Baby Boomers: Communication, Leadership and the Impact of Technology
The generation to which a person belongs does have an influence in the leadership style that he prefers and the methods he employs to communicate. Even so, there are still basic skills that are necessary to communicate effectively regardless of a person’s generational membership. Finally, technological advancements have also had positive and negative impacts on communication, and different generations prefer different methods.
Defining the Generations
It is first necessary to define the various generations that make up modern society. According to Wolfe (2010), they are the “Veterans” (1922 – 1945), the “Baby Boomers” (1946 – 1964), “Generation X” (1965 – 1979), and “Generation Y”, also known as the “Millennials”, (1980 – 2000). For the sake of brevity, the term “Boomers” will be used synonymously for the term “Baby Boomers”. In addition, many articles use “Baby Boomers” as a proper noun and not as a quoted, colloquial term; therefore, it will be used as a proper noun throughout this paper.
The Baby Boomers
Communications Preferences
The author, having been born in 1961, is a member of the Baby Boomers. In the author’s experience, the members of his generation tend to favor informal communication and direct, face-to-face contact with others. When possible, the author prefers to walk over to someone’s office and speak directly instead of sending an electronic mail message. When face-to-face communication is not possible, the author prefers the telephone to an electronic method such as e-mail or text messaging, and notes that his contemporaries prefer the same. Furthermore, members of the author’s generation tend to speak their mind, but do so with diplomacy and courtesy. Maitland (as cited by Effective Leadership, 2011) points out that good manners still matter and that Boomers care about being civil and respectful. Addressing someone properly is also important when communicating formally.
Leadership Style
Boomers have a strong work ethic and believe that everyone should be a team player (Wolfe, 2010); a sentiment with which the author agrees. The author welcomes collaboration but expects team members to do their part and honor their commitments. The author expects his leaders to understand their strengths and weaknesses, seek out those with skills that are complementary, and most importantly, learn from their mistakes. According to Chappelow (as cited by Kodatt, 2009), “It’s not the difference in the experiences that matters. When it comes to developing effective leaders, the most basic skill that can be taught is the willingness and ability to learn from whatever experiences life brings” (p.
These three generations: Baby Boomers, Gen X and Gen Y all bring their own share of values, beliefs, thoughts and opinions, perspective and experiences to the workplace. The dynamics of the workplace is directly affected by the differences among these three generations. Today’s current managers need to understand how to efficiently manage and lead a multigenerational workforce in order to increase productivity and meet organization goals and objectives. Recently, there has been changes in the general management. From 2008 to 2013, there was some serious shift in Gen X and Gen Y moving into managerial roles. According to Matthew Golden from Biz Journals, the most prominent change was 87% of Gen Y moved into more managerial roles compared to
Since both authors can relate to both age groups, they have written this article to describe the reasons behind Gen Y’s characteristics and allow older generations a chance to understand their younger counterparts. The article is written not towards Gen Y but instead is written for their critics. Since the article allows readers inside the lives of Gen Y members, it is directed at people who do not already understand this generation and all it has to offer to the world. The authors’ knowledge of the criticisms that Gen Y faces allows them to portray their purpose to intended audiences. They do all of this while remaining mindful of older generations that work full time and live busy lives by breaking the article up with headings and subheadings that allow readers to read only sections at a
Boomer’s see millennial’s as having a short attention span which is not what millennial’s intend. If they don’t see a job working out, they are faster to jump ship than Boomer’s and that fearless attitude actually leverages them more power with their company. Sherry Buffington, co-author of Exciting Oz: How the New American Workforce Is Changing the Face of Business Forever and What Companies Must Do to Thrive, says that they have the upper hand because they are perfectly fine working dozens of different jobs in their lifetime. “In a survey conducted by IdeaPaint of 600 employed Millennials, 49 percent believe that poor management is dragging their company down; 45 percent attribute that to the lack or misuse of technology solutions.” (Avallon) This helps the reader to better understand the mentality of millennial’s. They are typically more tech savvy then their older bosses and feel they could make more of an impact if they were in charge. Millennial’s are hard-wired to think that time really is their most important resource. If they feel they aren’t being treated completely fair then they won’t hesitate about trying to find a new
Rubin’s research shows that a lot can happen in just one generation. Much has been spoken lately of what Tom Brokaw has declared “The Greatest Generation;” those who fought in WWII. These Americans came back from the war, started families, and worked hard to achieve “The All American Dream.” But somewhere they must have missed something because this generation is the generation that produced the “pot smoking, free love hippies” who then produced the adults in Rubin’s study. What changed so much with a generation that was the epitome of hard work, discipline, and structure? Stephanie Coontz’s article, “What We Really Miss about the 1950’s” addresses that. The world between 1920-1950 is not what we think. There was a high murder rate, a substantial divorce rate, and “an older generation of neighbors or relatives who tried to tell them how to run their lives and raise their kids.” (Skolnick 33) It’s this sense that their children see the world so differently that’s so hard for working-class parents. “For it seems to say that now, along with ...
Throughout the years, the older generations –The Silent Generation, Baby Boomers, and Generation X—have viewed Millennials as the lowest generation. They have illustrated this adverse title of the millennials that the world views to be true, but in late May of 2013, Joel Stein, a product of Generation X, wrote, “The New Greatest Generation: Why Millennials Will Save Us All” towards the older generations to prove them wrong. This article attempts to persuade Stein’s audience to believe that Millennials are not what the world has described them to be. Throughout his article, Stein informs the audience that although statistics portray Millennials to be narcissistic, he has faith that the Millennials are the future. While Stein did use data in
The Baby Boomers were called into the Vietnam War and expected to follow in their father’s heroic footsteps; but unlike their father’s generation they failed to live up to the expectations. The Baby Boomers rebelled against the state and popular culture, developing flower power, free love, and equality. The Vietnam War conflicted with many of the generation’s values, resulting in internal conflict with many of the nation’s youth. Some men joined the military to fight, while other dodged the draft, creating conflict within a generation. Overall, the Baby Boomer generation symbolized individuality, dishonor, injustice, failure, and wasteful sacrifice.
During Generation Xers formative years, “investigations called into question many major organizations including the U.S. presidency, military, organized religion, and corporations” (Fore, 2013). As a result, this generation generally had little confidence in institutions and instead placed more faith in themselves. At home, Generation Xers became “‘latchkey children’”, who came home from school without a parent or adult supervision, and their mothers now worked outside the home. They were responsible for themselves, and often became dependent on video games and television sets, which resulted in them being characterized as “independent and resourceful” (Fore, 2013). At work, Generation Xers relied on themselves and their peers to accomplish goals, and did not put much hope in companies or organizations. Unlike Veterans, Generation Xers disliked traditional hierarchy, challenged authority, and expected their leaders to demonstrate competence and fairness, as well as embrace a participative and diverse workplace (Fore, 2013). Similar to the Millennial generation, Generation Xers placed a stronger focus on their personal lives much more than the generations before them. “They were likely to stay with one company throughout their career as long as it did not interfere with their private lives” (Gilley & Waddell, 2015). This lack of organizational loyalty is often attributed to
Generation Y, more commonly referred to as the “millennials”, is today’s group of young people. Similar to other generations, each cohort is labeled with unique characteristics and inevitably faces adversities while taking its place in society. Many American’s today debate their views on the youngster generation, but none the less all sides can agree the discussion has become a hot topic. Catherin Rampell creates an open discussion in her article, A Generation of Slackers? Not So Much, addressing the main issue: Are millennials a generation of slackers. I feel strongly that my views align with Rampell’s, in believing my generation has already begun to show its capability of doing great things. Through analysis of the text and my own personal experience I am able to dispute the opposition towards my generation as well as, express the positive relationship of millennials in
Smola, Karen Wey, and Charlotte D. Sutton. "Generational Difference: Revisiting Generational Work Values for the New Millennium." Journal of Organizational Behavior 23 (2002): 363-82. JSTOR. Web. 28 Mar. 2012. .
Nearly 3.7 million American babies born in 1982 were the first members of the new Generation Y, or more affectionately known as millenials (Thompson, par. 1). Many things play into whether a generation is considered to be faring ‘better’ than another one; job opportunities, the state of the environment, whether the U.S. is at peace or at war, income vs. living expenses, the general happiness of the people, and the list goes on. Millenials are part of a special generation because for decades, “The American Dream” has included the belief that the future generation will fare better than the present one; however, millenials are not projected to fare better than the present generation X for many reasons.
When the Baby Boomer generation was questioned about the newer generation, these words and phrases was often used: “slacker”, “lazy”, “has it easy”, “entitled”, “obsessed with their phones/internet/games” and “antisocial”. On the other hand, Millennials (or Generation Y) would say this about their older counterpart: “entitled”, “ruined it for those who followed”, “had it easier”, “narcissists”, “stubborn”, and “materialistic”. The reason for why the elders would see it that way is because they had to live without the quick solutions that teens have nowadays. This “elders bashing on the newer generation” isn’t uncommon, as seen by what was recovered from Aristotle’s and Plato’s time (Rampell 389). For Millennials, some of their tension comes from the fact that they will be the first generation earning less than previous generation for the same amount of work (Roos). Not only that, but the prices for land property, and college education, which is needed in many jobs nowadays, has skyrocketed compared to their parent’s and grandparent’s. Due to this wealth gap, it sparked a lot of tension between the generations, and this can be seen in smaller environments, such as in the
Blaising, Craig A., Kenneth L. Gentry, and Robert B. Strimple. Three Views On the Millennial and Beyond. Counterpoints. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1999.
... parents, who suffered deprivations during World War II and vowed to give their children the things they didn't have. As teenagers, they experienced the new freedoms and conveniences of the 1960s and '70s everything from civil rights to TV dinners to souped-up American cars. Now, as adults, boomers are juggling adult
...fluence whether the message sent and the message received are one in the same. These screens are composed of the personal factors each person brings to the conversation, such as gender, culture, and age differences as discussed previously. The extent to which these screens are open or closed significantly influences both the sent and received messages. By keeping the previous mentioned points in mind when communicating with co-workers in different age groups when communicating; speaking and listening; internal conflict can be reduced greatly.
In his May 2013 editorial for Time Magazine, “Millennials: The Me Me Me Generation,” Joel Stein explains his viewpoint on millennials, defined as people born 1980 through 2000. Using an occasionally humorous tone, Stein summarizes the typical bleak view that older people have for the younger generation, before offering what he believes is closer to the truth. In the end, he decides that while millennials are not without their flaws and vices, a lot of the fears that older people are mostly due to the advanced technology that we are now dealing with. By the end of the article, it is my opinion that Stein makes a very fair summarization and is correct in his idea that to write off the entire generation is unfair towards younger people.