Middle Age and Organizational Role

Abstract

Taking the mid-life crisis as its starting point, this paper discusses some of the psychological problems which affect the organizational role of the middle-aged executive. These problems relate to setbacks in career and the ways the executive and the organization try to deal with these failures, the career successes which too can be sometimes a source of bitterness, the retirement or death of older “sponsors” in the organization with whom the now middle-aged individual had begun his working life, and, finally, the strain in the relationship with the younger generation entering the organization. The author concludes that it is only through a radical self-confrontation at this point of life, the questioning of his identity, and a review of what he wanted earlier, what he now is, and what he can reasonably still expect that the middle aged executive can make his unique psychological contribution to the organization—the maintenance of its internal system.