Managing and leading generation Y and Z employees in organizations

¶ … Oneself

Managing and leading employees in any organization can either be easy or difficult to some managers depending on the prevailing circumstances; however, managing different generations within the same organization is the most difficult task the managers do experience in the world today. In regards to the workforce in any organization, the employees are categorized according to different generations, namely the generation Y and the generation Z The Y Generation is the generation of people who were born in the mid 1970s to 2000, and were portrayed to be the next big generation, and were highly educated, and employed. Conversely, generation Z are born in the mid of 1996 up-to-date. They are teenagers and do not understand life without having computers, internets and the mobile phones. This paper therefore analyzes the characteristics of the people living in the Y generation and Z. generation as well as, describing how the Y generation can use their strengths in managing and leading the employees. The paper also analyzes the difficulties that might be encountered in managing and leading the employees and how they can be overcome.

The Y generation

The Y generation involves the young professional people going into a workforce, and are said to be the fastest growing section in the area of workforce. The Y generations are not brand loyal as compared to the Z. generation who tends to be the internet experts; however they are very flexible as well as, can easily adapt to any environment. They also expect different workplaces to be flexible and to change the employees than other different generations such as the X generation, given that it is nurtured and pampered with the worldly goods. For this case, managers should always be aware of being both higher performances to help manage and lead the employees. Some of the characteristics of people living in the Y generation include; striving for challenges; these people try to make sure they strive for challenges that involve creativity. This can be done individually or through teamwork within the employees. In their creativities, they usually request their supervisors who tend to be highly committed in the area of expert development.

The Y generation has the characteristics of multitasking, as they encourage communications via text messaging and e-mails. This kind of people are time keepers given that they don't waste any time and their minds are set never to waste any time, but to remotely get engaged 24/7 in using devices such as laptops, iPhone and other devices for communication throughout (Walker & Lewis, 2010).

The Y generation feels inspired and motivated whenever they are given immediate feedback because they have high expectations of striving to work better and quickly, therefore by not responding to any questions they might be asking, this can lower their moral of working. The Y generation also is committed to further learning since that is the only resource to further additional of knowledge. Lastly, the Y generation expects their managers to be very fair and should be committed in order for a proper management and leading of the employees in the firm (Walker & Lewis, 2010).

How the Y generations use their strengths to manage and lead employees

The Y generation can use their strengths to manage and lead employees through engagement. It is appropriate for organization to increase their productivity by ensuring that the managers deliberately lead the employees towards an engagement by using a knowledgeable intent and strengths ( Henman, 2002). The Y generations use their strengths in knowing the weaknesses and strengths of their employees, given that they also expects their managers to be fair and should be committed in order for a proper management and leading of the employees; therefore, they should create an opportunities for those employees. The Y generation can also use their strengths in managing their employees by treating their employees as their best clients. Employees in most organizations are the reasons for the failure or success of that organization. There are some difficulties the Y generation can encounter while leading and managing the employees, the difficulties might be brought up by the gap existing between the managers and the employees and the communication channels used within the organization. These problems can be minimized by shortening the gaps existing between them and their employees ( Henman, 2002).