It is indeed true that with age comes experience, but not necessarily wisdom and intellect. It is not always true that experienced people are more effective because there are times that experience holds one back or makes it difficult to apply new things based on recent trainings and exposures. Aside from the fact that young managers will most likely have longer working years, some companies prefer hiring them because they are more dynamic and can work long hours without easily getting exhausted. They are idealistic, aggressive, more flexible, and career rather than income oriented. They are trained according to the new and advanced styles and approaches of leadership and are idealistic rather than compromising. Young managers easier conform to the new company's ways of doing things and are less likely to compare or prefer policies of other companies. Young managers have unique training and psychological needs, and companies should adjust their methods to satisfy those needs. The following are among the basic problems and difficulties that make young managers experience frustration: 1. Frustration due to unmet expectations Many young managers become dissatisfied with their career early on. Oozing with self-confidence after jumping off fresh from their academic training, they tend to expect a lot of responsibilities rapidly. However, companies being prudent, systematic and wanting to prove the new manager's worth at first, place them in some routine jobs wherein the new managers find themselves restless or even bored. Young managers' expectations exceeding reality creates frustration that contributes to the statistics of high turnover seen in young managers. 2. Frustrations coming from being insensitive and passive Young managers may not be aware that politics exist in companies. In most cases, they are extremely confident in their own capabilities and believe that their aptitude is the number one indicator of getting promoted. Others may be aware of company-intern politics, but choose to think passively and assume that politics will not change how they are being perceived within the company. Moreover, they may even be aware of their shortcomings, but figure that their superiors will find it difficult to assess those. In most cases, if this comes up, superiors focus instead on whether the young managers satisfy their personal expectations of 'being successful'. There are other factors such as appearance, speech and even leadership style where superiors use their personal opinion in their evaluation. Young managers face great difficulty when they have to go up against corporate politics. 3. Frustrations due to loyalty dilemmas It is inherent in most, if not all, people with authority to value subordinates who are loyal. However, there are many manifestations that employers may attribute to loyalty. Some find that employees who are putting in long hours are showing concern for the company. To some loyalty is the successful completion of tasks or the protection of superiors from negative remarks. Some employers may attribute loyalty to honest employees who inform their superiors about mistakes and potential problems. On a negative note, most young managers do not know how to please superiors when it comes to expressing their loyalty. There are superiors that are simply very difficult to please; they criticize and point out mistakes in any accomplishment of their subordinates. Then there are superiors who want their managers to be responsible, but are afraid of giving sufficient authority to create real change. This creates conflict and confusion for most young managers; they want to show loyalty, but feel that they are not give a chance. It can lead to the young manager striving to outperform everyone and then resigning after making a statement about their capacities by proving superiors wrong about not giving them more authority or decision-making power. 4. Frustrations due to personal anxiety Some young managers feel anxiety because of idealism. Some build ideals concerning moral standards, community service and values. They become anxious and feel guilty when the company they work for contradicts any of their ideals. Since they have strong belief in their convictions and strong wills, while on the other hand knowing that their 'big break' within the company may be in reach, they face a difficult situation. During the course of their first career, young managers may change their personal values, have a sudden change in their visions or outlook on life, and suddenly leave the company. Some managers just go with the flow at first, even though they might not 100% agree with everything that is going on, but this can create anxiety for the new manager. This anxiety either goes away with maturity or the manager leaves the company to 'be free' and to be able to look for a job that lives up to his/her ideals. Young managers are in a stage wherein they develop their sense of independence and they will maneuver their lives and career towards wherever they would feel comfortable, independent and free. Feeling free from the clutches of their parental authority, they are yet dependent on their superiors and co-workers. They may also feel anxious because others in the firm are dependent on them. 5. Frustrations due to ethical dilemmas Young managers may experience problems submitting to ethical standards and conforming to the norms in their workplace. They can get confused about what is ethical and unethical, especially when it comes to making decisions about their financial satisfaction, and remaining true to their religious principles and beliefs. Sometimes idealism comes as destruction by only thinking about the welfare of the majority or satisfying the expectations of their superiors. Sometimes, not knowing what principles to be guided by confuses young managers and prompts them to look for other jobs which they will think would give them lesser confusion in this area. Unfortunately, because of this kind of psychological set up, confusion will always find its way into the young manager's mind, one way or another. They may not be aware of the fact that they need to change the way they think about things because this often comes from an external force, from someone who understands young professionals. In this case, the company needs to understand the young managers. Otherwise, the company may not be able to utilize the new recruit to the fullest before he or she is gone. Most young managers are career rather than income oriented. Although financial considerations may not be ruled out, most young managers are interested in how the entry-level job will develop his or her career. Trends and culture evolve and behavior evolves with it. It is therefore imperative that companies understand this new generation of managers, design their training programs based on the prevailing behavioral patterns and use that knowledge to everyone's advantage.
Article Source: http://www.articlecontentprovider.com/articlesubmit
Young managers have unique training and psychological needs, and companies should adjust their methods to satisfy those needs. The following are among the basic problems and difficulties that make young managers experience frustration:
Create a company-intern network for your management recruits and provide training for new managers.
Please Rate this Article
5 out of 5 4 out of 5 3 out of 5 2 out of 5 1 out of 5
