Positive Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Designing for Tech-Savvy, Optimistic, and Purposeful Millennial Professionals’ Company Cultures

The purpose of this rebuttal to Costanza and Finkelstein (2015) is (a) to examine the findings surrounding the new generations at work, (b) to suggest the risks of not responding to change in generations with new talent strategies, and (c) to propose a new theory about the development of a new millennial culture and how practitioners and researchers may capitalize on the promise of a more positive and joyful workplace culture. We propose to accomplish these points by (a) citing recent global findings showing that Millennials (born after 1980) are turning away from companies with cultures that were designed for 20th century workers, (b) presenting a theory on the development of an emerging millennial culture that is based on positive industrial and organizational psychology, and (c) recommending that the method of innovation design teams be used to render workplaces compatible with the emerging culture.