There is a belief that the way a leader communicates is dependent upon his or her age/generation. Leaders like people are really a sum of their parts. Many factors such as culture, gender, personal experience as well as generational characteristics can impact how a leader communicates. Generational characteristics can often provide leaders with biased tendencies in their communication styles, however, good leaders can learn to develop and adapt their methods of communication to best address the audience and for changing situations.
Today’s world is the first where there are four generations in the modern workforce present of both genders.
“Researchers disagree as to the exact ages and population sizes of each generation, but an estimation of each generation’s year of birth and population are the following: the Traditionalists (Matures or the Silent Generation) were born between 1927–1947 with a population of 44.2 million (making up 8.5 percent of the workforce), the Baby Boomers were born between 1947–1965 with a population of 76.8 million (39.9 percent of the workforce), Generation X was born between 1965–1981 with a population of 52.4 million (35.7 percent of the workforce), and Generation Y (Millenials) was born between 1981–2000 with a population of 77.6 million (15.8 percent of the workforce) (Zust. 2008).”
There is abundant research regarding generational differences in the workplace, leadership styles and communication. Each generation due to their needs, desires and collective identity has differing tendencies towards the types of communication and leadership styles they prefer to be communicated with. Based on that one can extrapolate, that their biases towards how they communicate would be similar. “Tr...
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...ships with those under them.
Works Cited
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Polischuk, T. (2013). Generational traits. PackagePrinting, 60(11), 6. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1462484461?accountid=38569 Ruddick, G. E. (2009). Intergenerational leadership communication in the workplace. (Order No.
1465654, Clemson University). ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, , 204. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/304865575?accountid=38569. (304865575).
Zust, Christine W. (2008) Baby Boomer Leaders Face Challenges Communicating Across
Generations. Zustco.com. Zust + Co. Retrieved from: http://www.zustco.com/christine/articles.html
Since both authors can relate to both age groups, they have written this article to describe the reasons behind Gen Y’s characteristics and allow older generations a chance to understand their younger counterparts. The article is written not towards Gen Y but instead is written for their critics. Since the article allows readers inside the lives of Gen Y members, it is directed at people who do not already understand this generation and all it has to offer to the world. The authors’ knowledge of the criticisms that Gen Y faces allows them to portray their purpose to intended audiences. They do all of this while remaining mindful of older generations that work full time and live busy lives by breaking the article up with headings and subheadings that allow readers to read only sections at a
...In closing, adulthood, the longest period in the life cycle spanning the years from adolescence to old age and involves decisions about many aspects of earlier goals, family value and identify the individual 's life (Austrian, 2008). Currently, the largest cohort in the United States, the best educated and most affluent, many find themselves in the sandwich generation, caring for children and parents, while reaching a peak in their careers (Austrian, 2008). Between the years of 1960 to 1985 the baby boomer population increased by 24 percent, with an expectation to increase by 47 percent between 1990 and 2050 (Austrian, 2008). Every transition involves the termination of an existing life structure and the initiation of new ones with sociocultural life evolving around class, religion, ethnicity, family, politics and work (Austrian, 2008; Levinson, et al. 1978:420).
SUBJECT: An analysis of two articles about the impact of multiple generations on the workplace
Edward S. Lyba, Ed.D. proclaimed, "Diversity in the workplace means creating an environment where people from dissimilar backgrounds can utilize their talents and work productively together,” (NEPA Diversity Guide, 2007). Organizations have been striving to understand and create an abundant amount of diversity amongst their employees. It has been instilled in the minds of today’s employees that everyone is different and unique and companies want originality. Since companies have been putting a strong focus on diversity, it has encouraged employees to develop excuses as to why they are different. Recently, organizations and employees the same, have turned to the excuse of a generation gap as justification to resist this change. Should leaders treat employees of different generations in the same job differently only because they were born in different times? As Edward S. Lyba said, diversity means bringing together employees of different backgrounds; different backgrounds being the key word. For years, leaders have tried to tell employees that each and every person is drastically different; no two people are the same. Are people really that different, or are these notions of difference derived from the varied backgrounds from which they come? The answer is simple. People are much more similar than they are different. First, people are not different; they just resist change, making excuses to challenge it. Second, organizations have been promoting diversity, employees need to as well. Lastly, people of all cultures and nationalities possess very similar sets of core values. This paper will discuss why different generations, baby boomers, generation x, and generation y, do not have significant differences that would cre...
Gen Y is the largest cohort since the Baby Boomers; their high numbers reflect their
By 2025, about 75% of the American workforce will be made up of Generation Y workers, said Emily Matchar, author of “Why Your Office Needs More Bratty Millennials.” Generation Y, also known as millennials, are those who were born within the years 1982 and 1999. Time management has become a persistent issue for people in the United States because of the lack of flexibility in the workforce. Work is taking over people’s lives. The current generation of workers tend not to demand because of the fear of unemployment; jobs are scarce these days. Generation Y workers have shown that they will not accept today’s hierarchical workplace, on the contrary, they will begin to change the workplace to their likings.
For this assignment, I decided to compare two leaders that I feel have completely different communication styles. I feel like it is important to cover both sides of communication in order to show what it is like to deal with someone who has “good” communication versus someone who has “bad” communication. I selected two people who I will not name, but will address as “good” and “bad” communicator.
These three generations: Baby Boomers, Gen X and Gen Y all bring their own share of values, beliefs, thoughts and opinions, perspective and experiences to the workplace. The dynamics of the workplace is directly affected by the differences among these three generations. Today’s current managers need to understand how to efficiently manage and lead a multigenerational workforce in order to increase productivity and meet organization goals and objectives. Recently, there has been changes in the general management. From 2008 to 2013, there was some serious shift in Gen X and Gen Y moving into managerial roles. According to Matthew Golden from Biz Journals, the most prominent change was 87% of Gen Y moved into more managerial roles compared to
Blaising, Craig A., Kenneth L. Gentry, and Robert B. Strimple. Three Views On the Millennial and Beyond. Counterpoints. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1999.
The purpose of this report is to identify the 4 generational groups present in the workplace and their choices of communication media they would be most comfortable with. In addition, I will provide my suggestions on how I would introduce communication technology such as social media channels into the workplace in an efficient and effective manner. In any given working environment, there are bound to have employees from different generational groups; Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Generation X and The Millennials. Each of these employees have their own personal characteristics and patterns, including influences from the generation group they belong to. The resulting effect of the differences include difficulty in coordination, integration as
Smola, Karen Wey, and Charlotte D. Sutton. "Generational Difference: Revisiting Generational Work Values for the New Millennium." Journal of Organizational Behavior 23 (2002): 363-82. JSTOR. Web. 28 Mar. 2012. .
In his May 2013 editorial for Time Magazine, “Millennials: The Me Me Me Generation,” Joel Stein explains his viewpoint on millennials, defined as people born 1980 through 2000. Using an occasionally humorous tone, Stein summarizes the typical bleak view that older people have for the younger generation, before offering what he believes is closer to the truth. In the end, he decides that while millennials are not without their flaws and vices, a lot of the fears that older people are mostly due to the advanced technology that we are now dealing with. By the end of the article, it is my opinion that Stein makes a very fair summarization and is correct in his idea that to write off the entire generation is unfair towards younger people.
For the first time in history, there are four generations of people working side by side in the workplace. Think about your place employment and the different people who work there. It is sometimes hard to get your point across to someone in a different age generation. This especially becomes a problem in the supervisor employee relationship. In order to effectively communicate with your peers, you have to understand the context in which they view the world. This problem is a real concern for managers. There has even been a Center for Generational Studies created.
Robbins (2013) recognizes that baby boomers have an enormous hard-working attitude with a definitive want to characterize themselves through their expert achievements. Baby Boomers, born between 1946 and 1964 value their achievement, ambition, loyalty to career and dislike to authority in competitive workplace (Robbins and Judge, 2017). Gen Xers, born between 1965 and 1977, who are independent-minded like work-life balance, team-oriented, loyalty to relationship and dislike of rules. The generation born between 1978 and later, known as Millennials value flexible hours, teamwork and collaborative culture, career development, loyalty to both self and relationships with employers and dislike the formality of regular meetings if there
As the largest generation on the planet (Jenkins), the Millennials (otherwise known as generation Y) have faced plenty of scrutiny from the previous generations. A Millennial is the demographic group made up of anyone who was born between the years 1980 and 2000. This group of young people has proved to be a great contribution to society and also to the advancement of technology. They do things in their own ways and on their own terms, always approaching a problem in the most efficient way possible for everyone. Millennials have settled numerous issues in our society and they are expected to change our world exponentially. Millennials adapt to new technologies very quickly, however, while Millennials see themselves in generally positive terms such as ‘tech-savvy’ and ‘up to date’, many people from the older generations see them as ‘spoiled’ and ‘lazy’. The new technologies do make living everyday life easier and more functional, however, Millennials are not at all ‘lazy’ for taking advantage of them. Millennials use these new tools in incredibly innovative ways and they see the world in a completely different light.