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In the global economy, organizations compete with each other mainly on the basis of talent in the organization. Talent management, therefore, becomes the top priority for the leaders (Sivathanu, & Pillai, 2019). Talent management is the organization’s ability to acquire, develop and retain high performing individuals to accomplish future business goals and implement strategic initiatives (Baporikar, 2017). If organizations have to do effective talent management than managing age diversity is vital. Age diversity refers to the ability to accept and accommodate different age groups within an organization. It is one of the powerful tools that are believed to transform the organizational culture, image, and performance (Kunze, Boehm & Bruch, 2011). Age diversity is an important factor especially in State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs). SOEs are the backbone of developing economies as they are the catalyst for public value creation, and have a mandate in ensuring basic services like water, power, and infrastructures (Hartman, 2019, p. 20). Therefore, and because of stiff competition, there is a need to have a balance between the old and the young generation to foster sound decision making, reap maximum benefits and ensure a smooth transition of power and positions among employees within the organizations (Van der Walt & Du Plessis, 2010). According to Bell, Narz & Marvin (2007), 5 generations are sharing the organizational workplaces around the world today. These generations are the traditionalist, the baby boomers, generation X, the millennial and generation 2020. A generation can be defined as a group of individuals born in a certain period and as a result of their educational background or due to significant events that occurred within that time frame; these individuals share the same set of views, opinions, beliefs, and attitudes because they have experienced same historical events, that ultimately impact their behaviors (Clark, 2017). All five generations are present and this presents the challenge of managing age diversity. But age diversity is essential, especially, when organizations are competing at global markets and demographic developments changing the landscape. According to Virany et al. (1992), where there is a lack of age diversity awareness, it leads to teams to develop a self-serving tendency, which may hamper performance. So, organizational methods, good human resource policies, and approaches should be taken as the answer to managing this age diversity in the workplace and response to globalization (Riach, 2009). However, Jackson (2019) discovered that, even when teams fulfil their potentials but lack awareness in terms of age diversity, team members and their organizations may often experience negative effects, like, tension, conflict, and high staff turnover.
SOEs in Namibia have not been fully performing as per their mandate, or as expected (Hartman, 2019, p. 20). Productivity is a measure which is crucial to the understanding of the health (McLeod, (2019). But many of the SOEs health in terms of productivity is questionable. This is evident when comparing government subsidies and allocations for delivery of desired services and customer satisfaction. Diversified age of employees in an organization means diversity in terms of all organizational requirements. Employees of different ages possess different knowledge, skills, qualifications and physical capabilities (Riach, 2009). Further SOEs are increasingly faced with many challenges and changes in the field of information and communication technology, particularly with the major rise in competitively, globalisation, and the ever more significant role of knowledge and information (Al Omari, Maraqa, & Al-Jarrah, 2019). Hence for SOEs to become more competitive and secure a place in the future of this field, they need to have a clear perspective vision that enables discovering and seizing potential opportunities for which the younger generation is more equipped.