Current leadership theories and millennials need for change

Based on the article:

Anderson, H. J., Baur, J. E., Griffith, J. A. & Buckley, M. R. (2016). What works for you may not work for
(Gen)Me: Limitations of present leadership theories for the new generation. The Leadership Quarterly, 28,
245-260.

Millennials is the new generation that in 2015 took over the Generation X as the biggest age group in the
work force (Brownstone, 2014, as cited in Anderson et al. 2016). It has been studied that this new
generation differs from workers in previous generations in many ways and this poses challenges for
organizational leaders in different fields. Judge and Piccolo (as cited in Anderson et al. 2016) said that
leadership style has a huge effect on employees and their job satisfaction, motivation and performance,
and needs to be applied properly in order to influence employees to meet the organizational goals.
Thinking of the wide tourism sector; no hotel, destination or DMO can work effectively without all
employees working for the same goal. Recent article by Anderson, Baur, Griffith and Buckley (2016)
underlines the differences between these two generations, examines five current leadership theories in a
context of Millennials as employees and also gives recommendations how to adapt these current theories.

Millennials, referring to people born between 1982 and 1999, are often seen as the selfie generation, a
generation who loves to use social media but dont care about the contributions they make at work. On the
other hand, Millennials can be seen very creative and with high technical abilities (Anderson et al. 2016).
Alongside these perceptions, recent studies (e.g Lyons &Kuron, 2014) have proved that there are significant
changes in working attitudes and values between Generation X and Millennials (as cited in Anderson et al.
2016). These changes include the importance of leisure activities and work-life balance, increased
individualism, different motivational drivers (extrinsic rewards), greater sense of entitlement and desire of
feedback from their supervisors.

There were five leadership theories chosen in the paper (Anderson et al. 2016). First, transformational
leaders are inspirational leaders with a clear vision. They find it hard to motivate and encourage todays
employees to achieve the organizational goals together because they are more individualistic and want to
achieve their own goals (Twenge, 2010 as cited in Anderson et al. 2016). However, Millennials crave for
challenging work and feedback from their supervisors.

Second, information processing perspective focuses in the social context where followers make attributions
about their leaders (House & Aditya, 1997, as cited in Anderson et al. 2016). Hansen & Leuty (2012)
stressed that todays employees put high importance on extrinsic rewards and are more likely to see a
person who has power to give rewards and punishments as a leader (as cited in Anderson et al. 2016).
Third, Leader-Member exchange (LMX) is based on social exchange where there are one-on-one
relationships between leaders and followers (in-groups and out-groups) (Dansereau et al. 1975 as cited in
Anderson et al. 2016). Pearson (2010) argued that being in the in-group requires more interaction between
leader and follower and this poses a challenge because Millennials prefer using new, computer-aided or
text-based, forms to communicate (as cited in Anderson et al. 2016).

Fourth, authentic leadership is a process where the leader reflects his or her internal values and beliefs and
at the same time inspires followers to examine their own. The generations before have always valued work
centrality but Millennials are less work oriented and value work-life balance. This strong work ethic can
cause incongruity and damage the leader-follower relationship (Avolio & Gardner, 2005, as cited in
Anderson et al.). Finally, ethical leadership encompasses ethical and moral behavior and the promotion of
this behavior among followers (Brown & Trevino, 2006, as cited in Anderson et al. 2016). As already
mentioned, Millennials are more driven by extrinsic rewards and might act unethically if the rewards is
bigger than the consequence of acting ethically (Hansen & Leuty, 2012, as cited in Anderson et al 2016).

All of these changes in workforce are very visible in the tourism industry because it is the fastest growing
industry in the world and also worlds largest employer with 292 million employees (Economic Impact of
Tourism, 2017). However, also the employee turnover is really high in the hospitality industry and
organizational commitment is not as high among Millennials as it was for Generation X (Anderson et al.
2016). This is one of the biggest reasons why it is really important to understand Millennials and what they
want from a job.

REFERENCES:

Anderson, H. J., Baur, J. E., Griffith, J. A. & Buckley, M. R. (2016). What works for you may not work for
(Gen)Me: Limitations of present leadership theories for the new generation. The Leadership Quarterly, 28,
245-260.

Avolio, B. J., & Gardner, W. L. (2005).Authentic leadership development: Getting to the root of positive
forms of leadership.The Leadership Quarterly, 16, 315-338.

Brown, M. E., & Trevio, L. K. (2006).Ethical leadership: A review and future directions.The Leadership
Quarterly, 17, 595-616.

Brownstone, S. (2014). Millennials will become the majority in the workforce in 2015. Is your company
ready? Retrieved from http://www.fastcoexist.com/3037823/millennials-will-become-the-majority-in-the-
workforce-in-2015-is-your-company-read

Dansereau, F., Graen, G., & Haga, W. J. (1975).A vertical dyad linkage approach to leadership within formal
organizations: A longitudinal investigation of the role making process.Organizational Behavior and Human
Performance, 13, 46-78.

Hansen,J.I.C.,&Leuty,M.E.(2012).Work values across generations.Journal of Career Assessment, 20, 34-52.

House, R. J., & Aditya, R. N. (1997).The social scientific study of leadership: Quo vadis?Journal of
Management, 23, 409-473.

Judge, T. A., & Piccolo, R. F. (2004).Transformational and transactional leadership: A meta-analytic test of
their relative validity.Journal of Applied Psychology, 89, 755-768.

Lyons, S., & Kuron, L. (2014).Generational differences in the workplace: A review of the evidence and
directions for future research.Journal of Organizational Behavior, 35, 139-157.

Pearson, J. C., Carmon, A., Tobola, C., & Fowler, M. (2010).Motives for communication: Why the Millennial
Generation uses electronic devices.Journal of the Communication, Speech & Theatre Association of North
Dakota, 22, 45-55.

Twenge, J. M. (2010).A review of the empirical evidence on generational differences in work

attitudes.Journal of Business and Psychology, 25, 201-210.
World Travel & Tourism Council (2017). Economic Impact of Tourism. Retrieved from
https://www.wttc.org/research/economic-research/economic-impact-analysis/