Aggravation with Younger Coworkers
Many professionals believe there is sharp worry between generations. A recruiter who is 28 years old gets hired by a 45-year-old senior HR generalist from the Pacific Northwest. The senior staff notices that the newly hired often detours the chain of command to do what the latter believes needs to be done. Then again, despite of repeated efforts to make the nascent one understand the importance of command-line hierarchy and of following proper channels, he just doesn't bothers about it. Indeed, the elder lot in their 30s and above age can find their younger groups equal annoying, blunt, irreverent and impersonal to deal with.
Very Much Information
But the tension amidst generations is a two-way tendency. At times the younger generations over-explain concepts when solving the complexities. This leads to unwanted consumption of time in seeking out answers to very basic issues. In today's complex and changing times; workplaces are experiencing paradigm shift. Technology has transformed the workplace. The younger generation, especially the Generation Y (born 1977 to 1989), thrives in a fast-paced hi-tech world.
They grew up with nannies, cell-phones, video games, voice mail, PCs and the Internet. The familiarity of variety of different technological media has enabled them to process a big volume of information in a precise time period. At times' called as the "CNN Generation," this set of workers' mostly prefer bits and pieces' of information to complete their tasks. In some instances, such individuals may in no way have learned effectual face-to-face interpersonal communiqué skills, on account of the fact majority of their social interaction has been over instant/text messaging, cell phones and email.
Getting Accustomed to a Project-Based Workplace
As technology integrates into the workplace, external factors also impact the manner in which generations communicate. The employer-employee relationship, in current times, has turned more project-based, as against the traditional chain-of-command organization. This phenomenon emanated from the mass layoffs, downsizings and off-shoring that happened in the 1990s.
Effective communication is vital as businesses move to this new fast-paced pattern. So, maintaining equilibrium with both generations can be daunting. Younger generations are poised to working in a fast-paced environment and availing information on an impulse. Short, hasty communication may happen and omit vital details that others may require to know so as to provide sufficient responses. Also, the older generations may end up over-informing, that could cause confusion in filtering out relevant information. Words, actions and also conduct can be misinterpreted in the workplace and even diagonally the generations. So, business and human resources managers are required to be familiar with how such changes are influencing the work environment and their inter-relationships.
