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Retaining the Millennials Kathryn Van Arsdale
Columbia University Capstone 2014
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 2
Table of Contents Glossary of Terms ................................................................................................................................. 4
Chapter 1 – The Millennials Are Coming ....................................................................................... 6 1.1 Background ................................................................................................................................................ 6 1.2 Issues and Goals ....................................................................................................................................... 8 1.2.1 Millennials expect businesses to care. ........................................................................................................ 8 1.2.2 Millennials want to be leaders. ...................................................................................................................... 9 1.2.3 Millennials want to be innovative. ................................................................................................................ 9
1.3 Conflict Map ............................................................................................................................................. 10 1.4 Actors ......................................................................................................................................................... 11 1.4.1 Primary Actors ................................................................................................................................................... 11 1.4.2 Secondary Actor ................................................................................................................................................ 12
1.5 Structures ................................................................................................................................................. 13 1.5.1 Social Fabric or Cultural Structures .......................................................................................................... 13 1.5.2 Economic Factors .............................................................................................................................................. 15
1.6 Dynamics .................................................................................................................................................. 16 1.7 Literature Review .................................................................................................................................. 16 1.7.1 French and Raven’s Power Theory ........................................................................................................... 16 1.7.2 Morton Deutsch's Crude Law ...................................................................................................................... 19 1.7.3 McClelland’s Acquired Needs Theory: ..................................................................................................... 19 1.7.4 Dual Concern Model ......................................................................................................................................... 21
1.8 Moving Forward with Data Collection and Analysis .................................................................. 22 Chapter 2 – Data ................................................................................................................................. 23 2.1 Methodology ............................................................................................................................................ 23 2.2 Data Collection ........................................................................................................................................ 24 2.2.1 Sample ................................................................................................................................................................... 24 2.2.2 Procedure ............................................................................................................................................................. 25 2.2.3 Electronic Survey Data ................................................................................................................................... 26
2.3 Data Analysis ........................................................................................................................................... 29 2.3.1 Procedure ............................................................................................................................................................. 29 2.3.2 Personal Experience ........................................................................................................................................ 29 2.3.3 Interview Insights ............................................................................................................................................. 30
2.4 Data Interpretation ............................................................................................................................... 40 2.4.1 Common Themes .............................................................................................................................................. 40 2.4.2 Theoretical Underpinnings ........................................................................................................................... 41
2.5 Bridge to Intervention Strategies ..................................................................................................... 43 Chapter 3 – Resolution Strategies ................................................................................................ 44 3.1 Resolution Strategies ............................................................................................................................ 44 3.1.1 Business must retain knowledge and minimize productivity loss. ............................................. 44 3.1.2 Intervention via The Employee Engagement Process ...................................................................... 46 3.1.3 Business must minimize recruitment and training costs. ............................................................... 48 3.1.4 Sundry Costs of Employee Turnover ........................................................................................................ 49 3.1.5 Intervention to enhance company culture using The World Café. .............................................. 51 3.1.6 Business must have a pipeline of talent to fill leadership gaps. ................................................... 52 3.1.7 Intervention through the adaptable method called Leadership Dojo ........................................ 55
3.2 Suggested Ideas ...................................................................................................................................... 56 3.2.1 Upward and onward ........................................................................................................................................ 56
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 3
3.2.2 Campus Cubical .................................................................................................................................................. 58 3.2.3 Don’t dictate—Negotiate and Win Together ........................................................................................ 59
Chapter 4 – Networking and Sustainability .............................................................................. 62 4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 62 4.2 The Network ............................................................................................................................................ 64 4.3 The Interventions and the Challenges to Sustainability ........................................................... 66 4.3.1 Sustainability of Change in Traditional Corporations ....................................................................... 66 4.3.2 The phenomenological basis of sustainability of change ................................................................ 67 4.3.3 Strengths and weaknesses of the suggested interventional styles ............................................. 68
4.4 Strategies for Sustainability ............................................................................................................... 70 Chapter 5 – Conclusions .................................................................................................................. 75 5.1 The Millennials aren’t leaving ........................................................................................................... 75
References ............................................................................................................................................ 77
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 4
Glossary of Terms Board of Directors: A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. They have a significant amount of power in shaping the strategies of the company, through controlling finances Chief Executive Officer (CEO): A CEO is generally the most senior corporate officer (executive) or administrator in charge of managing an organization. An individual appointed as a CEO of a corporation, company, nonprofit, or government agency typically reports to the board of directors. Company Culture: is the behavior of humans within an organization and the meaning that people attach to those behaviors. Culture includes the organization's vision, values, norms, systems, symbols, language, assumptions, beliefs, and habits. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): is a form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model. CSR policy functions as a self-regulatory mechanism whereby a business monitors and ensures its active compliance with the spirit of the law, ethical standards and international norms. Executive Management Team: is generally a team of individuals at the highest level of organizational management who have the day-to-day responsibilities of managing a company or corporation. They hold specific executive powers conferred onto them with and by authority of the board of directors and/or the shareholders. Hierarchical Organization: A hierarchical organization follows the layout of a pyramid. Every employee in the organization, except one, usually the CEO, is subordinate to someone else within the organization. The layout consists of multiple entities that descend into the base of staff level employees, who sit at the bottom of the pyramid. Homophily: is the tendency of individuals to associate and bond with similar others. There are two types of homophily, status and value. Status Homophily is similarity is based on informal, formal, or ascribed status. Value Homophily is similarity based on values, attitudes, and beliefs. Human Resources Management (HRM, or simply HR): is a function in organizations designed to maximize employee performance in service of their employer’s strategic objectives. Millennials: The newest generation to join the workforce was born between 1980 and 2005. Other names for this generation include Millennial, Echo-Boomers, Net Gen, and Generation Y. Phenomenological research: This type of research describes the lived experiences of one or more persons; it explores what a concept or phenomenon means to a person, how it affects them as they live their lives. Structural Holes: Networks are made up of clusters of nodes that are connected, where there is no connection, or a break in connectivity, it is called a structural hole. In the context of networks,
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 5
social capital exists where people have an advantage because of their location in a network and their ability to bridge these structural holes. Upward mobility: the capacity or facility for rising to a higher social or economic position. Work-life balance: is a concept including proper prioritizing between "work" (career and ambition) and "lifestyle" (health, pleasure, leisure, family and spiritual development.
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 6
Chapter 1 – The Millennials Are Coming
g 1.1 Background
The Millennials are coming to the workforce. They are confident, well educated, and highly
skilled in all matters having to with technology or social media (Sujansky & Ferri-Reed, 2009, p.
3). Today’s young adults, born after 1980, are generally known as Generation Y or the
Millennial Generation. They are the best-educated generation in American history and, like the
baby boomers, just about the largest. Millennials are moving into the workforce in vast numbers,
and each organization is faced with the need to retain the Millennials that it has spent time, effort
and money training. This is happening when the previous generations are retiring. The US
Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts a slowdown in the pace of labor-force growth and
productivity in 2016, as some of the 70 million-plus Baby Boomers retire (Sujansky & Ferri-
Reed, 2009, p. 3).
In the postindustrial, info-centered working world of today, social and physical separations are
no longer powerful barriers to generational mixing (Zemke, Raines, & Filipczack, 2013, p. 11).
Of course, different generations have been grouped together in the workforce since the beginning
of time. In simpler times, however, technological changes were slower and the specialized skill-
sets of the generations were not radically different. In the modern world, technology changes
drastically in time-scales of a decade, and generations have grown up with skills and attitudes
that are very different. These differences are exacerbated by the social and economic pressures
inherent in the fragmented, global, and highly technological world.
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 7
The workforce as it currently operates, has adapted itself to baby boomers, who tended to stay in
their jobs for an extended span of time, and who consequently developed a loyalty towards their
firms and their professions. This predilection of the boomers ensured that business had very
little voluntary turnover, and allowed for cohesiveness, as existing employees shared are their
knowledge with incoming employees. The millennial employees, however, are expected to leave
their first job within two years of joining. This saddles the business organization with the high
costs associated with training new employees. In this culture, Millennials are driven to job-
hopping, both owing to a lack engagement in their job, and owing to their ennui arising from a
dearth of challenges. Businesses are scrambling to adapt their polices, practices and procedures
to retain these valuable individuals, with specialized skills (Taman, 2014).
Traditionally structured organizations, which have changed very little over generations, have had
to adapt. They have had to shape themselves to accommodate the values of this new generation
of workers, the Millennials, who are seeking corporate social responsibility (CSR), enhanced
work/life balance, distributed work, and attention to health/wellness. (Haworth , 2013).
This thesis will explore the conflicts that Millennials experience in working within the traditional
workplace, and how target companies can be successful in restructuring their workplaces to
engage, delight, and retain millennial talent. Only by such restructuring can most businesses
survive and thrive. The lenses of communication, engagement, and power dynamics, will be
employed to shed light on the conflicts and to help point the way to the resolution of such
conflicts.
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 8
` 1.2 Issues and Goals
Millennials have a non-traditional attitude towards the work ethic, towards their role in the
workplace, and towards authority and the chain of command. They are at ease with acquiring
new technological skills, and adept at obtaining information quickly, via their vast social
networks. They are eager to help solve problems and improve processes; they are confused,
miffed, and begin to complain and sulk, when not consulted in situations where they have some
expertise. They see themselves as Global Citizens, and demand that their involvement in the
business organization promotes global welfare. This seemingly altruistic attitude is linked with
their belief that the problems of the world can be alleviated through the proper application of
information technology. These beliefs have to be accommodated by companies if they wish to
have a happy and successful workplace that can attract and retain this new breed of talent.
1.2.1 Millennials expect businesses to care.
Issue: Millennials want to work for companies they believe are doing good for the world, either
by presenting the market with a stellar products that enrich customers lives, or by implementing
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices. CSR is operating a business in a manner that
takes into account the social and environmental impact of the business by integrating responsible
practices into daily business operations, and monitoring and evaluating such practices.
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 9
Goal: To better understand the core practices that matter in retaining millennial talents, in order
to explore the possibility of identifying a set of such practices, which can be offered to firms that
are struggling to preclude the development of a toxic, generationally divided workplace.
1.2.2 Millennials want to be leaders.
Issue: Millennials want to make sure they receive the credit for a job well done. They want to be
rapidly promoted, and put in to positions that grant them control over their workload. They want
to be trained to be leaders, and they want a seat at the table where decisions are made, so they
can be sure to give their input and ask questions.
Goal: To identify ways by which businesses can address barriers between cohorts, and to
explore how work can be better assigned and reviewed. To see how Millennials can receive
feedback for their work, and have access in the organization, so their need to be heard is met.
1.2.3 Millennials want to be innovative.
Issue: Millennials want to work for organizations that support innovation, but complain that their
employers do not foster creative thinking. They believe the biggest barriers to innovation are
stagnant management attitudes, obsolete operational structures and procedures, lack of employee
skills, and a critical lack of diversity.
Goal: Outline strategies and tactics that will inform Millennials about the innovations being
implemented in an evolving company.
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 10
, 1.3 Conflict Map
Millennial'Employees
CEO
Board'of'Directors
Human' Resources'Management
Corporation
Autonomy'
Purpose'
Health'Benefits'
Perks
Technology
Visibility'
Mastery'
Collaboration
Creativity'
Employment'
Intervention
InterventionDirect+CommIndirect+CommMillennial+DesireCompany+LeversEconmic+Need
Primary'Actors
KEY
Secondary'Actors
Social'Fabric
Econmic'Factors
Tomorrow's' talent'clashes'with'today's'workplace:'#RetainingTheMillennials+
Upward'Mobility'
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 11
f
1.4 Actors
The actors in the conflict are those who are central to the conflict and to the decision making
around the intervention. For this specific conflict, the quest is for best practices to be employed
when trying to engage and retain millennial talent for a corporate workforce. The primary actors
are directly involved, and they are directly experiencing the conflict, whereas the secondary
actors are on the periphery of the conflict, not directly involved, but still part of the conflict
ecosystem.
1.4.1 Primary Actors
Millennial—The newest generation to join the workforce, born between 1980 and 2005. Other
names for this generation include, Echo-Boomers, Net Gen, and Generation Y. Their lives have
been shaped by events such as the Oklahoma City bombing, the Waco Branch Davidian
Massacre, school violence, the digital age, Enron and other corporate scandals, reality TV, the
9/11 terrorist attack, the War on Terror, and Web-based social-networking. Approximately 76
million of this generation are now entering the workforce (Al-Asfour & Lettau, 2014).
Human Resource Management—The Human Resources (HR) function tends to be an integral
part of the overall company function, and a hub for strategically aligning the right talent to solve
emerging business challenges. The gatekeepers of culture, this function seeks to recruit and
retain necessary talent for the organization, while managing risk and making sure that the
employees have a voice that is heard and represented to the CEO. Human Resources normally
report directly to the CEO of the company.
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 12
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)—A CEO is generally the most senior corporate officer or
administrator in charge of an organization. An individual appointed as a CEO of a corporation,
company, nonprofit, or government agency, typically reports to the Board of Directors.
Corporation—A legal entity that is separate and distinct from its owners. Corporations enjoy
most of the rights and responsibilities of an individual; a corporation can enter into contracts,
lend and borrow money, sue and be sued, hire employees, own assets and pay taxes.
Most importantly, it incorporates limited liability. Shareholders can enjoy the profits, through
dividends and appreciation of stock, but are not personally liable for the company's debts.
1.4.2 Secondary Actor
Board of Directors—A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who
jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. They have a significant amount of
power in shaping the strategies of the company, through the action of controlling finances.
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 13
W 1.5 Structures
The structures in a conflict represent institutions and systems in place that can be used as levers
in the conflict, most often these structures are i) economic factors, ii) social fabric and systems,
iii) security presence and enforcement and iv) political factors.
Cultural structures enter the picture by noting the way Millennials want to work, the hierarchical
structure of the firm, the power distance experienced, the work life balance, creativity, how the
individual is being employed, and benefits accrued from such employment.
1.5.1 Social Fabric or Cultural Structures
Visibility—This represents how visible an employee’s work will be to those in places of power,
be it the head of the department, or the CEO. Millennials want to make sure they are able to
present their own work, and take credit for their contributions. They want to deal directly with
persons who have decision-making power in and organization (Haworth , 2013).
Autonomy—Millennials want to make sure that they have control over their work. They want to
understand what the problem is, and then want adequate room to creatively approach problem
solving, without needless oversight or prescriptive measures (Pink, 2009, p. 83) (Haworth ,
2013).
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 14
Perks—These are the extra incentives and rewards that are offered to employees. Millennials are
attracted to companies that prioritize health and wellness by offering free gym memberships, or
yoga classes at lunch. This can be so simple a matter as organizing a charitable run for
coworkers, with branded T-shirts to show that the company cares (Sujansky & Ferri-Reed, 2009,
p. 20).
Mastery—Millennials are life-long learners, and try to continually fine-tune their skillset. They
are focused heavily on changing technologies, inventing new methods of solving old problems,
and developing their leadership philosophies and styles (Pink, 2009, p. 107) (Meister & Jeanne
C, 2010, p. 180).
Purpose—Millennials generally want to have a larger purpose underpinning their work, to pull
quotidian tasks into focus and give them meaning. They strive to align themselves with
organizations that have a good ethos (Pink, 2009) (Sujansky & Ferri-Reed, 2009, p. 83).
Collaboration—Millennials want highly collaborative work environments, where they get to
work with someone of complementary or superior skills (Meister & Jeanne C, 2010, p. 76).
Technology—Millennials grew up when the technological advances were rapid. They find it
imperative to have the tools needed to automate mundane tasks, and want to be informed and
skillful at using technological solutions to solve business problems (Taman, 2014).
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 15
Creativity—Millennials want to have the freedom to be creative in their work. They want the
ability to think of new ways of looking at challenging situations, and they want to be able to test
their theories without feeling inhibit or micromanaged back into the status quo (Taman, 2014).
Upward Mobility—Upward mobility is the ease with which employees can enter at one level
and move up to positions with greater responsibility and compensation—it is a strong factor in
retention of employees. Millennials want to be recognized, and rapidly promoted when their
contributions have been vital to business success (Sujansky & Ferri-Reed, 2009, p. 141).
1.5.2 Economic Factors
Employment—This represents the act of being employed, to receive a certain amount of work
for a certain wage. Millennials want to exercise their skills in the corporate world, and businesses
desperately need to attract and retain them, to benefit from their special skills (Haworth , 2013).
Benefits – Similar to perks this is the non-wage compensation provided to employees around
health matters, and normally covers things such as medical, dental, vision, paid time off, and life
insurance. Millennial employees want to make sure that a company is helping them maintain
their health by providing affordable or even free health benefits (Haworth , 2013).
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 16
M 1.6 Dynamics
Dynamics is the connective tissue between actors and the structures; they are represented on the
map by the connecting solid and dotted lines. The arrows show which way a need, desire, or
communications flows. A key dynamic is represented by the green line, connecting the
corporation to the millennial employee, indicating the corporation’s need for millennial talent to
survive in market of today. Another key dynamic is the dotted blue connecting line between HR
and Millennials, since that department is on the front lines of recruitment and employee
retention. Equally important is the actions and attitudes of the CEO, who constitutes the approval
point for sustainable change. The CEO is crucial in introducing and stabilizing change.
e
1.7 Literature Review This literature review will include a survey of some critical work in power dynamics, emotional
intelligence, and conflict and cooperation. All of these theories have been applied to leadership
and organizational conflicts, and should create a sharp lens through which to examine how
businesses can profitably transform their organizations to meet the needs of the millennial talent
entering the workforce, with unique skills, attitudes, and expectations (Haworth , 2013).
1.7.1 French and Raven’s Power Theory
Social psychologists, John French and Bertram Raven, outlined a theory that pigeonholed power
into five distinct and separate forms; later this was expanded by Raven into include six forms
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 17
which are i) Coercive power, ii) Reward power, iii) Legitimate power, iv) Referent power, v)
Expert power and vi) Informational power (Raven, 2008).
Coercive power is the power to use force, the ability to punish others, or to pose as a threat. This
power uses fear as a motivator. An example would be the power of a manager who threatens an
employee’s job security by cutting his pay or removing him from his job. While coercive power
might be effective in the short term, it engenders negative feelings, and generally does not bode
well for the long-term relationship between the employee and the company (Raven, 2008).
Reward power is used to drive results with rewards, accolades, and recognition to drive good
behavior and improve performance. When a manager promotes a hardworking individual,
increases his pay, or puts him up for employee-of-the-month, he is using reward power to
motivate outcomes. Often reward power can enhance the relationship between the employee and
the company (Raven, 2008).
Legitimate power is often positional power and official power. This is the power of having a
higher rank in the hierarchy. Someone with legitimate power (i.e. the CEO) will be able to
control resources, reward, or even punish his subordinates. When a new business division is spun
off, a CEO generally has the power to promote one of his employees into an open job. This
power flows from position within the firm (Raven, 2008).
Referent power can also be called personal power or charismatic power. This power is may be
innate to a person’s character, and it is the power by which great leaders attract followers. It is
underlies the magnetism and gusto that the leader displays. Leaders that display this power are
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 18
very diverse, such as John F Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and Mahatma Gandhi. In the
corporate world, a leader with command and presence can engender inordinate enthusiasm in the
employees, who then manage to get an extraordinary amount of work done, and make it look
simple. Such leaders have overwhelming support from their employees (Raven, 2008).
Expert power is also known as the power of knowledge—it arises from having knowledge that
others need, but do not possess. Persons such as doctors, lawyers, and accountants, and airline
pilots fall in to this category. In the world of electronics, those rare persons who design
microchips, and can visualize the 3-dimensional interconnects, are often called “wizards” or “the
Magi,” since their achievements are almost magical to the outsider. In a business, managing risk
is critical and the legal team will be consulted, for their expert power, before rolling out a new
product or service. They presumably have the expertise and foresight to keep the company
apprised of the risk exposure, if it went ahead with its plans (Raven, 2008).
Informational power is a form of personal or collective power that is based on controlling
information needed by others in order to reach an important goal. Timely and relevant
information delivered on demand can be the most influential way to acquire power. In the
corporate structure, administrative assistant to the CEO or the COO, can have access to
confidential information, and can acquire inordinate informational power. They have to be
carefully chosen, since loose lips can easily cause a crash in the stock price. (Raven, 2008).
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 19
The power dynamics within traditional corporations, especially the types of powers historically
reserved for those at the top, may have to be altered if the culture is to made more appealing to
Millennials.
1.7.2 Morton Deutsch's Crude Law
“The characteristic processes and effects elicited by a given type of social relationship also tend
to elicit that type of social relationship”(Johnson & Johnson, 2005). This law dictates that a
relationship that is open, friendly, and cooperative, will breed cooperative “win-win” outcomes,
whereas a relationship that is competitive in nature, will often breed “win-lose” outcomes, and
result in distributive bargaining.
In the instance of millennial retention, this could come into play with recruitment negotiations. If
a millennial prospect believes that a corporation will be flexible, they too will possibly become
reflexively more flexible. This is often seen when looking at a total package of an offer, opposed
to just the financial aspects (Haworth , 2013).
1.7.3 McClelland’s Acquired Needs Theory:
These needs are found to varying degrees in all workers and managers, and this mix of
motivational needs characterizes a person's or
manager's style and behavior, both in terms of being
motivated, and in the management and motivation
others (McClelland & Burnham, 1976) (Harrell &
Stahl, 1981).
nPow
nAch nAff
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 20
Achievement motivation (nAch)—The nAch person is “achievement motivated” and therefore
seeks achievement, attainment of realistic but challenging goals, and advancement in the job.
Such a person displays a strong need for feedback and a need for a sense of accomplishment
(Harrell & Stahl, 1981).
Authority/Power motivation (nPow)—The nPow person is “authority motivated”. This driver
produces a need to be influential, effective, and to make an impact. They need to lead and have
their ideas prevail. They need increasing personal status and prestige (Harrell & Stahl, 1981).
Affiliation motivation (nAff)—The nAff person is “affiliation motivated”, and has a need for
friendly relationships, and interaction with other people. The affiliation driver produces a need to
be liked and held in popular regard. These people are team players (Harrell & Stahl, 1981).
McClelland's research found that those in top management positions had a high need for power
and a low need for affiliation. His research also found that people with a high need for
achievement will do best when given projects at which they can succeed through their own
efforts. Although individuals with a strong need for achievement can be successful lower-level
managers, they are usually weeded out before reaching top management positions. He also found
that people with a high need for affiliation are not good top managers but are generally happy,
and successful in non-leadership roles (McClelland & Burnham, 1976).
If an underlying need of business is to develop the Millennials into tomorrow’s leaders, this
theory is helps inform us of what needs to be done, to ensure that Millennials can lead others.
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 21
1.7.4 Dual Concern Model
The Dual Concerns model measures i) concern
for self and ii) concern for others in a conflict
situation. It assumes that one’s assertiveness and
your empathies can predict one’s orientation in a
conflict (Lewicki, Barry, & Saunders, 2011, p.
22) (Deutsch, Coleman, & Marcus, 2006, p.
348).
Avoidance—When self-concern is low and for concern for the other is low, one tends to avoid
the conflict. One makes jokes to avoid disagreement, or flatly refuses to acknowledge that
problem exists. If the conflict situation is dire, and it is ignored or brushed aside, it can become a
latent conflict (Deutsch, Coleman, & Marcus, 2006, p. 723) and fester in the background. If the
conflict is a minor, or a transient confusion, avoidance can be advantageous (Lewicki, Barry, &
Saunders, 2011, p. 23).
Accommodation—When self-concern is low and concern for the other is high, one tends to
yield or accommodate. The accommodating party relinquishes control and does whatever is
needed to appease the other. This quenches conflicts in the short-term, but leads to blatant
imbalances of power, and can degrade a relationship over longer epochs (Lewicki, Barry, &
Saunders, 2011, p. 23).
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 22
Competition—When self-concern is high and concern for the other is low, one tend to dominate
or compete. This orientation moves to a “win or lose” predicament for all involve (Lewicki,
Barry, & Saunders, 2011, p. 23).
Compromise—When self-concern is intermediate and concern for the other is intermediate, one
tends to compromise. The parties work together to find a compromise solution acceptable to both
sides. Compromise enhances the relationship and encourages a positive approach (Lewicki,
Barry, & Saunders, 2011, p. 24).
Collaborate— When self-concern is high and concern for the other is also high, one tends to
collaborate. Then, it is possible to find a “win-win” solution. When defenses are laid down, and
both sides of a conflict are empathic yet assertive, innovation and creativity flood in to facilitate
new ways to solve problems (Lewicki, Barry, & Saunders, 2011, p. 24).
s 1.8 Moving Forward with Data Collection and Analysis
We shall use the background information, our conflict map, and our literature review to help us
formulate the questions in which we will ask our group to better understand the phenomenon of
how Millennials stay engaged at work, or conversely, what makes Millennials want to leave their
company and seek a new challenge.
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 23
Chapter 2 – Data
7 2.1 Methodology
In this qualitative investigation into the interaction between the Millennials and corporate bodies
that employ them, we have chosen to use the methodology known as phenomenology.
Phenomenological research describes the lived experiences of one or more persons; it explores
what a concept or phenomenon means to a person, how it affects them as they live their lives.
Similar to other forms of qualitative research, this method tries to expose the depth of experience
lived, and is in contrast to routine quantitative research, which purports to reveal general
patterns, from a seemingly objective standpoint, through the analysis of numerical data
(Creswell, 2007, p. 59). In order to get to the heart of the matter, affecting sentient human
beings, phenomenology insists that the researcher must try to get to the essence of what they
experience. This research requires interviews to be done with people who have experienced a
shared phenomenon, such as having survived the atomic destruction of Hiroshima, or having
given birth to twins. In phenomenological investigations, the participants are surveyed,
interviewed, and their responses are coded; then the investigator looks for common themes. In
those themes the investigator starts to develop an understanding of what they experienced and
the how they experienced it.
In phenomenological research there are two different approaches, hermeneutical and
transcendental. The term hermeneutics, in philosophy, is the art and theory of interpreting
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 24
linguistic and non-linguistic entities. The hermeneutical approach emphasizes examining through
the lens of the researcher’s interpretations, the lived experiences of the participants. The
transcendental approach focuses less on the interpretations and more on the actual lived
experiences (Creswell, 2007, p. 57). Our study will veer towards transcendental methodology;
we shall do that by sending out a survey questionnaire to a rather large group, of about 80
persons, and then evaluating a subset of these individuals in more detail by engaging them in an
in-depth interview. The interviewees will almost self-select themselves by being willing to be
interviewed, and by being reachable at convenient times. The transcripts will be coded and
searched for recurrent themes.
8 2.2 Data Collection
An electronic survey was sent out, via email and social media, which possibly reached hundreds
of persons. There were approximately one hundred responses and 80 persons, who between the
ages of 18 to 34 years, were selected. The survey was left open for 3 weeks. A subset of 12
persons was chosen for detailed, in-depth interviews, which were conducted by telephone, over
the period of a week, after all the survey responses were in.
2.2.1 Sample
A sample of 9 women and 3 men participated in this phenomenological study. Participants were
chosen to be between 18 and 34 years old who had had working experience.
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# Names Age Gender Sector Type of employment 1 Jamie S 26 Female Private Strategy 2 Ken K 29 Male Private Project Management 3 Bridget K 32 Female Private Media Planning 5 Kaitlin K 25 Female Private Strategy 6 Courtney S 29 Female Private Stylist 7 Kelley K 30 Female Non-‐Profit Office Management 8 Jaclyn T 25 Female Private Human Resources 9 Jenna B 32 Female Private Retail 10 Niki M 32 Female Private Finance 11 Mike M 27 Male Private Technology 12 T.J. S 27 Male Private Administration
2.2.2 Procedure
The interviews used a semi-structured format, which consisted of 7 questions. Each interview
took 15 to 25 minutes, and the information was recorded by hand. The interview began by
eliciting demographic information such as name, age, sector, and type of employment. Than the
following questions were posed:
1. What is the average amount of time you plan to stay at each job? What drives that number?
2. What factors most influence your decision to accept a job and why?
3. What would make you stay at a job? Why?
4. When negotiating a new job offer what factors will you be flexible with and why?
5. Did you have to make compromises when accepting your current job? If so, what were they?
6. What are the factors that make you want to leave a company you worked for and why?
7. Is their anything I did not cover that you want to speak about in relation to employment?
The questions asked in the phone interviews paralleled those that were posed in the electronic
survey, which had prepopulated answers, with the respondents having to answer in a multiple-
choice format, or ranking their preferences. The web-based program called Qualtrics was used
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 26
and made answering the survey pleasant and easy, although some felt that the survey was overly
long. The responses are presented below.
2.2.3 Electronic Survey Data
1. What is the average amount of time you plan to stay at each company you work for?
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 27
2. Which of the following factors most influenced your decision to accept your current job?
3. Please rank what would make you want to stay at a job?
4. When you are going to negotiate a new job offer, about which aspects will you be more flexible?
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 28
5. Did you have to make any of the following compromises when you accepted your most recent job?
6. Please rank what would make you want to leave a company you worked for? Indicate the statements that apply
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 29
6 2.3 Data Analysis
To understand the common themes that emerged from the data, a method was used which was
introduced by Mousakas and Stevic-Colaizzi-Kenn, and later modified by John Creswell (2007,
p.59).
2.3.1 Procedure
Step 1: Clarifying my connection or lack of connection to the experience being investigated.
Step 2: Reviewing interview notes, highlighting the statements that stood out from the
background noise, to compel insight into how the participants experienced the phenomenon. This
is referred to as horizontalization (Creswell, 2007, p. 61). If significant statements were
discovered, across participants, they were grouped into common themes and regarded as clusters
of meaning.
Step 3: The themes and clusters of meaning that emerged were written out as descriptions of
what participants experienced. This is known as textural descriptions (Creswell, 2007, p. 60). In
addition, data collected were used to write out imaginative variations or structural description;
this specifically illustrated how the context of the setting influenced the participant’s experience.
2.3.2 Personal Experience
I was born in 1980, which is on the cusp of when the millennial generation started. As a child in
the 1980s and early 1990s, I clearly remember the long slow days of summer when we arranged
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 30
a complex obstacle course in our backyard, and gathered competitors to run over its intricacies
and dangers. Suddenly, around 1995, all of these outdoor actives came to a halt, with the birth of
something called America Online. This computer program was the precursor of the Internet and
the World Wide Web. It assigned you a user name, gave you the ability to view websites and
chat with other users, and to send and receive email. Summers were never again the same.
Learning to handle this astonishing advance in technology set me apart in my home. I was, for
years, the person who “understood the Internet.” It is why I consider myself a Millennial.
Currently, I am an HR Manager supporting a group working on web products and technology.
The group is comprised of everyone from software developers to social media experts. When
recruiting for open positions, I am constantly outlying individuals, who are computer literate, and
who regard the Internet as their backyard, or playground. Most of the persons who meet my
requirements, and who I pass on to the hiring managers, are Millennials. While I investigate this
brave new generation, and ponder how best to retain them in the workforce, I have to resolutely
keep in mind that I have a decided bias towards Millennials, owing to my age, and my
professional focus.
2.3.3 Interview Insights
Length of stay in a job—Here emerged a recurrent theme. Many persons asserted they had not
wanted to leave their previous jobs, but had left because they had become bored. They had been
competent, and had mastered their workload within weeks or months. Previous generations
would have then decided that the hard work had been done, and now was the time to coast for
several years, earning incremental promotions and putting away some money and paying off the
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 31
mortgage (Haworth , 2013). The Millennials, however, at this stage, seem to feel that there were
no more worlds to conquer. That made them restless. Even those who had wanted to stay on had
decided that it would reflect poorly upon them if they stayed—they had bought into the world-
view of their cohort that staying at a job longer than 2 years meant that you were a loser.
“I would rather stay in my current job for as long as possible, but the reality is I am most likely
going to leave this job in the summer, because they will not give me enough time off to go
backpacking in Europe” - Kaitlin K
“I am hoping to stay for 5 years, because I want to be able to get to know everyone and make an
impact, but I am not sure that is possible since I already feel like I have mastered my job; I can
do everything that they want me to do, and it is starting to feel monotonous.” – Jenna B
“I am pretty sure that I won’t be able to stay at any one company for more then 3 years, even
thought I am in my fourth year for my current job. I am just waiting to complete a large scale
project, and then I am going to resign. Once you feel like you have mastered the larger part of
your job, you start to feel stagnant, and no one wants to feel that way.” - Mike M
“So I have been at my current firm for 3 years, and while I myself want to stay, all my friends
are telling me I should leave, because if I stay on, I won’t look like a go getter. I will look
complacent and not serious about my work and career; no one wants to hire someone who isn’t
on top, or in front of the next thing when it comes to fashion.” - Courtney S
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In the online survey, 51% of millennial participants said they would like to work 3 or more years
at a company. Collectively, both the survey and the interviews revealed that, given the right
circumstances, Millennials would be interested in staying at their jobs for much longer than they
did currently. Enticing them into staying longer would require a company to provide them ever
evolving challenges, so that there was always some new skill to learn and master. The company
would have to construct an ever-ascending stairway to Millennial Heaven!
Decisions behind accepting a job—There was a common theme in their answers. They were
seeking an opportunity for growth. This was repeated several times, and in various ways, by
most of the participants. And in every single instance, when it was mentioned, it was stated
directly and abruptly, as if it were truly a part of that person’s identity. People, secondarily,
spoke about the importance of company culture. They wanted to feel good when they entered
their place of work; they wanted an environment that motivated them to succeed.
“What is really important for me is opportunity for growth. I am afraid to hit walls, or be under
poor management that will suppress me. I try and figure out if it’s likely that I will get promoted
quickly—without directly talking about promotion in the interview. I think talking about
promotion turns people off.” - Kaitlin K
“Opportunity for growth is the most important factor. I want to know what am I going to get out
of this place in the next couple years. I also look to see if the company itself is growing, which
will allow for internal growth, I don’t want to get stuck at a place without movement.” – Niki M
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“The culture of the place may make me want to stay. If I am having fun, and I like the people
around me, it’s hard to think about leaving. Sometimes I think that staying on could actually
hinder my career, and hold me back. I have to be more aware of my career, I guess.”- Kelley K
“I want the ability to grow and try new things even if they are outside of my job title or my
department. If I am not learning new things, I tend to get bored, and once that happens, I hate
going to work. When I get into that mood it’s hard to stay motivated.” - Jamie S
The electronic survey confirmed what the interviews revealed. The most common answer given
was opportunity for growth, second to salary, and being given the right role with in the
organization. During my interview my participants told me they believed that even if they started
on slightly inadequate salaries, they felt that could change that, by proving their worth and
productivity, to their employers. Many said that having the right role would help them to
succeed, and they would then surely be given more responsibilities, with an increased salary.
While people spoke about salary in the interviews, it seemed to be a secondary concern, and
additionally, in the electronic survey, it came in as a secondary consideration. People wanted to
be paid appropriately, at the prevailing scales, but they were far more eager for the chance to get
into desired organizations, where salary growth would come from hard work and dedication.
What was likely to keep them in their jobs?—Here, two themes emerged. Some were sad to
think about leaving a job, while others were desperate for new adventure. This question triggered
a range of answers. People spoke about their attachment to their firm’s work, and to their co-
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workers. They liked the fact that they were allowed to apply their ability, to be creative and
innovative. They also spoke about whether their job fit into their life.
“Part of wanting to stay is that I am comfortable, I know everyone’s first name, and people high-
five me when I walk in the door. The people are actually all really interesting.” – Ken K
“I need to be challenged, and I need my personal life. When I am working on something I am
completely and utterly in the zone. However, I need to have time to maintain a life. If I work all
night, don’t expect me in the office, next day, at 9 AM, that’s just taking advantage.” – Kaitlin K
“If I care about what my company is trying to accomplish, I want to stay, I want to be part of that
journey. I want to work in places that I believe in, places that have a positive impact on the
world, and that is why I took my job.” Jamie S
“If I like the people and I am getting exciting projects, it motivates me to stay on!” – Kelley K
“If my work is making an impact, if my ideas are incorporated into what we are doing, and if I
am getting paid to do that, I am pretty likely to stay” – Niki M
“ I am really protective over my personal time, so that is a big driver for me. This might sound
strange, but I look at what I am making per hour, considering all the unpaid overtime. If a job
requires me to work 60 hours a week, I look at my salary very differently then if it requires me to
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 35
work 40 hours. I work to live, and I have other hobbies and side projects, at some point it doesn’t
make sense to keep a job because your per-hour rate is so low.” – Mike M
In the survey, people most often chose the work/life balance as their first priority, and their
second choice was usually upward mobility/decision making. This was also echoed in the words
from the interviews conducted. People spoke at length about their reluctance to leave because the
environment had become familiar.
Flexibility in negotiating a new job offer—People had trouble coming up with answers, about
their flexibility. They usually recalled how they had been flexible in the past, and stated those
reasons. The themes were mostly about flexibility around benefits, which was probably an
artifact of their youth, since they did not use their health benefits frequently, and had not
seriously contemplated retirement. They also said they would be flexible around salary, up to a
point. People often excused themselves for admitting that they would be flexible. There seemed
to feel pangs of guilt, as if they were doing something out of line by being flexible. When
pursued further, they indicated that they had been told all their lives to stand up for themselves
and to not compromise. Millennials mentioned they felt pressure from their peer group, and from
their parents, to hold out for larger salaries. To not do so was to be a pushover.
“I would say benefits, not because I don’t value benefits but because I am pretty healthy and I
don’t really use my benefits so they are not super important right now. When I have a family, I
am sure that will change” – T.J. S
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“I don’t want to sound naive but I would say salary. While I have a certain idea of what I want, I
don’t have a magic number; it’s really about the opportunity for growth. I want to get my foot in
the door of a great company, and the salary will work itself out as I am promoted.” – Jaclyn T
“I want a good salary, but looking back, I have had to compromise on my salary for every job I
have ever taken.” – Jenna B
“I would say benefits and maybe overall compensation. I might want to reach a certain range of
pay, but I don’t really care how I get to that area because pay is more like security for me. If I get
less salary, but they have a 401k match, I take that into consideration.” - Kaitlin K
“I would have to say salary. I really want a good working environment and a job I love. I know I
am going to do a good job, and the salary will increase, so I don’t worry about that too much in
the beginning.” – Ken K
It was clear from the survey that people are not going to press the issue of career progression
when faced with a new job offer. It was uncouth to discuss matters such as promotions, when
finalizing a job offer. Interviewees were also eager for jobs that took them to other countries, but
they would be flexible around international opportunities within the prospective company.
Compromises that they needed to make in accepting their current job—This question
slightly flummoxed most interviewees, since they had answered this question in attempting to
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 37
answer the previous question. However, it was important to understand how they had come to
their decisions, the tricky situation of where they had had to accept a job, or keep on looking.
“I had to accept less vacation days. My last job had unlimited which was great, but this firm only
had 2 weeks. However, I just had a child, and they said they would let me work from home, so I
felt it better fit my lifestyle. Before having a child, that would not have swayed me” – Bridget K
“My commute is really long now, and I also have less vacation days. At the time I thought this
would help me get into the area I wanted to work, I am hoping that my next job has a better
vacation policy and I will make sure my commute is never this long again.” – Kaitlin K
“I had to take a lower salary than I wanted, but I am hoping to get promoted.” – Kelley K
“I had to take less salary than I wanted, while it was still more than I was making, it was not
close to what I wanted. However, I was ready to make a move, so I just took it.” – Jaclyn T
“I used to freelance, when I accepted a full-time job, I had to give up a ton of flexibility in my
schedule. I used to be able to travel a lot, and my vacation is only 3 weeks a year now, so that
impacted my lifestyle.” – Courtney S
“I had a lot more flexibility in my schedule before I took this job. My last manager cared more
about the work, and less about the face-time or hours in the office. I also didn’t get the exact
salary I was hoping for. It was still a good salary, but it wasn’t what I wanted.” – Ken K
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The survey closely reflected the opinions heard in the interviews. The top 3 compromises that
people had to make were i) work outside of the hours they were expecting, ii) they had found
advancement limited, and iii) they took a lower salary than desired. Millennials seemed to be
more accustomed to meeting project deadlines, and much less so in participating in the ebb and
flow of work in an office. They got bored without the right type of work, and overwhelmed when
the work required long hours. It seemed unfair to be required to be at the office when they had
met their deadlines. Why could they not go and backpack in Nepal, or climb the Half-Dome?
Factors that would make them leave a company—Here, many persons spoke about being
bored, unchallenged, or unmotivated. Some people mentioned that it was difficult to get a
significant salary increase if they stayed on at the same job, but that seemed to be a secondary
concern. When millennial interviewees spoke about leaving a company, they seemed to take it
very seriously. It was not something they wanted to do—it was more something they had to do,
in order to advance, not stagnate, and be judged a loser.
“When I hit a wall, when I feel stale, and when I feel like my skills are degrading” – Jenna B
“When growth is not in sight, when no one is talking about a career plan, or when my project
work becomes boring.” – Jaclyn T
“When I feel bored, when I start to lack passion for my job. If I have a lack of respect for the
management, or when it starts to feel like too much of a routine.” – Jamie S
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“When my hours worked start to creep over that fine line and really interfere with my personal
life. I don’t mind helping when needed, but I want a work/life balance.” – Mike M
“When the management is poor, it affect the culture—then it is impossible to stay.” – Niki M
“When you feel like a hired hand, when you are bored, and you are just trying to get everything
done, so you can leave the building. At that point I start to look for other jobs.” – Ken K
“When I want a larger challenge, or I want more salary, and I know that I wont be able to get it at
my current place, I am pretty much faced with the reality that I need to leave.” – Kaitlin K
People were leaving a company because, firstly, they wanted to experience more growth, and
secondly because they wanted more money. When the Millennials were asked about what was
behind this idea of growth, invariably they would go off in one of two disparate directions. Some
saw growth through the lens of achievement; they need the right title and enhanced standing, and
had to feel the momentum of progression, which they could then report to the world via their
social media outlets. Others thought of growth as doing something intellectually challenging, and
wanted to keep expanding their skillset, lest they became the dull chisel in the toolkit. When
they had mastered something, they felt compelled to move on to new challenges. Both of types
felt that increased salary would follow from growth, almost as if it were a law of nature.
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D 2.4 Data Interpretation
From both the interviews and electronic survey data, a picture emerges as to what is likely to
motivate Millennials to stay with an organization.
2.4.1 Common Themes
Push and the pull of the right amount and type of work is something important to the millennial
generation. The workload balance seems critical. Millennials spoke about being overworked,
and under-challenged. When at least a good part of the task was mastered, they wanted to give
the task to someone else, as they were moved on to undertake additional and greater
responsibilities. They perceived doing work as akin to being in school; they wanted to graduate
from doing one thing, to doing the next thing. If the organization were set up to allow this to
happen, at the proper rate, they would be happy in their quest for continual evolution, and stay. If
the work was overwhelming in terms of time demanded, the Millennials felt like they were
sacrificing their personal time, and judged that it was time to look for a new position. Millennials
hold time spent with family and friends, as sacred. While they do not mind working late on
occasion to finish something critical, they do not want work to dominate their existence.
That new opportunities should arise at work is a notion that permeates the worldview of the
Millennial. New opportunity can be learning a new skill, or it can be the taking on a more
important role at work. This is a target phrase that they frequently repeated. They felt
opportunities would arise from handling project work, which would make them more visible;
projects were the way out of fixed routines, and means of growing their skillsets.
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Company culture is very important to Millennials. They said they would only accept
positions in companies that reflected their values. Endorsing healthy living, they would not want
to work in the tobacco industry, or even in companies that manufactured processed packaged
food. If they were obsessed with the elegance of the Apple operating system, they would be
uncomfortable working for Microsoft, even if they had the requisite skillset. They wanted to
work with a team of others who had advanced skills—to prove themselves and be promoted to
more interesting positions. In addition, they want to be sure they had time away from the office,
since their lives were full of hobbies, vacations, travel, and activities with friends.
2.4.2 Theoretical Underpinnings
When reflecting on the results of the survey through the lens of McClelland's Needs Theory, it is
clear that millennial cohort exhibits a high need for affiliation, with a secondary need for
achievement. In McClelland’s research he explains that our needs drive our motivations. Those
with a high need for affiliation desire relationship based cooperation, mutual understanding and
appreciation (Raven, 2008). People, who are motivated by the need for achievement, have an
urge to excel against the standards already set forth, and struggle to obtain success. There is a
third category, and it is persons who have a need for power, who want to influence the behavior
of others, and who, by exhibiting control over others, better control outcomes. Millennials, in
general, seem to exhibit very little of this need for power.
People with a high need for affiliation, because they want to be liked, can give up their
objectivity and their decision-making power—which, in turn, can make for poor leadership.
Whereas people who have a desire for power, are often quick to make decisions and influence
and mobilize a workforce towards a common goal. As Millennials move into leadership
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positions, they may find it difficult to manage groups of people who have diverse and different
ideas on what needs to be done. This could inhibit their success in a hierarchical structure, such
as within a traditional corporation (Raven, 2008).
Secondary to the need for affiliation, some of the Millennials have a high need for achievement.
They were driven to reach new levels in their organization, simply to tick off those boxes, and
they hoped to find that their salaries grew with their responsibilities. Individuals who fit the
achievement model are more likely to be overachieving and overbearing (Raven, 2008). These
types of people often prefer to work alone. An individual's location within McClelland's
groupings is not set in stone—it can change with experience and with training (Harrell & Stahl,
1981).
Using the framework of the dual concern framework, the data gathered from interviews reveals
that that Millennials have a high degree of concern for themselves, and rather high degrees of
concern for their coworkers, which will make it very easy for them to compromise and even
collaborate on projects, but they seem to be inhibited in discussing their concerns with their
managers and senior coworkers. When they felt that they were hitting a wall, or when they came
to the end of a project, rather than expressing concerns about their future to those who could help
trouble shoot the problem, they simply started to look for other jobs.
Millennials did not negotiate as much within the workplace, as they did outside the workplace.
They said that they tried to adhere to policies and procedures in the workplace, but when they
became frustrated, they simply left. One woman interviewed had left because she was unhappy
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 43
with her work schedule. She had had a child, and wanted to stay at home on Fridays, but had not
imagined that she could ask to work from home. No one else did, she reported. Millennials are
uncomfortable negotiating in the workplace, unless the culture is exceedingly open and flexible.
This is congruent with Morton Deutsch’s Crude Law, which states that open, friendly, and
cooperative approach will breed mutual gains (Johnson & Johnson, 2005). The Millennials in an
open, friendly, and cooperatively oriented company culture may negotiate changes, and stay,
rather than abruptly leave for another job.
N 2.5 Bridge to Intervention Strategies
It is apparent that that Millennials actually wanted to stay employed with organizations as long
as they did not feel bored, stifled, or unrewarded. This is critical information, as businesses try to
retain millennial talent, and attempt to train them to take leadership positions. In order to address
this concern business will need to take a look at changing their cultures to engage Millennials
and train them into being the type of leaders that can thrive in a fast-paced and rapidly changing
technological world. By better understanding that both businesses and Millennials want to foster
long-term employment, collaborative efforts can be made to obtain the desired outcome.
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Chapter 3 – Resolution Strategies
9 3.1 Resolution Strategies
From background reading and long immersion in the corporate world, three important needs can
be identified that impinge on the troubled relationship between Millennials and the corporate
structures in which they work. It is imperative to reduce excess employee turnover in business,
since the loss of a trained employees has attendant losses, since i) specialized knowledge and
productivity are lost, ii) there are delays while recruitment fills the position, and the new person
has to be trained in both technical matters and in the company’s culture and business philosophy
(Tziner & Birati, 1996), and iii) departing persons can create leadership gaps, since seldom are
there persons in line to fill the empty positions. All this adds to the cost of doing business.
3.1.1 Business must retain knowledge and minimize productivity loss.
When an employee leaves an organization, a disturbance that ripples through the organization
(Tziner & Birati, 1996). The impact can vary. It can be small, as when a customer service
representative, at a call-center, leaves. Such a person deals with isolated issues, one call at a
time, and is generally tasked with giving out scripted replies. It is easy to swiftly hire and retrain
a replacement. The impact can be very great if a specialist leaves, such as a server-side
programmer, who has coded most of the company’s inventory database, and who has not
adequately commented the code developed. Uncommented code, or the use of an obscure variant
of the coding language, can render the departure of the programmer catastrophic, even
threatening the viability of the corporation. It will be time consuming and costly to find a
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 45
replacement, to continue with the updating and maintaining of something that is obscure, full of
idiosyncratic algorithms, and which is inadequately documented.
Traditionally, the human resources department has been entrusted the responsibility of dealing
with employee turnover, and they have dealt with it by recruiting new employees, or by training
existing employees to assume the vacated roles. The workload of the departed is redistributed
amongst existing employees, while HR searches for a suitable replacement. When this is not
possible because of a skill-gap, or inordinate time pressure, businesses will bring in a consultant
to do the work, even if that involves paying a premium. There are always additional costs and
delays, since even expert consultants will still require some form of training to acclimatize them,
even temporarily, to the company work style.
While a firm may have basic guidelines published that address the processes and procedures
around a task, in many firms the guidelines are rudimentary and have to be fleshed out with the
informal knowledge shared by workers who are assigned to the task. In the IT end of the
business, this informal knowledge is jokingly called the “Oral Tradition”. There are, indeed,
firms that have little documentation, and all of the working knowledge is acquired from learning
on the job, from others (Meister & Jeanne C, 2010, p. 157). It is then impossible for new
employees to be quickly trained, since they will need to meet and interact with various people in
the company before they have a good understanding of workflows and dependencies. A
byproduct of working off an informal undocumented system is that part of the presumably steep
learning curve encountered by the new employee will inevitably involve a number of failed
attempts. Failure is expected as one learns, but if it occurs around what should be straightforward
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 46
matters, owing to improper documentation and lack of printed guidelines, it can rapidly degrade
the motivation and confidence of a new employee (Espinoza, Ukleja, & Rusch, 2010, p. 134). If
a single department has several persons leave at the same time, there can be extensive confusion
unless precise and detailed guidelines are not already in place. If, as is not uncommon, the
guidelines and procedures are present only in the brains of the employees, it may become
impossible to try to teach the new hires vital aspects of the existing processes. The firm will have
to rebuild all of its processes and procedures after they put a new staff in place. This can be
detrimental to the organization, since mistakes will arise, and if not immediately caught, will
begin to hinder and annoy customers and clients. It is time consuming, which makes it costly.
In the past, voluntary turnover, while it happened from time to time, was not a systematic
problem for most firms, as employees generally stayed at one company for most of their careers.
There were always people within the company who could train the new employees. This has
changed, with Millennials in the workforce tending to leave a business before completing 2 years
of service (Schawbel, 2011). Since the Millennial cohort is slowly saturating the workforce,
business have to develop strategies and tactics by which keep them employed, or face the
disruptive ripple effects of their frequent departures.
3.1.2 Intervention via The Employee Engagement Process
Having employees who want to stay with a company and train other employees, speaks directly
to employee engagement (Pink, 2009, p. 8). Moreover, the survey and interviews have revealed
that employees seldom want to leave jobs.
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 47
Increased employee engagement is the goal of an improving method called The Employee
Engagement Process, which uses the McCormick Employee Engagement Inventory (MEEI)—a
7-point scale that links the areas of investigation with the desired state of the individual. This
process aims to shift a traditional management culture to a more collaborative and team oriented
culture (Holman, Davane, & Cady, 2007, p. 508).
Scale Desired State
Communications ßà Feels informed
Customer Relationships ßà Sense of customer ownership
Job/Role ßà Role clarity and confidence
How I do my job ßà Personal imitative
Goals and outcomes ßà Goal Confidence
Work Climate ßà Open and trusting culture
Leadership ßà A “leader-full” organization
This process is distinct from traditional surveys seeking to better understand employees’ points
of view, in that it does so by shifting the process to make the employees the focal drivers of
change. It is a process that is transparent, collaborative, employee driven, and action oriented.
This process takes survey results, and has groups (employees and managers) do planning around
steps to changing the way they work. It highlights that there is no “them” who are going to
change the atmospherics of the workplace, and promotes the argument that the needed changes
have to come from within the system itself (Holman, Davane, & Cady, 2007, p. 509).
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 48
This intervention starts conversations between people who may not ordinarily have met in any
other way—by opening up a forum that is blind to department, rank, and function. Millennials
are inordinately curious, and are very interested in understanding how the organization functions,
what the various departments are doing, and how they can expand their involvement into diverse
areas as they develop new skills. The Employee Engagement Process allows them a view from
high above, and helps them to make those connections necessary for new opportunities. One
danger is that this type of meeting can be taken over by employees with negative attitudes,
potentially poisoning highly functioning departments or cohorts. Another drawback is that
properly implementing this form of intervention can be costly.
3.1.3 Business must minimize recruitment and training costs.
Voluntary turnover has a negative impact on employee morale, productivity, and company
revenue. Studies estimate that losing a salaried employee can cost as much as 1.5 to 3 times their
annual salary, particularly for a high-earner, a specialist, or an executive level employee
(Schawbel, 2011).
Hiring a new employee has diverse costs, and organizations have to recognize and evaluate all of
these costs. First, there are advertising costs, or the outside recruiter fee. Second, time has to be
spent identifying resumes that look promising, and choosing a subset of applicants for interviews
(Tziner & Birati, 1996). Calling candidates in for interviews is a cumbersome and thankless task.
Third, hours of screening by the human resources management team will be needed for a
preliminary assessment, followed by the best candidates being sent to the hiring manager. Since
organizations are trying to be cross-functional and collaborative, managers in associated
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 49
departments have to meet the candidates, and chip in with their comments and evaluations. The
candidates themselves are encouraged to talk to this extended set of persons, and to self-assess
whether they are going to fit in with the company culture (Meister & Jeanne C, 2010, p. 95).
Clearly, the hiring process demands the expenditure of time and resources.
Candidates who have been selected, and have accepted the job-offer, need to be on-boarded.
They need to be told about the details of their benefits, setup with equipment, and training.
Meetings will then get them introduced into the working environment. This often requires them
to shadow their manager extensively. While they are in training they are simultaneously making
others less productive, since training the new hires takes these others away from their normal
duties. The difficulties encountered by the new employees have to be assuaged, and their
managers have to systematically, and patiently answer all their questions (Rock, 2009, p. 47).
3.1.4 Sundry Costs of Employee Turnover
The lemming-effect—Several factors that argue strongly in favor of retaining employees. In a
unit that is experiencing high turnover, other employees often reason that they should also
simply leave.
Customized Computer systems—The workforces of today use a variety of different computer
based systems that can work out of the box, or can be customized or configured. Workplaces
with customized or configured software solutions often need to invest a great deal in training
employees to best use the systems. Training is imperative for anyone using these customized
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 50
software solutions, and there is no way to recoup that investment in time and money, when a
person leaves (Tziner & Birati, 1996).
Informal Networks—Long-term employees have built up extensive networks throughout the
organization, and have themselves become skillful at troubleshooting diverse problems. They
help persons within their informal networks, and when faced with intractable difficulties, know
whom to approach for help. These employees also know the unspoken norms of the organization
and are less likely to make costly mistakes (Tziner & Birati, 1996).
Millennials avow that they want to work in workplaces that have an open environment, and
typically such workplaces encourage employees to speak up, so questions can be answered
quickly and the learning curves can be shortened or even eliminated. It has been found that
Millennials are often quick to recommend family and friends for open positions that are posted in
companies, and can be instrumental in helping to alert their social networks about open jobs
(Vitale, 2013). This can help reduce or eliminate recruitment costs, since Millennials who are
expert in certain specialized matters, such as server-side programing, often associate with like-
minded experts. Company culture is extremely important to Millennials, and if they like their
workplace, their mark of approval will encourage others like them to seek employment in that
company (Sujansky & Ferri-Reed, 2009, p. 37).
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 51
3.1.5 Intervention to enhance company culture using The World Café.
The adaptable method called The World Café seeks to foster conditions for the emergence of a
collective intelligence by engaging people in a dynamic strategic conversation around things that
matter to them, inside or outside of work (Holman, Davane, & Cady, 2007, p. 179).
At its heart, The World Café is a conversational process. It leads to a design session, in which all
of the designs collectively form the fabric of understanding, which ultimately emerges as the
collective intelligence of the group. In a World Café event, large groups are broken sub-groups
of 4 persons, seated at easels holding blank flip-charts. Each sub-group discusses a given topic,
and ideas are drawn onto a large sheet of paper. Each table is focused on a related topic, and the
participants rotate, so they can have conversations that add to the collective pictures that form
around a topic. The World Café facilitates conversations and cements collective ideas with visual
representations. The pictures drawn become a group work of thought, as they are built upon and
reinforced by team after team. An onlooker, standing back, can then get a clear view of what the
entire group feels about the topics that are being discussed. This method focuses on the idea that
real change comes from informal conversations. It is the intimacy of having small groups share
and question those around them, that provides a sense of momentum, only to be enhanced by the
final reveal, which captures the entire picture (Holman, Davane, & Cady, 2007, p. 180).
The World Café process fosters a sense of collaboration during the group work, and people start
to relate, and potentially make connections that will enable them to start feeling empowered, and
escape feeling stuck. World Café can be planned and setup quickly, but adequate time has to
allowed for the emergence and gelling of ideas, in the actual meeting, and therefore can prove
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 52
expensive. In a group that is highly participative, patient and open, it is a process that will
devolve into a memorable occasion of creative enjoyment and fun. If the group is comprised of
inflexible curmudgeons, who are unwilling to listen and are combative, the process can become
unproductive, and the intimacy of sharing can be lost. Sessions have to be attended by the senior
leadership, so participants know that they are being backed-up by senior managers, who are
taking the exercise seriously. The World Café appeals to Millennials, since it ensures that
multiple persons are heard, and that ideas become artifacts that can be reviewed again and again
(Holman, Davane, & Cady, 2007, p. 179).
3.1.6 Business must have a pipeline of talent to fill leadership gaps.
Businesses usually have a set succession plan for top leadership positions. When a leader leaves
the firm, or is promoted, they want to quickly backfill that pilotable spot with someone ready
familiar with the culture, the clients, and the employees. Bringing in someone from the outside
creates great advantages, but also great stresses as a leader’s actions are exceedingly visible, and
missteps of the leader can come at a great cost (Espinoza, Ukleja, & Rusch, 2010, p. 39).
In the modern business landscape, companies need continual great leadership to stay in front of
the ever-burgeoning waves of change. They need the expertise that the Millennials exhibit, in
working with advanced technologies, and in using the Internet and social media to spread brand
awareness, which endears the company to present and prospective customers. Millennials in
companies, doing specialty jobs, are ready to take the helm, but paradoxically, as a generation,
are largely untrained as managers (Tziner & Birati, 1996). When they are not being trained to
manage, they get bored, and seek new employment, hoping an outside firm will give them a role
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 53
with greater standing and decision making power (Espinoza, Ukleja, & Rusch, 2010, p. 24). The
survey and interviews showed that Millennials are eager to stay with companies that do provide
leadership training, companies that want to help them acquire skills of which they themselves
may be oblivious. To fill the leadership skill gap, companies need to focus on five key areas.
Teaching persons to lead others—great leaders are very self-aware; they know their strengths
and are acutely tuned-in to opportunities for development. They hire people who compliment
their skillsets, in order to build well-rounded and diverse teams. Millennials have often worked
in groups, and understand what it is to be a good teammate, but have not often had the hands-on
experience of leading a team, or of having to make unpopular decisions (Sujansky & Ferri-Reed,
2009, p. 149).
Engendering understanding of long-term strategic planning—long-term planning is a key
skill for executive leadership, and it demands the ability to look at all possible crises and
opportunities that could arise in a business, over an extended range of time. If a new product
results in a sudden, high demand, how is the company going to find the staff to manage the
demand? If business returns are dwindling, how can the organization be right-sized to return it to
profitability? If the business experiences an earthquake, what is the recovery plan and recovery
schedule? If an opportunity opens up in China, what are the steps that need be taken to enter that
country exploit the opening? Great leaders are proactive, and they continually think ahead.
Millennials are so used to instant feedback, that they are comfortable with reacting to new
information, but it is unclear whether they have the control and abandon needed to envisage and
prepare for a range of theoretical possibilities (Sujansky & Ferri-Reed, 2009, p. 104).
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 54
Inspiring commitment—managers give employees a clear vision of how they fit into the
company’s overall mission, complimenting them for productive behavior, and acting to reinforce
such behaviors publically, builds strong teams. Inspiring diverse people is all about using
different strokes for different folks. Some people want to be thanked in front of their peers at a
large gathering, while others are just happier with an email of thanks. Millennials are quick to
share credit, but sometimes can find it difficult to put the spotlight directly on someone else, as
they can often feel the need to be at the center of attention (Sujansky & Ferri-Reed, 2009, p. 78).
Managing through change—skilled leaders have to develop effective strategies for steering an
organization through a time of change. Managers generally need to be perceived as confident and
diligent in their attempts to navigate treacherous waters. This delicate balancing act may require
a stoicism that is beyond the reach of a new leader in the face of an unexpected calamity.
Millennials are very good at being reactive, but the reverse of that coin is that they can also be
highly emotional, and volatile. Emotional displays can exacerbate a situation that needs a steady
hand at the wheel, and a thousand-yard stare (Lipkin & Perrymore, 2009, p. 175).
Decisiveness—leaders need to make decisions quickly and efficiently, and everyone cannot be
pleased with the direction chosen. Leaders need to acquire the knack of making decisions,
acknowledging the critics, while engendering enthusiasm in the majority to accomplish a task as
a team. Their confidence has to sweep along those who are less than willing. They have to have
what the Army calls “command presence.” While it is difficult to accomplish an unpopular feat,
an inspirational leader can call his team together and still make it happen. Millennials have
grown up in an environment where their individuality has been encouraged, and are generally
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 55
willing to give others the room to argue, make their own decisions, and lead their own lives.
They give others freedom in order to support an environment in which they themselves are free
to act as they please, often on whim. Consequently, they are often indecisive when making
difficult decisions, and loathe to compel obedience. However, they have the saving grace of
being quick to react, and they are willing to back-track and change course, in order to a have a
chance of correcting a mistake (Sujansky & Ferri-Reed, 2009, p. 21).
3.1.7 Intervention through the adaptable method called Leadership Dojo
Millennials want to have upward mobility; they want to be trained and mentored for top
leadership spots in the organization, but many of their behaviors are not congruent with the
requirements of great leadership. They have to be self-aware enough to understand these skills
have to be acquired, and be willing to undertake the sustained activity of acquiring the skills,
until acting in the new mode becomes automatic and natural.
Leadership Dojo is leadership training based on the mind, body, and spirit. Differing from
leadership trainings that provide long lectures or presentations, this training is one that is
connected with bodily sensation. Similar to martial arts training, people actually do movements
together and even touch one another on the wrist to start a disruptive process that changes
attitudes. The idea behind the method is to get fully engaged in the change and not just have the
intellectual takeaways or notes. Getting up and moving with people, automatically starts building
trust and generating positive moods. This interactive training, allows people to become more
aware of what is important to them, and hopefully allows them to incorporate that into their
professional lives (Holman, Davane, & Cady, 2007, p. 240).
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 56
What can inhibit Leadership Dojo is a participant who is unable to move, or is too inhibited to
move freely, because of cultural or religious beliefs. This training, if approached positively, can
have lasting effects, because it engages the entire perceptual system, not just the rational mind. It
should be effective with the millennial cohort because they want to be emotionally involved, and
believe in the possibility of perceiving the gestalt of the project at hand.
C
3.2 Suggested Ideas
My specific focus of retaining Millennials in business was chosen because it is a real conflict
encountered in each of the jobs that I have had in US corporations. It has been possible to hire
Millennials to do specialist jobs, but they have not stayed for long, and the task of hiring
replacements has been onerous and expensive. After reading a great deal on Millennials,
reviewing my survey results and poring over the interview feedback, I have formulated strategies
that should be effective in the modern day workplace that is seeking to retain Millennial talent.
3.2.1 Upward and onward
In the survey and in interviews, Millennials said that new opportunities were the most critical
aspect to retaining them. Upward mobility is critical to them as they navigate the working world.
They need to feel a sense of achievement, when it comes to their career, and clearly, those
companies that create internally a culture that endorses and celebrates achievement will be more
likely to hold on to their Millennial. There are several ways in which to create such a culture.
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 57
Expanding the Hierarchy: Hierarchies that include more titles, ultimately produce smaller
steps to promotions. This could be used to distinguish teammates who are doing similar jobs, but
possess broader skills. If a regular hierarchy for an HR department included a HR coordinator,
HR Manager, and HR VP, this could be expanded so that each rank had several sub-ranks. For
example, the HR Coordinator’s rank could be broken up into an i) HR Coordinator – Paperwork
and Access, ii) HR Coordinator – Process and Improvements, and iii) HR Coordinator – People
and Culture.
Rotational Programs: Some businesses offer interns and entry-level persons rotation
opportunities. They are allowed to “sample” the work done in different parts of the company—
working with the legal department for six weeks, then working with finance, and then going on
to product management, etc. This rotation is invariably remembered as an exciting time of
learning and discovery—but such opportunities seldom come again. Millennials, a cohort of
persons who generally remain open and eager for new experiences, would welcome the
possibility of rotation being extended at other ranks. It would improve retention if Millennials
were allowed to take 3-month transfers to other departments. Not only would they begin to
understand the higher levels of organization within the company, but the excitement of learning
new things would prevent them becoming bored and jaded.
Career Coaches: It is very difficult to show vulnerability in a work setting, but Millennials are
generally less inhibited about showing emotion, than previous generations. Career coaching will
allow for a positive channeling of emotions and forestall vexation and sourness from setting in.
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 58
A cohort of internal or external coaches could help employees explore options available within
the company, and prevent them from impulsively leaving their jobs, and moving to other firms.
Clear Career Paths: Companies could, with modest reorganization, remove ambiguities, and
clear up career paths. Millennials need to know what comes next, the steps of the corporate
ladder. They can then visualize their ascent within the company, and will be more likely to
remain.
Promotion from within: If a business is investing in Millennials, it makes sense for them to
promote from within, when jobs become available. The company will have to work hard to erode
the folk belief that the only way to advance rapidly is to keep switching companies.
3.2.2 Campus Cubical
The survey and the interviews revealed that affiliation was a big part of job engagement for the
Millennials. They want to connect at work. Millennials want work to be modeled on school.
They want to keep learning, growing, and working collectively towards challenging goals. This
may be facilitated by making some specific changes within companies.
Life long learning: Classes for work related skills can be scheduled, open to all employees.
Examples of suitable courses are, basic HTML Coding, Photoshop, public speaking 101,
navigating difficult conversations, advanced Excel, and database management. Millennials want
to learn new things outside of their specific job-functions.
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 59
Office Hours: Managers should hold office hours for their staff, as professors do. They could
have an open-door policy prevail for specific times each week. People could just walk in,
without appointment or preparation—informal, flexible meetings on a first come, first serve
basis.
Socially Networked Workplace: Millennials want to stay connected to everything that is
happening in the company. They want the freedom to pop into a brainstorm outside of their
department, start a new volunteering club sponsored by the company, or create a dining club.
Corporate is also Social: Millennials take a holistic view when it comes to work-life
integration. They often handle office work when they are out of the office, and they want to
socialize when in the office. This could simply take the form of inviting inspiring speakers to
talk on business and other matters. The company could implement a “bring your parents” to
work day, so Millennials could show off their workplaces. In addition, themed social events
could stimulate creativity in employees who need to be nudged out of their habitual comfort
zones.
3.2.3 Don’t dictate—Negotiate and Win Together
Millennials reported that they were less likely to negotiate, unless it is overtly part of corporate
culture. Eschewing difficult conversations about what they need to do to be successful, they tend
to look for other jobs. Companies, from the outset, need to explicitly state that underlying all the
practices and norms is the principal that achieving mutual gains is paramount. Keeping this end
in mind, employees should feel liberated to try new approaches to help the company gain in
wealth and stature. Here are some changes in the corporate structure can facilitate this.
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 60
Gamification: This is the use of game-like approaches; it is applying game mechanics to non-
gaming aspects of life. By pulling company objectives into a game framework, the business
leaders could incentives employees to more eagerly participate in activities that help the
business. As in contests, computer algorithms and social networks can be used to keep track and
display scores. Employees could win points toward conferences, additional vacation days, or
luncheon appointments with the CEO.
Sabbaticals: A sabbatical is typically paid leave given to a college professor, for study or travel,
every 7 years. A long-term incentive to stay with one company could be a sabbatical program,
designed by the company, to help promote a boarder understanding of the industry. Employees
could earn sabbaticals after 7 years of service—and for about 6 months, pursue education or
travel, loosely related to the company’s mission.
Flexible Work-Life Integration: Owing to the ubiquity of smart phones, employees are
virtually on-call even outside traditional office hours. This can be exploited to allow employees
greater flexibility. Core hours in business can be reduced to what is needed for face-to-face
meetings, allowing assigned work to be done when convenient. Millennials want to get out of
work early, and go to the gym, have a drink or dinner. They could simply leave the office at
3pm, do their thing, and start working again at 9pm. As long as the work gets done, they can be
released from the drudgery of strictly fixed hours.
Shared Reward Power: Using a Gamification program put in place, employees can be given the
power to reward others with social recognition, such as gift cards for coffee, or nominations for
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 61
employee-of-the-month. By sharing the power to reward, Millennials can be made to feel
empowered, and it will help them navigate the working world. Additionally, it would be tool to
encourage working relationships between different generations, with complimentary skills.
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 62
Chapter 4 – Networking and Sustainability
.
4.1 Introduction
The Millennials joining the workforce are confident, well educated, and highly skilled in all
matters having to do with technology or social media. Skilled though they may be, companies
that employ them are not reaping the full benefits of having them on staff, since on average they
leave their jobs within 2 years (Schawbel, 2011). Having high voluntary turnover is detrimental
to companies, and consequently retaining Millennials, and grooming them for leadership
positions, has acquired some urgency.
The actors in the networks consist of Millennials, Non-Millennials, Human Resources managers,
the CEO, the Board of Directors, and the corporation. Improving retention, at first sight, may
appear to be simply a Human Resources problem—something having to do with the relationship
that exists between the HR Department and the Millennials. Such a narrow focus, however, does
not yield solutions; it is not comprehensive enough. In order to be successful, interventions have
to be broader in scope—only if everyone in the company works together can the culture change,
so that Millennials feel supported, and secure; only then will they be able to learn from the other
generations that have different strengths. By broadening their perspectives, it might be possible
to train the Millennials into leaders for a new age.
The interventions that suggests themselves are i) the Employee Engagement Process ii) The
World Café, and iii) Leadership Dojo (Holman, Davane, & Cady, 2007, p. 507). In the EEP the
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 63
company elicits feedback by survey, and then empowers a committee of employees to act on that
feedback by delivering recommendations for change, and then hopefully implementing some of
those recommendations. The World Café concretizes
the collective vision of the group, as it uses all the members to form a vision of where the
company is going. Leadership Dojo is a process that involves mind, body, and soul, and helps
promote an organic synthesis that reaches beyond verbal agreements, and seeks to find the sort of
agreement and unification that is found within a dance troupe, or a platoon of elite soldiers.
A strategy to facilitate sustainability would be to i) create more connectivity to brokers in the
network (Krebs & Holley, 2002-2006), ii) break down potential homophilies (Kilduff & Tsai,
2003) with elites who hold the social capital in a hierarchy and iii) identify only the salient social
and economical structures and redirect a multifaceted intervention by making sure that the
Millennials are not just dependent on Human Resources Management.
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 64
c
4.2 The Network
The conflict being studied is the workplace conflict between the entrenched practices that prevail
in traditional corporations and the expectations of the members of the Millennial generation.
Millennials have grown up in a world of instantaneous global communications, where intrinsic
knowledge and deftness with the new technologies confer status. They are rather careless with
the arbitrary designations of rank of persons who wield economic power. This variegated
Millennial'Employees
CEO
Board'of'Directors
Human' Resources'Management
Corporation
Autonomy'
Purpose'
Health'Benefits'
Perks
Technology
Visibility'
Mastery'
Collaboration
Creativity'
Employment'
Intervention
InterventionDirect+CommIndirect+CommMillennial+DesireCompany+LeversEconmic+Need
Primary'Actors
KEY
Secondary'Actors
Social'Fabric
Econmic'Factors
Tomorrow's' talent'clashes'with'today's'workplace:'#RetainingTheMillennials+
Upward'Mobility'
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 65
conflict, which prevails in virtually all business sectors in the United States and the Western
Democracies of Europe, has precipitated a situation in which employees leave organizations,
after a scant two years (Schawbel, 2011). It is a conflict between yesterday’s style of doing
business and, putatively, the style of tomorrow. To remedy this situation, it is imperative to
better understand the network structures and dynamics.
The structure depicted on the map comprises both social and economic structures that are used as
levers of engagement in the workplace. The social structures include: visibility, autonomy, perks,
upward mobility, mastery, purpose, collaboration, technology, and creativity. The economic
structures depicted include employment and health benefits. These structures are only as strong
as the dynamics that connect them. The dynamics coming from the Millennials are their desires
and their economical needs. The dynamics coming from the actors who embody the company,
are employee engagement levers and economical needs. To connect the actors there are direct
and indirect connecting dynamics, as well as an intervention connection. This intervention
connection symbolizes a possible intervention from Human Resources to the Millennial talent.
The structures and dynamics in this closed hierarchy show that Human Resources Management
(HRM) is the hub or the broker in this conflict map since they are heavily connected both up and
down the chain of employees. A broker is an actor with a high rate of connectivity in their
network (Krebs & Holley, 2002-2006). They often have the ability to bridge gaps, and further
connect different groups. The conflict map can also help identify the structural holes (Kilduff &
Tsai, 2003). A structural hole is an area on the network map that lacks connectivity to other
actors or structures (Kilduff & Tsai, 2003, p. 28). In this instance, the CEO, who will drive
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 66
change within the organization, is connected only to HR Management. The corporation actor,
representing the rest of the company’s employees, is largely unconnected to the Millennials.
These are two examples of structural holes (Kilduff & Tsai, 2003) that have to be addressed in
order to sustain change. Having a more heavily networked map, helps to break down homophily
groups (Kilduff & Tsai, 2003, p. 24). A homophily is a group of similar people with similar
thoughts connecting together, while this is not always a bad thing, it can inhibit change or growth
for an organization. This is particularly true in a scenario where generations clash in the
workplace, and close integration is critical to sustaining the change.
E
4.3 The Interventions and the Challenges to Sustainability
In Chapter 3, three different intervention strategies are contemplated: i) the Employee
Engagement Process ii) The World Café, and iii) Leadership Dojo (Holman, Davane, & Cady,
2007, p. 507). Each approach has its strengths and its drawbacks. After a discussion of the
factors that make changes sustainable in the hierarchical, closed system that constitutes a
traditional corporation, it will be possible to address the phenomenological basis of sustainability
of change. It will then be possible to evaluate thee strengths and weaknesses of each of the
suggested interventional styles.
4.3.1 Sustainability of Change in Traditional Corporations
Corporations are typically hierarchical systems, with a CEO reporting to the Board of Directors.
Under the CEO there will be an Executive Management Team, overseeing sub-teams, and
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 67
subornments, stretching downwards, through several layers, to individual employees. Most of the
communication is between immediate supervisors and immediate subordinates, which serve to
control the information flow. Because of the closed and hierarchical nature of the corporation,
any changes that may alleviate conflict must come from the top.
The philosophy of change needs to be set by the Board of Directors and the CEO, and it has to be
effectively communicated down through the levels of management, to the employees. This
critically requires an Executive Management team, working together with HR Management, to
shape the intervention strategy. They are the two formal channels that can modulate the unmet
needs of the Millennial employees. Another possible intervention point is the Non-Millennial
employees, who by their familiarity and assimilation into the corporate structure, can mold, if
only by osmosis, the attitudes of the Millennial employees, and prepare them for leadership
positions. People from other generations, have learned to be leaders and managers, and their
skills could be transferable to the Millennials, supplementing the deficiencies of the Millennial
worldview.
4.3.2 The phenomenological basis of sustainability of change
In the life of the organization, the CEO, with the attendant leadership team, has to be convinced
of the imperative need for change. Even if in the first flush of enthusiasm, precipitous changes
are implemented, and there is an initial improvement, without a continual impetus from upper
management, the progress will surely falter. It is those in command who drive shifts in corporate
culture. Even when the management is desperate for a shift of philosophy, they have to be
continually vigilant, encouraging, and willing to reward change, since most employees find it
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 68
hard to break ingrained habits. Without vigilance and support, the corporate culture will regress
toward the older style of working, which failed to retain the Millennials.
Changes affect individuals, and are sustainable only if the individuals affected perceive that it
confers on them specific benefits. The leadership team needs to be forcibly in ensuring that, i)
people continue to feel that the changes matter, ii) the changes are perceived to be fair, and iii)
there is sufficient positive feedback and active learning to help make the changed culture lasting
and stable.
4.3.3 Strengths and weaknesses of the suggested interventional styles
The Employee Engagement Process is an improving method. It will be successful if managers
are ready to allow the feedback process to become a change process. In the EEP the company
elicits feedback by survey, and then empowers a committee of employees to act on that
feedback. Management needs to have the appetite to let employees collectively form, and
formulate specific actions to be taken. EEP will be unsustainable, if with the passage of time, the
company stops listening, and the feedback falls on deaf ears. Starting the process and then
ignoring it can profoundly damage relationships between employees and managers. Shifting to a
more open and empowered company culture cannot happen overnight, and consequently, if the
company is not in it for the long haul, and if it is not ready for change, the interventions should
not even be started (Holman, Davane, & Cady, 2007, p. 507).
The World Café is process that integrates the collective viewpoint of the group, and cuts
through the limitations and obfuscations of our standard syntax by presenting a new vision
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 69
through means of drawings. For this method to be sustainable, upper management needs to allow
some control be redistributed to the employees. Moreover, the upper management should be
comprised of persons sensitive to visual esthetics, as Steve Jobs of Apple was reputed to be. This
modality of intervention would be unsustainable in a culture where spreadsheets reign supreme,
and drawings and other graphical entities are discounted and ridiculed. Changes produced by
using the World Café would also be difficult to sustain if the company suffered a massive
turnover, over a short timescale, since the collective knowledge of the previous members of the
group would become remote and irrelevant to the current members. New leaders may have
drastically changed the direction for the organization (Holman, Davane, & Cady, 2007, p. 179).
Leadership Dojo is a process that is said to involve mind, body, and soul. It goes way beyond
what is naïvely rational, and reaches out to scarcely imaginable human faculties. Since
Millennials are more accepting of such matters than virtually any previous generation, this is an
intervention modality that could be attempted in alleviating the mismatch between their
expectations and the current corporate reality. For success and sustainability, Leadership Dojo
has to organized and implemented by leaders who are fully in tune with its philosophy. It is not
for the ironic nor the cynical, and leaders need to have sufficient confidence in the philosophy to
impose a temporary suspension of disbelief. Participants have to be fully engaged in the
meetings, even to the extent that their other work is deprioritized. Leadership Dojo establishes
deep connections amongst participants, from the very outset, but usually these connections have
to persuasively reinforced by coaches, and even peer groups, as the moments of illumination and
understanding are often at variance with the day-to-day drudgery of the employees. Leadership
Dojo will be unsustainable in the face of cynicism of the upper management, who may not
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 70
recognize the imminent need for radical change engendered by this modality (Holman, Davane,
& Cady, 2007, p. 239).
p
4.4 Strategies for Sustainability
4.4.1 Strategies Revised Conflict Map
Strategies to sustainability would be to i) expand on the actors listed in the conflict map to create
more brokers (Krebs & Holley, 2002-2006) and break down potential homophilies with elites
who hold the social capital in a hierarchy, and ii) identify only the salient social and economical
Millennial'Employees
CEO
Board'of'Directors Human' Resources'Management
Corporation
Employment'
Intervention
InterventionDirect+CommIndirect+Comm
Millennial+DesireCompany+LeversEconmic+Need
Primary'Actors
KEY
Secondary'Actors
Social'Fabric
Econmic'Factors
Tomorrow's'talent'incorporates'into'today's'workplace:'#RetainingTheMillennials+
NonLMillennial'Employees
Executive'Managers
Intervention
InterventionUpward'Mobility
a)'Learningb)' Leadership'
Company'Culture
WorkLLife'Balance
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 71
structures to the change iii) redirect a multifaceted intervention by making sure that the
Millennials are connected to more than just HRM by changing the intervention dynamics.
Our revised conflict map includes, of course, all the old actors: CEO, the Board of Directors, HR
Management, Corporation, and Millennial Employees. The new additions are the Non-Millennial
Employees and the Executive Managers. The Non-Millennial Employees and the Executive
Managers have been added because they were indispensible to the change strategies needed, as
we needed to create more brokers to sustain the change (Krebs & Holley, 2002-2006). Executive
Managers are needed to push out the changes, and directly connecting them to Millennial
employees will help create buy-in to the change. This is particularly important as the Executive
Management holds a great deal of social capital. Social capital in this instance is the ability to
get things done in an organization because you know the right persons and you have the right
amount of power. Direct connections will break down the homophiles that exist with the
Executive Management and the Millennial employees. The fibers of connectivity throughout the
organization will help the change momentum, by various points of view culminating around
engaging the leaders of tomorrow.
Looking at the research data from both the interviews and the surveys, clearly, the most
important social structures are Company Culture, Upward Mobility, and Work-Life Balance.
These are imperative to engaging the Millennials who are looking for a vibrant culture that will
allow them a chance to grow, as they simultaneously manage a strenuous but exciting workload.
The economic structure that the Millennials reported as being most important to them was simply
having some form of employment. While Millennials appear to have more generous parents, than
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 72
did previous generations, they nevertheless want to be financially independent. This is especially
true of the older Millennials, who were starting families and have moved out of their parent’s
house. Narrowing down the structures allowed us to focus on what was important. It is futile to
expect success if interventions are limited to those that can be run by HR Management. The
culture, within a company, is shaped by diverse group of employees, and bringing all of them
into play is essential to enhancing engagement. Having the Millennials work directly with the
non-Millennials can help them learn leadership skills. Having Millennials work directly with the
Executive Management can help them with upward mobility. All the while, a concerned and
watchful HR Management team can make sure that the various processes are working, and
mishaps do not result in alienation of the valuable workers form the company’s mission.
In this conflict success or failure is easy to define. The principle problem encountered is short
duration of employment and the voluntary departure of millennial employees from corporate
jobs. Success is easily measured as prolongation of employment duration. This is an utterly
quantifiable datum.
4.4.3 Factors to be examined in evaluating sustainability of change
In order to see if a change is likely to be sustained we should look for i) direction, ii) energy, iii)
distributed leadership and iv) appropriate mobilization of resources (Holman, Davane, & Cady,
2007, p. 60).
Direction: The company has make sure that the direction is clear, and people understand both
the freedom and the boundaries in place so they can start behaving differently with confidence.
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 73
Some evidence that this is working would be if there is informal feedback that employees
believed in the in the change effort, or if new groups were observed to be seeking mutually
beneficial solutions and demonstrating flexibility in their collaborations (Holman, Davane, &
Cady, 2007, p. 60).
Energy: In an organization, this would focus on the drive that people have to advance the
change initiative. The evidence of this would be the observation of people working late on
matters that excite them, and if they start looking to improve their workflows and productivity,
through productive collaborations. When energy is high, there is a feeling of involvement at all
levels of the organization, and the sense that the company is brimful of new ideas (Holman,
Davane, & Cady, 2007, p. 60).
Distributed Leadership: Having ownership of one’s workload and making decisions happens at
all levels of a well run, and highly engaged company. This means that all persons feel
empowered to create solutions. Evidence of distributed leaderships will come in the form of
commitment to advancing the change process, and certain level of upward pushback when the
employees perceive that the management is about to make a mistake (Holman, Davane, & Cady,
2007, p. 60).
Appropriate Mobilization of Resources: When the right people are doing the right jobs in an
organization, people are productive, and therefore morale is high. Evidence of this would be that
when the internal or external heads of the change process move away, the momentum does not
stop. The change has then become self-sustaining. It also means that the focus of the change has
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 74
been communicated properly, and rationally highlights salient facts, issues, and beliefs (Holman,
Davane, & Cady, 2007, p. 60).
To ensure that the change process is going to be sustainable, sufficient time and financial
commitment is needed. There has to be created in the body politic, a willingness to challenge the
status quo, and the belief that the change is valuable. A change committee comprised of
employees, and headed by a person with significant authority can mitigate the risk of the change
process getting derailed (Holman, Davane, & Cady, 2007, p. 60).
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 75
Chapter 5 – Conclusions
A 5.1 The Millennials aren’t leaving
Millennials are vital members of the modern workforce, since they have grown up with
computers and information technology, have a special familiarity with the Internet, and are
brilliantly adaptable to the ever-changing world of social media. They are valued in modern
businesses, and eager for jobs, but it is an undeniable fact that they do not stay long at any
particular job, scarcely staying for two years, on average. This has been reported in numerous
studies, and businesses have been scrambling to find out how to get Millennials to stay longer. In
this investigation, an electronic survey with over a hundred responses, followed by a
phenomenologically attuned interview process with ten respondents, largely confirmed the
findings of earlier studies.
Although Millennials want to work at jobs that pay them reasonably well, salary is less important
to them than it was with earlier generations; they seldom leave a job simply in order to earn a bit
more. Millennials want to work in a company with a winning culture in which they are
constantly challenged. They want upward mobility, mainly in order to go on to jobs in which
they are intellectually challenged, and in which the attendant expansion of their vision and
responsibilities allows them to strive for excellence. They loathe being overburdened with
repetitious, menial tasks, especially ones that can be replaced by clever computer programs. As
life-long learners, they want businesses to provide them with on-going training, in order to build
new skills.
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 76
Additionally, keeping Millennials in a business, demands that they be supported as they struggle
to acquire management skills, in order to allow them to find a way into leadership positions.
Such positions, however, call for decision-making skills, and require leaders to make difficult,
unpopular decisions. This will be a difficult adaptive step for members of a generation that has
grown up submersed in the chaotic but collaborative world of social media. A feature of the
Millennial world-view is to let others do what they wish; it is hard for them to be in a position in
which they are expected to issue commands and directives. Whether they can adapt, is an as yet
unanswered question.
In order to engage and retain Millennials, traditional, hierarchical businesses have to change. For
that, they will need to have an intervention strategy. Three such strategies are suggested:
Employee Engagement Process, The World Café, and the Leadership Dojo (Holman, Davane, &
Cady, 2007). Each has its advantages and disadvantages. In addition to the strategies, a number
of sub-strategies, or tactics are recommended. It is hoped that businesses that employ these
tactics can transform themselves to be able to harvest the talents of the current generation of
Millennials.
Kathryn Van Arsdale - Capstone 2014 77
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