Generational differences pose challenges

A lot is being said these days about the challenge of avoiding strife and motivating people in today's workplace because they come from diverse generations with different backgrounds, perspectives, work ethics, attitudes and expectations. What might this mean for you in building your organizational career profile, and especially if you are in the largest minority group?

There are four multiworkforce generations, according to the Boston College Center for Aging: the silent generation, born between 1925 and 1942 (8.5 percent), a small fraction of people now in the workplace; baby boomers, born between 1943 and 1960 (39.9 percent); Generation Xers, born between 1961 and 1981 (35.7 percent); and the most recent arrivals, the Yers or Millennials (15.8 percent).

There are data to back up the theory of generational differences and suggested solutions as well as contrasting studies that indicate the absence of work force differences based on age brackets. The generational differences group includes a comprehensive study, one of the first to control for age, by Twenge and Campbell, who say Millennials rate higher in self-esteem, are more self-absorbed and anxious, get depressed and have a lower need for social approval. They found that because many of the members of this group have "unrealistic expectations, a high need for praise, and difficulty with criticism" and like to dress casually, organizations should respond with positive reinforcement (praise programs) and counterpressure (dress codes).

Clearly, the idea of separate generations with catchy names has a great deal of appeal. But is it correct? Perhaps there is something else more important and useful to leaders seeking solutions to work force problems.

First, it takes only a few short observations and some reflection to come to the conclusion that the differences among individuals within each of these "generations" are greater than any of the projected generational differences. The study cited above, for example, says "many" members of the Millennial group, not all of them.

Second, how different is a multigenerational work force from the rest of life? A family with children in grade school is two-generational by definition. Job losses in the current recession have caused people to move back home to live with relatives. According to a recent Pew Research Center study, 16 percent of the population, nearly 50 million people, live in multigenerational households. And is making arbitrary differentiations among people based on date of birth better than looking at clearer lines of distinction among workers -- veterans of military service versus nonvets, for example?

Perhaps something else is at work. If you were born between 1925 and 1942, you probably grew up in a harsh economic climate and got your entertainment and news from your radio, if you had electricity and could afford one, or your neighbor's set, if they had one, and in the city, you rode a streetcar. If you grew up in the '50s and '60s, you saw and were influenced by, among other new things, television, lots of plastic, commonplace travel by automobile and one of its consequences, shopping centers with self-service supermarkets. This could go on, but the point is that each generational group has been partially shaped by the sharp difference in technologies and the waves that social change creates. Young people now entering the work force who are comfortable with colleagues of different races and gender did not grow up in the pre-civil rights era of strict segregation and single-income families.

Change of this scale is bound to have some cultural effects. The combination of cell phone checks, blog updates, Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, and instant and text-messaging often means that people together in the same room or on the same street are talking to someone else and paying no attention to their present environment. It has even gotten to the point where the players for a major college basketball team discover that when they follow a suggestion from the coach and turn in their cell phones, they play better because, having no one else to talk to, they got to know each other.

The effects spill over into the workplace. If you seek career advancement, it will be important to communicate openly and clearly. This begins by examining your perceptual windows, the frames you have established for co-workers and managers. Do some honest self-examination on the possibility that to a manager, acceptable behavior does not include popping out your cell phone or your Blackberry to check e-mail and incoming calls, or texting or tweeting during a meeting or by yourself at your desk. The phrase "multitasking" is a misnomer. There is a great deal of research showing that doing two things simultaneously means being less efficient at both. The career path with the best options begins by being completely present in your actual work environment.

The virtual environments can wait. The momentary on-site opportunity to interact, learn or influence may never return. The downside to not being totally present is that you may be reflecting an image of inconsideration and opening a gateway for a competitor to acquire the choice slot down the line that you would like to have.

Dorothy Perrin Moore, Ph.D., is professor emerita of business and entrepreneurship at The Citadel.The Job Coaches are experienced volunteers from the Center for Women's Job Counseling Program. Ask them a question by calling 763-7333 or e-mailing info@c4women.org. If you would like further assistance, make an appointment; a donation of $10 is requested for appointments.