Managing Intergenerational Workforces Effectively Research Paper

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career in HR

One major human resources issue at hand is the generational gap between workers, in particular with respect to generational frictions. Today's workforce is demographically diverse. Because of our aging population, many baby boomers are staying in the workforce longer than before, there are Gen X and Gen Y and now the millennial generation is entering the workforce. Yet, there are substantial differences between these generations, and those differences create certain frictions. Generation X workers are the most experienced, and the oldest, yet they are also the least likely to have mastery of modern technology; millennials are the opposite. Raised with technology - the youngest ones have never experienced a world without the Internet -- they are adept with modern technology, but lack meaningful real world experience. The value systems of these respective generations are also quite different -- the younger the worker is the less likely the worker is to have much affinity or respect for anything other than meritocracy. It is evident this multigenerational workforce can be powerful because of the different types of knowledge each generation possesses, but there are also going to be considerable frictions that are worked out, many of which touch directly on the human resources domain. In the 1990s people were writing about how to manage conflict between Gen Xers and their boomer managers, and now there is an entirely new generation inserted into this dynamic (Stroul, 1998).

Leveraging Intergenerational Diversity

The best perspective for a human resources professional is to start with the positive aspects of intergenerational diversity, because there is opportunity for a company to reap significant benefits from such diversity in the workforce. Jackson (2012) recommends that the human resources department creates programs for educating all members of the workforce. That everybody is an adult is not sufficient to create understanding of some of the differences that arise. Jackson (2012) argues that the generations have more commonalities than differences, which means that it should be easy for managers to learn about the differences between workers. Identifying potential problems before they arise is one of the things that can help to reduce conflict where things like direct communication are concerned. Having people from different generations communicate with each other can also help to resolve conflict -- there is evidence that sharing success stories about intergenerational cooperation in the workplace can have a positive influence on employee perceptions about working in an intergenerational workforce (Sudheimer, 2009).

Another tactic, besides education, is to build the interests of each generation into the human resources policies. For example, each generation has different interests with respect to what happens when they do a good job. The company should be aware of this, and be able to accommodate. Millennials, for example, can be told that boomers' lack of technological savvy is not a problem because they have so much else to offer, but that will mean that millennials will want to have opportunities to add to their skillsets by acquiring that knowledge and experience for themselves. Different rewards appeal to different generations and the company should be able to accommodate on that to a certain extent.

Another strategy that has been used is to keep the generations somewhat separate in the workforce. This is easier if each generation has a specialty in a particular area that they can pursue -- in other words if there is task segregation. There is risk in keeping generations apart, in that they may never fully appreciate the contributions of the others, but there is also limited opportunity for direct conflict as well, because people work with others who share the same outlooks and value systems.

Training Management

As noted, training management is a key means by which conflict can both be avoided and overcome. While it is nice to focus on the positives of the different comparative advantages each generation has, the reality is that conflict will occur. Managers who are older may have difficulty understanding the motivations of younger workers, especially where younger workers are prone to questioning the established means of doing things. There can be particular issues with either direct management or with passing the torch of power between generations. In essence, management needs to be aware of conflict resolution strategies, and these will most likely focus on finding the commonalities between people of different generations. These commonalities do exist, even if most of the literature focuses on the differences (Jackson, 2012). Managers should be aware that the corporate culture is a powerful tool by which workers with completely different interests can be oriented towards a common goal. Further, there needs to be ways for managers to show that each set of generational preferences has validity, and that every role is one that needs to be performed, and is performed by those who do it well. Many people have trouble seeing how different pieces of the puzzle work together, but this is something managers should be able to do, and preferably be able to communicate as part of a conflict reduction strategy.

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Key Issues

Intergenerational diversity has a number of implications for HR planning. First, the legal background on this is clear in that workers over 40 are a protected group in which they cannot be discriminated against on the basis of their age. For HR that means that workers over 40 who might lack modern technological skills will likely have to receive some sort of training if they are being asked to use technology that they have no previously been asked to use. It is insufficient to use technology as a proxy for age, by law, and to do so would increase the risk to the organization.

Retention issues are significant because there are so many young people entering the workforce. As a result of this, many high quality young people wish to have positions that offer upward mobility, and will not hesitate to leave a company where they feel that they lack opportunity. Millennials, even more so than the Gen Xers that preceded them, are disinterested in working under a strict age or experience-based hierarchy, and it will be difficult for firms that operate under such systems to attract and retain good young talent as a result. Human resources departments should plan for a system of promotion that is more merit-based, as this is what will appeal to any worker under the age of 40. For the long run competitiveness of the company, such merit-based systems need to be in place in order to effectively replace the baby boomers as they retire.

But the greatest impact is possibly the influence on organization change and culture that the influx of younger workers brings. As the baby boomers and Gen Xers have had twenty years or so to get used to each other, there is now this new dynamic. Younger workers bring a fast work pace and overall younger dynamic to the workforce. This is something that can be a challenge to older workers, because eventually this will change the culture of an organization. Managers need to be aware of the long-run cultural changes that occur with demographic shift so that they can guide the process of organizational culture change in a way that fits with the long-run strategic needs of the organization. There are genuine opportunities for mentoring and other intergenerational relationship-building that can help to transition cultures and allow for the skill sets of each generation to be appreciated (Dols, Landum and Wieck, 2010).

Mentoring

Another issue with an intergenerational workforce is to promote the transfer of information between generations, something that has been found to be inhibited by having a high level of intergenerational diversity (Legas & Sims, 2011). While many companies have diversity training, this seems in adequate to deal with knowledge transfer. But mentoring is one way to ensure that there is a higher level of communication between the generations. Mentoring provides a way for younger workers to gain knowledge in areas where they are more typically deficient, and it is also a means by which older workers can gain appreciation for the unique skills and outlook of younger workers. Mentoring has proven an effective means of transferring knowledge in organization in the past, as well as overcoming the stereotypes that each generation has about the others (Legas & Sims, 2011).

Conclusions

There are three generations working in the modern workforce, and this has significant challenges, since elements like technological fluency and value systems are very different between these generations. For human resource planning, it is necessary to realize the implications of this intergenerational diversity, and have plans that allow the company to realize the advantages of this diversity while simultaneously minimizing the conflict associated with it. The reality is that there are a number of strategies that have been identified in the literature that will help with fostering an effective intergenerational workforce.

There are issues where values clash, and where the culture of the organization is changed by the influx of a number of younger workers. As such,….....

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