Communication and Values of Generation X in the Workplace

This report provides an in-depth analysis of Generation X, focusing on their communication styles, work values, and key characteristics. It examines their preference for face-to-face and email communication, highlighting their need for feedback and emphasis on work-life balance. The report explores their values, including independence, responsibility, and entrepreneurial spirit, while also acknowledging their impatience and lack of loyalty to employers. It further delves into the characteristics of Generation X, such as their adaptability, comfort with technology, and preference for hands-off management. The report concludes by summarizing the positive and negative traits associated with Generation X and their impact on the workplace, referencing various studies and research papers to support its findings.

Management Communication
1

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................3
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Body.................................................................................................................................................4
Communication styles used by Generation X.............................................................................4
Values and attitudes towards work by generation x....................................................................4
Characteristics of Generation X...................................................................................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................8
2

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Generation X is believed to be as one of the most influential generations of all time and
in that period of time, the world really bloomed into a better one. These are the people who
started much business at that time because of their entrepreneurial spirit and are living the good
life today due to their success.
It is understood that the communication that is used by these people is either e-mail or
face to face communication. This type of communication helped them to understand each other
better but affected the communication in the organization low because it is slow. In terms of
values, these people are very responsible and properly maintained the work-life balance with
family, friends and at the workplace. People are independent and there is no greed of money
which helped them to grow a lot in life.
However, there are some negative traits also like these people are very impatience and
wanted to get the answer all their queries as soon as possible. Also, these people are not loyal
towards their employers and leave the companies a lot.
3

INTRODUCTION
The generation X in the words of Henseler (2012) is called as the demographic cohort
followed by the baby boomers and preceded by the Millennials. The present report is created in
order to understand the manner in which the communication is used by these people, the values
and attitude these people have towards the workplace and also the strength and weakness that
helped these people to go ahead or lag behind.
BODY
Communication styles used by Generation X
According to Krahn and Galambos, (2014) the communication styles used by the
different generation styles are vast and every one of them succeeded in that. Generation X is not
afraid of the technology and love of new gadgets. Communication at that time is very short and
to the point, and e-mails are the preferred methods. These people strive for feedbacks from their
managers and offer feedback in return. These people get offended easily if left out of the
conversation and each of the days of these people included communication time with family or
friends in order to make sure that they are able to handle the balance between work and life. This
particular generation rose in the era when there is no smart phones, social media and for these
people computer is the new technology. The modes of communication are limited to landlines or
letter which brought back the art of writing.
These people believe in face to face communication as studied by Gurău, (2012) because
it allow them to understand each other far better while looking at each other’s eye. This
generation has the love-hate relationships with e-mail, use it the most, but still complain that it is
ruling their lives. Their complaint is that the e-mails communicate everything, including things
which are not good for sharing and collaboration on documents.
Values and attitudes towards work by generation x
As per Acar, (2014) are are many values attributed by the generation X and out of them,
the biggest one is that these people have great balance between work and life balance. These
people are freer, do their own work compared to all the previous generations. It is also
understood that these people are not overly loyal to their employees but they have great
4

connections with friends and family. At the workplace, they value regular learning which make
them technically skilled. The result provided by them as noticed by Henseler, (2012) are very
much focused and are ruled by the sense of accomplishments and not the clock.
These people are straight and naturally, questions authorities figured and also not
intimidated by them. Money is not the motivator for these people but the absence of money did
de-motivate some people. These people are very anxious to receive feedbacks and are adaptable
towards change while preferring the flexible schedules as studied by Taylor and Gao, (2014).
These people also have the ability to tolerate the work as long as doing it is fun and
knowledgeable. One of the biggest characteristics of these people is that they have the
entrepreneurial spirit and are very creative. Most of the people focused on their own work and
today they are running a successful business all around. Although these people are individualistic
still they preferred teamwork more than boomers.
In terms of attitude towards the work, Generation X is labelled the ‘slacker’ generation
and employees said that juniors are not forwards the job and work only when they are needed.
However, Yu, Liu, Zhou, Yin, Li, Huang and Duan, (2013) argued that the study conducted by
him revealed that the generation X are the most hardworking employees and have the strong
work ethics, being most helpful, skilled and problem solver. These people have the sense and
value the relationships with their colleagues when the colleague is their friend. Graybill, (2014)
understood that these people presumed the changing jobs as a method to move ahead in career.
Generation X believed that having connection with an employer will not give the gurantee of job
as they saw their parents being removed from the jobs even being loyal towards the employers.
At the workplace, generation X cribs about the manager that does not approve their ideas and do
it because I said so behaviour. These people believed in learning different types of skills on the
job while the majority of them believed in soft skills.
Characteristics of Generation X
Generation X came from the era when there are two earning member in the family,
relationships are not successful and economy is down. However, they entered the workforce
during the economy when it is rising a bit as stated by Scheck, (2012). Generation X is self
dependent and the one who value self reliance and responsibilities in the workplace. Many
people from this age displayed casual delectation from the authorities and structured time
5

boundless at workplace. They never liked being micro-managed and preferred hands-off
management philosophy.
This age reflect the change from the production company to the service work as the
earlier generations are raised with computes new technologies that are completely merged into
their lives. These people are comfortable with new technology and preferred learning them in the
workplace. Serghie, (2014) also noticed that these people aged through economic downtown in
the late 1980s and witnessed their workaholic parents lose their jobs which made them less
committed towards the single employer. They are ready to change jobs and because of that got
very ahead of the previous generations. They are very adaptable to change and also tolerant of
the alternative lifestyles. From their characteristics, it is seen that they are keen to develop new
skills but in their own manner and rules.
Bliese, (2013) added that this generation work to live rather than living for work and due
to that they doubled their debts by the year 2010. These people appreciat fun at the workplace
and espouse work hard and fun hard mentality which also forced the managers too often
incorporate humour and games into the workplace.
Viitanen, (2014) stated that with all these strengths, these people also possessed some
weaknesses which affected everyone around them. First weakness is that these people are
completely impatient and preferred the quick responses from the workers and also from the
managers. Delayed response from the people usually frustrates them which created some
uncomfortable situations at workplace. These people also lacked attention towards detail and
work in their own behaviour and style. They have their own way of working and if anyone
interrupt in that, it becomes difficult to handle them. It is a fact that, each and every project has
its own needs and modifications but these people did not focus on those needs and did the work
as they did earlier with same projects.
MAa, (2014) also added that there is no loyalty in these people towards their employers
and believed in job-hopping in order to increase their career. These people worked hard in their
job but did not remained stick to one place and are always looking to get the better opportunities
with the other companies. It really hampers the organizations in which they are working as
continuous changes affected the work and position given to them. One more weakness related to
these people is the poor communication as these people believed in a face-to-face talk. Due to
6

this behaviour, the flow of communication in the company is very poor and also these people are
not having positive attitudes towards e-mail too.
CONCLUSION
The present study is done in order to know the behaviour traits, values and characteristics
that generation X possessed and the ways in which it affected their work life. It is analyzed that
these people believed in face-to-face communications and liked to have and give feedbacks as
soon as possible. They have the great working knowledge, commitment towards work, family
and friends. They work hard and are keen to look for opportunities always. However, with all
these positive traits, they have some negative traits too like no loyalty towards the work, poor
communication, impatience, etc.
7

REFERENCES
Acar, A.B., 2014. Do intrinsic and extrinsic motivation factors differ for Generation X and
Generation Y. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 5(5), pp.12-20.
Bliese, R.H., 2013. Signs of the Times: Generation Theory and Ministry to Today’s Youth. New
Theology Review, 12(4).
Graybill, J.O., 2014. Millennials among the professional workforce in academic libraries: Their
perspective on leadership. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 40(1), pp.10-15.
Gurău, C., 2012. A life-stage analysis of consumer loyalty profile: comparing Generation X and
Millennial consumers. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 29(2), pp.103-113.
Henseler, C. ed., 2012. Generation X goes global: Mapping a youth culture in motion.
Routledge.
Krahn, H.J. and Galambos, N.L., 2014. Work values and beliefs of ‘Generation X’and
‘Generation Y’. Journal of Youth Studies, 17(1), pp.92-112.
MAa, O.W., 2014. Technology generations revisited: The internet generation. Sage.
Scheck, M., 2012. Training and management of pilots across generations. International Journal
of Business and Social Science, 3(3).
Serghie, D., 2014. Context and diversity in the collaborative structure. Network Intelligence
Studies, 2(1), pp.95-102.
Taylor, P. and Gao, G., 2014. Generation X: America’s neglected ‘middle child.’. Pew Research
Center, 5.
Viitanen, T.K., 2014. The divorce revolution and generalized trust: Evidence from the United
States 1973–2010. International Review of Law and Economics, 38, pp.25-32.
Yu, W.J., Liu, Y., Zhou, H., Yin, A., Li, Z., Huang, Y. and Duan, X., 2013. Highly efficient
gate-tunable photocurrent generation in vertical heterostructures of layered materials. Nature
Nanotechnology, 8(12), pp.952-958.
8