Harvard Business Publishing

On one hand,why do they have to change? Why cant corporate america embrace them they way they are and learn from them?

On the other hand, to meet all their own demands, they will have to work for themselves!

Dr. Wright
The Wright Place TV Show
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According what I can see you're obviously right.

My recent talks with business school professors or what I can see in my client's organization tend to prove that whether they quickly forget their revendications once they pass the company's doors whether they are not able to translate their culture in the workplace. Maybe both.

Perhaps it may be partly due to french hierarchical culture but I think their impact on the organization is overestimated, at least in these early times.

I'd rather say that, even it will take a long time as it took averytime a new generation entered the workplace, companies will change with them. But not for them.

I just finished doing two interviews with GenY leaders who do a pretty good job of articulating the shift underway and their part in it. You can hear them on http://www.management-issues.com/2008/11/19/podcast/seeing-the-world-through-the-eyes-of-gen-y.asp The assumption that it is about bending wills to ways is a bit narrow in approach. Using a wider lens is a more useful vista to see that the Gen Y's overall, are engaged by passion and purpose. They don't see their life like a runway with death at the end but do see the global implications of doing nothing. A lot of business has carried on doing what has always been done and hoping something else will happen. It won't. It's time to embrace the changes because there is one thing that unites us all.

I'm one of those commenters from your previous post and here I am back again hopefully bringing good food for thought. I don't think Gen Y will conform. I think they will be great trendsetters. Have you heard that the post Gen Y generation has been coined "Generation C"? The "C" is for Communication in that they will demand to receive and deliver information from/to all directions. They will not be loyal to companies that do not offer them opportunities to feel a part of a greater, more connected community and this will be accomplished through social media tools. They will need to be a part of a combined Tribe. This need will be pervasive in recruiting, employee retention, motivation systems, etc. Seth Godin's new book TRIBES does a great job explaining how this will be accomplished. Additionally, Stephen Covey, discusses this trend and societal desire in THE EIGHTH HABIT. There are signs everywhere that not only Generation C and Y will want these things but that Generation X and even young Baby Boomers are yearning for same already. The difference is that the younger generation is BRAVE enough to ask for what they want. They will be trendsetters and they will be key in resetting and leveling the global economy. Call me crazy but the writing is all over the walls...and it's not graffiti.

Every generation changes the world, why would you think ours won't change it as well? This will be the norm:

http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2008/12/inside-scoop-on.html

This issue is the great cultural divide in the corporate world right now and I'm coming out fighting on the side of Millennials. Companies that are future-bound will encourage connection and the amazing synergy that networking — in all its forms — provides. Those who are destined for the rubbish heap will feel threatened and react as if communication with the greater world were a threat to productivity. In the process they are also cutting themselves off from the vast creativity and vitality of our times. It is through networking that companies will discover new, more effective ways of working, expand their markets, form powerful partnership and generate fresh possibilities. New, more responsive, more communicative companies are the small clever mammals in a world of towering behemoth dinosaurs that really don't get it. This isn't just about "social networking." It is a more profound, deeper kind of transformation. We are evolving. We’re joining forces to work on the "future". This is what evolution looks like.

Tom:

Your comments seem to assume that the millenials will encounter the same basic world of work in organizations that has been out there for lo, these many years. What if that world is imploding? If that's the case, it seems to me that the task confronting the millenials (and the rest of us) is salvaging what's left of that old world and building some kind of new one. That kind of task ought to lead to some interesting transactions among the various stakeholders.

Tom:

Your comments seem to assume that the millenials will encounter the same basic world of work in organizations that has been out there for lo, these many years. What if that world is imploding? If that's the case, it seems to me that the task confronting the millenials (and the rest of us) is salvaging what's left of that old world and building some kind of new one. That kind of task ought to lead to some interesting transactions among the various stakeholders.

Tom:

Your comments seem to assume that the millenials will encounter the same basic world of work in organizations that has been out there for lo, these many years. What if that world is imploding? If that's the case, it seems to me that the task confronting the millenials (and the rest of us) is salvaging what's left of that old world and building some kind of new one. That kind of task ought to lead to some interesting exchanges among the various stakeholders.

I think Millenials can change the workplace if given the opportunity.

The younger generation does not believe in or know long term loyalty to a company or business as our parents once did.

What they do know is a sense of belonging and participation. They don't mind being told what to do as long as they feel included in the process. They want to make a difference.

Great post, Tom. I'm not a millennial, Gen Y, or net gener as Tapscott calls this generation, but I do believe they will positively change the workplace. The boomers, your generation and mine, certainly changed things - shook things up. Before our generation, women rarely held postions of real leadership or authority in a corporation. In America, African Americans and many other races couldn't work alongside whites for the same wages.

The changes we have wrought have been so gradual that we are hardly aware of them anymore. Let's try to be open-minded about the thrilling changes that the boomer children will bring about.

It is scary, but it is exciting too.

Waynette Tubbs

Is this purely a question of Millennials changing the workplace because of their values or is it also a part of corporations recognizing the need for decisions/input from the bottom-up as well as the top-down?

I'm a 40-something who recently graduated with an MBA. As a Graphic Designer by profession, I value creativity and innovation and appreciate companies that know how to encourage this while keeping an eye on the bottom line. During my MBA, I learned that old corporate structures are not effective (profitable) if they choose rigid business models with all the key decisions at the executive level. Likewise if corporations choose to push most key decisions down to a local level they lose out on coordination and tend to have high levels of waste. So since any first year Business student can tell you, the purpose of any company is to make a profit, why not let employees dress comfortably and listen to iPods as long as productivity and innovation increase along with these social changes?

Gen Y's are well suited for changing business world that is becoming more digital. They are used to adapting quickly and embracing new technologies. The traditional corporate culture may have been important for the last 50 years, but many social norms of the traditional employee are becoming less relevant for success in the future.