When Generations Collide

E Scarborough

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When Generations Collide

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• Publié par: ykijarac
• Nombre de lectures: 133
• Langue: Français

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http://chronicle.com/weekly/v54/i45/45b01801.htm

When Generations Collide

Colleges try to prevent age-old culture clashes as four distinct groups meet in the workplace

By PIPER FOGG

In an office at Western Technical College, the under-30 crowd creates funny, mock videos to reward

themselves for a job well done. Or they throw a pizza party to celebrate. That bothers some of their older

colleagues at the two-year Wisconsin college, who complain that the young folks should be working, not

playing.

Denise Vujnovich, who fields those complaints as Western's vice president for student services and

college relations, worries that too many baby boomers just don't get it: The younger generations get their

work done, she says; they just do it differently.

It's not that the younger set has it all figured out. A twentysomething employee at one university didn't

think twice about e-mailing the entire campus when he was trying to sell his car. The problem is, the

generations don't always understand one another. And in the academic workplace — where, for the first

time in recent memory, four generations have converged — that can create serious culture clashes.

It is happening across college campuses — in offices as diverse as admissions, student affairs, legal

affairs, and technology. And it is especially striking in the faculty ranks, where generational challenges

have extra significance amid recruiting efforts, tenure evaluations, and the changing definition of what

constitutes important faculty work.

As members of Generations X and Y face a workplace dominated by boomers, they are all starting to

chafe. Some colleges are having trouble attracting, managing, and sometimes retaining people younger

than 35. Members of the younger generations grew up watching their parents sacrifice for their careers,

and they want something different: balance and freedom and autonomy. And they won't hesitate to

switch jobs or leave academe if it means more-palatable working conditions. Many baby boomers,

meanwhile, don't understand why someone would leave the office at 5 p.m. when there is always more

to do.

How do colleges handle this generational dilemma? As in other sectors of the workplace, where similar

issues are festering, good communication can help people better understand one another, say those in the

trenches. But some experts argue that more-substantial structural and policy changes are needed to avert

a looming crisis — an anticipated dearth of young people interested in rising through the academic

ranks.

Faculty demographics are not easy to forecast, as academics saw when experts' predictions in the late

1980s of a huge faculty shortage due to retirements failed to materialize. Still, some experts are adamant

that academe will have to accommodate the next generation's preferences.

"A major leadership gap is coming up," warns Pamela Cox-Otto, a marketing expert and former college

vice president who writes about generational marketing in academe. She argues that colleges need to

From the issue dated July 18, 2008

Page 1 of 5

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8/7/2008

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