Demographers have always disagreed the age bracket composing the millennium generation. However, millennial is widely used to refer to people born between the 1980s and 2000s. Others have dubbed the millennial generation to refer to the teenagers and those in their twenties. It is also known as generation Y simply because the previous generation was known as generation X and comprised of people born between the early 1960s and late 1980s (Winograd, & Hais, 2011). The earlier generation before the two were mature or silent and GI generation. Generation X is credited to have formed the foundation for the millennium and some people decided to name the young generation as Peter Pan or Boomerang generation. The names were adopted due the proclivity of some actions like moving back to their parents because of the economic constraints. They also had a tendency of delaying some adulthood rite of passage such as starting careers and marriages.
Today composition of the workforce is transforming rapidly with generation Y taking total control in some of the organizations, industries, social facilities and public offices among other amenities. In some of this facilities, the workforce is composed of baby boomers, generation X and Y. However, the current trend indicates a high level of the retirement of the baby boomer while generation Y is replacing them in the senior management position. With such events, more room for generation Y to get involved in the economy is created and organizations are competing to attain sustainable competitive advantage through effective management of the trending cohort. The millennial group was the first to experience the digital world and are more conversant with social media, websites, YouTube and Facebook than any other group (Winograd, & Hais, 2011). Thereafter, technology has been incorporated into their everyday lives making it the most diverse generation. Characteristics of millennial
Integrating the generation Y into the boomers culture is a challenge to many of the organizations and a lot is expected from them to maintain high performance. Retention and employee engagement have been an issue over the past years in the workplace hence need for addressing any difference between them. Currently, baby boomers form the largest percentage of the active workers but their unwillingness to support teamwork-based job roles and flat management structures dont anchor well with a millennial cohort who have diverse characteristics. Some of this distinct features are:
Populace
Millennial forms the largest population in most nation especially the western region. According to a research by Debunking the Millennial Myth by the year 2015 generation Y had the largest share of the industrial workforce. Just the same way baby boomers had dominated almost each and every field in the economy, politics and social life for the last 30 years this new generation is up to the task. In fact, it is evident from the 2008 American presidential election the impact this generation have imposed. It is believed that by 2048 millennial will have more than 39% of the nations electorate increasing their voting power. Such dominance will be for the good of the nations as it is the most energetic group characterized by growth.
Technologically savvy
The group has been raised constantly connected to the universe with many terming it as the digital cohort. A research by Pew Research Center has labeled it as the digital native in the land of digital immigrants. Millennial has the ability to adapt exceptionally to computer and internet services. In fact, to make this advancement more enjoyable there is the constant invention of in the entertainment industry. Today business is shifting from manual operation to embrace the new technology for them to retain their competitive standard in the economy. Millennial have a higher understanding of the high-tech innovations than any other generation and for this reason, organizations cannot afford to do without their support. Due to their exposure, they have an optimistic attitude about technology than any other unit such that this advancement does not pose a challenge to them but makes life easier contrary to the previous cohort.
Superiority
The generation has been termed to be distinctive and many treat it in a special way. It is a group which was hailed with celebration and praises more than the previous milestones. They carry a sense of entitlement and have a tendency of expecting a positive feedback. In addition, they develop a mentality that they are the most vital generation to the nation and that their parents expect exceptional success from them. It is evident to them they feel that the previous generation has failed to offer a solution to certain problems and it is their time to solve any challenging puzzle in the past. However, they advocate for privacy but in most cases, they end up craving for attention.
Confidentiality
In so many cases the greatest complaint leveled against generation Y is that they approach every endeavor with a sense of entitlement and that the task is a minute for them. There is also a feeling of overconfidence followed by high expectations of praises even when they are far from earning it. Such prospects result in a lack of appreciation for the higher ranked officials in the workplaces as they remain impressed with their own importance and values. However, this is not the expression to each and every millennial as some are full of humility and respect, especially to their leaders. Despite such condemnations, this trait at times is very helpful and something the other generation need to develop. Millennial have a higher drive to advance as compared to the rest as when they master what is expected of them nothing will stop them from giving their best to earn promotion (Caraher, 2015). But this is not always a good idea as they might end up developing a low tolerance for the drudgework and struggling with some concepts from their seniors.
Civic orientation
Generation Y has a robust sense of community at both the global and local scale levels. In most cases, they focus on larger societal needs and are not driven by individual desires. In addition, their believe in political engagement and are won over that the government and leaders are part of the powerful forces likely to promote development. They can easily identify the ability of such authorities to solve societys issues including the alarming unemployment, income inequality and scarcity of resources among other challenges affecting the economy. Out of their desire to have a more favorable world they are likely to work extra hard and devote their resources for the success of their nation and institutions.
Entrepreneurial
Over their growth, they witnessed renew of collapsing companies as well as the effort innovators and social media played to disrupted traditional industries. With this in mind, they are full of energy to build businesses out of ruins of recession and transform career expectation of other groups. From the earlier experiences, they learned the selfishness in the economy full of individualistic characters (Caraher, 2015). Therefore, they are more enthusiastic tin creating their own opportunities in life and appreciate any chance along the way to fulfill their ambitions.
Relationship between millennial and technology
Technology has altered the way we acquire education and experts intermingle in the business community. The present landscape of knowledge delivery has transformed remarkably over the past years to incorporate the demands of the current trends in the market. As technology continue its dominance in the job market, educational institutions are placing a lot of emphases to enlighten practitioners what is required of them. The difference between millennial and the previous generation is more evident in the workplace due to the gap existing between their communication and technology levels.
Generation Y has grown up with this advancement having total access to it throughout their lives. it sounds ridicules, for the love of technology more than half of them would forego their sense of smell in the expense of the critical device they use to connect to the world. People remain surprised with the trending capacity of mankind to invent machines with higher industrial capacity than that of their own making human input irrelevant. Todays multi-generational workshop poses a number of technological challenges to the senior generations. They also remain puzzled with the exceptional techniques and skills the new cohort are exhibiting in the workshops.
Senior generations need to tolerate with the skills younger workers holds especially issues with technology, confidentiality, and privacy. For the past decades, information technology was widely ignored and posed daunting contests to the employees. However, this is now something of the past with the dynamics changes brought by generation Y. In fact, employees are encouraged to share ideas and give suggestions to keep their businesses competitive in the economy. Millennial have a remarkable vantage opinions, and their suggestion can help to conquer some of the challenges faced by the seniors. Also, there is a need to formulate forums meant to discuss the pros and cons of technology and setting some task force to further investigate the best procedure to embrace the ideas raised by the younger groups in the businesses and organizations.
Some of the impacts brought by the relationship between internet and millennial include democratization, which entails the advancement provided to the young cohort with freedom, equality, and empowerment across all aspects of their lives. Secondly, technology offers them with a more robust and personalized media familiarity likely to be incorporated in the economic program contents. Third, phases of commerce processed and the device used to shop is something organization need to update their system to increase the number of their potential customers and sales at large. For marketers, such diversity is a caution to ensure their organizations are up to the task ahead. Today most of the competitive business have gone digital talk of amazon and the like of Alibaba and data traffic is overtaking foot traffic in business premises.
Relationship between millennial and social media
The executive leaders have been having a problem in selling the reputation of their businesses and product through social networks. Today with the new group of employees this is no longer an issue to worry of anymore. The millennial generation is informed and has acquired the highest level of education as compared to the other generation and this is one of the simplest tasks as they find it enjoyable and part of leisure to spend time surfing. They can easily evangelist a firm in this platform, offer assistance to the customers, build the product brand, publicize the face of a company and attract talents and much more for the good of the business. Social media currently is one of the well-established consumer and trademark-oriented set of tool (Bonner, Marbley & Hamilton, 2011). For those using the media diligently, it is an innovative solution for internal value. Since it requires a personnel familiar with its operation millennial employees are needed to integrate governance and business strategies to open more opportunities to excel.
The prompt evolution of social media demands replacement of baby boomers in the policy-making executive with employees who are good at media tools and interaction with its users. Any gap in implementing these trending invention can be costly and time-consuming due to constant consultation. It is, therefore, an opportun...
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