Research Topic/Statement of the Problem

What Is The Impacts Of Generation Y On Business Decision?

There are many names scholars have been using to refer to different generations in the world of business today which include Generation X, Baby boomers, and the millennial generation also known as Generation Y. Aruna and Anitha (2015) stated in their article that the Generation Y are the young youth form the age of 20 to 35 and were born and grew up when technological advancement was at its peak.  The generation Y has shaped how business leaders in the world make decisions that will bring change and profit to the businesses. Before generation Y, the world of business was not digital, communication was so hard and globalization had not emerged. But after the invention of new technology that is the internet, the methods of conducting businesses changed because there was now more convenient ways of conducting business activities. The generation Y adapted to the internet and now the business world must learn how generation Y behaves so that they can make decisions which will make generation Y to be their customers because the young are among the major clients of current business organizations (Nadeem et al., 2015). Generation Y are also the part of employees in the business organizations, therefore, they really affect how the decisions in the industries are made and the outcomes of these decisions.

Similar to each and every generation in the world, the Generation Y are different from their parents as reported by (Giovannini, Xu & Thomas, 2015). The millennial also known as generation Y were born when technology was taking over the world and the earth was becoming a global village. The generation Y are very much combatable with the new technological advancements and have the knowledge on how the new technology works better than their parents. Brown, Thomas and Bosselman (2015) discuses that in the workplace, Generation Y has more knowledge on how to use the new technology to improve the production than even their employers because they are in love with technology and are ready to accept change whenever it comes (Zahra, Newey & Li, 2014). Generation Y have grown up with globalization, therefore, they do not take working internationally seriously as the older people take it so it means that the institutions should decide and think on a wider perspective when employing the generation Y talent into the company (San, Omar & Thurasamy, 2015). The current businesses should not forget generation Y if they want to make profits for their products. The report herein discusses the impacts of Generation Y (both customers and employees) on the Business Decision Making Process.

Objectives of the Study

1. To find out how Generation Y impact the decision making processes in the world of business today.
2. To investigate if the business managers include the Generation Y in their daily decision making process.

Generation Y also known as the millennials born between the year 1980s to 2000 are the largest population to be born according to report by (Kim & Jang, 2014). Therefore, the generation are the biggest customers for businesses in the world today ranging from education, agriculture, automation, to communication businesses. The business managers should therefore, consider this group of people when making their daily decisions for a business (Pomarici & Vecchio, 2014). The business should learn the characters of the millennials because they are also searching for the same customers experience like that of older people but theirs should be more sophisticated. Which means that Generation Y want more respectful, easier, more efficient, transparent, reliable and customer experience that is full of the choices. So the business management leaders from Generation X should stretch their minds and think critically on how to handle the Generation Y customers because if this generation do not get what they want, they will go away (Schandl et al., 2016). Kultalahti and Liisa Viitala (2014) explains that Generation Y are not patient  for example, the millennials cannot wait in the bank for a long time in a line to be served hence, the business leaders should create platforms that can solve the issue. Lissitsa and Kol (2016) reports that the banks have come up with digital way of getting bank services thus Generation Y do not need to stand in the line for a long time. The report by (Xu et al., 2015) shows that the Generation Y customers really influence decision making processes in organizations.

Employers should understand their employees well for a business to run smooth and product high yield. Working with Generation Y employees is both great and challenging (Balakrishnan, Dahnil & Yi, 2014). When an organization has included Generation Y employees in the task force, the firm can benefit in that Generation Y workers are flexible and can change when it is required and adapt to new technology easily (Mu et al., 2014). The Generation Y were born when technology was growing which means that they are familiar with the new technology unlike the senior workers (Wiedmer, 2015). Therefore, they can work comfortably with the new technologies introduced in the company to aid in driving the firm’s daily activities. They are ambitious and have greater manpower compared to older workers but some of them lack experience and that is where the decision of how to employ the workers comes in, the managers should consider Generation Y when employing personnel (Guillot-Soulez & Soulez, 2014).  The Generation Y employees also have some challenges when working with them the challenges include first, they always think that they are the best and smartest workers in the company so it makes it difficult to correct them whenever they go wrong (Laird, Harvey & Lancaster, 2015). Second, hey also think that because they have knowledge about new technology so they are good at everything and things come easy. The third and the last challenge is that they are not pertinent they want quick richness which includes the promotions and money (Thi, Kumar & Lin, 2015).

Generation Y as Customers

Research methods are models that are used by the person undertaking the study to come up with relevant results for the study (Lewis, 2015). The research methodology helped the study to gather information that ensured that the objectives of the study were met and all the research questions were answered. The figure below shows the models of the research methods used to in collection of the data relevant to the study.

Figure1. The research methods used to conduct the study (Denzin & Giardina, 2016).

The research methods used in this study include primary research and the secondary research in that the primary research surveys, observations, and the focus groups were methods used to find data needed for the study. In interviews questionnaires were used to find information from people. Secondary research was also done to examine the previous research done by other scholars on the same issue. Google Scholar search engine was used to find the relevant online materials for the study by searching the tern Generation Y in the search engine.

The methods used in collecting data for the study include questionnaires and surveys, interviews, observations, and focus groups. According to Leu et al. (2017) interviews can take place through a telephone conversation or one on one. In the study a formal interview that was well structured was done one on one by the researchers and the informants. The informants were the parents of the youth who were helping the researcher understand the Generation Y.  Surveys and questionnaires were preferred to the qualitative methods because it was easy to read and interpret the survey and questionnaires’ results.  The target population were given well-structured document with questionnaires which the persons were supposed to fill in the questions with the correct answers.  Secondary research was done in that archives from the internet about the topic were searched. The observation method of collecting data was used by the researcher participating in activities with the target population and writing down relevant information observed which could help the study accomplish its objectives. The figure below shows the model of the data collection methods used to collect information for the study.

Figure2. The data collection technique model (Carter et al., 2014)

Sampling Procedures used in the study

Sampling is the process used by people who analyse statistics to determine a number of populations to take place in the statistics. Researchers normally identify a group of people who will take part in their research through sampling methods. There are two main sampling procedures which include probability sampling and non-probability sampling. The figure below shows the sampling procedures’ model.

Generation Y as Employees

Figure3. Shows sampling procedures (Carter et al., 2014)

 Probability sampling is where the researcher chooses the people who will be part of the study randomly in that every person is given a chance to be in the selection. Non-Probability Sampling is where the researcher is bias and choses the specific persons to take place in the research. The study used both probability and non-probability sampling procedure to select the target population for the research. The parents who took part in the interview were selected randomly and ten parents were selected. The actual samples used were 10 parents and their students which add up to twenty persons and three organizations were interviewed to see how they take generation y. The firms that were studied IMAX Phone Company, Icell Smart Company and Ismart Ltd

Figure4. Shows how random sampling was done for the study (Polanczyk et al., 2015

After the research was done the analysis of data collect was conducted and results for the study was found. The study found out that most of the current business managers do not include the Generation Y in the decision making processes in the organization. The leaders say that the young people are not experienced enough to handle the decision making function.  Out of the three firms interviewed only one firm considered the young people when making business decision for the enterprise and the enterprise is IMAX Phone Company. The manager of the firm said that they must include the young because they are the ones who understand Generation Y because they are part of that generation and that generation is largest customers for the company products. Looking at the statics in terms of profit, the research found out that its high compared to other firms which excluded the Generation Y in decision making process. 

Figure5 show profits for IMAX Phone Company (Beins, 2017)

The graph below show the profit made by the three companies for a period of seven years.

Figure6 show the profit made by the three companies in seven years (Denzin & Giardina, 2016).

The study also found out that the Generation Y in both companies love technology and is ready to adapt to any technological advancement introduced by the companies’ management.  When the parents were interviewed it was found out that the young generation workers are not patient and don’t have time to wait rather they like things done in a faster way, they want fast promotions and fast money.

Research Methodology

From the results it has been found out that most of the organizations do not include the young people in decision making processes. The study has shown that it is dangerous not to include the young people when making decisions because as seen in the case study of the three firms including young people in decision making process brings profit to the firm. () reported that Generation Y are the highest target market therefore firms should strive hard to attract their attention. The firms should study the trends and preference of Generation Y so that the results can help them in producing products that will attract the Generation Y to buy.  The figure below shows the statistics of the higher consumers in the marketing today.

Figure7 the population of people according to age (Carter et al., 2014) 

The Generation Y has great impact in the business decision making because they are the highest population in the business market today. Therefore, firms should consider including their interests when making decisions. The older people can just give advice but they are weak and cannot be included in the task force that ensures that the work is done (Denzin & Giardina, 2016). Generation Y group are the strong people to work and provide labour for businesses. The group also has the ability to adapt to any situation and change when it is necessary and that make the perfect for workforce in business.

Everything despite being fantastic has its limitations according to Carter et al. (2014). Similarly, the study herein was done successfully but there were some challenges during the study period. First, the time allocated for the study was not enough. The study was broad and required a long period to come up with the accurate and correct results. The research was allocated minimal time considering the fact that the researchers also had other activities to like attending classes and their various profession. The second limitation was implementation of the methods used to collect data. The study required sophisticated method to be used when collecting data and the method was to not easy to understand. The members who took part in the research had little knowledge in the data collection methods thus made the research look difficult. The third limitation is money; there was no enough money to fund the study. The research did not win any funds, therefore, the members were obligated to donate their own money to fund the research. However, the study was expensive and the contributions of members were not enough.

Data Collection Methods

The fourth limitation is the insufficient literature review on the study. It was hard for the researcher to find the literature review for the study. Literature review is an essential part of any study because it helps the researcher to investigate and identify any study done about the research topic and where there is a gap. Not many scholars have done research on the topic thus finding the literature review was a hard task. The last limitation is the scope of discussion because the members who took part in the study are not experienced in research works.

Conclusion

Businesses should always put the target market first when making decisions for their businesses that include the Generation Y because they are the biggest customers for most businesses. The focus of this study was to find out the impact of the Generation Y on the daily decision made in firms and if the business managers consider them when making critical business decision. The study found out that most of the firms do not include the youth when making business decision more the Generation Y who have been employed and other employers even ignore the youth customers. The study used a number of methods when collecting data which include the primary and secondary research methods. The primary methods used were mostly survey and questionnaires, observations, interviews and focus groups. The secondary methods were used to extract the information about the literature reviews that were done before so that the gap could be identified. Although there were some limitations during research period which include money, time, experience and insufficient secondary data, the members successfully completed the research and presented results.

The results of the study show that business managers have neglected the youth while making business decision. The results also show that the firms that do not include Generation Y in their decision making process suffer a great loss. The evidence of the result has been seen in the graph where IMAX Company that included Generation Y in decision making have made tremendous profits for seven years while the remaining firms still slugger behind with poor outcomes. The results also show that Generation Y has great impact in decision making process in any business. The first evidence is about net profit for both companies, the firm that include Generation Y in decision making get good profits while a company that ignore Generation Y suffer a loss. Another evidence is that companies that employ Generation Y get great productions because the population there is strong while a firm and still employ more Generation X does not get good outputs. To conclude the business managers should always consider Generation Y when making business decisions because they impact the business directly.

First, managers should not forget Generation Y populations whenever they are making great decisions for their businesses because Generation Y affects the firms directly. Second, when making marketing strategies marketers should first conduct marketing research so that they can understand the Generation Y. Lastly, Generation Y are part of the market thus human resource should employ most of them to help organizations understand the remaining Generation Y in the market.

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