How different generations cooperate at workplace?
Let's take a step back for a moment and remember the young days from the school desks. It was an innocent period full of anecdotes and memories that will remain engraved for a lifetime. Together with our colleagues, we grew up, experienced our first crushes, experienced our first dates and together faced everything that the world of that time had to offer.
In the meantime, years have passed, everyone has gone on their own individual path, but what shaped us and made us the people we are today were the characteristics of a time that we processed individually and in our own unique way. In short - we were a generation, and we always felt a special kind of closeness to people who were born in the same year as us.
Although in school terminology the term generation means people born in the same year, or in a broader context people who attended the same class together, the time frame is quite flexible and open to interpretation when it comes to the term itself.
The term "generation" can also be defined as a set of all persons born at the same time, who live in the same time period and are participants in global principles that take place in a certain range. For example, Notter defines a generation as "a group of people determined by years or persons who were born during a certain period, grew up in a similar way and had similar experiences, and their values and attitudes are similar".
It can also be described as an average period roughly considered to be a span of thirty years, during which children are born and grow up, become adults and start having children of their own.
As we can see, generation is subject to many interpretations, starting from the school understanding and ending with a much broader synonym for a time interval of a certain zeitgeist and its influence on the social sphere of a certain generation. The term "social generations" is widely used in the popular topic of the Western cultural hemisphere and is the basis for many sociological analyses.
Serious analysis of generations began in the 19th century arising from the growing awareness of the possibility of constant social change and the idea of youthful rebellion against the established social order. Some analysts believe that generation is one of the fundamental social categories in society, while others downplay its importance emphasizing the decisiveness of other factors such as social class, gender, race, education and others.
Although over time there are more and more divisions within the very concept of generations, the general consensus is that 4 dominant categories of generations prevail in the entire topic.
In this text, we deliberately omitted Generation Z, the respective persons born between 1995 and 2012, since their entry into the labor market is still at a relatively early stage and the establishment of crucial characteristics is in the process of creation. So let's see how today's workforce, with its attitude towards work and the world, affects the social and political situation in the communities within which it operates.
Traditionalists or the "Silent Generation"
The category of traditionalists includes all people born in 1945 or before, which means that individuals born in that time period experienced a couple of monumental events in human history that greatly left their mark and influenced the mental flow of the mentioned generation. By this, we primarily mean the two world wars and the great depression in the first half of the 20th century, which arose between global conflicts, and whose impact strongly influenced the flow of thought, the value system, and the understanding of the world in general. Living, growing up and working in times of economic deprivation, high unemployment and global conflicts logically changes a person's character, aspirations and list of life priorities. Therefore, it is not surprising that traditionalists are often called the "silent generation", since according to modern criteria their personality is perceived as submissive or at least quiet, which means that their value system is based on respect for authority, loyalty, stability, security , consistency and commitment to one's own principles and goals.
The Silent Generation brought the strong work ethic of their parents to the factories of industrial society. Thus, in a business sense, traditionalists valued their relationship with colleagues and partners more than anything else; they valued honor and fulfilling their promises as much as possible. Those were the times when a handshake meant a guaranteed job and implied adherence to agreed terms. From today's perspective, the mentioned modus operandi is anything but standard, but the fact that such a business model was considered dominant in a certain era speaks of a certain amount of uncorruption, even innocence. Most people think of our grandparents, whom we often like to call "old-fashioned", but the fact is that people who have experienced all kinds of adversity throughout life simply appreciate even the smallest things that they don't take for granted. Traditionalists will also avoid causing trouble and are good team players – of all generations they are the least likely to initiate conflict at work. They believe that work is a privilege, and such an attitude has proven to be a winning combination. Traditionalists, who are considered the richest generation, prove that there are no shortcuts on the way to success - hard work, persistence and commitment are the only way to reap business fruits, and this is exactly what characterized the business doctrine of an entire generation.
They are unlikely to change jobs unless forced to, and in general there is a strong tendency to resist change. This is especially evident when using modern technology, which can be a problem for them, but over time even the most resistant individuals are overcome by the benefits of modern achievements, so lately more and more members of this social cohort are successfully using e-mail, Facebook and other social media. Although today they successfully master computers, tablets and smartphones, they still prefer human interaction for their daily entertainment, which also makes them special in this respect due to the great technology that is taking place simultaneously. Recognizing commitment is one of the key characteristics and motives of this group. Traditionalists love it when their work is noticed to such an extent that they would rather choose praise from colleagues and superiors than a financial bonus or material benefit. This group really perceives their work as (or rather used to perceive it, since only a few exceptions are still in a random relationship) family, which explains the enormous role of team effort and giving importance to the feeling of the collective. Traditionalists exclusively believe in success through hard work – countless hours of hard work and overtime led to their upward trajectory in business, which they believe is the path everyone should follow and the way the world should work.
Unlike the upcoming generations, most traditionalists have stayed with one and the same employer throughout their working life. Once secured, they perceived the workplace as a predetermination and not just a stopover on the way to a better career, but in return they expect the same level of loyalty. These senior members of society hold three-quarters of the nation's wealth and are the CEOs of some of the most famous and influential companies in America. Most organizations have a member of the silent generation as the chairman of the supervisory board, who sets the tone of the corporate culture and is ultimately responsible for the strategic direction of the business. The traditional generation also gave birth to the first true innovators. They are responsible for the development of today's space program, the creation of vaccines for many diseases including tuberculosis and tetanus. They laid the foundations of today's technological environment, moving families from farms and cities to a new kind of suburban communities. This generation was also the first to strive for equality through the civil rights movement.
Baby Boomers
After the end of the Second World War, the birth rate throughout the Western Hemisphere experienced a veritable explosion; more children were born in 1946 than ever before! It was the beginning of the so-called The "baby boom" generation, which made up almost 40% of the total population, experienced its numerical rise until 1964, when the growth trend spontaneously stopped. What explains this sudden baby boom? Some argued that it was the result of a desire for normality and a peaceful life after 16 years of depression and war. Others argued that it was part of a Cold War campaign to fight communism by overcounting the population with a targeted birth rate.
The real reason, however, is probably based on more logical facts and understandable personal motives. The elderly population, which delayed the arrival of new arrivals during the Great Depression and the Second World War, now finally had an opportune moment to start a family and open a new page in life. Most people in the post-war period were inspired by a new phase of life and filled with optimism that the future would finally bring comfort and prosperity. In many ways they were right: Corporations were growing, becoming bigger and more profitable, unions were offering generous wages and benefits to their members, and consumer goods were more plentiful and affordable than ever before. As a result, many felt confident that they could provide their families with all the material things they were deprived of and had to create themselves in turbulent times. A parallel can be drawn as the rate of demographic explosion followed the post-war economic growth, thus once again confirming the thesis that the birth rate factor is closely related to the economic issue itself.
With increased educational, financial and social opportunities, boomers are often portrayed as a generation of optimism, exploration and achievement. Compared to previous generations, more young people have attended higher education institutions or moved away from their families to pursue careers and educational interests. During the late 1940s and early 1950s, postwar optimism continued and fostered a sense of stability, opportunity, and prosperity—values that at the time were usually reserved for members of the middle class. This was the dawn of space exploration, mass transportation, and much-desired prosperity for many citizens of Western civilization. However, with the growing racial tensions in the USA, the Vietnam War, the peace movement of the sixties as well as the mass emergence of self-actualization, the collective identity of the boomer generation became more complex. Although social and economic equality was experiencing its historical record, conflicting views were also piling up regarding many social consensuses, starting with state policy, through attitudes towards war, and other social stumbling blocks, of which the Women's Movement and the Civil Rights Movement stand out.
The face of the workplace thus began to reflect political and social changes and evolve from a fairly racially homogenous, paternalistic environment to a tolerant environment of increased racial and gender diversity. Soon, the critical terms "glass ceiling" (a metaphor used for an invisible barrier that prevents a specific demographic group from advancing above a certain level in the hierarchy) and "equal opportunity workplace" emerged, advocating for social justice and the suppression of discrimination of all kinds.
In addition to the clarified picture of the world of the period in question, the characteristics of the generation that worked within such an environment work quite logically. Business-oriented baby boomers are thus extremely hard-working and motivated by position, achievements and prestige, invest in long work weeks and identify themselves through their professional achievements.
Having sacrificed a lot to be where they are today in their careers, this workaholic generation absolutely embraces and embraces the overtime culture and believes that younger generations lack work ethic and dedication to the work process, which is why they often tend to criticize others. They are confident, independent and self-aware. Having grown up in an era of reforms and tectonic social changes, this generation believes that it can change the world, and is therefore the first generation that questioned the role of authority and opposed concrete measures that it judged to be not good. In the workplace, baby boomers are not afraid of conflict and will not hesitate to challenge established practices if they feel they are not fair or productive, both for the individual and for the social order in general.
With significantly greater educational and financial opportunities compared to previous generations, baby boomers are results-oriented and dedicated and career-oriented. They welcome exciting, challenging projects and strive to create a professional edge that will set them apart from the rest of the candidates on their way up.
As they build their self-confidence on the basis of business success, they are very competitive, shrewd, resourceful and strive to win at almost every opportunity. Boomers believe in hierarchical structure and ranking and find it difficult to adapt to trends in flexibility and other characteristics of the modern labor market. Atypical forms of work, remote work or anything outside the framework of the classic business model in them causes suspicion and an underestimating tone against alternative organization systems.
Because they grew up in a time of middle-class wealth, this generation had the luxury of time and energy for self-actualization, and the traditional values of conformism and loyalty began to gradually disintegrate. For baby boomers, work represented a means of self-fulfillment and self-expression, an affinity for hierarchical management, and the pursuit of structural justice and equal opportunity for all.
Generation X
Generation X, often called the "middle child" generation, includes people born between 1965 and 1980. This generation marks the period of declining birth rates after the enormous baby boom of the previous social cohort and is significantly smaller in number than past and upcoming generations. However, it is expected that by 2028 they will outnumber the baby boomers – people born between 1946 and 1964.
While the baby boomers grew up in a time full of optimism, collective economic and social ascent, and the feeling that the best was yet to come, Generation X was forced to grow up faster than any other generation. Equally, while baby boomers knew the future was theirs for the taking, Generation X felt it was given to their parents and older relatives, and that theirs was unattractive and somewhat disappointing. Members of this generation grew up in an era of new technologies and political and institutional incompetence, of which Watergate and the Iran-Contra affair are just some examples that collectively influenced the formation of a generation.
Machines were massively improved, fax machines now copied a page in just a few seconds compared to the previous 30 minutes, and cumbersome adding machines were replaced by hand-held calculators. While computers occupied a space the size of a building during the silent generation, and a space the size of a room during the baby boomer era, in the meantime they have become a much more practical solution in the form of a desktop device. Generation X spent less time with their parents than previous generations of children.
While their parents worked traditional eight-hour shifts, they usually stayed at home taking care of themselves and their siblings, taking responsibility from a young age. With the liberalization of society and the change of the ethical paradigm, women are joining the workforce in large numbers - the family is becoming a community with two incomes, the divorce rate is rising sharply, and as a result of everything, generation X is becoming independent, resourceful and self-sufficient, and in general it can be said that it is not spoiled today perspectives of old-fashioned education.
The member of Generation X knew that his parents were not perfect, that they were prone to mistakes, and he often saw them as older friends. Psychological autonomy and self-reliance, rather than respect for authority, was a natural by-product of Generation X's childhood. Having nurtured and developed independence from early childhood, this generation was able to turn it into a strategic advantage to advance in their professional careers.
Just as Generation X was about to enter the labor market to mark the world, the economic downturn occurred in the late 1980s. Suddenly the future seemed gray and cluttered; competition for jobs became enormous, job security became more and more unstable - the "American dream" faded more and more and lost its power as time went on.
For the first time in history, a generation realized that it would not be able to replicate and qualitatively improve the lifestyle of its parents. Colloquially called the "boomerang generation", many members of this generation were forced to return home and live together with their parents in their late twenties. The mentality of Generation X reflects the shift from the manufacturing sector of the economy to the service economy. As the first generation to grow up with computers, technology is inextricably woven into their lives.
With the massive advancement of widely used technology and the gradual integration of automation into corporate purposes, flexibility and adaptability are becoming one of the more dominant features of the generation in question. Serving PDAs, smartphones, e-mail, laptops, tablets and other devices for this generation presents very few problems in the workplace.
Many members of Generation X lived through difficult economic times during the 80s of the last century and watched their hard-working parents lose their hard-earned job positions. As a result, they are generally less interested in a single employer and more inclined to change jobs to advance, which separates them from previous generations.
They cope well with changes and adapt to new situations and are generally tolerant of new phenomena and alternative concepts and ways of life. Generation X is extremely ambitious and wants to learn new skills that will create an advantage, but they like to make plans according to their own rules and terms. Unlike previous generations, Generation X works to live, not lives to work.
Since 2010, their assets are statistically twice as large as their debts. Compared to previous generations, whose assets were up to 30 times larger than their debts, the lifestyle of Generation X indicates a high degree of hedonism and orientation to the present.
Work hard / play hard thus became the motto of an entire generation which, in addition to holding the infamous record of the lowest percentage of voting in state elections of all generations, also breaks down the enviable statistics as the most educated generation with almost 30% of its members having a university bachelor's degree or higher. Does it all sound a bit contradictory? No wonder they are called the "lost generation".
Millennials
Members of Generation Y (also known as Gen Y or Millennials) were born between 1980 and 2000. The Census Bureau estimates that there are 83.1 million millennials in the U.S., and the Pew Research Center found that millennials have since surpassed baby boomers to become the largest living generation as of 2016. Technology is an indispensable component when we talk about millennials. The fact that they are exposed to advanced devices from an early age in the form of cable television, cell phones, pagers, laptops, consoles and video games fuels this generation's expectations in terms of multimedia, real-time communication and general technological immediacy.
While baby boomers predicted an optimistic future on the one hand, Generation X a pessimistic one on the other, millennials, due to global changes, utopian state of mind and terrorist attacks, questioned whether they would have a future at all. Marketing terms have become part of the workers' lexicon, and slogans like "Live for Today" and "Just Do It" quite precisely define this group of young workers' attitudes, beliefs and behavior, both in the way of life and in the business sphere. Parents of millennials, i.e. members of the baby boomer generation, made every effort to provide their children with maximum economic, educational and emotional opportunities in a rapidly growing market.
In addition to the globalization process, which was gaining momentum, there was also a change in the paradigm of education itself; measures of discipline and strict upbringing were replaced by the principle of motivation and encouragement of self-responsibility. Parents praised and rewarded their children for minimal efforts, creating a sense of specialness and thereby increasing the expectations of schools, the academic community, and social pressure in general. As a result, millennials expect a constant dose of recognition and rewards in order to feel important and maintain a high level of productivity, even though they often put in minimal effort on the other hand.
Since they are very close to their families, they often continue to live with their parents in later life, and upon entering the labor market, they often replace their need for recognition with authority or colleagues at work who provide them with the same amount of motivation. Millennials have witnessed their parents thrive in corporate organizations while balancing their personal and professional lives, but they have also seen them suddenly lose their jobs due to downsizing or reorganization due to recessionary periods.
For this generation, the very concept of work is temporary and unreliable. Since they are aware of market volatility and business instability, they do not perceive employers as committed to long-term employment, which leads to less interest and attachment to the workplace itself. In a certain sense, this generation is opportunistic and will change jobs according to their immediate desires, needs and goals. Millennials also spent their childhood playing in teams, they were taught that all people are equal and that a friend is never left in trouble. In a changing western demographic society where one in three colleagues is from various racial, cultural or ethnic affiliations, these qualities come to the fore. In general, it can be said that millennials prefer to work in teams rather than individually and easily accept diversity of all kinds.
The fast-paced lifestyle has led a large number of millennials to think over their list of life priorities and adjust them accordingly. Members of this generation are willing to trade high salaries for fewer working hours, flexible schedules, and thus a better work-life balance. Although older generations may see this attitude as egotistical, narcissistic or as an expression of a lack of commitment, discipline and motivation, millennials have a different understanding of the workplace and the business relationship in general.
The priority of the generation at the turn of the millennium thus falls on family values, and even if they have not yet started their own family, the time spent with brothers, sisters, cousins and nephews is equally important and valuable in their eyes. Millennials are self-confident, ambitious and results-oriented. They also have high expectations of their employers, seek new challenges at work and are not afraid to challenge authority.
Most of all, they strive for meaningful socially responsible work and the opportunity to acquire new knowledge and skills. They absolutely need feedback and guidance in business relationships and tend to be involved in almost all professional processes in order to gain a better impression and thus support and verify their personal beliefs.
They can greatly benefit from adequate mentoring that will help guide them and develop their talents, and for this task, practice has shown, baby boomers come as an ideal demographic group. Apart from the fact that they share common idealistic traits, the age difference between these two generations represents the optimal level for successful cooperation. Potential drawback i
Generations as a means of mutual understanding
The age of the individual is one of the most common predictors of differences in the attitudes and behavior of the target group. Age groups provide researchers with the opportunity to monitor changes in attitudes, characteristics and observations of a wider nominal group, but at the same time they also provide a way of understanding how different formative experiences correspond to the life cycle and the aging process itself. By understanding other generations and the context in which they live, by accepting the way of thinking and understanding the established patterns of behavior, we are able to bridge almost all differences and establish a better relationship.
The benefit gained by understanding mutual affinities, psychological tendencies and trends helps us create better communication from which all spheres, groups and institutions can profit; employers, advertisers, educators, politicians and family. Although these observations provide only a general overview of a group rather than an individual insight of a person, certain features are noticeable in almost all members of the category in question. Birkman International points out that "awareness is the first step to effectiveness", but this does not refer to the individual level of an individual's behavior and its impact on personal results.
By knowing about the life background of an individual person and the factors that led to the formation of the personality, we manage to overcome mutual proportions. By doing so, we become more accepted, more productive and more satisfied, and this is something we all strive for, regardless of which generation we belong to.
