“They're young, smart, brash. They may wear flip-flops to the office or listen to iPods at their desk. They want to work, but they don't want work to be their life.”
This is the definition of generation Y represented by an article from USA today. The Y-generation is qualified young employees born between 1982-1999 who are entering the work environment. They have become one of the most talked about generations in history. Bringing themselves to the organization they set new and unforeseen challenges to managers with their different expectations and working habits. So how should managers take this so-called flip-flop, i-pod, and independent work force into account in their management style?
Y-generation employees are more ambitious and mobile individualistic. They are eager to develop their own career path and working skills rather than staying in one company’s service the whole career. According to an article from USA today, they believe in their own worth. One challenge for managers is how to commit these young employees to the organization and to its culture.
Nonetheless this is also a problem to young Y gen employees. According to the Onboarding Gen Y article, the characteristics Y gen represents, impatient and boundary-ignoring, might become a challenge for them when finding the “perfect job” and workplace.
Y generation is technologically safe so they are both high-performance and high-maintenance. They have been pampered and nurtured with plenty of activities since they were in pre-school, unlike the generations that have gone before them (USA today). For managers this means new challenges in internal communication. They need to adapt and use new approaches and channels of communication.
"Generation Y is much less likely to respond to the traditional command-and-control type of management which is still popular in much of today's workforce," says Jordan Kaplan, an associate managerial science professor at Long Island University-Brooklyn in New York. "They've grown up questioning their parents, and now they're questioning their employers. They don't know how to shut up, which is great, but that's aggravating to the 50-year-old manager who says, 'Do it and do it now.' " states the article from USA today.
But what about when Y Generation enters into leader positions in an organization? How does their way of leading differ compared to older leaders?
According to recent USA research on the impact of age in leadership style, the challenge facing organizations is to find ways of using and valuing the unique contributions of both younger and older leaders. Since they both have different approaches to work, this reflects to the way they are managing people. Younger leaders bring in an energizing presence, are open to change, and are focused on achieving results. Older leaders bring a calmer, more considered approach, steeped in past experience and the traditions of the organization. While younger leaders may be focused on self-development in career and abilities, older leaders may be more focused on the development of those workers below them. (MRG leadership report)
As it has always been, organizations must continue to learn and adapt when generational changes take place in the work force. (CMS report) Does this affect the organization’s structure?
Based on the MRG research, nowadays many organizations have found solutions to fit together young and older workers by using a team-oriented structure. Which means older and younger leaders are likely to be working together. It seems that for today’s organizations’ future success, it is vital and crucial to understand strengths and weaknesses each age groups brings to the organization.
What is your opinion? Is the Y-generation difficult to engage in the organization? And since there seem to be various differences between young and old workers and leaders, is Y gen nearly impossible to manage?
http://www.usatoday.com/money/workplace/2005-11-06-gen-y_x.htm
http://www.mrg.com/documents/EnergyExperience_000.pdf
http://cmsreport.com/generation_next
http://onboardinggeny.com/
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