A Study on Work Related Attitudes of Generation Z at Workplace in India

INTRODUCTION

Academics acknowledge that organizations face a tangle they have never faced around before, as staff from four completely different generations are measured today active on the labour market: Baby Boomers, generation X, Generations Y (Millennials) and also the youngest, generation Z every of them are characterized by completely different values, ambitions and designs of working . They are completely different in the way how we understand each generations, for instance Generation Z is taken into account to be fashioned by those that were born during 1995, whereas others report the year 1992 or perhaps the year 1990 because the year of the birth of the oldest are representatives of this generation. This new generation has positively captured everyone including academics and trainers attention, the characteristics of generation Z - additionally recognized as ―generation me‖, the ―internet generation and the primary mobile experts ―. The ―Net-Generation or digital slaves‖ etc., as the members of this generation begin to enter the labour market and begin to own the money power to become well desired customers for many markets. The bulk of the studies known within the literature review process principally specialize in the variations between generation Z and other generations, even though one might contemplate that resulting generations ought to have similar characteristics, analysis indicates that generation Z is completely different than the previous and their perspective towards work and business life is vital for research

The outline of generation means ―a set of historical events and connected phenomena that makes a definite people gap”. The identification of a generation needs "some social 'proximity' to shared events or cultural phenomenon". It conjointly represents the individual general characteristic and the way the planet is being understood to the individual’s understanding. Every individual has their own distinctive temperament and behavior that's outlined as assortment of each physical action and noticeable feeling connected with people. Whereas one’s temperament and temperament usually consistent, behavior can possibly to evolve throughout the life of creature, from birth to adulthood. Except being controlled by age and genetic science, behavior is also being driven by thoughts and feelings, a perceived into the individual psyche, evolution alternative things that embody attitudes, values and beliefs. Generation by definition according to (Glass, 2007) is the term of year that the individuals live or a cohort of specific year. It illustrates the situation or surroundings whereby the individual has their own identification of a generation requires "some form of social 'proximity' to shared events or cultural phenomenon". It also represents the individual general characteristic and how the world is being interpreted to the individual’s understanding. Each individual has their own unique personality and behavior that is defined as collection of every physical action and observable emotion related with individuals. Generation Cohort (Ernest Cyril De Run, 2013)is defined as a group of individuals born during the same period who experience similar major societal and historical events during their coming of age years. Whereas the previous generation were more traditional, this generation is certainly more technologically advanced and surrounded by mobile devices, internet, artificial Intelligence etc, the current generation has a whole new world of readily available information which would earlier have taken a lot of time and effort to find, with Google and other search engines, this generation is truly way ahead compared to any other generation in assimilation and processing information. The traditionalists were born before 1945 and were also known as silent generations or veterans, some the traditionalists still continue and lead some of the world’s major corporations and some are also re-entering to seek a new innings, the silent generation has seen major events such as the great depression and would have gone through major world changing events and have contributed to how business are run today. From space programs to pioneering business processes, medicines to creating an environment of a technological society have been given birth by them, traditionalists have a clear sense of conformity, authority and following rules, they also had a defined sense for right and wrong. Due to their disciplined nature, they have been able to carve the way for the future generation to capitalize on their hard work. Baby Boomers on the other hand had a different set of attributes; born during the period of 1946 - 1964 most of them witnessed world wars and had more or less militarily participated in it, women were at home and made raised children and laid the foundation for consumerism, with the advent of consumer appliances . Extremely hard working and motivated by the social positions they put in the hard long hours at work, majority had a strong work ethic and expected everyone else also to be on the same level as them. Boomers not only were self-reliant but also genuinely believed that they could change the world and were not afraid to ask authority or to change the status quo; many boomers are retiring and may cause a skilled worker shortage which will continue for quite some time now. Generation X (Xers)were born between the year 1965 and 1980 , they are relatively smaller in number compared to Boomers, Xers were exposed and interacted with diverse cultures and hence had a participants in the growing of economies and Xers were more resourceful, self-reliant and sufficient , they liked completing their jobs and stay away from their managers , technology was welcome change and Xers readily accepted technology with the use of PDAs , computers, Internet and exchanged more communication through e-mail and other technological devices, Xers were more attached to materialistic possessions. Millennials or Generation Y born between 1980 to 2000, were like Xers, growing up with technology, yet they were distinctively different in terms of their hours and usage. Millennials valued their time in office and believed in completion of projects to help their respective companies, millennials also valued family life and sacrificed monetary values for time spent with their families, they have high expectation from their employers, enjoy challenges and not afraid to raise objections wherever required, generation Y are considered as a caring generation since they placed greater good ahead of individual reward or recognitions , certain traits which are commonly associated with them are they feel special about their place in the society, very confident and high level of optimism, millennials also believed in harnessing the power of team spirit and achieved results through better education and took pressure to excel. These above generations certainly played a very important role in understanding how companies culture and work environment has gone through myriad changes and hence led to complex interpersonal communications and the challenges can only be more with the advent of generation Z. We may now need to make processes which are not only dynamic but also evolve with the ever changing business environment, let’s look at how each of these generation have made an impact on various behavioral choices and influences These are the five different types of generation who are working together at the same time:

on generational differences especially in work-related contexts as these concern Generation Z in India. As such, the objective of the study is to analyze this recent research to see if there is an emergent un-derstanding of Generation Z’s work-related attitudes in the Indian context, what methods the studies’ authors’ use in this respect, and what conclusions they draw in terms of Generation Z’s impact on intergenerational efforts at work.

Current studies in India tend to define Generation Z as having been shaped by rapid technological innovation and globalization, which has resulted in significant changes to the cultural orientation of Generation Z-ers in comparison to older generations. (Hoefel, 2018) Generation Z-ers have been shown to be more individually expressive, mobilize themselves and are more confident, self-promoting and feel the need to contribute to the society than any other generation that preceded them (Karianne Gomez, 2019), they also feel that education may actually be a hindrance in their success. The new breed of youngster are actively changing the way how we perceive them and they in turn are changing the way hoe they look at work and not only are they tech savvy but spend most of their time on social media, most of them are really ambitious and are very keen to take up unconventional roles and make career choices based on their personal preferences. Based on the research and various other data we can clearly see following traits: - 1. Gen Z is no longer interested in a stable career: The emphasis has shifted to a more work life balance, even though the Generation Z has been more pragmatic and tend to expect the best in class salaries and other perks in the job, they still expect a fair degree of flexibility and also are surprisingly willing to relocate 2. They have no problems joining a rank newcomer /startup rather than a well-established company Since there is a huge amount of traffic at the entry level in terms of employment, there is a generational shift towards how job roles have been constructed; automation and proliferation of new technologies are making human intervention down to a bare minimum , hence this generation needs to make more focused choices on where they would like to align and build their careers, it also means that they would be more open to companies which are ready to take them on and provide them the pedestal for further growth Most of the Gen Zers are multidisciplinary and have a global vision in terms of how they perceive and understand their work, organizations need to pay more attention to their needs more than ever since there will be sea change on value deliverables, time management and expected rewards and recognition programs . A model which identifies individually each employee with respect to their role and level should be the ideal way to look forward. There has to be alliance of benefit to society and the society as a whole 4. Work life balance and managing time away from work is also one of the most important consideration which evaluating a company Today’s generation not only values time away from work, but also expects organizations to be flexible and make necessary process alterations and align those with the employee expectations. More than 80% of the employees in the organization feel that work life balance is either indispensable or very important 5. Soft skills prominently make an impression on this generation and most of them feel that this is one area of knowledge which they severely lack in and further training can considerably impact their performance. Even though this generation has been able to understand the demand of technology and adapt to organizational challenges, there is evidence to prove that communication and problem solving are the two most important skill sets required by this generation for success, they are also severely lacking in speaking out in public and need more training in soft skills and this is an area where the organization’s need to ramp up and come out with various programs and training schedules, even though they are keen to deliver and make an impression in the workspace yet there is a clear lack of skills in the following: • Negotiation • Networking • Public speaking • Working long hours 6. Automation and innovation would drive the industry is a fact but it is also understandable that most companies are not well equipped with the right people or technology to step up, this is where the In the current Indian context we have not been able to give any answers to extreme unemployment yet, with the corona virus pandemic it has only been incremental in adding to the misery. It’s more than likely that Generation Z now has to pick up informal jobs to support their careers and with no respite on the global economy and slow down it can be fairly said that recession is at its height, The National Statistical Office (NSO) has reported one the largest slump in the April – June period of FY21 on record since reporting quarterly data in 1996, In lieu of the above data, it is imperative the organization make alterations to their attitudes and change the structure to accommodate this new generation. There will be influx of new ideas and clash of trends which needs to be aptly handled by the management, the entry of Gen Z will have implications on recruitment process to resource handling and assignment. The tried and tested methodologies of resume screening, interviews will have to make way for more modern and experiential methods need to be used , priority should be given to understand more cognitive and creative aspects . • Hiring Process The Human Resources should concentrate on a broader spectrum of skill sets and look to engage the candidate in more than one way if possible. Job simulations which involve working closely with others and hiring should evolve into recognizing both the technical and cognitive skill of the candidates • Job assignment More mobility and data driven methodologies should be utilized to understand capabilities and more mileage should be given to internal crowd sourcing network. • Training and Development Case studies and a mix of modalities such as tacit knowledge passed through apprenticeship, leveraging game technologies and on demand nano learning assets should be used to help train and improve the overall development of the Gen Z employees. • Culture There has to be a huge emphasis on cultural development in the work ecosphere, things have to be more open and transparent, there has to be a sea change development in the Indian temperament in managing time off work, family leaves and build programs which are beneficial to the employees as part of their benefits package though there has been much deliberations on changing attitude and inculcating work based culture and habits, it is beyond doubt that much needs to be done to facilitate the current Generation Z, with the onset of technology and use of more complex systems policies, Human Capital Management needs to update to this new generational gap, We may have to look into job stability and managing our workforce and help them grow and engage them to become entrepreneurial since most of this generation has shown characteristics of being independent and don’t conform to conventional norms, we may also have to look into developing programs and emoluments in cross management programs which involves minimal interference and greater depth in autonomy to this generation. Adequate measures must be taken to understand how developed countries and major economies of the world are bringing in revolutionary new policies and institutionalizing greater flexibility in work culture, which majorly impacts the Generation Z, we have to understand that money may no longer be the only source of motivation for them and organizations need to be more dynamic, there should be job simulations which involves solving highly cognitive tasks, exposing entry level employees to cross functional roles and let them experience project roles at a nascent level, create senior level to entry level meet ups and expose them to more offsite experiences , create a general sense of family and belonging. Generation Z is also invested in health and research has proved that there is more number of employees, who have actively chosen healthy lifestyle to benefit not just them but also expect the same from their organizations. The current generation needs to cut through the various formal communication channels and should be allowed to interact more with the senior leadership, this could not only channel more positivity but also impact the overall character and personality building of the current generation.

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Research Scholar, Department of Management, Pratap University, Jaipur, Rajasthan