Org Behavior

Communicating Through the Generations in the Workplace

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction .3

Background .3

Analysis .5

Conclusion .7

Introduction (l 15

The purpose of the field of organizational behavior is to study human behavior in an organizational setting (cited in Modaff , 2007 ,

. 85 Understanding what influences human behavior in an organizational setting is of critical importance to the management in structuring the organizational culture in a way that will take those influences into account . For this reason , an important component in all organizational cultures is the

communications system . Creating the right kind of environment where employees feel comfortable in communicating with each other is a difficult challenge because demographic backgrounds vary widely from one employee to another and these variances strongly influence adult behavior which in turn influences how employees communicate in the corporate environment . One of the most important components in terms of demographic backgrounds is the generational gap between employees . This gap springs from events and experiences which differ from one employee to another depending on the time period in which they were born and this gap is manifest in how employees from different generations communicate

Background

Diversity in the workplace is valued highly because it generates a diverse range of ideas in how to manage different organizational processes efficiently and effectively (cited in Robbins Judge , 2006 br

. 210 . However this benefit of the diversity in ideas comes at the cost of complicating the area of organizational behavior . An example of the way in which organizational behavior is complicated is how employees from different generations communicate differently when it comes to performance measurement (cited in Johns Saks , 2004 ,

. 12 . Because different generations have had different experiences through different events and conditions , the values and expectations generally characterizing each generation are shaped differently (cited in Miller 2005 ,

. 34 . These are demographic differences that if ignored will ultimately affect employee performance . Therefore valuing these differences is one of the most important factors contributing to employee motivation . The diverse range of values and expectations that the organizational culture must have the flexibility to work through is one of the difficulties arising from diversity in the workplace . One aspect of the organizational culture that is strongly affected by cross-generational diversity is employee interactions (cited in Modaff 2005 ,

. 130 . How employees interact with their colleagues , superiors and subordinates is a major area of concern arising from the cross-generational composition of the current workforce

The importance of an efficient and effective communications system cannot be overemphasized . Inasmuch as a well functioning communications system goes to the very heart of maintaining employee motivation and morale by facilitating employee interactions , it is of critical importance to ensure that the employees feel comfortable with communicating ideas and grievances to their superiors and subordinates (cited in Johns Saks , 2004 ,

. 211 . However it is up to the management of an organization to build the kind of communications network which motivates employees from different demographic backgrounds to actively participate in different interactive process critical to...