CHALLENGE OF SOFTSKILLS TRAINING (FOR GRADUATES FROM RURAL AREAS) By Dr. V. Veera Balaji Kumar BHMS., M Sc., M Phil (Pscyhology)

Abstract: This brief article attempts to define soft skills training from the perspective of Cygmax Institute of Management Studies, a newly established B-School. The article also attempts to understand the challenges of designing and implementing a soft skills training programme which is mainly targeted at students who come from a rural and non-English educational background. It has attempted to arrive at a solution to overcome these challenges. The study recommends the use of proven concepts and practices from the field of psychology, management, experiential training and communication, supplemented by the usage of relevant adult learning methodologies in lieu of traditional pedagogical tools.

I remember, way back in 1980s, possessing the ever popular, Dale Carnegies’ “How to win friends and influence people”. My Father had gifted me a copy when I joined a new school for my 6th standard, instructing me to read a chapter daily. I wondered how this could help me in earning a degree, and never read it. It was when I attended a seminar on personal mastery, I realized the worth of wisdom of Dale Carnegie – interpersonal skills. The Facilitator at the end of the day informed the participants about the “one” book which had inspired him reach the highest level of success viz., Dale Carnegies’ “How to win friends and influence people”. That was the first time when I realized the importance of Soft skills in contrast to the hard (technical) skills.

Last year, Wall Street Journal Online had an article describing how top US business schools like Dartmouth and MIT are now focusing on the soft skills of managing, by "...copying and adapting popular corporate techniques such as coaching, personality assessments and peer feedback. The article informs that the business schools are responding to increasing interest from employers who are looking for better interpersonal skills in freshly minted MBAs. Now, Indian business schools like IIMs, IBS and ICFAI have followed suit. ICFAI, under the aegis of CYGMAX has designed a MBA program with special focus on soft skills (lab) training.

Just what are Soft skills ?

There has always been a controversy on deciding just what soft skills are. And, how many skills can be described as purely soft skills. According to results of the Workforce Profile, (source: www.workforce.com, See Appendix I) the more valuable employee is one who can grow and learn as the business changes. It has defined about sixty "soft skills", which employers seek. It defines soft skills as "personal traits and skills that employers state are the most important when selecting employees for jobs of any type." But, I personally believe that these sixty skills can be easily reduced to just a few broad categories

Dr Goeran Nieragden’s definition of soft skills is, “Soft or social skills are those personal values and interpersonal skills that determine a person's ability to fit into a particular structure, such as a project team, a rock group, or a company. The skills include personality traits like emotional maturity, eagerness to learn, and willingness to share and embrace new ideas” .

What are these soft skills ?

Sarvesh Gulati, writing in his book, “corporate soft skills”, succinctly delineates nine essential components of softskills.

1. BUSINESS COMMUNICATION SKILL

2. EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

3. TIME MANAGEMENT

4. LEADERSHIP SKILL

5. TEAM BUILDING

6. CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

7. PERSUASION & NEGOTIATION SKILL

8. BUSINESS & SOCIAL ETIQUETTE

9. STRESS MANAGEMENT

In his book, Gulati has outlined the ways in which these skills can be developed by an individual. It is one of the most comprehensive categorization of soft skills. But, the methodologies outlined here and elsewhere are quite suitable for convent-bred English speaking ‘born with the silver spoon’ youngsters. But they will be ineffective if we adopt the same methodology to graduates hailing from suburbs and towns of India.

The challenge

At, Cygmax institute of management studies, we find graduates coming from Tamil-medium schools struggling to understand the purely English instruction. And the Soft skills training are mostly in English. So, as a soft skills trainer I found it was difficult to bridge the gap between their knowledge level and the skills to be trained. The need of the hour is to develop a training program specifically designed to cater to middle-class young graduates coming from a rural background who have serious deficit in English fluency – reading and writing. The Pre MBA English Language Bridge Course (ELBC) was an ideal foil to solve this problem. It dealt the problem headlong and the course directors have anticipated the skill gap.

Understand Education, Training & Learning

The concept of ‘Training’ is so deep rooted in the minds of soft skills trainers; we sometimes forget the real purpose behind the process. We have to know the difference between education and training. As a gross oversimplification, you can consider education as the imparting of knowledge, while training involves the acquisition of skills. Education means ‘to draw out’; to facilitate realization of one’s latent potential talents. Training refers to the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and competencies as a result of the teaching of vocational or practical skills and knowledge that relates to specific useful skills. Training should not stick to age old pedagogic paradigm.

Pedagogy literally means the art and science of educating children and often is used as a synonym for teaching. More accurately, pedagogy embodies teacher-focused education. In the pedagogic model, teachers assume responsibility for making decisions about what will be learned, how it will be learned, and when it will be learned. Teachers direct learning.

John Dewey, the great educationist, believed formal schooling was falling short of its potential. Dewey emphasized learning through various activities rather than traditional teacher-focused curriculum. He believed children learned more from guided experience than authoritarian instruction. He ascribed to a learner-focused education philosophy. He held that learning is life not just preparation for life. This is very much related to Soft skills training, where we look for the skills gaps and focus our training on building those specific skills.

In an attempt to formulate a comprehensive adult learning theory, Malcolm Knowles, in 1973, published the book The Adult Learner: A Neglected Species. Building on the earlier work of Lindeman, Knowles asserted that adults require certain conditions to learn. He borrowed the term androgogy to define and explain the conditions Androgogy, initially defined as “the art and science of helping adults learn,” has taken on a broader meaning since Knowles’ first edition. The term currently defines an alternative to pedagogy and refers to learner-focused education for people of all ages.

The andragogic model asserts that five issues be considered and addressed in formal learning. These issues can very well be applied to soft skills training. They include (1) letting learners know why something is important to learn,(2) showing learners how to direct themselves through information, and(3) relating the topic to the learners’ experiences. In addition, (4) people will not learn until they are ready and motivated to learn. (5) Often this requires helping them overcome inhibitions, behaviors, and beliefs about learning.

The Solution

We can get valuable insights from above mentioned concepts. The fundamental concept of soft skills training is building rapport of the trainer with the trainees. The rapport comes about as a result of the empathic concern of the trainer. An accurate assessment of knowledge level of the trainees, their training and motivational needs, and to make the training activities relevant and interesting to the learner.

The students self esteem can be low and should be assessed initially. A self esteem questioner like Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale can be administered. Another popular psychological construct used to assess the pre-training readiness of a trainee is the Rotter's Locus of Control Scale. A locus of control orientation is a belief about whether the outcomes of our actions are contingent on what we do (internal control orientation) or on events outside our personal control (external control orientation)." (Zimbardo, 1985). The questionnaire was administered to MBA class of 2008-2010) to find out how far they assume responsibility for their behaviours and success in life. The result was used to give a valuable feedback on importance of Proactive approach to life and work. Similarly, gestalt activities can be used to provide Self-awareness.

Nowadays, youngsters are much interested in mobile phones, chatting, ‘orkut’ing, bikes, fashionable clothes, Discotheques, eating out etc., The training activities which incorporates these themes will catch the attention of the trainees and increase their involvement and result in internalizing the learning objectives.

The importance of English fluency and communication skills should be emphasized strongly at the outset. Teaching English grammar through role-playing everyday activities, playing skits and group discussions and mock interviews will be effective. Communication games and buzz groups can be used for interpersonal skills. Fish bowl discussion will be very effective for training group discussions(GDs).

And finally, the training should be experiential in nature. Kolb (1984) in his learning styles model and experiential learning theory, typically expressed as four-stage cycle of learning, explains that 'immediate or concrete experiences' provide a basis for 'observations and reflections'. These 'observations and reflections' are assimilated and distilled into 'abstract concepts' producing new implications for action which can be 'actively tested' in turn creating new experiences. Training, to be an effective exercise, the learner should 'touches all the bases', ie., a cycle of experiencing, reflecting, thinking, and acting. Immediate or concrete experiences lead to observations and reflections. These reflections are then assimilated (absorbed and translated) into abstract concepts with implications for action, which the person can actively test and experiment with, which in turn enable the creation of new experiences. This will facilitate efficient transfer of training to real life applications.

Figure1. Kolb’s experiential learning circle

References

1. M.B.A. Programs Hone 'Soft Skills' By Phred Dvorak; February 12, 2007; Page B3; Wall Street Journal Online

2. http://search.crownpeak.com/cpt_redirect/5141?account=1005&qid=239&ht = ; Workforce.com

3. The Soft Skills of Business English By Dr Goeran Nieragden, Cologne ; ELT Newsletter, Article 28, September 2000

4. Gulati.S.(2006). Corporate soft skills, Rupa books

5. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/My_Pedagogic_Creed ; John Dewey

6. Dewey, J. (1938/1997). Experience and education. Macmillan

7. Knowles, M. (1973/1997). The Adult Learner: A Neglected Species.

8. http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-knowl.htm

9. http://www.infed.org/biblio/b-explrn.htm

Appendix I The Workforce Profile defined about 60 "soft skills", which employers seek. They are applicable to any field of work, according to the study, and are the "personal traits and skills that employers state are the most important when selecting employees for jobs of any type." They are:

1. Math.2. Safety.3. Courtesy.4. Honesty.5. Grammar.6. Reliability.7. Flexibility.8. Team skills.9. Eye contact. 10. Cooperation. 11. Adaptability.12. Follow rules.13. Self-directed.14 Good attitude. 15. Writing skills. 16. Driver's license. 17. Dependability. 18. Advanced math. 19. Self-supervising. 20. Good references. 21. Being drug free. 22. Good attendance. 23. Personal energy. 24. Work experience. 25. Ability to measure. 26. Personal integrity.27. Good work history. 28. Positive work ethic.29. Interpersonal skills. 30. Motivational skills

34. Common sense. 35. Critical thinking skills. 36. Knowledge of fractions. 37. Reporting to work on time. 38. Use of rulers and calculators. 39. Good personal appearance. 40. Wanting to do a good job.41. Basic spelling and grammar. 42. Reading and comprehension. 43. Ability to follow regulations. 44. Willingness to be accountable.45. Ability to fill out a job application. 46. Ability to make production quotas.47. Basic manufacturing skills training. 48. Awareness of how business works.49. Staying on the job until it is finished.50. Ability to read and follow instructions.51. Willingness to work second and third shifts. 52. Caring about seeing the company succeed. 53. Understanding what the world is all about. 54. Ability to listen and document what you have heard.55. Commitment to continued training and learning.56. Willingness to take instruction and responsibility.57. Ability to relate to coworkers in a close environment.58. Not expecting to become a supervisor in the first six months.59. Willingness to be a good worker and go

31. Valuing education. 32. Personal chemistry. 33. Willingness to learn.

beyond the traditional eight-hour day.60. Communication skills with public, fellow employees, supervisors, and customers.

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