Generation Y

Nationally, one in four Australians were born overseas, a pretty multicultural figure if there ever was one. But take the under 30s demographic and the number is much closer to one in three, according to social researcher Mark McCrindle, CEO of McCrindle Research and author of The ABC of XYZ: Understanding the Global Generations.

“With that multicultural mix, that cultural diversity, it means there are lots of connections throughout the world, so that’s partly how there are global connections,” he notes. “More than that though, they are studying and working alongside people who have come from other parts of the world, even if they don’t have those connections. Most importantly, behaviourally—through technology—we’re talking about a connected generation.”

Thanks to technology, this connectivity is part of the natural evolution of a global community pulling closer together as time goes on. “You end up with what we call cultural convergence; each new generation, regardless of cultural background, is closer to their generation than their fathers and grandfathers were [to their respective generations],” explains McCrindle. “That’s the world shaping generations X and Y and Z. As for export and global business and connections, we’ve never had a global generation like this before.”

With this fresh outlook comes a lot of business benefits. For starters, Generation X (born 1965-1979), Y (1980-1994) and Z (1995-2009) have very little concept of national boundaries and will naturally look to do business internationally.
“In the past we’d think about domestic and international trade, but the younger generation is less likely to see those distinctions. So rather than focus on a domestic business and when you get big enough, you’ll move to export, this generation think globally from the start,” says McCrindle. “They never see that their business needs to stop at a border.”

The fluidity of this mindset, which he calls post-structural thinking, gives businesses with a Gen Y employee at the helm the ability to move forward easily. “In areas of innovation they are able to morph with the times and engage in this fast-moving world,” says McCrindle. “They are intuitive when it comes to technology. They bring strength in that entrepreneurial area as well, being able to think out of the box and find niches for what they’re offering.”

Barriers at the border

Unfortunately there are some downsides to young exporters’ fluidity when it comes to the nitty-gritty of doing business, particularly in regard to bureaucracy. “We have a world of increasingly regulation and systemisation, and yet you have a generation that are less compliant than previous generations,” says McCrindle. “So when you have a highly regulated business society and world, but a low compliance generation, you have a clash of values.”

Gen Y and Z see regulation as stifling innovation, and this attitude is likely to compromise future governance given that Gen X and Y will come into leadership positions over the next two decades. McCrindle believes they will question a lot of the existing rules, and the ‘old ways’, but will need to come around to systemisation. “It’s going to require an attitudinal adjustment for Gen Ys,” he says. “As creative as they want to be, they have to work within systems and be pragmatic about playing the game even though they want to change the rules. That’s a bit of give and take on both sides. They’ll find a path, they are resilient.”

Gen Y’s way of working may also come into question, for while they are great advocates of work/life balance, flexibility and empowerment, as managers they’ll need to compromise with systems designed to keep people accountable, as well as focus on productivity and defined job roles.

Adds McCrindle: “Their weakness is that while they’re good on the soft skills, inspiring people, casting a vision and on communicating and engaging, they aren’t as good on the hard skills and we do need productivity outcomes, the structural administrative side as well.”

Cultural interactivity

All this is a fairly Western view of Gen Y and admittedly some of the countries with which this generation will interact will have strong ideas of business systems that are different, particularly with regard to hierarchy and authority. “Leaders going global need to understand that it’s great to be empowering, to be collaborative and to offer flexibility and work/life balance, but in a lot of emerging countries they want clear leadership and instructive approaches and a strong supervisory system,” explains McCrindle. “We’ll need our leaders to have the flexibility to put on both hats.”

Fortunately, flexibility is a key strength of the next generation of global business leaders. Combined with their solid understanding of cultural differences, it opens up a world where cultural interactivity is all part and parcel of doing business, not just a guide to etiquette skimmed before meetings. “They’re just as likely to learn from the east as they are from the west,” says McCrindle. “It’s an appropriate respect that they bring with the new shift in world power. It’s exciting.”

Read more about Future Leaders in Export

“Over 40 percent of those surveyed feel that cultural differences pose a threat to societal harmony,” Professor Kevin Dunn, from the University of Western Sydney’s School of Social Science.

“If you take that alongside the 87 percent that are pro-multiculturalism, clearly you have a third of the nation that tolerates cultural diversity but are concerned at the impact it will have on society.”

Results from the 11-year study showed that 85 percent of those surveyed acknowledged that racial prejudice in Australia existed and that one in five had been a victim of racist verbal abuse. More than six percent were against multiculturalism.

Dunn inferred that the government could deal with racial issues by appointing a full-time Racial Discrimination Commissioner, as the Social Justice Commissioner was not able to devote enough time to addressing them.

“Because of the severe underfunding of the commission, they’re just unable to offer the sorts of services required,” said Dunn, also referring to the handling of the recent attacks on Indian students.

The study involved a survey of 16,000 Australians. It forms part of the ‘Challenging Racism Project’ involving researchers from the University of Western Sydney, Macquarie University, Murdoch University, University of Melbourne, University of South Australia and Victoria University.