One of the main challenges facing management in any company is the cultural and generational integration of its human capital. As well as coming from all corners of the world, the latest generations to have entered the labor market have grown up in an environment shaped by information and communication technologies. The new generation of professionals is accustomed to working with office tools, to using the channels of communication available thanks to internet, and to collaborating in multicultural teams. These new values may clash with the values of earlier generations. To avoid any disfunctionality that may have an adverse impact on business development, management needs to cater for both dimensions in their strategies and day-to-day activity. To this end, clear plans should be implemented for Diversity Management and Age Management. In the course of this module, both concepts will be defined and the differences between them and the areas in which they complement each other will be discussed.
The concept of Age Management is considered first. Its goal is to achieve appropriate generational balance and change within an organization. To this end, thought should be given to the working life cycle (employee’s and employer’s), to the challenges for employment implicit in first opportunities, to job-suitability policies, to the impact of new technologies on more veteran workers, and to the development of preventive measures to avoid age discrimination. This entails devising techniques and incentives to retain more experienced workers. Secondly, the concept of Diversity Management is considered as a catalyst of growth in an organization. This entails taking steps to integrate the different cultural and personal values of the entire staff or workforce.