Managing academic library as a multigenerational workplace: a field study of generational diversity management at Alexandria University faculty libraries

Abstract

The work environment in its various variables plays a vital role in stabilizing work and raising productivity; researchers in management sciences and work behaviours have noted the role of individual variables of workers (age, educational level, years of experience) in influencing the personal characteristics and behaviours of the workers, which has drawn attention to the multigenerational work environment, where it includes a number of generational groups. Each group is characterized by different characteristics, which make it imperative for tensions in relationships and conflicts to occur unless the management of institutions pays attention to the rapid adoption of appropriate foundations and strategies for the management of those generational groups. This gave rise to the idea of the current study, which focused on the fact that the Multigenerational workplace Management is one of the most important factors affecting the functioning and productivity of the library.The aim of the study is to introduce the concept of Multigenerational workplace Management into Academic libraries in order to properly manage the various generations of their staff. The management of staff from different generations of librarians is imperative and requires a clear strategy and a vision of its application, so that libraries can make the most of their available generational diversity and build good relationships among them, thereby increasing morale and thus improving the career satisfaction of the staff, moreover increasing their performance efficiency, as well as achieving the aims of the library and the satisfaction of their users.