Generation Alpha: What Would Managing Them Look Like?

The Generation ALPHA

Anybody born between 2010 and 2025 is considered a Gen Alpha, the offspring of millennials. People born after 2010 and continuing until 2024 are referred to as generation Alpha. The founder of the Australian consulting business "McCrindle Research," Mark McCrindle, came up with the word "Alpha" for this generation in his book (Generation Alpha - Google Books).

By 2024, there will be more Alpha births than any other generation in human history—an estimated 2 billion—making them the first fully born generation of the twenty-first century. Notable events experienced by this generation include the COVID-19 pandemic, Brexit, and the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Their characteristics can be predicted by understanding how their social, economic, and technological environments are influencing them globally. They will soon be the frontiers of the workforce, one step ahead of Gen Z in technological advancement and innovation, and they may bring potential changes to the organisational landscape and HR strategies.

 

Characteristics of Generation ALPHA

Nagy & Kölcsey, (2017) noted in their research that gen Alpha is gen Z 2.0 and is comparable to their predecessors but carries their "legacy," this generation and the youngest generation Z share many features. Nevertheless, there are a number of distinctions between Alphas and the whole of Generation Z. These unique qualities are covered below.

Family Dynamics - Growing up in single-parent households (the OECD-family database estimates that in 2016–17, 6-28% of households were headed by a single parent, and that number will rise significantly by 2022), Generation Alpha is/will be the generation with the greatest variety in history, not only in terms of ethnicity and gender identity but also in terms of lifestyle, thought, and preferences.

 

Learning Environment - This generation uses screens to study. Alphas, as we all know, live in a technologically advanced society, and this includes its contribution to education. Particularly since COVID-19, e-learning has supplanted conventional instructional methods, and distant learning has grown in popularity.

 

Socialization - Children of the Alpha generation don't have time for conventional forms of socialisation since they spend so much time online. Instead of interacting in person, they communicate with their peers via screens. They also dislike socialising with senior people.

 

Technological - Having grown up in an increasingly digitalized society, they are referred to as "digital natives." They use wearable technology, digital toys, visual games, computers, cellphones, and AI-based assistants like Siri and Alexa with great hands-on experience.

 

Self-Growth Focused - More skilful and nimble than any previous generation, Gen Alpha is. According to McCrindle's book Generation Alpha, kids grow up in an educational system that prioritises the development of varied, creative talents and provides time for self-reflection.

 

More Sensitive - According to Twenge (2017), this generation spends more time online than they do with each other in person and is psychologically more susceptible. They are not hesitant to voice their ideas and have quite diverse views on gender roles, relationships, and parenting.

 

Problem of Generation Alpha - Due to the social and technical environments in which this generation is evolving, all of these traits also point to potential issues. Due to their increased screen time and decreased face-to-face interaction, hyperconnected people lack interpersonal skills.

 

HR Strategy for Alpha Generation

Since the world appears to be changing at an incredibly rapid rate and the business environment has altered as a consequence, the business environment has become much more dynamic and adaptable. Regarding human resources, the workforce of the twenty-first century consists of Millennials and Gen Z. The next generation of working humans, known as Generation Alpha, will need the market to adjust to their arrival and undergo a technological transformation (Reis, 2018). As a result, the HR function should anticipate the following modifications to adjust alphas:

Employee Experience

To recruit and retain human resources, organisations should prioritise their people since the alpha generation is career-focused and has a strong sense of devotion to their careers rather than the organisation. Employee involvement and empowerment may help accomplish this. Companies should provide prospective candidates or new personnel a simple, digital, and speedy feedback method.

Agile HR Practices

Alphas are renowned for being creative, imaginative, and challenge-accepting individuals, and they work best in agile organisations. Agile HR solutions prioritise collaboration, adaptability, and granting more autonomy via work enhancement, employee empowerment, involvement, shared workspaces, staffing guidelines, and organisational communication styles (Junita, 2021).

 

New Career Options

Since Generation Alpha is characterised by a self-growth orientation, it is unclear what kinds of occupations will be available to them when they join the workforce, although they will undoubtedly be more multifaceted. Since Alphas are also multitaskers, they may have numerous jobs (McCrindle & Fell, 2020). Thus, HR specialists should design novel positions that centre on changes in burgeoning fields of study or employment.

 

Employee Well-Being

Employees' well-being will be their main concern when members of Generation Alpha enter the workforce (McCrindle & Fell, 2020). In ten or so years, companies may create a dedicated department for well-being management, as they are already recruiting well-being managers. In addition, mental health would be given top emphasis since, as was previously indicated, generation alphas are particularly susceptible to mental health issues due to their hyperconnectivity, which exposes them to crimes and cyberbullying.

 

Digital Orientation

While the HR department will need to be data-driven and management's choices about personnel will be guided by data analytics, protecting employees' confidentiality and privacy will be a top priority. Organisational data is dispersed across several devices and vulnerable to cyberattacks due to flexible and remote working practices (Nezami et al., 2021). To protect their sensitive data and corporate digital security, organisations will need to develop rules and upgrade their technology.

We need to be cautious of tendencies that are going to keep harming us, like burnout, but we simultaneously want to be willing to learn from the Alphas and accept the changes they bring about so as for us to all successfully coexist with them. Generally speaking, the Alphas will be a wonderful thing at work, uniting us all. Together, we can build a more positive workplace when we choose to embrace Alpha's possibilities and work with rather than against them 

Reference

Junita, A. (2021). Agile HR Strategies: Prerequisite of Business Competitiveness in a Dynamic Environment. https://doi.org/10.4108/eai.9-10-2020.2304778

McCrindle, M., & Fell, A. (2020). Understanding Generation Alpha. 1–17

Nagy, Á., & Kölcsey, A. (2017). Generation Alpha: Marketing or Science. Acta Technologica Dubnicae, 7(1), 107–115. https://doi.org/10.1515/atd-2017-0007

Nezami, S., Bakker, C., & Tinga, D. (2021). Security and the new generation workforce. Advanced Sciences and Technologies for Security Applications, 255–272. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030- 42523-4_18/COVE

Reis, T. A. dos. (2018). Study on The Alpha Generation And The Reflections of Its Behavior in the Organizational Environment. Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Science, 6(1), 09–19.

Twenge, J. (2017). iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More ... - Jean M. Twenge - Google Books. Book.

 

 

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