Diversity

Generational Diversity:
Generation= Generasjonsskifte, those who were born during a certain era. They share similar experiences growing up and their values and attitudes, particularly about work-related topics, tend to be similar, based on their shared experiences during their formative years.
Diversity= mangfold
Dealing with diversity in the workplace means understanding and relating effectively with people who are different than you.
Generational Diversity: In any large organization, you are bound to find divisions, units, or work teams where at least four distinct generations are working side by side. There are differences between these generations in the way they approach work, work/life balance, employee loyalty, authority, and other important issues. I’m going to discuss the relevance of these differences to organizational performance.
Generations:
* Mautures: Besteforeldre * Boomers: Våre foreldre som er litt eldre * Generation X: Våre foreldre som er yngst * Millenials – Oss, vår alder

Matures: This generation was born before or in the World War 2. This generation only accounts for 5% of the workforce today. This generation I influenced by family and religion. Education is viewed as a dream.
This generation is marked by these values: * Dedication * Sacrifice * Hard Work * Conformity * Law and order * Respect for authority * Duty before pleasure.
Boomers: These are born around 1940-1960/64. They account for 45% of the workforce, biggest generation in the workforce today. This generation is often called self-absorbed. They went from Hard work ethic to the benefit of the individual, as opposed to the company/organization. Education is seen as a more birthright than a dream.
Their values are: * Optimism * Team orientation * Personal gratification * Health and wellness * Personal growth * Work * Involvement

Generation X: Born between 1960 and 1980 and are between 25-45 years old, accounting 40 % of the workforce. Generation X is known primarily as the first generation to enter the workforce after the first wave of corporate downsizing. Where Bloomers lived to work, Generation X works to live, and work/life balance is also a hallmark of this generation. Bloomers challenged the leaders with intent to replace them, Generation X tend to ignore leaders.
Their values are: * Diversity * Thinking Globally * Balance * Fun * Informality * Self-reliance

Millennials: This is the newest generation in the workforce. It is those that was born after 1980 and account for 10 % of the workforce. Still discovering this generation, but it mainly characterizes around technology. This generation was raised with the Internet. Generation X also has knowledge of technology, but Millenials have known nothing but PCs, email and the internet. This has maid their perspective more global, connected around clock.
Millenials take the work/life balance a step further, to the point where leisure is actually interwoven (sammenvevd) with work.
Their values are: * Optimism * Confidence * Achievement * Sociability * Morality * Street smarts * Diversity

Differences between the generations in the workplace:
Values drive behavior, often in ways that we don’t even notice, when people are working side-by-side and have different values, there tend to be some conflicts. E.g. Boomers and generation X often clash over the topic of benefits. Baby Boomers, with their own retirement looming, often place emphasis on retirement benefits, contributions and the like. Generation Xers, on the other hand may be focused on dependent care and parental leave. The challenge in organizations is to provide benefits (and particularly communicate changes in them) that address both generations’ needs.
Boomers see Generation Xers as disrespectful of rules and lack of employer loyalty, of course, have different view of themselves-and why they act as they do.
The generalized characteristics of each generation prove to be useful in managing diversity in the workplace, because they help individuals understand their own and others’ assumptions about how organizations should be run and how people should be treated.
How to avoid conflict between the groups:
Awareness of the generalized diversity among generations can help all employees work more productively with each other. By knowing how each generation can be triggered, either positively or negatively, can help organizations develop balanced policies and can help individual managers and employees structure their work interactions so it can benefit the organization.
Awareness of generational trends is helpful, but it can also lead to reinforcing stereotypes-either positive or negative. Also generation change over time so what is true for generation X today might not be true in fifteen years.
Communication is also a effective conflict resolution skill. When there is a conflict, we can learn individuals involved to communicate clearly around difficult, often emotionally charged subjects.

Organizations should teach their employees the skills to manage all differences-including generational differences-in ways like respect and empowerment for everyone.

1. Why is generational diversity an issue or do you see it as a non-issue?
Generational Diversity is where divisions, units, or work teams where at least four distinct generations are working side by side and that there is differences between these generations in the way they approach work, work/life balance, employee loyalty, authority, and other important issues.

Generational diversity can be an issue, but the organization can make it a less issue if they are dealing with the diversity in the workplace by understanding and relating effectively with people who are different than you. But first it can be an issue since the different generations has different values in many areas, as in work/life balance, loyalty, authority and many other important issues. The two oldest generations matures and baby bloomers have a set of values that indicates hard work, duty before any pleasure, loyalty for authority and optimism. While generation X and millenuals works to live and not live to work. They are more characterized around technology and their values are more globally thinking, self reliance, street smarts and confident. They have less respect for authority. This can be an issue when these generations are working together since they see how things should be and therefore it creates a conflict.

2. What are the implications of this diversity from the perspective of the employee?
When talking a project or an assignment, there might be different views of how to complete the task and how it should be presented. Also implications might occur on how to behave in the organization towards authority and other employees. Older generations might see younger generations as sloppy while young generations see them as less cooperative. They are not working from the same perspective.

3. What are the implications of this diversity from the perspective of the organisation?
The implications of diversity for the organization might be that there can occur conflicts between the generations on how to behave and do their work. This can affect the performance of the employees and the organization can suffer. Boomers and generation X often clash over the topic of benefits. E.g. Baby Boomers, with their own retirement looming, often place emphasis on retirement benefits, contributions and the like. Generation Xers, on the other hand may be focused on dependent care and parental leave.