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Knowledge: As more Generation Y-ers enter the work force, employers have to deal with this new breed of employee. They're young, bright, eager and tech savvy. They also demand frequent validation, want quick rewards and like to shape the rules to fit their lives.

Now, academics and employers are wondering if Generation Y's comparatively privileged upbringing has created an environment in which a significant number of young workers view cutting corners, stretching the truth and out-and-out cheating as an acceptable way to get ahead.

Barbara Keats, an Associate Professor of Management at the W. P. Carey School of Business, says cheating has always existed in some form in the business world, but she wonders if Generation Y may be taking cheating to a new level.

Who are the Millennials, or Generation Y? What are some of the good qualities of this generation, and why should organizations, including businesses, non-profits and government agencies, care about them?

Barbara Keats: The Millennials or Generation Y - they have a few other labels - are folks who have been born between the years of roughly 1978 to 1998. Some authors point those beginning and ending points differently, but it's roughly that time period. Of course we're not speaking about everyone. It's not that every single individual born in that time frame will experience life the same way, but it does reflect a growing social view that's been emerging in the last couple of decades.

They do evidence some relatively common understandings of the world and relationships, even if they're not from the same social class or the same environment. One of the reasons to care about them is that these folks are going to be, soon enough, leaders and directors making decisions about what is important, what's valued, what's worthwhile, what determines community, where our efforts and our directions toward others--what directions those will take. We need to try to understand them a little bit to know how we can manage their progress through our social world so that they're making decisions that we believe to be good ones.

Knowledge: A lot has come out about this Generation Y: about how bosses of today, whether they be Baby Boomers or Generation X, should respond or take care of Generation Y. You hear a lot about how they need constant validation. They need to know that their efforts are going to be rewarded.

But now, on top of this, it seems like there might be some questions about ethics. How do Millennials regard the issue of cheating? Does this include lying on resumes, lying about past positions and responsibilities?

Keats: These are very important questions. They're certainly not new questions for this age, but I think what is new is how the social norms and the social context in which they've grown up has changed.

These are folks who, as they were growing up, their lives were often very structured. They went from violin lessons to ballet lessons to soccer games and to softball games. The outcomes were, a lot of times, very determined. That is, the activity--they were taken there by their parents. Often there were no winners and losers; they just played the game and everybody got a trophy.

So, they learned to be very tolerant in that sense. But they also had what we sometimes call the "helicopter parents" that often tried to solve their problems for them. While that probably felt good as a parent, to do that, the fact is that it protected a lot of kids from having to face issues of moral or ethical uncertainty, even as they were growing up.

You see it reflected even in children's stories as they've changed over the years. Some of the drama that revolved around the characters having to make choices among good and evil, right and wrong got watered down.

So, for a lot of these kids, they haven't really been tested a lot in their lives to know what they're good at, what's valuable or what's worth fighting for. Their parents have a lot of times helped them out when they got into some kind of trouble: they didn't do well on a test or they are looking to try to get into the right college and so on.

So, what we have is a society that has become very achievement oriented. Even in very good schools, some of the honors students become some of the best cheaters because the goals are so high. The goals for achievement are so high. A college like Harvard these days may accept 7 percent of the applicants, so that's quite a high hurdle for the parents and children as they're growing up to try to get past.

What happened is we sort of normalized cheating. Their lives are busy; they don't always have time to do all of their assignments. So, either their parents have helped them do it, have sometimes done it for them or they've gotten work from other people or they've ordered papers off the Internet, and things like that. I think the shift in society that we've seen is not that that behavior is new, but that somehow it's more OK.

I think that's where the issues of as a business, as an employer, as a parent and as a society--that's the kind of thing I think we ought to be looking at. What happens when you break the rules?

Living in the sound byte world that we do, the young people of today have seen politicians, business people and all kind of folks do things that have been branded unethical or even illegal, but they get something of a slap on the wrist or they might get fired or they might go to prison for a short period of time. But then they come out and they start up a business of consulting or writing, or they go right back to where they were, and now they're a celebrity.

The issue of consequences starts to weigh on them in terms of is there potentially more to be gained than lost by engaging in this behavior. For more and more of them, the consequences are so minimal that even getting caught isn't really a danger. Then it becomes kind of a way of life.

Knowledge: So, when they're going out into the business world, do they consider it lying on resumes or do they consider it stretching the truth?

Keats: I'm not exactly certain if even the word lying would be necessarily a bad word. If you go onto any of the resume services like Monster.com where people post resumes and experience and if you talk to Human Resources folks at organizations, it's quite clear that misrepresenting oneself on a resume is a very expedient thing to do.

Sometimes, if you look at these articles that have been posted about cheating on resumes and then, when some of the folks have posted comments, and you go down and read the comments, it's pretty much the idea that, "Well, of course you have to do that. Everybody else is doing it, so if you don't do it you'll be at a disadvantage." And part of the problem is that a lot of companies don't bother to check references on resumes, and past employers and so forth.

So, people get into the jobs by lying and then that just validates that it was an OK thing to do. We see politicians and all kinds of folks now saying that they didn't remember some things correctly or they misspoke or they were tired. Or you see a Jayson Blair who was fired for lying in his stories, but then he got to sell a book and movie rights. It's just that the consequences just aren't that big. The likelihood of getting caught is small, and then even when one is caught the severity of the consequences isn't really daunting.

Knowledge: It's almost like they don't even have a healthy fear of the consequences anymore.

Keats: I think that would be a very good way of putting it. The social norms have changed so that there isn't a fear of, "If I do this, it's wrong. I'm likely to get caught, and the consequences for that could be dire for my career." That sort of orientation really has not been emphasized in our society over the last couple of decades.

Knowledge: Do some of these Millennials, do they reach a point where they might even believe some of the stuff that they're saying?

Keats: Well, it's interesting. If you read some of the literature they often will say things that can be sort of characterized by saying, "I know that I have to do this now. I have to do this to get into the right college; I have to do this to get the right job, or the best PhD program. I have to do this to get promoted. I have to do this. Whatever the excuse is, but it's really not changing who I am inside. Whenever I reach that, whatever that end goal is, whenever I get there, I won't have to do this anymore. But for now I do. But it's not changing who I am."

Knowledge: So, how did we arrive at this point? I think we touched on some of the reasons for the changes in attitudes about cheating, and it seems the biggest one is the consequences aren't really there to fear.

Keats: Yes, I think that's part of it. They had to think in terms of what's going to make them money, what's going to keep my job. And even when you listen to some of the Enron folks, when they would say things like, "Our goal was to make the numbers. They didn't care how we did it. They didn't want to hear how we did it, our goal was to make the numbers."

I think that it's kind of sad, because young people today are not that different from people in past generations in that they are generally idealistic, optimistic, enthusiastic. They're very tech savvy. They look for meaning in their lives. They look for meaning in their jobs.

But they're also like young people in past generations; they're still relatively susceptible to the judgments of their elders. They wouldn't use that word anymore. But the veterans in the business - whatever business it is they're in - and everything has become so fast paced and they're so accustomed to hearing things in short bites. Sound bites, for example on the television or even podcasts these days in the classroom.

There really isn't a sense of following a story or following a lead or pursuing an ethical question, even rewarding whistle blowers. Whistle blowers, for all the good press that they've gotten in the last few years, it's still a very dangerous breed. It's behavior that isn't very valued in organizations.

So, I think organizations know they have a lot of opportunities. Businesses, nonprofits, governments, they have a lot of opportunities to take advantage of those very qualities. The optimism, the enthusiasm, the tech savvy, to create cultures that really value the kind of performance that we say we value. And that we reward behavior at least as well as we reward consequences. And we need to consider what those consequences are.

If we say to somebody, or the message is, "Just make the numbers, we don't care how you do it, and we need it by yesterday," that's communicating something very clear about the organization's culture. So, we need to think in terms of not just instant gratification, not this constant rewards and so forth.

Those are important to these folks, but we also need to consider the kind of culture that we're creating in an organization. Because a lot of research has indicated that it's the organizational culture that is the most important influence on employee behavior when it comes to ethical decision making.

So, creating a culture of values that we believe to be positive, not just making the money. You know the W. P. Carey motto, it's for the W. P. Carey School of Business is, "Doing good well doing well." If we teach that to people and we actually live it, and we provide role models in organizations who live that and the structure of rewards and consequences in the organizations. Reward those things or punish the things that we don't want.

In a way that actually has impact. Not just a slap on the wrist, but that really matters. Then I think we can go a long way toward guiding their decision making and their behaviors, and not just standing in the background saying, "What on Earth happened? How did we come to this? Woe is us. We have no way of changing it." We do, but it takes effort and it takes investment and it takes patience and time. Which a lot of times these days people aren't willing to provide.

Knowledge: I guess it also takes the... It puts supervisors in an uncomfortable position of having to call out some of these actions, some these lies, some of the stretching of the truth. I mean, no supervisor wants to be in that position of having to bring somebody into their office and say look.

There seems to have to be a willingness on the supervisors themselves to take on these uncomfortable situations in order to nip that type of behavior in the bud and let them know there are consequences.

Keats: Well, and that also touches on another aspect of the context in which this generation has grown up, and that's this sort of ethical relativism. That well, I observed this person doing this and I think it might be wrong, but in his culture or her culture or whatever, maybe it isn't and who am I to judge? We don't like to judge people and it's difficult.

One of the most important issues that we face in our business ethics classrooms is the issue of dealing with misbehavior. How do you confront it? How do you deal with it? It's very uncomfortable for people so you're right, they do find ways to avoid it or to normalize the behavior or to write it off as not being very detrimental or consequential. No harm, no foul, that sort of thing.

Knowledge: So, it seems like it has to go to the extreme of a Jason Blair or even that broker in France who brought down that whole institution there, before anyone's willing to say, "Uh-uh, we should probably take care of this situation."

Keats: Yes, and I think a lot of times people don't realize the severity of the situation until it reaches that level, because for a lot of their lives they've kind of been allowed a do over. They did something wrong. Maybe they turned in a paper that they plagiarized, or they did something wrong at work or whatever. And mom or the manager or the teacher or somebody intervened and said, "Well, you can have another chance. You can do this over."

And so, when we haven't learned that there are consequences, and that those consequences can be severe, it does have to rise to a certain level to get attention. And it's kind of unfortunate because by letting things go early on and allowing someone to engage in a pattern of behavior like that, pretty much it does become normalized.

Well, if I can do this, then what's the harm in doing that? What's the next thing? Nobody though that was too terrible and if it wasn't unpleasant at least they let me do it over. Or they fired me but I got another job very quickly. So, you're right, it does seem to have to rise to a very high level.

Recent research has also shown like 80% of the people in business organizations have witnessed misconduct, but very few of them actually report it. It's not only because of the whistle blower problems, but it is also this notion of, "Well, who am I to judge? It's not my job to judge that."

Knowledge: Well, we're also talking a lot about generations working together. At this point, you could have the tail end of the Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y, all working together. What kind of resentment does that breed if the Generation Y people feel they always get a do over whereas Generation X and the Baby Boomers had to live with consequences? Or at least, a greater degree of consequences.

Keats: Well, it certainly creates some animosity in the workplace, if it's not addressed. I think one of the things that can happen is in any older generation - it will be interesting to see if the Millennials behave this way - but any older generation can think that a younger generation has it much easier than they ever did.

People used to joke about how grandpa would talk about walking five miles to school in the snow with no shoes, things like that. So, most generations have thought that the generations that came after them had it much easier.

But I think that most generations until this one have at least had some sort of moments of being tested. You know? And having to really think about what they value, and what they're willing to fight for, and what they're not willing to fight for.

This generation has grown up in an era of relative peace in terms of at least their lives. Whatever affects their immediate lives. And I think there can be some resentment of that if they don't understand what previous generations seem to want them to understand about behavior and consequences.

But I also think it's very important for older generations, whether as you say, it's the tail end of the Boomers or the Generation X-ers who are kind of moving into their positions, to really realize that there is an unbelievable wealth of talent and optimism and enthusiasm to be tapped by these Millennials.

They are willing to communicate together, sometimes too much, one might think, and sometimes about things that the older generations might have felt were better kept private. But they really do want to achieve. Part of the problem is they want to achieve very quickly.

But again, if an organization creates a culture where career paths are even talked about, which they're not anymore, then people have something to aspire to and to follow. Most organizations these days don't have a career path. They wouldn't even know how to draw one on a chart.

So, there's very little loyalty, and I think that also affects the generations because the Generation X-ers maybe less than the Baby Boomers, but certainly the Boomers, grew up in a culture where their parents went to work for a company and worked there for 35 or 40 years and then got a pension.

Now most young workers don't expect to work at any first job or second job or third job very long. They see no problem in job hopping. They see that companies don't have any particular loyalty to their employees. They lie to their employees or they cut off their pensions. You know, all kinds of things have been happening. So, why would a young worker invest loyalty and commitment to an organization that might turn around and bite them in the very near future?

I think that's very confusing to Boomers and some X-ers as well, because that's not what they grew up with. Yet their the ones getting hurt by it. So, I think Generation Y has a lot to offer us. It really is amazing what they can do when they get excited about something.

But they need for their jobs to be meaningful and they need for their jobs to provide for development and structure. And yes, rewards and praise and that sort of thing. But also I think that they're very hungry for an organization that will also have high ideals and strong values and reward the people who engage in behaviors that support those ideals and values. Not just the bottom line.

Knowledge: Well, it sounds almost like an oxymoron. We want our company to be ethical and ideal but we don't have to be.

Keats: Exactly, and that's the contradictory message that these young workers are getting. It's pretty much human nature to want to protect yourself, and why would I invest in you if you're not willing to invest in me? If I can't count on you in the future, why should I allow you to count on me?

So, it's a two way street and I think business people have a lot to account for the last 10 or 15 years. And I think if we are going to address the notion of cheating, it's going to go away anytime soon because of our attitudes toward achievements and toward expediency and wanting it now.

I heard one researcher was saying sort of a common theme was, it used to be that the CEO could turn to a young worker and say, "You know, if you work hard, one day all this could be yours." And he said now what the Millennial expect to hear is, "If you work hard today, tomorrow all this will be yours."

So, if we think of things in terms of very short term bursts, whether it's information or achievement or friendship or whatever, cheating becomes the way to get there. Because if you don't and other people are, then you're going to be at the disadvantage.

Knowledge: I saw a magazine cover, it was for a business magazine and the headline said, "Work is not your mother." How important is it for Generation Y to learn that?

Keats: Well, I think it's very important. But you brought up an interesting point in that, if they expect that or if that's the way they've been treated, what can we do about it? You know, if an organization just says, "Well, I'm going to go cold turkey. I'm not going to give them structure; I'm going to let them fall on their face. I'm going to let them deal with consequences, "number one, you're probably going to lose that person as a worker, because that's exactly not where they want to work.

They want to work at a place that's nurturing and fun and giving them good experiences. But you're also really not teaching them anything, other than confirming their suspicions that business organizations are out to get them. Especially the more traditional ones, and are not worthy of their loyalty and investment.

I think that's one reason why Apple and Google and places like that are so successful at recruiting. They've sort of branded themselves in the workplace as a good place to work. Not only because fun things happen there and there's cool things, people and ideas going around.

But that it is something of a nurturing place. There is someone there who's willing to provide you feedback and be a mentor and so forth. So, they've branded their workplace almost as much as they brand their products, as a place where people want to go and work.

And I think that's going to be a challenge for businesses also. Yes, you don't necessarily want to be their mother, and we in higher education are dealing with some of that too. That their need for structure and their need for encouragement and their relative lack of ability to deal with failure or disappointment.

So, we're answering some of these same questions ourselves. To what extent do we allow them a do over or do we accede to some of their need for these various kinds of things? Or do we just stand there like aging Boomers or whatever and say, "No, you'll do it our way or you won't do it at all"?

Colleges and universities are looking at these folks almost the way businesses are having to, to say, "We want this to be a place where they want to come. So, what is it going to take to do that?" Now once they are here, we also want it to be a place where they learn ethical values in their profession and moral philosophies and things like that. So, that they have a context and they have grounding within them to address the various kinds of situations that they're going to face in life.

But what we're finding is lacking because of what they have been experiencing all of their lives, is they haven't really been forced into critical thinking. And I think a lot of workplaces and a lot of colleges are not doing them any favors if they don't expect them to reflect on the situation, consider their alternatives, and not only consider the consequences to themselves but to consider the consequences to others. Based on the decisions that they make in that situation.

So yes, the business, the college, is not their mother. But they have an opportunity to provide guidance and mentoring and role modeling to help to create the kind of worker that they say they want. I don't necessarily think that that's mothering. If it is, then maybe we can make it up to them that we didn't teach them this before. I don't know.