1. Introduction
Background Information
The changes in the health care industries influence the leadership goals, employee as well as the quality of the healthcare. Currently, the healthcare organization is becoming informed about the significant impact of having two distinct generations in the workplace. The substantial amount of literature exists on how to recognize the two generations and their difference regarding emotional intelligence, interpersonal skills and communication skills. Again, there is some research that evaluates how to attract and retains Generation X and Generation Y workers. However the literature that addresses the difference in the generations are not sufficient (Anantatmula & Shrivastav, 2012). However, healthcare workplace has expanded with the increase in some a new group of nurses, physicians, administrators, allied health professionals, and support staff who belong to the youngest generation in the workforce, Millennial or Generation Y. This generation consists of individuals in their late 20s and early 30s (Bolton et al., 2013). Their traits and intelligence differ from those in Generation X, the generation Y people are positioned to influence the current leadership approaches in health care industries. However, Generation Y was b between 1977 and 1996; it constitutes of 20 percent of the worker in health care field. The members of Generation Y have experienced tremendous growth in global projects and other initiatives.
However, the workforce is multigenerational, consisting of four generations, which include, Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, X and Y Generations. Regardless of each generation being relatively constant, the exact year during the span of generations is not clearly defined due to the cultural, societal and geographical Influences. Some studies have pointed out an overview of Generation X, according to different surveys; Generation X consists of 13 percent of the U.S population, 21% of the workforce and 23% of the healthcare workers. This generation was born between 1965 and 1976; the individuals under Generation X are shaped by technology and scientific advancements, economic recession and inflation. They were raised during the era when traditional values were threatening both emotional and financial security. Generation X is perhaps described as self-reliant as well as cynical of the environment around it. The members of Generation X are highly educated such that at least 40 percent of them have a minimum of a college degree (Strutton, Taylor & Thompson, 2011).
2. Purpose of the Research
The key goal of the research is to explain, describe and evaluate the differences among the Generation Y leaders and Generation X leaders in the health care industries. Again, the study was aimed to acquire how advanced communication technologies have created a divergence from the past social relationships to a more virtual relationship through the emerging of Generation Y in the workforce. Moreover, the study will investigate whether common themes exist along the lines of emotional intelligence, interpersonal skills as well communication skills between X and Y Generations in health care industry. Since the study examined the experiences of Generation Y and X leaders in health care field, it is also focused on analyzing multiple points of view on the similar experiences and sought to present generalizations from heal care leadership perspective. However with the emphasis on practical differences between the two generations the study was designed to use a qualitative method to obtain and analyze the information (Solnet, 2013). Nevertheless, the research was guided by the survey questions based upon the differences in leadership between the two generations.
Research Questions
Research questions are aligned with research purpose. The aim of the study is to assess the difference between generation Y and generation X in term of emotional intelligence, interpersonal skills, and communication skills. Therefore, for the attainment if research three questions will be answered that are described as follow:
Q1: What are the significant differences between the level of emotional intelligence between Generation Y leaders and Generation X leaders in the health care industries?
Q2: How would the communication skills of Generation Y leaders differ from that of Generation X leaders in the health care industries?
Q3: What are significant differences between the level of interpersonal relationships between Generation Y and Generation X leaders in the health care industries?
The research questions assisted in guiding the qualitative research that is pioneering the research strategy and narrowing the study purpose (Cresswell. 2007). They assisted in examining perspectives, lived experiences as well as virtual relationships between Generations Y and X leaders' skills as well as their perceptions (Solnet, 2013).
Reference
Anantatmula, V. S., & Shrivastav, B. (2012). Evolution of project teams for Generation Y workforce. International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, 5(1), 9-26.
Bolton, R. N., Parasuraman, A., Hoefnagels, A., Migchels, N., Kabadayi, S., Gruber, T., & Solnet, D. (2013). Understanding Generation Y and their use of social media: a review and research agenda. Journal of Service Management, 24(3), 245-267.
Cresswell. J. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry & research design: Choosing among five approaches. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
Patton, Michael Quinn (2014). Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods: Integrating Theory and Practice (p.iv). SAGE Publications. Kindle Edition
Strutton, D., Taylor, D. G., & Thompson, K. (2011). Investigating generational differences in e-WOM behaviors: for advertising purposes does X= Y?. International Journal of Advertising, 30(4), 559-586.
