Поколенческое разнообразие и его учет в управлении талантами и результативности фирмы

Topicality. Due to recent socio-cultural and economic trends such as globalization, increased life expectations, ethnic and gender differences of employees at the workplace, business society is turning its attention to the management of different diversity dimensions (Bernard et al., 2019). Taking these trends into consideration, workforces will continue to become more heterogeneous (Mor Barak & Travis 2013). The scientific definition of diversity refers to a range of differences in nationality, age, gender, language, function, ability, religion, and etc. (Anita & Swamy, 2018). Diversity at the workplace additionally covers cultural and intellectual capabilities because such parameters but not only ethnic or demographic diversity can be result in creativity that empowers companies to show better performance (Roberson et al., 2017). It is considered that entities prosper workforce diversity in order to enhance organizational effectiveness according to the 18th Annual Global CEO Survey (PwC, 2015) and Forbes Insights survey (2011). There is also evidence in recent researches that gender-diverse and education-diverse senior management as well as implemented gender diversity human resource (HR) practices positively impacts strategic changes in high-tech firms, which ultimately improves firm performance (del Carmen Triana, Richard & Su, 2019), that gender and ethnic diversity in the board of directors shows a significant positive effect on firm performance in the lodging industry (Song, Yoon & Kang, 2020, Sen & Mukherjee, 2019).
Speaking especially about generational diversity in the workforce, it should be mention that this diversity could be considered as partly “natural”: today we are witnessing a global trend towards an increase in the length of the working period (Polat et al., 2017). On the one hand, the worsening economic situation in the world, which makes people constantly work, and on the other hand, increased life expectancy, which will result in a commensurate increase in retirement age, all these external factors stimulate generational diversity in the workforce.
The potential impact of generation diversity on firm performance should be taken into consideration in a more detailed way due to increased life expectancy from 48 to 74 years for men, and from 51 to almost 80 years for women during 20th century (National Center for Health Statistics, 2004) as well as the retirement of Traditionalists generation and Generation Z appearance on the threshold of employment (Dwivedula et al, 2019). Currently Baby Boomers, Generations X, Y as people with common key life events and demographics that they experience together (Howe & Strauss, 2000; Raines, 2003) form a major part of the workforce (Kilber et al., 2014). However, Generation Z representatives already started to be employed and their impact on HR and TM practices will increase from year to year. It means, that the consecution of four
different generations which are heavily tightened by relations and communications at workplaces 6
is changing. This fact opens the field for further research in order to actualize studies about generational diversity implementation in HR and talent management (TM), as each generation contains a set of features in terms of their attraction, managing, retention, motivation, work environment requirements etc.
Research gap. Based on the literature reviewed in this study concerning talent management and generation diversity, several research gaps have been identified.
Previous studies concerning generation diversity impact on firm performance have considered different generations as research samples. Some of the articles cover the TM and HR practices regarding three generations – Baby Boomers, Generation X and Y (Fenzel, 2013; Kilber et al., 2014). More older researchers also consider Traditionalists generation born at 1922-1943 years (Crampton and Hodge, 2007; Parry & Urwin, 2009). Besides, there is a set of articles about TM practices’ features and specialties of Generation Z, which has already started to be employed and increase its influence on HR and TM practices from year to year (Dimock, 2019; Dwivedula et al., 2020; Schroth, 2019). It is important to conclude that there is a lack of actualized study about all four generations (Baby Boomers, Generations X, Y and Z) which representatives form almost 100% of the corporate workforce nowadays.
Another gap is connected with TM practices for generation diversity management. The articles about TM practices in managing diversity are mostly focused on ethnic or gender differences of human resources (Song, Yoon & Kang, 2020; Sen & Mukherjee, 2019; del Carmen Triana, Richard & Su, 2019), but not generation ones. In case of generation diversity, there are several studies which analyze the correlation between generation diversity presence and firm performance but do not concentrate specifically on TM practices and do not specify them for different generations at the attracting, managing and retaining stages (Clark, 2017; Wegge & Meyer, 2020; Kamruzzaman, 2020). So, there is a lack of research about effective ТМ practices for different generations as research subject and factors which affects such practices.
Research problem. It is safe to say that a strong influence of generational diversity will be exerted on the formation and management of a pool of talented employees. A representative of any generation may turn out to be a talented person. When staffing a company, it is normal to attract, develop, retain, and motivate talented employees. This study is motivated by the argument that people (human capital) are important to organizations and they affect firm performance and survival (Huggins et al., 2017; Petroulas, Brown & Sundin 2010). Therefore, one of the most important issues is to create a comfortable environment and communication channels for employees or team members of different generations. This study is planning to supplement
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diversity management studies by enhancing understanding of the diversity scope and its role in an organizational context and talent management research by providing knowledge about the role of TM practices for managing generational diverse talent groups.
Research object of this study is companies with a generation-diverse workforce. The context of this research is Russia. Research subject is generation diverse TM practices.
Research goal of this master thesis is to identify the relationship between generation- diverse TM practices and firm performance. To fulfill this goal, theoretical, methodological and empirical objectives were formulated for this study.
This master thesis consists of introduction, three chapters and conclusion. The structure of the thesis is determined by the set objectives. The work was divided in three major stages.
During the first stage, the theoretical review was accomplished. Diversity management concepts were studied through an overview of related literature and the link between workforce diversity and firm performance was identified. Moreover, generational theory XYZ was analyzed and the main patterns of different generations’ behavior during the working process were found. The academic literature dedicated to talent definition, general concept of talent management and its application to managing generational diverse workforce was also reviewed and analyzed.
The second stage was dedicated to the formulation of three research questions based on the literature review:
RQ1: What factors influence generation diverse TM practices?
RQ2: Is there any relationship between generation diverse TM practice and firm
performance?
RQ3: What TM practices are considered to be important for different generations?
According to formulated research questions, the research methodology was designed, the questionnaires were developed, the respondents’ selection criteria and main channels of questionnaires distribution were determined.
The third stage involved data collection and analysis. Additionally, obtained results were analyzed in terms of its theoretical and managerial applicability, implications for the recruitment, development and retention as this is main TM practices were formulated, and major conclusions were defined.