Generational differences in Work Values & Organizational Commitment of IT & ITes Employees Abhilasha
Research Scholar at IFTM University, Moradabad & Vice President - Algol Business Systems Pvt. Ltd.
Dr. Suman Pathak
Professor (Management) CMR University, Bengaluru
Abstract:
In the era of globalization, it is necessary for all the organizations to be competitive so that they
can stay in business. A business is run not only based on financial or material resources but the
most important factor is human resources for any organization. Understanding their manpower
is the key to success as it helps them in drafting the policies for them. In India, it is for the first
time that three generations are working together in the workplace, it has resulted in
complexities in the workplace. As these generational cohorts are quite different from each
other. Indian IT & ITes industry is one of the major employer for the new generation. This paper
intends to understand the generational differences in Generation X and Generation Y employees
in terms of their work values and commitment towards their organizations. In this I will make
recommendations on how a motivated workforce can be developed irrespective of the
generational differences, which will help in realizing the organizational goals.
1. INTRODUCTION
India is on the road of development and wants to be a developed nation. This can be a reality in the coming years as there is a drastic change in the demographics of Indian population. India’s total population is approx. 1.2 billion and out of this 0.8 billion constitutes the working age group (15-64 years). By the year 2026 64.8% of Indian population will be in the working age group category. People are divided into different generations by the year of their birth. They face the social & political events, technology advancements in chronological order hence they share common beliefs and values based on their experiences. As we can also relate this to our present life. The way our father and forefather use to think and act is very different to the way we and our kids do. The way we dress, eating habits, lifestyle, values, beliefs, work culture, attitude towards life, importance of money and commitment towards work change is noticeable in almost everything. Major factors those influence any generation are social, economic, political, cultural, education and lifestyle.
We can’t deny this fact that change in generation also effects the workplace. Organizations must plan and modify their policies as per the generational pool in the workplace. Now in India three generations are working together in the same organization. Namely Baby boomers ( age group 53 -71 years ; born between year 1946 -1964), Generation X ( age group 51-38 years; born between year 1965 – 1979), Generation Y (age group 37-17 years; born between year 1980 -2000). Generation Z has also entered the workplace but the percentage is minimal at present. Major workforce i.e almost 70% is constituted by Gen X and Gen Y. To manage this young and inquisitive generation pool, is very challenging for the organizations. To reap the maximum benefits by utilizing their potential is very important.
In earlier days’ people used to join a job and used to get retire from the same company. Later, this trend changed and entire working life was spent in 6-8 companies. But now this trend is also changing we are witnessing that Gen Y switch over almost every year. This has resulted in the higher attrition rate and challenge for the organizations to retain the employees. As manpower is the most resource for any organization, lot of time and money is invested on the workforce. Higher attrition affects the profitability also. Hence it is important to understand the generational diversity especially about their work values and organizational commitment. Indian IT & ITes industry is growing at 12-14% every year and one of the highest employer for the new generation. Almost 3.5 million professionals are part of this industry. And this number is expected to grow many - folds in coming years.
Research Studies have examined that generational diversity in the Indian workforce is on the nascent stage now whereas in the west, social scientists have already studied and analyzed this topic of generational classifications of their respective workforces (Matthew & Cynthia Sims, 2011). The objective of this research is to understand the generational differences in Gen X and Gen Y in their work values and commitment towards there organization. This research will focus on the employees working in IT & ITes sector in India.
differences in people's beliefs their practices and preferences also. Therefore, understanding multiple generations in the Indian context requires a more nuanced unbundling of the generations.
2. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
Earlier research studies have shown that experienced generations fails to transfer their knowledge and experience to the younger generation. As organizational policies, do not give proper channel to do so. Hence it is very important that Managers should understand the generational gap and the ways to address it so that talent management strategies can be chalked out in favor of the organizations. Understanding of generations will help in planning recruitment, training, retention, compensation, engagement and other employee strategies in effective manner. It will surely result in improved productivity, positive work environment and leading to competitive advantage over competitors.
Study on Generational differences in Indian context will help the organizations to manage their talented workforce in more effective manner. They can segment the employees as per their requirement in terms of their strengths and interests. It will also help in building inclusive work culture in the organization.
3. THE GENERATIONS
A group of people of the same age who are related by same historical events can be defined as Generation (Karl Mannheim, Society for Human Resource Management, 2010). A generational cohort includes the people who are born around the same time and also share the distinctive social and historical life events. Different generations are influenced by broad various factors like parents, peers, media, economic, social events, and popular culture of that time. These factors create value systems common to this particular generation and this is how it distinguish one generation from the other. (Twenge, Hoffman, Campbell, Lance, 2010). Generation Gap exists when the different generations are not able to relate to each other (Society for Human Resource Management, 2010).
Baby Boomers have distinct characteristics of being optimistic, idealistic and driven. They have the desire to please, but judgmental of those who see the things differently. This is sometimes the cause of conflict in the workforce when other generations propose some new ideas or change (Laurel, 2005). Lot of people believe that technology is one of the greatest hindrance for the face-to face human interaction in the business world now a days (Lieber, 2010).
3.2 Generation X -People born between year 1965-1981 are named as Generation X. They are now 36 years to 51 years of age in current year i.e. 2017. They constitute the major workforce of India. They have learned hard work from their parents i.e. baby boomers but they work efficiently by working smartly. As they believe in smart work with hard work. This generation has seen nuclear families, both parents working, high divorce rate and layoffs. This has affected their way of thinking and made them more individualistic in nature. Also, they have witnessed the emergence of computers, internet and entertainment channels like MTV, VTV etc. They still believe in collecting lot of information and long discussions on the problems in form of meetings.
This generation is techo -literate, they think glocal, they are adaptable and multi taskers.
They are also known as Twenty something. Generation X is more open to take chance with their personal investments rather than organizational resources. Downsizing had affected their way of thinking and they do not rely completely on organizations. This has resulted in their stereotyped attitude (Fiterman, 2003). They are techno-literate, self-reliant, pragmatic, love fun, think globally and value diversity. Generation X is very adaptable, proclaim authority, and multi-tasker. However, they have impatient nature and poor social skills. They look for flexibility and challenges (Laurel, 2005). Generation X look for job change frequently to increase their marketability (Twenge, Hoffman, Campbell, Lance, 2010), and they also conflict with the management that operate in a rigid hierarchical structure (Lieber, 2010).
This generation is comfortable with online training and learning rather than going to traditional method of learning.
Generation Y wants flexibility, regular feedback and challenges to prove themselves, but they are open to guidance also for handling difficult tasks. To reach their goals they seek interdependence, collaboration and networking. Whenever given a chance they want to put their views and showcase their decision-making skills.
Each generation has witnessed different environment and events hence it has influenced their learning and thinking. It is very important for the HR Managers to breach this generational gap by understanding the specialties of both the generations. As it is rightly said that Gen X and Gen Y are two sides of coin and no one is right or wrong, they both are right only difference is in their perspectives.
4. BRIDGING THE GAP
4.1 Baby Boomers are workaholics and wants to climb the corporate ladder. Their major motivation used to be money. Few researchers like Twenge, Campbell and Lance Hoffman, did a comparative study of workers in the year 1982 and 1989. This research showed that baby boomers gets motivated by extrinsic rewards. (Twenge, Campbell, Lance Hoffman, 2010). Whereas the baby boomer generation who are still working even after crossing their retirement age their work values have seen a shift. Research done by Hewlett, Sumberg and Sherbin in 2009 also showed that baby boomers want intellectual environment, flexible work environment and recognition of their effort was rated as their topmost desire
4.2 Generation X is more result oriented. They believe that the superiors should give them work and not orders and they also seek for feedback. They seek work life balance of quality of work life. They don’t want to follow long hierarchy for communication. They prefer communicating via emails and other professional networks.
4.3 Generation Y is very comfortable with technology they effortlessly navigate in the digital world thru their laptops, tabs and smart phones. Their approach towards work, peers and even superiors, is very casual. This generation feels that they are self-sufficient, know almost everything and highly motivated for the tasks they are interested in.
Also, this generations likes flexibility in working. Research by Hewlett, Sumberg and Sherbin in 2009 also says that Gen Y feel highly motivated when they are given freedom to choose work from office or home. Organizations should leverage the maximum potential of all the generations who are working in the workplace. They should plan their policies in such a manner that generation gap should not affect their profitability. They should work towards the inclusive policy for all three generations.
heads like social status, pride in work, attitude towards jo and earning etc. extensive research has been done on this topic.
Employees values in long term affects the organizational values also. As with the generation transition on the top-level management positions will influence the corporate culture, human resource policies and work environment.
4.5 Organizational Commitment: Commitment is understood in various forms by different people. In simple words organizational commitment means the desire of an employee to remain a member of the organization. It cannot be denied that human resource is the most important resource to make a company successful. Hence it is imperative that organizations wants their employees to stay with them, work with dedication and give them competitive edge. These days’ human resource policies focus on recruitment and retention strategies for employees. As attrition rate is increasing on an alarming rate. Organizational Commitment encourages employees to contribute higher towards the organizational goal.
Gen X Gen Y
Resilient to change Goal-oriented
Techno-literate Techno-savvy
Self-starters Collaboration & Achievement Global mindset Buoyant
Informal Moral mindset
Skepticism Social activism
Self Preservation More impatient
Individuality Entrepreneurial & independent Look for work life
balance
wants flexibility & work from home options
want to work for 40-42 hours in a week
want to set their own hours of work
4-6 jobs in lifetime Job switch very frequent wants authoriative
leadership wants autonoums leadership Characteristics
5. SCENARIO OF IT AND ITeS INDUSTRY IN INDIA:
5.1 Information Technology (IT) means the technology related to information. Particularly to the electronic information. IT industry is one of the fastest growing industry in India. After privatization and foreign direct investment lot of Indian and multinational companies started their operations in India. It is one of the biggest employer for the Indian population. Now Indian IT companies has established themselves on the world map also.
5.2 The Information Technology Enabled Services (ITeS) – Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector is one of fastest growing sector in India. In year 2012 NASSCOM renamed BPO as BPM (Business Process Management). This sector changed the workplace scenario in India. Lot of Gen X employees started their career with BPM Industry. Even today it is one of the favourite destination of the workforce. Several Multinational companies have established their consultancy centers, call centers, legal process outsourcing (LPO) centers and knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) centers in India. Due to emergence of this sector IT Act of India also came into existence in year 2000.
India is one of the largest and favourite outsourcing destination for US. As India provides cost competitive IT services. Qualified English speaking technical graduate workforce is the USP for Indian IT Industry. It has helped the clients to save almost $200 billion in last 5 years. Due to exports, Indian IT industry is almost 12.3% of the global market. Total exports accounts for 56.12% of total IT and hardware. In Financial year 2015 BPM sector had 23.46% of total IT exports. BPM sector is estimated to grow to US$300 billion by year 2020.
Government of India is also encouraging and supporting this sector by allocating resources for software technology parks, special economic zones in different parts of the country. It has also increased the tax holidays for the IT sector selected projects and easing the norms for setting up facilities and single window clearance for the new projects.
5.3 Indian IT & ITes - Market Size
In the year 2017 the Indian IT & ITes sector is expected to grow at 12-14% rate. By year 2025 the growth is expected to be US$350 billion. India has witnessed more than 4200 start-ups. It has been ranked third among start-up ecosystem. India’s internet user base has already crossed the 400 million mark in year 2016, and now India is third largest in the world. Smart phone users and social media users have also increased manifolds in last few years. By year 2018 Indian internet economy is expected to reach 10 trillion-mark accounting for almost 5% of country’s GDP. Cloud services revenue has also reached US$1.26 billion and it is growing year on year by 30.4%. Emergence of Internet in rural India areas also increased the scope of e-commerce. By year 2020 Indian B2B (Business to Business) e-commerce market is expected to reach US$700 billion and B2C (Business to consumer) e-commerce market as US$102 billion.
5.4 Government of India Initiatives
Some of the major initiatives taken by the government to promote IT and ITeS sector in India are as follows:
Minister of Communication and Information Technology, Mr Ravi Shakar Prasad, has announced to open 1,00,000 more e-Seva centres to support the village level entrepreneurs to get guidance from experts and serve as e-service distribution centre also.
India Railways plans to go digital by providing bar-coded tickets, GPS enabled coaches, Wi – Fi service at stations and other convenience services to elevate the passenger traffic.
Cisco Systems Incorporation will host the technology for Smart Cities, education digitization of monuments, Internet of Things, cybersecurity for the Government of Telangana.
Total 150 countries are extended e-Tourist Visa (e-TV) scheme.
Under Government of India Digital India and Startup India campaign, five incubation centres for 'Internet of Things' (IoT) start-ups to be set up in rural areas to develop solutions for smart agriculture.
Digital India Initiative of Government of India could help India’s GDP to grow from US$ 550 billion to US$ 1 trillion by 2025. Also, US has agreed for collaborations worth US$ 16.58 billion for different ICT enabled projects.
Digital literacy programme has been started by The Department of Electronics and Information Technology and it will train over six crore Indians in the next three years to empower them for the digital technology.
In Hyderabad construction of a technology incubator, world’s biggest start-up incubator housing 1,000 start-ups has begun to make it as a technology destination. Government of Telangana is initially investing Rs 35 crore to set up a 60,000 sqft space.
India is emerging as a strong contender for both on-shore and off-shore services to global clients. New emerging technologies like Analytics, Cloud, Social and Mobile are expected to offer a US$ 1 trillion opportunity collectively. Cloud represents the biggest opportunity estimating approx. US$ 650-700 billion by 2020. Social Media is emerging as the second most profitable segment for IT firms by offering US$ 250 billion market opportunity.
6. MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
Organizations who do not change with the times becomes dormant and out of business soon. So to keep it going they need to be in business and it becomes important for them to attract and retain employees. Now managing multi-generational workforce is a big challenge for all the organizations. As every generation cohort requires different human resource policies. Organizations need to strategically plan and follow open communication policies so that young generations can bring innovative and creative ideas and the experienced generation can help them to execute the same.
6.1 Mentoring is the way forward – Right guidance is the key for managing the multi – generational workforce. Generational differences should be addressed in the right manner so that there is no communication gap. Mentoring can be from both sides Gen X to Gen Y and vice versa. This will encourage the Gen Y to showcase their ideas and make them feel empowered. Experienced generations can also experiment individual as well as group mentoring sessions, panel discussions and open feedback sessions.
6.2 Flexibility is the key – with the advancement in technology distances have lost the meaning. It is not necessary to go to office and then work, these days’ employees seek work home opportunities also for few days rather than taking leave. In this way, they can maintain the work life balance also. Organizations should address these changes in the workplace policies also.
6.4 Training is the way of learning – Different generations have different styles of learning. Older generations used for traditional methods. Whereas Gen X favors Power Point presentations and handbooks, while Gen Y wants more interactive, technology-based forms of learning.
6.5 Employee Engagement is must – It is not all about work, employees should be given opportunism to engage in other activities to keep their interest alive. Offering them higher education opportunities and advance training in their field, cross functional assignments, interaction opportunities to solve a problem can be few ways to engage the employees.
6.6 No walls – open offices – Studies have shown that Gen Y does not like rigid management style. They like open communication, free to share information and would like to contribute in decision making also irrespective of their rank. To take maximum benefit from Gen Y open communication to be encouraged instead of formal hierarchy structure of communication.
6.7 Turn the routines - Millennials and Gen Xers does not like the formality of regular meetings, as they think its sheer wastage of time especially when there’s nothing to discuss. So the meetings to be organized only when there are issues to be discussed or dire need.
6.8 Recognition is must – Recognition is a morale booster, it helps the employees to move forward with more confidence and zeal. Only difference is that the way of recognition is to be adopted as per the generation pool. Gen Xers likes to get congratulation mail, holiday vouchers etc. whereas as Gen Y wants validation for their way of working, additional training opportunities and frequent reviews of their performance.
6.9 Work Life Balance – Generational differences also affects the requirements of the employees as they are in different stages of life. It is important for the organizations to align the personal needs as well as professional needs of the employees by keeping in mind the generational differences.
6.10 Open Communication - Communication is the life line of any organization, lack of communication can result in blunders and can result in big losses to them. Only thing to be taken care is that the communication methods to be redefined to fit in the Gen Y. Open communication to be promoted, employees should be given chance to put their ideas put forward and give honest feedback.
7. CONCLUSION
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