Resolving Conflicts

You’re right, but I’m the boss!
Just do your job!
I remember when …
The kid wants a promotion after six months on the job!
No!


These are the phrases you would probably hear if you work at a place with large generational differences and related conferences. If you remember, in the previous post, I outlined many of the problems that are uprising across workplaces caused by generational differences. In this entry, I will detail solutions and ways to solve and bridge those generational differences. It's important to work through these differences to ensure a more productive and efficient workplace setting. Below are some tips I found regarding how to bridge across differences to find a common ground. 


Most important aspect and strategy to bridging the differences of generational differences is communication. This means instead of arguing and focusing on the differences between the different generations, focus more on the similarities. Don’t generalize characteristics just based on generations.Understand that each person has his/her habits. (Filipczak, 1999)

Ask questions, rather than make statements. Let others understand the faults to their points by asking questions so they can figure it out themselves instead of you bluntly saying it out loud

Communication effectively is very important. Many problems associated with the misunderstanding across different generations are related to lack of effort in communicating. It might be more work. Especiallly as the Y generation, we should stray away from using slangs such as “lol”, “btw”. Know who you are working with and be respectful of their differences.
Even though we value self-expression, we should also pay attention to professionalism and business etiquette in the workplace. (Sutton, 2002)

Lastly, be patient with the older generations. Know that this is our time not theirs. Which means we are most familiar with the rapidly ranging technology (show pic of changing tech). We are the ones most updated with the different social networking sites. Help you by helping them. help them adapt and get more accustomed to this changing world.


One of my favorite quotes and what prompted me to write for the past two posts is Carolyn Heilbrun's quote, "Although the old,as we are daily warned, are growing in umber while the population of the young yearly declines, it is the young who influence the world we live." (Stoller, 2000, p. 90) This quote really capitalizes the role I need to partake in as well as how important we all need work together to manage generational differences in all aspects of our lives. Especially since I am studying business and planning on working in an accounting firm after graduation, I should start preparing and learning about working in a multigenerational firm. The more prepared I am, the better the transitioning to the new environment will be. 


1. Wey Smola, K., & Sutton, C. D. (2002). Generational differences: revisiting generational work values for the new millennium. (J. M. Spector, Ed.)Journal of Organizational Behavior, 23(4), 363-382. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. / Business. Retrieved from http://doi.wiley.com/10.1002/job.147
2. Zemke, R., Raines, C., & Filipczak, B. (1999). Generations at work: Managing the clash of veterans, boomers, Xers and nexters in your workplace. New York: AMACOM Books.
3. Stoller, E. P., & Gibson, R. C. (2000). World of difference inequality in the aging experience. (3 ed., p. 144). Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge Press.

Generation Y in the workforce

This blog post really draws from reading chapter 9 of Stoller. In this article Carolyn Heilbrun highlights the topic of "Listening to the Young (er). It narrates a woman entering her seventh decade of life. Here she analyzes and evaluates the importance of recognizing the young and their role in society today.(Stoller, 2000, p. 90).  Overall, I thought the topic was refreshing. Often, we are so focused on our own lives. It was great to view how the old saw us instead of how we always saw them. Thus today's entry is focused on learning about my own generation. Sometimes, the best way to self-reflect and evaluate is to see how others view us as a generation. 

Some positive attributes generation y are often associated with are that we add value to the workplace because we are good at multitasking and are often willing to make themselves flexible and free on weekends. Because we are the ones who have had the biggest exposure to the new technology age, we know how to be tech savvy. We are the ones most updated with social media mediums. Because of our more free-exploring personalities, we like to explore our options instead of keeping in one job focus. After, reading these positive attributes, it really helped to highlight some of the positive aspects I have that I never really paid attention to before. So I thought this was a great way to gain exposure and learn more about who and what kind of personalities make up my generation today. (Mitchell, 2002)

However, it's not all good news. Many actually associate more negative connotations to our generation than positive. Actually it is known that the baby boomers and Generation Y have the most conflicts in the workplace. There are many residing factors that separate the two. First off, Gen Y just has a different set of work-life values than boomers. As indicated before, we are a generation of more free-spirit. Therefore, we really place great value on having a flexible schedule. This can get especially frustrating since boomers are the ones who prefer autonomy and they like to set strict, structures. On another level, generation y also has negative attitudes toward the boomers. We are often worried about the job market because many boomers delay their retirement. This exchange of different values and ideals show that this conflict is very two-sided. (Koeppel, 2011) In the next post, I'll be focusing on how to solve these generational differences especially in the workplace. 

1. Stoller, E. P., & Gibson, R. C. (2000). World of difference inequality in the aging experience. (3 ed., p. 144). Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge Press.

2. Koeppel, D. (2011).  Gen Y vs. Boomers: Workplace Conflicts heat up. Retrieved from http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2011/11/11/Gen-Y-vs-Boomers-Workplace-Conflict-Heats-Up.aspx#page1

3.  Mitchell, S. (2002). American generations: Who they are, how they live, what they think. Ithaca, NY: New Strategists Publications.