The desert generation: Lessons and implications for the new era of people management

Abstract

Building on lessons from a Biblical story, this paper analyzes and suggests mental frameworks and an innovative perspective for managing contemporary new psychological contracts, by drawing on a case of a nation which was found unfit for a new type of existence, a different life ethos, and philosophy. In that story, a strategic decision was made for that generation, which was to be consumed in the desert. From this story the paper projects onto contemporary career concepts and approaches. The paper acknowledges the difficulties employees face in today's turbulent labor markets. It concludes with offering a variety of options available to executives and a set of strategic approaches of managerial career systems that organizations can apply.

Citation

Baruch, Y. (2004), "The desert generation: Lessons and implications for the new era of people management", Personnel Review, Vol. 33 No. 2, pp. 241-256. https://doi.org/10.1108/00483480410518077