Why intergenerational organizational culture is crucial in strategy implementation

This is the first blog in a series on Creating Thriving Organizational Cultures with Different Generations

On February 29, 2024, I had the privilege of doing a webinar with Diane Drouin, GenerActions Co-founder and alum of the Master of Arts in Leadership (Executive Leadership Specialization) program. In the webinar, titled Creating thriving organizational cultures with different generations, we addressed three key considerations, namely, why intergenerational organizational culture is crucial in strategy implementation, coming together to co-create intergenerational shared spaces, and strategies for executive leaders to create a thriving organizational culture. 

This first blog is about why intergenerational organizational is culture crucial in strategy implementation. 

What is intergenerational organizational culture?  

In any organization, culture is the spoken and unspoken rules of how to operate. Edgar Schein (2010), prolific scholar on organizational culture, said, that “culture is to a group what personality or character is to an individual” (p. 5). However, Schein and Schein (2019) also cautioned not to “oversimplify” (p. 35) culture to understand it. Culture is rooted in a series of interacting elements, such as, customs, traditions, group norms, language, symbols, organizational structure, systems, procedures, incentives and of course, beliefs and values. When thinking about intergenerational cultures we recognize that the differing beliefs and values held across generations can impact how a culture grows.

What are the different beliefs and values of the Generations?

Odukoya (2022) summarized the mindsets of the generations as: Boomers (Born 1946 to 1964) “work as hard as you can, then work even harder the next time” with work-centric values; Generation X, (Born 1965 to 1980) “work hard, play hard” with a desire for work/life balance; Gen Y or Millennials (Born 1981 to 1996) as “work hard, play harder, but try to only work where you can see yourself play” having a focus on socio-political ethical values and seeking professional growth; and, Gen Z (Born 1981 to 1996) as “the first global generation” attending to diversity, inclusion and meaningful work. Likewise, Park and Park (2024) addressed similar values of these generations and identified Traditionalists (born from about 1928 to 1945) who value conformity, dedication, and hard work. Considering the generations with these broad strokes, we can start to see that Traditionalists and Boomers have an overarching dedication to the work that they do and getting personally ahead, Generation X search to find work-life balance, and Millennials and Gen Z seek purposeful work opportunities that serves both themselves and the larger community. Recognizing that there may be different mindsets across different generations can be a helpful in understanding what might be at the heart of tensions within an organization’s culture. 

When does organizational culture become toxic, or at the very least starts to breakdown 

Organizational culture can become toxic or at the very least can start to breakdown because of unaddressed stereotypes based on generational bias and ageism. Generational bias can occur when an assumption is made that simply because one belongs to a certain generation that they hold the values and beliefs commonly identified. Similarly, ageism is prejudice or discrimination based on a person's age. It can be experienced by both older and younger workers, and different silos can start to form. As my colleague Diane, aptly pointed out, opposing generations’ judgements can be heard in phrases, like, “they are too old to get it or they are too young to understand”. Ageism and generational stereotypes then can block deeper conversations around what is important to be people in their workplace.

Why is intergenerational organizational culture crucial in strategy implementation? 

When people’s needs and wants are satisfied in their work place it follows that workplace wellbeing and organizational performance grows. Leaders’ are powerful influencers in shaping the culture of the organization and the experience of employees’ in the workplace. By becoming aware that there may be different generational values, expectations, attitudes and ways of showing up in the work place, leaders can create the opportunities for talking about what people value in the workplace, what they truly want and need, and where differences might lead to greater growth and opportunity by creating a set of shared collective values and workplace practices to move forward as a thriving intergenerational culture.

See our full Webinar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TscwKovq_Tc

References

Odukoya, A. (2022, November 17). The changing generational values. https://imagine.jhu.edu/blog/2022/11/17/the-changing-generational-values/

Schein, E. (2010).Organizational culture and leadership(4th ed.). Jossey-Bass

Schein, E. & Schein P. (2019).The corporate culture survival guide. John Wiley & Sons

Park, S. and Park, S. (2024), Generational differences in work values in the Korean government sector, European Journal of Training and Development48(1/2), 149-161.  https://doi.org/10.1108/EJTD-05-2022-0057