The field of study into the so called “Generational Collide” happening in the modern workplace is expanding by the day. A quick Google search shows that there is a growing interest and concern about the outcome of having employees from four different generations working together in many workplaces. Its a relatively recent phenomenon and it is not fully understood and indeed many academics, authors, and professionals from around the world make their living speaking, writing, researching this issue.

The basic logic goes like this: Generations are defined by a period of time (usually about 30 years) as well as major events that happen in people’s lifetimes. Events like The Great Depression, 9/11, the invention of the personal computer, or the moon landing define generations and contribute to a shared set of experiences, values, and beliefs. Since different generations are exposed to different events and circumstances, it follows that they would hold values and beliefs that are unlike those of other generations. The core principles held by each generation can be expressed in powerful ways and come out in all aspects of social life - especially careers. When it comes to working, different generations may hold highly divergent sets of values, and opinions. While the pre-war generation tends to hold values such as loyalty and hard work and wisdom of experience over technical knowledge, their offspring, the Baby-Boomers are known for being more accepting of stress and being quite non-conformist. Different still are the Gen-X’ers who are generally willing to work within the system and are more comfortable with technology. Although the core principles of each generation are somewhat different, this is not to say they are mutually exclusive or incompatible - its more likely a matter of emphasis or degree.

The theory of Generational Collide wraps up with the a reference to workforce demographics and a prophesy of difficulties to come: People are living longer and working to an older age. There is also a narrowing gap between generations and people often re-enter the workforce after reaching the usual age for retirement. This means that we have people from four different generations all working together at the same time as opposed to before where there was a more clear division by age. The question is how to manage employees of different generational orientations and help them to work together effectively and successfully?

There is a lot of material written on the subject and much of it points to the increasingly important role that human resources management will play in the recruiting, retention, training, and leadership of employees. Academics such as Linda Duxbury (http://www.sprott.carleton.ca/faculty_and_research/lduxbury.html) call for an approach to employee management that is sensitive to the difference in values and perspectives of its employees, enables autonomy and independence, and which seeks effective strategies for communication among employees, organizational units, and generations. 

The theory of Generational Collide is valuable because it calls attention to a dimension of experience that is key to understanding why some people like to do things one way as opposed to another. The reason may not be a lack of experience, knowledge, or skill - but a different emphasis on one value over another (for example lets do it thoroughly vs lets do it quickly). When employees gather around a meeting table they are asked to consider the same set of issues, but may be coming at them from very different directions. As anyone who has ever attended a meeting can attest, differences in approaches can cause problem-solving or decision-making processes to shut down. Even being aware of the differences in generationally-derived preferences at the table can help foster effective communication and meeting success. 

The problem with the theory of Generational Collide is that it presupposes the inevitability of clashes between generations and emphasizes the innate differences between people of different age brackets. A solution may be to regard the differences of generations as an opportunity for multiple perspectives on a single issue enabled by a common language that is not hierarchical, nor derived from unchangeable attributes such as age. Anyone can learn to be thorough, or decisive. Anyone can learn to brainstorm, and be analytical. No business is likely to succeed just being any ONE of these things. Similarly, individuals who can learn to adopt different thinking styles - even if only temporarily - will be more successful as well. Meetings can be a great opportunity for people to pool their knowledge, experience, and skills - but only if the contributors are willing to consider other perspectives or methods, and occasionally say, “Hey, I hadn’t thought of it like that!”.

- Daniel St. Germaine