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Being successful in a rapidly changing world of work depends upon having very clear insights into the nature of the workforce from top leadership to lowest employee levels. Understanding generational similarities and differences provides a good starting point, as it provides the basis for examining the diversity of generational perspectives and needs and insight and instruction to open the thinking about the diverse population of employees. The purpose of this paper is to explore ways to bridge the five generations that work in today’s workforce.

Human resources has an especially important role to play in employee policy development and implementation, employee relations, performance evaluation, career progression and a wide range of other equally important and complex situations.

While it is important to understand these broad generations, it is critical to engage with the individuals within your organization to better understand their perspectives, what matters most to them and where they see the greatest challenges and opportunities to bridge across generations. This paper explores approaches to take in bridging these generations.

This paper will offer readers valuable insight into managing a multi-generational workforce.

Julie Smith, brand manager for dog food manufacturer Pedigree, has to determine how best to jump-start growth in the slumping business. The (A) case centers on the debate over which type of strategy to pursue, brand building versus in-store activity, while the (B) case focuses on the concept of cause marketing as a growth strategy.

The case examines the common challenge of building a very well-established business, and can be used to teach established business growth strategy, advertising, and cause marketing.

As part of a general move to community care and concurrent closure of a 280 bedded hospital, West Dorset Health Authority, as an interim measure two years ago, moved 17 clients with severe learning difficulties and challenging behaviours to three smaller residential units together with two ladies who also showed frequent challenging behaviours. As part of a continuing evaluation of the quality of provision for this group of clients, the authors looked at the present levels of skills of the residents compared with those in evidence three years ago when the 17 were on a secure ward with attendance at a special day care unit. In addition, measures were taken of engagement levels and of the number and type (whether positive or negative) of interactions between staff and residents. For all parameters, significant improvements were evident, supporting the view that small units facilitate the learning of new skills and provide a better quality of life for the residents.

This study explores the beliefs of ‘high expectation teachers’, and the practices through which teachers aim to build an inclusive learning environment in addition to the ways they develop strategies that do not rely on pre-determined ability labelling. The study is a case study design focused on one phenomenon, that of the beliefs and practices of high-expectation teachers, and one bounded case illustrates the phenomenon. The case is specific and bounded by time and location. It emphasises uniqueness through the in-depth exploration of the participants' experiences. Following the use of thematic analysis to analyse data collected through questionnaires, interviews and focus groups, the phenomena of high teacher expectation remained only partially scrutinised in terms of social justice. Therefore, the social concerns raised throughout this study are also explored through the theories of Bourdieu, to make sense of the wider issues of inequality inherent in this study. Habitus is helped by, and helps shape, pedagogical action. Findings include the requirement to recognise that in education, socially advantaged interests and voices dominate in terms of social mobility agendas. Furthermore, teachers are only granted space in the public domain through technical competency. Teachers must however be emotionally committed to different aspects of their jobs, as their sense of moral responsibility lies at the core of their professional identity.

I consider the following question: given my commitment to creating an inclusive classroom environment where students of all backgrounds and skill levels can feel comfortable taking emotional and intellectual risks, how do I responsibly teach a course on American Life Writing in which students both read and write narratives of trauma, many of which stem from gender-based violence? With the rise of the #MeToo movement, especially, many survivors of this kind of violence feel compelled to share their stories as a way to heal themselves and to create communities of care and support. In some cases, this kind of disclosure can be restorative. But it is also important to recognize that sharing one's narrative of trauma does not always serve as a path to healing and wholeness. There is also power in choosing to tell part of one's story, sharing one's story only with a certain audience, or not disclosing one's story at all. The works that I assign in the seminar highlight these different paths to healing and model for students the ways in which a confessional model is not the only model for dealing with trauma. In this chapter, I first describe how feminist pedagogy shapes my teaching. Then I outline my approach to teaching life writing, focusing on how I teach texts that highlight trauma and how I teach the personal narrative assignment. Finally, I reflect on how these pedagogical practices might inform our larger conversations about gendered oppression, trauma, and healing.