Problem: Different generations see the different values in the work; the PR practitioner problem is to find the shared values to help organization work more effectively.

Background: Younger workers and baby boomers have different values (equality, authenticity, immediate needs, life balances, security vs. hierarchy, authority, future goals, bank balances and loyalty).Gen X and Gen Y are willing to see the big picture and adding worth to the company.

Professor Smith advises to assign a mentor to socialize new employees to the values of the company. Younger employees prefer part-time jobs and flexible schedule; they aren’t very interested in financial or investing business. However, those ones who apply for these jobs might adapt to business practices quicker than other Generation-X and Gen-Y jobseekers.

Discussion: The process of adaptation is sophisticated thing; dealing with employees’ relations we should take into account that we are always dealing with different generations. Different generations imply different values, as we see in this case. The shared values are a basis of a corporate culture; a corporate culture is getting more and more important in last years.

Sometimes corporate culture is subordinated to company’s mission and goals; but most often corporate culture affects goals and mission. This effect became widespread since new economy emerged. New economy establishes new rules even in the biggest corporations: from casual dress at work to indoor tennis courses in corporate buildings.

The role of PR practitioner today is to adjust employees’ relations to current corporate culture. That means that people should be treated according to what type of corporate culture in the organization. But core values are still important. If we are dealing with employees – our priorities don’t change: employees want to be informed, appreciated properly, they should get feedback and have some autonomy.

It’s interesting to notice, however, that baby boomers tend to like authoritarian power in organizations, while Xers and Yers are more liberal. That follows the new assignments for PR practitioner: To present information for those employees in different ways (different channels/or different messages).

Recommendations: The communications in the modern company more or less satisfy the requirements I mentioned. Corporate websites are adjustable for individual needs. Seniors could find information about K-401 plan or different information about medicine, insurance & etc, while young employees could find some opportunities for self-realization within a company, announcements of upcoming events and so on.

The example of this kind of web site is www.bsu.edu which provides the possibility to log in as perspective, current student or faculty. It is known that many magazines are published in different versions, according to demographical and psychographical characteristics of subscriber. The corporate newsletter could be published in different versions too (say, all BSU graduate students receive the special issue of newsletter for graduate student).

PR practitioner very often faces the problem of different values among employees. In this case PR manager should work as HR manager, performing communication between different groups of employees. It could be some sort of socializing, like organizing of mentoring (to help new people to get accustomed to the corporate culture).

It is happening sometimes that company faces problem in organizational communications not between people but between departments (especially in companies with extended structure). PR practitioner handles this problem as well, organizing committees and work meetings with participation of people from different departments. Problems in organizational communications are discussed on those meetings.

Finally, one of the most solidifying things at corporate culture is the role of CEO. His or her speeches help people to understand their goals more clearly (let’s not forget FDR’s weekly radio speeches) – organization of the meetings with top management is a very important PR activity.