Week 3- Thirty-five years ago, young employees we hired were ambitious, conscientious, hard-

working, and honest. Today’s young workers don’t have the same values.” Do you agree or

disagree with this manager’s comments? Support your position.

Research suggests that generational differences exist in the workplace among the Baby

Boomers (born between the mid-1940s and the mid-1960s), Generation Xers (born between the

mid-1960s and the late 1970s), and the Millennials (born between 1979 through 1994). (Smola,

et al., 2002) (Mellahi, et al., 2004)

Employees hired thirty-five years ago, were relevant to the Baby Boomers generation

(born between the mid-1940s and the mid-1960s), while today’s young workers are categorized

under Millennials (born between 1979 through 1994). An understanding that individuals' values

differ but tend to reflect the societal values of the period in which they grew up can be a valuable

aid in explaining and predicting behaviour. The change in the demographic composition of the

workplace will definitely have an impact. Dominant work values for Baby Boomers include

material success, high sense of accomplishment, social recognition, ambition, pragmatists,

dislike of authority, and loyalty to career. They also believed that the ends can justify the means.

However, today's workers (Millennials) tend to be more confident, geared towards financial

success, self-reliance, team-oriented, loyal to both self and relationships. Millennials also have

high expectations, seek meaning in their work, tend to be questioning, electronically networked

and entrepreneurial, socially responsible. (Langton et al., 2002)

Langton, N., Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2019). Organizational Behaviour Concepts,
Controversies, Applications (8th Canadian Edition). Pearson Education Canada.
 35 years ago, parents had more children and kids would have fewer resources. Today, the

new generation has more educated parents, higher family income, well-fed and better education.

They form their own opinions fast. Then, there is this ongoing social media comparison -

boasting/sharing (FB/Instagram, etc). The young millennial has more options. Millennials also

undergo a lot of stress. Many are protected by parents and not so toughen up and hardy like the

previous generation.

Given that, we can conclude that the manager’s comment is true to some degree but not

fully accurate. Based on the studies although Baby Boomers (young employees thirty-five years

ago) were hardworking and loyal, they also were more focused on material success and ambition

and believed that the ends can justify the means. Accordingly, this does not necessarily indicate

that they were more honest than today’s young workers.

Early research was plagued by methodological problems that made it difficult to assess whether

differences actually exist. Reviews suggest many of the generalizations are either overblown or

incorrect. (Parry et al., 2011)

I believe that while research suggests that generational differences exist in the workplace

among the two generations under question, we should avoid stereotyping individuals on the basis

of these generalizations. There are individual differences in values. Despite these limitations,

values do change over generations. (Mellahi, et al., 2004) We can gain some useful insights from

analyzing values this way to understand how others might view things differently from

ourselves, even when they are exposed to the same situation.  

 To this end, I do not agree with the manager's comments. We live in a world that our

lives and work environment changes very rapidly. To say that today's young works are not

ambitious, conscientious, hard-working, and honest, is not too accurate.  

Works Cited

Langton, N., Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2020). Organizational Behaviour Concepts,
Controversies, Applications. Toronto: Pearson Education.
Mellahi, K., & Guermat, C. (2004). Does Age Matter? An Empirical Examination of the Effect
of Age on Managerial Values and Practices in India. Journal of World Business 39, no. 2,
199- 215.
Parry, E., & Urwin, P. (2011). Generational Differences in Work Values: A Review of Theory
and Evidence. International Journal of Management Reviews 13, no. 1, 79- 96.
Smola , K., & Sutton, C. (2002). Generational Differences: Revisiting Generational Work Values
for the New Millennium. Joumal of Organizational Behavior 23, 363-382.

Bibliography
Langton, N., Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2019). Organizational Behaviour Concepts,
Controversies, Applications (8th Canadian Edition). Pearson Education Canada.
Mellahi, K., & Guermat, C. (2004). Does Age Matter? An Empirical Examination of the Effect
of Age on Managerial Values and Practices in India. Journal of World Business 39, no. 2,
199- 215.
Parry, E., & Urwin, P. (2011). Generational Differences in Work Values: A Review of Theory
and Evidence. International Journal of Management Reviews 13, no. 1, 79- 96.
Smola , K., & Sutton, C. (2002). Generational Differences: Revisiting Generational Work Values
for the New Millennium. Joumal of Organizational Behavior 23, 363-382.

E-Book with DOI

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AuthorLastName, A. A. (year). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle (ed.). Publisher.

Langton, N., Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2019). Organizational Behaviour Concepts,
Controversies, Applications (8th Canadian Edition). Pearson Education Canada.
Langton, N., Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2019). Organizational Behavior: Concepts,
Controversies, Applications (8th Canadian ed.). Pearson Canada Inc.