Almost all tools in the tool chest can be used as weapons in a war chest if HR isn’t thoughtful and careful. I’m pretty sure you would agree with that.

Thanks for responding and for igniting the conversation!

I agree that you often have to look at different demographics than just generations – which is precisely my argument as to why generations at least CAN be important. Any demographic is a tool that can be used or ignored as the circumstances warrant.

I love your example about ethnic and national demographics, because I have experienced a similar issue. My previous company was largely unskilled hourly. While most of them were in the same age group, my workers were almost evenly split between urban black, suburban white, and Hispanic Mexican. There was occasional tensions between groups and individuals because of this, and I stressed awareness and understanding to help diffuse those tensions. I think generational differences are similar – sometimes they are helpful to understand and sometimes they are irrelevant.

I think you presented an excellent example of how one group (police) must use these types to deal better with their customers (the public). I don’t see a more viable solution for the police. I found this source http://www.project.org/info.php?recordID=33 that declared there are 2.3 policepersons for every 1000 citizens. The police cannot get to know everyone on an individual basis.

In the rest of the working world, that ratio is not nearly that high when comparing HR professionals to the employees or managers to employees. In this case scenario, yes there are times that HR makes decisions based on demographics. But I would like it to be the anomaly and not the norm.

But I think your example in your last paragraph has more to do with demographics rather than distinct generational differences; after all, Gen Y will eventually get to the same place 30 years later.

Also, I think we should not overstate the impact of other cultural and racial diversity on the workplace. My workforce is approximately 40% foreign-born (mostly African, followed by the West Indies), 35% African American, 25% misc. We’ve had some interesting dynamics over the years between the first two groups, not to mention between the first group and our customers because our staff are providing home care for disabled people but if they were raised elsewhere, they don’t always understand what is expected here in terms of meals, holiday celebrations, decor, etc. I realize that not all organizations mirror mine; I’m just using mine as an example of why you can look at generations but also look deeper.