Generational Diversity In The Workplace

Using scholarly sources, this paper explains the definition of generational diversity and its impact on the work force. The purposes of this paper is to examine the issues and benefits to having a generationally diverse workforce in order to increase intergenerational understanding, and morale within the workforce. The paper will provide information suggesting that there are differences and these differences can be managed and used to improve productivity. Based on the research the paper will provide conclusions and recommendations to deal with the impact of generational diversity in the workplace. Generational Diversity within the Workplace
Four different generations of people now attend our workforce today. The Baby Boomers, Generation
X, The Millennial Generation (also known as Generation Y), and Generation Z; each generation possessing their own different beliefs, customs and values to shape the way they carryout their job. Throughout the years these generations have had a familiar set of occurrences that shape their extraordinary attitudes, ambitions, and views. Each generation approaching the workforce and their career paths in different ways and these combined experiences have brought familiar proposals, ideas, and shared values of this generational diversity into the workplace. Generational Diversity is generations working shoulder-to-shoulder and face-to-face in the workplace, the relationships they share and how they coincide.
“Most attitudes and distinguishing characteristics attributed to the generations are identified during childhood and adolescence, but these characteristics may change as people experience life stage challenges such as marriage, childbearing and challenges of adulthood (James A.
Johnson & John Lopes, 2008).” Certain characteristics are carried with us from youth to adulthood, but as people age those characteristics can be altered by life experiences. This is the difference between the older generations of our workforce and the younger ones life experience. Older generations in the work force differ from younger generations because they have put in more time and therefore they feel as if that time has given them more knowledge of their field of work. “Today, younger generations are quite happy to contradict, not necessarily because they are being rude, but because they are equally well informed thanks to the search engine on their smartphones and they believe in a more collaborative way of working (Chesworth, 2014).” Younger generations are thriving; they see the world as their stage and have fresh thoughts and ideas that they want to share with the world. Younger generations will often speak out at work because they were raised in a different time where now they are taught to speak their beliefs and participate in discussions openly. However, some people of older generations see this as a threat. They see this as some young person who just walked through the doors trying to
come and take their job or tell them how to do their job. This is due to a gap in communication between older generations and younger generations in the workforce.
There is a great deal of value in having a diverse workforce that a lot of people may not realize. All of these different generations were raised in different times and had many different experiences. The more diverse the workforce, the more diverse the thinking and ideas will be. “While in the past multiple generations worked in the same organization, they were usually separated from each other by virtue of their job descriptions and system hierarch…workplace problems occur due to generational differences in values, ways of working, communication, etc. (Rood, 2010).” In this time and age the workforce is a lot more mixed younger generations are working side by side with the older generations which is why it is so important for both to be able to smoothly coincide and exchange thoughts in the workplace.
“The misunderstanding and under-appreciation of generational differences arises from the erroneous belief that people change their values, attitudes and preferences as a function of age (Rood, 2010).” Over time, the older you get you either become set in your ways or you learn to adapt to the changes.
Unfortunately, for most people of older generations a changing workforce is a hard thing to accept and with a changing economy older people are forced to work more years to be able to sustain a living after retirement. “According to a SHRM study done in 2004 there are three main areas where the generations differ: work ethic, managing change and the perception of organizational hierarchy (Rood, 2010).” Work ethic seems to be a bigger problem amongst younger generations; they are raised in a more dependent atmosphere where you always have someone else to fall back on if you cant complete a task yourself. Older generations did not have all of the fallbacks and dependency that younger generations nowadays can rely on. Managing change is a factor that highly affects older generations; they find it harder to evolve within a changing workforce. “Being aware of the influences of ones own generation is the first step (Rood,
2010).”
Further more, generational differences may sometimes cause conflict in the workforce when put into teams. “Such generational differences sometimes may cause clashes in the workplace, especially among workers on teams (Dittman, 2005).” Workplace values are the evaluative standards relating to work or the work environment by which individuals discern what is right or assess the importance of preferences. Those up in age become resistant to change and undermine decisions made within the workplace. “A team that allows choices and openly explores ideas, and whose members value learning, will better accommodate the needs and values of members of different generations (Dittman, 2005).” However, both generation’s young and old can find common grounds if they remain open to new ideas. “Effective teams should value different views, encourage active listening, decrease ambiguity among team members roles, support the sharing of expertise, share recognition and appreciation, and both value hard work (Dittman, 2005).”
In conclusion, conflict from such differences is the central focus of the scoop given on generational differences of work centrality, life cycle stages, period effect or age-related differences. Differences in attitudes, preferences and values amongst the generations in the workplace are beyond question and have an impact on generational diversity within the workplace.