Brett T. Magnuson Mazzoni

TuesdayMay 19 at 11:38am

Manage Discussion Entry

 (Pyne, 2013) states there are four generations of workers that make up the workforce, they are: the traditionalist or matures born between 1922 and 1945, baby boomers born between 1946 and 1964, generation Xers 1965-1980, and millennials 1981-2000. The various generations present contextual challenges to Human Resources Management for the following reasons. First, many of those born before the baby boomers are retired and are no longer working, if alive and those who are part of the baby boomer generation are retiring and leaving their positions which means that HR must then find replacements which is difficult due to the generational differences between the baby boomers and those that followed. (Pyne, 2013) mentions that millennials have grown up more with technology than previous generations which has caused a lack in human interaction and more time spent interacting with screens and electronic devices. (Pyne, 2013) mentions that this causes a shortened attention span which causes issues for HR because they then have to find a way to work with the cultural differences of this group. Lacking in human interaction skills can cause issues when trying to conduct business because people will no longer know how to talk to others or interact with them face-to-face which stifles understanding and may cause confusion as to what the goal is and what was meant when said, and with many millennials and the generations that will follow continuously going towards screens and electronics, human interaction and communication skills will continue to decline in my opinion. This trend will continue to cause issues for HR for it will become more difficult to find qualified and talented individuals with the skills, especially communication skills to do the work.

The second contextual challenge to HR is surely education. (Pyne, 2013) mentions that the jobs that are available today require greater skills and more education which causes problems because fewer low-income students are attending college due to the ballooning costs of tuition which would require them to take on more student loans to attend and the fear of debt keeps them from even considering college. This is especially the case in ethnic groups that have higher poverty rates such as Hispanics and African Americans which research outside of what this required reading suggests leads to the generational cycle of poverty for there is little opportunity to break the cycle when a college education is necessary but too expensive to afford. We also know that the jobs that one could get years ago and support a family on with a high school diploma later required a bachelor's degree and now those jobs now require a masters. This is problematic as one must pile on student loan debt in order to get a good-paying job and when the fear of debt turns people off from the idea of college, HR has difficulty in finding qualified applicants to fill positions. Also, those that may be qualified to take these positions may not want to or may not plan on staying long which causes high turnover rates, because the pay is too low and they might actually be overqualified for the positions themselves which is how I will feel once I have my MPA at my current job as I’ll have two bachelors degrees and one masters and am severely underpaid.

I think that most of us would agree that these are two biggest challenges facing Human Resources Management today and as the cost of college continues to rise, more people may not want to attend, as technology limits our ability to interact with one another, communication will suffer and so will business and as the cost of living continues to go up, it may be more difficult for people to get by with low paying, unskilled jobs.