The Four Types Of Generations In The Workplace

"And in the end it 's not the years in your life that count. It 's the life in your years. "(Abraham Lincoln) The words of Abraham Lincoln describe the accomplishments by the Baby Boomers perfectly and implies that it’s the accomplishments in life that matter the most.

According to Professor Jeffrey Bosworth, in his editorial “Hunting for Hope in Modern America,” he discusses the “screwed” millennial generation and the potential they have to be successful, despite current existing United States problems. Bosworth explains this from three different perspectives: the current issues in America, the positive attributes of the millennial generation, and what the millennial generation should do to succeed. In Bosworth’s opening proposition he elucidates the “[millennial] generation is screwed”. He expounds the millennial generation is predicted to “do worse than the previous generation”.

My current employer has multigenerational workforce from baby boomer to Gen Y. According to Shroer (n.d.) the baby boomer were born from 1945 to 1964, which would make the generation with 71 million people who were 20 years apart in age. The baby boomer life experience were completely different bonded by the Kennedy and Martin Luther King assassinations, the Civil Rights movements and the Vietnam War.

The Millennials As time passes each generation has its mark on the world, and things change. Every generation has its nickname, for those who are 46 to 64 are called Baby Boomers, 30 to 45 are Generation X, and finally 18 to about 29 are the Millennials. Each generation has left its mark on the world and since the Baby Boomers fashion, cars, and communication has all evolved and grown. The Millennials have impacted the world with their internet use and how they share everything.

Have you ever thought of reading a guide about how to deal with a certain group of people, at work? Would you read it if it was written by someone with experience in your field? Well, Kathryn Tyler, a Generation X freelance writer with a background in human resources and training, wrote “The Tethered Generation,” which was published on May 2007 in HR Magazine, an article that suggest that human resources professionals should learn how to manage, ahead of time, incoming millennials, us, in the workforce. What would you think, millennials? Tyler is able to reach human resource professionals, the readers of HR Magazine in a way that compels them.

Businesses have reported challenges in integrating the Generation Y employees into the Baby Boomer culture. The Generation Y, also known as the Millennials form the latest generation of workers entering the job market. However, dealing with them is quite complex, which means managers balance both the expectations of the millennials and company objectives to achieve optimal performance and productivity. This report seeks to provide insight on recruitment, management, and retention of the Generation Y employees to Baxter Electronics, a Chicago-based software manufacturer. This report will also discuss the characteristics of the Millennials and provide recommendations for managing and retaining them in the workforce.

If I had to choose whom I would share my cubical with between Traditionalist/Veterans, Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y. I would choose Baby Boomers. They are stable, built with optimisms and make decisions base on the process and practice what they preach. Today’s society is built solely on technology. I would rather share my goals and aspirations with someone who is well- established in their career and will most likely hold power and authority. Someone who has the same characteristic as I. Someone who will remain devoted, career focused, team player, competitive, strives for change, resourceful and motivated.

The Baby-Boomers highly value chain of command

Julie Hanus wrote the “The Kid in the Corner Office” which made many assumptions about our generation in the workplace. She simply thinks that we are self-centered and generally only think about instant gratification and ourselves. Which she believes makes us near useless in the workplace, because we are afraid of taking risks. She also believes that our generation has become one that skips from job to job in search of more praise from management. Counter to this Hanus states that our generation is loyal to our employers.

Robinson (Generations) recorded “ Boomers grew up in a time of prosperity and an absence of world wars, although they experienced the Cold War era of living in fear of Russian nuclear attack, building bomb shelters, and hiding under desks at school as a drill practice.” Now that traditionalist and baby boomers have been defined for you, I will go into argument on how the older generations have a lot to learn from us millennials.

On the other hand, bosses belonging to Gen-Y are 30 somethings and extremely aggressive, fiercely ambitious and even prone to mistakes. That said, they also have different immediate goals and priorities to be focused

Intergenerational issues in the workplace can cause tension between the employees and employer. Millennials feel that it is harder to grow and develop their careers in organizations because of this problem due to an absence of guidance from other generations in higher positions. Where Millennials feel lack of guidance, Baby Boomers and Generation X feel that Millennials entering the workforce are directly after their positions, therefore causing a strain on workplace relationships between employees. If intergenerational problems in the workplace continue to remain unsolved, it can and will cause disruption within the organization. Productivity can decline due to low cooperation between multigenerational employees resulting in lower efficiency and completion objectives leading to disruption within the organization.

They bring with these additional values into the workplace with high accomplishments and even higher expectations (Davies, 2007). This attitude frustrates and irritates. Army organization cannot afford to waste time and money by not investing in the potential that generation Y has to offer (Army Research studies, 2003). In addition, the Baby Boomers are leaving the workplace in increasing numbers. As Boomers leave a workplace that was designed around them, organizations are finding that this current workplace is at odds with the work expectations of generation Y who are in line to replace those retiring.

Some people argue that Millennials are entitled, self-centred, and uninterested in anything other than their own Facebook and Twitter page. This generation has been known to have high self-esteem, assertiveness, self-importance, narcissism, and high expectations. Having a higher self-esteem comes with many positive outcomes and benefits. People high in self-esteem claim to be more likable, attractive and make better impressions on others in a working environment than other people with low self-esteem. Millennials with greater self-importance are the ones who help others and care about large social

In most cases, employees from the Baby Boom generation are results oriented and strongly believe in deciding upon well defined goals and objectives, they want to be asked their opinions and see results (Bower & Fidler, 1994). They are mostly driven by freedom, individual satisfaction and social action (Tyler, 2007). Weston (2001) specified that employees from the Baby Boom generation generally want to feel that they are contributing to their community and organizational growth, expect rewards for performance and appreciate empathetic supportive managers.