Abstract:

Differences in age emerge as one of the main forms of diversity in companies. These differences are simultaneously one of the biggest challenges of the job market: the generational gap in organizations.

The benefits of an intergenerational workforce are many, but the challenges are just as many. If, on the one hand, the clash of generations may be seen as a factor of competitiveness, this generational clash may lead to conflicts that require a quick response from human resources management and leadership. These differences in terms of work ethic, communication styles, technology, culture and diversity and other fundamental values can become an asset for the company when strategies are defined to minimize potential tensions between different generations in terms of communication skills, technological knowledge, and knowledge transfer.

This paper offers a contribution to advance in the development of knowledge to manage different generations of talent within a company. The study involved the collection of data and the conduction of a workshop bringing together different generations of workers to assess their perspectives about their assumptions and stereotypes, and how they influence individual motivations and hinder intergenerational communication and cooperation. The workshop was developed in company in the devoted to the production of components to the automotive sector. In the workshop, the participants were organized in groups to allow for complementary perspectives, including: a junior group that included the by 5 the junior members of the company; a senior group of 5 members with more experience in the company; 2 mixed groups (of 4 and 5 elements) formed by juniors and seniors. The groups were exposed to a list of challenges faced by multigenerational teams that resulted of a preliminary narrative literature review and an exploratory interview with the human resources manager. The participants, in each group were asked to rate the challenges that were presented according to its priority and criticality for company operations and performance. In a second round of the exercise each group was asked to formulate strategies to mitigate the challenges that were more strongly prioritized by the other groups. A discussion followed the exercise. The results revealed the coexistences of different perspectives and perceived importance for the various generational challenges supporting the need for the development of communication and leadership practices to improve more effective collaborative work and knowledge transfer.

Keywords:

Intergenerational challenges, case study, age diversity, teams.