Generational Differences Between Baby Boomers and Millennials and the Impacts on Hr Essay Example
Generational Differences Between Baby Boomers and Millennials and The Impacts on HR
Kimberly Senkler
September 14, 2010
Human Resource Management BA 421 KP Normally we tend to think of diversity in relation to age, race, gender and religion. These days there is more focus being given to diversity in the form of generational differences.
While the other factors in diversity (age, race, gender and religion) tend to lead to legal issues, generational diversity is generally more of a performance issue. Generations can be loosely defined as bodies of individuals born and living at about the same time. “Each generation is molded by distinctive experiences during their critical developmental periods” (Twenge, 2008). The culture and media created common value systems…different for each generation. There are gaps between generations due to differences in the cultural environments that they grew up in. Experts don’t always agree on the specific years to include in each generation (Crampton & Hodge, 2006), but they do agree that each generation has its own principles, behaviors, expectations, conventions and motivators. Companies are becoming increasingly more interested in how to attract, retain and manage people from different generations in the workplace. Each generation has different expectations, values, communication styles and motivators (Crumpacker & Crumpacker, 2007). What interests an older employee might not be the same for a younger employee. The U.S. workforce contains four different generations of workers: the Silent Generation, Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials. There is however, a consensus among experts that the two largest generations creating change in the workplace are the Baby Boomers and Millennials (Gesell, 2010). Understanding generational gaps in the workplace is critical in today’s business environment. Bridging those gaps can help ensure a productive, cohesive, and successful
Kimberly Senkler
September 14, 2010
Human Resource Management BA 421 KP Normally we tend to think of diversity in relation to age, race, gender and religion. These days there is more focus being given to diversity in the form of generational differences.
While the other factors in diversity (age, race, gender and religion) tend to lead to legal issues, generational diversity is generally more of a performance issue. Generations can be loosely defined as bodies of individuals born and living at about the same time. “Each generation is molded by distinctive experiences during their critical developmental periods” (Twenge, 2008). The culture and media created common value systems…different for each generation. There are gaps between generations due to differences in the cultural environments that they grew up in. Experts don’t always agree on the specific years to include in each generation (Crampton & Hodge, 2006), but they do agree that each generation has its own principles, behaviors, expectations, conventions and motivators. Companies are becoming increasingly more interested in how to attract, retain and manage people from different generations in the workplace. Each generation has different expectations, values, communication styles and motivators (Crumpacker & Crumpacker, 2007). What interests an older employee might not be the same for a younger employee. The U.S. workforce contains four different generations of workers: the Silent Generation, Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials. There is however, a consensus among experts that the two largest generations creating change in the workplace are the Baby Boomers and Millennials (Gesell, 2010). Understanding generational gaps in the workplace is critical in today’s business environment. Bridging those gaps can help ensure a productive, cohesive, and successful