Xers as managers - Generation X workers are casual, yet effective managers - Brief Article

Nation's Business, Nov, 1996

Much has been made lately of the oldest baby boomers turning 50; far less has been discussed about the thirtysomething members of Generation X who now are becoming managers.

What kinds of managers do they make? How do their styles affect the nature of management? These more flexible, more casual, less authoritarian, more team-oriented individuals are almost certain to hurry along such workplace trends as telecommuting, casual attire, and the flattening of hierarchical structures, experts say.

"Their most important attributes as managers will be comfort with technology and the fact that they don't have authority issues," says management consultant and author Claire Raines, of Denver.

She also sees Xers as less predisposed to hidden agendas than their management predecessors and less interested in creating mystique about themselves and their jobs.

As for titles and positions, "That's over. They don't care," says Leslie Evans, vice president of Goodrich & Sherwood Associates, a human-resources consulting firm in New York City.

"It will be a fundamentally different style of managing," says Bruce Tulgan, a New Haven, Conn., management consultant and author who is an Xer himself. "Our skills and attitudes will dovetail with the changing nature of work," he says. "Work will be less site-specific, and teams will continue to replace departments. The Xers' leadership style will be about facilitating those teams. The way we're likely to lead a cross-functional team is a paradigm for how we'll manage."

If this comes to pass, the reality will hit those one-time-hippie baby boomers where they live: In the workplace, Generation Xers may be the ultimate nonconformists.