Working with the Generations Hazel H. Reinhardt April 15, 2010

1. SIM Working with the GenerationsHazel H. ReinhardtApril 15, 2010

2. TODAY’S OBJECTIVES • Educate people about the differences in generations • What are generations? • When did generations become an issue? • Why should we care • Relate better with each other • Not working with generations properly will bring your organization’s progress to a halt

3. WORKING WITH GENERATIONS • Primary value of generational analysis • Makes actions of others more understandable • Better able to position your own ideas and requests • Get positive results • Avoid some of the frustrations of today’s workplace • Shows areas where organization change may be desirable/necessary

4. WORKING WITH GENERATIONS • Your generation affects how you view the world • Easy to form unfair and negative impressions of someone from another generation • Often leads to unintended consequences • Challenges • Misunderstood communication • Loss of valuable input from talented associates • High turnover

5. WORKING WITH GENERATIONS • Organization • Many assumptions deeply embedded in the fabric of how organizations work are product of a single generation (Traditionalists); • Many corporations remain largely the product of policies and practices put in place by this generation • Assumption that money is everyone’s motivator and preferred reward is one of the most common sources of misunderstanding

6. CHANGE OCCURS BECAUSE

7. DIFFERENT CONCEPTS • Demographics • Generation (age) • Economics • Social class • Cultural • Culture • Sense of time, urgency, deadlines • Gender—how women are perceived and treated

8. DEMOGRAPHICS • Age is one characteristic of populations • Age is more than just a number • Ways of thinking about age • Life Stage • Generations (cohorts) • Physical • Psychological

9. LIFE STAGE • Life Stage is an easier concept to accept • Youth—childhood • Teen years • Young adult • College student • Young families • Mid career • Empty nesters • Retirees • Very old (85+)

10. LIFE STAGE • However, with long life expectancy, need to envision life stages differently • Conventional milestones are shifting upward (in age) • Life states are often milestones • Milestones ground us

11. GENERATIONS • What are generations? • Biological (familial) • Cultural • Cultural generations are cohorts of people who were born in the same date range and share similar cultural experiences • Location in history is what shapes a generation • Idea as used today gained currency in the 19th Century

12. GENERATIONS • As 19th Century wore on, several trends supported the idea of society divided into categories of people based on age • Change in mentality about time and social change • Enlightenment ideas encouraged idea that society and life were changeable, and that civilization could progress • Change in economic structure • Young men particularly less beholden to their fathers and family authority

13. GENERATIONS • 19th Century (cont.) • Greater social and economic mobility • Skills and wisdom of fathers often less valuable due to technological and social change • Breakdown of traditional social and regional identifications • Spread of nationalism • National press, linguistic homogenization, public education, suppression of local particularities • People saw themselves more as part of a society, this encouraged identification with groups beyond the local

14. GENERATIONS • Generations based on theory and supported by empirical data • 1863—French lexicographer, Emile Littre defined a generation as “all men living more or less at the same time.” • Auguste Comte (French philosopher) made first serious attempt to systematically study generations. In Cours de philosophie positive Comte suggested that social change is determined by generational change and in particular conflict between successive generations

15. GENERATIONS • Comte (cont.) • As members of a generation age, their “instinct of social conservation” becomes stronger, which brings them into conflict with the “normal attribute of youth”—innovation • Other important theorists of the 19th Century • John Stuart Mill • Wilhelm Dilthey

16. GENERATIONS • 20th Century • Karl Mannheim is the seminal figure in study of generations (1928) • Mannheim emphasized • The rapidity of social change in youth was crucial to the formation of generations • Not every generation would come to see itself as distinct • In periods of rapid social change, a generation would be much more likely to develop a cohesive character • Number of distinct sub-generation could exist • Jose Ortega y Gasset another influential theorist

17. GENERATIONS • Mannheim in summary • Generations arise from critical events that affect young people when they are most malleable (17-25 years of age) • “Early impressions tend to coalesce into a natural view of the world.” • Therefore, a generation is defined by its worldview

18. GENERATIONS • Generations don’t neatly begin and end on a specific date • Always exceptions • Individual personalities • Background • Immigrants versus native born • Education/income • Some overstatement

19. TODAY • Four primary adult generations • Traditionalists (born 1945 or earlier) • Composed of several cohorts • Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964) • Gen Xers (born 1965-1976) • Gen Y or Millennials (born 1977-1995)

20. EFFECTS OF AGE COHORTS • Generations observed in: • Workplace • Media • News consumption • Newspaper reading • Watching television news • Voting • Communication preferences • Participation in civic organizations and social clubs/activities

21. EFFECTS OF AGE COHORTS • Observed in (continued): • Attitudes/behavior toward charitable giving • Crafts/hobbies • Sewing • Knitting • Purchase of selected consumer products • Coffee • Some makes of automobiles

22. WORKPLACE CONFLICT • Most workplace conflict between generations around: • Attitude toward work • Motivators • Communication preferences • Power (hierarchy) • Technology (a big “divide”) • Everyone wants respect

23. WORKPLACE CONFLICT • Some conflict deep seated • Gen X annoyed by all the coverage of the Boomers and their offspring, Gen Y or Millenials • See Boomers as leaving them a bleak inheritance. Boomers had all the breaks • See Gen Y as completely greedy, annoying • Gen Y, children of the Boomers • These two groups tend to get along well; like each other • However, in the workplace, some of Gen Y attitudes and behavior annoy Boomers

24. TRADITIONALISTS Key historical events Traits Patriotic Dependable Conformist Respects authority Rigid Socially and financially conservative Solid work ethic • Great Depression • Pearl Harbor • World War II • Korean War • Cold War era • Cuban Missile crisis

25. TRADITIONALISTS • In the workplace • Key motivator was money • Money equals security • Security was very important

26. BABY BOOMERS Key historical events Traits Workaholic Idealistic Competitive Loyal Materialistic Seeks personal fulfillment Values titles and the corner office • Vietnam War • Assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. • First man on the moon • Kent State killings • Watergate

27. BABY BOOMERS • Other experiences that shaped Boomers • Came from large families; 3 or more siblings typical • Had stay-at-home moms • First suburban generation • Grew up in era of increasing affluence; upward mobility; blue collar middle income • Last generation to play outdoors; unsupervised recreation • TV generation • First generation with high college graduation rates; college was affordable (growth of state universities)

28. BABY BOOMERS • In the workplace • Key motivators are money and status • Boomers like merit-based systems and use both money and position to measure standing • Value individual achievement and individual recognition • For Boomers money equals competitive success, i.e., winning

29. GEN X Key historical events Traits Self-reliant Adaptable Cynical Distrusts authority Resourceful Entrepreneurial Technology savvy • AIDS epidemic • Space shuttle Challenger catastrophe • Fall of the Berlin Wall • Oklahoma City bombing • Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky scandal

30. GEN X • Other experiences that shaped Gen X • First generation whose mothers went to work en masse • Latch-key kids • First generation to experience widespread family breakdown (divorce) • First generation to see parents downsized and restructured out of jobs • First generation to graduate from college with significant loan debt • 20% still paying college loans • First generation of males to be highly involved fathers

31. GEN X • In the workplace • Xers value the “right” job, i.e., one that fits them • Xers value free time • Competition does not appear to motivate Gen X

32. GEN Y Key historical events Traits Entitled Optimistic Civic minded Close parental involvement Values work-life balance Impatient Multitasking Team oriented • Columbine High School shootings • September 11 terrorists attacks • Enron and other corporate scandals • Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq • Hurricane Katrina • Worst recession since the Great Depression

33. GEN Y • What we don’t know: • The effects of the current recession on Gen Y • Bank of Mom and Dad shuts amid white-collar struggle

34. GEN Y • Other experiences that shaped Gen Y • Majority had few siblings; most never shared a bedroom • Trophy children • Never denied much; given much praise; sheltered from failure • Programmed life • Play dates; structured recreation; no free time • Pressure to achieve • Postsecondary education very expensive; cheating in school • Long time to become independent of parents

35. GEN Y • In the workplace • Optimistic, rosy outlook on long-term • Sense of impatience (immediacy) • Behavior appears inappropriate • Fearless • Blunt • Offer opinions freely without regard for corporate hierarchy and with no sense of “proper” business protocol • Seem to expect everyone to be interested in their point of view

36. DIFFERENCES BY GENERATIONSource: The Learning Café and American Demographics enterprising museum 2003 Gen X Gen Y Celebrate diversity Optimistic Self-inventive/individualistic Rewrite the rules Killer lifestyle Irrelevance of institutions Internet Assume technology Multitask fast Nurtured Friends = family • Accept diversity • Pragmatic/practical • Self-reliant/individualistic • Reject rules • Killer life • Mistrust institutions • PC • Use technology • Multitask • Latch-key kids • Friend-not family

37. ADULTS BY GENERATIONPopulation in 000’s

38. LABOR FORCE(16+ Years)

39. GENERATIONAL SHIFT • One implication: Gen X and Gen Y will dominate the workplace for the foreseeable future • Gen X are often the first line supervisors today and will dominate the management ranks in the next decade • Some Gen Y are supervisors

40. CHALLENGES • Attitudes toward work (Gen X and Gen Y) • Work not the most important thing in their life • Work/life balance • Line between work and personal less defined • Want freedom to manage time and work • Skeptical about job stability • Free-agent mindset • Walk away from any unsatisfactory employment

41. CHALLENGES • Communication preferences • Gen Y: texting, cell phones and IM • Gen X: e-mail, IM and cell phones • Baby Boomers: e-mail, cell phones and face to face

42. CHALLENGES • Gen Y and the workplace • New message for employers • Strong bond with parents • Bring-your-parent-to work week • On the phone to parents so might as well meet parents • Parents advising their kids on • Benefits • Pension plan • Promotions • Sheltering huge • “I’m special; you want to protect me” • See it in every institution dealing with young people

43. CHALLENGES • Gen Y (cont.) • Ethic of teamwork and community • Higher rates of community service and volunteering • For Gen X volunteering was a punishment • More like you did something wrong so you have to volunteer • More inclusive • “We should all have a place” • Individualized sense • Even some resistance to the way multiracial and multiethnic training is done in corporations

44. CHALLENGES • Gen Y • See change as coming from small groups of people getting together to do things • Make the world a better place

45. CHALLENGES • Power • Who makes the rules • Problem solving styles • Gen X more individualistic • Gen Y more team oriented

46. CHALLENGES • Baby Boomers say they plan to defer retirement or not retire • Creating work “modules” that allow for more part-time work

47. IMPORTANCE OF GEN Y • Very large population • Represents young people for another decade or more

48. GEN Y • A polarizing generation • Have many fans who admire their optimism, intelligence, ambition and commitment • Have many critics for their inflated expectations, deficit in common sense

49. GEN Y CONTRADICTIONS • Exhibit a number of contradictory attitudes and behaviors • “It’s all about me” yet also demonstrate strong concern about social and environmental issues and tend to be active in community service • They want structure and clear direction in their work assignments but also expect flexibility to decide when and where they complete the tasks • Although crave individual praise and recognition, they can also be terrific team players

50. GEN X AND GEN YMENTORING DO’S Gen X Gen y Structured, supportive work environment Personalized work Interactive relationship Be prepared for demands, high expectations • Casual, friendly work environment • Involvement • Flexibility and freedom • A place to learn