The College Student's Guide to the New Millennium

"The College Student's Guide to the New Millennium" At CEC Associates, we focus on workplace issues. Recently we wrote about generational differences (see our blog, "It's All About Engagement," December 6, 2007), especially as they arise in the workplace between "Baby Boomer" bosses and "Millennial" new/recent hires. We have been working from Cam Marston's "Motivating the "What's In It for Me" Workforce: Manage Across the Generational Divide and Increase Profits.” Marston (and others), delineates the generations as: · Matures: born before 1946 (including "Lost" Generation, 1883-1900; "Greatest," 1901-1924; "Silent," 1925-1945) · Baby Boomers: 1946-1964 · Generation X: 1965-1981 · Millennials: 1982-2000 Many sociologists believe that the "Millennials" are faced with critical realities and issues that were not present for earlier generations. The differences between the serial generations of Americans are significant, and we all, whether from earlier generations or the Generation Millennials themselves, really need to understand the differences to develop the compatibility required for productive harmony. The difficulty, of course, is defining who the Millennials are and in what respects they are different from foregoing generations. Fortuitously, as relevant ideas are want to happen, we became aware of an elegantly written article by Emma Raviv that made, for us, the intellectual connection we needed. Raviv's article, "Welcome to Your World: The College Student's Guide to the New Millennium," explores the specific themes that focus on the consequential problems our youths and college students face. Raviv explores the themes of science and technology, sex and gender in the new world, globalization, war on terror, and racial politics. Simply reading the issues makes it clear that the generational differences are significant and need to be taken into account as we go about managing the emerging workforce. It should be noted that Raviv doesn't develop her thesis in terms of the workforce; that is our twist to the information she advances. Click here to view the Raviv article. What are your thoughts on generational differences? Do you agree with Raviv's theses?