Managing a multigenerational workforce at a commercial bank in the central region
Loading...
Files
Date
2023
Authors
Zulu, Erasmus Sikhosiphi
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of the Free State
Abstract
The multigenerational workforce presents a critical challenge for managers, and each generational has different expectations. This study aimed to explore ways to manage a multigenerational workforce at a commercial bank in the Central Region.
The literature review highlighted five focus areas facing multigenerational organisations. The focus areas were grouped into various, characteristics of each generation, namely, atmosphere, and management issues.
A quantitative research design was employed in the study conducted at a Commercial Retail Bank in the Central region, The sample size included 101 retail bank employees including junior employees working in the frontline, junior management, and senior management in this region, a structured questionnaire was used to collect data from.
The results indicated that for generational characteristics, millennials prefer monetary recognition while pre-millennials still get motivated with non-monetary recognition. For organisational atmosphere within generations, pre-millennials were dominant in their response indicating that they are more comfortable working within their generation, this indicates that there could be potential age discrimination challenges in the central commercial bank. Lastly for management issues, pre-millennials believe that ethics is one of the sources, where they perceive millennials as less ethical than them, and this at some point leads to conflict between the two generations, The next source of conflict they believe derives from values, again pre-millennials think that old generational values and new generations values are not inline, as results when they need to work as a team, they have a lot of clashes.
The following recommendations were recommended to assist the Central Commercial Retail Bank in managing its aged diverse workforce.
Generational motivators: As a bank, the suggestion will be to introduce quarterly incentives that will recognise sales performance.
Flexibility: Management will need to ensure that they allow some level of flexibility for task completion, as both generations indicated, this will ensure that both generations are productive.
Age discrimination: To bridge the gap of age discrimination, the commercial bank must encourage knowledge sharing, management must facilitate knowledge sharing between generations by creating platforms for cross-generational collaboration, such as intergenerational task forces. This will allow employees to learn from each other’s expertise and experiences.
Strategies to assist management in managing a multigenerational workforce: The recommended strategy to overcome this will be for the commercial bank to design a training curriculum for their managers, which will upskill them with information on how to manage each generational and how to identify strengths and use them for the benefit of the team and the commercial bank.
Description
Dissertation (MBA (Business Administration))--University of the Free State, 2023
Keywords
Generational cohorts, corporate job grades, motivators