BY ANTONY MUTUNGA
Imagine yourself starting a new company with new employees. To be able to effectively bring out the full potentials of every employee, you will have to understand the different generations, which will help you identify how best to handle each one of the employees. Every generation has its own set of qualities; one is required to understand them so as to know how to respond to them.
There are different generations, defined according to the difference in their years. According to Tom Brokaw, an American television journalist and author, there was the greatest generation that was formed by people born between the late 1901 and 1927. The silent generation was next and it included people who were born between 1928 and 1945.
Some education centres, including the Harvard Centre came up with names for a few other generations that included the baby boomers and generation X. With baby boomers including those born between 1946 to around 1964 while generation X, also known as the generation Xers, included those from 1965 to early 1980s.
This brought Strauss and Howe generational theory by William Strauss and Neil Howe to name another generation, Millennials (generation Y) for the people born between early 1980s and 2004. After this establishment the generation Z came up too which Howe in his own brand name, he called the homeland generation, which is comprised of people born and those that will be born between 2005 and 2025.
The world population, according to a report done by the U.S Census Bureau in 2015 is made up of almost 2 billion millennials, making them the largest generation. As the generations keep coming up, three generations stick out as a sore thumb due to the emergence of the generation wars. The war, which is between generation X, Y and baby boomers, is just an argument following the need to answer the question, which of the three is the best generation?
Baby boomers are the oldest generation in the generation wars. The baby boomers are referred to as the generation of opportunity and optimism as they were born at a time when there were a lot of opportunities. This generation is filled with more experience for being in the job sector for a longer time than the rest of the two generations although they seem to be part of the team more than they are leaders.
Most of the people in this generation are willing to put in long hours at their organisations to complete their duties on time, which makes them reliable in the eyes of their authority figures. Most baby boomers are not considered as leaders, although they are usually treated with respect by their managers and their contributions are highly regarded. Even so, being respectful members, they do have a problem when it comes to the change from work to retirement as most have not prepared adequately for life after work. They tend to be more focussed on work than life.
They can also be identified as team players that want to be valued in the organization due to their work ethic rather than their skills. The baby boomers are not all good, as they tend to feel pride as a result of their experience whereby some feel their more superior to the other two generations. According to a report done by Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission (EACC) and Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, the baby boomers in Kenya made up the largest number of people that paid off a bribe for a particular service in 2015.
Sally Mbithi, 55, says, “As I grew up, opportunity was there smiling at me and it was a simpler time when all I had to do was reach out and take it.”
Opportunity was in plenty when baby boomers were coming up as it was then that most of the industries were growing. “Through the years I have learnt a lot of different skills in my field, as time has enabled me to be an expert and taught me the key to succeed in an organisation is team work,” she adds.
As the baby boomers were working the generation, what they in succeeded was raising the next generation to take over from them, the generation X. Generation Xers, as named by photographer Robert Capa in early 1950s, being the middle generation between these three, it has been the least spoken for due to being a smaller generation, and they tend to be like the forgotten middle child in a family.
Generation Xers treat their managers as experts whereby they see them as having worked hard to earn their positions and thus they limit their access to their leaders. They believe that access to their managers needs to be earned. They also normally prefer the independent life, thus the reason why managers tend to give them space to be entrepreneurial. This freedom leads to better decision-making and also it encourages the generation to take on reasonable risks, which are able to generate revenues.
The generation can be said to be diverse. They normally also lack organizational loyalty as their first priority is usually their success. Although, their self-reliance is an advantage at times, it makes them the dark horse in the organization. Managers need to give them a voice in the workplace so as to try and get them to commit and work towards the objectives of the firm by ensuring their ideas are taken into consideration and by removing bureaucracy.
Most of the people who are in generation X feel like they are stalled in the workplace thus they need managers to give them the opportunity to grow through investing in their development. The generation is also clearly known for bringing about balance between work and life, therefore, to have them commit to the business the managers can make up schedules to creatively give ample time for both work and life.
Even though being an excellent workforce in the workplace, it is considered that almost half of generation Xers don’t at all feel financially secure as they claim their wages are not enough to cater completely for their family needs and wants. Most of the generation is also at fault for lacking people skills due to their independent lifestyle.
Mr. Douglas Wanyama, 43, who works in an advocate’s office said, “Being a part of my generation has been both a curse and a blessing as am happy to be where I am right now career wise but our generation has no voice making it very hard to make it to the top seat in an organization.”
As the generation Xers complained about having no voice in the world, their nightmare was just getting worse with the emergence of the millennials. Millennials, who have baby boomers and some generation Xers as parents have grown up being nurtured and protected, being taught that patriotism is the ultimate good. They are considered as high maintenance but social experts agree that millennials have more potential compared to all other generations.
Millennials tend to be interested in a forward approach in the workplace where they can have open interaction with the authority. Ann Wekesa, 22, says, “In my workplace, I have complete freedom to go up to the authority figure when I have a question or an idea to put across, and most likely if it was any different I would be unmotivated to do my duties.”
The generation is considered the most educated hence they tend to be more outspoken as they were influenced mostly by baby boomers to always speak their minds and give out their opinions. Millennials, due to the need to keep learning and dissatisfaction they tend to change jobs more frequently. This is brought about by their need to want to be challenged in the workplace. Managers usually share possible career paths openly in order to keep them committed.
Millennials are mostly concerned more on life than work as they tend to work according to the projects they have other than work hours. In a scenario where they end up finishing up work before their work hours are over they prefer to leave than stay till their work hours are done. Managers tend to work on a project basis with millennials than a time basis as it creates a good working environment that benefits both the millennials and the organization.
Millennials although, are not all perfect as they tend to be impatient at times and lack enough experience to go with their educated minds. The fact that they are outspoken is also a problem for some especially generation X managers who feel that they should earn the right to speak out their opinions first to their authority figures.
Managers need to encourage that the different generations in the workplace interact and learn from each other so that they can create a work environment whereby they can turn each other’s weaknesses into strengths. The generations should as well share each other’s perceptions in order to ensure they better understand each other.
Although as the three generations fight for supremacy in the generation wars that are being brewed in the dark, it is evident they may just be surpassed by the generation Z. The new generation with some of its noticeable extremes and differences could help hiring managers, marketers, leaders, and parents better connect with the emerging generation and thrive for a better tomorrow than the last three generations. As John C. Maxwell said, “Change is inevitable…”
