How to Lead the Millennials: A Review of 5 Major Leadership Theory Groups

Abstract

Millennials are currently taking over the global workforce. While practitioners and scholars have recognized their different work values from previous generations, research on this topic is still scarce. Furthermore, the current leadership theories have tended to focus mainly on the characteristics of leaders without adequately examining the leadership styles that work best for the millennials. Using a literature review from the top tier leadership journals, this paper aims to provide a more comprehensive framework to provide new directions for the development of leadership theory by understanding the millennials’ perspective on leadership. This study thus contributes to the current literatures by using five thematic leadership groups to develop the most optimum leadership style for leading the Millennials. The advantages and disadvantages of using neo-charismatics, leadership and information processing, social exchange/relational leadership, ethical/moral leadership, and e-leadership theories in leading millennials are assessed. Results show that no single leadership theory is adequate for leading the millennials optimally. Hence, mixing the dimensions of different leadership theory groups is suggested. As for the leadership theory aspects, it is recommended to scholars to consider developing more flexible leadership theory models that can accommodate different generational groups.

Retaining Millennials Engagement and Wellbeing Through Career Path and Development

“…Millennials think that having a flexible work schedule means that work is not measured by the time they spend on their work. The most important thing is whether the work has been completed and the requested from leaders' goal is reached (Putriastuti & Aless, 2019).…”

“…According to Chen and Choi (2008), as cited by (Putriastuti & Aless, 2019), millennials are idealists, highly optimistic, and confident. Millennials have high expectations and very proud of themselves.…”

Millennial Leaders’ Display of Generational Cohort Stereotypes: A Qualitative Research Approach

“…Millennials place high demands on employers, increasingly wishing to only fulfill tasks of their choice and only under the conditions that they prefer, which may be a result of institutions being very considerate of their needs from an early age (Hershatter & Epstein, 2010). For instance, flexible working hours are highly important for Generation Y's, while they expect their work to be evaluated according to the fulfilment of set goals and not based on their daily working hours (Putriastuti & Stasi, 2019). Bund et al (2015) remark that as long as Millennials' demands are met, they will be loyal, but if the employer fails to meet their requirements, they have no problem leaving a company.…”

“…There is extensive academic research on the characteristics of generational cohorts, and it is argued that Generation Y differs greatly from older generations in terms of their value orientation, attitudes to work, and goals in life (Anderson et al, 2017;Bund et al, 2015;Hershatter & Epstein, 2010;Mayangdarastri & Khusna, 2020;Moon, 2014;Putriastuti & Stasi, 2019;Tapscott, 2008;Venter, 2017;Weldy, 2020).…”

“…Nevertheless, how Millennials act and perceive themselves as leaders is not discussed in the literature (Chou, 2012;Keszei, 2018;Porter et al, 2019). Although there is extensive research on Millennials personal aspirations, expectations towards superiors, and how managers can lead this generational cohort (Mayangdarastri & Khusna, 2020;Özcelik, 2015;Pînzaru et al, 2016;Putriastuti & Stasi, 2019;Valenti, 2019), the literature is missing empirically validated contributions that uncover how Millennials behave as leaders themselves. This gap limits an understanding of how academics and practitioners can approach this generational cohort from a leadership perspective and how organizations can benefit from Millennial leaders.…”