ERIC Number: EJ1288068
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021
Pages: 5
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1546-2331
EISSN: N/A
Using the Basic Course to Prepare Digital Natives for New Role as Reverse Mentors
Frey, T. Kody; Tatum, Nicholas T.; Cooper, Troy B.
Basic Communication Course Annual, v33 Article 18 p342-345 2021
When Millennials began to enter the workforce in the mid-2000s, employers struggled to engage this indecisive group (i.e., job-hoppers). At the same time, they also battled the threat of a labor shortage due to the impending retirement of an aging baby-boomer workforce (Chaudhuri & Ghosh, 2012). Organizations began to combat both issues by embracing intergenerational learning programs focused on the strengths of each group (Gerpott et al., 2017; Greengard, 2002). One strategy that has proved valuable in popular press and among companies, although fairly absent from academic literature (Kaše et al., 2019; McCann, 2017), is reverse mentoring. Reverse mentoring allows younger employees to share knowledge with organizational leaders while concurrently learning about the organization, developing social capital, and gathering experience. However, as time progressed, the foundations of reverse mentoring shifted. A new generation, equipped with unique characteristics, has changed workforce dynamics. Generation Z, or those born after 1995, is largely defined by an attachment to and sustained use of technology (Seemiller & Grace, 2016). Their adolescent development within and through the digital world (i.e., as digital natives) perfectly positions them to share this technological expertise as reverse mentors; however, researchers also speculate that their frequent technology use leads to poor relational and social skills (Chicca & Shellenbarger, 2018). The authors argue that the basic communication course (BCC) can help.
Descriptors: Introductory Courses, Role, Mentors, Technological Literacy, Interpersonal Competence, Instructional Effectiveness
University of Dayton Department of Communication at eCommons. 300 College Park, Dayton, OH 45469. e-mail: BCCAeditor@clemson.edu; Web site: https://ecommons.udayton.edu/bcca/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A

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