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INNOVATION
& DESIGN Home Page Architecture Brand Equity Auto Design Game Room SMALLBIZ Smart Answers Success Stories Today's Tip INVESTING Investing: Europe Annual Reports BW 50 S&P Picks & Pans Stock Screeners Free S&P Stock Report SCOREBOARDS Hot Growth 100 Mutual Funds Info Tech 100 S&P 500 B-SCHOOLS Undergrad Programs MBA Blogs MBA Profiles MBA Rankings Who's Hiring Grads | | SEPTEMBER 28, 2001 BOOK EXCERPT Managing Generation Y -- Part 1 Bruce Tulgan and Carolyn A. Martin reflect on the latest wave of workers, consumers, and global citizens -- the grown-up children of the late '70s and early '80s
They're blunt. They're savvy. They're contradictory. They're the children of Baby Boomers, the upbeat younger siblings of Gen X, and the 29 million young adults who have been streaming into the workplace over the last five years. Their presence will continue to grow every single year for the next ten years." In Managing Generation Y, Bruce Tulgan and Carolyn A. Martin, Ph.D. try to present a pocket guide to help managers understand the kids born between 1978 and 1998 -- a group of employees with quite different qualities from the Gen Xers before them. Their book offers a look at these young adults between 16 to 22, many with impressive resumes even before they hit the full-time workplace. With three to four part-time jobs or internships under their belts, the authors say, members of this group are already sure what they want from their careers, and how they want to be managed. The following excerpt is from Tulgan and Martin's book. CHAPTER ONE: Who Is Generation Y? Believe much of the media coverage about Gen Y and you'd think that journalists failed to learn their lesson from the early stereotypes of Gen X. Many observers portray Gen Yers as lazy, self-interested youth constantly at risk from drugs, sex and violence. At best, they appear to be pampered and ill-mannered. At worst, they are hopelessly derelict.
Gen Yers grew up with the specters of crack cocaine, designer drugs, and the AIDS epidemic. As 8- to 14-year-olds, they saw the graphic horrors of the L.A. riots following the Rodney King verdict and the fiery end of the Branch Davidian standoff. They watched terrorism become a U.S. phenomenon with the World Trade Center, Oklahoma City, and Atlanta Summer Olympics bombings. They were bombarded with violence-packed video games and sexually charged advertising, TV and movies. Then, in the late '90s, they were implicated as a disturbed and violent generation when Paducah, Littleton, Springfield, and Conyers grabbed the headlines. Gen Yers didn't need the atom bomb or nuclear proliferation to create an uncertain, scary world. They didn't need a Germany or a Korea and a Vietnam to terrify them. Their "war" has been fought on native soil. Their "enemy" has appeared in their homes, in their neighborhoods, on their playgrounds -- in adults who abuse them, in schoolmates who shoot them. THE TRUTH. The graphic news stories present a scary group of teenagers -- driven by adult desires, problems and weapons, but without the faculties to cope. Robert Blum, head of the adolescent health program at the University of Minnesota, says, "You would expect Gen Y to be a profoundly violent generation. But it's not there." It's not there. The fact is, the majority of Gen Yers are coping quite well, thank you. Indeed, they've made great strides since their elder siblings made it through their teenage years. Look at the evidence: Teen arrests are down. Teen drug use is down. Teen drunk-driving accidents are down. Teen pregnancy is down. Teen abortions are down. School dropout rates are down. Gen Y Truths: No. 1 -- New Confidence: Gen Yers are upbeat and full of self-esteem Since Gen Yers are coming of age during the most consistently expansive economy in the last 30 years, of course they have a more positive, optimistic outlook on life, work, and the future than Xers did at their age. Most studies show that up to 80% of Gen Yers believe they will be financially better off than their parents. Contrast that with their older siblings who were told they would be the first generation in U.S. history to be financially worse off than their parents.
Beyond the self-esteem-laced parenting, educating, and counseling most Gen Yers received throughout their childhood and adolescence, most also received a healthy dose of technology immersion. Gen Yers' facility with technology has empowered them in ways older cohorts can only imagine. This digital generation has never experienced life without computers. In fact, many of them were booting up computers long before they were hopping on bikes. Techno-savvy Yers are now usurping "intellectual authority" in their homes and classrooms, leaving parents and teachers both confused and in awe. They can access worlds of information and master increasing complex systems so much faster than their elders. No. 2 -- Gen Yers are the most education-minded generation in history Influenced by Baby Boomer parents who value education and a workplace that demands it, most Gen Yers recognize that the key to their success lies in advanced learning: 90% of high school seniors expect to attend college 70% of them expect to work in professional jobs 70% of teens believe college is necessary to meet their career goals 40% of college freshman expect to get their master's degrees As a result, more high school students than ever before are taking harder college prep courses. For the "education is cool" generation, the expectation of lifelong education is a fact of life. The good news for college grads is that their talents are in great demand and starting salaries continue to rise. JobTrak.com reports that for the class of 2000 they rose anywhere from $600 at the low end (in the communications and media fields) to $3400 at the high end (in computers and information sciences fields). No. 3 -- Paving the way for a more open, tolerant society The more self-confident of them are exhibiting a growing self-acceptance that opens the way to other-acceptance. No. 4 -- Leading a new wave of Volunteerism Right now, we are witnessing the coming of age of the most socially conscious generation since the '60s. Responding to messages from schools, homes, and churches that they can make a difference, Gen Yers are exhibiting a refreshing altruism that embraces the environment, poverty and community problems. From toy drives to working for better child labor laws; from supporting local recycling programs to calling for corporate ecological standards; from traveling to India to work with Mother Teresa's community to traveling to the local food banks to distribute groceries; from raising money for breast cancer research to saving music and arts programs in local high schools, Gen Yers are contributing in record numbers. The Challenge for organizations We are about to see what happens when the workforce is inundated by talented, educated, techno-savvy, open-minded, service-oriented young people with every intention of making lots of money while building their ideal career and personal lives. Will your organization be able to deliver the dream job Gen Yers are looking for? #1 Gen Yers' career choices and behavior are driven, first and foremost, by their quest for opportunities to play meaningful roles in meaningful work that helps others. In essence, they want to be "paid volunteers," joining an organization not because they have to, but because they really want to, because there's something significant happening there. #2 Gen Yers want to work with a highly motivated team of committed people. Consider this: Gen Yers spend a lot of time by themselves. Even with hours on the Internet, extracurricular activities, or mall hopping with their friends, up to 20% of their time is spent alone. Spending a lot of time alone helps one develop a tremendous level of independence, but it also causes one to crave connections. Making people of all backgrounds feel welcomed, mobilizing their unique talents to get important work done, and becoming aggressive at creating an open and open-minded workplace: These are major challenges for every organization. #3 Gen Yers have lofty financial and personal goals and fully expect to meet them. Most surveys of Gen Yers report that they expect to earn very high salaries by the time they are 30 years of age. Considering that the average starting salary of a college graduate in 2000 hovered around $38,000, while more and more organizations are figuring out ways to flex schedules, work locations, and job descriptions, Gen Yers may be more realistic than those who scoff at their ambition. That's why managers must figure out a way to offer Gen Yers incentives at work that few competitors are willing or able to offer. Money matters, a lot, but Yers are willing to meet specific work standards -- goals, deadlines, and parameters -- in exchange for the financial and non-financial rewards they seek.  From Managing Generation Y: Global Citizens Born in the Late Seventies and Early Eighties by Bruce Tulgan & Carolyn A. Martin, Ph.D. Copyright 2001 RainmakerThinking, Inc. Reprinted with permission of HRD Press Inc. Get BusinessWeek directly on your desktop with our RSS feeds.  Add BusinessWeek news to your Web site with our headline feed. Click to buy an e-print or reprint of a BusinessWeek or BusinessWeek Online story or video. To subscribe online to BusinessWeek magazine, please click here. Learn more, go to the BusinessWeekOnline home page  | | SEPTEMBER |
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