GenZ & Management

“Each generation goes further than the generation preceding it because it stands on the shoulders of that generation. You will have opportunities beyond anything we have ever known”

-Ronald Reagan (40^th U.S. president)

Z is the new A:

If you believed Millennials were an assailing generation, hold on until you get to know Gen Z. the oldest breed of this generation is only born in 1995 but don’t be duped by their youth. Infact they are matured Millennials. This generation is still in the high school but it’s not too early to think about what importance they will hold in near future.

“It’s a buoyant group that’s full of zeal”

This progressively entrusted cohort is two billion strong worldwide. By 2020, they will make up over 35% of workforce. It already has huge purchasing power and is the most pleasingly diverse generation in the history. They are described as conscientious, hardworking, pragmatic, a bit anxious and are futuristic. They are more about closeness, not tolerance and have greater humility as realists compared to Millennials. But how these peculiarities will affect the business management world?

More of picture, less of words:

What aftermath are fast advances in technology in virtual reality, augmented reality, 3D printings, wearables and the internet of things having on this generation as they grew up with the technology? Gen Z may be young but they are curious and inquisitive about the tech universe in which they live. And why shouldn’t they be? After all, this bunch of ‘cool’ kids has always known ‘Google’ to be a verb! Most of them have no idea how the world was before the existence of smartphones. Popularity of Instagram, snapchat with Gen Z members also results from their want of not to be tracked and to limit what they post. They have indeed seen the idiocy displayed by their predecessors who seem to have no boundaries for what they share.

Gen Z and Market:

With so many alternatives out there, Generation Z will simply overlook marketing efforts that they don’t want to see. So how can marketers connect with this new type of customers?

Long gone are the days when marketers could depend on a captive set of customers to receive and respond to their marketing message. The average consumer from this generation sees something around 4000 messages everyday, with half of them going unnoticed. And as this generation becomes dominant economic player, marketer will found that will have to conform to a whole new set of rules.

Though most of the brands can’t get enough of Millennials, It’s the matter of that they are the most researched generation in history. They came of age with www, and since, they dictate the workforce and have a lot of buying power, almost everyone in the market has devoted time, money and energy after analyzing the buying behavior of Millennials.

This generation on the other side is still a conundrum to solve for many brands. These are the kids for whom social media is the only world that exists. They are even suspicious, less brand loyal and are more reluctant to corporate hypocrisy.

Gen Z consumers​have been heightened on social media and community, and instantaneously qualm any brand voice that's not perceived to be credible. The fundamental way to associate to Gen Z is peer to peer; really involving them in your brand, your product development and making them feel part of.

"Relatability is the authenticity of today,"

(Gregg Witt, chief engagement officer of Immersive Youth Marketing, a San Diego-based marketing agency.)

Instagram model Indy Clinton, 18, fell into her job almost by accident, when she started posting random photos of herself walking her dog and exercising. By the time she had 20,000 followers, she started charging businesses $50 for one post featuring their product. Now brands like the McGrath Foundation, Coca-Cola, and Surf Dive 'n' Ski pay her up to $750 per post. (Having posed for a photo-shoot for AFR Weekend she swiftly posted two shots to Instagram. They already have more than 1000 "likes") –another way of reaching Gen Z audience!

Gen Z and Management practises:

There has been a great deal of conjecture about how Gen Z will work and much of it based on looking at the way they currently hook up in their education and sports activities. Projecting Gen Z’s future of work and leadership style is indeed appalling task because here we are delineating an attitude shift which has no precedent in the entire human history.

So how organizations would be able to captivate this talent? The current way of recruiting people at the entry level might not work. Some of the current sizzling industries like IT might run out of steam in near future. Instead fields like media, fashion, photography etc. might make their way to the top. This will hasten a whole new ways in which people see their career to be. Terms like ‘job security’ or aspects related to commitment may become old fashioned. Earning respect of this generation by speaking about things we consider is significant like ‘technology’ might not work. Another interesting stint could happen is that Gen Z might prefer to work in their own countries instead of going abroad for lucrative jobs. By the time this generation finds its way into leadership roles, there will have been fully programmed in a new model of teamwork, allocating, pellucidity, learning and influence. Might this create such organizations in which leaders are no longer needed? We already have such organizations at present. I.e. Wikipedia. Which is working just fine as a flock of individuals with a common objective. Gen Z is aggravating leadership by short circuiting traditional paths to top. In process, it will guide in the democratisation of leadership by providing channels to leadership.

This generation is going to be bolder, nonpartisan and managing them through traditional way might not really work. This will also call for new practises and organizations are going to face a stalemate managing ambitions of many generation.