Knowledge@W. P. Carey: Managing the millennial generation
<p>TEMPE, Ariz. (March 26, 2008) — Technology-savvy and bright, the Millennial generation is entering the workforce, but they aren't wired the same as the preceding generations who are now hiring them. Managers are being challenged to figure out ways to motivate and retain many of the most talented of the new crop, according to business faculty quoted in Millennials in the Workplace: R U Ready?, a story posted today at Knowledge@W. P. Carey.<br /><br />Many millennials crave attention and have little tolerance for ambiguity, explains Barbara Keats, a management professor conducting research on Millennials in the workplace with colleague Dale Kalika. A mentoring management style could prove effective, they suggest.<br /><br />And, many millennials tend to be less interested in affiliating with a company than they are in doing work that satisfies them. "They saw their parents have allegiance to corporate America and get bamboozled in the end with layoffs, down-sizing and right-sizing," says information systems (IS) Professor Michael Goul. "Now, they have this perception that they had better take care of themselves."<br /><br />But, the millennial generation also presents great potential because of the way they operate, says IS Professor Julie Smith David. For example, their lifelong experience with technology has trained them to think in short burst of information, enabling them to create software solutions by stringing together component parts.</p><separator></separator><p><br /><em>Knowledge@W. P. Carey</em> is an online business resource that delivers readable reports on research and analysis originating at the W. P. Carey School of Business. The email newsletter which comes out every other Wednesday aggregates new content since the last newsletter. RSS and XML feeds are available.<br /><br /><strong>All K@WPC stories are available for use by other news outlets.</strong> Content may be linked, re-printed or cited, with attribution to <em>Knowledge@ W. P. Carey</em>. For more information about using this content, contact Liz Farquhar at <a href="mailto:liz.farquhar@asu.edu">liz.farquhar@asu.edu</a>. To reach faculty sources, contact Carolyne Kennedy at <a href="mailto:carolyne.kennedy@asu.edu">carolyne.kennedy@asu.edu</a>.<br /> <br /><br /><strong>W. P. CAREY SCHOOL OF BUSINESS</strong><br /><em>The nationally ranked W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University is home to nine research centers that serve as a link between the local, state, national and international business communities and the creative and intellectual resources of the school. The W. P. Carey School also publishes Knowledge@W. P. Carey, a bi-weekly online resource that offers the latest business insights, information and research from a variety of sources. For more information please visit <a href="http://wpcarey.asu.edu">http://wpcarey.asu.edu</a> and <a href="http://knowledge.wpcarey.asu.edu">http://knowledge.wpcarey.asu.edu</a>…;