Twinkies (under 20s, also known as cyber-kids)


Twinkies (under 20s, also known as cyber- kids )

These people have grown up with a mouse welded to the palm of their right hand. They don't play by our rules, but they are the generation after next of the managers and specialists in our workforce. How do we appeal to this type of person?; how do we deal with face-to-face inter- action with them, never mind employing them? We are going to have to learn, because we won't have any option. Now, look at it this way. If you don't understand your kids, then you are in trouble, but here's the lifeline. Beloit College in Wisconsin has for many years done a great public service. Every year, they publish the Mindset List to its faculty and staff as an indicator of the many ways in which entering 17- and 18-year-olds see the world differently from their professors, coaches and mentors. The list is a reminder that the worldview held by today's new college students is significantly different from the intellectual framework of those students who entered only a few years earlier. This will help you understand where you need to begin and why the disconnect between management's views and that of the employees is so radical . On the other hand it might just frighten you off!

For someone born in 1984, consider these facts.

  • Richard Burton, Ricky Nelson and Truman Capote have always been dead.

  • Cars have always had eye-level rear stoplights, CD players, and air bags.

  • The ˜evil empire' has moved from Moscow to a setting in some distant galaxy.

  • ˜Big Brother' is merely a television show.

  • Cyberspace has always existed.

  • Barbie has always had a job.

  • George Foreman has always been a barbecue grill salesman

  • There has always been an heir to the heir to the British throne.

  • China has always been a market-based reforming regime .

  • Nicolas Cage, Daryll Hannah, Eddie Murphy, and John Malkovich made their first major films the year you were born.

  • The ˜Fab Four' are not a male rock group from Liverpool, but four women enjoying ˜Sex and the City'.

  • A ˜hotline' is a consumer service rather than a phone used to avoid accidental nuclear war.

  • The drug ˜ecstasy' has always been around.

  • Genetic testing and DNA screening have always been available.

  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has always been available to doctors .

So, how challenging do you think employing today's Twinkies is going to be? But let's remember we must not look at it like that. What Mr or Ms Employer need to work out is what do you have to do to meet these people's expectations; can you fit your work requirements into their lifestyles? Now there's a great project for some smart, newly minted MBA, wouldn't you say? Of course this is a pretty Anglo-centric list, but wherever you are try and match it. Then you'll get some idea of the task ahead if you are to engage these people.




The New Rules of Engagement(c) Life-Work Balance and Employee Commitment
Performance Tuning for Linux(R) Servers
ISBN: N/A
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 131

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