“Older Employees versus Younger Employees: Bridging the Great Divide in Global Organizations!” ―Professor M.S.Rao

“The error of youth is to believe that intelligence is a substitute for experience, while the error of age is to believe experience is a substitute for intelligence.” ―Ernest Hemingway

In global organizations, there is often a controversy whether younger workers deliver goods better than older workers. In fact, there is a great divide between older and younger workers in some global organizations. There is also a conflict between older and younger workers resulting in poor performance and productivity. Hence, we will address this issue.   

Older versus Younger Workers

Older workers have social skills while younger workers have technology skills. Older workers have experience and patience, and are loyal to their organizations. In contrast, the younger workers are intelligent, impatient and dynamic. The job-hopping is higher in younger workers. The older workers are physically weak while the younger workers are physically strong. The older workers are wise, and are highly focused while the younger workers are smart but lack in focus. The older workers have less flexibility while the younger workers have high adaptability.  The older workers crave for employment while the younger workers crave for employability. The older workers come with experience while the younger workers come with intelligence.

The younger workers can be molded while the older workers cannot be molded easily. You have to invest a lot of time in training the younger workers than in older workers. The older workers come with ego issues while the younger workers come with attitudinal issues.

There is often a myth that the older workers fall sick, and are less productive. With increased life expectancy due to health care facilities, the older workers don’t fall sick quickly.

Conclusion

“Share our similarities, celebrate our differences.” ― M. Scott Peck

The way gender differences are talked about currently, the generational differences are also talked about globally.  It is the law of the nature that old water must be replaced by fresh water. Similarly, the older employees must be replaced by younger employees in organizations. But it must be in a phased and systematic manner without hurting organizational performance and productivity. 

Both older and younger workers have their strengths and weaknesses. It is essential to find a common ground between them to leverage their competencies and capabilities to enhance organizational performance and productivity. Adopting soft leadership helps bridge the gap between older and younger workers. To conclude, instead of competing with each other, both older and younger workers must collaborate to achieve organizational excellence and effectiveness.

“Strength lies in differences, not in similarities.” ―Stephen Covey

If you like this article, Like and share Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Professor-MSRao/451516514937414

Read my ‘Vision 2030 One Million Global Leaders’ URL: http://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.in/2014/12/professor-m-s-raos-vision-2030-one_31.html  

Life is great!

Professor M.S.Rao, India

Founder of MSR Leadership Consultants India

Recipient of 10^th International Prestigious Sardar Patel Award―2015

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/M.-S.-Rao/e/B00MB63BKM

Vision 2030: http://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.in  

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/professor-rao/34/11a/b52

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Professor-MSRao/451516514937414

Twitter: http://twitter.com/professormsrao

Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/+ProfessorMSRao 

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/profmsr7 

Blog: http://profmsr.blogspot.com

Blog: http://professormsrao.blogspot.com

Blog: http://professormsraoguru.blogspot.com

Global Top Gurus 30: http://www.globalgurus.org/leadership/upcoming.php

21 Success Sutras for CEOs: http://www.amazon.com/21-Success-Sutras-Ceos-Rao/dp/162865290X

Thanks for reading!

Kindly share your thoughts and comments below, I’m sure someone out there will find your story useful.

Copyright©2016 MSR Leadership Consultants India. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

This is a nonprofit blog to share Professor M.S.Rao’s passion and vision to build one million students as global leaders by 2030. Please don't cut articles from my blog and redistribute by email or post to the web. The use of this material is free provided copyright is acknowledged and reference or link is made to the Blog http://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.in.  This material may not be sold, or published in any form, or used in the provision of business services to a third party without permission.