20 ITadviser Winter 2009
change management
Those of us of a certain age will
remember the original 1970s
Saturday night TV show with Bruce
Forsyth and his glamorous assistant �
Anthea "give us a twirl" Redfern. On
reflection it also has some social and
technological significance. Back in those
days of three terrestrial channels, TV was
a very collective affair. My entire family
would gather together to watch Bruce and
laugh hysterically as a mother from
Guildford would make a hash of the
potter's wheel. We were not alone. In those
days TV provided an almost mass national
consciousness. Nearly 30 million of us
would tune in to the Morecombe and Wise
Christmas Show or try to work out who
shot JR in Dallas. Turn up at work on
Monday and we could all join in with the
tea trolley conversation � whatever our
age or generational "tag".
Somehow, when I started work nearly
30 years ago � all my colleagues didn't
seem so very different. Sure, there were
older people and younger people working
together � but we had similar experiences
prior to work � and had broadly similar
expectations. The roadmap of education,
work, mortgage, marriage, children and
retirement at 60 was followed pretty
much to the letter � and often all played
out whilst working for the same
organisation.
But how things change. Fast forward to
2007 and my daughter back from
University for the summer break and
working at a call centre in an attempt to
make an impact on her overdraft. Fridays
became "bring in a home made cake day".
When it was her turn, Becky decided to
make some carrot cake and searched for a
suitable recipe. I remember pointing to a
book case with over 30 recipe books in it.
Instead, Becky returned to the kitchen
with her wireless laptop, found something
from Google and then wrapped the laptop
in cling film whilst she conjured up a
pretty good cake. In that moment the
world of the digital native and that of the
digital immigrant was brought sharply
into focus. My first instinct was to draw
on the knowledge of Delia Smith in a book
� Becky's was to go online and search.
There are some other nuances here as
well. Delia is an acclaimed expert. Becky
got her recipe from a blog by someone
unknown, but who felt compelled to tell
the world about her carrot cake recipe and
the free tools on the internet enabled her
to do so. And guess what � Becky didn't
care whose recipe it was. What she did
care about was that several people had felt
sufficiently impressed to give feedback
and write comments as to how good the
cake was. Suddenly we are in a world of
pervasive connectivity, user created
content, social technographics and
information security � all underpinned by
some pretty distinct generational
differences. So began my interest in
exploration of the Generation Game.
Four into One Will Go
Several economic, social and demographic
factors are changing the shape and
composition of the workplace in most
developed countries. Ageing populations
are a feature of most developed countries
� which combined with lower birth rates
mean that there is a shortage in the
"pipeline" of young people leaving
education and starting work. In the UK in
2007, the number of over 60s exceeded
the number of under 16s for the first
time. Paradoxically, recent economic
turmoil and the expectation of good
health in later years mean that more and
more people are having to � or choosing
to � delay retirement.
The result of these changes is that for
the first time we have four distinct
generational groups working together. As
we will see � this can present both
opportunity and challenge in equal
measure.
There are many generalisations about
generations � and whilst it may be
dangerous to make assumptions � it's also
useful to understand the shorthand.
Members of a particular generation do not
merely share a common range of
birthdates. They share similar influences,
tastes, attitudes and economic and social
circumstances. The table below
summarises this.
The author
Marc
Humphries is a
Principal
Consultant
with Atos
Consulting
specialising in
Change
Management,
Organisational
Culture and
Learning and
Development
Marc Humphries of Atos Consulting considers the effect that
the changing demographics in the workplace will have upon
UK businesses.

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