Globe and Mail: Do workers prefer older or younger leaders?

The Globe and Mail recently reported on research being led by a University of Manitoba associate professor in the Asper School of Business. They report: 

With baby boomers stalling retirement past 65 and millennials streaming into the work force, many companies are facing a generational clash as people of all ages struggle to adjust to working with each other.

Leadership is top among the concerns, says Arran Caza, an associate professor at the University of Manitoba’s Asper School of Business in Winnipeg.

He sees the conflict brewing in his own classroom.

“My [older] executive education students are trying to figure out how to reach and motivate their new employees, and my [younger] MBA and even undergrad hotshots are worrying about how to handle being the boss of someone who is their parents’ age,” he says in an e-mail.

The intensity of the discussion piqued Dr. Caza’s curiosity.

Do workers prefer leaders who are older than they are or younger?

The question is at the centre of his new research, which is set to begin next year after he won a fellowship from the University of Manitoba’s Centre on Aging, where he is a research affiliate.