The book by the authors Pritam Singh, Asha Bhandarkar and Sumita Rai offers a number of insights from their research on an emerging andinteresting topic, which responds to the concerns of managers and employees alike. Backing this research is the experience of the authors as trainers and consultants to more than four hundred organizations. Endorsed by a number of senior managers, their views are also grounded in the global research spanning themes related to the values and expectations of the millennials. The book establishes a connect readily with HR professionals and academicians. However, it is also equally interesting to young researchers and students in the graduate and post graduate courses related to HR management.
The authors define millennials as the employees born during 1977‐1984. Assuming that in 2012 their average age would be 32, and that an average professional might enter the workplace at the age of 24 after gaining post‐graduate degree and some work experience, these millennials today would have a tenure of about eight to ten years behind them. With this experience they can be expected to be in positions of responsibility and influence starting from the middle level up in the organizations. There could not have been a better timing for this research as India finds itself endowed with more than half of its population in the productive age group. The topic and findings are relevant for all emerging economies world over, which are experiencing a surge in the proportion of millennials at work.
The book is based on a survey of 2,158 individuals with education in management and engineering. The respondents were brought up in all five zones of India: North, South, West, East and Central. The book is divided into five chapters, among which the first two are introductory and are devoted to the meaning of work and work place, and introduction to the millennials. The third chapter elaborates the survey findings related to the meaning of workplace (MOWP): the workplace attributes ranked as relevant by the millennials, the result of factor analysis, major variables that affect the MOWP held by the millennials, alongside a section that discusses the impact of personality on MOWP. An in‐depth analysis is then used for comparing the millennials' expectations with the organizational attributes found in practice in the chapter four of the book, finally ending with insight into architecting the organizations that are equipped to leverage the qualities of the millenials and more, in the fifth chapter.
Singh et al. provide a fascinating profile the millennials in India as high achievers and strivers of their goals. They are self‐driven, with internal locus of control and capable of confronting their failures with the aim of improving their performance and achievement. The millennials, according to this research, are concerned about personal development, seek self‐fulfillment, prefer progressive orientation and care for community development. With these attributes, millennials look for organizations that encourage innovation, recognize performance, believe in fairness and justice, provide opportunity for initiative, and encourage leadership development.
Along with their profile of millennials, Singh et al. (2012) juxtapose the view of HR professionals about them. Notably, the HR professionals view the millennials as materialistic, overambitious, low on commitment to the organization but high on commitment to self, highly energetic, well‐informed, tech‐savvy and creative but with no respect for authority. Some of these opinions could have been expressed by any older generation for younger generation. What attributes are unique to the millennials? The present study does not address this issue.
According to this study, the millennials believe that their workplaces do not offer in prominent measure, the factors important to them, such as autonomy, fairness, empowerment and opportunity for self‐development. The supervisors they would like to work for are described as humble, honest in feedback, willing to mentor, open and approachable and team‐builders. This finding triggers questions about what type of organizations would value the millennials with their given expectations and preferences rather than fearing, rejecting or avoiding them – if they can.
The expectations of the millennials are likely to be matched by organizations with more of collaborative and less of hierarchical work culture. Such culture is thought to be more suitable for innovation in high velocity environments that destroy the existing capabilities of the organization (Eisenhardt and Martin, 2000). Challenged by the turbulent environment, managers need to simultaneously pursue contrasting objectives such as exploiting current capabilities and exploring new ones (Tushman and O'Reilly, 1997).If that is the case, then unleashing, rather than restricting the potential of the millenials could be a more appropriate strategy, for the reason that they have grown up with these turbulent time, more of this population is entering the workplaces and they are already at a level of comfort with change and technology.
The book starts well with explaining the meaning of work and workplace and offers an impressive review of research. However, the authors move straightaway to discussion on the millennials from there. It could engage a wider audience if it included discussion on importance of inter‐generational differences, ways of looking at workplace diversity and cohorts, generations other than millennials, inter‐generational differences, and their impact on organizational performance. This way this book could become a self‐contained resource on generational diversity and its importance in organizations in India.
The literature on generations at workplace, their expectations and influence reveals taxonomiesof generations originating from the context in the USA. One such taxonomy lists GIs, silents, boomers, Xers and millennials (Kowske et al., 2010, p. 267). One wonders if such a classification would be directly useful in the context of India. The generational listing in the USA is influenced by phenomena such as the two World Wars and the Great Depression. Indian experience has been very different with the Freedom struggle, the era of socialistic model of planned economic development, economic liberalization and the post‐liberalization development. How would these have affected generations? One would look forward to light being shed by the authors on these issues in future.
However, gaps such as these do not jeopardize the general depth and comprehensiveness of various scales and subscales used extensively in this study, and can be addressed as the work in this direction is sustained and extended. This book, therefore, is a highly useful resource and a welcome step in the direction of understanding the millennials and harnessing their energy.
The author is thankful to the editor of the “Book review” section of Management Decision for their constructive comments and suggestions.
