A Study on the link between age, motivation and a mix of leadership styles

The study of the relationship between age, work, leadership style and motivation has brought forth many relevant concepts/theories. This research probed how the difference in age between younger employees and older employees affected their motivation related to work. The study was focused on the employee age, what kind of leadership style motivated them and the way their perceptions differed to the same identical situation as their age changed. By using a qualitative approach, employees who participated in the study were allowed to provide their views on the situations provided to them, thereby shedding light on the possible effects of age on motivation. More specifically, difference in needs and values, the aim in terms of career focus and the outlook at work were investigated. While younger employees were motivated more by monetary fulfillment of their needs, older employees attributed more importance to their careers by focusing more on the quality of work that they were asked to do, thereby confirming that as the age differed the supervisor/leader would be required to change the leadership style used to fulfill the needs and of the subordinates in order to keep them motivated and achieve high productivity from them.