Bridging the Boomer Xer Gap: Creating Authentic Teams for High Performance at Work

Rating:
Summary: Enhanced with research from nearly 400 surveys
Review: Bridging The Boomer-Xer Gap, the collaborative effort by Connie Fuller (Organization Development Specialist, AG Communication System, Lucent Technologies) and Danilo Sirias (Assistant Professor of Management, Saginaw State University) is a dynamic and informative work, enhanced with research from nearly 400 surveys, and specifically written to aid business leaders in uniting supervisors and workers from both the Boomer and the Generation X generations. Stereotypes about Boomers and Xers are justifiably dismissed and replaced with solid strategies for promoting teamwork expressly created to bring the generations closer together for a more productive corporate future.

Rating:
Summary: At last, some basic research
Review: The concept of the generational personality holds that each age cohort has certain characteristics separating it from other people born before or after and that these distinctions persist throughout life. The last seven words in the preceeding sentence are usually overlooked. It is one thing to identify differences between younger and older workers. It is quite another to view those differences as markers that will define and separate people born between certain years for their whole life span.

The characteristics of a generation are said to be influenced by the major societal events occurring during the time that a generation came of age. The generation coming of age in the 1980's, for example, has been labeled by some as "skeptical" due to witnessing such events at the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger; the theorists of the generational personality hold that this generation will always be skeptical until they pass from life sometime about mid-century.

The theory of the generational personality was famously described by William Strauss and Neil Howe in 1991, in their book, "Generations." At the time, Al Gore called it "the most stimulating book on American history that I have ever read." The major proponent of the generational personality in the workplace is the author, Ron Zemke. He is joined by lesser-known writers such as Claire Raines, Lynne C. Lancaster and David Stillman.

In reading Zemke, you can learn such "facts" as that the American population actually shrunk during the 1800's; that the Americans born between 1922 and 1945 won the second World War; and, that Americans born between 1960 and 1980 grew up amidst mega-corporations routinely announcing lay-offs of 40,000 people. He refers to workers born before 1943 as "old farts." In addition to all this type of error, hyperbole and disrespecful language, Zemke appears to me to lack a firm, verifiable, data-based foundation for his work as do the others.

The notion of the generational personality gets a more thoughtful airing in a recent book by Hank Karp, Connie Fuller and Danilo Sirias, "Bridging the Boomer Xer Gap: Creating Authentic Teams for High Performance At Work." Please note the subtitle, it is crucial to understanding this book.

This book is based on two studies conducted by the authors who note that "much of what has been written and discussed to date about generation differences has been more anecdotal than scientific in nature." The authors also concentrate on two generations, rather than the four identified by most authors. It takes only a moment of reflection to realize that this is commonsense and that most people don't come to work with their grandparents and great-grandparents.

The conclusion of their studies is straightforward: "Generation X is significantly more individualistic AND significantly more team-oriented than the Baby Boomer Generation." From this thesis, the authors proceed to build a book around creating high performance teams.

I believe a professional researcher would be more qualified to assess the validity of these surveys. As a nonspecialist I am troubled by certain aspects:

1. The two studies might be seen by some to contradict each other. The first claims that Gen Xers are more individualistic than Baby Boomers ; the second that they are more team oriented. Rather than resolve this contradiction, the authors essentially link them into one compound thesis.

2. The second study may be skewed by mixing college students into the study. Up to 25% of the participants were from classes taught by the authors. It would appear, then, that college students may have been up to fifty percent of the Gen Xers and therefore significantly influenced the results. Moreover, the students may have been from the younger sub-group among the Gen Xers influencing the results further. Again, this is more a matter for a specialist to assess.

Much of what they have to write about teams seems practical. However, one is still left with some of the same complaints that stand against any of the generational personality theorists:

1. There is too much stereotyping.

2. There is not sufficient indication of how strong the personality differences between Xers and Baby Boomers may be.

3. There is no consideration that these differences between Gen Xers and Boomers may just reflect differences on where they currently are in the life cycle. One fact elicited to support the differences between generations is that the median tenure for workers between age 45 and 54 was, in 1998, more than twice the tenure of workers between age 25 and 34. I am not sure that this reflects different immutable values or just the greater tendency of younger people to be at organizations less time than older people. As to Karp et al's conclusions that Gen Xers are more individualistic than Baby Boomers, I know that a generation ago, the Baby Boomers were considered more individualistic than the older generation. Is that just because they were young?

My own view is that this book does not make a convincing case that generational personalities are a significant factor to be recognized. However, by using the usual tools of social science and avoiding the hyperventilating writing style of previous books on the topic, Karp et al move the subject ahead. The major value of this book is that it makes some very interesting points about work teams no matter what age groups are included. I think the writer of the Foreword section acknowledged this when he wrote that the book "will provide you with a framework you can use in achieving a sharper focus for dealing with both Gen Xers and Baby Boomers - INDEED FOR DEALING WITH ALL PEOPLE....." (Capitalization added by reviewer for emphasis)

Here is how I would say it: in Human Resources, people, not age cohorts, are our concern.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Read!
Review: The three authors - consultant Hank Karp, organizational development executive Connie Fuller and academic Danilo Sirias - admit they began their project with some hypotheses about the differences between Boomers and Xers. One of the most powerfully suggestive was the theory that Xers are much more individualistic than Boomers, which has the potential to create some worrisome issues for managers. Although their statistical analysis found some support for this notion, it also revealed, paradoxically, that Xers are real team players, perhaps even more so than Boomers. The authors do their best to write around that awkward fact, but the fact stubbornly remains: when it comes to working on teams, only seemingly subtle differences separate Boomers and Xers. The book offers a lot of reliable, proven tips about team management, so it is worthwhile. However, its credibility is somewhat damaged by the authors' repeated references to differences and gaps whose existence seems pretty minimal, even in the eyes of their own research. While that may make this seem like a curious book about a solution to an elusive problem, we recommend it to those who are also pursuing solid, general team management guidance.