Comparing Generation X and Generation Y on Their Preferred Emotional Leadership Style
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A Service of Leibniz-Informationszentrum econstor Wirtschaft Leibniz Information Centre Make Your Publications Visible. zbw for Economics Kraus, Markus Article Comparing Generation X and Generation Y on their preferred emotional leadership style Journal of Applied Leadership and Management Provided in Cooperation with: Professional School of Business & Technology, Hochschule Kempten - University of Applied Sciences Suggested Citation: Kraus, Markus (2017) : Comparing Generation X and Generation Y on their preferred emotional leadership style, Journal of Applied Leadership and Management, ISSN 2194-9522, Hochschule Kempten - University of Applied Sciences, Professional School of Business & Technology, Kempten, Vol. 5, pp. 62-75, http://www.journal-alm.org/article/view/18130 This Version is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/175335 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. personal and scholarly purposes. 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Methods: Empirical study across different organizations using an online survey to examine potential dif- ferences in the emotional leadership style preferences of Generation X and Y. Results: The results of the theoretical part demonstrate an increasing tendency of similarities between Generation X and Y with respect to work factors and work values. Furthermore, the results of the empirical part demonstrate statistically significant differences between these generational cohorts concerning the visionary leadership style, which is preferred by Generation Y. Structure of the Article: 1. Introduction; 2. Literature Review; 3. Research Methodology; 4. Empirical Results; 5. Con- clusion; 6. About the Author; 7. Bibliography Introduction have become complex. Organizations have focused their attention on effective leadership and employee satisfac- tion as potential influences on organizational success The importance of human resources to modern organiza- (Salahuddin, 2010). tions seems to be continuously growing. In times of glob- alization, organizations are open and active systems that must constantly adapt to the requirements of their envi- ronment in order to secure their existence. In 2011, the Literature Review German Corporation for Human Resource Management (DGFP) published a study emphasizing that a wide range of trends affect organizations, including: demographic A multigenerational workforce has major effects on or- development, changes in values, IT-Revolution, globali- ganizations, especially for managers and leaders, who zation, and resource scarcity ((DGFP), 2012). must be able to handle the diversity in order to operate At present, in Germany, three generations are working productively (Salopek, 2006). The importance of genera- together in organizations: the Baby Boomers, Generation tional differences within the field of organizational be- X, and Generation Y. These generations grew up in dif- havior has grown over the years. This growth has resulted ferent time periods, and it is no surprise that they there- in the recognition that generational characteristics play a fore have different worldviews, expectations, and values. significant role in how employees prefer to be led and These differences result in different preferred methods of managed (Cennamo & Gardner, 2008; Salahuddin, working and interaction (Glass, 2007). Managing gener- 2010). Jeffries and Hunte (2004) address the same issue ational differences in the workforce has become a topic by stating that the unique characteristics of generational of increasing interest for managers and researchers over groups provide leaders and managers with a starting point the last decades. Much of this interest is based on the as- from which to achieve greater understanding of their em- sumption that generations differ significantly in their ployees and their employees` leadership preferences (Jef- goals, expectations, and work values (Cennamo & Gard- fries & Hunte, 2004). ner, 2008). Generational research reaches back to 1952, when the so- Since employees are the focus of organizations, and or- ciologist Karl Mannheim described a generational group, ganizations are characterized by a generationally diverse often referred to as cohort, as a collective group of people workforce, the situation for modern leaders seems to JALM, 2017, Volume 5 63 Kraus, Generations and Leadership Style born and raised in a similar location, who have experi- The crossover effect, defined by Schewe and Noble enced similar historical and social events. According to (2000), describes the assumption that very significant this description of Karl Mannheim, people from different events (e.g. John F. Kennedy’s assassination or the Chal- generations share common experiences that influence lenger incident) effect everyone, no matter what genera- their thoughts and behavior. Therefore, a discussion of tion they belong to (Schewe & Noble, 2000). Although generational differences often considers the characteris- some researchers may say that these two effects lead tics and values of each generation (Mannheim, 1970). away from generational differences, the author of this ar- ticle agrees with Arsenault (2004), who states that these Research on generational differences has grown over the effects can be used positively to demonstrate that there years, but the definition of the term generation and the are similarities between different generations. context it is used in have remained much the same. This consistency is reflected in the work of Smola and Sutton Before exploring the characteristics of the current gener- (2002), who describe a generational group as a group of ations in the workforce, it is necessary to consider the in- people who are born in the same time span and share the consistency among researchers regarding how to best same historical and social life events and life experi- group and name the generations. The boundaries of gen- ences. Therefore, people of the same generation may ex- erational groups are generally defined by year of birth or perience the world in similar ways and share common age, but current research is inconclusive as to when one values and views (Patterson, 2007; Smola & Sutton, generation ends and a new one begins (Cennamo & Gard- 2002). This point of view is shared by Johnson and John- ner, 2008; Zemke, Raines, & Filipczak, 2000). son, who define a generation as “a group of individuals The eldest generational group is the Traditionalists, also born and living contemporaneously, who have common called Veterans or the Silent Generation. The birth scope knowledge and experiences that affect their thoughts, at- for this generation is variously reported as beginning in titudes, values, beliefs, and behaviors” (Johnson & John- 1925 and earlier and ending in 1945. The next genera- son, 2010). tional group is the Baby Boomer generation, often called One point of critique is that grouping individuals into Boomers. There is little agreement on the birth year of generations and describing general characteristics is ste- the Boomers; it is variously reported as beginning be- reotyping. Every human being is an individual and it can- tween 1940 and 1946 and ending anywhere between not be assumed that people of a generation think or act in 1960 and 1964. The following generational group is the exactly the same way (Jeffries & Hunte, 2004; Madera, Generation X or Xers. There is even less agreement on Kapoor, Kapoor, & Solomon, 2011). the time span of the birth year of this generation. The birth year begins somewhere in the early 1960s and ends Another common criticism related to generational differ- anywhere between 1979 and 1982. The next generational ences is that there is a lack of empirical research to vali- group is Generation Y, also called Millennials or Nexters. date the significance of these differences (Salahuddin, The birth year of this generation is variously stated as be- 2010). Additionally, the assumption that individuals are ginning between 1979 and 1982 and ending in the late more influenceable in their younger years is supported by 1990s (Jeffries & Hunte, 2004; Kupperschmidt, 2000; research,