Leadership Style - the X Generation and Baby Boomers Compared in Different Cultural Contexts

Today’s workforce can be divided into three distinct groups of people. There are the

Baby Boomers, X Generation (Xers) and Y Generation (Dot com generation). Baby

Boomers are people born between the years of 1945-1964, a cohort that has been the

source of many important cultural and economic changes. Generally, it is accepted that

the Xers are people who were born between 1965 and 1980. Some researchers refer to

them as 'baby busters', due to the drop-off or 'bust' in births following the Baby Boomer

generation after World War II. The Y Generation or the ‘dot com’ generation are people

who are born after 1980 (Solomon, 1992). This group of workers are only just entering

the workplace and therefore their influence at this time is still emerging. Modern

workplaces are typically diverse with all three generational groups represented.

The work characteristics of these generational groups are an important issue for their

leaders. It is known that employees with different work characteristics will be more

effective and productive with different leadership styles (Tulgan, 1996). The

investigation of work characteristics and the corollary leadership style is therefore an

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important area for research for leaders who must lead and motivate the generational

groups and for researchers investigating differences between the generational groups.

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