Change of work ethics and values across different generations

摘要

Studying generational differences are a topic of interest for many researchers, organisations and practitioners today. The objective of this research was to analyse the change of work ethics, values and patterns of communication of generations - Baby Boomers, Gen X and Gen Y in a workplace and analyse the experiences that shaped their perceptions, belief systems, norms and values. Most researches on this topic have been in the context of generational differences in workplaces of western countries. The socio-economic and political experiences of states are different from each other. My research aims to understand the differences pertaining to generations in ethics, values and communication in the workplace within the framework of Indian socio-economic and political conditions. The Indian experiences that shaped the values and perceptions in different generations are not similar to that of the Western countries. No generational difference could be traced in terms of quality of work. Differences exist in terms of punctuality, dress preferences and communication. Boomers and Gen X have greater knowledge owing to their experiences where as Gen Y and Millenials are expert in using technology. Both of these qualities, when combined can incur huge advantages to the company as well as benefit the workforce in developing good inter-personal skills. Gen Y makes use of informal literary languages as opposed to Boomers and Gen X who prefer to write messages using full words and full sentences. Employees from all generations identify rewards and recognition as means of motivation.