The Future of Work: Gen Y Expectations and Preferences in Oman

Dissertation Proposal
Hamood Saleh Al Rashdi
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The future of work: Gen Y expectations and preferences, evidence from Oman.
1.1 Background of the study
In today’s environment, the role of human capital in any organization is becoming increasingly vital to
understanding the requirements of today’s labor market and the rapid changes in the workforce, skill-set, and
most importantly the technological revolution and disruption which promote innovation, growth and agility
(Deloitte, 2019). The role of human capital goes far and beyond to ensure that the different workforce
categories are highly engaged to drive productivity, efficiency, innovation and creativity at the workplace. Most
importantly is how different generations contribute to the country at large and organizational objectives in
particular (Gallup, 2016). Researches and social scientists put forward four different generations; the silent
generation (1930 – 1945), baby boomers (1946 – 1964), generation X (1965 – 1979), and generation Y (called
the Millennial) (1980 – 2000) (Sharon, 2015). Thus, suggested for more understanding about differences in
terms of preferences and expectations in these generations. Additionally, understanding the difference between
these generations, expectations, and the way to engage them is crucial in order to determine the right practices
and policies in place (Eddy, 2010). According to Devany et al, (2015), certain factors defines generations; the
age of the events happened in individual life, the period of individual lifetime, and the cohort where group of
individuals shares their experiences and behaviors.
With today’s disruption of technological advancement, the challenges on the economic environment and
globalization have effects on the workplace, culture and most importantly the workforce from different
generations. However, with increasing number of retirement from baby boomers and gradually by generation X
it’s quite vital to start paying attention on generation Y (Millennials) and more importantly to understand their
expectations, preferences, and job wishes in order to engage and retain them in the workplace (Harry, 2017).
The millennials are people born between 1980 and 1997 or 2000; consist of the largest and most diverse
generation in today economy (Pew Research Centre, 2016). They have been described by Howe and Strauss
(2009) as educated, affluent, and ethnically diverse. They are considered as the first generation to become
worldwide group due to the technology advancement and the opportunity to move across the borders (Howe &
Strauss, 2009; Jeffries & Hunte, 2004). Besides, these category of people are increasingly preoccupied the
focus of educators (Burskirk-Cohen et al., 2016), policymakers (Moos et al., 2018) as well as organizational
managers (Stewart et al., 2017). Tapscott (2008) asserted that Gen Y is characterized by, collaboration, need
for speed, integrity, entertainment and fun, innovation, customization, and freedom (Tapscott, 2008). Even
though Hidalgo, (2016) argued that millennials will soon bring seismic change to the industry. However, little
is still known of this generation’s ability to influence organizations (Collins & Vaughn, 2009; American
Hospital Association, 2014) and managerial roles in particular. This gap in the research motivated the current
research, to my knowledge, which is the first of its kind in Oman tocapture millennials’ preferences and
expectations in the oil and Gas industry.
In the current workplace, ever-changing technologies and changing demographics have resulted on certain
imbalance in the workplace that mostly includes generation Y employees (Alghafri et al. 2017). In the human
resource perspective, most difficult change observed to be experienced by the companies is regarding hiring
new employees, particularly if they are young and belongs to generation that is first entering within the
workplace. All the companies in Oman are observed to be influenced by the values as well as preferences of
their generation Y employees (Alghafri et al. 2017). For this reason, it turns out to be highly indispensible to
realise the workplace values of these employees that can facilitate the companies in appreciating the manner in
which structure can be decided for jobs, working conditions, remuneration packages along with the human
resource policies in order to attract, engage as well as retain generation Y. Failure to realise such the demands
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of such new generation joining the workplace can lead to misunderstanding, miscommunication and can also
have negative impacts on these employees creativity, productivity and corporate citizenship. It has also been
evident that the generation Y employees facecertainchallenges in the companies in Oman regarding attainment
of employee engagement in the highly vulnerable world (Ali et al. 2017). Importance of employee engagement
is getting immersedwithin the workplace and it is the zeal, dedication and engagement of the employees to
invest their time through engaging themselves in the work. For this reason, employee expectations as well as
preferences are givenincreasedpriority to make the generation Y consumers highly engaged towards the job of
theorganisation. These employees are observed to indicate a tendency to change jobs in a frequent manner
because of lowered retention as well as engagement levels. The generation Y’s engagement is impacted by their
expectations and preferences in the workplace that is further impacted by distinct external forces like
globalisation, employment outsourcing, foreign investments as well as digital technologies explosion (Al-
Jahwari and Budhwar 2016). Generation Y is considered to be a highly educated generation that responds to
different management style, workplace environment along with the motivational techniques which has drastic
impact on their expectations and preference levels in the company. Due to a drastic increase in the retirement
rates of the Generation X, he generation Y is turned out to be the pool of talented employees entering the
corporate world having increasing workplace expectations (Aruna and Anitha 2015). The workplace attributes
related by the Generation Y in Oman is observed to be creativity, technologically updated, achievement
oriented, sociable, optimistic, high moral values, diverse, tenacity need for supervision along with support,
multitasking abilities as well as collective actions. The workplace value expectations of the generation Y
employees includes “Just Do it Attitude”, “LackLoyalty Genre” along with “Get Successful Quick Syndrome”
(Anitha and Aruna 2016). It has also been gathered that technology has revolutionised the expectations of these
employees in districtdimension. Considering same, the companies are in increased need to redevelop their
corporate culture and management in accordance with the preferences of these employees encouraging their
motivation to become future business leaders and innovators (Aruna and Anitha 2015).
1.2 Problem statement
Organisations and the managers of the companies in Oman are dealing with an increased challenge regarding
understanding of the nature of generation Y along with their expectations in order to transform the workplace
surroundings as per their preferences. For the reason that generation Y have distinct attitudes, behaviours and
ideals it is considered important by the companies of Oman to give a better value to their goals and expects
(Aruna and Anitha 2015). Generation Y in Oman is observed to enter the organisations with high demands,
various attitudes, increased expectations along with huge workplace benefit desires. Considering such research
problem, it is also considered by the companies of Oman to understand the millennialcharacteristics as it is
deemed to have an increasing impact on the companies’performance. Generation Y is deemed to be complex
individuals with several inconsistencies. They are also observed to be technologicallysavvy and highly creative
and they are quite environmentallyconscious and mobile. Their complex expectations from the companies in
Oman are gathered to include instant rewards along with demanding their career development for the long term
(Bilgihan 2016). This generation faces several challenges along with meaningful alignments which are meant
for self-development rather than the lifetime development. Conversely, these employees also seek to constantly
look for opportunities along with learning and nurturing themselves in a professional manner to get on fast tract
leadership programs. They are also observed to have complex preferences such as portable career, professional
satisfaction, increased personal flexibility degrees and always looking for continuous learning such as change.
These characteristics strengthen the perception that the generation Y is high maintenance and alignwith that
they have necessary knowledge and skills that helps them in their professional life (Buang, Hemdi and
Hanafiah 2016). Conversely, as result of development of self-esteem and positive strengthening that helps them
in assertion constructive criticism and managing conflict. The generation Y looks for attaining a development
experience and they have the expectations to feel secure focused on which the companies in Oman are observed
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to struggle in harnessing training and development as an employee retention tool. Organisations in the nation
are also making increased attempts in investing huge amounts in the development programs where there is also
an indication that these programs might not be beneficial for the employer in meeting needs and expectations of
generation Y (Cozon et al. 2018).
In the current management field within any industry in Oman, human resource management is among the
highly complex as well as challenging management field as it deals with the people aspect in the business
management. The HR policies as well as culture is considered to attain alignment that supports valuable
workers like generation Y. Employers are gathered to make investments of a huge amount on employees so that
they can develop their skills along with capacity to address competitive expectations of the employee market.
The companies in Oman are dealing with issues of high employee turnover as individual employees have
certain preferences in return from the companies in the form of remuneration as well as in the form of
development and growth (Damayanti, Yahya and Tan 2019). The major challenge for the managers is signified
to be regarding expected leadership style along with favourite leaders. The managers in the organisations of
Oman face generationaldifferences as a genuine diversity issue which is necessary to be recognised by the
companies and such issue must also be addressed in the development of the recent and future leaders (Aruna
and Anitha 2015). It has also been observed that the learning styles of generation Y is greatly motivated by
despite to improve the professional skills along with marketability to future employers. For the generation Y
employees with various processions it has turned out to be important aspect of their overall remuneration
package. Companies in Oman are also facingdifficulties in realising that generation Y have expectations and
preferences that are highly different from that of the older generation of employees (Dhir and Shukla 2018).
Considering such identifiedresearch problem the workplace environment in the companies of Oman must take
into consideration the need to remain reorganised in order to attain maximum work output from these
employees. With increasing expectations and preferences of the generation Y employees, it also gives rise to
growth and the new opportunities for the companies of Oman because of their varying values, needs,
perspectives, priorities and work ethics among this generation staff (Aruna and Anitha 2015).
It has also been evidenced through observing the generational differences in these companies of Oman that has
attainedincreased attention with time. In the situation of different generations attitude, communication gap
along with distinct work expectations are certain common matters existing within the organisations in the
nation (Galetić, Klindžić and Načinović Braje 2016). These concerns resulted on the previous reasechers to
start focusing on studying the characteristicsof the generation Y in companies of Oman. Generation Y
employees are tech savvy and have an increasedexpectations regarding changing technologiesused in
companies to support their work. It has been gathered that in terms of promotion and growth here is a
considerable difference been the generation Y and the older generations and theirexpectations are quite
different regarding outlook of life based on which the companies of Oman are dealing with issues concerned
with developing effective human resource strategies. Considering suchresearch problem it is important for the
managers of the companies in Oman to understand the value differences among the different members of
generating Y working within the managerial and non-managerial positions within the workplace (Gupta and
Goyal 2018). It is also important for these companies to realise the gap in the organisational culture in fulfilling
employees’ expectations and preferences that can result in misunderstanding and conflict in the workplace. In
addition, employee productivity can also decrease eventually affecting the financial performance of the
organisations (Aruna and Anitha 2015). In such situation understand the workplace preferences and
expectations of can facilitate the human resource employees to develop effective strategies in managing,
recruiting and retaining talented workforce. Focussing on the researchproblem, it can also be deduced by the
employers in Oman to match these generations’ expectations and personal development aligning with the
organisational values (Hemdi, Buang and Saidmamatov 2018). This is for the reason that some benefits that
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generation Y expects from their employers are focussed on retirement investments along with workplace
culture matching the employee values.
Millennials globally has remained a subject of significant discussion in management literature and practice as
one of the most critical area of research in today’s market particularly, as organizations are currently facing the
challenges of attracting and retaining talented workers, mainly the younger generation (Brian, 2012). A study
by Korn Ferry (2018) shows that by 2030, the demand for skilled workers will outstrip supply, which will result
in a global talent shortage of more than $85.2 million and the financial impact could reach $8.452 trillion in
unrealized annual revenue by 2030 equivalent to the GDP of Germany and Japan (Korn Ferry, 2018). As the
baby boomers generation are retiring in large numbers and there are insufficient pool from the generation X
available in the workforce to fill in the gaps (Harry, 2017). By 2025, an estimated 75 percent of the workforce
will be comprised of Millennials as Generation X managers retire (Cheryl, 2016). In view of this,The Global
Retirement Index (2018) asserted that the retirement is driven by demographics and that people who are closer
to retirement aged 65 represent 17.5% of the population in the developed countries, and this figure will increase
to 26.6% by 2050.Hence, the workforce and different generations changing rapidly, with the number of
generation Y employees expected to outstrip the number of baby boomers by 2019 (Fry, 2015). Thus, the
millennials they will consist of almost half of the total working populations in 2020 (Pollak, 2015). Thus, there
is need for more understanding about generational changes particularly in professional career development as it
plays a vital role in recruitment and retention (Richard, 2008). Particularly, understanding the expectations of
millennials is crucial particularly as the workforce is increasingly changing. Studies have showed that “The
Association for Talent Development’s State organizations” spent approximately $164.2 billion in 2012 on
employee training and development without paying close attention to the demographic changes and these
resulted to ineffectiveness of these trainings (MacSweeney, 2012; Robinson & Stubberud, 2012) and
dissatisfaction from the millennials (Thompson, 2012) which ultimately lead to demotivation, turnover, and low
productivity.Hence, researches on generation Y related to their career attitudes to provide clarity and
understanding on their expectations, what they can bring to the workplace, and how they are different from
previous generations is highly recommended (Brown 2013). A study by Deloitte (2019) also argued that there is
clear disconnection between employers and millennials on the business role with regards developing talent for
the fourth industrial revolution.
Furthermore, looking at the gulf region, particularly Oman population consist around 4.4 million, whereby
Omanis around 55% while the expat consist of 45% (National Center for Statistics and Information, 2016).
However, the millennials aged (18 – 29) consist of 27.6% (69.1% male, and 30.9% female) which shows that
there are potential in the future for more jobs in comparison to the percentages of expats (National Center for
Statistics and Information, 2016). Besides, in the Oman labor marketexpats consist approximately 81% while
the Omani millennials consist of 29.1% only and the biggest approximately 69.6% are millennials workers.
These call for questioning about the future of work particularly the millennials in Oman. Even as yearly on
average 44,000 of job seekers who graduated from the colleges and universities are entry the labour market
(National Statistics Center for Information, 2018). Unemployment rate (3.7%) of the millennials is becoming
another issue of concerned in Oman labour market (National Statistics Center for Information, 2018).This will
drive the need to think deeply on attracting, recruiting, and retaining the millennials in the workplace (Fry,
2015; Pew Research Center, 2015). Millennials should be considered in all the future decisions and workplace
aspects to ensure the business moves successfully (Caraher, 2015; Saiidi, 2014).It is crucial to start exploring
and understanding the expectations and preferences of Gen Y, understanding the significant difference of Gen
Y to other generations (Markus, 2016).
Despite this, most of the researches on millennials focused on developed countries such as America, Germany
France and other developed countries, even though Generational changes may possibly be the same globally,
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empirical work on millennials among Gulf countries particularly Oil and Gas in Oman has not be
considered,knowing the significant contribution of this industry to the economic development of Oman.
Besides, even though studies on Millennials are widespread in developed countries most of these studies were
conducted mainly in education sector in developed countries. However, not much attention has been given to
Oil and Gas. As such, researchers called for the expansion of millennials researches to monitor their
expectations and how they adjust it based on the economic conditions (Eddy et al, 2010). Moreover, hardly had
any empirical research on Millennials that have resulted to a framework that can be applied in different setting.
Hence, studies on the Millennial are completely important because understanding the preference, expectation
of the millennials will help organization to achieve the desired organizational goals and subsequent high
performance achievement.Notwithstanding this paradigm, studies have also demonstrated insignificant result
between Millennial and competitive advantage of the organizational (Brian, 2012). However, the present study
is not aware of any empirical study particularly within the Gulf environment that has examined the relationship
between work life balance, technology development, expectation and preference, engagement and retention on
the millennials. Apart from the above, these relationships within the gulf context are yet to be known most
probably because the concept is relatively new. Consequently, this study will address this gap.
This dissertation seeks to examine the expectations of generation Y in the Omani labour market concerning
their viewpoints, job experience and expectations, and their preferences. Through this study, a proposal of the
way to manage and engage with generation Y in the workplace and how to shift the mindset of today’s work
environment culture and leadership to deal with them. Thus, the research objective is:
1.3 Research objective:
Very few studies been conducted in the field of Generation Y particularly in Oman to see their preferences and
expectations. This study will examine the Generation Y (millennial) their preferences and expectations in the
workplace. Specifically, the following are the research objectives for this study:
 To examine the impact of technology development on Gen Y and its effect on their performance.
 To examine the preferences of generation Y in the workplace.
 To examine the expectation of Gen Y on Work life balance.
 To identify ways on how to engage and retain generation Y.
1.4 Research Questions:
1. What is the impact of technological development on Gen Y and its effect on their performance?
2. What are the preferences of Gen Y in the workplace?
3. What are the expectations of Gen Y for work–life balance?
4. What are the ways to engage and retain Generation Y?
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