Challenges of Managing Generations in the Workplace

This essay discusses the challenges faced by managers in managing different generations in the workplace. It explores the differences in communication styles, technical skills, and adaptation to changes between Generation X and Generation Y. The essay emphasizes the importance of adapting management techniques to solve these challenges.

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Enterprise Leadership

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Introduction
According to Bolton et.al. (2013 pg. 1) people who have born between 1981- 1995
are known as Generation Y. They are also known as Digital natives. The group of
population who falls under Generation Y tends to interact with other people across
the world via various social media platforms and they do not follow the traditional
communication methods. The other name of Generation Y is millennials. According
to Agrawal (2017) each and every organisation with multigenerational workforce
consists of people with variety of traits of personality. The aim of this essay is to find
out the different challenges that are being faced by managers of the organisation in
order to manage differences in generations in the work place. The essay will also
discuss about how the Gen X and Gen Y are different from each other in terms of
personality as well as thinking.
Argument 1 – Styles of communication
Formal communication is one of the important aspect in an organization.
Unfortunately, it has been found out that when it comes to communicating there
exists a conflict between two generations and thus it is considered as one of the
major and crucial challenge which is faced by managers of any organization. The
form of communication of the Generation Y is more collaborative in nature. People
who belong from Gen X or the baby boomers tends to communicate formally using
the method of face to face communication and also in the traditional form using
phones and business emails. On the other hand, Generation Y tends to interact
more in informal language using abbreviations which sometimes become difficult for
the managers to interpret and thus it creates a communication gap. The
characteristics of communication which is being followed by the Gen Y is more

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instant, quick and playful unlike the people who belong from the Gen X. Most of the
people who belong to the Gen Y community spend their time in communicating with
others via different platforms of social media and thus they are often called Digital
natives. Workforce who belongs to the Generation Y also focusses on doing text
messages while communicating with their team leaders instead of emails. This
sometimes lead to misunderstanding while communication. Misunderstanding while
communication or lack of communication may lead to serious problem in the
workplace. To avoid such challenges organizations should implement the use of both
emails as well as direct messages in order to keep a pace with both the generations.
Argument 2 – Technical skills
According to Kilber, Barclay and Ohmer (2014 pg. 82) an important character of Gen
Y which has been recognized is that the whole generation is very tech savvy which
means they have a detailed knowledge of technology and the use of technology.
Gen Y is considered to be the first generation who has experience the globalized
world post the digital explosion. According to Venter (2017) this generation has
grown up by seeing various wireless devices like mobile phones, laptops etc. This is
the main reason that the workforce who belong from the Gen Y tends to learn new
things with the use of various forms of technology. On the other hand, the workforce
from Gen X used self-learning tools and other traditional method of learning in the
organization. Thus, this is one of the very important multi-generational challenge
which is being faced by the managers in an organization. Gen Y is more interested in
working with the use of visual media instead of reading texts from hard copies. On
the other hand, the workforce who does not belong from this generation tends to rely
on hard copies of documents while executing any work. When in a team both the

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generations work it becomes very challenging for the team leader to manage the
entire team.
Since the use of social media is very high by the workforce who belongs from Gen Y,
therefore, it has been seen that they tend to spend a significant amount of time on
social media in the workplace instead of working. On the other hand, people who
belong from Gen X tends to be more serious in the workplace. They focus on
completing their work on time. This also creates a conflict in the workplace which
also has to be managed by the manager or the team leader. In today’s world
integration of technology is of utmost importance. Organizations across the world is
more focused on technological innovation in order to sustain in the market. The use
of social media platforms and surfing internet improves the technical skills of the
workforce of Gen Y and thus they can work in a more efficient manner. This leads to
the less use of the traditional skills of the workforce of Gen X. This increases
inferiority among the workforce who belongs to Gen X and thus also is the root of a
major conflict in the workplace. The main responsibility is of the manager who needs
to overcome this challenge.
Argument 3 - Adaptation to changes
According to Kilber, Barclay and Ohmer (2014 pg. 83) they always want to the
change the environment of the organization by introducing various innovative value
to the organization. Gen Y often raise issues with the old style of leadership which is
being used in various organization. Managers face challenges because workforce
who belong from Gen Y does not want a hierarchical structure in the organization.
Instead they are more focused in the decentralized structure of an organization.
Since the workforce of Gen Y spends most of their time in social media, the
generation is well versed with current trend in the business environment. This

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increases the expectation of the workforce to follow the new changes that are being
taken place in the business environment. The higher authorities of an organization
find it difficult to change the organizational culture and environment because the
workforce from Gen X does not approve the changes and create a problem in the
organization. To overcome such problems or conflicts in an organization efficient
management system is of utmost importance.
According to Ware (2013 pg. 4) the workforce who belongs from Gen X tends to
work without any distraction from the internal environment of the workplace. On the
other hand, since Gen Y or the millennials spend more time in interacting with
various people across the world therefore, they desire to have a more collaborative
environment in the workplace where they can interact with people across the world.
Thus, this can be said that Gen Y is more adaptable to changes than Gen X. So, this
is also one of the valid challenges that is faced by managers of the organisation
every now and then.
Conclusion
In the essay the various challenges that is faced by managers in a multigenerational
workplace has been discussed in details. Workforce who belongs from Gen X
conducts themselves in a very different way than that of Gen Y. Managers and team
leaders need to realise the fact that the thinking process of the Gen Y or the
millennials is very upgraded. Their style of looking in to the world of business is very
different. It is important for the managers and the higher level authorities of an
organisation to adapt the changes that are being proposed by the millennials,
keeping in mind that the sentiment of the Gen X should be remain unaffected.
Managers should take steps which can influence the growth and sustainability of the

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business. Adjusting techniques of management cross-generationally can help the
managers solve the problem to a great extent.
References
Agrawal, S 2017, ‘Personality Traits and Organisational Commitment of Gen X and
Gen Y Employees’, Journal of Organisation and Human Behaviour, vol. 6, no. 1, pp.
10-17.
Bolton, R.N., Parasuraman, A., Hoefnagels, A., Migchels, N., Kabadayi, S., Gruber,
T., Komarova Loureiro, Y. and Solnet, D., 2013. Understanding Generation Y and
their use of social media: a review and research agenda. Journal of service
management, 24(3), pp.245-267.
Kilber, J, Barclay, A & Ohmer, D 2014, ‘Seven Tips for Managing Generation Y’,
Journal of Management Policy and Practice, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 80-91.
Venter, E., 2017. Bridging the communication gap between Generation Y and the
Baby Boomer generation. International journal of Adolescence and Youth, 22(4),
pp.497-507.
Ware, CV 2013, Generation X and Generation Y in the workplace: A study
comparing work values of Generation X and Generation Y, Capella University