Date of Award

1-15-2015

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Specialization

Communication and Leadership

School or Department

School of Leadership Studies

First Advisor

Dr. Michael Hazel

Second Advisor

Dr. Giovanni Caputo

Abstract

Employees in today’s corporations have the ability to span across four different generations. The largest group of them, the Baby Boomers, will soon be retiring leaving the younger generations to fill in the gaps. How information is passed from senior personnel to new hires is of utmost importance to maintaining successful business practices. This study sought to understand the effect identity had on knowledge transfer and communication in an organizational context. The theoretical basis for this study used social identity theory (SIT) (Tajfel & Tuner, 1979). SIT is an attempt to understand how a person’s belongingness to a specific group influences their self-concept and group behavior. A case study approach of one organization, ABC Enterprise, was used to explore the constructs of identity, knowledge transfer and communication practices across multiple generations. Data was gathered through the use of a survey and qualitative analysis was used to recognize those groups that employees identify with the most, the influence generational stereotyping has on knowledge transfer and what employees believed were the best practices for communication. Results indicated that employees most strongly identified with their own workgroups and that generational stereotyping was prevalent in what employees perceived others’ preferred methods of communication to be. These perceived stereotypes only nominally impacted knowledge transfer, but it was found that the relationships people develop in the workplace had the greatest effect on knowledge transfer and identity. The majority of all respondents agreed that face-to-face communication was the best method when communicating with others regardless to which generation he or she belonged.

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