Abstract
The successful management of demographic change in German companies will mostly depend on their executives’ leadership capabilities. Based on the implicit leadership theory of effective leader-subordinate relationships, the perceived leadership behaviour must match individual subordinates’ leadership prototypes. As research in sociology and social psychology indicates, these leadership prototypes – consisting of employees' work values and preferences – are influenced by generational experiences as well as by individual employees’ age. Building on these arguments, this chapter tries to develop different leadership styles for the five generations currently present in the German workforce: The Post-War Generation, the Economic-Boom Generation, the Baby-Boom Generation, the Golf Generation, and the Internet Generation. Such adaptive and generation-specific leadership should help spur high levels of work motivation, organisational commitment, and hence lead to top performance by every generation and age group within the company.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Arsenault, P. M. (2004). Validating generational differences. The Leadership and Organization Development Journal, 25, 124-141.
Bertram, H. (2005). Nachhaltige Familienpolitik im europäischen Vergleich. In: P. A. Berger, Kahlert, H. (Eds.), Chancen für die Neuordnung der Geschlechterverhältnisse (pp. 203-236). Frankfurt am Main: Campus Verlag.
Bruch, H., Kunze, F., Boehm., S. (2010). Generationen erfolgreich Führen. Konzepte und Praxiserfahrungen zum Management des demographischen Wandels. Wiesbaden: Gabler.
Dansereau, F., Alutto, J. A., Nachman, S., Al-Kelabi, S.A., Yammarino, F.J., Newman, J., Naughton, T., Lee, S., Dumas, M., Kim, K., Keller, T (1995). Individualized leadership: A new multiple-level approach. Leadership Quarterly, 6, 413-450.
Destatis (2006). Bevölkerung Deutschlands bis 2050 – 11. Koordinierte Bevölkerungsvorausberechnung. Wiesbaden.
Dychtwald, K. (2003). The age wave is coming, Public Management, 85, 6-12.
Engle, E. M., & Lord, R. G. (1997). Implicit Theories, Self-Schemas, and Leader-Member Exchange. 40, 988-1010. Academy of Management Journal.
Flato, E., & Reinbold-Scheible, S. (2008). Zukunftsweisendes Personalmanagement: Herausforderung demografischer Wandel: Fachkräfte gewinnen, Talente halten und Erfahrung nutzen. München: MI Verlag.
Gursoya, D. A., Maier, T. A., Chi, C.G. (2008). Generational differences: An examination of work values and generational gaps in the hospitality workforce. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 27, 448-458.
Illies, F. (2000). Generation Golf. Eine Inspektion. Freiburg: Herder.
Ilmarinen, J. E. (2001). Aging Workers. Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 58, 546-546.
Jurkiewicz C.E., & Brown R.G. (1998). GenXers vs. boomers vs. matures: Generational comparisons of public employee motivation. Review of Public Personnel Administration, 18, 18-37.
Kieser, A., & Walgenbach, P. (2007). Organisation. Stuttgart: Schaeffer-Poeschel.
Klein, M. (2003). Gibt es die Generation Golf? Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie, 55, 1-28.
Kupperschmidt, B. R. (2000). Multigeneration employees: Strategies for effective management. The Health Care Manager, 19, 65-76.
Luescher, K & Liegle, L. (2003). Generationsbeziehungen in Familie und Gesellschaft. Konstanz: UVK Verlagsgesellschaft.
Michaels, E., Handfield-Jones, H, & Axelrod, B. (2001). The war for talent. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Oertel, J. (2007). Generationenmanagement im Unternehmen. Wiesbaden: Gabler.
Preuss-Lausitz, U., Büchner, P, Fischer-Kowalski, M., Dieter Genien, M., Karsten, E., Kulke, C., Rabe-Kleberg, U., Rolff, H.G., Thunemeyer, B., Schütze, Y., Seidl, P., Zeiher, H., Zimmermann, P. (1994). Kriegskinder, Konsumkinder, Krisenkinder. Zur Sozialisationsgeschichte seit dem zweiten Weltkrieg. Weinheim: Beltz Verlag.
Schreyoegg, G. (2003). Organisation. Grundlagen moderner Organisationsgestaltung. Wiesbaden: Gabler.
Schuler, K. (2006). Hilflos in der Rush-Hour. Die Zeit (25.4.2006).
Schuetze, Y., & Geulen, D. (1995). Die Nachkriegskinder und die Konsumkinder: Kindheitsverläufe zweier Generationen. In U. Preuss-Lausitz et al. (Eds.), Kriegskinder, Konsumkinder, Krisenkinder. Zur Sozialisationsgeschichte seit dem zweiten Weltkrieg (pp. 29-52). Weinheim: Beltz Verlag.
Taylor, F. W. (1977). Die Grundsätze wissenschaftlicher Betriebsführung. Weinheim: Beltz Verlag (Original 1911).
Wu, J. B., Tsui, A. S., Kinicki, A. J. (2010). Consequences of differentiated leadership in groups. Academy of Management Journal, 53, 90-106.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kunze, F., Boehm, S.A., Bruch, H. (2011). Generational leadership – How to manage five different generations in the workforce. In: Boppel, M., Boehm, S., Kunisch, S. (eds) From Grey to Silver. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-15594-9_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-15594-9_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-15593-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-15594-9
eBook Packages: Business and EconomicsBusiness and Management (R0)