How to Evolve With the Changing Workforce Without Being Duped by Generational Stereotypes

Abstract

Age differences are one aspect of diversity that is often ignored, but stereotypes about different age and generational groups run rampant and unquestioned. Popular culture messages about the characteristics, values, talents, and desires of people born at certain time periods have led to stereotypical beliefs in organizations that can interfere with team functioning and lead to unfair and unwise decisions. This chapter sorts out the science of lifespan development, which recognizes that individuals change and develop, and experience various gains and losses, at different rates over time from work that claims consistent characteristics among people born within particular time intervals. Suggestions for policies and practices for managers to recognize individual differences among employees as well as their changing needs over time as an alternative to acting on generational assumptions are provided.