The first generation to integrate computers into day-to-day activities, millennials are soon to dominate the workplace. With noticeably distinct cultural values, when compared to the preceding Gen Xers or Baby Boomers, millennials challenge traditional practices in business and corporate leadership. Millennials have redefined leadership to be inspiring, and making a positive impact.¹ How will business culture be affected by this new type of thinking?

Monych (n.d.) explains that millennials lead with a democratic approach, encouraging collaboration, transparency, and openness over the top-down, driven by power and money sort of approach. Technology can cut through the levels to allow the communication structure throughout the organization be like a network rather than a chain of command.³

Millennials prefer a conceptual approach to leadership, therefore encouraging creativity, which can lead to the development of valuable ideas. The crave for challenges and new experiences drives the motivation; changes, failures, and mistakes cannot barricade millennials from trying to achieve their ambitions since they have grown up with a mindset that everything they did was wonderful and everyone contributed to the purpose.³

The effects of the millennials’ approach to leadership can be examined through Hofstede’s model² for assessing organizational cultures:

Due to experience and making an impact being the driving factor motivation and the millennials’ honesty with a lack of fear for risks and failures, organizations will be goal-oriented and internally driven, that is companies will look beyond obstacles and take greater risks to accomplish its vision and mission. Organizations will become easy-going, open, local, and employee-oriented. Since transparency and empowerment are key characteristics to the millennial approach to leadership, employee issues can be openly discussed and the flatter power structure will allow employees to have an interpersonal relationship with their managers. As work and personal life become heavily integrated, the company will provide a greater care for the welfare of the employees.

Not only do I believe that this type of leadership will enable managers and employees to develop greater trust for each other, I believe that optimism and overlooking obstacles will spark zeal in every employee as more interests of the organization and the employees will align.

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References

1 Brousell, L. (2015, August 4). How millennials challenge traditional leadership. Retrieved February 4, 2017, from CIO website: http://www.cio.com/article/2956600/leadership-management/how-millennials-challenge-traditional-leadership.html

2 Hofstede, G., Neuijen, B., Ohayv, D. D., & Sanders, G. (1990). Measuring organizational cultures: A qualitative and quantitative study across twenty cases. Administrative Science Quarterly, 35(2), 286-316. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2393392

3 Monych, B. (n.d.). Millennials in charge: How they’re changing the workplace [Blog post]. Retrieved from Insperity website: http://www.insperity.com/blog/millennials-in-charge-how-theyre-changing-the-workplace/

Image Source

[Millennials at a conference table]. (2014, April 16). Retrieved from https://www.thindifference.com/2014/04/top-5-leadership-traits-millennials/

Performance reviews have long been used as a feedback channel in business culture, but is it time for a change? Leadmen (2017) explains that performance reviews do not have a helpful and constructive effect, creating no impact on how employees do their work – performance reviews have wasted time for employees and managers.³

Leadmen mentions a study by Adobe, indicating that employees prefer informal, on-the-spot feedback instead of periodic formal reviews. Adobe’s study shows two thirds of employees and managers believe performance reviews are outdated.³ Performance reviews have been emotionally rattling for most employees and most employees just fake through reviews, hiding their tears¹ (this might increase emotional labour). I believe the negative mood that performance reviews bring is a root cause to the deterrence of the effectiveness of performance reviews.

Immen (2012) notes Professor Culbert’s argument that many managers are not confident that they can motivate without fear, whereas HR encourages reviews so HR can be busy and appear important. Professor Culbert suggests providing feedback should be an informal, two-way conversation: performance reviews are just one way where bosses provide review, but subordinates fail to have their viewpoint expressed. Culbert also claims that during performance reviews, managers use phrases with encoded meanings. He argues that holding both employees and managers accountable for providing feedback results in building trust within the workplace.² Mayer et al. (1995) suggests that trust is developed through integrity (honesty and truthfulness), ability (technical and interpersonal knowledge), and benevolence (having others’ interests at heart)⁴.

Professor Culbert’s solution does contain the three characteristics for trust: having an open environment allows honesty to flow and the understanding of each other’s ability to help fulfill the interests of individuals and the organization. However, convincing managers to change may be a cumbersome process. In some settings, the corporate culture may not allow the feedback to generate an effective solution to problems (such as when younger employees and older managers differ greatly in the way they practice business), therefore the effectiveness of feedback is not only dependent on the openness and understanding of employees and managers, but also how well the solution align with organizational and individual interests.

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References

1 Adobe. (2017, January 11). Full study: Performance reviews get a failing grade. Retrieved February 4, 2017, from Slideshare website: http://www.slideshare.net/adobe/full-study-performance-reviews-get-a-failing-grade/1

2 Immen, W. (2012, August 23). A failing grade for performance reviews. Retrieved February 4, 2017, from Globe and Mail website: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/career-advice/a-failing-grade-for-performance-reviews/article1243140/

3 Leadem, R. (2017, January 17). To make your employees happier, lose this HR policy. Retrieved February 4, 2017, from Entrepreneur website: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/287797

4 Mayer, R. C., Davis, J. H., & Schoorman, F. D. (1995). An integrative model of organizational trust. The Academy of Management Review, 20(3), 709-734. Retrieved from JSTOR database.

Image Source

[Performance review]. (2016, November 3). Retrieved from https://culturestars.com/tag/performance-review/

Training and performance [Image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.insperity.com/blog/are-annual-employee-performance-reviews-really-dead/