Comments on: Social Media Bridging the Age Gap: The Demise of Generational Differences

By: hrringleader

hrringleader — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:59:05 +0000

Thanks to EVERYONE for your thoughtful and thought-provoking comments. It has inspired me to write a follow up post that will address many of the points you made in your comments.

These are the posts I love most- the ones that get people talking, sharing their perspective, and exploring the ‘other side’ of the issue. Thanks to you all!

By: Halves

Halves — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 17:38:25 +0000

Trish,

Great article. While I think there is value in understanding generational issues, I believe that it is always a mistake to box people into categories.

I have read, attended conferences, etc on generational differences, but surprisingly not once has any body commented on generational and immigration issues. As the theory goes generations are shaped by events i.e boomers shaped by the 60ies, but what about those people, and I am talking about a substantial number in Canada and the USA, who were born some where else. A professional from China born in 60ies who emigrated to the USA in the 80ies would have a completely different generational experience then somebody of the same age in the USA. The examples are endless of people who might share the same age range, but have completely different experiences growing up. Generational differences do not take that into consideration and in a global economy this attempt to neatly categorize people does not work. One of the most important lessons I learned years ago is that in HR there is no black & white just lots of grey.

Just my point of view.

By: Mark Bennett

Mark Bennett — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:48:44 +0000

Great post, Trish, and sorry for commenting late. Generational differences may, as Ira points out, exist in certain ways and exert some influence on behavior. This isn’t any different than the way other environmental conditions can influence behavior, be it economic, family, culture, etc. As such, being aware of the possibility of these influences can help in *understanding* why someone might behave or react a certain way. The real danger is that it’s easy to slip from that into lazy, stereotyping thinking and prejudge the person based on their age. You point that “it doesn’t matter” is ultimately right and paramount – it’s the individual’s actions, thinking, etc. that really matters.

By: Ira Wolfe

Ira Wolfe — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:50:31 +0000

Guilty as charged! I’m one of those people talking about the differences between the generations. I even wrote a book about them. Despite some skepticism in your post and comments, there are REAL differences. Our viewspoints, attitudes, and beliefs are shaped by historical, political, and socio-economic events. I agree these can change over a lifetime but you still can’t erase these events that occur during the pre-adult years. As an older boomer, I can’t ever feel what it was like to grow up during the Depression or fight in WWII. I can vividly relate to the assassinations of JFK, RFK, and MLK and watching American Bandstand in B/W but few if any Gen X and no Gen Y can relate. For us boomers, these events were part of our lives; for others, they are merely history. Our beliefs and attitudes are created logarithmically – they are a compilations of events piled on other events. The fact that all generations start out with different baselines inherently creates differences.
HOWEVER, unlike many people, I DON’T believe they are irreconcilable. In fact, like several others, I believe that we do share common communication styles and values across generations. We use tools like DISC and Business Values & Motivators to initiate conversations and show that all generations have similarities in how they communicate and view the world….and conflicts often have more to do with differences in behavioral styles then age.

And regarding social media….I refer to this as “googlization” in my book. By using social media in the workplace, you can engage young workers to mentor older workers how to use these technologies to improve productivity and not focus on distractions. Older workers can help shape the execution and ensure its use aligns with the corporate strategy while getting younger workers to expose all its potential.

By: Steve Meyer

Steve Meyer — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 20:05:06 +0000

Trish,

Your absolutely right. We have to embrace technology to both develop the individual and team skills while leveraging the different viewpoints and experiences from everyone in order to constantly improve. We need to focus on how we can exploit technology to better collect and apply this knowledge base to HR operations and more importantly, add value.