Millennials Group - Literature review Example

The Millennials In generations profiling various age groups are grouped together. These generational differences may be due to: 1) life cycle effect: as one grows older biologically, his/her ways of doing things and thinking also changes over time. A young person now in coming years will be older, and then will almost be like the older person of now; 2) cohort effect: the historical events and experiences shape the ways of a specific generation for example the form of life in the 20th century is different from that of the 21st century; 3) period effects; these are the major events in life such as wars, scientific innovations etc. Thus in developing a clear understanding of these generations cohort analysis is the best approach to employ (Keeter n.p). For this essay the main focus is on the Millennials group. This Millennials key identifying feature is that it is brought up in a digital world. The Millennials are referred to as the Generation Y group, who are between the adolescent age and 30yrs old (13-30yrs). This is the newest group of generation. There are different types of generations: 1) “the great generation” born in 1925-1942; 2) baby boomers born in 1945-1964; 3) generation Xers born in 1965-1976; and 4) generation Y, born in 1977-2000. All these generations have a considerable impact on the workforce but with the rising numbers of Millennials in the workforce more changes may yet to come on how organizations operate. Notably majority of the top executive positions in various organizations are occupied by the Great generation or baby boomers then the Generation Xers and lastly the lower positions by the Millennials (Smith 1). Millennials “are the most ethnically and racially diverse cohort of youth” in history. They are an emerging group of all time in U.S. history to be more politically active, for example, during the 2008 elections 66% of them endorsed Obama as they preferred candidate as compared to 32% who voted for McCain. These figures show a huge gap as compared to other generations voting figures which were closely equal. They are also the generation with good familiarity with recent technology as part of their daily lives “like tweeting and texting, facebook, YouTube…” They are also not religious as compared to the other generations (Keeter n.p). The Millennials always have a tendency of desiring regular promotions in their jobs and for them to climb the ladder quickly to the top managerial positions. They rely on mentoring and have strong personalities of achieving more each day. They are quite flexible and good in team working. They are familiar and easier for them to use the recent technologies. One shortcoming that the Millennials have is that majority don’t believe they will be more successful than their parents or even reach near their parents fortunes. They also have huge educational debts as compared to their parents; their cost of education is much higher than that of their parents. They are also characterized as poor decision makers. Their parents do majority of the problem solving in their lives, which characterizes them as not independently able to derive workable solutions (Smith 1). These days a lot of unethical and immoral behavior is quite widespread in all sectors from corporate to schools, generally in all our daily activities. The Millennials are constantly exposed to these behaviors which renders them vulnerable of also emulating such behaviors. The various corporate scandals portraying unethical ways leaves us the question of whether these Millennials would desist or continue with these unethical means. Cheating seems to be diverse and ingrained in people; can be termed as inborn trait. Cheating is everywhere from business enterprises, to government departments, and even in sports. There is use of drugs in sports to boost adrenaline so as to gain a competitive advantage over the opponents which s actually unethical. All these occurrences give Millennials who are new in the Job market to want to engage in these unethical practices to also gain an added advantage over their competitors considering the limited opportunities available in the workforce or graduate schools (Smith 2). Some educational institutions have determined to promote ethical practices among their students and others enforcing it. This seems to be a good initiative of developing good ethical behavior among this generation and helping them grow to be responsible citizens. However, the strong influences from events at home and the society they come from, the media and the negative behavior portrayed by prominent and top leaders in the society will actually be a setback to this initiative. For instance, students can be taught on the morally and ethically right practices in the classroom setting but contrary what they experience in their daily activities is totally different. Thus this creates a conflict between the classroom knowledge and the first hand experiences (Smith 2). There is a strong bond between the digital media and the Millennials. This cohort values social networking more than the Generation X. This can be due to “they are more active at integrating technologies into their daily lives” (Moore 441) than previous generations. Also it is due to the high level of today’s technology which allows people to access internet services regardless of the place they are using their mobile phones. Even though Millennials use the social networks as tools for social communication, they also use it as marketing channels (Moore 436-444). The Millennials are being associated with being technologically upfront, very social and represent the majority group of consumers. They have “status consumption” that is, as defined by Eastman et al. (1999, p.94) as “tendency to purchase goods and services for the status or social prestige value that they confer on their owners” (cited in Eastman & Liu 2012). The Millennials have a higher need for status consumption than the other generations. The Millennials are choosy on the type of brands they buy in that they look for unique brands which will impress their peers and simplify and accelerate processes. They also consider what their friends have to say about the products than opinions from experts. Also their buying decision is influenced by opinions from individuals they perceive to be like them. Crang (2012) regards the Millennials to be the complex group to reach through advertisements in the televisions. He suggests that digital ads effectively reach this group as compared to television ads. This Generation Y discuss online more about the brands than other generations. When creating advertisements a special understanding of the Millennials is important in order for the information to reach this group effectively. As Walter (2012) puts across things to be considered are: “mobile phone and technology usage, brand awareness, privacy and gadget ownership”. Gathering this relevant information will help create an effective marketing strategy that will reach this group. In developing marketing strategies for Millennials, marketers need to decide whether or not to use generational cohorts as a variable for segmentation. According to Eastman & Liu (2012), segmentation based on generational cohorts is more effective than segmentation based on income, gender or education. In addition they give a way through of “promotional campaigns which emphasize the social aspect of consumption in that their choices will win the approval of relevant others” (p.102). However, Gurau (2012) has a contrary perspective, “segmenting this consumer group based on generational cohort alone is not feasible” (p.113). He supports his claim by giving the example of a college student in the Millennials group. At first glance this group may seem Homogeneous but through in depth look one is able to identify the dissimilarities in incomes, socially and culturally. However Gurau acknowledges that generation cohort segmentation is essential but suggests that to deduce better results it be incorporated with other “segmentation methods, such as the consumer life-stage model” (p. 110). Millennials are quite a fascinating group and at the same time tricky group to deal with. Thus careful evaluation of their needs and attributes will foster good communication with this group. This will proportionally translate to better goods and services awareness to businesses, hence better revenues. These are some of the issues associated with Millennials and keeping in mind the rapid technologically advancements and them being young, this subject matter requires more insight and theoretical accord. Works Cited Crang, D. "comScore - Next-Generation Strategies for Advertising to Millennials." 2012. 22 February 2013 . Eastman, J. K., and Liu, J. "The impact of generational cohorts on status consumption: an exploratory look at generational cohort and demographics on status consumption." Journal of Consumer Marketing 29.2 (2012): 93-102. Gurau, C. "A life-stage analysis of consumer loyalty profile: comparing Generation X and Millennial consumers." Journal of Consumer Marketing 29.2 (2012): 103-113. Keeter, Scott., and Taylor, Paul. "The Millennials: Confident, Connected, Open to Change." 24 February 2010. . Moore, M. "Interactive media usage among millennial consumers." Journal of Consumer Marketing 29.6 (2012): 436-444. Smith, J.W., and Clark, G. "New Games, Diffferent Rules - Millennials are In Town." Journal of Diversity Management 5.3 (2010): 1-12. Walter, E. "Number Crunching: the Top 51 stats for Generation Y marketers." 2012. 21 January 2013 . Read More