Generationally Based Differences in the Workplace: Is There a There There?

Abstract

Stereotypes about generational differences in the workplace abound, and interventions for helping organizations and managers to deal with these supposed differences are increasing. In addition to popular press articles describing the differences and extolling the practices and strategies to deal with them, there are a growing number of researchers who are attempting to establish that there are such differences. Overall, however, there is little solid empirical evidence supporting generationally based differences and almost no theory behind why such differences should even exist. The purposes of this focal article are to explore the myths surrounding generations, to review the risks in using generations in organizational decisions, and to make recommendations for practitioners and researchers on how to proceed in this area.

A Phase Model of Intergenerational Learning in Organizations

“…For the purpose of this study, it is only important that these differences exist, and that they can be a potential resource for learning processes in organizations. We acknowledge the difficulty of pinpointing the extent to which differences in employees' attitudes, values, and learning characteristics are the result of their generational affiliation, rather than other factors such as chronological age or life phase (Costanza & Finkelstein, 2015;Parry & Urwin, 2011). For instance, individuals of the same age tend to experience the family formation phase at around the same chronological time and also tend to retire during a similar time span due to biological reasons.…”

“…This implies that Western countries such as those in Western Europe, as well as Canada, the US, and Australia overlap more with each other with respect to generational cohort patterns than they do with Eastern countries such as China and Japan (Lyons et al, 2014). Note that we do not intend to resolve the long-standing controversy regarding the conceptualization of generations (Costanza, Badger, Fraser, Severt, & Gade, 2012;Costanza & Finkelstein, 2015;Parry & Urwin, 2011). In other words, we do not focus on analyzing why individuals from different age groups vary in their attitudes, values, and expertise.…”

Generational Differences Are Real and Useful

“…The focal article by Costanza and Finkelstein (2015) shed a light on the current status of generational research at work that often treats generation as an age grouping variable. Although the authors primarily focused on the applicability of research findings to the current workforce, I believe the benefits of studying and understanding generations should not be limited to this purpose.…”

Belief in Generational Stereotypes: Why There Is a There There

“…University of Groningen I agree with Costanza and Finkelstein (2015) that it is futile to further invest in the study of generational differences in the work context due to a lack of appropriate theory and methods. The key problem with the generations concept is that splitting continuous variables such as age or time into a few discrete units involves arbitrary cutoffs and atheoretical groupings of individuals (e.g., stating that all people born between the early 1960s and early 1980s belong to Generation X).…”