Portland State Magazine Fall 2007

BABY BOO'i\ERS WE'RE JUST SO DIFFERENT! Generation Boomerang Can Baby Boomers share workspace with Gen-Xers? WRITTEN BY JEFF KUECHLE ILLUSTRATION BY B.T. LIVERMORE NOT LONG AGO , at a Portland research firm, an epic confrontation took place between a 62-year-old Baby Boomer boss, born in 1945, and a 34-year-old Gen-Xer, born in 1973. Both women were editors, eloquent, and opinionated. The topic of their disagreement was the announcement that the 2008 edition of Webster's New Millennium Dictionary will include the word "ginormous." The Baby Boomer boss was horrified, outraged, and fuming. "Only valley girls use that word!" Her Gen-X underling rolled her eyes. "I like that word!" she said. "I've been using it since college!" "Ir's a nonsense word! Ir's just a combination of 'gigantic' and 'enormous!"' Blood pressures ballooned, with both Baby Boomer and Gen-Xer defending their positions with zeal. It might have 16 PORTLAND STATE MAGAZINE FALL 2007 ended badly-if it hadn't been for their Millennial co-worker, born in 1983. "Maybe we could just agree not to use the word 'ginormous' in any of the technical proposals we'll be editing-wouldn't that solve the problem?" he asked. Cultural crisis averred. TH ESE Kl NDS OF workplace interactions fascinate Alan Cabelly, professor of human resource management in Port– land State's School of Business Administration. Since the late 1970s, Cabelly has been studying how different generations relate-or not-in a common workplace environment. He presents his findings, based on interviews, literature srudy, and decades of personal observation-to professional groups and conferences around the country.