Yet there are almost countless studies of work motivation and/or workplace happiness and working performance, most of the researches have been in the perspective of older generations like Generation X or The Baby Boomers. The lack of perspective of Millennials (or Generation Y) is natural, since as part of workforce Millennials are still a very young generation. However, since humans do get older, more and more Millennials are joining world’s workforce and will eventually become tomorrow’s leaders. Therefore, it is important to learn how Millennials see the world and what are the features that can be seen as common to them. By understanding what makes a generation that is family-centric but ambitious, education oriented but upbeat, to reach goals and perform effectively, gives a clear advantage. Thus, the goals of this study are to find out what work motivation means to Western world Millennials and understand their values as well as how they perceive trust in a workplace. This study also investigates other generations’ values and generation-specific features, so that it is clearer to understand how much Millennials differ from them and what features have stayed the same over time.
Since this study is qualitative in its nature, the research method has been qualitative as well. This study utilizes semi-structured interview with three sub-themes, that all measure certain parts of the bigger picture of work motivation. The interview and the theoretical evidence provided interesting results that have academic value as well as managerial implications. Some of the most important results was the difference of values and the very nature between Millennials and other generations. Based on this study, it is safe to say that Millennials are the first generation for a long time that is clearly a crossroad generation of old and new business methods. This is greatly so because of Internet and its new perspective of technology and business practices. Although, this study provides information that can be widely generalized, the reader should bear in mind the cultural background of this study’s Millennials and the fact that the immediate business field in this study is knowledge-based, which means businesses that are offering expert services like consultancy.
Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:oulo.fi/oai:oulu.fi:nbnfioulu-201506111846 |
Date | 15 June 2015 |
Creators | Mäkinen, M. (Mikael) |
Publisher | University of Oulu |
Source Sets | University of Oulu |
Language | English |
Detected Language | English |
Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/masterThesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion |
Format | application/pdf |
Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess, © Mikael Mäkinen, 2015 |
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