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Bridging the Boomer-Xer Gap: Creating Authentic Teams for High Performance at Work
What are the differences between the baby boomer generation and generation x? Do they matter? The two generations have proved more compatible than boomers and their own parents; the values embraced by the generation, such as open-mindedness, idealism and independence, have for the most part been accepted by generation xers. What, then, could be the problem for the two groups in the workplace?

"When we began the process of exploring baby boomers and generation xers in the workplace," write the authors of Bridging the Boomer-Xer Gap: Creating Authentic Teams for High Performance Work, "It was with genuine curiosity. Our exploration, as with any good research, has answered some questions, and raised even more. What becomes increasingly apparent is that the way in which organizations function in the future will need to be very different from the way in which they have functioned in the past, if the true value of each employeed is to be optimized. And no company can expect, in this increasingly competitive and global economy, to succeed without optimizing its workforce."

A true-to-life account of today's multi-generational workplace, the book delves into the problems uncovered in the authors' research of boomers and xers working together. It focuses particularly on two studies conducted by the authors. Statistical data is offered to analyze the ways each group thinks, particularly on issues of independence and the team-player ethic.

While the research presented has been charged with certain flaws – most notably, that it fails to establish what conflicts are related to personality traits specific to baby boomers and generation xers, and what ones are routinely attendant when people at different life stages attempt to cooperate – it is nonetheless a source of considerable data for those seeking a better understanding of these generations and how their salient qualities play out in day-to-day life. For marketers and advertisers it may be particularly stimulating: it's one thing to be told the qualities a certain generation posseses, but quite another to effectively visualize the manifestations of these qualities. Those who want a better understanding of the issues facing baby boomers and generation xers where they work will appreciate this timely portrait.

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