Key Soft Skills Research Articles

Alumni Assessments of Soft Skill Formation in an Extended Simulation

Abstract Existing research indicates that participation in simulations contributes to the development of key soft skills, but has tended to rely on contemporaneous self-evaluations. In this paper, we evaluated the degree to which early career professionals who had previously completed an extended simulation class felt that the experience had contributed to the development of soft skills that they used in their professional lives. Survey, interview, and focus group data all show that working professionals in various fields felt that the dynamic nature of the extended simulation contributed to the development of several categories of soft skills and made a strong impact on their careers.

The Importance of Soft Skills Development to Enhance Entrepreneurial Capacity

Soft skills development has come with the intention of an all-rounded development of individual personality and entrepreneurship can be taught or not has been an argument until today. Therefore, this study was designed to explore the importance of soft skills to enhance entrepreneurial capacity. The three key soft skills that researchers examined were communication, leadership, and critical and problem-solving skills while the entrepreneurial capacity was the dependent variable of this study. A total of five successful entrepreneurs were purposively selected to be the informants of this study. Researchers employed a qualitative method using interview protocol as an instrument to conduct in-depth interviews. Data were analyzed using content analysis. The results revealed that critical thinking and problem-solving skills is the most significant soft skills to assist entrepreneurs to improve their competitiveness and productivity. Moreover, all the informants came to the consensus that higher education should teach the students the three required soft skills to be successful entrepreneurs. They emphasized the importance of soft skills that can assist entrepreneurs not only to compete in the formal labor market but also has the potential to reduce youth unemployment, drive economic growth, and reduce poverty. The overall results are successfully contributed to a growing body of research by suggesting that soft skills, namely communication, leadership, and critical thinking and problem-solving skills associated with entrepreneurial success are malleable and can be trained through higher education institutions.

Delivering Business Analytics Competencies and Skills: A Supply Side Assessment

This paper investigates the alignment of the demand side of business analytics (based on advertised job positions) with the supply side (based on the university curricula of U.S. business analytics programs). We text-mined job advertisements and core and elective course descriptions to identify the competencies demanded by business analytics–related jobs and those being taught in graduate analytics programs that include a business component. A comparative analysis of the competencies reveals that, although some of the competencies required by the jobs are taught adequately at the universities, a few key concepts and topics are not covered at sufficient depth as needed by the jobs. The research also shows that many traditional analytics topics are being over-taught at the universities when compared with the demand, whereas some key soft skills are not addressed at a sufficient level in many programs. The study provides a basis for future comparison of data-science positions and programs with the jobs and programs in business analytics.

From Discussion Forums to eMeetings: Integrating High Touch Strategies to Increase Student Engagement, Academic Performance, and Retention in Large Online Courses

Student engagement and group work are critical to developing competencies, deeper learning, and attributes that align with 21st-century skills. Group work is particularly important for future employment in an increasingly competitive and dynamic workforce. A new capstone group work assignment using Online Human Touch (OHT) strategies was integrated into an Information Systems course at a regional university in the Caribbean. The course typically enrolls 250-300+ students per semester with one instructor. The assignment simulated a real-world business ‘eMeeting’ to proactively increase student engagement and retention. Quantitative data was collected three years prior to, and three years after the new ‘eMeeting’ format. Qualitative feedback after the integration shows significant increases in student engagement, while results and data show improved academic performance, higher scores on the standardized final exam and decreases in attrition. Integrating group assignments in large courses with real-world requirements, not only provide students with the opportunity to apply the knowledge, skills, and experience gained throughout the course, but enhance key soft skills sought by employers including problem-solving, ability to work in teams, communication, leadership, and time management.

STEM-ПРОЄКТИ ЯК ЕФЕКТИВНИЙ ЗАСІБ ФОРМУВАННЯ В УЧНІВ КЛЮЧОВИХ НАВИЧОК ХХІ СТОЛІТТЯ

The article substantiates the possibilities of developing promising skills of the XXI century, in particular soft skills, as a set of non-specialized, super-professional skills, which, unlike specialized, are not related to a specific field of professional activity. The leading means of developing such skills are STEM-projects, which combine the basic elements of research, project activities and take into account the external requirements of a particular activity. The analysis detected that common skills that were relevant 5 years ago and were envisaged for today, were such as interaction with people, integrated problem solving, creativity, critical thinking, the ability to form own opinions and make decisions, the ability to listen and ask, flexibility of mind (the ability to quickly switch from one thought to another) and emotional intelligence. In most scientific papers, the key soft skills include creative thinking, information management, emotional intelligence, the ability to form own opinions and make decisions, presentation skills. Based on this, the emphasis is on changes in the formation of soft skills and their development. At the theoretical level, methods of developing key skills include trainings, seminars, mastering models of successful behavior, finding feedback, learning from the experience of others, identifying models of successful behavior of people with a high degree of development of certain competencies. The development of soft skills requires special methods that focus on critical thinking; creativity; organizational skills; team working; emotional intelligence; problem assessment and decision making; ability to interact effectively; cognitive flexibility; versatile development of individuality; formation of a holistic scientific worldview of students; formation of a holistic scientific worldview of students; formation of a personality capable of independently choosing and making responsible decisions; education of students' respect for work, providing conditions for life and professional self-realization, formation of readiness of a conscious choice and mastering of the future profession. It is proved that the driver of the development of key competencies and skills of the future in students is STEM education in general and STEM projects in particular. The scheme proposed to the participants of the All-Ukrainian online-contest “Teacher of the Year” on the version of science journal “Kolosok”, who competed in the category “STEM teacher”, is highlighted.

Soft skills and its application in work place

Soft skills refer to a cluster of personal qualities, habits, attitudes and social graces that make someone a good employee and compatible to work with. There are two types of skills viz hard and soft skill. Soft skills are important for professional development, maintaining IPR and effective Communication. Soft skills include Inter personal and Personal attributes that enhance an individual’s interactions, job performance and career prospects. There are many key soft skills that need to be applied in work place .Hence Soft skills training should begin for a person when they are students, to perform efficiently in their academic environment as well as in their future workplace.

On the road to consensus: key soft skills required for youth employment in the service sector

PurposeTourism and hospitality is one of the fastest growing segments of the services industry in India, and there is tremendous need and opportunity for young, educated and qualified professionals. Academics and employers agree that there is an increasing gap between the soft skills that companies expect from their entry-level employees and the skills that these young people possess. To bridge this gap, industry leaders and researchers indicate the need for more soft skills training. The purpose of this paper is to identify soft skills competencies that are required for a diverse group of entry-level employees and then to identify gaps by exploring the hospitality programme and internships.Design/methodology/approachThe research is analytical in nature and draws on a literature review and a questionnaire as a survey tool for stakeholders. The research had separate questionnaires for employers, students and faculty members of the Vedatya Institute, educator for the service industry. The research is focused on entry-level employees – students who had graduated from Vedatya Institute in the past five years. The employers are primarily general managers and human resource managers of five-star hotels who have recruited and been part of campus interviews.FindingsThe research analysed soft or employability skills for the hospitality industry, and it provided valuable insights from employers and perceptions of graduates in attainment of those skills during their degree programme. The study highlighted the significant role of internship in developing soft skills.Practical implicationsThe paper recommends practical solutions for educators and organizations that can be applied. The research synthesized current thinking on required soft skills for young entry-level employees and explores the soft skills gap in the context of a growing soft skills training market with recommendation for stakeholders.Originality/valueThe research sought to address the real life problem impacting the hospitality industry in India using inputs from the literature, graduates and employers.

The Importance of Developing Soft Skill Sets for the Employability of Business Graduates in Vietnam: A Field Study on Selected Business Employers

<p class="Body"><em>Vietnam has been one of the best performing economies in the world over the last decade (Nguyen et al., 2008; The World Bank, 2016). The process of Vietnam’s integration into the world economic market, along with the country’s advancements in industrialization and modernization, have increased demands to improve and augment the productivity of the work force. This being so, Vietnam is now at a crucial stage of its expansionary economic development, assimilating some 425,000 tertiary graduates into its workforce during the 2014-2015 academic year (TalkVietnam, 2015). The country is also faced with a momentous challenge to provide highly qualified personnel for the emerging modern sectors of the economy. A particularly serious problem is how the country’s Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) will equip graduates with the appropriate skills and knowledge needed to meet the demands of rapidly increasing</em><em> </em><em>economic </em><em>development. Our central objective in this paper is twofold: firstly, to critically examine and assess the scholarly literature on the technological importance of soft skills in the business arena. Second to conduct a field study on the perspectives held by employers on the specific character of variant combinatory sets of key soft skills best suited for maximising commercial outcomes for employers and the companies they serve in economically vibrant business regions worldwide. The concluding section of the paper will be concerned to determine the extent to which the various skill set combinations can be sufficiently pedagogically developed so they become embedded as foundational in the creation of an international business school curriculum.</em></p>

An Examination of the Technology of Specialised Soft Skill Sets Deployed in Business Sectors from Four Different Regions of the Globe

<p class="BodyA"><em>Our central objective in this paper is twofold: first, to examine the scholarly literature on the technological importance of soft skills in Business, and second, to review the major research studies on the views of employers and the industries they serve regarding the specific character and combination sets of key soft skills best suited for business professionals located in four distinct and economically vibrant major business regions of the world. The key findings have been distilled from the literature and analysed to identify patterns of congruence, with the aim of cataloguing reasonably discrete combinatory sets of soft skills ideally suited to the specific business priorities which characterise these four different regions. The concluding section of the paper will consider the extent to which these distinct skill sets can be pedagogically developed in such a way that they become deeply embedded as foundational in the creation of an international business school curriculum, featuring five discrete sets of soft skills, each of which is ideally constructed for one of the four different regions.</em><em></em></p>

Training of new managers: why are we kidding ourselves?

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide an update on a longitudinal research study that examines the content delivery of courses provided by private training providers (PTPs) for first level managers (FLMs). It measures, against a contemporary soft skill model, the relevance of “off the shelf” training which is aimed at FLMs managerial soft skills, as opposed to “technical” or “hard skill” training. The research has been carried out over three phases. The paper will critically compare and contrast the results and determine if there are any prevailing management paradigms in the content of the courses.Design/methodology/approachThere were three key phases undertaken during the research. Phase 1 involved developing a multi-dimensional best practise core soft skills framework for professional managers. The second phase involved a pilot study conducted as desk research using various online and direct marketing channels in researching 45 PTPs first line manager courses in the UK over a period of two months during October to November 2011, and this exercise was repeated in phase 3 during February and March 2015 using a sample (20) of the same 45 PTPs. Both exercises involved comparing and contrasting the Core Soft Skills Framework to the PTP courses using thematic and coding techniques.FindingsThe studies have revealed surprising omissions and contrary positions when it comes to teaching FLMs non-technical skills. On some PTP courses there appeared contrary positions taken up on key managerial concepts such as leadership. In both research phases, “delegation” is an area which FLMs receive significant training. The activity of delegation is an example of top down management used to demonstrate command and control paradigms within the workplace, and fails to take into account todays cultural behavioural shifts. There is also a total lack of acknowledgement on the impact technology is having on a younger generation of managers interpersonal and intrapersonal skills.Research limitations/implicationsThe best practise core soft skill framework is based on three key soft skill models which do not take into account soft skills for FLMs. These models do not presently exist. Both the initial study and 2015 follow-up are undertaken by desk research and the content marketing collateral as promoted by the PTPs. What actually happens on the courses themselves: broader management discussions, role play, sharing experiences, etc. cannot be evaluated as part of this research. No distinction has been made in the research with regard the length of the courses.Practical implicationsPTP FLM training is not irrelevant; it is necessary for managers. An issue is the training is pitched at concepts and skills which are too advanced for the FLM who are missing out on the basic non-technical skills. Without this fundamental introduction, it is teaching FLMs to run before they can walk. Of all the FLM courses now researched, there has only been one which covers all the soft skills identified in the framework. With so many core soft skills from the framework omitted from PTP FLM courses, how can FLMs be expected to grasp the basics of soft skills and apply them?Originality/valueBy breaking down the findings, this research can have considerable impact with regard the provision of training for new managers. It informs HR departments about the inconsistencies of new manager training between the providers, but it also highlights areas to new management which are not covered by the courses. For training providers it will act as a reminder that training courses need to be continually reviewed and redesigned to remain relevant as culture rapidly changes from a personal interaction society to a technology interaction society. As a result more emphasis needs to be placed on communication, teamwork, interaction type activities to build intuition and “nous”. Today’s young people are “streetwise” – in technology but not in personal relationships….

The Case for ‘Trust Awareness’ as a Key Soft-Skill for Peacekeepers

This article uses the case study of the unifil mission in South Lebanon to explore the role of trust in facilitating or obstructing inter-organizational cooperation and local ownership in a traditional UN peacekeeping mission. Peacekeeping is distinct from many other forms of military engagement in the level of cooperation it requires, not only between different national military contingents, but between militaries and international police and civilian staff, personnel from local institutions and municipalities, and local communities. This article argues that the inter-organizational cooperation necessary for effective interoperability will not happen unless there is trust between the militaries working together. Equally, local ownership is not possible unless local populations trust peacekeepers to be impartial. However, this soft skill – awareness of the role of trust and how to engender it – is not included in pre-deployment training for military personnel. We outline the soft skill of ‘trust awareness’, including a typology of trust relevant for peacekeeping, and ‘trust mechanics’- practical actions and behaviors that foster trust.

Key Soft Skills Influencing the Employment Decision of the Employers

This study examines the key soft skills affecting employment decisions among the employers of Dhaka city. After examining 10 key soft skills, 4 soft skills such as good communication skills, problem-solving skills, working well under pressure and comprehension/thinking skills have been observed significantly influencing the employment decisions of the employers of Dhaka city. Factor analysis has been used to identify the most significant skills influencing employment decision. Correlation is also used to identify the most highly correlated skills. Simple descriptive statistics has been used to measure the degree of influence of the soft skills. General Linear Model is also used to examine the differences of employment decision making depending on the soft skills. Non probability random sampling has been considered as a sampling technique for collecting data. Sample size for this study is 201 respondents, 152 respondents from private organizations and 49 respondents from government organizations and 209 respondents from business graduates. It has also been identified that business graduates are aware of such soft skills like good communication skills and multiple choice fashions are the most significant method of judging these soft skills and training is the most influential method of measuring the improvement in learning soft skills. Business students should be assigned relevant tasks for mastering soft skills and also more and more practice of soft skills should be incorporated to the curriculum so that business students could make themselves competent enough to compete in the job market as far as soft skills are concerned and also would be able to meet the requirements of the concerned workplace and hence turn the employment decision in their favor positively and significantly.

COACHING CORE COMPETENCIES AS THE KEY SOFT SKILL FOR SUCCESSFUL HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

This paper aims at considering the well-known triad of What? How? Why? somewhat anew by suggesting looking at transformational leadership for successful human resources management through the lens of coaching core competencies as the key soft skill. Arising as the strategic approach to the effective management of people, well-thought human resources management that rests on a leadership model definitely enables management of a company or organization to move ahead of the curve and gain a firm foothold in the job market. The transformational leadership model fits the framework of the research and links to the contrastive line between management and leadership.It is emphasized that management processes focus on (i) maintaining and (ii) improving performance at work, on the one hand, and on the other, unlike management, the transformational leadership model focuses on the benefits of visionary thinking and bringing about change. Following the goal in the subject matter associated with successful HR management, the Golden Circle of What? How? Why?introduced by Simon Sinek finds its way in the description analysis. The Why? sectionopens the idea for successful HR managementto move further to What?section and is accompanied with How? section in the end. The final part of the findings embodies 11 current core competencies of coaching, which illustrate how the ways of implementing the soft skills in workplace may increase HR performance, enhance seamless communication among employees and management, drive change and welcome innovation.The four objectives for successful HR management: (i) drive change within a company or organization, (ii) encourage and motivate people for personal and corporate growth and development, (iii) employ innovation including modern technologies, and (iv) lead by example, correspond to the four cornerstones in the framework for successful company or organization management via transformational leadership. They are: (i) create an inspire vision of the future for the company’s (organization’s) employees, (ii) motivate the staff to live by and deliver the vision, (iii) manage delivery of the vision, (iv) attract and retain high-class professionals and young talents, build up strong and competitive teams, create and grow ever-stronger, trust-based relationships with the employees. The toolkit of ways, techniques and approaches may derive from the current core competencies in coaching that can be groupedsimilarly to the ICF ones as follows: (i) foundation, (ii) co-creating the relationship, (iii) communicating effectively, and (iv) cultivating learning and growth.

Mehke veščine v visokošolskem izobraževanju

Čeprav Evropska komisija v strateških dokumentih daje vse večji poudarek mehkim veščinam, ki naj bi bile ključne za doseganje ciljev bolonjskega procesa, se zdi, da te veščine še niso našle prave poti v visokošolske izobraževalne programe. Razlog je deloma v tradicionalistični usmeritvi visokošolskega prostora, ki daje prednost znanstvenim podlagam študijskih programov pred njihovo aplikativno vrednostjo. Študija se ukvarja z vprašanjem ključnih mehkih veščin, ki bi jih bilo smiselno povezati s študijskimi programi bodisi kot sestavni del študijskih programov (del modulov ali samostojni modul) bodisi kot zunajštudijskeoblike. Na podlagi raziskave, ki je bila opravljena med kadrovskimi strokovnjaki v šestih državah, je bil prepoznan relativni pomen posameznih mehkih veščin, ki so bile razvrščene v tri ključne skupine: osebne, socialne in metodološko/kontekstualne. V zaključnem delu študije so podani predvideni študijski cilji pri vključevanju mehkih veščin v visokošolske študijske programe.

Importance of Soft Skills for Graduates in the Real Estate Programmes in Malaysia

The current employment market in Malaysia requires the graduates to be more workplace competent, hence requiring the necessary soft skills. This paper attempts to highlight the key soft skills that have been identified by the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE), Malaysia in its move to enhance graduates’ employability. To incorporate these soft skills in the undergraduate programmes at universities, MOHE has suggested the following implementation methods to enhance these soft skills for the undergraduate programmes at universities. They are development of soft skills by embedding it in the existing syllabus, the development of soft skills through stand-alone subject, development of soft skills based on campus life, development of soft skills on support programmes, soft skill finishing schools, development of soft skills base on formal and informal activities at faculty levels, and lastly industrial training. Views from the industry are sought to provide an indication of the importance of the identified key soft skills in the real estate area so as to make the necessary emphasis on the curriculum development.

Do emotions matter?

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to propose emotional intelligence (hereinafter EI) competences as a key predictor for overall cross‐cultural adjustment of managers and professionals in its three respective dimensions: work, interaction and non‐work adjustment. This explorative study contributes to the assessment and selection of potential professionals for international assignments by identifying the combination of soft competences and selected pre‐existing personal factors that can predict cross cultural adjustment beyond traditional technical or functional skills.Design/methodology/approachData were gathered via a pre‐validated multi‐item questionnaire. The latter was administered in two languages: English and Spanish and two steps of multiple hierarchical regression analyses were conducted, in addition to the main variables (i.e. main effect). A total of 16 individual, organisational and context‐related control variables were used in this study.FindingsThe main findings indicate that EI is related to overall cross‐cultural adjustment measured in its three dimensions. However, EI was most strongly related to interaction adjustment following overall cross‐cultural adjustment. Furthermore, by isolating some important variables, the predictive role of EI on cross‐cultural adjustment above and beyond these control variables was shown.Research limitations/implicationsEI is still a new and debatable construct. Researchers are continuing to explore this construct from different angles. Moreover, there is keen interest in ascertaining whether the findings reported herein are sustainable. With the exception of one external source (culture distance), all data for the current study were collected via a self‐reported questionnaire and although additional effort was made to reduce some potential method‐variance problems, they cannot be entirely ruled out. The authors encourage future studies to improve the design by gathering data from multiple sources and from diverse settings.Practical implicationsThe paper reviews the possible advantages of including EI assessment in international postings selection process.Originality/valueThis paper fills the need to study the predictive role of key soft skills in understanding cross‐cultural adjustment of international assignees. This study analysed the role of emotions in cross‐cultural settings by specifically examining a set of competences stemming from the EI construct. Although EI has been extensively used in the organisational behaviour literature, to the best of the authors' knowledge, there is still a need to empirically explore the relationships of this construct within the context of overseas postings and cross cultural encounters.

Key competencies for global project managers: a cross cultural study of the UK and India

Several studies have identified soft skills as the most important characteristics of successful project managers. Since management practices are known to be influenced by national culture, skills needed for successful project managers may be influenced by national culture. In this paper, we use Hofstede's national culture dimensions to investigate differences in project management skills across nations. Specifically, we review job postings to identify the key soft skill competencies of project managers from global perspectives using data from UK and India. The results indicate that national culture influences the project managers' soft skills required by organisations when implementing information systems. Further, the results show that there is no difference in terms of requirements for project management certification and personal characteristics across the two nations. However, India requires a more advanced level education than the UK and the UK requires more team skills than India.