A junior Boss!

It is said that one of the biggest challenges that is looming around for organizations are managing employees who are generations apart. Don’t get this wrong, but even a gap of 15-20 years can be a great differentiator. Generation gap has always existed in workplaces. But unlike now, in the past promotions were largely seniority based and the older employees used to be at the top of the pyramid. The change in this structure is what might lead to problems.

So what happens when you have a boss who is way younger? This phenomenon is somewhat present in government organizations where promotions have been stalled for years owing to bad manpower planning. The resentment and anguish present in the people of older generation is almost unmanageable by these companies.  Unlike in Japan, where seniority is valued much, India has a mixed and open culture. Some suggested solutions to this problem is by way of creating teams that contains members of all age groups and promoting cross mentorship. That is, people with experience imparting their knowledge to the ones who have less experience and the gen Y folks imparting technology and new process scope to the baby boomers.

But the real question is that will this  alone solve the problem? Hard chance. Unless an organization has a culture which support and value knowledge ,talent and merit and not just seniority and age, this is difficult to implement. In an open culture where employees have commitment towards each other and works together in an environment where the organization is put before self, this model of mentorship will be a great success.

This is very similar to the age old problem of having a female boss. Even though this has been tackled by organizations to an extent mainly due to India’s social and cultural setting,  some strains still persist . The junior-boss issue is again stems from a culture that is deep ingrained in our society which values seniority and age. With proper awareness of the fact that talent in young or old needs to be given its due respect, this problem can be alleviated.