The exploration of manager’s experiences when leading millennial’s employees, in a South African fashion retail organisation

Abstract

The corporate workforce today occupies a multitude of varied generations, which has created a need for businesses and their managers to fully understand the individualities of their multi-generational teams. Millennial employees are said to bring about significant change to existing business environments, as their characteristics appear notably different to previous generations. The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the experiences of managers when overseeing millennial employees, in comparison to older generations. The interpretivist approach used investigated the managerial approach taken with millennial employees and how this may differ when compared with older generational employees. The conceptual framework references Adair’s action-centered leadership model, of three key principles for successful team leadership and management. The case study conducted on South Africa’s fashion retail business, Mode obtained data through semi-structured interviews, using a purposive sample of two brand managers. The thematic analysis applied allowed the researcher to discover shared phenomena and identify themes based on the participant’s perceptions responses. The participants reviewed the findings of the study, affirming its trustworthiness. These findings revealed how managers developed an intrinsic understanding of the differences found in managing millennial and older employees. Thus enhancing their insight to personal integration, facilitating growth and enticing collaboration.