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Generation Z in Germany – born after 1995 – follows in many ways similar trends to be seen in other countries. Contrary to Generation Y, it is less career-focussed, less keen on financial rewards and less willing to work flexible in a competitive world with total work–life blending. They look for structure, security and feeling good. What is different: Germany is one of the few countries in the world in which Generation Z in many cases can live up to their dreams. Germany has a prospering economy, a stable society and still a good educational system. Most important, for young people, it has an unemployment rate of virtually zero per cent. Therefore, companies definitely must engage in the war for talents and provide Generation Z with a fitting employer value proposition: Generation Z looks for meaningful and exciting work but seeks also meaning and excitement in private lives. In particular, they demand a clear separation of their private lives from their job. All this stands in contrast to the ambitions of the industrial sector in Germany promoting a more Generation Y-type environment with flexibility, agility and work–life blending. This conflict is not dealt with in an open way, since politics and media stand on the side of the large companies. Still, the power of Generation Z is not to be underestimated. Therefore, the chapter leaves it for the future to find out whether the Generation Z or other forces will win.

Bob Illingworth, HR Director at Unisys, describes how the organization has implemented flexible working as part of its shift from a technology supplier to an IT services company.

Europe currently displays a fascinating complexity. It experiences severe disruptions in the economic and educational systems, the labour markets and the political orientation. Also, we see demographic issues with not enough young people on the one hand, and also not enough acceptable jobs on the other hand. All this raises questions regarding the consequences resulting from these dynamics for the young generation. This chapter deals in particular with the so-called ‘Generation Z’, which started – depending on the chosen author – between 1990 and 1995. In this analysis, the concept of ‘generation’ by Karl Mannheim plays an important role since it explains to us why and how cohorts of people are shaped in a specific period of time in a very similar way. When dealing with Generation Z, the following hypothesis of global convergence immediately comes up: since Generation Z is a digitally connected generation, it must move in the same direction. Even though this is partially true on the global scale, we see differences – even within Europe, since Europe is a heterogeneous space. Therefore, we cannot talk about ‘the European Generation Z’ but rather about the ‘Generations Z in Europe’ with their differences, their similarities and their dreams about their future. Besides arriving at the letter ‘Z’ in Generation Z by just continuing from X and Y to Z, the ‘Z’ provides us another interpretation: It stands for ‘zeitgeist’ and for a promising vision of Europe.

Utilizing boundary theory as a guiding framework, this study aims to explore facets of work–life balance (WLB) that women entrepreneurs experience in the context of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It sheds light on strategies women entrepreneurs use to manage and shape boundaries between their personal and professional lives.

In this qualitative study, we conducted in-depth interviews with 50 women entrepreneurs to gain a deeper understanding of their WLB challenges.

Integration is a boundary management approach used by most women in our sample, facilitated by the thin work–life boundary inferable from their entrepreneurial careers. Integration has all the hallmarks of being imposed on women entrepreneurs because of family role challenges and societal expectations, on top of their entrepreneurial obligations. Women are reactors; they shoulder societal, family and entrepreneurial roles while having little control over events and circumstances.

Boundary theory suggests two roles must be interconnected to coexist successfully. Women entrepreneurs can benefit from the synergy between their personal and professional lives. As their roles tend to be more complex, it is essential to consider the consolidation of both spheres as an ongoing process to maximize their benefits.

Today’s independent forms of working are contingent on flexible work arrangements, work intensification and wireless communication. Understanding how women entrepreneurs find balance amid boundarylessness adds to our limited knowledge of people in comparable environments.

Generation Z in Japan, born between 1995 and 2010, has unique characteristics. First, they are pessimists, which is mainly because of the challenging environment in which they were raised, with long-lasting low economic growth and multiple natural disasters. Second, they are digital natives, with a high level of digital device literacy. Raised in a highly advanced technological environment, they benefit in various ways by leveraging such devices. Also, they value relationships with family and friends, forming very close intimate relationships with their parents and broad shallow relationships with their friends. These unique characteristics turn Generation Z into a careful spender in consumption, and a stability seeker in workplaces. As consumers, they are very knowledgeable using both online/offline information, thus, are very selective and cautious when spending their money trying to prepare for the possible risk in the future. As employees, they are less loyal to companies and value their private life higher than their work life. A guideline for targeting Generation Z in Japan is presented.

This chapter provides fresh insight into the lives of Generation Z in Turkey, who are described as the generation born after 1995. The chapter uses secondary information harvested from academic and popular literature, and national statistics. In addition, results from a quantitative survey conducted among 237 Generation Z members in Turkey and insights gathered from a qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews performed with 12 individuals from Generation Z have been utilised. Understanding Generation Z in Turkey is challenging because the effects of fast digitalisation, cultural globalisation, and new challenges in attaining high-quality education and finding good jobs are not yet fully known. This chapter offers insights on Turkish Generation Z, including but not limited to their (1) future-orientation, (2) multipolarity of selves, (3) identity as consumers, and (4) perceived challenges regarding future work life.

As companies try to gain a deeper understanding of consumers, they are increasingly turning to user-observation and ethnographic processes. However, because of this work is normally done in an informal manner, it tends to only have value for the small number of team members working on a particular project. This paper seeks to describe a method that is much more structured than normal processes, allowing companies to conduct observational research that is able to be large scale and reused.

Ethnographic studies are not only heuristic in nature, usually requiring the research team to develop frameworks and descriptions that are idiosyncratic to a particular project. This makes comparing data from different studies and doing large-scale projects impractical. This paper describes a set of common frameworks and a research protocol that provides standards that are relevant across projects and teams.

Descriptions of projects using this process show that it leads to the identification of new concepts for fulfilling user needs even before users ask for them. Furthermore, the concepts often point to surprising opportunities, not just incremental improvements on current offerings.

For companies who conduct observational research, this method enables them to go beyond small-scale ad hoc projects and develop standards that enable the research to be reused and conducted at a large scale.

Prior to this work, attempts at developing standard frameworks for ethnography have used concepts from anthropology. Family structure, belief systems, and the nature of work are examples of terms used to categorize data. This new method uses terms that are more relevant to companies trying to create innovations. Examples include items that companies can make to create new value for their customers: objects, environments, messages and services. By creating a more structured protocol with more practical dimensions to describe patterns of daily life, this work provides a basis for innovation in companies.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the potential effects of Millennial knowledge workers’ emotional intelligence (EI) on their subjective career success (SCS) through their protean career attitudes (PCAs) and psychological empowerment (PE).

Survey methodology was used to collect data from 623 Millennial knowledge workers in 42 Turkish Information Technology companies. Participants answered the surveys at three different points within a 12-week period. Measures of EI, PCAs, PE and SCS were analyzed using structural equation modeling and the bootstrapping method.

The empirical results provide support for the author’s proposed model that positive relations between EI and Millennial knowledge workers’ SCS are mediated by their PCAs and PE.

To generalize the study findings, future research should be conducted for Millennial knowledge workers in different cultures and countries.

Particularly for Millennial knowledge workers, managers need to be aware of positive influence of EI on employees’ SCS and should consider implementing policies and procedures that recognize EI as a key ingredient for their SCS. Additionally, human resource professionals should aim to create an organizational culture around career development, in addition to career attitudes trainings, and provide career growth opportunities to retain Millennial talent. Finally, organizational development professionals should establish work environments that increase employee empowerment and thus improve SCS.

The findings advance the understanding of how Millennial knowledge workers’ EI can influence their SCS through focusing on PCAs and PE. The results underpin the self-determination theory, contextualist action theory of career development and job design theory.