Optimizing Millennial's Communication Styles

Millennials have a different point of view on what they expect on their work experience. Most

In her article “The Tethered Generation” for HR Magazine in May 2007, freelance writer Kathryn Tyler asserts that due to the fact that millennials grew up with new technologies such as the cell phone and internet, many of the skills they need to integrate into the workforce is severely lacking. She goes on to support this argument by addressing millennial connectivity and helicopter parents. With Tyler’s background in human resources and training and her proclamation of being member of generation X, Tyler shares her observation that millennials entering the workforce are tethered to technology, which in turn effects their work, communication, and decision making skills in and out of the office. By supplying the reader with information about these transgressions, Tyler builds her claim that HR professionals should work harder to accommodate the millennials’ shortcomings. She appears to write in hopes of HR professionals understanding why Millennials have developed into the people that they are in order to provide HR professionals with a better understanding of them and to teach these professionals how to deal with their millennial employees. Tyler’s explicit argument, which effectively appeals to her audience’s perception of millennials, is supported by an appeal to ethos in which she employs statements from credible professionals to optimize her argument. This strategy of opting to sparingly use her own voice in the text poses a unique method of making her audience more

Currently the Millennial generation comprises between an estimated 10-17% of the Controller’s Office, when defining a millennial as someone between the ages of 18 to 34 (Pynes, 2004, p. 28). In the chart below (Figure 1), you can see the breakdown of the office’s age groups. As the 60-65 year olds leave the workforce it will be important to recruit individuals within the younger generations to develop a visionary workplace

Many employers are challenged with handling the millennial due to the lack of proper understanding of this generation since there is plenty of myths, propagated through anecdotes and assumptions. However the separation of the myths and the facts is important for an organization so as

Upon reflecting on the three main generations that comprise the workplace today, a few differences emerge. “Baby Boomers” grew up in a time when movements were prominent, the Vietnam War occurred, key figures were assassinated, the Watergate Scandal occurred, and television was introduced (Twenge et al., 2010; Schullery, 2013). Overall, “Baby Boomers” seem to exhibit a distrust of authority, value hard work, and want to enjoy their achievements (Robbins & Judge, 2015; Twenge et al., 2010). As such, they are results driven and give their utmost effort (Robbins & Judge, 2015). “Generation X” grew up in a time of computers, divorce, two career parents, MTV, and economic uncertainty (Twenge et al., 2010; Robbins & Judge, 2015). For the most part, they seem to exhibit the workplace behaviors of independence and a lack of commitment to employers (Twenge et al., 2010). They value a balance between work and life and place more focus on extrinsic rewards such as monetary compensation (Twenge et al., 2010). “Millennials” grew up in prosperous times with technology dominating the era and over-protective parents (Robbins & Judge, 2015; Schullery, 2013). Generally, they seem to place a greater value on employee benefits, leisure time, teamwork, and open communication (Society of Human Resource Management, 2004; Twenge, 2010; Myers & Sadaghiani, 2010). In addition, they have also been given the labels of “self-centered” and “entitled” (Myers & Sadaghiani, 2010).

They deplore the fact that a post-secondary education is no longer an automatic ticket to the perks of a middle class lifestyle. They also demonstrate distaste for institutions and labels, and feel that freedom of expression and liberation of self is fundamental for positive change. On that token, one of the most controversial topics of comparison between the Baby Boomers and the Millennials is that of work ethic. Boomers are often thought of as being hard-working and industrious. They often tie much of their self-worth directly to their professional achievements. They are often competitive which drives them to take on a host of professional responsibilities. This keeps them motivated and self-assured. Millennials have a tendency to want to start at the top, side-stepping the entry level positions and the upper rings of corporate ladder that Boomers dedicated decades of their time to

The so called millennial generation, also referred to as Generation Y and commonly called the Net generation, due to the effect of the internet, are made up of citizens in the United States born between the years 1978 and 1999. This generation has become very familiar with technology because they have grown up with it. They were raised with this new technology such as e-mail’s, instant messaging, and even cell phones. Not all of these new devices have been helpful. In the workforce specifically things have changed especially with communication. Many business had to change their ways of “running the firm” to adapt to the new generation. Business are struggling to adapt to their technological ways, and the effects

There are many challenges facing managers and leaders in current workforce. The variety of cultures, races and generations in today’s environment is making work harder. “Managing will also get even more difficult because of globalization, multi-generational workforce, dependency on technology, unethical behaviors and practices.” (Kaifi,2013,pg.217). In this paper I will talk about the three generations that we have had over the past sixty years – the Baby Boomer Generation, Generation X and the current Generation Y, known as Millennials. This rich mix of generations in the workforce can be attributed primarily to labor shortages experienced in many industries and the rising average age of retirement.

“Millennial Ambition” A common stereotype of millennials is that they are overly ambitious in the workplace and set oversized goals for themselves. Many millennials believe in an idealistic view of the world and that everything will turn out perfectly. This only increases their ambition as they do not believe they can fail. These ideas do not translate kindly into the real world as reality is unforgiving.

Before we look at any issue, any good psychologist will first evaluate their own bias. Although it is impossible to eliminate bias from any situation, it is important to, at the very least, identify the source of said bias. So before this essay considers the question of millennials in the workplace, let it first be known that the authors are, if not millennials, riding very closely behind millennials’ coattails.

Millennials tend to be technologically advanced and eager to learn. They also value social responsibility and team-work. They are often seen as impatient and quick to express opinions without having all of the data. Millennials are quick to jump-ship if they do not feel if they are progressing fast enough, often at speeds that might be seen as unreasonable. Dayan (2005) says that about 5.6 million Millennials are about to enter the employment market. Millennials are said to be the most challenging generation for employers.

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.

This results in a continuous spiral of denial once millennials grow up, and face the real world. Millennials will eventually realize that their parents are no longer there to make them feel cozy, and accepted any longer. In other words, all though the parents of millennials intentions were in the right place, which included making their children feel loved and accepted, millennials parents have completely failed to prepare their children for the fast-paced world. And unfortunately, the real world doesn’t doesn 't care about millennials feelings.

Across the nation, people are talking about the Millennial generation and how different they are compared to others, but are they really that different? Millennials are lazy, entitled, and selfish, or as you may have heard may be essential to the modern workplace, either way, they are being talked about whether it is good or bad. To put it in other words, past generations are concerned for what the future will look like with this technology-dependent generation, but is that a bad thing if the technology is only going to advance from here on out? The older generation is being too harsh or are they just genuinely concerned about the future? Joel Stein (2013) has written an article about the Millennials, it is titled Millennials: The Me Me Me Generation he argues for them being a selfish generation but by saying that it is not a bad thing. The second article is by Liz Zarka (2017) Generation Me: The Millennial Generation’s obsession with being unique, she argues that they are the generation that needs to be concerned for. After reading both of these articles I agree with some of the points that both of these authors make, however, there are also some sections that I disagree with. My perception of the situation is that millennials may have all these negative characteristics but use them to an advantage that no other generation can has; along with the advancement of technology and the use of social media may have increased the narcissistic trait in them, but they use these traits to get what they want, however, being narcissistic isn’t always good there can certainly be some disadvantages.

When it comes to Millennials, there is nothing that screams “business as usual.” Consequently, savvy leaders who want to remain successful in the global business arena, must concede their current method of attracting, engaging, developing and retaining Millennials as future global leaders is ineffective. Therefore, today’s leaders must develop a more compelling strategy to entice Millennials into leadership. Failure to use strategic foresight to recognize trends regarding future organizational trends and take timely actions to change their tried and true, old school philosophy regarding developing and retaining talented employees will result in losing the competitive edge, which is driven by technology-laden Millennial’s who are poised to innovation.