Stereotypes may cause divisions between younger and older employees

By VIKKI BLAND

Are you a boring baby boomer, one of the degenerate generation X or blooming with the youthful potential of generation Y?

According to psychologist and researcher Dr Peter Hart, you are simply yourself.

Hart is on a mission to stop governments, statisticians, businesses and the media stereotyping individuals according to when they were born. He says such stereotypes, which include the belief baby boomers are more committed to the workforce and more loyal than the supposedly self-focused, highly mobile generation X, are harmful to individuals who may be prejudged in the workforce.

"We now have empirical research to show there are no differences in work and life attitudes between generations," he says.

His findings are based on a 2002 study of the commitment individuals have to their place of employment, which looked at Australian employees working in five different organisations spanning a range of industries.

The research by Dr Hart's company InsightSRC, was commissioned by a 20-member commercial Australian Leadership Consortium, keen to better understand the leadership potential of rising generations.

This consortium expected to find problems with organisational commitment among generation X participants, yet when baby boomers (those born between 1944 and 1964) and generation X participants (those born between 1965 and 1982), were asked for their views on leadership, organisational climate, job satisfaction, career mobility and value alignment, they showed no significant differences in organisational commitment.

While these findings were a revelation to the consortium, Hart says he fully expected to find what he did.

"There has been much positioning of people from generation X as insecure and more self-focused as a result of life experiences like divorce, or seeing a parent made redundant," he says. "But baby boomers are as likely to have had the same experiences, just not in their 20s."

Hart says categorising people by the year they are born in is akin to categorising them by race, gender or the colour of their hair.

"When human beings try to explain something, they tend to do it on the basis of differences rather than similarities. But generational stereotyping can cause significant division between younger and older employees."

He says employers that buy into these stereotypes may waste time, resources and energy on unnecessary motivational schemes or develop retention-aimed strategies that will actually demotivate young people.

"Younger employees like an engaging culture, a clear purpose, and the chance to participate and take on learning opportunities. If employers believe these people won't stay for the long term, they may not progress their career paths. That sends young people a clear message that they're not valued by the organisation."

Interestingly, Hart's findings on organisational commitment tie in with a survey by Asia Pacific recruitment agency, Kelly Services. It surveyed more than 5000 workers in New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia and Singapore to investigate whether corporate failures and misconduct had caused employees to lose faith in their employers.

Among the findings, 71 per cent of New Zealand workers said the reputation of their organisation was important to them, and 13 per cent said the promotion of ethical behaviour contributed to that positive reputation. Interestingly, older employees were more likely to have lost faith in an employer in difficulty than younger employees.

John Phipps, regional manager for Kelly services says the finding dispels the belief that employees do not care who they work for.

And Hart says his research shows other presumptions need to be dispelled, such as the belief that certain careers and types of work are stressful.

"Stress is always about an individual, not a profession. For example, you hear about police work being stressful - it's not. Some people find it stressful and others don't."

Hart would know - he's a perfect example of his own belief that individuals shouldn't be arbitrarily typecast. After leaving school at the age of 16, he became a police cadet in the Australian state of Victoria and spent 13 years in the force.

During that time, he applied to study at Melbourne University but was turned down as a result of his early departure from high school. Unfazed, he contacted Swinburne University and was given a chance to study psychology on the understanding that he would finish his first year in the top third of his class. He did.

Hart followed his 1987 degree with a PhD, writing his thesis on stress as a component of police work, which he says he chose simply because it was topical.

"I learned everything I needed to know about human psychology working for the Victorian Police Department. I saw crime, drugs and sex offences, had a gun held at my head. But I had a ball. I wasn't stressed."

In a delicious irony, considering his initial rejection by academia, Hart completed that doctorate, which involved co-ordinating and leading a national research project into occupational stress, at Melbourne University and is now an honorary fellow of its School of Behavioural Science.

He says the four years he spent there showed him the level of demand for social research and its implications.

"So when the fellowship was over I decided to move my university activities into the commercial environment."

Hart says he enjoys what he does, but has no intentions of allowing his company InsightSRC make him a millionaire.

"We are a commercial firm, but our findings are published for free throughout the world as part of the International Research Community. We'll continue to present and speak for free at seminars if we can share the message that today's employees and tomorrow's leaders are individuals and should be treated as such."

His one concession to strong beliefs in the power of one is the importance of having good mentors, and Hart points to four men who made a difference in his own rather remarkable life.

"There was a senior detective in the police force, a public servant, and two academics. They all supported me, believed in me and empowered me without controlling me. They set high standards and were innovative thinkers. One in particular challenged the way I approached research."

It's not a stretch to imagine Hart will continue to deny fellow human beings the opportunity to fit him neatly into any particular mould or category.

And that includes journalists. When asked where he sees himself in 10 years, Hart doesn't miss a beat.

"I could get bored and decide to drive taxis. Or I might go to Mars. I mean that quite sincerely. You never know what's possible and I'd like to go there."