China's Gen X struggles to manage Gen Y

China Briefing has published an article, How Gen Y Can Lead China. The story highlights the relationship between China's Generation X bosses and their Generation Y subordinates. It reveals an interesting parallel uncanny similarities in the relationship between the same in the U.S. Here is an excerpt:

The vast majority of multinational companies in China have a layer of Gen X middle managers who are inclined to be less assertive than their Gen Y staff. These managers may rarely voice opinions in meetings, yet are now managing a group of young people with good English skills, full of confidence in speaking up and interacting with foreigners. The young want to take initiative and share ideas but lack experience. Their immediate bosses at the middle level feel pressured, not respected, and are unable to deal with their young subordinates...

The vast majority of managers’ in multinationals have experienced that Gen Yers are very ambitious, demanding, hypersensitive, and nearly allergic to criticism. They are confounded by the quantity of “emotion” Gen Y employees add to the workplace. The combination of high intelligence and over excitability explains numerous difficulties managers have with their Gen Y staff. Ordering them around will likely undermine their motivation and provoke resistance. While they take for granted that hierarchy exists, Gen Y does not obey the same hierarchical rules Gen X plays by. This creates serious friction between young staff and their supervisors.

A few big takeaways: 1) If you're doing business with China you need to start reading everything you can about Generation Y as it relates to their business, culture and economy, and 2) Successfully retaining Generation Y talent, no matter what the continent, is going to correlate with how much coaching they receive because this is what Gen Y wants: coaching, opportunities to get experience and praise.

Photo Credit: Renato @ Mainland China via Flickr with Creative Commons License.