generation differences

In the corporate world, organizations have to maintain the health of the organization by making sure that all its employees are happy and satisfied with their current occupation at the organization, thus maximizing on their effectiveness and efficiency. However, this has started to become an issue of concern as the nowadays organizations have employees of different ages, meaning employees are categorized in different generations. These generational differences cause a divide within the organization since these differences also go down to the factors of differences in values and characteristics of the employees. Glass (2007) mention how people who are from different generations have experienced different situations as they grew up, since the world is ever changing, thus it cause a divide in the individuals as they have different values, attitudes and views towards life, what is right and what is wrong. This essay focuses on analyzing the effects of difference in generations and how they impact the values at the work place. Firstly, a discussion about the differences in generations and how it shows within an organization will be provided. Followed by an analysis of several companies and the initiatives they had. Then a self reflection of whether or not an organization should have initiatives that are aligned to the needs of each generation within the organization will be provided. Lastly a conclusion of the whole assignment will be given.
Part A
Comparison of the generational differences
Human resources has realised the need for a better understanding of the differences between generations of employees within the company. The generations that are within the organizations nowadays are divided mostly into three different generations, the baby boomers, generation X (Xers) and the Millenials (generation Y). Sullivan, Forret, Carraher and Mainiero (2009) mention how the baby boomers are the people who were born between years 1946 and 1964, Xers were born between 1965 and 1983, and lastly the Millenials were born between 1984 and 2002. The individuals from these generations have different values, characteristics, needs and wants. Haynes (2011) discusses about these generational differences, and points out how baby boomers are the current oldest generation within the corporate world, and these types of employees are more work oriented than any other individual from the other generations. Baby boomers are employees that actually believe that for an organization to function effectively and efficiently, all employees have to come to the work place, operate in a more formal manner and actually produce results, whilst doing things the traditional way of clocking into work from a time range of like 6am up to 5pm (Glass, 2007). Whereas for the Xers and the Millenials, they believe that you do not necessarily have to be at the work place to actually do your job, as they believe mostly in producing the end results, rather than focussing on the process of getting the results (Cennamo & Gardner, 2008).
Moreover, communication is one major aspect that these generations have a problem with, since for the baby boomers, they believe that a face to face conversation is more appropriate way of communicating with one another within the organization, and with the Xers, they are not so much different from the Boomers as they will prefer to use the most efficient way of communicating, and which is most convenient for them (Hernaus & Vokic, 2014). However, with the Millenials, they are mostly going to use a faster and more convenient method for them, which is that of using emails, text and instant messages, social media channels and mobile apps that allow for instant messaging (Glass, 2007). This is mainly because the Millenials are a generation that grew up in an environment of highly advanced technology and of which technology has become the main basis of daily life in the current world situation, thus they were vastly exposed to technology, meaning that to them the whole value of a face to face conversation seems like an issue that is not of much concern, and they can easily use video conferencing over the internet, if needed. In terms of balancing work and life, the Boomers focus more on their work life, as they feel that they will feel a sense of purpose if they dedicate their time and energy into their work, completing their work and getting good results from the work (Hernaus & Vokic, 2014). For the Xers, they prefer to have a good work life, family and personal life balance, as they want to work but also want to have their own time to focus on themselves and their families, just as the same with the Millenials, as they also want a balanced life of work and family life (Glass, 2007). However, the Millenials are more focussed on their own personal life than work life, as they prefer to actually build on their career, have a high status in society, and enjoy their success in a manner of their own liking (Hernaus & Vokic, 2014).
These differences in values and characteristics of people from different generations will result in the reformation of organizational culture and its values, so as to carter for the different needs of the employees. However, in the nowadays context, there are other Boomers who have different individual characters as they consider themselves to be people who are more open to change, like Steve Jobs, and can adjust to the way of life as the corporate world is now getting filled with employees from the Millennials generation (Glass, 2007). Once an organization takes into consideration, these different aspects about its employees, the managers or owners can actually incorporate the different needs of the employees, and create an organizational culture that carters for all employees, without making anyone feel oppressed in any sort of way. Moreover, with the Boomers, they have a character of them mainly focussing on success to the point that they are willing to sacrifice their personal and family life just for their work, so that they are able to achieve a lot in their career, whereas for the Xers, they prefer to have everything balanced in terms of their work and family life, but the difference between the Xers and the Millenials is that the Xers prefer working as an individual whilst the Millenials prefer working in teams and embracing technology, helping each other to work effectively and efficiently to produce great results and also develop as a group (Kapoor & Solomon, 2011). In addition, Millenials have a more social characteristic to them, as they desire to interact and be more social amongst themselves and with others, since there has been the emergent of social sites like Facebook and twitter, Millenials are always more interactive and have a high affinity to feel relaxed (Myers & Sadaghiani, 2010). Myers and Sadaghiani (2010) continue to point out how the Millenials are individuals who like to have flexible working hours and a more relaxed setting within the work place, as they are individuals who like to feel inspired to do work and also to be innovative, as well as increase on their entrepreneurial mentality. Thus all the flexible working hours and relaxed work setting will work best for their advantage as well as the organizations advantage, since the employees will be motivated to work, and the health of the organization will be maintained. After analysing all the differences between the employees and what they value as right or wrong, an organization will be left with a challenge of coming up with the best possible way to design an organizational culture that suits the different generations.
Part B
As the previous part of this assignment provided a detailed analysis of the differences within the different generational employees in the work place, this part will provide an analysis of different organizations and what initiatives they used to carter mostly for the Millenials within the organization. The organizations to be analysed are World Wide Technology and Allied Wallet. The Farrel and Geist-Martin model will be used to actually analyse as to which initiative of the two organizations falls under either organizational health ideologies or individual health identities.
World Wide Technology
World Wide Technology is an organization that has three main initiatives that it focuses on, which are family feel and flexibility, take time off when needed and team mentality. With the initiative of family feel and flexibility, this can be classified under the individual health identities, specifically the psychological and social aspects. Because the organization provides the family feel to the Millenials, this is a psychological aspect to an individual, as this will influence the mentality of the individual towards the culture of the organization, thus one is relaxed and feels as if he or she can actually be willing to wake up and go to work, knowing that they have a sense of purpose and use within the organization. Myers and Sadaghiani (2010) point out the fact that Millenials prefer to have a sense of purpose within the organization and this will improve on their morel and motivate them to be able to perform their work tasks effectively and efficiently, thus World Wide Technology was able to come up with initiative to carter for the Millenials and their needs. Moreover, on the flexibility part, it affects the social aspect of an individual, as this provides the employees with the chance to actually take time off work, and even at the work place, employees are able to work in a more relaxed setting and they can interact with each other and even with the managers and other top employees of the organization. Thus they are able to have a social feel to the organization and be motivated to work effectively and efficiently.
Moreover, taking time off when needed can be categorised as individual health identities, mostly on the physical aspect, because this allows the employees to take some time off when they feel that they really need the time off, thus one can actually go and rest, replenish ones energy, reduce stress and stay healthy so at to be able to work effectively and efficiently. Taking time off can also be categorised as serving for the spiritual aspect, since one can take some time off to go and reconnect with their spiritual-self, thus manage to be at peace and whole, thus be in a healthy state to work. Lastly, the team mentality can be classified as organizational health ideologies, specifically the upper management aspect, as this allows managers to actually be part of the teams, as a team leader or even just as a member, hence providing support to the employees, giving them feedback and moral support, as Millenials like to contantly get feedback from their managers so that they feel like they are doing something worthwhile and managing to achieve their goals set for them (Myers & Sadaghiani, 2010). Despite the initiatives that World Wide Technology have came up with, a few suggestions would be that of making sure that they involve all workers within their initiatives formation process, since an organization does not operate with just one generation of people, but with others, thus the initiatives should be taking into consideration the other workers, so as to not make them feel like outcasts of the organization. Thus, maintaining the health of the organization and the high performance of the employees. Secondly, World Wide Technology should also make use of cross functional teams which will create a good form of communication between the teams, thus creating an environment that does not have a lot of internal conflict because teams will be working together rather than working against each other.
Allied Wallet
Allied Wallet is another organization that has its own initiatives which are people looking forward to coming to work, killer office views, company’s frequent gifts, special events, fun, free Friday lunches and more than ninety percent of the organization is below the age of thirty-five. Allied Wallet’s initiatives can be classified under both organizational health ideologies and individual health identities. Amongst the initiatives, the free Friday lunches, gifts and killer office views are more of the individual health identities whereby it focuses on the employees social, physical and psychological well-being as the employees will feel relaxed and more at home when they are at work, and they also get inspired, thus enabling them to work effectively and efficiently. Then the other initiatives are under the organizational health ideologies, as this focuses on the vision, mission, values and goals of the organization, as well as upper management support, as they try and provide a working environment that foresees the employees feeling at home, having a sense of importance and relevance to the organization, getting feedback and actually enjoying the way the organization is, as it is mainly comprised of people from the Millenials generation. Nevertheless, suggestions for Allied Wallet to better improve the health of their organization is to actually try and develop a specific system to be used with priorities set out, and they have to be met, so that it does not result in the employees becoming too relaxed whilst working in the organization.
Part C
After analysing everything about this essay, the generational differences and the initiatives that other companies have come up with in order to maintain a healthy work place, I would say that it is of high importance for managers to actually come up with initiatives that carter for the different needs of the different individuals from different generations. This is because it is very difficult to try and come up with just one initiative that can actually carter for the different generations as they have vastly different characteristics and needs. However, there certain aspects about the different generations that are actually similar, thus the managers can actually use these similar aspects to come up with initiatives that will carter for the different generations, hence satisfying each employee within the organization, and manage to maintain a healthy work environment. Once an organization has designed initiatives that serve the needs of each generation, it will foresee the organization realising satisfied and motivated employees that will work effectively and efficiently, thus achieving organizational goals.

Reference list
Cennamo, L., & Gardner, D. (2008). Generational differences in work values, outcomes and person-organisation values fit. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 23(8), 891-906. doi: 10.1108/02683940810904385
Glass, A. (2007). Understanding generational differences for competitive success. Industrial and Commercial Training, 39(2), 98-103. doi: 10.1108/00197850710732424
Haynes, B.P. (2011). The impact of generational differences on the workplace. Journal of Corporate Real Estate, 13(2), 98-108. doi: 10.1108/14630011111136812
Hernaus, T., & Vokic, N.P. (2014). Work design for different generational cohorts. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 27(4), 615-641. doi: 10.1108/JOCM-05-2014-0104
Kapoor, C., & Solomon, N. (2011). Understanding and managing generational differences in the workplace. Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes, 3(4), 308-318. doi: 10.1108/1755421111162435
Myers, K.K., & Sadaghiani, K. (2010). Millennials in the Workplace: A Communication Perspective on Millennials’ Organizational Relationships and Performance. J Bus Psychol, 25, 225-238. doi: 10.1007/s10869-010-9172-7
Sullivan, S.E., Forret, M.L., Carraher, S.M., & Mainiero, L.A. (2009). Using the kaleidoscope career model to examine generational differences in work attitudes. Career Development International, 14(3), 284-302. doi: 10.1108/13620430910966442