Intergenerational leadership: How young managers foster inclusivity in age-diverse teams

Abstract

Orientation: The research focuses on young Southern African managers and their experiences relating to intergenerational leadership. Research purpose: To examine how leadership behaviours and practices foster the integration of age-diverse employees and teams. Motivation for the study: Increasing age diversity in the workplace presents both opportunities and challenges for organisations and societies. The younger age groups are taking up leadership positions and leading the older generation. It is this nuance that has spurred research into which specific leadership behaviours matter in this instance, through which processes they unfold, and what their effects are, with the hope of developing a coded, uncluttered Systems Influence Diagram (SID). Research design, approach and method: Through the Interactive Qualitative Analysis (IQA) process, data from six managers were collected and analysed, and an interrogation of the elements of intergenerational leadership was conducted. Main findings: This is an exploratory qualitative study carried out via a focus group drawn using biased sampling based on ‘distance and power’ analysis of the phenomenon of intergenerational leadership, with the purpose of unpacking its nuances. Practical/managerial implications: In essence, the research underscores that effective intergenerational leadership is an outcome of character forged at the intersection of values, bias awareness, behavioural consistency, and structural alignment. Contribution/value-add: The study offers contextual insight into intergenerational leadership and, in practice, contributes a preliminary systems-based model derived from participants’ perceptions.