Essay on Gen Xers’ values impact the leadership process at work
Gen Xers have the system of values based on the ideals of the respect to human rights, the struggle against corruption, abuse, discrimination, injustice and protection of human dignity and individual freedom. On the other hand, Gen Xers are looking for stability, which they want to achieve by means of the respect of human dignity and human rights and creation of fair conditions for all employees and managers to prevent corruption or discrimination (Madsen & Shafritz, 2010). The leadership process at work is apparently vulnerable to the impact of basic values of Gen Xers, who still comprise a large share of the total labor force in the labor market of the US as well as other countries.
The respect to human rights and human dignity determines the focus of Gen Xers leadership process on the creation of fair and equal conditions for all that implies the elimination of glass ceilings and other barriers that may arise on the way of individuals to the leadership (Hesselbein, Goldsmith, & Beckhard, 2007). Gen Xers stand for the elimination of prejudiced attitude to the leadership and leaders. Instead, they stand for equal rights and opportunities for individuals to exercise their leadership skills and abilities. For example, the elimination of glass ceiling became possible, to a significant extent, due to Gen Xers, who stand for the right of women to get access to top positions in organizations.
Therefore, leaders should also take into consideration the system of values of Gen Xers and develop respective policies that can help them to gain the support o fthier subordinates. In this regard, the development of transparent, democratic policies is the best strategy for the leader heading the team or organization consisting of Gen Xers mainly because such open and transparent environment matches expectations of Gen Xers to respect human rights and create fair conditions for all employees.
At the same time, Gen Xers look for stability and the leadership is also a part of their pursuit of stability in their life and work. In fact, the focus of Gen Xers on stability has a dubious effect on the leadership (Brown, 2003). On the one hand, they often tend to stick to their leaders, who have once brought them to success that make their leaders confident in their support. As a result, leaders can always rely on their subordinates as long as they are capable to match their system of values. On the other hand, such a strong inclination to stability among Gen Xers can lead to negative effects in the leadership and the organizational development (Dessler, 2004). Leaders, if they stand in power for a long time, can start losing their motivation and fail to catch up with the rapidly changing business environment but the support of their subordinates helps them to stay at the leading position. In such a situation, organizations may face the problem of the widening gap between the rigidness of the leadership and its inability to confront new challenges and make a breakthrough in the organizational development, on the one hand, and the urgent need of changes and new leadership, on the other, because Gen Xers are more likely to support the leader, whom they are accustomed to and confident in and, who, as they believe, can bring stability to their organization.
Thus, leaders should match basic values of Gen Xers to lead them successfully.
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