Agemics, beyond generational labels to understand organisational behaviour
An innovative approach to understanding organisational behaviour and developing management and training policies that meet workers' needs
by Italy Rana*.
3' min read
3' min read
Do you remember your first day in the company? Your excitement was palpable, with a mix of excitement and confusion pervading you. You were entering a new world, with unfamiliar faces and relationships to be built. Like children discovering the world for the first time, every step was an achievement.
And then, a few years later, the initial curiosity turned and new emotions emerged: frustration, disappointment, misunderstanding. Perhaps you felt invisible, trapped in dynamics that did not represent you or in conflict with those around you. This has happened to me. I have felt like a rebellious teenager seeking to be heard and recognised or like a curious child afraid of the unknown. This led me to ask myself: "How is it possible that, despite being a millennial in my 40s with a decade of professional experience behind me, I still experience these emotions?"
People are often categorised by generation, associating experiences, expectations and values with it. It is as if each generation were a box of chocolates: different packaging on the outside, common characteristics on the inside. But the risk is that the packaging becomes a cage that hides the uniqueness of each person.
Companies, too, have recently adopted this criterion to set up internal communication campaigns, development paths, training and resource management. This approach risks leading companies not to build truly employee-oriented organisational contexts, with serious repercussions on people's motivation and professional performance.
To overcome this limiting view, I developed the concept of agemics understood as, the imitation, in organisational contexts, of socially recognised behavioural patterns linked to life stages: childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age.
