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Managing the new multigenerational workforce
Managing the new multigenerational workforce
Managing the new multigenerational workforce
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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
38% of Gen X and 19% of Baby Boomers. (Golden, 2015) Among the three generations, Gen X proved to be the best at positive perceptions of management skills. Gen X is seen as the likely one to manage in today’s current economy and have the qualities to make good managers.
It appears that Generation Y is executing the wishes that other generations of workers subdue, and are subsequently portrayed as a vocal group by default. As a result of millennials’ demands, various companies are now beginning to conform to the ideas this generation presents. As such, new policies are being implemented,
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
By 2025, about 75% of the American workforce will be made up of Generation Y workers, said Emily Matchar, author of “Why Your Office Needs More Bratty Millennials.” Generation Y, also known as millennials, are those who were born within the years 1982 and 1999. Time management has become a persistent issue for people in the United States because of the lack of flexibility in the workforce. Work is taking over people’s lives. The current generation of workers tend not to demand because of the fear of unemployment; jobs are scarce these days. Generation Y workers have shown that they will not accept today’s hierarchical workplace, on the contrary, they will begin to change the workplace to their likings.
They have idealistic tendencies and are extremely willing to sacrifice personal time in order to achieve success in the workplace. Even though Baby Boomers are typically seen as micromanagers, they are good at building collaborative relationships with their coworkers and networking. Many Baby Boomers feel that their life’s purpose is to work hard, respect the chain of authority and hierarchy in the workplace. This is due to the fact that Baby Boomers were brought up in a work atmosphere where the chain of command was always respected (Kapoor, Solomon, 2011). Baby Boomers also work very hard for promotions and believe in sacrificing personal for the sake of being successful; they started the ‘workaholic’ trend and believe in paying their dues and step-by-step promotion that comes with age and time worked at a company. They also like teamwork, collaboration, group decision-making and believe in loyalty toward their employers (Tolbize, 2008). Baby Boomers tend to stay with one company for the duration of their professional life.
Have you ever worked for a company that has a mixed age of workers? The article, “What Happens When Millennials Run The Workplace?” published in The New York Times in March 2016 is about millennials starting a business and running a successful website. According to Dictionary.com, a millennial is, “a person born in the 1980s or 1990s, especially in the U.S.; a member of Generation Y”. The website “Mic” was created about five years ago in New York. It was created to appeal to millennials and to provide a new type of work environment for millennials. “Mic” has one-hundred six people on their staff writing stories like “When Men Draw Vaginas” or “Don’t Ban Muslims, Ban Hoverboards”. Even though this company was created to appeal to millennials,
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
The typical collation of Josh, Jessica and Ashok in the above case is a typical show case of the transformations in the workplace reasoning and due dealing. Demonstrated here is how rapid the organization cultures are changing drastically considering the fact that a culture is collate of perceptions (Miller, 2012). Josh’s approach of attaining goals represents the modern perception in work theories usually held by the generation Y. On the other hand, Sarah goes the seasoned way of responding to protocols and work bureaucracies, responding to considerations of constraints and knowing their jurisdiction boundaries. In both cases, there could be a point of consideration, however, there is need for both of them to
Throughout the countless pages of history, there exists many occurrences of change. Some of these changes are positive while others are negative. Nevertheless, as each change occurs, it must undergo struggles to become accepted. One example of the struggles of change that is seen in today’s society is the ongoing fight for religious freedom. Another change that is currently facing obstacles is the fight to change policies that raise the question of equality. Lastly, another struggle for change is the conflict that is occurring in order to make same-sex marriage legal. Through the examples of all these changes, there exists the common factor of changing values. As values change, new changes are undertaken. Therefore, changing values entail further change, but in order for these changes to be accepted, they must overcome obstacles.
In the interview, “Millennials in the Workplace” with Simon Sinek, he implores that millennials should find a balance between social media and their physical life. One of the strategies that Sinek uses is parallel structure, where he states the four reasons why millennials are being very criticized nowadays, “ It can be broken down into 4 pieces actually. 1 Parenting. 2 Technology. 3 Impatience. 4 Environment. The generation that is called the millennials, too many of them grew up subject to “failed parenting strategies.” (2017, 1:44).
Douglas Coupland’s Generation X is a novel in which young adults essentially tell each other stories of their life, and these stories tell the views of the generation as a whole. As one can imagine, because of all the storytelling, the use of literary devices is littered throughout the course of the novel. In the first half of the novel, we are given a good sense of who the main characters are through detailed character development of their past and their views. There have been three static characters established; Andy, Dag, and Claire. The novel is told from the first person point of view of Andy Palmer, the main protagonist.
Klobucher, T 2011, Characteristics of Generation 2020: Generations at Work, The Great Workplace Revolution, accessed 11 November 2013, http://www.thegreatworkplacerevolution.com/characteristics-of-generation-2020-generations-at-work/
The term “American Dream” was wrought by James Truslow Adams in the book The Epic of America from 1931, where the expression was defined as an equilibrium between material wealth and moral freedom (Students - Procedure - The American Dream - Lesson Plan | Teacher Resources - Library Of Congress). Throughout the years, however, this concept has changed a lot, achieving the apex of its popularity worldwide representing the hope for an economically stable-or even privileged-life.
Looking at the history of civilization we note that society has changed over the years, influenced by historical contexts, by socioeconomic status, geographic location, and individual personality. Therefore generations are set basically as a set of common experiences that directly influence their behavior, according to the time the individual was created, based on their beliefs, values and attitudes that are different from person to person. With this in mind the differences between the generations are evident and real, which many often misunderstand is that only past generations have something to teach current generations. When in reality all generations have something to learn from each other. That's because the new generation was born and
Changing jobs in the 20th century was considered an oddity. Carrying on the tradition of beginning and ending ones career with the same company was the norm. Find a good company to work for, start at the bottom and work your way as high as possible was common place then. These organizations, known as “‘womb to tomb’ employers” (p. 42) would often times keep personnel in their employ with fifty years or more of faithful service.
Zemke, Ron. (2013). Generations at Work: Managing the Clash of Boomers, Gen Xers & Gen Yers in the workplace. Edition #2.