Information Technology – Generation Y, Information Technology, and Performance at Work
Information Technology – Generation Y, Information Technology, and Performance at Work
Generation Y is the group of individuals born from about 1980-1999, and is sometimes referred to as the “Millennials” or “Echo Boomers”. Having been born in 1988, I am right centre of this generation. This generation is defined in many ways by changes in the information technology era. While generation Y – from a sociological perspective – can be deeply analyzed from several angles, I will focus on the attributes directly associate with technology – although the indirect influences of technology on this generation are monumental. Specifically, I will discuss how technology has shaped generation Y and effect this has in the environment of the workplace (as this generation moves into the workforce).
As the first generation whose childhood was media and technology driven, we are tuned very differently. We grew up in a generation with completely different working conditions and environments than our parents. To accomplish assignments and essay, trips to the library were few when we were trained –almost instinctively- with the skills to sift through the vocabulary we knew to find one or two key words that entered by our fingertips in a query, which would result in the exact information required to accomplish our task. All of this while chatting on msn, listening to music, talking on the phone, checking email on an ongoing basis, working on another assignment and having multiple browser windows open. Furthermore, the age of infromatio9n technology has provided far-reaching amounts of media and communication, allowing ideas of this generation to travel fast and be further developed.
These working conditions are not only new, but often necessary for us to function most productively. The debate is raised on matters of concentration and focus and masses of distraction – but the inevitable is here – it’s the way we have been wired to work, and for many the way we are most productive. Our brains and behaviors have developed with necessity of constant stimulation. Social structures of production and working conditions do not reflect the changes in individuals due to the information technology phase that has hit.
While our behaviors may be consequences of modern culture or of the modern economy inherently created by past generations, their sensitivity and initiatives in adapting environments to support what they have created are both weak and few. To get the most from future employees, companies will have to deeply consider the social behaviors, with respect to technology, of today’s up and coming workforce and be flexible in adapting the structure of working environments in order to get full potential from employees.
The product of the baby boomers, Generation Y, is already posing challenges to working environments and much has been written about changes in management in dealing with and working with a generation with such unique character, motivations, history, and overall way of working. In fact, an article from fortune magazine is quoted as saying, “[this]has led to a whole new industry — or epidemic — of consultants, experts they allege, in how to motivate, train and, yes, sometimes nanny the extraterrestrials who’ve taken over the workplace.” Furthermore in an interview on 60 minutes, the interviewer asks “To what extent are you having to tell the boomers, the bosses, the 50 to 60 year olds, ‘The people who got to change are you guys, not them?’”
Generation Y has an “nearly intimate connection” to technology. We are tech savvy with an innate ability to multitask. Having grown up with technology, it is an important element to out work. Managers must leverage this idea, by providing new forms of technology, or projects involving its use, to stimulate productive work from employees. By connecting to this creativity and knowledge employers can make needed changes to businesses. Moreover, managers should embrace their need to multitask, by providing a scope of different work and many visuals in the training and learning process.
While there are high expectation for the achievements of generation y, it may be the structural changes they make to workplaces and the frameworks of how management teams function that will be most noticeable.
Sources:
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/05/28/100033934/
The Age Of The Millenials”. 60 Minutes. 2007-11-08.
http://www.sideroad.com/Customer_Service/generation-y.html
