2.3 Interacting with Others

Respecting four generations in the workplace

In many established organizations like Randolph Marketing, you will find employees who can be categorized as Baby Boomers (1946-1964), Generation Xers (1965-1979), Millennials (1980-1994), and Gen Zers (1995-2012). Historical events as well as social, cultural, economic, and technological change have made these collective cohorts different in outlook, character, expectations, and behaviour (Harr, 2015, pp. 67-71). The key point here is that everyone deserves understanding, empathy, and respect, but new employees need to actively esteem their supervisors and the corporate hierarchy as these individuals tend to possess more wisdom, experience, and education, with newcomers offering fresh, up-to-date perspectives and a diversity of thought (Post et al., 2014, pp.125-29).

The best practice to overcome misunderstandings and conflict is to learn what the specific corporate culture of the particular organization that you are working for entails in terms of professional habits, while simultaneously, respectfully voicing your own work preferences, hopefully together figuring out a compromise or flexible arrangement, for example, working from home.

Researchers have discovered that Gen Zers—the most recent generation to begin their careers (with Gen Alpha not too far behind)—suffer from pessimism, insecurity and doubt (Twenge, 2023, p. 467). The boundary between one’s personal life and one’s work life has been steadily eroded by technological change, resulting both in a lack of understanding of what comprises a ‘professional role’ and the subsequent need for more structure and direction. Employers must spell out expectations and foster independent decision-making in their new employees.

The principle of the value of hard work has taken several blows in the last two decades with the economic crisis of 2008 wiping out the financial security and employment of Gen Z’s parents and grandparents, not to mention the wrenching catastrophe of the pandemic of 2020. In 2022, the concept of quiet quitting—doing the absolute minimum–surfaced on TikTok and was discussed as resistance to employee exploitation in many fields. This was not entirely a new phenomenon as Gen Xers were labelled ‘slackers’ in the 1980-90s (Twenge, 2023, pp. 468-469). Gen Z has highlighted many of the deficiencies of the corporate world in terms of mental health, equitable treatment of minorities, and the right to disconnect from work. Many employers are beginning to reform their firms to address these issues so that new workers will re-engage with a healthy work ethic.

Respecting LGBTQQIP2SSA in the workplace

The LGBTQQIP2SSA acronym stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, pansexual, two-spirit, and asexual, and its length is an attempt to be inclusive as possible. Certainly, in many sizable companies and organizations you will likely meet (perhaps for the first time), a transgender man or a lesbian co-worker. Throughout various national histories and cultures, there has been sexual and gender identity diversity within the human population yet often marked by hostility and misunderstanding. Today, it is both an ethical as well as a legal obligation to respect members from these communities.

One can do this by acknowledging coworkers’ pronoun choices, by using inclusive language that eschews sexist, heterosexist, homophobic, and transphobic words as well as respecting everyone’s right to a private life while remembering people are people (Post et al., 2014, pp.119-121).  You may have more in common than you think.

Intercultural communication

If you recall the incident with Viraj, the new Marketing Assistant, where you asked him what his native tongue was, and, thereby making an embarrassing faux-pas—here is an example of what experts refer to as “well-meaning clashes”, where unintentional misunderstandings arise when people are trying to connect through their own cultural politeness norms. For example, direct eye contact is a normative standard of respect in Western culture but is considered rude in Thailand (Ting-Toomey & Dorjee, 2019, p. 29). In order for multiracial and multiethnic organizations to function, they must develop competence in intercultural communication and relations.

New employees along with their organizations should develop an understanding of personal identity issues, knowledge of world cultures and values, understanding basic politeness codes, and empathy towards those experiencing culture shock and acculturation as well as an awareness of  the dynamics of power among groups (Ting-Toomey & Dorjee, 2019, 145). In order to be able to connect across cultural boundaries you have to develop a flexible open mind and open heart, but first you must overcome your own ethnocentrism.

Ethnocentrism refers to judging the values, standards, and practices of your own ethnic community as superior to another community’s. You must be willing to embrace culturally diverse environments to develop competence, just like practicing a new language: put judgement aside and treat all people equally and fairly with empathy and compassion rather than relying on stereotypes and prejudice. Be curious; engage in some research about people who are different than you (Ting-Toomey & Dorjee, 2019, 146-7).  You should attend any cultural-sensitivity workshops, social team-building activities or mentorship programs that Randolph Marketing offers.

Email Etiquette

The table below provides practical tips when dealing with electronic correspondences.

Active Listening

In a world suffering from an exponential increase in distractions as well as an exponential decrease in adult attention spans, it is vital that people actively build up their abilities to focus, concentrate, and pay attention to detail. One key component of this is active listening. When practicing active listening, your full attention is on the speaker while holding eye contact—not looking at your iPhone in your lap. Every time your mind begins to wander off, bring it back to the person speaking. You will have to engage in this mindfulness practice repeatedly until if becomes second nature. We are easily distracted by various things including: intruding thoughts, negative emotions, illness, exhaustion, anxiety, excitement (internal distractions), technology, others in the room, noise from construction/repair work, and notable weather outside the window (external distractions).

As you keep bringing your mind to “centre” on the person speaking, you should every now and then nod your head, take notes, and affirm with a soft “Right”, but do not interrupt. When the speaker pauses or has stopped, then is the time to ask questions about what was said. Remember to be neutral and openminded as possible about what is being said; therefore, do not jump to conclusions before all the ideas have been shared (Meyer, 2020, pp. 498-499).

When meeting with your boss or other senior staff—whether in-person or virtually—you will want to prepare for the meeting. What do you want to get out of this meeting—advice, feedback, solutions to problems with colleagues? Have whatever you need in terms of evidence, information, or data ready so that you do not waste time. Respectful active listening is crucial here…note not only what is said but how it is said: note facial expressions, body language and tone of voice, for example, arching eyebrows may mean surprise or dismay. At the end of the meeting, clarify any questions you may have and any next steps to be taken. Thank the person for their time and schedule a follow-up meeting if required (Post et al., 2014, pp.235-36).

Online Meeting Etiquette

With the rise of remote work from home in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, many organizations have moved to using online collaboration tools. Active listening also plays an important part when meeting in an online forum, using videotelephony software such as Zoom or Teams.

Audio transcript for Module 2.3 Interacting with Others

You talk to your parents a lot over the next couple of months about work that wasn’t what you expected — it’s hard and exhausting, but you decide to stick with the job in the hopes of moving up the organizational ladder and becoming a marketing account executive. Despite all the office drama, you’re starting to learn more about how the actual industry works and have made a few friends.

The department has hired another Junior Marketing Assistant, Viraj. You warmly introduce yourself to him (this time without pushing your personal branding) and you sit down together at lunch. During the conversation, you innocently state how you love the Indian accent, that it’s exotic, and you ask what Viraj’s first language is. He replies, “English,” then excuses himself to the washroom. You’ve put your foot in your mouth even though you didn’t mean to offend him. Waves of regret and shame pass through your gut. Being young, you don’t know much about the world at large and haven’t had the opportunity to travel outside Ontario.

You receive a reminder that your upcoming, six-month performance review is scheduled for two days from now. You email a short “yep” with cool emojis—hearts, dolphins, and your trademark smiley faces. However, before the performance review begins, Samantha remarks about your “flippant” attitude and unprofessional tone, both in your emails and in conversation. She says that you’re not speaking with casual friends and family but rather with workplace colleagues who expect professional decorum when communicating.

During the performance review, Samantha continues to complain about your lack of attention to detail in the marketing projects. Since you’d messed up some of the details in the Nublas account, she insists that you enroll in communication workshops on active listening and note-taking. To you, it seems that the criticism and walking on eggshells never ends. You feel that you’re trying so hard! Why didn’t anyone teach us about all this in school?