Characteristics Of Generational Differences

Generational Tendencies The theory that I most identified with this semester was more of a topic in our book, rather than a theory. As I mentioned in my discussion post this week, learning about the generational differences has become extremely helpful to me in my personal and professional lives. More so in my professional life because I work in an office that has people from all different generations. Let me share a story with you that really made me realize how big of an impact this topic had on me. As you may already know, I travel for work. Sometimes being gone for weeks at a time, working morning, noon and night, I spend a lot of time in hotels. As I am having breakfast one morning at my hotel, I overheard a conversation being had between

Some characteristics of the baby boomer generation are that they are extremely optimistic and are highly involved, their view of work is that it is self-fulfilling, satisfaction for them comes from being able to make a difference, they are primarily intrinsic, they prefer face to face discussion, they have a very consensual leadership style and they tend to be very loyal people. Characteristics of the millennial generation are that we appreciate clarity and flexibility, we view work as a mechanism for success, we prefer recognition for the work we preform, we tend to be very extrinsic and expect immediate praise, we rely heavily on technology and having a constant connection to the world going on around us, we have a passive-aggressive leadership style and we tend to not be very

Learning about generational differences in this class was what helped me better understand this situation and not embarrass myself by making a rude comment back to the older lady I overheard. While I still took offense to her comment, in her defense I could see where she was coming from. As I mentioned before I feel as if I identify more with her generation than I do with my own. This story was just one example of how having a better understanding of the generational differences has helped me navigate through different situations with members of another generation. As I mentioned this has helped me in my professional life as well. I often times feel disappointed in the millennial generation. I realize that not everyone views our generation as lazy and good for nothing, but I think in order to earn respect from the older generations we are going to have to work very hard to prove