their development, through use of tools and approaches using technology (SIOP’s Top 10 workplace trends in 2020—#1 AI and machine learning), initiative and organizational commitment are redefined based on the new and evolving organizational relationship (gamma change). With this perspective, we encourage reflection on successful aging at work and the need to focus on responses related to innovation and creating new processes and approaches that fit in a way that goes beyond current roles and maintaining or reestablishing P–E fit within an organizational context as proposed by Kooij et al (Reference Kooij, Zacher, Wang and Heckhausen2020).
Over the life course, the processes of adaptation, learning, and developing influence not only the experiences workers have; those experiences are integrated in ways that lead to redefinition of meaning and success in one’s career and life overall—gamma change (Olson & Shultz, Reference Olson and Shultz2013). Older workers who make choices to use their strengths at work and prioritize tasks to invest time working on tasks that directly utilize their strengths optimize their performance and P–E fit (Cleveland et al., Reference Cleveland, Fisher, Walters, Oades, Steger, Fave and Passmore2017; Kooij et al., Reference Kooij, van Woerkom, Wilkenloh, Dorenbosch and Denissen2017). To effectively respond to changes occurring in work demands, however, tasks that are unattainable or unrealistic considering available resources or the prevailing political environment in the organization need to be abandoned. Rudolph (Reference Rudolph2016) asserts that as individuals age, they take an active role in responding to and shaping the environment in ways that optimize the outcomes they achieve and the meaningfulness of their work. This perspective would be consistent with gamma change for older workers.
In conclusion, we propose that the model of successful aging at work needs to be expanded to include the dynamics of gamma change that is created through the changing nature of work (Workplace Trend 2020 #9 virtual work; #8 workforce health and well-being; #3 gig economy and contract work)—including the pervasive impact of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic on work (Rudolph et al., Reference Rudolph, Allan, Clark, Hertel, Hirschi, Kunze, Shockley, Shoss, Sonnentag and Zacher2020). Specifically, the model proposed by Kooij et al. (Reference Kooij, Zacher, Wang and Heckhausen2020) primarily emphasizes a full-time employer–employee relationship and the corresponding macro, meso, and micro level antecedents that affect anticipated or experienced challenges of P–E fit for full-time workers. Gamma changes that are in alignment with what is needed in the 2020 Workforce Trends (SIOP’s Top 10 Workplace Trends in 2020: Trend #9-meaningful and purposeful work; Trend #5-the changing nature of work) help us to focus on the need to reconceptualize the processes related to P–E fit and goal engagement, and disengagement, for older workers. Positioning older workers to draw upon their tacit knowledge and network of relationships to facilitate P–E fit and create gamma changes that are needed to successfully respond to the changing nature of work, as captured and articulated in SIOP’s Top 10 Workplace Trends in 2020, contributes to both individual and organizational growth and effectiveness (Olson & Shultz, Reference Olson, Shultz, Baltes, Rudolph and Zacher2019). With the COVID-19 global pandemic as a backdrop, its dramatic impact on work and the workplace (Rudolph et al., Reference Rudolph, Allan, Clark, Hertel, Hirschi, Kunze, Shockley, Shoss, Sonnentag and Zacher2020) will lead to the quantum shift that is reflected through gamma change. Thus, ultimately the tacit knowledge accumulated over the lifespan of older workers can be engaged and used to build new processes and systems in the current volatile and ambiguous employment context created by the global pandemic and forecasted changes in the SIOP (2020) Top 10 Workplace Trends in 2020.
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Kooij et al. (Reference Kooij, Zacher, Wang and Heckhausen2020) developed an important theoretical framework that serves as an integrated model of successful aging and its importance in our understanding of the organizational contexts for older workers. In this brief comment, we offer additional perspective to further refine and expand our understanding of successful aging from a lifespan perspective. Specifically, we connect the alpha, beta, and gamma change framework developed by Golembiewski et al. (Reference Golembiewski, Billingsley and Yeager1976) to SIOP’s Top 10 Workplace Trends in 2020 (SIOP, 2020). We then delineate how older workers are optimally situated to use gamma change in their careers to sustain workability and motivation. We also examine how older workers use their accumulated tacit knowledge and creativity to go beyond person–environment (P–E) fit in its current conceptualization in the Kooij et al model. Explicitly, we suggest that P–E fit frameworks need to reflect the dynamics of the significant changes occurring in jobs, roles, and organizations, as well as how that affects older workers actions and choices as they age (Olson & Shultz, Reference Olson, Shultz, Baltes, Rudolph and Zacher2019; Shultz & Olson, Reference Shultz, Olson and Wang2013). We also integrate findings from the SIOP Top 10 Workplace Trends in 2020, including the importance of diversity, inclusion, and equity (Trend #2), as well as older workers’ increased focus on meaning and purposeful work (Trend #9).
Beyond dynamic homeostasis: reflecting on gamma change and the importance of recalibrating how older workers shape work and relationships
Continuous adaptation to changes and the ability to respond positively to opportunities as they emerge contributes to successful development over the course of one’s lifespan (Olson & Shultz, Reference Olson, Shultz, Baltes, Rudolph and Zacher2019). The concept of dynamic homeostasis, as originally conceptualized by Katz and Kahn (Reference Katz and Kahn1966) from an open systems perspective, delineates how changes that occur within a system require continuous adaptation to facilitate growth and survival. The literature focused on P–E fit and proactive behaviors in organizational psychology delineates a wide range of behaviors that are related to successful aging at work through dynamic homeostasis and adaptive behaviors that facilitate effectiveness in role performance. For example, job and career crafting serve as key mechanisms that describe proactive approaches older workers use to optimize the fit between the strengths they possess and the processes used to achieve important work-related goals and results (Feldman & Shultz, Reference Feldman, Shultz, Shultz and Adams2019; Kira et al., Reference Kira, Van Eijnatten and Balkin2010; Wrzesniewski & Dutton, Reference Wrzesniewski and Dutton2001). Active adaptation to both internal and external changes is essential for successful adaptation as workers progress through their careers. As workers expand and change through the adaptation process, new skills and talents emerge and are integrated into the system (Olson & Shultz, Reference Olson, Shultz, Baltes, Rudolph and Zacher2019).
Over the life course, the processes of adaptation, learning, and development affect not only the experiences workers have; those experiences are integrated in ways that lead to a redefinition of the meaning and perceived success of one’s career and life overall (Olson & Shultz, Reference Olson and Shultz2013). This is related to Golembiewski et al.’s (Reference Golembiewski, Billingsley and Yeager1976) classic conceptual framework for measuring change by delineating the distinctions among alpha, beta, and gamma change. In this framework, alpha change is defined as changes that are reflected through mean-level differences that are observed over time in response to specific changes. For example, when an organization changes work-scheduling processes and then measures the effect on employee job satisfaction, pre- and postintervention. Observed changes would be attributed to the new approach to work scheduling that positively influenced workers’ job satisfaction levels.
Beta change is the result of a recalibration of the scale by the respondents, for example, the initiative that one would take as a new employee who is seeking clarity about task completion versus older workers who understand through tacit knowledge accumulated over the course of their careers in different jobs and roles that the tasks being completed need to be changed significantly to remain competitive in the market. Newly hired, younger employees may not perceive the pattern of change that the older worker observes, and thereby the older worker takes initiative to change processes and eliminate non-value-added tasks and activities that would not contribute to effective performance given the emerging changes (beta change initiative). Beta change is thus reflected in dynamic homeostasis as characterized by Kooij et al (Reference Kooij, Zacher, Wang and Heckhausen2020) in their focal article, “proactive efforts to maintain, or adaptive efforts to recover and restore, high ability and motivation to continue working result from self-regulation process that involves goal engagement and disengagement strategies to maintain, adjust, and restore person–environment fit” (p. 345). As such, active goal engagement and disengagement can facilitate development in older workers as a beta change that positively affects motivation and successful aging, and results in recalibration of the response scale or outcome.
Gamma change, however, is conceived as a complete redefinition and reinterpretation of the construct itself and not just a recalibration of the rating scale. For example, the gig economy and contract work (listed as #3 in SIOP’s Top 10 Workplace Trends in 2020) fundamentally alter the definitions of organizational commitment, initiative, and the employee/employer psychological contract. For individuals who hold gig jobs, the psychological contract between the worker and the employer changes, whereby the individual in the new economy becomes responsible for building relationships that facilitate a pipeline of “gigs” that create a continuous stream of projects. An older worker engaging in gig jobs or assignments needs to build credibility and be perceived by organizational leaders and HR professionals as the one to hire to complete specific work at a high level of expertise that meets the goals and strategic outcomes of the organization.
For older workers who have continued to sustain their development, through use of tools and approaches using technology (SIOP’s Top 10 workplace trends in 2020—#1 AI and machine learning), initiative and organizational commitment are redefined based on the new and evolving organizational relationship (gamma change). With this perspective, we encourage reflection on successful aging at work and the need to focus on responses related to innovation and creating new processes and approaches that fit in a way that goes beyond current roles and maintaining or reestablishing P–E fit within an organizational context as proposed by Kooij et al (Reference Kooij, Zacher, Wang and Heckhausen2020).
Over the life course, the processes of adaptation, learning, and developing influence not only the experiences workers have; those experiences are integrated in ways that lead to redefinition of meaning and success in one’s career and life overall—gamma change (Olson & Shultz, Reference Olson and Shultz2013). Older workers who make choices to use their strengths at work and prioritize tasks to invest time working on tasks that directly utilize their strengths optimize their performance and P–E fit (Cleveland et al., Reference Cleveland, Fisher, Walters, Oades, Steger, Fave and Passmore2017; Kooij et al., Reference Kooij, van Woerkom, Wilkenloh, Dorenbosch and Denissen2017). To effectively respond to changes occurring in work demands, however, tasks that are unattainable or unrealistic considering available resources or the prevailing political environment in the organization need to be abandoned. Rudolph (Reference Rudolph2016) asserts that as individuals age, they take an active role in responding to and shaping the environment in ways that optimize the outcomes they achieve and the meaningfulness of their work. This perspective would be consistent with gamma change for older workers.
In conclusion, we propose that the model of successful aging at work needs to be expanded to include the dynamics of gamma change that is created through the changing nature of work (Workplace Trend 2020 #9 virtual work; #8 workforce health and well-being; #3 gig economy and contract work)—including the pervasive impact of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic on work (Rudolph et al., Reference Rudolph, Allan, Clark, Hertel, Hirschi, Kunze, Shockley, Shoss, Sonnentag and Zacher2020). Specifically, the model proposed by Kooij et al. (Reference Kooij, Zacher, Wang and Heckhausen2020) primarily emphasizes a full-time employer–employee relationship and the corresponding macro, meso, and micro level antecedents that affect anticipated or experienced challenges of P–E fit for full-time workers. Gamma changes that are in alignment with what is needed in the 2020 Workforce Trends (SIOP’s Top 10 Workplace Trends in 2020: Trend #9-meaningful and purposeful work; Trend #5-the changing nature of work) help us to focus on the need to reconceptualize the processes related to P–E fit and goal engagement, and disengagement, for older workers. Positioning older workers to draw upon their tacit knowledge and network of relationships to facilitate P–E fit and create gamma changes that are needed to successfully respond to the changing nature of work, as captured and articulated in SIOP’s Top 10 Workplace Trends in 2020, contributes to both individual and organizational growth and effectiveness (Olson & Shultz, Reference Olson, Shultz, Baltes, Rudolph and Zacher2019). With the COVID-19 global pandemic as a backdrop, its dramatic impact on work and the workplace (Rudolph et al., Reference Rudolph, Allan, Clark, Hertel, Hirschi, Kunze, Shockley, Shoss, Sonnentag and Zacher2020) will lead to the quantum shift that is reflected through gamma change. Thus, ultimately the tacit knowledge accumulated over the lifespan of older workers can be engaged and used to build new processes and systems in the current volatile and ambiguous employment context created by the global pandemic and forecasted changes in the SIOP (2020) Top 10 Workplace Trends in 2020.