Interesting thoughts has been brought out on how Gen Y is influencing the workplace (Mahoney, 2010 and Hammil, 2005) and how organizations can change to meet their needs at the workplace. The interesting aspect is the emerging generation of Gen Z. They might be of the age group anywhere just born to around 18 years old and still shaping their thoughts of careers. Not much has been written about them or their aspirations regarding careers. Yet, they are the future of every organization and society. Organizations are still at large not much bothered of them and society is just getting influenced seriously by them. This article takes a grounded theoretical approach to build the possible scenarios of how career aspirations of Gen Z are going to shape the future of organizations.
Gen Z and Careers
While Gen Z as per the popular definition is still a generation in making, the large section of it under interest is the group from age of 12 to 18. They are forming their opinions and perceptions of careers and are mostly known as the “connected” gen as well.
Research Method:
The research takes the grounded theory approach. Grounded theory approach has gained a lot of popularity with qualitative researchers and is widely approved a systematic approach to bring theoretical interpretations from systematically obtained social data (Glaser and Strauss, 1967; Charmaz, 2000; Dey 1999 ). The key is to obtain categories with data and interpret the interlinkages and develop broad theoretical linkages. The substantial use of this method is when much of research or theory is not available in the field of study or when the study is of unique / not repeated incidents.
Sample
36 youngsters of the age group 14 to 18 were interviewed for the research. The approach was to understand their career aspiration as it is perceived by them. While there was no structured approach for the interview, the focus was on asking them about how they see themselves as a professional down the years and identify factors supporting their decision making. The interview was conducted in semi-structured format and in an average lasted around 40 minutes. Of the participants, 8 of them were females. The average age was 16 years. The range of age was from 13 to 18 years.
The elements related to careers that were asked to the youngsters were generally open ended but covered:
1. How do you see yourself in the next 10 years
2. Which profession you would like to take up
3. What are your interests and how do those interests align to the profession
4. How do you see your parents supporting them
5. What are your friend’s view of the profession
6. How is your siblings/immediate relatives influencing your decisions
7. How is media and social media influencing your decision.
8. How many years would you like to work
9. What is your expectations from the organization
10. How do you see a manager of your’s to be
11. How are you planning to preparing yourself to be a professional
12. What is your goal in life ?
These questions, all of them or a few was followed by probing questions that helped to understand the generation’s view of the career. Most of the respondents sounded very interested and aware of their future.
Generation’s view of career:
The data analysis of interview using the major key words and word clouds, gave 7 clear themes that emerged.
1. Freedom
The most of respondents felt that they would like to do a job that offered a lot of freedom to themselves. They have heard of companies that not bother about work hours, leaves, permissions, and would like to work for some company like that. They felt that they are responsible and did not want somebody else to tell them every time what to do. They wanted to seek feedback and improve when they need it. They would require a friend at work rather than a boss. Many of them believed that one point of time they wanted to become somebody like a “Steve Jobs” or “Zuckerberg”. The other heroes for them were “Anna Hazare” and “Sachin Tendulkar”. Many of them could not relate to Indian business leaders like “Narayana Murthy” or “Mukesh Ambani”. They felt that it was the old order. Many of them liked to work with small companies where they are not pressurized to do things they do not want to do. The key was to work on something important to them and that would set them apart from their friends.
2. Unconventional
Around 10 of the participants mentioned about “doing something different”. They key for them were, that they would like to spend their professional life beyond one organization. They also mentioned about setting up on their own, doing something different like – “national geographic photographer”, “being a hair dresser for the stars”, “bring rural arts to forefront”, “being a image consultant” etc. interestingly they are able to share things that were generally not heard from the previous generation. 5 of the participants also gave very conventional prospects like being a “doctor”, “engineer”, “IAS” officer etc. Interestingly many of the participants also saw new opportunities in conventional professions like teaching. They saw it as evolving and ability to do new things in the field attracted them. Interestingly, 4 of the participants saw “research and science” as an area of interest. They were influenced by books like “short history of nearly everything” and some of the new inventions. Many also saw their calling in contributing to solving new age problems like – “cancer”, “aids”, and “terrorism”. Technology also seems to be making an impact as 3 of the participants mentioned about taking up “app development” as their career. 6 participants also wanted to free lance or do something on their own.
3. Materialism
While many of the participants are still idealistic, it was interesting to note that more than 50 % of the participants saw “good life”, and “good money” as drivers for taking up a career. While supporting parents, and helping family might be some of the values of the previous generation, especially with middle class, the new middle class Gen Z, saw career as an opportunity to develop their own life. Another aspect of materialism was they got attracted to symbols of a “good life” – having an “Audi”, or “going for vacation in Europe”, and “having a bash”. Interestingly they were also against people doing show off. Many mentioned that if they make money, it is their private affair and it is all about having their good life. One participant was also influenced by an advertisement that said “Have I made it Large “
4. Global
Another interesting aspect that we saw in the respondents is that many view their career canvas as global. They wanted to have a stint of education abroad, imbibe global values, and wanted to be seen as somebody who can influence at a global level. They did not bother much about boundaries that existed between global job markets and it might be a reflection of what India might be tomorrow. Many of them believed that in India they can get the same opportunities that west may offer and some of them seeing that their parents would have spent time and worked in US or Europe did not seem to be quite enthused of the idea of leaving the country. Many saw great pride in being in India and had faith that although it is tough the country can give them the freedom to choose and do what they wanted to do. Gen Z in future might really represent the true global Indian – an Indian with global values and great respect and pride in being an Indian and faith that they can work and prosper in this country.
5. Professional commitment
Many of the Gen Z participants did not speak about the value of being in an organization for long and they never got that as a prerequisite for professional commitment. Many felt that it is important to utilize their talent wherever they are and what matters most is this aspect. Some of the comments by participants were as follows – “My father has moved 4 jobs, I see he wanted utilize his talent in the best place, I also believe in it”, “ I think, I may work in a company for a while, and then give my service to everybody who wants it”, “ I remember somebody saying, you should love your job not your company”, and “sell your skills for the best price and if not possible equip yourself with new skills”, and “ I wanted to be doctor and the best one. You see the one’s like in “Gray’s Anatomy”, and one female respondent commented “may be I wanted to become a doctor or preferably a dentist, I can be at my own terms and practice”.
6. Experimental
The other significant aspect that came into picture was that they did not want to seen as laid back or in single track. Many wanted to experiment with a couple of fields and choose what they wanted to do. It was mostly coming from a fear that if they choose something based on other’s interest, will they be able to sustain in those fields. Many, especially, female respondents expressed that they are going to do work with NGOs, and AIESEC, and see what is best for them. Along with experimentation, many felt it is their obligation to make their parents happy. One respondent mentioned “ I will become an engineer or a doctor – after that what I do in my profession is upto me”. Another participant responded – “I really wanted to pursue hair dressing as a profession. Let me take a course along with an MBA, that I might pursue after my graduation. Being an MBA will make my parents and society happy”. Another respondent who was aged 10, had already published one book, and thinks that she has a future in this profession. She mentioned that starting early doing something that is beyond regular studies could help her to discover her passion and rather than doing it at the age of 24 or 25. The suspicion about career and its primary objective of earning a living is changing and the generation is speaking a lot of what is going to make them happy, even if it means making some sacrifices or extra efforts to make their parents and society happy.
7. Beyond technology
It is a known factor that most the Gen Z is well aware of technology in mobile, computing, and information space. Interestingly, many did not show much interest in advancing a career in that space. Many felt that everybody is doing it and it does not make much sense for them to do it. They also mentioned about doing interesting things like “journalism”, “ photography”, “working for UN”, “Teaching in Africa”, and they would prefer to do work in traditional fields like civil services or teaching as it gives more respect compared to working in an IT industry. They also felt dejected by the kind of life their parents are leading in the IT or ITES space. This is another interesting aspect coming from young generation. They held heroes in pure science and technology compared to the beaten path of IT industry.
Future implications for organizations:
All the key factors that Gen Z mentioned as what is important for them is going to be of impact for organizations in the future. While the participant profile is mostly urban and they are still firming up their thoughts related to careers, the aspects they have mentioned really speaks about a divide that might be coming up between the current work force and the work force of future. One aspect would be, how organizations would be able to attract this talent. The current method of bulk hiring and molding as per requirements might not work with the future talent pool at entry levels. Many of the talent might be really not interested in the kind of profiles organizations are offering and will be taking them up just to satisfy societal demands, or will not even show interest. Some of the current “hot” fields like “IT” might not be considered happening by the upcoming generation. Some fields should also be open to hire talent that they never thought would be coming in – eg. media, fashion, or photography. This will open up a whole new ways in which people see their careers to be. Aspects related to commitment and job security may not be key for many. It also opens up opportunities to work on “short period work contracts”. Earning respect of this generation by speaking about things we consider is important like “technology”, might not hold true. There might be also show of materialism and the factor – “ what is in it for me” will be more prominent. The another key interesting factor will be that – onsite opportunities or global stints are going to be of short term interest and may will consider opportunities in their country more appealing. The new generation is going to be more independent and managing them through traditional “carrot and stick” might not really work. This will also call for new practices and organizations are going to be in a dilemma managing aspirations of many generations.
Conclusion:
Very less has been written about Gen Z. Management literature though mentions about them, efforts to link up their interests and thoughts to an organizational context is not available. The grounded theory approach adopted here helped to get a glimpse of what might be the consequences of this generation to organizations in the future. This is a biased sample – less number of participants, predominantly South India based urban middle class youth, and more or less homogenous with only diversity of gender and age as a consideration. The aim of the article was to sensitize organizations and HR to be prepared of what is coming up and sensitize them to be prepared for the same. This research also calls for a wider research and attention from both practitioners and academicians.
References
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