“The Gen Y people have a different value system and way of communicating,” says William W. Badger, a professor at Arizona State University in Tempe, who mentors select upperclassmen. When managing Millennials—or Gen Ys, as he likes to call them—he notices they want fewer rules and more freedom. “The new perception of fairness in management is to treat everyone as special, not to treat everyone the same. The bad boss micromanages and controls. The good boss gives high degrees of freedom.”
Badger’s co-researcher, Avi Wiezel, says the Millennials work best if information is “cut into bits of what they need to know” and delivered on a schedule of when they need to know it. Computers process information the same way.
In 2009, in a Pew Research Center survey of 1,850 Americans on the factors that define the Millennials and previous generations, 73% cited use of computers and new technology.
Badger says his students have an outside-the-firm professional network—comprising friends, family and other connections—which they use to answer questions 24 hours a day. “Their speed of communicating is so much faster than us old people,” says Badger. He thinks the technological communication skills of construction project managers will definitely change as the Millennials take the stage. “Older construction folks aren’t well equipped to do this,” he says.
Sean Estill, a CMA member and estimator for Leland Saylor Associates, San Francisco, says, “Many in the older generation can barely use Excel, but the young people only work on-screen and are very comfortable with computer modeling. Most old guys saw Green and LEED as a fad, but the young embraced it—and it has become a standard in design.”
The Pew survey also found 58% of the respondents cited a lower work ethic as being the biggest deficiency of Millennials compared with previous generations. Rick Cherf, professor of architecture and construction management at Washington State University, Pullman, is pessimistic. He says few of his students have what it takes to be successful in construction.
“In our industry, if you’re going to be successful, you’ve got to work really hard, a minimum of 50 to 60 hours a week,” says Cherf. “Do they want to work hard and stay in the industry or quit?”
Shiry Zofnat, 31, who works as a director of acquisitions and development for the Trump Organization in New York City, doesn’t fear for the future of the industry, although she worries about losing the “superior on-the-job training experience” of the older generation. She adds, “Nothing is ever going to stop the torch from being passed. People will retire when they retire, and those who excel will excel.”
Brian Bowen, a 75-year-old retired construction manager turned professor at Atlanta’s Georgia Institute of Technology, is hopeful. “I think the industry really needs more brain and less brawn,” he says. “A trend that we’ve seen very much is a lot of people returning to get a master’s degree and upgrading their skills, recognizing that this is what’s needed in the industry today.” As technology creeps onto construction sites, tech expertise and “ways to use it are going to be really paramount,” he adds. “The Millennials have a fabulous opportunity to bring this industry up.”
Conrado Rodrigues, a 25-year-old assistant construction manager with SIKON Construction Co. LLC, Deerfield Beach, Fla., agrees. “The industry as a whole has evolved,” says Rodrigues. “The young generation of construction professionals is better educated, trained and focused than ever before.”
