diff --git a/src/functionObjects/field/fieldStatistics/fieldStatistics.C b/src/functionObjects/field/fieldStatistics/fieldStatistics.C
index 488484a9d1890b81b5a5900686539cd722e8418f..887ee68b5411c05d52b0a306217e347386a5a866 100644
--- a/src/functionObjects/field/fieldStatistics/fieldStatistics.C
+++ b/src/functionObjects/field/fieldStatistics/fieldStatistics.C
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ Foam::functionObjects::fieldStatistics::statistic
 Foam::functionObjects::fieldStatistics::createStatistic
 (
     const word& statName,
-    const modeType& mode
+    const modeType mode
 )
 {
     statistic m;
diff --git a/src/functionObjects/field/fieldStatistics/fieldStatistics.H b/src/functionObjects/field/fieldStatistics/fieldStatistics.H
index 81af225e69347b7201967ecba3e6b9607e9bede1..08a4066db3110d108d237dfc5ab1d50e8a2f47a2 100644
--- a/src/functionObjects/field/fieldStatistics/fieldStatistics.H
+++ b/src/functionObjects/field/fieldStatistics/fieldStatistics.H
@@ -210,7 +210,7 @@ class fieldStatistics
     // Private Member Functions
 
         //- Return the statistic container
-        statistic createStatistic(const word& statName, const modeType& mode);
+        statistic createStatistic(const word& statName, const modeType mode);
 
         //- Compute the specified statistics of a given field
         template<class T>