In Singapore, we have different ethnics group and globally we also do have different generations working together hand in hand. In order to have a harmonious environment, we have to understand and turn it into an advantage instead.
In Singapore, what I feel most affected would be generation gaps, as for myself I am considered as a Y-Generation group. Where by the baby boomers (born before 1960s), tend to have their own sense of thinking and expectation from us. Yet most of Y-generations have left a bad impression to the baby boomers or to X-generation (born early 1960s to early 1980s), seen as a group of ignorant people who are not able to withstand hardship to achieve a higher aim. On contrary, as a Y-generation, I would said Y-generations just have a more innovative way to solve problems instead of following what is expected and given.
Under Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, Individualism versus collectivism Y-generations possess a high Individualism, the stress is placed upon personal achievements and rights. They stand up for themselves and are low uncertainty avoidance index. They are open for changes, one of the examples I have gone through myself would be in a view of an engineer. When a problem arises, engineers are trigger to make a trip to customer’s site for troubleshooting, most Y-generations would not have read the manual provided to them as they would feel it is too thick and troublesome since they were born, everything pretty much are in electronic form, but instead, X-generations or baby boomers would beg differ. They have read the manual by heart and would be able to troubleshoot the problem easily by their experience given, and knowledge from the book, which they were told to read by higher managerial role when they entered a company. For instance they couldn’t solve the problem; their last resort would then be to ask for advice from a person with