How Do Millennial Managers Lead Older Employees? The Philippine Workplace Experience

Abstract

As millennial workers enter and dominate the global workforce by 2025, understanding their leadership styles is vital to bring about higher level of performance and productivity in the workplace. The Millennials, the next generation of leaders, are entering the workforce and assuming leadership positions in a relatively short period. More often, they found themselves leading employees that are older than themselves and yet their leadership traits and styles are not fully understood. The study explores factors affecting leadership styles of millennial managers and how they are manifested and applied in managing and resolving conflict involving older subordinates. Using a qualitative approach, it employs interviews, participant observation, and prolonged engagement with four millennial managers from the National Food Authority in the Philippines as they lead, manage, and interact with their older staff. Data collected were triangulated by document analysis and interview of the millennial managers’ subordinates themselves. The results of the study show that the participants’ leadership competencies are in the early stages of development. The participants consider building good impression and rapport highlighting the importance of soft skills in leadership, strong sense of respect, reverse mentoring, delegation of tasks, and the ability to handle expectations and performance as factors in managing older employees. This study draws the attention to examining the leadership attributes and potentials of Filipino millennial managers in the context of Philippine workplace culture using insights from Public Administration, Social Sciences, and Psychology.

Introduction

Diversity in the workforce is observable today than before. For the first time in modern history, workplace demographics now spans four generations of employees working side by side. The workforce is constituted by as old as their parents and as young as their children (Zemke et al., 2000). It is forecasted that the Millennial Generation will be taking more than 75% of this demographic proportion by 2025 (Ernst & Young, 2015). Their rapid and unprecedented movement in the workforce had generated changes not only in the management structure but also in the social structures governing social norms, attitudes, interactions, and relationships among employees belonging to different generations.

The present workforce may be classified as a multigenerational workforce consisting of employees from different generations. A generation is defined as an “identifiable group that shares birth, years, age, location, and significant life events at critical developmental stages” (Kupperschmidt, 2000, cited in Tay, 2010). Simply put, individuals from the same generation share similar historical, economic, and social experiences. Therefore, they would also have similar work values, attitudes, and behaviors. The present working environment may contain the presence of the four generations working side by side and closely with each other. The traditionalists, commonly known as the Veterans, Silent Generation, and the Greatest Generation, are the smallest population. Many of them are already retired or seeking retirement (Zemke et al., 2000, cited in Tolbize, 2008). Hence, the majority of the population comprises the Baby Boomers, Generation X, and the Millennial Generation.

The traditionalists, also known as the Veterans, Silent Generation, matured, and Greatest Generations, are those born before 1945 (Murphy, 2007; Tolbize, 2008). They are the oldest generation in the workplace, and most of them are already retired or past retirement. Members of this generation are described to be “conservative and disciplined, as having a sense of obligation, and as observing fiscal restraint” (Niemiec, 2002, cited in Tolbize, 2008). In the workplace, they prefer formality and a top-down chain of command, needs respect and makes assurance in decision-making by looking at what worked in the past (Kersten, 2002, cited in Tolbize, 2008).

Meanwhile, the Baby Boomers are those born between 1943 and 1965 (Tolbize, 2008). They are referred to as the “Baby Boom” generation because of the extra 17 million babies born in this period. This generation is raised to respect authority figures, equated work with self-worth, contribution, and personal fulfillment, and bolstered by a sense of purpose capable of changing the world. They have been further described to start the workaholic trend (Murphy, 2007). This generation of workers considers success as a product of hard work and sacrifice. They are efficient workers and easily insulted by feedback. They are more process oriented rather than results oriented. Workers of this generation are approximately retiring for the next few years (Zemke et al., 2000, cited in Tolbize, 2008).

The Generation X, on the other hand, commonly referred to as GenX, Baby Busters, Twenty-somethings, Thirteenth Generations, and Post-Boomers are those born between 1968 and 1979. Its lower limit may be as low as 1963, and its upper limit may be as high as 1982 (Karp et al., 2002; Murphy, 2007; Murray, 2011, cited in Tolbize, 2008). This generational cohort has been defined as the children of older boomers who grew up in a period of financial, familial, and societal insecurity. They are described as more independent, autonomous, self-reliant, and not overly loyal to their employers (Murray, 2011).

The last on the list are the Millennials who also bear the name Generation Y, the Digital Generation, Net Generation, Digital Natives, Generation www, Generation E, Echo Boomers, and N-Gens are those born between the late 1980s and the late 1990s. Its lower limit “may be as low as 1978 while the upper limit may be as high as 2002, depending on the source” (Tolbize, 2008). Drastic advancements and innovations shape this generation in technology and communications. They are described as being more comfortable with technology, multitaskers, and engaging in collaborative work (Murray, 2011). With focus on their workplace characteristics, they are described as ambitious, entitled, technological savvy, flexible, needing supervision and structure, valuing teamwork and collective action, adaptable to change, inexperienced particularly in handling difficult people issues, achievement oriented, most confident, and highly educated (Murphy, 2007; Murray, 2011; Tolbize, 2008).

Work Attitudes and Leadership Styles

Central to the analysis of workforce is the understanding of the work attitudes of the Millennials. It is important to examine the work attitudes of Millennials to understand them as potential managers (Medyanik, 2016). The Millennials’ level of comfort with technology gives them competitive advantages in a global workforce, shaped and influenced by technology. They believe that they are entitled to “perks” and “promotions.” Thus, individual advancement is a priority. This argument is supported by a study of Ernst and Young (2013), wherein subordinates feel that millennial leaders are not leading teams effectively or advocating for them because of individual pursuit of success. Murray (2011) describes Millennials as generally “collaborative,” inclined to work and play in groups. They preferred shared responsibility in decision-making and achieving organizational goals. The challenge with this mind-set is their difficulty in making individual decisions and refusal to accountability.

Although there is no singular universally agreed definition of leadership (cited in Medyanik, 2016), its dimensions have evolved to include vision, motivation, change, and social responsibility (Penney & Neilson, 2010, cited in Cox, 2016). It is contrasted with management, indicating that leadership entails influence, transformation, and vision (Organ & Bateman, 1986, cited in Cox, 2016). It is also recognized that there is no “one-size-fits-all” strategy that leaders can use toward their employees.

The review of the literature reveals that studies have focused on the behavior of Millennials working as subordinates, but very few studies revealed how they performed as leaders (Fore, 2012; Medyanik, 2016). The Hartford Millennial Leadership Survey (Hartford, 2015) reveals that Millennials aspire to be leaders and want to be developed as leaders. The study also reveals that 60% of aspiring millennial leaders wanted to inspire their followers through a sense of purpose and excitement that can be aligned with the transformational leadership style. Although they recognize a lack of experience and skills, 53% of Millennials are willing to learn from mentors to further develop their personal and professional careers (Morgan, 2015).

As Veterans and Baby Boomers begin to retire and leave the workforce (Cox, 2016), Generation X started occupying their roles, whereas Millennials started entering the workforce at an immense rate (Fore, 2012). Also, Millennials are gaining leadership positions and significant amounts of responsibility in a relatively short period (Ernst & Young, 2013). They see themselves competing against the Generation Xers for the same share of jobs. As a result, the traditional management structure of a workplace had significantly changed (Tay, 2010) because of the values, beliefs, preferences, and attitudes of the new generation of leaders (Fore, 2012).

In this article, we used qualitative approach, specifically engagement, field observation, and interviews with millennial managers of the National Food Authority (NFA) in Cabanatuan City who have experiences in handling older subordinates and are willing to share their thoughts. The study answered the following research questions: (a) What are the factors affecting the leadership styles of the millennial managers? (b) How do millennial managers handle and resolve conflict involving older subordinates? (c) What possible recommendations may be offered to enhance millennial managers’ leadership capability? Given today’s trend in the recruitment and selection of employees, favoring the entry and promotion of new generation of young professionals for leadership positions and the dominance of millennial workers in terms of number in the workplace, the study would provide significant insights and ideas on how Millennials’ potentials at work may be maximized to the advantage of the organization. Furthermore, there is a dearth of available resources on Millennials as managers or leaders. Most of the available literature dwells on the leadership styles or Millennials as workers or employees but not as leaders or managers. Thus, the study would provide baseline data on how to understand the Millennials as leaders or managers which might have a huge impact on organizational productivity.

Theoretical Framework

Understanding how millennial managers lead, manage, and resolve conflicts among their older staff will be interpreted using the social and behavioral lens, in particular using the Behavioural Management Theory and Contingency Theory.

The Behavioural Management Theory postulates that employee satisfaction and good working conditions enable employees to contribute to organizational productivity (Indabawa & Uba, 2014; Stajkovic & Luthans, 2003). It gives primal importance to employees as the most important assets in the organization and supports the idea that focusing on their social and psychological needs would enhance productivity (Gomez & David, 2002). This theory is applied in the study to determine how millennial managers give importance to the older subordinates. As revealed by the study, the manner millennial managers handle their employees showed a greater pattern of exhibiting behavioral management theory treating the older employees as their indispensable assets.

On the other hand, the Contingency Theory is anchored on the notion that there is no universal or one best way to manage and handle people (Vidal et al., 2017). Leaders often make their decisions depending on the situational context (Vroom & Jago, 2007). Thus, the needs of the organization are satisfied when the management style is properly designed to meet employees’ needs and preferred styles of leadership. A leader is effective when his or her style of leadership fits with the situation. There are three dimensions upon which Contingency Theory (Jääskeläinen et al., 2012) may be analyzed and applied in the study: The first is the task structure which applies to how millennial managers set the network of relationship to suit to the task at hand. The interpersonal relationship was established by millennial managers with older subordinates and how it would affect the performance at work. The second is the member relation which pertains to the participants’ manner of interacting with older subordinates and builds up social networks that would enhance execution of task assignment. The third is the positional power relationship that focuses on the amount of power which millennial managers have over older employees. These focal points of analysis would describe the leadership style that millennial managers employed in the workplace.

Method

This study examines how millennial managers manifest themselves as leaders by identifying the leadership style/s they use, exploring factors that influence these style/s, and determining how it is used in managing and handling workplace conflict involving older employees.

Research Design and Overview

The methodology used for the study was qualitative with the use of interviews, participant observation, and document analysis to provide a holistic understanding and accurate descriptions of the interactions and relations between the participants being studied and to increase confirmability of findings. The library research method and data mining were also used to reinforce and countercheck the validity of the findings obtained from interviews and participant field observation.

Study Locale

The NFA is a government agency that is responsible for ensuring food security in the country by providing stability of the supply and price of staple grain rice. It was chosen to be an appropriate study locale because it has been observed to be adjusting to the influx of a new generation of young employees occupying leadership positions working side by side with older employees being their largest workplace demographics. The study locale is convenient for proximity, access, and availability of participants. Qualified participants were found through referrals from the peers of the researcher working in the NFA and by the use of the purposive sampling technique.

Participant Selection

In choosing qualified participants, the researcher used purposive sampling with the following criteria: (a) Millennial (born in the Philippines); (b) has managerial or supervisory role; (c) employed in the NFA on a full-time basis; (d) had prior leadership experience/s; and (e) currently managing/supervising at least three to five Gen Xers. Taking into account the uniqueness of the factors and the number of employees that fit into the selection criteria, the researcher screened and recruited four millennial managers in the NFA, Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija, Philippines. These four millennial managers have age ranging from 27 to 37, are occupying supervisory or managerial positions, and currently supervise Generation X staff ages 38 to 50; three are female and one is male.

The study used the qualitative technique over other research approaches because it focuses on obtaining an in-depth understanding of the leadership perception and style of millennial leaders and on finding meaning on how they handle conflicts involving older employees. Based on the study of Dworkin (2012), qualitative studies involving in-depth interviews do not rely much either on hypothesis testing or in extracting explanations from a large population, rather on inductive and emergent processes and in exploring the lived experiences of the research participants.

The suitability of qualitative method of research is enhanced by the appropriate analytical frames of Grounded Theory and Phenomenology to give deeper meaning to the “lived experiences” of the millennial managers which could provide fresh theoretical insights on leadership skills and styles of managers (Liamputtong, 2013). As qualitative study is basically inductive in logic, it involves a small number of participants who can provide rich information on a topic, flexibility, and depth of the study and quality information on the meanings of their own social conditions significant to develop a general conceptual understanding of the millennial managers at work (Babbie, 2016; Carpenter & Suto, 2008; Denzin and Lincoln, 2018; Gaudet & Robert, 2018; Hanson et al., 2018; Hesse-Biber, 2017; Liamputtong, 2013; Mason, 2002; Taylor et al., 2016). The important concern in qualitative research is to determine whether the sample size allows gathering information adequate to answer the statement of the problems leading to data saturation (Mason, 2014), which is positively observed in this study. Moreover, the sample size in qualitative study is adequate when “the emerging themes have been efficiently and effectively saturated sufficient to capture all aspects of the phenomenon under consideration.”

The limitation of the study is its generalizability considering that it used qualitative case study approach which does not require generalizability to test the rigor of the method used. However, the transferability of the findings is ensured by observing qualitative research protocol, strict selection process, and comparing results from the available literature used generated from some other context. In this case, four millennial managers were interviewed, first because they are the ones who satisfied the criteria set by the researchers and then because their inclusion in the study already represents the units in the study locale to which the study is applicable. This approach is deemed essential in analyzing emergent insights and in providing evidence to the categories being studied. It is different from quantitative research which requires generalization of the findings (Hesse-Biber, 2017).

Data Collection

Interview process

A representative sample of four respondents was interviewed to determine their leadership perceptions and how these perceptions manifest in leadership styles that they use in leading older employees. Using an interview guide, the questions were categorized into work characteristics, leadership styles, and conflict resolution strategies. The questions were open-ended and in no particular order.

This approach and technique are commonly used in the study of millennial leadership research (Fore, 2012; Medyanik, 2016; Summers, 2011). While focusing heavily on perceptions and analysis of leadership, they believe that such an understanding will be difficult to quantify (Medyanik, 2016). This study is different from previous research in terms of focus. Its central concern is the analysis and determination of leadership style/s of the Millennials as they are applied to older generations.

Participant observation

The researcher randomly conducts field observation of the respondents, particularly observation of the respondents’ interaction with peers, staff, and older employees. It aims to elicit raw characteristics that can further add to the data being gathered. Semi-structured interview and member-checking were also conducted except for one participant who was sent to seminar during the scheduled “talkback” wherein they would confirm the accuracy of the interpretations made on the information gathered. Imploring the help of the participants through talkback, cross-checking of the information provided by the millennial leaders against the information provided by their staff, and browsing through policies and activities being implemented in the unit to ensure harmonious relations among the personnel help ensure the consistency and validity of data.

Confidentiality of data

Informed consent from all the respondents was obtained during the data gathering process. Detailed and personal account of the work lives of the participants, anonymity, and confidentiality were also assured. The personal information of the participants which could lead to them being identified as information source was avoided except for years of experience and current positions. Moreover, as their names were not revealed, the researcher used pseudonyms for each participant. All data gathered, including detailed descriptions, accounts, and interview answers, are presented in the discussion and in a thematic grid which form part of the Appendix.

Results and Discussion

The study attempted to explore the leadership styles of millennial managers, factors that shape and influence such leadership styles, and how these leadership styles manifest on conflict management involving older employees. Each theme that emerged and recurring patterns from the data are presented, discussed, and supported by actual data. The data were gathered through in-depth interviews and participant observation with the objective of examining how the participants interact with their employees in a multigenerational workplace context. The themes identified under leadership attributes and styles are compared and contrasted with the leadership categories defined in the existing literature.

As the results of the process show, the emergent themes revolve around leadership traits obtained through education, technology, and social norms. Styles are similar to transactional and transformational leadership characteristics popularized by the Contingency Theory and are supported by the findings in which all the participants gave significant consideration on the need for a strong personal relationship with employees arising from a leader’s ability to develop soft skills equally important to developing a manager’s hard skills. Teamwork and strong working relationship are also associated with the need to develop respect for older subordinates. However, millennial leaders’ ability to acquire competence in the use of technology in the workplace provides them the advantage to undertake reverse mentoring of the older employees which serves as the central foundation of their power and authority to manage subordinates.

Furthermore, the analysis shows that delegation of tasks makes the millennial managers effective leaders. Assigning the tasks and monitoring their execution by older employees ensures that organizational outcomes are achieved. In regard to conflict resolution involving older employees, millennial leaders immediately report conflicts and tensions with their immediate superiors for proper guidance believing that they lack experience to personally resolve it. Finally, all the participants believe that the ability to handle expectations of subordinates and closely monitoring the performance are key to manage older employees and ensure team productivity.

Factors Affecting Leadership Styles of Millennial Managers

To understand millennial leadership, it is important to start identifying their leadership attributes (Fore, 2012). It is considered that leadership, apart from other attractive attributes, usually comes with wisdom and age. Senior leaders gain respect because of wisdom and intellect, vision, and personality as they obtain experience and seniority as they age. Studies have shown that Generation Xers desired a leader who leads by example and demonstrates credibility, knowledge, and competence (Arsenault, 2004; Sessa et al., 2007, cited in Nye, 2017). In addition to this, experience is an important factor in determining good and effective leadership (Deal, 2007, cited in Nye, 2017). On the other hand, a study reveals that Millennials are more likely to display leadership characteristics of Veterans (Zemke et al., 2000) which are mainly autocratic, traditional, directive, and hierarchical (Arsenault, 2004), whereas another study shows that Millennials will have a more democratic approach to leadership and will more likely to use a participative, shared leadership style (Medyanik, 2016).

When asked about the traits of a good leader, they answered the following: “ability to inspire,” “ability to guide and influence ability to listen,” “supportive,” “ethical,” “passionate,” “excellent,” “disciplined,” “driven to excel,” “calm under pressure,” “problem solver,” “creative,” “hardworking,” and “approachable and professional.” Such perceptions are the accepted notions and definitions of leadership that are acquired by education, technology, and socially accepted norms.

The in-depth interviews covered the participants’ leadership perceptions and qualities that they believe they have and the dimensions of leadership that they focused on as they deal with older subordinates. Identifying leadership perceptions and qualities the participants believe they possess provided insights on the type of leadership exercised among their older subordinates, which is the main focus of the study.

Throughout the study, characteristics that emerged and observed are compared, contrasted, and analyzed with the existing leadership types. However, no participant has been observed to be consistent with a particular leadership style and all leadership attributes identified can only be linked to the similar behavioral patterns and descriptions with transformational and transactional leadership styles. Most of the participants consider different styles of motivating subordinates depending on the goal and the needs of the situation, one of which is transformational leadership style considering that all the participants gave importance on building strong personal relationship with subordinates as the foundation of power and their ability to issue order and command.

The majority of the participants (Roch, Mond, and Liz) consider themselves as “people oriented” which is one of the essential characteristics of transformational leadership. Participants’ behaviors and styles of leadership are focused on the achievement of goals that also serve as the basis for the granting of rewards and punishment. The transformational and transactional leadership styles are both features of Contingency Theory of leadership.

Figure 1 shows the factors influencing Filipino millennial leadership as it is practiced in a multigenerational workforce. Based on interviews and field observations, Filipino millennial leaders tend to apply social skills/soft skills in their leadership roles, such as Establishing rapport, showing respect to older subordinates, delegation of tasks and management of performance and expectations, reverse mentoring, and the ability to manage conflict involving older employees.

Figure 1.

Filipino millennial leadership styles toward older employees.

These leadership components are translated into leadership practice through the use of technological know-how and social relationship or the soft skills. The factors of leadership are manifested through the Millennials’ preferences to exhibit values of collaboration (team building), open-mindedness, employee-centered leadership, and open access to older subordinates. It also includes management skills developed through experience such as performance and expectations. Innovation and technological know-how are shown by being innovative and expert in coaching older employees along the area of digitalization and reverse mentoring.

Surprisingly, all the participants declared high levels of confidence and accountability with their new roles. Faced with a difficult and novel task of leading employees older than themselves, they are developing leadership styles revolving around positive leadership concept, strong working relationships, building trust and credibility, and empowering employees as a foundation of a positive relationship. The results of the interviews are presented below generating themes and insights in relation to Filipino millennial leadership styles.

Establishing Rapport With Older Employees

All of them put primary importance on building good impression and rapport with their older subordinates compared with the young ones or those who are in their same age. Apart from meeting performance expectations, the participants shared that maintaining harmonious and personal relationships where their team can collaborate and work together is an important factor in the kind of leadership that they wanted to implement.

As Liz recounted, “I assumed the position, I focused on establishing rapport and building good impressions among my subordinates.” Similarly, Karla emphasized the importance of establishing rapport toward her subordinates. She believed that it is important to gain trust and credibility to compensate for her young age and limited leadership experience. She wanted to make sure that her assumption to the role does not attract criticism and resistance, so she wanted to get a “feel” of the environment and the people that she will be handling (Interview, September 2016). She wanted to make sure that her assumption to the role does not attract criticism and resistance, so she wanted to get a “feel” of the environment and the people that she will be handling.

Meanwhile, Roch also believed that “relationship-building is a critical factor in establishing authority and gaining the trust of your subordinates.” She seemed pressured to perform and prove her efficacy as a leader. She also added that, because their knowledge and skill set are more updated compared with the older employees, she is compelled to deliver and perform exceptionally. Because of this pressure, she believed that it is important to gain the trust of her subordinates by showing, apart from her skills, how good she is in interacting with people (Interview, October 2016).

Prior research had also shown that teamwork and strong working relationships are key desires of Millennials in the workplace (Cox, 2016; Nye, 2017; Ruys, 2013; Zemke et al., 2000). Millennials are also inclined to be team oriented (Cox, 2016; Harrison, 2015; Lester, 2011; Murray, 2011; Ruys, 2013) and believe that compatibility with their teams can determine their leadership effectiveness (Ruys, 2013).

The participants’ comfort level with technology and use of social media also influences how they create, sustain, and enhance social relationships and networks within their organization. It is concluded that they use social media and technological platforms to innovate their ways of connecting and building relations with their subordinates who, likewise, are also starting to adopt such social platforms.

It can be inferred from the participants that the leadership qualities that they possess and demonstrate include the ability to create positive and strong working relationships while maintaining autonomy. Although such qualities are also good attributes of leadership (Nye, 2017), the participants place significance on relationships to gain trust and confidence as leaders. As they are handling employees older than them, building relations and having positive interactions can be a challenge and an opportunity to build trust and credibility. Although this can also happen in most of the manager–subordinate relationships, it can be noted that, with older employees, such qualities become not only a priority but a necessity.

Respect for Subordinates

According to Nye (2017), Millennials are categorized as a generational cohort that has a strong sense of respect toward meaningful interactions and relationships with peers and supervisors. It is also believed to be one of the most important leadership attributes, along with group collaboration, teamwork, influence, vision, and communication. Karen and Liz show signs of respect for age and desire to establish a comfort level with their staff. They believe that starting a relationship with older employees should begin with the friendly communication and informal discussions. Apart from being in a supervisor–staff relationship, she mentioned no particular difficulty with engaging in personal conversations with her staff. Because of the age difference, the participants reported that they have to adapt to the situation they find themselves in. One of its simplest manifestations is that, instead of calling them by their names, they are referred to as “Tita/nanny/ate” and “Tito/tay/Kuya,” which can also be attributed to Filipinos’ show of respect to seniors and older people and initiative to be informal, casual, and approachable (Pe-Pua & Protacio-Marcelino, 2000).

Faced with the challenge of leading older subordinates, Mond earned respect by being a people-person, showing kindness and generosity, open to suggestions, and being approachable while maintaining his position as boss. For instance, he may be very lenient toward employees’ requests and shows kindness, but strict when it comes to service delivery and performance.

Furthermore, all of the participants explained the importance of listening as a form of respect. Listening as a good leadership characteristic is also mentioned several times by all the participants. Older subordinates should be recognized and respected for their wisdom and knowledge in the organization. They are exceptionally good resources in understanding the systems and processes, tasks, and even the culture of the organization.

This also highlights the importance of soft skills in leadership in contrast to hard skills that can be readily taught. Even with limited leadership experiences, participants can actively learn and perform soft leadership skills on the job. This result reveals that the participants’ leadership attributes of building positive working relationships and showing respect to older subordinates are critical factors to increase the work engagement and satisfaction of older employees. If such is established, it will be a foundation of trust, acceptance, and credibility of the participants as leaders. Thus, to establish themselves as leaders, they engage their subordinates by showing kindness and respect. Research reveals that respect and good interpersonal skills increase workplace satisfaction and likeability and credibility of leaders (Billups, 2016; Ruys, 2013).

Mond, on the other hand, is a relatively new employee of the NFA. He had served as a manager in his previous work for 3 years and applied in the NFA. With his age, years of leadership experience, and full-time position in the NFA, he was qualified as a participant in this study. He shared the importance of putting limitations to the degree of “personal closeness” with his subordinates. He maintains that authority should be reinforced in the form of respect and discipline, having a strong working relationship with older employees through social interactions with them. However, there is a caveat to put limitations on personal relationship. It would breed contempt and disrespect.

Reverse Mentoring

With older employees lacking the computer skills, it may present an opportunity for reverse mentoring (Fore, 2012). Millennials, with their knowledge base in technology, can implement a reverse mentorship relationship that will enable them to teach older employees on how to better utilize technology to improve work efficiency (Lester, 2011). Liz’s desire to empower and develop others’ capabilities and Mond’s interest in teaching and sharing his knowledge are both features of an authentic leadership style.

According to the research conducted by Billups (2016), authentic leadership style is an emerging leadership strategy that revolves around a high level of awareness and interest to the development of others. It is a positive leadership style that impacts subordinates’ job satisfaction, work engagement, and positive employee outcomes by fostering positive emotions, work climate, and concern to the subordinates’ success.

Apart from orienting them to the use of office programs, the participants shared that mentoring is mostly limited. Mentoring occurs when there are new policies or regulation that the organization is required to comply. Although this rarely happens, all participants expressed a desire to impart knowledge to their subordinates in their capacity.

Mond also stated that he had created templates in Excel to help the older subordinates adjust to the new computer program. He was very open in teaching them and accommodates questions from time to time.

Delegation of Tasks

Assigning tasks to older subordinates is seen as an important component of a millennial leader. What the participants mostly do is to check on the regular updates and conduct follow-ups to ensure that they are on track with their deliverables and timeline. Roch claimed that her older staff are well trained and versatile on tasks within the department; she had very little difficulty in ensuring timely submission of reports and meeting deadlines in most cases. She had followed the system of procedures that are already in place. Roch also added that she believed that her older subordinates are “mostly waiting for their retirement,” when she was asked to define her leadership style or preferences. The challenge in this mind-set is that it discounts all the intrinsic rewards such as recognition, compliments, and self-fulfillment that older employees are also looking for their job.

Such a leadership attribute is a dimension of a transactional leadership style. Transactional leadership can be characterized as an exchange in which subordinates’ needs are met if their performance meets the expectations of their leader (Bass, 1985, cited in Cox, 2016). Liz mentioned that the two most important rules she implements within her team are compliance with deadlines and collaboration (Interview, 2016). She mentioned that her tasks mostly revolve around delegation and consolidation of reports.

For special tasks, Karen and Liz mentioned that, before distributing the task, they would first ask their subordinates if they can do and complete the job on time. If not, they will give it to others with a lesser workload at the moment. Mond also shared how critical it is to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each in the team. He said,

Meeting deadlines is a priority. Here, our reports are interconnected. Delay in the submission of a report may put the burden and delay those people who are waiting for our output. I will also be the signatory to that report, so my name will appear there, and it will reflect on me. But for older employees, they don’t have to be reminded all the time because they should know already. Most of the time, they’re okay.

It can generally be described that the leadership styles of the respondents were largely shaped and influenced by perceptions of leadership and previous mentors and experiences of mentorship. All the participants admitted that they lack leadership experience and are gaining skills on the job through trial and error. In cases of uncertainty, they draw from their previous leadership experiences and lessons learned from mentors. It is realized that the leadership style used is commonly a combination of styles and is usually context dependent. The researcher can infer from the interviews that the participants’ perceptions of leadership and leadership styles are predominantly influenced by their previous mentors. With limited experience and fast transition to leadership roles, they can draw from their interactions and experiences with their previous mentors.

Conflict Resolution

Workplace conflict can be generated by a broad range of causes. Most of the observed conflicts can be attributed to age and personality differences, miscommunications, negative assumptions, and stereotypes. Such intergenerational conflict is a legitimate diversity issue that needs attention. It is observed that, instead of dealing with the issue, the participants reported that they downgrade these arising tensions and disputes to personal issues that they believe should be resolved independently by those involved. Some people struggle with confrontations as a way of resolving conflicts. Millennials are no exception. The participants shared that they had experiences of dealing with conflicts within their teams and, at times, found themselves being involved with tensions in the workplace as well.

The participants believed that it is really difficult to solve problems arising from work and personality issues, especially with older employees because they had stronger personalities and seniority compared with other members of the team. Karen, on the other hand, is observed to be different. However, the challenge with this mind-set is that staff members may believe that such behavior is tolerated or the leader is incompetent to resolve small issues such as mentioned and, therefore, can be concluded as incompetent and suffer reputational damages. All of the participants immediately report conflicts and tensions with their immediate superiors for proper guidance.

It can be concluded, therefore, that the conflict resolution and management skills of the participants are lacking and inadequate to independently resolve conflicts that involve older employees. Accordingly,

There’s a lot of conflicts and tensions that had happened. Most of the time, older employees are involved. I don’t discriminate. Whether young or old, they can have an attitude problem. In my experience, if there are disagreements between my people, I just let them. If that affects their work, I’ll talk to them separately. Then, eventually, they fix their issues themselves”; “Sometimes, older employees are like the problem child. At times, they feel like they’re the boss and want to ignore those circumstances. They are old enough already; they should not be reprimanded for things like this.

When aggressiveness on both parties is observed, the participants reported that they responded by listening to both sides and having them arrive at an agreement which is in any case uneasy and awkward because they are dealing with employees that are older and senior to them. These employees may question their understanding and credibility in mediating the issue. Worse, they may feel insulted that someone younger is attempting to resolve their issues. Mond said,

I worked for NFA for a long time now. When I was promoted to manager, the scope of my responsibility widened, and my staff grew in numbers. There are still a lot of things I don’t know, and so, most of the time, I discuss updates and concerns to my boss on things that I don’t know. Maybe they’ve misinterpreted that I’ve been ratting out on them to my boss. There are issues in the office that are usually just misunderstandings, but older employees are offended when I’m just doing my work in a manner that I believe is right.

These problems are exacerbated by older worker–young supervisor relationship difficulties. Millennials are vulnerable to finding themselves in conflict with older employees because of issues of differences in work attitudes and work values. As leaders, they are also faced with the challenge of mediating and facilitating conflicts within their staff, both older and younger employees. Being relatively new and inexperienced, they encounter confusion and difficulties on how to properly handle the situation and resolve the issue. These conflict incidents that were not addressed and resolved properly can result in low employee morale, high turnover rates, and organizational loss (Hillman, 2014). This is supported by the Behavioural Management Theory wherein failure to address the needs of employees can also have ramifications on the organizational culture. Thus, it is imperative to equip millennial leaders with knowledge, tools, and strategies that can effectively mitigate unhealthy conflict incidents within the workplace by understanding generational differences, disproving stereotypes, and promoting diversity within their organizations.

Managing Expectations and Performance

Millennial managers believe that the ability to handle expectations of subordinates and close monitoring of performance are factors in the handling of older employees. The senior status of employment of their subordinates provides them the leeway to handle them with less control and supervision. There is no specific leadership style that suits to this factor constituting millennial leadership. Accordingly,

I don’t have a particular leadership style that I use because they’re good. They know what they’re doing, and they have more experience than me. How can you help them improve when they’re your seniors. They’re only waiting to retire. Maybe, that’s their motivation.

Liz said,

If I gave a task, I have to check if the task is clearly understood or they are encountering difficulty with the task without telling me . . . if there are new reports, I let them decide how to handle it and see if we have the same understanding of the required report.

Furthermore, “Many times at work, I observe how they do their tasks and how they decide over things and how it matches what I think is right.”

Mond said,

Older employees are easier to handle because they are more experienced. You don’t have to teach them, and they already know the techniques to make work easier. They are also independent, and they know their tasks well. I use them to motivate the younger ones. The young employees’ dedication to work should be developed. (Interview, 2016)

Conclusions and Recommendations

The study focused on describing the leadership styles that millennial leaders use as they lead, manage, and resolve workplace conflicts with older employees. Based on the analysis and results of data, the participants do not use a standard leadership style and are inclined to develop positive leadership traits and styles. Lacking in significant leadership experiences, they mostly rely on previous leadership experiences and skills learned from their mentors to shape their leadership competencies.

Central to these leadership styles is a focus on building interpersonal relationships, respect for older employees, mentoring, delegation, and managing expectations and performance. Millennial leaders believe that strong positive relationships and respect are keys to inciting effectiveness that will allow them to establish authority and credibility among their older subordinates. Because Millennials are heavily influenced by immense technology and digital media, they bring in their expertise in this area to shape their ways of interaction and networking toward their peers and subordinates. They also use this expertise as an opportunity for mentoring older employees who are slowly adjusting to technological infrastructures.

Older employees are viewed as “experts in their own jobs” and are “just waiting for retirement,” thus requiring minimal supervision. The participants’ approach in task delegation can be described to be “hands-off” and “flexible,” allowing older employees to exercise a degree of independence in their tasks. In turn, millennial leaders can also learn by observing their work strategies and decision-making process without explicitly asking for help.

Lacking in experience, most Millennials face uncertainty and disorientation in the occurrence of conflicts and tensions that involve their older subordinates. In the occurrence of conflict or tensions, the initial response is to disregard and ignore the issue or elevate it to the immediate superior for guidance. Ignoring and disregarding the issue is justified by the assumption that older employees are “mature enough” to handle these situations. The participants may lack the knowledge and understanding to recognize conflicts that are caused by generational differences. Worse, they may fail to recognize that ignoring such issues may lead to damaging effects on may be provided to enhance the employee morale, motivation, and productivity.

Understanding and accepting generational differences and maximizing the strengths of each generation will bring in valuable results to organizational harmony. Management failure to address work value differences and stereotypes may result in low organizational morale, higher turnover rates, and reduced profits. It is therefore important to equip millennial leaders with the necessary training, tools, and strategies on leadership, interpersonal skills, and conflict resolution skills that they can use to effectively lead a multigenerational group of people.

It is recommended that further studies defining the Filipino Millennials be conducted to further understand the behavioral tendencies, work attitudes, and traits specific to the Filipino history, culture, and values. It is also important to examine millennial leadership development to identify leadership competencies and attributes of millennial managers. Leadership trainings and programs suitable to Millennials’ work habits, attitudes, motivation, and employee morale may be provided to enhance their development and work productivity.

Continued research is encouraged to focus on the generational differences in leadership, multigenerational trends in leadership, and millennial leadership development process.

Expanded research is recommended to increase the number of participants, expand the scope of the study to include Veterans, and cross-examine their leadership styles, attitudes, and preferences.