Thesis advisor: Christopher R. Glass / This executive dissertation assumes a sensemaking lens to investigate how Assistant and Associate Vice President (AVP)-level administrators in student affairs approach their supervisory roles within the current climate of higher education and employment. The study’s primary goal is to identify how leaders can prepare for changing employment trends and transitions to facilitate and support positive outcomes and satisfaction within their departments and for their staff. The COVID-19 pandemic cast an unforgiving spotlight on longstanding issues within employment in the student affairs profession, which ruptured under the pressures of the outbreak, socio-political upheaval, and massive demographic shifts. Though turnover trends have plagued the student affairs profession for years, COVID-19 demonstrated the inability of traditional human resource practices to meet the changing needs of employees and institutions. This study addresses the following research questions: 1) how do AVP-level student affairs administrators make sense of employment data and trends to inform their supervisory practice? and 2) how do AVP-level student affairs administrators make sense of their role (relationship + actions) in supporting staff members beyond university-wide HR efforts? To answer these questions, this dissertation employed a qualitative approach using semi-structured interviews. The main results of the study identified five themes, including issues of recruitment, retention, and resignation; shifts in worker norms; considerations of the identity of a supervisor; changing workforce trends; and institutional priorities. These themes notably revolved around the need for AVPs to navigate various forms of tension. These findings have substantial implications for enhancing supervisory approaches to support positive outcomes for student affairs professionals, supporting recommendations for new pathways to the profession, and creating space for proactive versus reactive approaches to employment trends. Ultimately, the goal is to support increased satisfaction and retention in the field of student affairs. The findings contribute to research by addressing trends in an increasingly multigenerational workforce, supervisory approaches in student affairs, and strategies for navigating societal and demographic shifts. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2024. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

Since the beginning of the 2000s, unique challenges for a multigenerational workforce (MW) using different types of current technology (CT), informational and noninformational, at an increasing rate have surfaced. Necessary considerations were made among companies using these types of CT that changed frequently and influenced employee efficiency (EE) and organizational productivity (OP), leading to an under-identified impact on management decisions. The problem addressed in this study was the difficulty management had in managing work tasks and activities when CT was used in a MW. Most of the Baby Boomer generation will be retiring over the next decade, thus compromising and leaving a major gap in skills, experience, and talent. The purpose of this quantitative research study was to study the effects of multigenerational cohorts (MC), gender (GEN), CT, experience (EXP), and voluntariness of use (VU) (independent variables [IVs]), among a MW and their impact on EE and OP (dependent variables [DVs]). Two research questions were used that focused on the relationship between the IVs and DVs. Positivism was used as the theoretical framework. A convenience sampling approach was used to select participants. The participants were full-time employees between 23 and 71 years of age in the continental United States. Multiple and stepwise regression analyses was used to investigate the relationship between the IVs and the DVs. Results showed that only IVs type of CT and VU had a significant effect on EE and OP. These findings may contribute to positive social change by helping organizations create comprehensive and explicit business models of efficiency and productivity among a MW.

Since the beginning of the 2000s, unique challenges for a multigenerational workforce (MW) using different types of current technology (CT), informational and noninformational, at an increasing rate have surfaced. Necessary considerations were made among companies using these types of CT that changed frequently and influenced employee efficiency (EE) and organizational productivity (OP), leading to an under-identified impact on management decisions. The problem addressed in this study was the difficulty management had in managing work tasks and activities when CT was used in a MW. Most of the Baby Boomer generation will be retiring over the next decade, thus compromising and leaving a major gap in skills, experience, and talent. The purpose of this quantitative research study was to study the effects of multigenerational cohorts (MC), gender (GEN), CT, experience (EXP), and voluntariness of use (VU) (independent variables [IVs]), among a MW and their impact on EE and OP (dependent variables [DVs]). Two research questions were used that focused on the relationship between the IVs and DVs. Positivism was used as the theoretical framework. A convenience sampling approach was used to select participants. The participants were full-time employees between 23 and 71 years of age in the continental United States. Multiple and stepwise regression analyses was used to investigate the relationship between the IVs and the DVs. Results showed that only IVs type of CT and VU had a significant effect on EE and OP. These findings may contribute to positive social change by helping organizations create comprehensive and explicit business models of efficiency and productivity among a MW.

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The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that millennials will soon represent 46% of the workforce. The anticipated changes in the workforce are of great concern to business leaders who may manage individuals from different generations. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the strategies that administrative leaders in an advisory group of community-based organizations and educational institutions used to improve the productivity of a multigenerational workforce. The conceptual frameworks that grounded this study were the social constructivist perspective and generational theory. Data were collected from semistructured interviews to elicit narratives from 6 administrative leaders from 6 different nonprofit organizations selected via purposive sampling throughout the northeast region of the United States with experience improving the productivity of a multigenerational workforce. Data also came from a review of company documents and a reflexive journal. Data analysis entailed coding, identifying relevant themes, using Yin's 5 step analytic strategy approach, and member checking to strengthen the validity of the interpretations of participants' responses. Two principal themes emerged from the data: effective leadership strategies and essential retention strategies to improve productivity. The overall analysis of the 2 principal themes revealed the importance of communication, teamwork, training, work-life programs, recognition, knowledge sharing, and feedback in improving the productivity of a multigenerational workforce. Findings from this study may contribute to social change because chief executive officers (CEO) may use the strategies to implement corrective measures to positively influence the productivity of a multigenerational workforce.

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management reported the productivity levels of the American multigenerational workforce decreasing as leaders strive to actively engage employees to improve organizational output. The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore what leadership strategies federal government managers use to engage a multigenerational workforce. The conceptual framework consisted of Kahn's employee engagement theory and Strauss and Howe's generational cohort theory. The sample consisted of 3 federal government managers within metro Atlanta, Georgia who had successfully managed a multigenerational workforce, demonstrated through the feedback they received from their employees. Data were collected using face-to-face semistructured interviews and a review and analysis of company documents. Data analysis consisted of applying Yin's 5 step data analysis process, and member checking and methodological triangulation of the data strengthened the trustworthiness of interpretations. Emergent themes included generational differences; strategies for working with multigenerational differences; and strategies for engaging a multigenerational workforce. The most effective strategies involved training, communication skills, and team building. Findings from this study may contribute to social change by providing federal government managers with the framework for understanding and engaging its multigenerational workforce, which can result in promoting positive relationships between coworkers, families, and communities. Positive relationships in the workforce may increase employee morale and motivation and decrease employee turnover and the unemployment rate.

Some business leaders find it challenging to manage individuals from different age groups; this is an issue, as organizations in many developed countries become more age-diverse. The purpose of this single case study was to provide business leaders with information about strategies top-level business executives and team leaders at a large company in Curaçao (a developed island nation in the Caribbean) use for enhancing productivity of an age-diverse workforce. The conceptual framework of this study consisted of generational theory of Mannheim. A key tenet of the generational theory includes that belonging to the same generational unit, generational location, and generational actuality shapes the beliefs, values, and attitudes of members of a generational cohort collectively. Data from interviews and company documentation that included an annual report, business guide, and performance management documentation were coded and analyzed using NVivo software, and member checking was used to enhance the trustworthiness of interpretations. Key themes that emerged from data analysis include the need to use communication strategies, foster equal treatment of employees, implement employee development plans, and adopt a structured approach for addressing issues related to age-diversity. Implementation of the different strategies and recommendations identified in this study might aid business leaders in their effort to manage an age-diverse workforce and increase workplace productivity. Implications for social change include the potential to improve empathy and relations between individuals from different generations and the cultivation of a more cohesive society.