Generational Differences: Challenges for the Organization - Coursework Example

Running Head: Generational Differences and Human Resource Management: Challenges for the Organization Generational Differences and Human Resource Management: Challenges for the Organization Introduction In today’s economy, organizational excellence is not only imperative but also difficult to cultivate in the wake of immense global competition. The only way that an organization can cultivate excellence in its work is through effective management of human resources. Therefore, the top question that each manager within the organization should focus on is how human resources need to be managed. Many organizations generally focus on the roles and positions that the organizational hierarchy has to offer. Filling up these roles and positions in the hierarchy may be helpful in achieving targets within the organization; however, the primary ideology for any organization should be to focus on the outcomes of the activities that need to be conducted. Organizations can move towards excellence through human resource management by way of enhancing execution of strategy through each level of management within the hierarchy. This achievement can only be made if the organization focuses on the right mix of people resources, utilizing them in an effective and efficient manner. Many challenges crop up when human resource management is involved. Some issues within an organization relate to diversity in which ethnic and gender diversity have been studied in immense detail (Barney, 1991).This particular paper tries to elaborate on age diversity and the problems associated with generational differences amongst employees. Human Resource Management Many researchers have emphasized on human resource management within organizations, however, it is well known through empirical research that activities related to human resource management are often disconnected from the real objectives within the organization. As a result, the true transformational role that human resource management is supposed to play within an organization is difficult to orchestrate. In most cases, it is the responsibility of the line management to evaluate the processes within the hierarchy and the outcomes that these processes are expected to achieve. In this context, human resource management can play a key role in enhancing the capabilities of the line management, towards management of processes as well as outcomes. The line management and human resources together face this ideology against tough challenges within the economy. These tough challenges include in the true sense, a paradigm shift due to time and technological advancements (Barney, 1991; Collin & Clark, 2003). In most cases, organizations, through effective human resource management, are expected to meet challenges which can include globalization and changing market dynamics. Each organization is now facing immense competition due to lack of geographical boundaries which has led to increasing competition amongst global organizations. Organizations are expected to hire and manage such resources that can help meet such a challenge. Other challenges include enhancing on the profitability of the organization through such innovation and creativity that can help develop a comparative advantage for the company. The right mix of human resources can be effective in building such comparative advantages when the resources are able to utilize their skill sets to cultivate innovation and creativity. There are several challenges within the organization that human resources management has to meet, in order to enhance the organizational profitability and improve growth. However, human resource management in itself can face several challenges, some of which include diversity problems. Diversity is an issue that needs to be cultivated within the organization in an effective manner because it can help reap benefits in terms of inculcating different viewpoints and multiple skill sets within the organizational fabric (Barney, 1991; Collin & Clark, 2003). Managing Generation Gap in Human Resources Diversity is one of the key elements within any organization because it can be critical in assisting organizations towards building a better strategy, and then implementing the strategy in a more effective manner. Some organizations tend to focus on diversity by simply understanding the level of gender, age and ethnic diversity that is present within the organization. This is not an effective solution when an organization is primarily looking for areas of improvement and building a comparative advantage. With changing dynamics of business, and the revolution that has been brought about by technological advances, many elements of diversity have cropped up within organizations of which one such element is diversity with respect to age (Crampton & Hodge, 2006). The changes brought about by technology and globalization have led to the creation of the service economy where manufacturing is not as important as is servicing a client and providing good quality service to a customer. The ideology behind service economy and service marketing is primarily in building long term clientele through which economies can capitalize on the life time value of a customer. In essence, this requires an effective use of human resources, where they understand the importance of a customer and can effective build a relationship with the customer. In this context, a diverse range of human resources is better capable to handle the ideologies of various clients, and can bring about their valuable input that can help the organization towards excellence (Crampton & Hodge, 2006). It has been noted through statistics that in the developed nations, population is primarily aged and thus older population is available for the work force. In this context, in most organizations, employees are of a certain old age group and have similar thought patterns and processing, as a result of which organizations may end up in a position where all levels of employees are of a certain age bracket (Crampton & Hodge, 2006). Organizations are generally structured in a fashion where hierarchy is defined by various elements, some of which include increasing age groups, increasing levels of competence and expertise, and increasing educational levels. With such problems in the population pertaining to age, organizations tend to face problems in employing a suitable candidate for a particular position, leading to issues in age diversity within the company. This issue is magnified because with age, organizations tend to sort employees and push them towards higher levels, where it is expected that the younger employees on lower levels are going tobe managed by higher level, older employees (Crampton & Hodge, 2006). Intergenerational context is currently being developed within organizations where levels of hierarchy are now being broken down in favor of flatter organizations where restructuring is aimed at intermingling of employees in order to build better diversity ratios, and where employees are better able to contribute amongst diverse age groups. Restructuring within organizations in order to remove age barriers has led to job rotation and enrichment so as to glean benefits from diverse thought patternsamongst different age brackets (Crampton & Hodge, 2006). The problems with age diversity have come up very recently when cultural norms and economic conditions have broken down the set pattern and concept of hierarchical organizations. Many females, especially mothers have joined the workforce again but at lower levels, which has created age differences in gender, particularly within the hierarchy. In addition, several people have started to work in consulting positions or in positions where they prefer either apprenticeships or part time positions which again is leading to diversity in age groups, within each level and amongst levels within the organization as well. This has resulted in several issues that have come up with respect to the diverse age groups. Some issues are highlighted further in this paper regarding how different age groups have resulted in generational differenceswithin organizations (Crampton & Hodge, 2006). Problems with Generational Gap Many ideologies have changed over the years with changing time periods especially due to a flux in the economy and globalization elements. This has led to organizations facing several issues pertaining to human resource management against the age brackets that work within organizations. Generational gaps in employees within each level and amongst levels in the hierarchy can be classified into various categories, some of which include differences in attitudes pertaining to work, loyalty within each employee based on age, training needs and requirements and lifestyle balancing regarding work and personal life (Adams, 2000; Bova & Kroth, 2001; Callanan & Greenhaus, 2008). There are various types of classifications that organizations have made towards age brackets. One general classification is division into four categories, namely, traditional, baby boomers, Generation X and Generation Y. the traditional generation is categorized to be the oldest and most loyal and mainly veteran or retired at this point in time. Baby Boomers are those that were born after the world wars and are those that are relatively loyal and who would retire from the work force soon. Generation X and Generation Y are relatively newer generations with X being people born in the 60’s and 70’s while Y being people who were born after the 70’s up to the 2000’s, and who have had significant influence of nuclear families and computers. Each age bracket has a different attitude towards work; with older employees showing more commitment and loyalty towards their work while younger employees, part of the Generation X being more lax about their duties and responsibilities. Many studies break down generations as baby boomers and Generation X, where baby boomers are expected to be more inclined towards their work, putting in extra hours wherever and whenever required. On the other hand, Generation X are expected to provide only those number of working hours which are part of the agreement, and are expected to show relaxed attitude towards completion of work as well. This nature of hard work is critical in defining how an organization should focus on motivational theories in order to get the requisite work done from its employees (Adams, 2000; Bova & Kroth, 2001; Callanan & Greenhaus, 2008). Similar to the ideology of work ethics in employees of different age groups, loyalty toward the organization and the employer is also considered a differentiating element between these age groups. It is known that boomers and traditional employees who are part of the older generation tend to have more loyalty to the organization, serving the organization over a longer period of years, while Generation X employees tend to be fickle about their loyalty to the organization, because of which many Generation X employees tend to leave their organization fairly quickly. Despite that, it must be studied that this change in loyalty over the time period may also be a result of changing nature of the economy, and as it becomes more global, employees find more and more lucrative opportunities because of which they may leave for better options. However, elements pertaining to human resources also play a role in defining how loyal an employee is, since older employees tend tobe more worried about their retirement benefits while younger employees are more focused about their current position and earning power, for current usage. In this context, it is important to find the right mix of employees who can perform well for the organization (Crampton & Hodge, 2006; Deal J. J., 2007; Glass, 2007; Tolbize, 2008). Training needs within an organization also need to be defined by the Human Resource Department, not only for each level within the hierarchy but also within different age groups. It has been noted that employees who are from the older population, or are baby boomers tend to have the hard skills which are necessary for a particular job. However, with Generation X employees both hard and soft skills need to be taught for better performance on the job. Studies also note that classroom training for most baby boomers is a critical requirement because it can help them learn the hard skills necessary for work. They also tend to learn soft skills while working on the job. On the other hand, Generation X employees prefer to have their training in a more hands on approach, where both hard and soft skills can be learnt while being on the job. This requirement can not only be critical but can also lead to problems in how a particular set of employees handles a particular job and the training that has been given to them (Crampton & Hodge, 2006; Deal J. J., 2007; Glass, 2007; Tolbize, 2008). Conclusion In this context, these elements can present an interesting challenge to the Human Resource Department to deploy methods to not only find the right mix of generations for the organization but also to define how to motivate these employees to work better in their particular job profiles. Along with that, the challenge is also to define how to build loyalty amongst the different age groups and how to train these employees for better performance within the organization. Since organizational excellence is the ultimate requirement, it is critical to find such generational differences and eliminate them as much as possible in order to be able to glean the right benefits from the employees that have been hired for particular job profiles. Bibliography Adams, S. J. (2000). Generation X: How Understanding this Population Leads to Better Safety Programs. Professional Safety, 45, 26-29. Barney, J. (1991). Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage. Journal of Management, 17(1), 99-1209. Bova, B., & Kroth, M. (2001). Workplace learning and Generation X. Journal of Workplace Learning, 13, 57-65. Bradford, F. W. (1963). Understanding ‘generation X’. Marketing Research, 54. Callanan, G. A., & Greenhaus, J. H. (2008). The baby boom generation and career management: A call to action. Adances in Developing Human Resources, 10, 70-85. Collin, C., & Clark, K. D. (2003). Strategic Human Resource Practices, Top Management Team Social Networks and Firm Performance. Academy of Management Journal, 46(6), 740-751. Crampton, S. M., & Hodge, J. W. (2006). The supervisor and generational differences. Proceedings of the Academy of Organizational Culture,. Communications and Conflict, 11, 19-22. Deal, J. J. (2007). Retiring the generation gap: How employees young and old can find common ground. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Glass, A. (2007). Understanding generational differences for competitive success. Industrial and Commercial Training, 39, 98-103. Tolbize, A. (2008, August 16). Generational differences within the Work Place. Retrieved July 22, 2012, from Research and Training Center on Community Living, University of Minnesota: http://dwashingtonllc.com/pdf/generational_differences_workplace.pdf Read More