Learning in Generation Y and Z - Coursework Example

Learning in Generation Y and Z Name Institution (2110 words) Learning in Generation Y and Z There exists a serious problem at the workplace that does not come from global competition, bosses, greed or stress. The problem originates from variations of generations. Different generations are often working together and sometimes collide, especially, when their paths cross. The conflict presents individuals with various ideas, values, beliefs ways of doing things and ways of communication. Generation differences have been found to affect the working operations. It affects team building, recruitment, dealing with change, management, motivation, maintenance and increasing production at the workplace. For example, different ways of communication may affect high employee turnover, misunderstanding, gaining employee commitment and attracting employees. According to Dr. Anderson (2013), there are various generations distinguished by their year of their birthdays. The study will concentrate on new generations of Y and Z in comparison with the former ones. It will give the differences that they have in relation to the ways they learn. The dominant generations currently are generation Z, Y, and X. Generation X was born in 1965 to 1979 who came of age in 1983 to 1997. Generation Y is also called Echo Boomers or Millenniums. Generation Y were born in 1980 to 1995 and came of age in 1998 to 2013. Generation Z is the youngest who were born between 1996 to about 2025. They are expected to come to age at 2014 to about 2043. Research shows that people communicate and share information based on generation background that is often distinct. These backgrounds have different attitudes, expectations, behaviors, motives and habits. The results point out that learning to communicate with various generation groups eliminates confrontations and possible misunderstandings at workplace (Blum, 2012). Some insight shows that generation acts as a perfect bridge as they often understand and adapts to work ethics and focuses on Boomers, yet, are closer to generation Y. Therefore, they can connect Y's culture, views, and values somewhat. Generation Y is as fickle, reality transient and self-focused. Generation Z contributes to politics of childcare, maternity, and parental leaves. Malcolm’s theory of adult learning has fundamental insights to the differences that generations show in their learning. Malcolm pointed out that adults learned in different ways to children. In this case, the adults belong to older generation while children belong to Generation Y and Z. Knowles used a notion of andragogy to highlight processes and settings distinction that later shaped the direction of adult education. The concept gave various explanations that distinguish the older people’s mentality from the young. For instances, as people matures, they move their self concepts from dependency to self directedness. They accumulate experience that becomes their learning resource making their readiness to learning to be more oriented to developmental tasks of social roles. Also, adults’ perspective of time changes form the postponed to immediacy application. Finally, the theory proposes that adults have an internal motivation to learning unlike the young. Adult learning theory helps well understand the learning processes of the older generation workers. Through it, it will be understood that more aged people learn different, and they may have different motivations when learning. It will distinguish what is while structuring the methods to be used in training adults and those used to train the youth. The youth have been found to have different motivates. In relation to the current topic, adults fall under generation X and below who their generations have come to age. The adult learning theory shows that several principles apply to differentiate generation Y and Z from the former generations (Fitzgerald, 2007). Adult learning theory principles shows that older workers are internally motivated and self-directed. They resist learning when they perceive that information is being imposed on them. Earlier generations bring life experiences to the learning experiences and are goal oriented. They like to be opportunities to use knowledge from their experience in the new learning. They like to be respected, are practical and relevancy oriented (Fitzgerald, 2007). Older generation learners become only ready to learn when they feel the need to do so in order to cope with real life situations. They often want to know something’s relevance before learning it. These are similar concepts to Malcolm’s’ application of andragogy. They often want to learn practices that will help them experience real fieldwork interactions. Finally, the old generations like Generation X like to be respected together with their ideas. They are pleased and develop interest to learn when they are regarded as colleagues with equal life experiences and encouraging idea and feedback expression. Generation Y have heard a lifelong education in school that they have come to accept it. Many are working today in industries using new technologies that didn’t exist when they started schooling. The key for their relevance is training so that they become effective in their current works and employable future careers. New ways of training to them are significant as they keep changing jobs and careers frequently. They need to be with transferable skills than technical ones. Many of Generation Y prefers this method of soft skills like presentation, management and communication skills as opposed to hard technical skills. Former preferred training methods like job coaching, mentoring and in-house outsourcing training course do not work. The kinaesthetic and visual learning styles are that traditional literal and procedural ones likely due online learning. Generation Y’s learning motivation is social, interactive, and collaborative and fan (McCrindle, 2006). The majority of Y and Z prefer learning both hard and soft skills to work. Older generations (Generation X and Boomers) on the other hand, prefer learning hard skills through classroom instructions and soft skills on the job. Older learners adopt discussions as the second method of learning soft skills. New generations advocates for assessment and feedback as a favorable way to learn soft skills, unlike earlier generations. Older generations are perceived to be sensitive to feedback, but generation Y and X desires feedback method. Older generations prefer classroom instructions ways to learn hard skills. They like learning them on the job, through workbooks and manuals, one-on-one coaching as well as books reading. On the other hand, generation Y and Z adapts to the job ways to hark skills. Similar to other older generations, the new generation also prefers classroom instructions, workbooks and manuals, one-on-one coaching as well as books and readings. The learning processes of every generation are directly influenced by what motivates them. Generation Z and Y have different motivations towards learning when compared to former ages. The motivation identification will help come up with appropriate methods of training different generations. There are a number of motivators for Generation X. Some of them include the following. They tend to ignore corporate politics and are not interested in traditional perks. They are by independence prospects as well as a lack of organizational structure and rigidity. Latest technology advancement availability also drives them. On the other hand, generation Y and Z is motivated challenge availability and often function well under the teamwork. They are by the sprite of becoming heroes and want to be surrounded by creative and bright people. They often want to achieve their desires immediately and always seeking empowerment. The above different motivations for different generations reveal that distinct generations require distinct learning methods (Ball & Gotsill, 2011). Generation X requires various methods and technologies if their training should be successful. They need web-based training for their learning system. They always want an allowance to ask questions and challenge the presented concepts. The training materials should be kept brief and easy to read and flow. The generation requires access to simple and logically organized databases of information. Also, multi-media learning opportunities facilitate their learning processes. It should be that they maintain short attention span, so, lesson time needs to be broken into brief periods. Some research has shown that younger workers have different needs than the older generation workers. Older generations prefer skills training especially in their area of specialization. Young workers prefer leadership and management training. On the other hand, generation Y and Z thrives in multi-media environments. Unlike Generation X, they have the ability to learn any time but needs the flexibility. They are excellent in multi-tasking and should be allowed to rely on various Internet resources like webinars, blogs YouTube and podcasts. Generation Y and Z learns better under social networking through social networks like MySpace and Friendster. Training generation Y and Z requires provision of simulations and structured learning of all forms. The method that connects them with everything will yield results including teamwork as they are real team players. According to Ball & Gotsill (2011), there is an assumption that older generations have different learning characteristics than newer ones. Older workers are believed to be less adaptive and less able to catch new technologies and ideas. That has been the reason for their exclusion from training opportunities. These characteristics make transformational learning style well serve them under traditional classroom setting. They are task specific and good at one-on-one coaching to become excellent mentors. They are self-directed and self-spaced with their system predominant with lectures, critical reflection, and feedback. Generation Y and Z are different. They excel in informal and incidental learning with short attention span. They always require technology integration with media channels. They also do well in personalized learning through customized environments. Generation Y and Z have been shaped by parental excesses, dramatic technologies, and computer advancements. They are highly characterized by their comfort of technology. They purportedly value teamwork and collective action by embracing diversity and being optimistic to adapt to change. Generation Y and Z seek flexibility and independence of a balanced life and are most educated. Generation Y and Z value training and they are often demanding and confident. They are considered to be entrepreneurial who do not like to focus on processes (Lyons & Kuron, 2013). Generation Y and Z have been nurtured in a way that they are often drawn to their family members for safety as well as security. Their parenting has encouraged them to make their choices and question authorities of all kinds. Since the group has been raised in the consumer economy, expectations to influence the terms and conditions at work exists hence expect their employers to accommodate consumer interests. The above characteristics show that there is a need for change of style as they not only expect more but that the employer should give more to all employees. Since they are likely to be brought up by empowered parents, they are not afraid of expressing their opinions. Generation Y and Z have grown with computers and internet that have a significant impact on them than the older generations. The constant networking experience with the world has a profound effect on the way in which young generation approaches problems and how they eventually solve them. They already have networking, multiprocessing and are already global-minded individuals. The interactive media of text messaging and other instant communication abilities make a new generation very different from old ones. They are and are only challenged by the rigidity of eight to five days at work. It then implies that early generations may be fit with traditional training and learning methods that are offered by formal learning institutions. There is a need to provide the young generations a way to learn skills informally as they are mostly interacting with new environments with less regulation. The learning processes need to be formatted in a way that training is offered on-demand through various web-enabled courses and be offered with virtual mentors. The general aim will be creating a learning process that embraces self-training (Hansen & Stasko, 2013). Although most old and a new generation employees prefer to learn soft skills on the job, formal training requires several modes of learning to address the needs of distinct generations. All generation workers like on the job learning, one-on-one coaching, discussions, peer interactions and feedback methods of learning soft skills. However, there are some methods that are preferred by one generation than another. For example, generation Y and Z do not favor learning soft skills through classroom instructions (Lyons & Kuron, 2013). Younger generation members support assessment and feedback methods of learning soft skills. Therefore, it is important that managers and especially trainers to consider differences in age as distinct age groups have preferences in their development and training processes. A different scenario is in learning hard skills as all generations prefer similar methods. In conclusion, the paper has discussed many pointers that distinguish generations in the current workforce. It has shown different need among different generations, employers and trainers should match particular needs to specific generations rather than providing a generalized training to all workers. References Anderson, J. (2013). Motivating, Managing, Retaining Generation X and Gen Y, Employees. [online] HubPages. Available at: http://janderson99.hubpages.com/hub/Motivating-Managing-Retaining-Generation-X-and-Generation-Y-Employees [Accessed 29 Mar. 2015]. Blum, L. (2012). Generation Gaps in Learning Organizations. [online] Available at: https://my.vanderbilt.edu/elizabethlikins/files/2012/08/Generational-Gaps-in-Learning-Organizations.pdf [Accessed 29 Mar. 2015]. McCrindle, M. (2006). New Generation at Work: Attracting, Recruiting, Retraining and Training Generation Y. McCrindle Research, Level 4. NSW 2153 Australia Ball, K., & Gotsill, G. (2011). Surviving the baby boomer exodus: Capturing knowledge for Gen X and Gen Y employees. Boston, MA: Course Technology. Fitzgerald, C. (2007). QOTFC The Clinical Educator's Resource Kit. [online] Available at: http://www.qotfc.edu.au/resource/?page=65375 [Accessed 29 Mar. 2015]. Lyons, S., & Kuron, L. (2013). Generational differences in the workplace: A review of the evidence and directions for future research. J. Organiz. Behav., 35(S1), S139-S157. doi:10.1002/job.1913 Hansen, H. and Stasko, K. (2013). Bridging the gap: providing a web-based forum for education and communication in a challenging workplace environment. Cytotherapy, 15(4), p.S26. Read More