ABSTRACT In light of the COVID-19 pandemic which caused many businesses around the world to move to online or virtual workplaces (Center for Disease Control, 2020), intergenerational tensions may be exacerbated leading to communication breakdowns. There are many challenges in moving an intergenerational workplace online such as an overreliance on generational labels in guiding interactions, negative perceptions of technology usage of particular age groups, and biased perspectives regarding different age groups’ willingness to change. A resulting potential lack of intergenerational interactions will cause a breakdown in knowledge transfer as well as less efficient and productive workplaces (Urick, 2019). This paper analyzes online workplaces through the lens of generational research to provide recommendations related to social identity/self-categorization theories, transformational leadership, change management, goal setting theory, and knowledge transfer. These recommendations encourage positive online intergenerational interactions so that organizations can continue as closely to “business as usual” despite being thrust into a crisis.

中文翻译：

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代际差异和 COVID-19：虚拟工作场所中的积极互动

摘要 鉴于 COVID-19 大流行导致世界各地的许多企业转向在线或虚拟工作场所（疾病控制中心，2020 年），代际紧张关系可能会加剧，导致沟通中断。将跨代工作场所转移到网上存在许多挑战，例如在指导互动时过度依赖代际标签、对特定年龄组的技术使用的负面看法以及对不同年龄组改变意愿的偏见看法。由此导致的代际互动的潜在缺乏将导致知识转移的中断以及效率和生产力较低的工作场所（Urick，2019）。本文通过世代研究的视角分析在线工作场所，以提供与社会认同/自我分类理论、变革型领导、变革管理、目标设定理论和知识转移相关的建议。这些建议鼓励积极的在线代际互动，以便组织在陷入危机的情况下仍能像往常一样继续“照常营业”。