Building a culture of engagement across generations

Canadian companies are operating in an increasingly globalized environment and must strive to become efficient and yet retain talented personnel. Furthermore, as technology continues to increase in complexity, and companies fight for scarce resources, organizations are forced to focus on employee engagement. Employee engagement is defined as the extent to which employees commit to something or someone in their organization, how hard they work and how long they stay, as a result of that commitment ...With constant change and tough economic times on a global scale, Baby-Boomers and some Traditionalists can no longer afford retirement. The result has led to four generations working together. These four generations Traditionalists, Baby-Boomers, Generation X and Y all have different values and expectations, which can be a source of conflict at work. These cross-generational and cross-cultural workforce conflicts can arise and can affect productivity and profits. In order to avoid such conflicts, it is important to identify differences between generations and their motivations and what an organization can do to facilitate a higher level of productivity ...Therefore, my MBA project will determine differences and similarities between the four generations, and will determine what activities can be developed by organizations to encourage and enhance employee engagement within organizations. --P. 3-4