The topic of generation gap has come to light in recent years, and I started looking into this topic when I first learnt it in my OB class. So what is a generation gap? A generation gap is the difference in beliefs and opinions between one generation and the other. This exists in the workplace amongst Baby Boomers, Generation X and Millennials.
I read an external blog written by Hermam Miller on generations at work, and an aspect that interested me is that there are challenges and opportunities working in an organization with various generations. Before I talk about the opportunities and challenges presented, I would like to give a short description about each generation.
Baby Boomers entered the workforce between 1965 and 1985, and their dominant work values are success, achievement and loyalty to career.
Generation X entered the workforce between 1985 and 2000, and their dominant work values are team-orientation, work-life balance and dislike of rules.
Millennials entered the workforce after 2000, and their dominant work value are confident, financial success and loyal to both self and relationship.
The most important challenge has been communication between the generations, because each one prefers to use a different medium of communication. For example Generation Y send text messages and use social media, but Baby Boomers and older GenX like to call and send E-mails. Also the style of messages are different, as the younger generation likes to use informal language and abbreviations in their messages, and the older generation likes to use formal and sophisticated language. The differences are the perfect recipe for communication breakdown. These problems can be solved by increasing interactions between different generations. For example Baby Boomers want to be like a father figure to the younger generations, so if we let them be mentors for the younger employees both the parties have motives to co-operate.
On the other hand this phenomena has it opportunities, and speaking through personal experience people from my generation can learn a lot from people from the older generations. For example when I was coaching and refereeing at Manchester City Soccer Schools Abu Dhabi, I learned a lot about the basics of my job from older and more experienced coaches.
work cited
http://guides.wsj.com/management/managing-your-people/how-to-manage-different-generations/
http://www.hermanmiller.com/content/dam/hermanmiller/documents/research_summaries/wp_Generations.pdf