Generational Differences in the Workplace

Abstract

Many sources from the popular press as well as the academic literature have postulated that there exist meaningful generational differences between individuals in today’s workforce. Better understanding of these generational differences of colleagues can lead to better recruitment, retention, succession management, communication, employee engagement and conflict resolution (Dencker, Joshi & Martocchio, 2008). The purpose of this conceptual paper is to review the literature on generational differences by discussing the importance of generational differences, theoretical implications, the cohorts in the current workforce, and to offer hypotheses that will retest the predicted stereotypes of the different generational cohorts.