Generational Diversity In The Workplace

Using scholarly sources, this paper explains the definition of generational diversity and its impact on the work force. The purposes of this paper is to examine the issues and benefits to having a generationally diverse workforce in order to increase intergenerational understanding, and morale within the workforce. The paper will provide information suggesting that there are differences and these differences can be managed and used to improve productivity. Based on the research the paper will provide conclusions and recommendations to deal with the impact of generational diversity in the workplace. Generational Diversity within the Workplace
Four different generations of people now attend our workforce today. The Baby Boomers, Generation
Johnson & John Lopes, 2008).” Certain characteristics are carried with us from youth to adulthood, but as people age those characteristics can be altered by life experiences. This is the difference between the older generations of our workforce and the younger ones life experience. Older generations in the work force differ from younger generations because they have put in more time and therefore they feel as if that time has given them more knowledge of their field of work. “Today, younger generations are quite happy to contradict, not necessarily because they are being rude, but because they are equally well informed thanks to the search engine on their smartphones and they believe in a more collaborative way of working (Chesworth, 2014).” Younger generations are thriving; they see the world as their stage and have fresh thoughts and ideas that they want to share with the world. Younger generations will often speak out at work because they were raised in a different time where now they are taught to speak their beliefs and participate in discussions openly. However, some people of older generations see this as a threat. They see this as some young person who just walked through the doors trying to
Unfortunately, for most people of older generations a changing workforce is a hard thing to accept and with a changing economy older people are forced to work more years to be able to sustain a living after retirement. “According to a SHRM study done in 2004 there are three main areas where the generations differ: work ethic, managing change and the perception of organizational hierarchy (Rood, 2010).” Work ethic seems to be a bigger problem amongst younger generations; they are raised in a more dependent atmosphere where you always have someone else to fall back on if you cant complete a task yourself. Older generations did not have all of the fallbacks and dependency that younger generations nowadays can rely on. Managing change is a factor that highly affects older generations; they find it harder to evolve within a changing workforce. “Being aware of the influences of ones own generation is the first step (Rood,