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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the microgeneration between Generation X and the Millennial generation. The research question addressed was “What makes the Xennial generation unique and how might the knowledge of these differences be beneficial to organizations?”

The research question was analyzed by a review of literature through the lens of generational theory. This study reviewed current literature on generational theory, years encompassing specific generations, and differences between recent generations in the workplace.

It was discovered the exact years distinguishing generations were unclear because generations fade into one another without a distinct starting and stopping point. This overlap creates a cusp generation or microgeneration. The presented findings suggest microgeneration employees could aid in reducing workplace generational tensions.

Organizations can benefit from creating flexible workplaces accommodating the desires of multi-generational employees while still meeting the goals of the organization as a whole. It is important managers approach generational differences with a clear perspective of what information is valid and what may simply be popular. It is crucial to remember employees are individuals who never completely fit a stereotype, generational, or otherwise.

Very few academic articles on generational differences mention cusp generations and none address their unique opportunities for organizations in the workplace. Members of microgenerations between major generational cohorts may be a key to reducing workplace friction between employees of different generations.

A radical set of social and structural shifts in the last years has transformed the world, bringing a confusing order that few have been able to predict. Common sense information and myths about Millennials’ generation define them as being very homogeneous and different from other generations, which would be already a complex dimension to analyze. However, the complexity increases according to some studies that suggest that other generations have a flawed perception of Millennials. Based on this, the purpose of this chapter is to assess the self-image Millennials regarding consumption behavior and compare it with how they are perceived by other generations, namely, Boomers and Generation Xers. Identifying and understanding the differences could assist in improving the ability to market to them. To conduct this study, a survey was developed to collect data from each group of interest located in the same institutional setting to avoid institutional distance. The constructs included were Technology Savviness, Social Responsibility, Environmental Concern, Status Consumption, and Brand Loyalty. The final sample consisted of 342 participants where 182 were Millennials (53.8%) and the remaining 160 were either Baby Boomers or Generation Xers (42.8%). The current results support the idea of differences between self and other perception, although not in every dimension. The results show that Millennials and older generations have different perceptions regarding Millennial technology savviness, social responsibility, status consumption, and brand loyalty. Environmental concern was the only dimension where the self-opinion of Millennials did not differ from the other generations. Current findings are pertinent because differences in Millennial’s behaviors are important for companies addressing international markets. These results challenge research conducted in other cultural landscapes and call for the need to validate the typical pattern, which lays over the idea that there are significant differences among Millennials’ self-perception and perception of others about them. Because this information provides useful knowledge for brands to become more effective, it is crucial for managers of companies conducting business in a global context to be acquainted with it. This will promote the possibilities to create and maintain close relationships with the Millennials, taking into account the institutional setting in which they grew up. Finally, this study emphasizes the importance of environmental concerns in the current world, which may have the power to unite different generations for a single global cause, thus sorting out some of the confusion.

Several contradictions emerge in the ways in which Generation Z in Italy is, on the one hand, represented in public arenas and common sense and, on the other, when we look to the issues they face in confronting the socio-economic structure around them. This chapter specifically situates these emerging representations within the socio-economic scenario Generation Z lives in. We do this by interrogating statistical data – mainly ISTAT and Instituto Toniolo dataset. The overall picture sees Generation Z as not sharply different from the Millennials: it is a generation for which some structural constraints have been revealed already, but in respect to which they will face sharper conditions. Overall, we argue that statistical sources suggest that Generation Z is less worried about its future than it could be. The impact of the relative protective shell in which young people of this age find themselves has a role in this: one that is very much embedded in Italian culture and tradition. We conclude the chapter by conveying the idea that current Generation Z seems to be living in a soap bubble. By this we mean that the protection they enjoy and the somewhat positiveness with which they look at their future are due to disappear once they are constrained to deal with their responsibility outside of the family protection, in private life and in the labour market. Therefore the bubble that we see is specifically a soap bubble, given that it is likely to dissolve itself soon.

The purpose of this paper is to disentangle the different and sometimes controversial aspects of Generation Y workers’ behavior at the workplace and to provide real-life answers to human resource management and the study of employee relations.

The study makes use of an empirical research framework to assess dominant preferences, values and patterns of behavior in workplaces where Generation Y employees have demographic relevance. The main research questions that this paper will address are: RQ1: What are the main features of organizational culture that are deemed functionally important to their job satisfaction by Generation Y workers? RQ2: Which are the general societal and generational values that affect most prominently their behavioral responses to duties and tasks in the workplace? RQ3: How do millennial workers perceive the gap between a real and an ideal organization in which they work in interactional and behavioral terms? The methodology includes a survey and interviews conducted in a multinational corporation based in Budapest. The theoretical framework is the one developed by Margaret Mead (1970) on value preferences and their generational change.

When generational values and behavioral patterns are not in harmony with the proper organizational cultural aspects of the company high attrition rates become manifest. Generation Y workers can be defined as cofigurate culture (Mead, 1970) in the sense that this generation encapsulates innovative aspects in some bridging features to the previous generation (Generation X). This is one of the aspects that may account for the conflicting social and work values that characterize work relations between Generation Y and X employees. Moreover, because of the three different domains on which work satisfaction is built (social, organizational and cultural) Generation Y workers will aim to strike a balance between expectations, ideas about what a good organization should look like and real-life experiences.

Since the research concerns only one company case study, its scope is limited. In particular, empirical approaches to the study of employee relations with Generation Y workers are still few and more research is needed to fill this gap.

Millennial workers are not simply part of a different generation, as they actually share some value aspects and orientations of the previous generation. The practical implication is that the behavioral and organizational features that bridge Generation X and Y preferences should be detected in order to improve employee relations. Second, paying attention to the social, cultural and organizational features that Generation Y workers deem as important when describing their daily work experiences, it is possible to limit miscommunication and reduce attrition rates.

The study of generational features and tendencies at the workplace is an important social field since it brings new insights into work relations and leadership. Treating the Generation Y as a cofigurate culture helps to bring together cultural and social preferences with values built on the workplace and in the social context of belonging.

The paper provides an original contribution to the study of generational, social and organizational aspects concerning the daily work experience of millennials in a corporation. The study builds an empirical framework in which the value aspects that shape the everyday reality of employee relations are measured and triangulated with qualitative data from ethnographic interviews. This paper can be of interest both to academic and to practitioners, thanks to its strong practical application to human resource management.

Research on gender attitudes has consistently found that younger generations have more gender egalitarian views than older generations. Less attention, however, has been directed toward examining whether the generation gap has grown or shrunk over time and whether it differs across dimensions of gender attitudes. Using data from the General Social Survey for years 1977–2018,the authors examine the generational gap in gender attitudes across three components: views toward women in leadership, working mothers, and the gendered division of family labor between public and private spheres. The results show that differences between generations vary significantly across these dimensions. Attitudes have converged over time in support for women’s leadership, yet Baby Boomers espouse slightly higher levels of support than other generations, including the younger Generation Xers and Millennials. In contrast, consistent generation gaps are observed in support for working mothers, where younger generations hold more supportive views than respective older generations. Attitudes toward the gendered division of public/private sphere labor have converged between Millennials, Generation Xers, and Baby Boomers, with only Pre-Baby Boomers holding significantly more traditional views. Collectively, these trends highlight how cultural change through cohort replacement does not uniformly advance gender egalitarian ideologies. Instead, these shifts vary across specific dimensions of gender attitudes.

Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to review the existing literature on multigenerational teams, to evaluate the maturity of the research area, identify key themes, and highlight areas for future research. Generational differences in the workforce are becoming a critical factor, as four generations (Veterans/Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y/Millennials) currently co-exist, and a fifth generation (Generation Z) stands poised to enter the workforce. To manage these differences effectively, organizations must first understand the various generations and, ultimately, their interaction and engagement with each other. Whereas some literature on the differences between the generations and how they pertain to the organizational work environment exists, currently, it is unclear what is known about how these differences impact the performance of multigenerational teams.

This paper presents a systematic literature review on teams and generational differences. A total of 7 platforms were included, resulting in 121 articles in the final paper set.

The review confirmed a low presence of literature related to generational differences and teams, implying the knowledge area is currently immature; however, despite this, there is an upward trajectory in publications and citations over the past few years, and existing publications and citations span a number of countries, suggesting a likelihood of significant growth in the research area in the near future. Further, key themes were identified in the current literature relating to commitment, leadership, team dynamics, conflict and wages and work environment.

Only seven platforms were included in this review, although the seven platforms chosen are believed to provide comprehensive coverage of the field. The search strings used were “generation” and “team,” which was the word combination found to produce the largest number of results in preliminary trials; however, it is possible that using additional word combinations might have yielded some additional papers. Finally, the review was limited to English-language articles (or their translations); although, ultimately, only two articles were eliminated because of lack of an English language version.

The findings can be used by organizations to identify factors of interest in managing multigenerational teams, as well as what is currently known about influencing those factors to achieve more positive team outcomes.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this appears to be the first systematic literature review on generational differences in teams. Given the importance of this topic, this review is critical to provide a baseline on what is currently known in the field and existing research and practice gaps.

This paper aims to advocate the need for educational leadership to understand and consider the immediate role and challenges associated with the unique values and characteristics of an age-diverse population and their impact on teaching and the facilitation of learning.

The paper draws on the review of the generational and diversity literatures and related organizational best practices to identify key definitions and empirical findings and to develop recommendations which can be deployed in future research and practice in different types of organizational settings.

This paper provides insights into how organizational leaders can promote a multicultural environment that leverages multi-generational differences. Also, the present study offers innovative pedagogical approaches that can help better prepare future business leaders for these challenges.

The study attempts to reignite the debate through a detailed review that describes the current understanding of generational differences among four generational cohorts. Given the research approach, the recommendations may lack generalizability.

This paper advocates the need to understand generational differences to manage the challenges associated with differences in attitudes, values and preferences regarding leadership, human resource practices and organizational change initiatives.

Organizations which create environments that are value-based and that support divergent views and values of each of the cohorts, create a positive outcome for both the organization and its employees.

This paper enhances knowledge and understanding at the theoretical and practical levels, enabling business leaders and faculty to gain insight regarding the generational differences and unique characteristics of four organizational workgroups – Veterans, Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y.

While there are many articles in the popular press and practitioner journals concerning the Millennials (i.e., who they are and what we need to do about them), the academic literature on the subject is more limited. This chapter (1) extensively reviews this literature as published in practitioner, popular press, and academic journals across disciplines including psychology, sociology, management, human resources, and accounting education, and (2) surveys the generational study literature to determine what, if any, rigorous empirical studies exist to support (or refute) the existence of a distinct Millennial generational cohort. While the popular press is voluminous when it comes to avowed generational differences between Millennials and their predecessors, there is a paucity of peer-reviewed, academic, empirical work in the area and most of the latter suffers in some way from the overarching problem with generational research: the linear relationship between age, period, and generation that results in these variables being inherently entwined. However, even absent strong empirical evidence of a unique generational cohort, the literature offers extensive suggestions about what to do about the Millennials in our classrooms and work places. This chapter better informs accounting faculty about the traits of the current generation of accounting students that are supported by empirical research versus claims made in the popular press. It argues for a more reasoned “continuous improvement” approach to Millennials while offering some classroom suggestions for accounting faculty members.