What Is The Four Generation Value System

Over the last twenty years, the make-up of the workplace has changed dramatically due to age diversity. In today’s workforce, we have four generations of workers: traditionalists (silent generation), baby boomers, Generation X (Gen X’ers), and Millennials (Gen Y). The characteristics of the four generations are important to organizations for several reasons. Effectively managing human capital is what separates great companies from their mediocre counterparts. Understanding the value system of each generation may help management motivate and develop key behaviors needed in the workplace. Furthermore, understanding how each generations communicate may help management coach, develop, and lead these diverse groups of people. In this paper, the

The boomer era is regarded as a time of free love and abortions (Salahuddin, 2010). Boomers are loyal employees who are willing to sacrifice their personal desires for work. They are still a significant percentage of today’s workforce. They grew up in the post-World War II era and experienced a substantial amount of social and technological changes. In the 50’s, they experienced the development of the television. In the 60’s they experienced the development of the pill, first American to orbit the Earth, and Woodstock (Crampton & Hodge, 2007). Since they grew up post-World War II, their environment can be described as safe despite other wars and horrible events such as assassinations. This safe environment in which they grew up may have contribute to their other characteristics such as being optimistic, open-minded, and loyal. There are millions are baby boomers and because of the size of this group, there are notable differences within this generation of people. While most baby boomers places a high regard on authority and establishment, there are some that are anti-establishment and are less likely to accept authority (Crampton & Hodge, 2007). Overall, boomers are loyal workaholics who are team-oriented and respects

With the rapid pace of life and the constant changes in technology during their lifetime, they tend to get bored easily. Gen Y’ers believe in multi-tasking, efficiency, and productivity. They do not necessarily believe in the typical 9-5 job. Moreover, they tend to be very unorthodox as it relates to work. This is mainly due to their belief in technology and its ability to make getting the job done faster. Overall, Gen Y’ers effectively leverages the advantages of technology better than any of the previous generations. According to Crampton & Hodge (2007), “Generation Y, born between 1980 and 1999, is the most educated, well-traveled, and technologically sophisticated generation that we have ever had” (p.18). This group of workers tend to be very social and places a high regard on work and life balance. Additionally, they are diverse and very confident in their abilities. Gen Y’ers tend to challenge authority and the status quo. They don’t mind bending rules if they perceived a rule as not beneficial to the task or assignment. This group of workers value quality and believes that quality can be achieved without working long hours at the office. They tend to be highly successful and have a clear understanding of what they want. Furthermore, they seek like-minded individuals who share a similar vision of