The great social transformations coming from the new technologies have brought to the same work environment at least three different generations. This is possibly an unprecedented event. It is not just a question of ages, but of paradigms, of mental models. Organizations have not yet developed into the new scenario and retroacting is far from a possibility. What management artifacts should compose a enabling context full of opportunities and able to create extraordinary value for stakeholders. Will we experience a new cycle of theories related to Organizational Development?
I am no expert on the topic so I will have to speak from personal observations only. I was "value stamped" during the highly volatile late 60's and early 70's in the U.S. Certainly changes in values and the resultant social changes in the air. My generation shared little with the generations that preceded us. Did that change organizations? Yes, but it took a long time to do so. There were adjustments on the part of organizations as well as adjustment on the part of those from my generation. To me it seemed that social change preceded organizational change by at least 10 years. Some of the major changes in organizations did not come about until legislation forced those changes. I think today that social changes and changes in values will impact organizations more quickly because of social media. Just my opinions ..looking forward to the opinions (and facts/data :-)) from others.
My attempt to answer the question is more of an opinion and especially linking it to the Kenyan context. Social transformation has been happening and it is not about to end rather accelerate. This way organizations have to wake up to this reality and put in place strategies if at all they intend to remain in business. The invention of Mobile money transfer popularly referred as Mpesa for instance has taken every banking institution back to the drawing board. It is not about the shared the organization anymore, rather the 'customers' and in the case of Kenya the youth that are the majority. Another contextual example in my view is the unprecedented Degree choices for the 2018/19 University intakes. Going by the data from the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central placement service, most of the declared degree programs by the 34 public universities in kenya hardly attracted 35% applicants. To me the question that begs; why? Simply put, the universities are not meeting the customer expectation..... These two examples depict a clear disconnect between organizations and their supposed clients who majority being of different generations from those running the organizations. This way, organizations have no option but strategize to inculcate the generational expectations of the clients into the respective organizational cultures and as such a clear corporate culture - a shared value proposition.
To balance generational expectations, where three or more generations of employees are working, organisations must learn how effectively manage diversity of workforce.
I agree with the comment in the opening question that it is not just a question of ages, but also of paradigms and very different mental models. Perhaps unlike any other period. We see it it in research and personal observations. Organization employees often show major traits, work behaviors, beliefs and values based on their generation category. These changing aspects of relationships from vastly different generation groups have presented important new tasks to managers and leaders, particularly in keeping employees, developing them, and motivating them to work effectively together. This is of course especially true in today's rapidly changing global markets and continued IT development as already mentioned here.
