The Characteristics Of Generation X And Generation

Motivation is having a reason or reasons to act/behave in a particular way. It creates “drive” in people whether it is in pursuit of a goal, or the need to complete an activity. It produces enthusiasm and a willingness to achieve in both a work environment and in your personal life. Motivation can be increased and decreased in line with the incentives on offer.

Motivation is, according to the text, “A set of energetic forces that originate within and outside an employee that initiates work-related effort and determines its direction, intensity and persistence.” (Colquitt) When one hears the word “motivation”, one automatically thinks of an individual’s reasoning behind a certain task or performance. In terms of job motivation, it is what pushes or encourages a person to not only perform the work tasks, but to also be successful in the position and within the company. Motivation includes factors like “what do you do? How hard do you do it? How long do you do it?” The question of motivation has been a topic of discussion for decades. Many might think that money or, financial gains, play a huge role in motivation for an employee; however, motivation may differ drastically from person to person. Various underlying elements affect an employee’s motivation. There are several theories that are able to partially summarize aspects that account for high motivation.

Mitchell (1982, p.82) describes motivation as “the degree to which an individual wants and chooses to engage in certain specified behaviours”. Hence, in general, behaviour is determined by certain motives, thus, Vroom and Deci (1992, p.33) considered motivation “as the causes of our behaviour”. Moreover, according to Mullins (2013, p.245) motivation is concerned with question “why do people do what they do?”, because motivation is an inner driving force which leads to particular action to achieve some aim and fulfil some need. In other words, Chartered Management Institute (cited in Mullins, 2013, p.246) observes that, “the aim of management is to give people what they really want most from work”.

What is motivation? As manager’s, motivation is one of the most vital and crucial assets to possess in managing a business. This drive is a critical tool to use in the work place and determine the success or failure of an organization. Motivation is a driving force that initiates and directs behavior. In other words, motivation is an internal energy that drives an individual to do something in order to achieve a certain goal. Therefore, creating a motivating environment in the workplace will lead to happy employees. Creating a work environment like this, managers can expect low staff turnovers, improved productivity, happy customers, and better financial performance. Therefore, the input of motivation use towards employees determines the output efficiency of the company. However, everyone involved in an organization is motivated differently. Everybody has their own individual needs in regards to motivation. Depending on how motivated a person is, determines the effort that individual puts into the work and therefore, how productive they are.

I am a member of the Gen X generation. Gen Xers are generally classified as independent, preferring to work alone rather than as part of a team to accomplish our goals. We aren’t lured by small talk, and discussions about popular cultural topics, but desire to get the job done as quickly and efficiently as possible. As a generation, we tend to be aggressive to influence the expediency of accomplishing a task, and have no desire to rest until the work is finished. We have a solid work ethic. I agree with this classification and fit this steroetype. I desire to accomplish a task, accomplish it correctly, and sense appreciation for a job well done. I don’t place as much importance on getting along with people, though I do desire to be an effective

Gen X, Baby boomers, and Gen Y are the different generations who work side by side in today’s workplace. According to Ann Hewlett, the President for Work-Life Policy Gen Y and Baby Boomers generations are a large chunk of the workforce, around eighty million each. Whatever those generations value, they have the power to drive to get the results (Hewlett, Sherbin & Sumberg, 2009). Baby boomers and Gen Y have similarities in what they value and there motivates them in the workspace. They tend to share some attitudes and behaviors. At work, Baby Boomers and Gen Y are motivated by not only money and making a pay package. They both desire a bunch of other stuff in life. Along with strong title, recognition, and respect. They are drawn to crave

Most people have a learning style that mirrors how they were taught when they were younger. It should be noted that there is not a one size fits all method when it comes to learning. The key to being able to appeal to each of the different generations is to offer diversity in teaching styles in order to satisfy the different preferences. As of now, there are four generations that are in the workforce and those four generations are: The Silent Generation, Baby Boomers, Generation X, and the Millennials. This paper will examine the characteristics of these four generations, how their learning styles differ, and what to

Gen X are defined as hard workers and for being lazy. They are unique in the sense by their knowledge of technology and a good work ethic. Few of them are considered conservative. Gen X’s will state that their major goal is paying for their children’s college education.

One of the most considerable issues with Millennials, according to Madeline J. Goodman in her article “Overall – Results Millennials” is that they have subordinate literacy and numerical skills. While other country’s young adults are scoring eminently, American Millennials are receiving inferior scores. America has always prided itself on being the greatest and despite American Millennials are the most educated generation in history, they have inadequate critical skills that employers seek. This insinuates that now of days the higher extension of education a student receives does not exactly correlate to their level of intelligence. Gen X on average earned less education, but is known to have efficient literacy and numerical skills. The new young generation in present day are not performing to the level of their predecessors (Goodman, 2015, pp. 2-14).

The purpose of this study is to measure the spiritual disciplines and generational characteristics of Generation Z and how they could be integrated into the ministry at Golden Valley Lutheran Church to engage Generation Z and increase their spiritual maturity.

Generation X (or Gen-Xers) are the so-called “lost generation.” They were born between 1965 and 1980, and there are about 53 million of them in the United States. They have been called a “lost generation” because they grew up with negligent or absent parents. Theirs was an experience of day-care, divorce, emotional insecurity and family instability. Most of these children’s parents were Boomers, for whom children were often less of a concern than their own careers and self-fulfillment. Generation-X workers have worked fewer hours and are less loyal to their employers. They separate family life and work, because they want flexibility and better work-life balance than preceding generations. They question authority even more than Boomers did and far more than their grandparents’ generation. They compose 34% of the United States workforce.

The interviews provided general consensus that Millennials were not giving regularly, proportionately, or generously. Stein and Evans have Millennial children. Youngberg had Generation X children. Most had some teaching exposure with Millennials as teachers, designers, and home life as parents. Between the four previous teachers and designers of the curriculum, there was a unique mix of a certified public accountant, engineer, master’s in business administration, pastor, and an average guy. The ability of those members of the teaching team and the design phase to handle most questions and provide a balanced approach was the genius of the group. Both Evans and Youngberg expressed frustration that Millennials need to step up more and own

“Generation X” (“Gen-Xers”), born from about 1960 – 1980, maintained some attributes typical of the “Baby Boomer” generation, but feel that their upbringing was too strict. They added an emphasis on work/life

Considering those associated with Generation X, their core values, grounded in independence coupled with stability, allowed society to develop a structure through which individuals could function. Prior to beginning to perceive the values of the generation themselves, one must first observe their manifestation given the context of the time period. In observing the socioeconomic situation of the time, “an era of two-income families, rising divorce rates, and a faltering economy” (Kane), one notices the breeding ground for their individualistic ideals and consequently their core ideologies grounded in tangible success rather than true fulfillment. The necessity to adapt to the home situation often containing two working parents, often divorced, inevitably allowed those in Generation X to develop a sense of independence a more importantly, perceive the need for it, from a young age. Given this sense of stoicism that was allowed to develop through this, one can see the generation’s almost impervious nature to the psychological implications of social jealousy. Due to their individualism and distaste for social ingratiation, the generation established an underlying pragmatic nature in the society of their time. In addition to this, Generation Xers grew up in an age of incessant political turmoil. Take for example, “the Cold War,

‘Motivation’ is derived from the Latin term ‘movere’ that means ‘to move’. Thus, motivation is a process that starts with a physiological or psychological deficiency or need that activates a behaviour or a drive that is aimed at a goal or incentive (Luthans). Broadly speaking, motivation is willingness to exert high levels of efforts towards organizational goals, conditioned by the efforts’ ability to satisfy some individual needs (Robbins). Need means some internal state that make certain outcomes appear attractive. An unsatisfied need creates tension that stimulates drives within the individual. These drives generate a search behaviour to find particular goals, that if attained,