The Future of Management and the Post-Millennial shift toward Sustainability, Equity, and Justice

Zena Morán, Spencer Shear, Tionna Snyder, Sarah Whittle, Jiayi Xie

The purpose of this blog is to analyze the relationship dynamic of managers generations older than their employees and how this affects the workplace. There is plentiful data on leadership techniques, this blog will connect these techniques to Organizational Behavior (OB) skills. Additionally, we will further interpret the relationship between Post-Millennials and Sustainability, Equity & Justice (SEJ) and its relation to the OB management skills.

Gaidhani, S., Arora, L., & SharmaJo, B.K. (2019). Understanding the Attitude of Generation Z Towards Workplace. International Journal of Management, Technology, and Engineering, 4, 2804-2812.

“Understanding the Attitude of Generation Z Towards Workplace” written by Gaidhani, Arora, & Sharma analyzes Generation Z and the changes they will bring to the workplace as opposed to current generations. The article compares Generation Z to previous generations in terms of work style, culture, and the era they were raised in. The article then delves into the preferences and values of Generation Z and how these shifts from previous generations will mold future workplaces in terms of leadership and how other generations will be affected. This article will be applicable for our blog topic on how a higher concentration of SEJ oriented mindsets in younger managers impacts the workplace since the article provides useful research on how other generations will most likely be impacted by the presence of Generation Z. This article also addresses the values and characteristics of Generation Z which is applicable to our research regarding how SEJ mindsets will alter the workplace. This article, unlike the other chosen articles, focuses less on actual younger managers, will still be useful in our blog regarding young managers since the article addresses how younger workers will influence other generations which can be applied to management and leadership positions as well.

Glum, J. (2015, December 6). Marketing To Generation Z: Millennials Move Aside As Brands Shift Focus To Under-18 Customers. Retrieved from https://www.ibtimes.com/marketing-generation-z-millennials-move-aside-brands-shift-focus-under-18-customers-1782220

Compared to older generations, Generation Z’s workforce is coming in with an entirely new set of values and a completely different mindset. This article talks about these standards that the new generation brings in. The first of these being ethicality. A significantly large amount of this generation appreciates more companies that practice good morals, whether this is proven when dealing with environmental issues or fairly paid wages to their employees. In fact, if two brands sell a product for the same price, a Gen Z consumer will pick the brand that is more socially conscious (Glum, 2015). New companies must prepare for these consumers and laborers; and will only succeed if they focus strongly on sustainability, equity, and justice.  Generation Z also carries a different perspective in their own work life. They are much more technology-reliant and prefer to have a flexible work schedule. However, desiring an adjustable schedule does not mean they want to work less, it actually quite the opposite. Many Gen Z simply prefer to work remotely, instead of spending eight hours at a desk or cubicle. This will help maximize a Gen Z employee’s efficiency in the workplace and make them more engaged in the company. A study also shows that Gen Z is more willing to work longer hours for more pay compared to the older generations when their needs are met (Gelber). This text focuses on the nature of Post-Millennials as consumers and employees, highlighting the demand for change in management unrelated directly

Gretchen, J.(January 14,2020). First Insight Finds Expectations for Sustainable Retail Practices Growing with the Rise of Gen Z Shoppers. New York. Retrieved from https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200114005180/en/Insight-Finds-Expectations-Sustainable-Retail-Practices-Growing

Gen Z is found to be a more willing generation than all the predecessors to spend more in the retail world for products that are made to be more sustainable. Gen Z is shown to buy sustainable brands more at 62%, where Gen Y is at 54% and then baby boomers are at only 39%. Along with willing to buy sustainable Gen Z is willing to pay more for a sustainable products at 73%, where Gen Y only 68% are willing and only 42% of baby boomers are willing to pay more.  This can relate into Gen Z wanting to work for a company that has a more sustainable working environment and process to the product that is being made. You can extrapolate that a Gen Z employees would be more motivated and engaged in working in a company that was more sustainable than one that was less. This needs to be taken not for the managers now that will be seeing the first of the Gen Z population starting to come out of college and start working in these high organizations. Without properly knowing what they are looking for in a company can cause the Gen Z population to have a lot of job shifting till they find that organization that does it for them. The article by Glum J. covers more of the ethics and the justice that the Gen Z population is looking for in a brand for buying that can be linked back to how they will determine where they will want to work for. That is good to cover that but it is not showing where the other generations fall short on that or by how much they do compared to seeing how the generations feel about buying a sustainable product.

Lawler, M., & contributor, M. (n.d.). How to successfully manage people who are older than you. Retrieved from https://www.monster.com/career-advice/article/how-to-manage-people-who-are-older-than-you-0717

Young managers understand and create a fair and reasonable environment for older employees in various ways so that older employees can accept and learn how young managers (new generation) technology and how other generations (older employees) work best Likely to be affected by young managers (Gen Z). And this article is basically about the communication skills that young managers need to learn and the process of becoming a good young manager. At the same time, this article can have some basic links with our theme, because it is also about how younger managers can resolve some conflicts that may occur with older employees in the workplace.

Of course, these can also be related to Gen-Z, such as how to work with younger generation managers and create a good working environment. As an excellent young manager, This can be linked to 3Es. This article, unlike the text referenced in which was written by Gaidhani, is about how young managers in the workplace get along with older employees. This can be considered to be applied to Gen-Z because Gen-Z now accounts for about 30% in the workplace.

Malissa, S., & Richards, L. (2018, September 26). What Equality and Inclusivity Mean for Generation Z. Retrieved January 29, 2020, from https://rainmakerthinking.com/what-equality-and-inclusivity-mean-for-generation-z

A survey conducted by Rainmaker Inc. on approximately 4000 Generation Z respondents yielded supportive leadership and positive relationships at work as the two most important factors in their consideration of jobs. The significance of this text lies in the connection of importance of organizational behavior (OB) qualities such as inclusivity, creativity, engagement, and acceptance in the workplace, to Generation Z. Among the respondents, those that opted for open-ended responses to elaborate on what qualities are most important to be adopted in the workplace, 63% wrote about the “human element” relating to interpersonal skills and communication. Among these, 74% related to equality, inclusivity and pay equity. These OB related topics refer back to ideas such as a glass ceiling, diversity and inclusion for creativity in innovation, and the engagement in the workplace influence by human interactions and positive interpersonal connections. As Generation Z begins to enter these spaces, workforces begin to see the shift and necessity for adaptation to the demands of sustainability, equity, and justice (SEJ) centered topics. In addition, it is becoming clear that as priorities shift for workers, managers must demonstrate these issues will be taken seriously, embedded into organizational goals and demonstrated in the culture. The importance of SEJ to this Generation has redefined innovation and the market demands in the consumer industry, and the best managers to run the partitions in these organizations with the ability to adapt to an ever-changing world, is Generation Z. Although this text covers many Organizational Behavior related skills, it does not explicitly connect the Post-Millennials ranked factors in the workplace to their ability to manage organizations such as previously referenced article written by Lawler.