Managing And Motivate Multi Generational Organizations

It’s the first time in American history that five generations are sharing the workplace, from Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Generation X, the Millennials or Generation Y, and the new unnamed generation. With five generations come five sets of ideas, how to conduct one’s self, approach activities, values and motivators. Different beliefs, understandings, and undertakings create misinterpretations and frustrations. The fire service is currently facing a similar situation. It’s imperative to recognize and understand these differences to avoid misunderstandings and to help your department work effectively to meet its goals. Not every employee displays aspect of their generation category, but understanding the individualities of each generation will help with teamwork, supervision, embracing change, and productivity. With each generation there are different communication styles and driving factors that motivate production. It is essential that you understand how each generation communicates and what they motivators are so that you can communicate ideas and organization vision to them. What can we do in the fire service to prepare to handle these challenges?

The workforce is seeing up to five generations working together for the first time in history. People are choosing to work longer and delay retirement. Ultimately, the workforce could experience up to six generations working together. It’s the role of business leaders to embrace diversity and guide their teams to cohesion. Generational gaps can pose challenges in the workplace, but understanding each generation 's unique characteristics and skills sets will assist in effectively managing diversity to keep a peaceful coexistence.

America has about five generations that function in our society today, and they are Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y, and the Millennial. It is interesting the way that an age gap influences the thinking of millions of people in different generations. Different times and situations require that different strategies be put in place for the following generation. Solutions that worked for one generation may be less useful for the next, so sometimes, because of the age gap, these solutions cause disagreements. These various ideologies all have one goal, and that is to be successful. We will discuss the path of the Baby Boomers and Generation X in the workplace environment.

To take a case in point, when discussing diversity in the workplace the main topics discussed are culture, gender, and race. Consequently, the topic of generational diversity in the workplace mostly becomes a forgotten type of diversity to discuss. During the course of LMM328-17: Diversity and Intergenerational Effectiveness, Ms. Sams construes that generational diversity does not focus solely on how each of the four generations’ (Traditionalist, Baby Boomers, Generation X, and the Millennials) diverse experiences and characteristics influences the manner of how generations apply themselves in the workplace.

Currently the workforce is facing an anomaly; working individuals are likely working alongside coworkers born in different generations. In the near future, the Baby Boomer generation will transition into retirement. This event will open many upper level positions, which the Baby Boomer generation currently holds. The Baby Boomer generations represents 78.3 million individuals in the current population, with the Millennial generation representing 92 million in the current population. When this transition occurs, many Millennials will be given the opportunity to advance in their profession, and secure top-level management positions. Are Millennials prepared to transition into these upper level positions? This report will examine the (a) the multigenerational workforce, (b) the Baby Boomer generation, (c) the Millennial Generation, (d) workforce challenges, and (e) gap bridging recommendations.

The workforce is more diverse than ever before. Numerous generations have entered the workplace causing generational diversity. Generational diversity leads the debate on how to lead organizations whose employees have very different generational experiences (Al-Asfour, & Lettau, 2014). Each generation is a cohort with similar values, beliefs, and attitudes, political, historical, and economic environment. These cohorts affect the way organizational leaders lead their employees. It is a necessity for leaders to understand how to effectively motivate employees as more generations join the workforce. The United States has four generations of individuals working alongside one another due to demographic changes (Al-Asfour, & Lettau, 2014).

“For the first time in history four generations work side by side in many organizations (Hickman 474). Currently you have the traditionalist, Baby Boomers, Gen X, and gen Y all working together. In my professional career, I work with all different age groups and I can noticeably see a difference between the different age ranges. Many of the older employees are less engaged, but there for that a pay check, typically they are less likely to push the boundaries but rather fall in line with what is expected. The younger employees are looking for a better work life balance with that being said when they do work they produce large

The purpose of this paper is to present business leaders with an organizational communication strategy for preparing for the incoming workforce generation. This group, known as Generation Z, Gen Z, iGen, or the Centennials were born between 1995 and 2009. The oldest tier of this group are now becoming adults and entering the workforce. They will soon join the Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, and Millennials as the fourth generation in corporate America.

In her article “The Tethered Generation,” in Society of Human Resources Magazine, writer Kathryn Tyler asserts that people born between 1978 and 1999, also known as the Millennial Generation, would bring challenges to the workplace, attributing early access to technology and a “perpetual connection to parents” as causes. The article’s central tenet is that through technology, this generation’s “tethered” relationship with peers and parents has shaped communication, decision making, and need for connectivity. Tyler identifies the following Millennial traits as challenges to organizations: “unrealistic expectations with respect to goal-setting and planning;” “only adequate professionalism and work ethic, creativity and innovation, and critical thinking and problem solving;” and lack of autonomy and “sense of self-reliance.” The article ends by recommending that human resource management prepare for the Millennial’s “high maintenance” and their parent’s “helicoptering” with policies and training programs (Tyler, 2007).

However, there is very little empirical evidence to back up claims of generational differences in the workplace (Becton, Walker, & Jones-Farmer, 2014; Costanza, Badger, Fraser, Severt, & Gade, 2012). There is also insufficient explanations as to why such blatant differences between generations would come into existence (Costanza & Finkelstein, 2015). Furthermore, there is abundant alternative explanations for observed differences, and an overall lack of support for effective mediations by organizations to address possible generational differences (Costanza & Finkelstein, 2015). Overall, although there are people of different ages within the workplace, specific generations seem to be artificially induced and labeled through the use of birth years, and lack solid evidence to support such clear

How often problems arise due to a multigenerational workplace can vary across different industries. Not all industries would have similar results, but it can be said that at least more than half of the industries have experienced conflicts stemming from multigenerational disagreements. For instance, a study done on organizations with over 500 employees reported that 58% of the managers have experienced conflicts between the diverse generations of workers (Iden, 2016). While another survey done by a career firm found that “60% of organizational leaders reported conflict between employees of different generations”(Patterson, 2014).

Many organizations employ all four. First is the Veterans generation. Members were born before 1946. Next is the Baby Boomers generation. These employees were born from 1946 – 1964. The third generation to discuss is Generation X. These people were born from 1965 through 1980. The fourth generation that is currently comprising the workforce is Generation Y, born from 1981 – 2000. Let’s explore each generation, and what makes it unique. Each generation has a different set of experiences, a different way of approaching their jobs, a different outlook on life, and different strengths and concerns that makes it unique. Managing the differences between the generations and bringing them together to form a strong team can make the difference between the success and failure of an organization, so this information is extremely relevant to today’s workforce managers.

In America in 2010, the average retirement ages had increased to 64 and 62 for men and women, respectively. Consequently, the workforce is aging as Boomers (born in 1946 thru 1964) reenter the workforce or postpone retirement. Boomers’ delay in retirement may hamper advancement opportunities of the generations beneath them, predominantly Millennials (those born in 1980 onwards). Furthermore, reverberations of the Boomers delayed retirement may have financial bearings for Millennials in the future. It ought to be pertinent for organizations to keep Millennials motivated. This paper focuses on effectively managing intergenerational groups, offering organizational behavior strategies for capitalizing on Boomers’ assets and applying the CAMP motivating

Managers and Supervisors must be consistent in their approach if they’re going to have success in supporting multiple generations. It’s well known that there are similarities and differences among the generations. However, many of the differences don’t apply to every individual of a generational group. Because generational groups are so diverse, it’s difficult to conclude that preferences associated with an entire generation are true for everyone in the group. It’s also important to establish guidelines and policies to address all generational differences. One example of this, would be to require that every employee set yearly goals and objectives and at the end of the year, measure how well the employee performed against those objectives.

Many changes are happening in the workforce today. Our labor environment consists of multiple generations, which creates fundamentally differing approaches to everything from work ethics, business management, and co-worker cooperation. The most recent generation, commonly known as “Generation Y” or the “Millennial” generation, is slowly taking over the workforce. Because they bring with them a radically new mindset and opinion of labor, the global business infrastructure should be modified to not only accommodate “Millennials,” but also to remain sympathetic to the business practices characteristic of previous generations. Doing so will provide more harmony and productivity among co-workers of different generational backgrounds.