Millennials and Structure - Millennial to Millennial

Millennials and Structure
Structure is best for millennials because:
 They want it.
o 72% of millennials agreed with the statement “I prefer a structured environment
with clear rules.”
o Educators report that millennials want structured academic paths.
 They need it.
o 50% of managers in one study noted Millennials need a high level of supervision
and structure.
o More than 50% of education professionals identify clear structure as a key
pedagogical strategy.
Millennials want structure in most aspects of their lives. Accustomed to living via day
planners and packed schedules since early childhood, unstructured environments can cause
confusion and uncertainty. In an examination of fourteen articles on millennials, Farrell and Hurt
(2014) note that “desire for structure” is one of six key characteristics of the millennial
generation (pg. 49). Millennials themselves clearly state this preference. In the National MBA
Survey of more than 5,600 MBA students, 72% of millennials agreed with the statement, “I
prefer a structured environment with clear rules,” while only 33% of Generation Xers (those
born between 1965-1980) agreed (Beekman, 2011). Educators at the university level have also
observed and reported on millennial students’ desire for a clearly structured academic path,
wanting to know exactly what information will be on tests and expressing preference for highly
structured classroom activities (Merlino, 2009; US Chamber of Commerce, 2012). This need for
structure extends to the workplace as well because it “creates a clearly defined picture of the
organization” (Farrell & Hurt, 2014, p. 53). With this picture in mind, millennial workers figure
out how to improve, understand existing procedures, and make suggestions about improvements.
Just as millennials themselves express a clear need for structure, employers, managers,
and educators have also found that millennials need structure, even if they do not specifically
communicate that need. In a study of ten managers, 50% of them indicated that millennials need
a high level of supervision and structure (Engels, 2011). This can be a challenge for some
managers who may be unaccustomed to providing that, but in research involving business
students, education professionals noted that clear structure is a key pedagogical strategy for
working with millennial students (Merlino & Rhodes, 2012). When managers assign projects
without explicit instructions or well-defined criteria, millennials struggle (Claps 2008; Hershatter
and Epstein 2010).
Taking into account the observed need for structure as expressed by both millennials and
managers, M2M’s training program incorporates clear structure into each activity and has
specific, clear objectives. The program’s design builds from unit to unit so that participants
acquire specific skills via structured activities. Alsop (2008) found that checklists, mentoring,
and clear goals help millennials reach their potential. The M2M program takes this advice and
implements it at every level of the experience. Clearly communicated objectives help guide
participants, but the hands-on experience and flexibility of the program also contribute to a sense
of autonomy on the part of the participants. This combination of autonomy and goal-orientation
has been found to be successful (Gursoy, Thomas, & Chi, 2008; Kim, Knight, & Crutsinger,
2009). M2M both offers this structured experience to clients and enables them to help create
structure in their speaking, an approach ideal for the structure-loving millennial generation.
Bibliography
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Workplace. San Francisco, CA: Jossy-Bass.
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School of Continuing Studies and of The Graduate School of Arts and Science,
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Engels, J. E. (2011). “The millennial generation in the workplace.” Master’s Dissertation &
Thesis, Department of Management Sciences, University of Waterloo.
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US Chamber of Commerce. (2012). The millennial generation research review. National
Chamber Foundation. http://www.uschamberfoundation.org/millennial-generationresearch-review