born between 1960 and 1980 and
enjoyed the freedoms of independence.
They saw the fruit of the struggle so
they love freedoms and are mainly
those that are the activists in the office.
They are the ones that always call for
kamkunjis – the meeting after the
meeting.
They are elitist and have very little
interaction with the personal computer.
They are the ones who still print their
tickets after receiving it through the
email. Or who circulate a memo with a
space for signatures.
Another group coming up was
born in the 1980s and early 1990s.
They are the Generation Y who are
revolutionaries and were born when
the internet was just coming into being
and becoming popular.
They were born in the time political
revolutions were happening and so
were witnesses to the events like the
fall of the Berlin Wall and, the rise
of democracy in Africa. They are the
people who will be found asking for a
vote in meetings after discussions have
been held on a matter.
They normally ask why things should
be done in a certain way. To which the
answer is because we’ve always done it
this way. To which they then ask why.
They remind me of my daughter who
if I’m going out will ask me where I’m
going and why. When I explain I’m
going to meet some friends to discuss
some business she’ll ask what and why.
This generation will always ask why
in the work place. They are sometimes
irritating because they always want
things to be changed. But you must
remember they were born with the
internet and are therefore very smart.
They’re always playful and love instant
feedback because they’re always
playing games or going through some
app on their phones.
The New Generation
They are however being overtaken by
another generation that is proving to
be special and difficult to understand.
These are the new generation and are
your typical disruptors.
They do not conform to anything
because the day they were born they
were introduced to modern technology
like tablets or smartphones. They are
the Generation Z and have had lives
dictated by technology from day one.
They operate in the cloud and nothing
is ‘on premise’ which is a technological
term for not storing any data or
software on the actual computers but
online.
They operate in a different zone and
are tuned out to everything that is
happening down here. They operate
with no rules because in their world
there are no rules. Think about your
children, they will question, defy and
reinvent. It’s not disobedience or
dis-respect, they are just different and
believe in total and absolute freedoms.
If you tell them not to ride their bikes
at 2 o’clock they say their friends are
riding their bikes at the time. If you
then say their friends are wrong they’ll
Google ‘times for riding a bicycle’.
Then they’ll come and tell you you’re
wrong ‘duh’, or won’t even tell you
anything and just make their own
decisions.
Defined by Crowd Sourcing
They are as scheming as the other
generations; it’s just that their
difference is now operating on a new
gaming platform where you help the
developer of the game improve the
game. So every time you play you give
feedback on how to improve the game.
They believe in crowd sourcing. These
guys don’t want to learn anything
they believe in Googling it when they
require it.
The other day one told me, “In
my office I don’t need to have that
information, I just need to know
where to find it.” They don’t need to
learn things and waste bandwidth, or
storage capacity, because when they
need that information they’ll get it, so
why cram it.
68 MAL 13/16 ISSUE