Managing Generation X

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), Nov, 2000 by Brien Smith

Maligned as unmotivated, self-absorbed slackers, Xers may bring new insights to Corporate America.

EACH GENERATION has its own concern with the behavior of the youths that follow it. Seemingly every teenager has endured the inevitable "kids these days" remark. Still, the comparisons made between the baby boomers (those born between 1943 and 1960) and Generation X (those born between 1961 and 1981) have drawn a great deal of media attention. Disgruntled managers complain that these selfish Xers are unmotivated, self-absorbed slackers who have little to add to Corporate America. Further beleaguered by labor shortages, managers are forced to go with what is available, and become frustrated when their younger cohorts do not respond to the same kind of motivational strategies that have worked in the past. Managers become hungry for advice on how to manage Generation X.

This Generation X label has been disrespectfully applied to nearly 46,000,000 young Americans. The actual title can be traced to a book, Generation X.' Tales for an Accelerated Culture, by the Canadian novelist Douglas Coupland, who wrote about late boomers. However, the ubiquitous usage of the name can be attributed to media moguls who popularized the phrase during the mid 1990s and later used it as a springboard for their own definitions. Indeed, Generation Xers are often depicted as useless, lazy, unmotivated, unambitious, and sharing no common cause. This generation has become a symbol of American decline.

Although many of the adjectives used to describe this 13th American generation are harsh, there are a number of cultural milestones that have shaped who they are. These "latchkey" kids grew up in dual-income families who were more absorbed with consumerism than any previous generation. Their parents' quest for the good life often left Xers home alone while their mothers and fathers mortgaged their lives for fast cars and prestige. Cable television became widely available, with MTV the entertainment of choice. It is not surprising that many of these kids formed a negative view of the world as divorce rates, drug abuse, and the prevalence of political scandals skyrocketed. The trend of corporate takeovers and the downsizing that followed them left bitter tastes in their mouths. It seemed that neither their parents nor Corporate America could be trusted.

Despite the negative press, this is not a generation of Americans laid to waste. There is no reason to suspect that the gene pool somehow became contaminated in the early 1960s. On the contrary, intelligence and ambition are distributed in the same proportion in every generation. In fact, many studies suggest that Xers are well-adjusted and socially responsible. This generation appears to have a great deal of technological savvy and an ability to communicate using a broad range of information media. The generation gap exists when managers do not perceive that intelligence and ambition are exhibited in an appropriate fashion. Accordingly, these differences stem from a misunderstanding about how to behave in a corporate context.

The challenge of managing Generation X is one of defining more precisely what form the corporate context takes. It is a mistake to believe that the young employee is always the one who needs to change his or her behavior. The need for change depends largely on the organizational context. Research in organizational commitment suggests that change occurs every time an employee is hired. In situations where a few individuals are brought into a highly structured organization, the perceived need for the new hire to conform is great. In other situations of high turnover or corporate growth, large numbers of new hires necessitate a change in organizational culture to accommodate a shift in generational views. Developing strategies to manage a new generation falls on the shoulders of the entire company, not just individual managers. Specifically, these strategies involve a commitment to organizational socialization, an emphasis on human resource development, and organizational commitment to valuing workforce diversity.

John Wanous, a pioneer in organizational commitment, suggests that the transition into a new corporate lifestyle needs to be managed. Early communications concerning organizational culture have to be realistic since discrepancies between employee expectations and reality may lead to high levels of turnover. These expectations are communicated during interviews, orientation, and, most importantly, the first months of employment. In fact, these post-entry experiences are strongly correlated with job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Managers must become more attuned to the steps that need to be taken if a new hire is to be considered an insider.

Socialization is the process by which a new employee acquires the appropriate knowledge and skills needed to perform an organizational role. Often, the unspoken rules are more important than the formal ones in employee manuals. Socialization may become a difficult process for Generation Xers. They are learning about the job, becoming familiar with the organization, and adjusting to group norms and values that are frequently disparate from their own.