Reflect on your team experiences and the articles descriptive overview of Millen

Question

Reflect on your team experiences and the articles descriptive overview of Millennials. Do you agree with the researchers’ description of Millennials potential strengths and weaknesses in the workplace? Based on the experience, course content and the article, what human relations strategies should be applied in the workplace to help build strong teams with Millennials? What human relations concepts should be applied to build strong multigenerational teams? Can organizations that do not prepare to build multigenerational teams be successful in the twenty first century? Explain your answer

Explanation / Answer

Much is made of the differences between generations of workers and consumers. The popular media, authors, consultants, reporters, professional speakers and others drive the conversation, sometimes in a genuine effort to help, in other cases, perhaps to fan the flames of a debate that may deserve less attention.

For organizations hoping to tailor their incentive and engagement programs for employees and customers, the debate concerning the generations can be confusing and even overwhelming. Like economists, no two generational experts fully agree on the description for each generation, a truth that is well-documented both in the expert interviews conducted for and summarized in the dozens of papers, books and articles referenced throughout.

In particular, there is a little consensus where traits and characteristics of the generations are concerned. And most generational experts suggest that what differences do exist, result from a combination of the time frame within which a person is born and the stage of life in which they reside. These factors influence their motivations at work and their desire for certain goods and services (or rewards) and other preferences. Some experts argue that the formative life experiences shared by each generation make them unique and stay with them from youth through retirement. Others ascribe less importance to a person’s generation and more to their life stage—i.e., whether they are married or single, have children at home, make mortgage payments or are approaching retirement, etc.

In catering to consumers, leading organizations are beginning to leverage increasingly sophisticated data algorithms to gain far more accurate insights into individual preferences, motivation and engagement. In the near future, most or all organizations will do the same for employees as well, obviating the need for the broad, educated guesses based on generations or life-stages.

Until then, and despite the differences of opinion referred to above, organizations should seek to understand the age and life-stage demographics of their workforce and the broad preferences and motivators associated with each. Doing so will not provide knowledge of the specific drivers for each employee or customer, but it will deliver a basis on which to approach people generally—whether employees or customers. This is a useful, if imperfect approach to consider in designing reward, incentive and recognition programs for employees and marketing and incentive programs aimed at consumers.

“A generation can be defined as an identifiable group, or cohort, which shares birth years, age, location, and significant life events at critical development stages.”

– Barford & Hester, 2011.

The extensive and growing literature about generational differences provides dozens—perhaps hundred — of definitions of the three main generations at work today. Google searches on “Millennial” and “Generation Y” yield more than 150 million results, while a search on Generation X returns 149 million more. Most offer descriptions and many provide tips on how to manage or market to the various generations.

Generational definitions usually start by describing the age parameters of each cohort. Despite many differences, most experts agree on reasonably similar age ranges—within 3-5 years at either end—to classify the various generational cohorts.

The Generations & Their Characteristics

The age ranges of the three generations opposite closely reflect most organizations’ definitions—particularly pertaining to those raised in North America or Western Europe. This definition also carries the advantage of examining three cohorts of roughly the same duration (17-19 years). Unfortunately, a common definition of the generations becomes much more elusive in the statements, characteristics or stereotypes ascribed to each.

At a superficial level, we tend to paint members of the various generations with the same brush by labeling all or most members of a generation with identical attributes. The reality, of course, is much more complex and nuanced. So much so that even the most invested “generational gurus” agree that any analysis of the more or less common characteristics of the generations is only useful as a broad or general guide, not a tool to use with specific individuals. 4

A useful analogy comes from Graeme Codrington, a well-known South African generational expert. Codrington likens the generations to trees. He points out that to draw conclusions about a specific tree, you have to look at it individually. But trees that were planted at around the same time in a particular place will share common characteristics, and it is possible to predict broadly how fast and large they will grow, how much fruit they will produce, etc.5

People born in the same generation, in similar socio-economic conditions, with exposure to similar media outlets, encounter, to some degree, shared experiences as they come of age, especially those born in the same country or continent. They might, therefore, share similar perspectives throughout their careers and lives. To the extent that employers, providers and incentive program designers can gain a better understanding of how, if at all, generational cohorts should be managed and motivated using the significant perspectives they may share in common, better decisions might be made across a range of factors aimed at motivating individuals.

Despite findings such as these (which, it must be said, represent the very tip of the iceberg) there are many experts who, nonetheless, advise organizations to invest time and resources in knowing and understanding the demographics of their workforce (and certainly, their customer demographics). They argue that only with this knowledge can programs, products and services be designed to appeal to the members of various generations, and, by inference, that appealing to the various generations is a worthwhile strategy.

Such programs include recruiting, on-boarding, development and training, and motivational efforts aimed at increasing employee engagement, performance, and retention. Similarly, businesses that understand the demographic makeup of customers and consumers can, according to many generational experts, craft products and services that should boost sales across each generation.

“ ... they are also different from older adults back when they were the age Millennials are now.”

However, no one—not even the most fervent believers in generational differences—suggests that every member within a generation is the same or similar in their behaviors, values and preferences. Rather, generational experts argue that an understanding of the generations can provide a useful framework for making broad and general decisions about groups of people, and a means to be aware of employee and customer differences.

Whether the similarities and differences are significant enough to warrant special attention, however, is, again, the question with which organizations must grapple. After all, designing tailored programs, products, benefits plans, services and rewards takes time and costs a great deal of money.

Organizations might conclude that generational differences don’t matter but differences in stage of life or lifestyle do. If so, the actions they might take are much the same. Indeed, commercially at least, providers of products and services ranging from cars to financial planning have long catered to customers at various stages in their lives—minivans for young families and retirement plans for aging workers,

Today, mass peer-to-peer recognition can be facilitated in community, social or work settings. In the consumer world, most buyers, and especially Millennials, are already adept at providing feedback about what they’ve purchased or experienced. And nearly everyone today checks consumer recommendations concerning the things they might buy and the places they might visit, for example.

As above, an important part of most Millennials’ natural habitat is social networking sites. Social forms of recognition, including employees congratulating and recommending one another is an obvious avenue for organizations to consider. Indeed today’s corporate network technologies (“behind-the-firewall” corporate social network platforms) have changed the entire arena of recognition.

Peer-to-Peer recognition platforms typically allow an employee to recognize colleagues, and managers to recognize employees. Some are extended to include customers, suppliers, partners and other stakeholders. Most tools include functionality for employees to collect points and connect to the organization’s reward fulfillment tools. For example, an accumulation of peer-to-peer award points could make an employee eligible to choose from a menu of rewards. Most also include templates for award certificates which can be printed (eliminating the need for approvals/bureaucracy), or, be accompanied more formally by a write-up— pegged to a core competency or value—that can be added to the employee’s record.

In many situations, however, mass personalization is not possible. Incentive travel programs, for example, feature one destination. Designers who understand their workforce demographics and who have a good handle on the broad differences between the generations can and should combine that information with insights into the life stages of employees. This knowledge and insight might assist them in selecting the best possible venue, the right dates and schedules, and to design a range of activity options to create an incentive travel program that has the best chance at appealing to everyone who stands a chance to earn the reward.

The best way to approach incentive, reward and recognition program design may be to adopt a multi-dimensional view—a set of lenses, as one of our expert interviewers put it—that considers both generational and life-stage preferences before a program is finalized and communicated.

The Framework for Designing Recognition, Rewards and Incentives Programs, illustrated below in Figure Four, was built on that notion by summarizing the majority views and opinions of the experts reviewed and interviewed for this research. Though far from perfect, it can be used as a rough guide in designing a program that considers and balances the preferences of virtually every person in any organization.

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