Employability Enigma of Engineering Graduates in the ...internationalseminar.org/XV_AIS/TS 2/11. Ms. Vandana Pragada.pdf · Bangalore Mumbai Introduction Today’s inter-dependent

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Employability Enigma of Engineering Graduates in the Indian IT Sector

Ms. Vandana Pragada Dr. Selvan DorairajSenior Manager – HR Vice PresidentCapgemini India Capgemini IndiaBangalore Mumbai

Introduction

Today’s inter-dependent world is characterized by increased globalization and a highly dynamic businessenvironment – shifting consumer preferences and demographics, increasing access to a wide array ofinformation, fast and sporadic evolution of technology, governmental regulations, falling trade barriers,decreasing cost of entry, environmental pressures etc. Corporations operate with the knowledge that thereis someone out there who will inevitably come to the market with a product or service that will change therules of the game.

Since the industrial revolution, China and India, along with other developing nations (BRICS), are in aposition to give the world economy its biggest boost. Their participation in global economic flows hasbeen increasing at a remarkable pace, contributing towards more than half of the total world GDP(measured at purchasing power parity), 43% of world exports and nearly half of the world's energyconsumption.

As highlighted in a study conducted by Europa Innova, organizations can derive greater productivity andinnovation, based on:

Favorable socio economic factors like interest and attitude of society towards science and technology,Availability of human resources in science and technology;

Existence of collaboration with competitors and academia Presence of informal networks, relation between employees and employers.

Education and training are also emerging as key drivers of competitiveness. As the global economy hasbecome more complex, it is increasingly evident that maintaining competitive advantage in globalmarkets requires boosting the human capital endowments of the labor force. This is made possible onlywhen its members have access to new knowledge, are constantly trained in new processes and in theoperation of the latest technologies. As coverage of primary education has expanded rapidly in thedeveloping world, higher education has gained importance. Thus, countries which have invested heavilyin creating a well-developed infrastructure for tertiary education have reaped enormous benefits in termsof growth. Education has been a particularly important driver in the development of the capacity fortechnological innovation, as the experience of Finland, Korea, Taiwan, and Israel clearly shows.

India’s specific advantage over many other countries listed above is derived from strengths in the moreadvanced and complex drivers of competitiveness. A fairly young population, large pool of engineers andmanagers, rising purchasing power, large market and a conducive policy environment for business createan ecosystem conducive to growth. A study of the demographic profile of India forecasts the availabilityof a population profile of young talent pool over the next 20-30 years.

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Demographic Advantage

Despite all the advantages that India has as an emerging economy, its GGCI ranking in 2012-2013 is amiddling 59 due to its poor infrastructure, poor health and education standards.

In 2012, 3.56 lakhs of engineering and technology students graduated and added to overall talent pool atthe graduate level. Despite such a huge repository of available talent, there seems to be a shortage ofemployable talent as found by industry body Nasscom. Apparently only one in four of these engineeringgraduates were employable. This disturbing trend was ratified through a study conducted by theAssociated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), B-schools and EngineeringColleges Shut Down – Big business struggles. They found that while demand for engineering seats grewsignificantly, lack of quality teaching, absence of industry collaborations, a slowing economic growth rateand excess supply have forced the closure of hundreds of management and engineering institutions inIndia over the past few years.

This huge talent shortage will certainly impact the Indian IT industry whose dramatic growth in the last15 to 20 years has elicited a lot of interest among academia and international business community.

Until recently, the Indian IT with its double-digit growth in revenues was considered as “THE” sector tobe employed in. This pace of growth was achieved by leveraging the vast pool of fresh engineering talentavailable in the country who were trained on various technologies and deployed on projects withinmonths of hiring.

With recession hitting US and Europe, today’s economic and business scenario is very different. Most ITcompanies are facing a double whammy – growth is slow and in single-digits while customers arebecoming increasingly finicky and demanding, thereby putting a lot of cost pressure on the price pointsand quality of output. These external drivers and internal strategic outlook of companies is certainlyinfluencing an overall change in the IT sector. Caught in this transitionary trend are the nearly three-

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million-strong IT workforce and the fresh set of engineering graduates of this year and the ones who willgraduate in the near future to come.

The external drivers and strategic shifts in the industry are impacting the talent needs of the industry.Increasingly companies are now looking out for readily deployable talent and achieving significantreduction of time to productivity (read: billable).

Traditionally, IT firms have achieved economies of scale based on a headcount pyramid model thatessentially seeks to increase the base by infusing a steady stream of freshmen engineers. The recruitmentteams of these IT companies often looked to the various engineering institutes across the country to fulfilltheir massive manpower requirements and consciously chose to recruit engineers from various streams,not limiting themselves to only computer science or electronics. The premise was that engineeringgraduates by virtue of their education will come with the necessary analytical and technical bent of mindwhich could be further honed and topped with the requisite technology, IT knowledge and soft skills bytheir respective Learning & Development teams.

As the industry matures, today’s ask is very different from the past. Many of the Indian pure players arelooking at varied ways and means to sustain growth momentum. Some of the biggest names in IT havealready announced their aspiration to move up the value chain and earn one-third of their revenues fromconsulting, software products and platforms.

India, despite all its success in the field of IT, is still seen as an offshoring destination. It is yet to fullyleverage and exploit its brilliant success in the field of IT and showcase India as a preferred destinationfor engineering education. This is a golden opportunity for an Industry –academia partnership where theIndian engineering education sector can partner and give a much needed impetus to help the Indian ITindustry take significant strides into higher value-added markets.

There is much squabble on who to blame for this situation. The engineering colleges on one hand arecomplaining about paucity of investment and industry involvement while IT companies are blamingacademic institutions for this unemployable pool.

This is the time to step back and objectively review the capability of the Indian education sector to meetthe needs of the corporate world. While we examine the Indian education sector with an objective lens,we must also be cognizant of today’s challenges in educating engineers, especially with the sheer amountof easy availability of information that is created in fields of science and engineering every day. The rateat which this information is growing, particularly the rapid creation of new information is already morethan the comprehension capabilities of an ordinary engineer. While there is an intent to continuouslyadapt and incorporate the latest information into the four years of engineering curriculum on a real timebasis, this issue needs to be taken to the esteemed governing bodies who prescribe and control thecurriculum and assessment mechanism to ensure uniformity of approach and execution.

Given all this, this research paper aims to examine and bring forth the current needs of the industry, thedifferentiating factors making an engineering graduate “readily or easily deployable” and the ability of theengineering education sector to meet this need and the changes that may be required to meet the changingskill mix along with the foundational knowledge that goes with producing successful professionals. Thispartnership approach requires us to find answers to:

Is the Indian IT industry getting the right skilled professional from engineering campuses?

Is the current curriculum design, teaching methodology and assessment geared towards meeting theskill requirement of the IT industry

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This research paper respects the status of engineering institutes as seats of “higher learning” and at nostage intends to convert them into training institutes. On the contrary, we are acting in the belief that theseseats of learning have/will take significant steps towards creating “work-ready” human capital andcontribute to the overall economic progress.

Moving towards a working definition of Employability

The concept of employability is interesting for several reasons. First, it implies that there are individualdifferences in employability—which also means that people are to some degree responsible for their ownemployability. Second, if people are responsible for their own employability, then that creates a role forassessment— enhancing employability through strategic self-awareness. Third, though employability as aconcept has been around for a very long time, it’s only recently that the academics have finally begunacknowledging it.

There’s a lot of speculation around what constitutes employability skills with no empirical evidencesubstantiating this. A 2009 study conducted in UK (The employability challenge report) compared over20 different definitions and concluded that there was no consensus in determining what employabilityskills are. However, conceptually, many practitioners align on definitions that are quite similar. They aregenerally skills that cut horizontally across all industries and vertically across all jobs from entry level tochief executive officer (Sherer and Eadie, 1987; Bunt et al., 2005).

The authors of this paper are of the view that employability skills shouldn’t be equated to soft skills only.For us employability is defined as “work readiness”, a set of technical/functional skills, personalattributes, skills, characteristics and understanding of the business context that enables an engineeringgraduate to be productively employed by an organization and achieve long term career success. Simplyput it is the skills and capabilities required for an individual to gain employment and play to one’spotential.

However, for the purposes of this research, a literature review of the various constituents ofEmployability was undertaken to understand the various frameworks and models that have beenpropounded by various researchers and practitioners.

As suggested by Spencer and Spencer (1993) people with the right personal characteristics and attitudewill also have the ability to quickly learn the relevant technical knowledge and skills required tosuccessfully meet the employer expectations. Many such definitions exist in literature which essentiallypoints to the fact that there are many enduring qualities of an individual that can be leveraged todemonstrate superior or optimal performance at work.

EMPLOYABILITY MODELS, FRAMEWORKS AND DEFINITIONS: A LITERATUREREVIEW

1. The competency classification proposed by Bunk, (1998) establishing four kinds of competencies.

TECHNICAL COMPETENCY: Expert mastery of the tasks and content of the work ambit, andthe knowledge and skills necessary for it.

METHODOLOGICAL COMPETENCY: Knowing how to react by applying the appropriateprocedure to assigned tasks and to any irregularities that may occur, finding solutionsindependently, and appropriately transferring the experience acquired to other problems in work.

SOCIAL COMPETENCY: Knowing how to work with people in a communicative andconstructive way, and showing behavior oriented to the group and interpersonal understanding.

PARTICIPATIVE COMPETENCY: Knowing how to participate in the organization of the jobpost and also of the labor environment, the capacity to organize and decide, and the disposition to

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accept responsibilities.2. Competency classification by Gallart and Jacinto (2005)

INTELLECTUAL COMPETENCIES: Solving problems, handling information, understandingprocesses and systems, autonomy and responsibility.

BASIC COMPETENCIES: The capacity to read and write the use and interpretation of symbolsand mathematical formulae.

TECHNICAL COMPETENCIES: Knowledge of instruments and the functioning of machines,tools and work procedures.

BEHAVIORAL COMPETENCIES: The capacity for verbal self-expression and interaction withwork colleagues.

3. NASSCOM-KPMG (2003, p. 36) and the Government of India Task Force (Task Force on Meetingthe Human Resource Challenge for IT and IT enabled Services, 2003, p. 9) have defined writtenEnglish, logical reasoning, problem solving and numerical ability, programming skills, listening/empathy, assertiveness and confidence, integrity, values and discipline, sociability, dependability,and reliability.

Our literature survey identified the following in some measure or the other as the most commonconstituents of employability skills:

System-level perspective (including Knowledge integration, consideration for multilateralviewpoint, and user centeredness).

Analytical skills (including investigative skills, critical thinking, numerical ability, attention todetail, visualize/conceptualize, research and experimentation skills).

Creativity and idea initiation. Entrepreneurship, Decision-making, Project planning, and adaptability. Persuasion skills, Mentoring skills, Persistence and Sense of urgency. Sensitivity towards moral responsibilities and sustainability. Knowledge of contemporary issues. Ability to work in multicultural teams. Listening Adaptability and ability to multi-task Organizational skills “Be the customer” mentality. Project planning and management. Stress management.

Employability Model as outlined by Dacre Pool & Sewell (2007)

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For the purposes of this study, the construct of employability skills for fresh graduates is identified as anamalgamation of left brain and right brain thinking – A continuum of analysis grounded in soundscientific knowledge and principles, applicability and adaptability of the information thus gained.

This study aims to determine the non-technical skills that are required by fresh engineering graduates, inaddition to the basic technical competence that will help them become employable rather than just beingemployed. We will use the below mentioned categorization of employability skills for the purposes of thisstudy. (Based on NBA guidelines, Andreas Blom & Hiroshi Saeki (Employability and Skill Set of NewlyGraduated Engineers in India)

Core Employability Skills Professional Skills Communication Skills Integrity Self-discipline Reliability Self-motivated Entrepreneurship Skills Teamwork Understands and takes directions for work assignments Willingness to learn Flexibility Empathy

Identify, formulate, and solve technical/engineering problems Design a system, component, or

process to meet desired needs Use appropriate/modern tools, equipment, technologies Apply

knowledge of mathematics,science, engineering

Customer Service Skills Knowledge of contemporary issues Creativity

Written communication Design & conduct experiments,

and analyze and interpret data Reading Communication in English Technical Skills Verbal communication Basic computer Advanced computer

Research Scope

Our research intends to explore the extent of non-academic skills / skills that that are required by a freshengineer to be considered employable by the IT sector after passing out from college.

Research Approach

It was decided that a research be carried out to explore the extent of non-academic skills enablingemployability of Engineering Graduates in the Indian IT sector. More specifically this would aim to

1. Identify and conceptualize key Employability Competencies required by employers of engineeringgraduates in the Indian context

2. Identify the extent to which key Employability Competencies are acquired by Engineering graduatesduring study at undergraduate level are being used in employment.

3. Identify techniques that can be used as part of academic design to impart specific employability skills

Research DesignWe adopted a three dimensional approach to further explore our research topic and capture view pointsof:

1) Managers of fresh engineering graduates;2) Campus hires - Fresh engineering graduates who are currently undergoing training3) Billed employees’ perspective: Engineering graduates who had spent about a year in the

organization.

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This triangular approach will help us arrive at potentially a richer and ultimately more useful conclusion.

The survey instrument we used was a questionnaire (Refer to appendices 2, 3 & 4) exploring theexpectations from Manager’s perspective, skills that billed employees perceive as important to theirsuccess and understanding the types of non technical training programs that colleges impart.

Survey DesignThe Delphi technique was used to conduct a series of brainstorming sessions to collect inputs towards thecontent of the questionnaire set. This was also augmented with findings from our literature survey. As aresult the overall survey design and instrument was improved and captured all elements correctly.As part of the survey design, it was important to capture voices of key stakeholder across the entireprocess of creating employable team members – We began with the voice of the customer, in this case theimmediate supervisor who is responsible for making sure that the team member is assigned on billableprojects. We also needed to get the perspectives of engineering graduates who were now assigned tobillable projects to understand intermediary process of transition and skill/capability development thatcontributes to making a campus hire employable. To ensure the completeness of the survey, we needed toassess the input quality at the beginning of this value creation process – We also surveyed the freshengineering graduate to get a perspective of the initiatives that engineering institutes take to prepare theirstudents for the corporate world.

Data Collection and data analysisThe questionnaire survey was administered to 40 Managers and 92 fresh engineering graduates and about34 billable employees who had graduated from engineering institutes in the previous year.

Survey Findings

1. Dimension 1 - Manager’s expectation on employability

Around 40 Managers/Supervisor’s were surveyed to get VOC and capture their perspective of theskills/capabilities they are looking for to get fresh engineering graduates employable by the IT sector afterpassing out from college. A questionnaire with a set of 23 skills was administered and they wererequested to prioritize those skills that they considered most important to get the young graduates billable.The results of the study across a cross section of business units have brought out some interesting facets.A Pareto analysis was also conducted to identify the top3 or 4 most important factors that have aninfluence on billability among the top 15 (Table 1 and Table 2).Based on our survey analysis and findings, Managers/Supervisors consider Team Player, Creativity,Communication skills, Initiative, focus and ownership, flexibility and positive attitude as most importantin a fresh engineering graduate.Interestingly we also noticed that while in terms of priority supervisor’s ranked them differently,however, based on a comparison analysis, we can state that all behavioral traits were considered equallyimportant.

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2. Table1: Pareto Chart of Behaviours

Table2: Top ranked behaviors

Behaviors Description of Behaviour Count %

Team PlayerGood team player who builds positive work relationships withthe team by contributing ideas, sharing team responsibilities inaddition to being a good individual contributor

35 9.1

CreativityDemonstrates Creativity by thinking of creativeSolutions/Improvements that work

30 7.8

Initiative, focusand ownership

Demonstrates Initiative, focus and ownership of selfdevelopment by seeking additional work or directions once a taskis complete

26 6.8

CommunicationSkills

Uses effective Communication Skills to deliver clear verbal andwritten messages that are completely understood by the recipient

26 6.8

PositiveAttitude

Demonstrates Positive Attitude even in adverse situations andshows ownership

25 6.5

FlexibilityDemonstrates Flexibility and adapts personal approach to meetthe project needs or new situations

25 6.5

Pride at work Pride at work: Contributes to the common objectives of the team. 24 6.3

Emotionalstability

Demonstrates Emotional stability while focusing on getting workdone without appearing brash, aggressive and impulsive;

18 4.7

Escalationmanagement

Escalation management: Is able to assess the criticality of anissue and seeks help from supervisor at the right time.

18 4.7

Analytical skillsUses Analytical skills and actual facts to deal with work relatedissues/situation

18 4.7

ConfidenceDemonstrates Confidence and gracefully accepts and acts onfeedback by making changes to work/attitude.

18 4.7

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2. Dimension 2 - Billed Employees Perspective

As a second dimension, a study was conducted across 34 employees who were hired from engineeringcampuses about a year back. Having spent one year in the Corporate World, we assumed this set ofpopulation has understood the needs of the corporate world while still being very connected with thememories of campus life. Through a questionnaire survey, we asked this respondent group to select thebest methodology/approach to inculcate key skills that needs to be nurtured among students while in their2nd and 3rd year of studies and would help them create a positive differentiation at their workplace.According to our survey findings, 1 year tenured employees believed that the below teachingmethodologies will effectively inculcate, team work, creativity, Communication skills, ability to give andreceive feedback and ownership/project management:

Table 3: Teaching methodologies most suited to developing employability skills

TeachingMethodology Alternative Teaching methodologies count

Teach

Brainstorming Brainstorming and trouble-shooting problems 26

Group presentations Group presentations 25

Panel discussions Panel discussions and debates 22

Big project Working on a big project with a group of 9 or 10 students 22

Case studies Case studies based of real world experience 19

Student to Student Periodic Student to Student discussions 18

Surprise quizzes Surprise quizzes and exams to evaluate Individual grades 16

Group basedassignments

Evaluations based on group based assignments 16

Peer feedback Multi-stage peer feedback and review to assess project progress 16

Impromptupresentations

Classroom activities like impromptu presentations structured aroundthe core concepts of the lecture

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3. Dimension 3 - New hire student’s feedback on Engineering CollegeInitiatives

Finally, we also conducted a survey among fresh campus hires to understand the current practices ofengineering institutes to impart employable skills in their students.

Through our survey we found that 80% of responses identified the first 5 soft skills training as the mostpopular approach adopted by engineering institutes for preparing their students for the Corporate World.

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Table 4: Soft skills training conducted in the last two semesters of Engineering Course

Soft skills Training Count

Communication skills 82

Interview skills 82

Personality Development 65

Problem solving skills 46

Interpersonal skills 44

Time Management skills 42

Giving and receivingFeedback

28

Stress Management Skills 25

Exploring the current practices of industry, academia and EngineeringInstitute faculty….In our next section, we will specifically explore the current practices in enabling employability skills infresh graduate engineers

Engineering Institutes efforts in building employabilityMany colleges have realized the need for shaping the behavioral dimensions of their students and havestarted organizing several programs at the campuses. Based on our survey responses, we understand thatthe typical behavioral skills programs conducted in the colleges include:

Communication Skills Personality Development Mock Interviews Group Discussion Aptitude Training People management

Mostly these programs are organized by volunteers from within the college and in a few cases throughexternal Consultants. The survey results helped us understand that Behavioral training is being seen as anindependent activity outside of academics by most of the Engineering Colleges. It also implies that thespecific intent of these soft skills training is to enable impression management at the time of finding outsuitable employment opportunities which may or may not transferrable skills to workplace

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Industry efforts in building employabilityThe Indian Government, Academic bodies and the Business fraternity has also realized the need tonurture human capital by developing foundational employable skills, especially at the graduate level.Collaborative task forces including Nasscom, AICTE, industry representatives and education institutionshave been set up to examine and propose applicable models and solutions to bridge the skill gap.

Some of the HR initiatives championed by NASSCOM are:

1. MoUs with UGC and AICTE: NASSCOM, University Grants Commission (UGC) and AllIndia Council for Technical Education (AICTE) have signed an MOU (Memorandum ofUnderstanding) to strengthen professional education and align with the demand for skilledprofessionals in the IT industry.

2. Industry-Academia partnership: As part of its IT Workforce Development (ITWD)initiative, NASSCOM has been working with academia to facilitate academia-industry interaction,thereby helping educationists and teachers develop an industry perspective and need. This in turngives academia an opportunity to bring about changes in their curriculum and pedagogy.

3. National Assessment of Competence: The NASSCOM Assessment of Competence(NAC) program is a very BPO focused initiative that aims to ensure the transformation of a"trainable" workforce into an "employable workforce".

International Benchmarking of such initiativesThe National Academy of Engineering (NAE) Committee on Engineering Education (CEE) hascompleted Engineer 2020, a futuristic initiative to study the engineering needs of the future and nurtureindustry-ready engineers to meet the new demands. This two-phased project has been completed withsponsorship from academia and industry alike. While Phase I was sponsored by academia and Researchbodies, Phase II is being sponsored both by industry and academia like National Science Foundation,Hewlett Packard Company, Microsoft Corporation, the GE Foundation, and the National Academy ofEngineering.

Despite all this efforts, our moot question still remains unanswered – Do all theseefforts really help transform the students, essentially when these initiatives do not form a part of thecurricula; and when they have not yet seen a need for its application in the corporate world.

Emotional Intelligence and EmployabilityWith this backdrop, we explored the option of measuring employability skills that we identified throughour survey. In the process of narrowing down on the most suitable validated psychometric assessmenttools, we across the concept of Emotional Intelligence and the great work done by scholars like Dr.Caruso and Dr. Daniel Goleman in this field. Therefore, we identified EQ2.0 as a validated instrumentthat helps us suitably measure employability skills that can be used by academia and industry to developand predict employability.

In layman terms Emotional Intelligence is the ability of an individual to use his/her emotions effectivelyin responding to life’s vagaries. It is all about being aware of one's own and others' emotions, ability tomanage and express those emotions, perceive emotions of others and respond in an effective andmeaningful way. Generally, people with high emotional intelligence demonstrate high levels of emotionalstability and empathy.

To quote Dr David Caruso: “It is very important to understand that emotional intelligence is not theopposite of intelligence, it is not the triumph of heart over head -- it is the unique intersection of both.” --From (“Emotional What?”)

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The term Emotional Intelligence was first coined by Daniel Goleman in the 90’s. His work brought forththe esoteric skills that hitherto were very loosely and ambiguously defined as qualities that help make aman successful. The specific job capabilities of Emotional Intelligence as explained by David Golemanare:

Scales EQ Sub-scales Specific Competencies/SkillsSelf Perception Emotional awareness Self-control; Self awareness;

trustworthiness; Achievement Drive;Creativity

Self regardSelf actualization

Self Expression Emotional expression Communication; Ability to be selfdirected; Initiative; ConflictManagement;Independence

AssertivenessInter personal Interpersonal relationships Developing others; Leveraging diversity

Political awareness; Service orientation;Collaboration; Team orientation

EmpathySocial responsibility

Decision Making Impulse Control Self control; Maturity; Logical;Structured; Factual; Lateral thinking;Reality testing

Problem SolvingStress Management Flexibility Adaptability; Optimism; Perseverance;

Ability to bounce backStress ToleranceOptimism

Having understood the competencies required for employability from the primary research, EmotionalIntelligence framework was used to map the competencies to specific skills of the EI framework (refer toAppendix 1).

A statistical analysis of the data showed a high correlation between the competencies needed foremployability and the EQ skills. This mapping brought out that EQ can be a surrogate to assess thereadiness of graduate employees for better employability.

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There are globally validated instruments available such as MSCEIT, BarOn, EQ 2.0 to grade individualsinto brackets of low to adequate on their EQ dimension. The interesting aspect about EQ is that unlike IQ,EQ can be enhanced through structured interventions.

This requires a paradigm shift of viewing Engineering Institutes as Institutes of Higher Learning who, notonly enable development of technical knowledge and competence but also provide skills required forlifelong learning and success.

Since the Engineering curriculum is designed and prescribed by AICTE, instead of teaching additionalSoft Skills as separate subjects, employing alternative methods of teaching a few subjects over the 2ndand 3rd year will help students inculcate the additional skills needed in a far more effective manner. Ourentire objective is to create transferable skills and bring about a change in behavior and perspective asopposed to bringing transactional and temporary change by attending a training program – We mustremember that behaviors are built over time and consequently changing behaviors requires effort overseveral months or years to bring about even a small change to be noticed by recruiters.

Integrating a systematic EQ development approach as part of the teaching methodology can be attemptedin each of the subjects using a variety of innovative learning aids encompassing

• free writing• brainstorming• mind-mapping• journal entries• reading responses• questions formulation• conversation prompts/responses

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• rough drafts• vocabulary lists + definitions• workplace scenarios• assignment outlines• thesis statements• research assignments• teamwork exercises• structured note taking• peer assessment• role playing• problem solving• summaries• online resources critique• description of a process

All or some of these methodologies when incorporated into the instruction medium act as trigger pointswhere students take either of the two routes depicted in the below diagram. When such interactions arefacilitated by trained faculty who can guide the student through the positive side of the experience, itresults in creating equity that would add up to an increase in the Emotional Quotient of an individual.

Seymour Epstein, 1998, p. 197To evolve a supportive and integrated ecosystem of academic excellence and emotional intelligence, weneed to create a combination of continuous assessment and development that’s put in place along withcurriculum design, faculty, students, and continuous assessment and development.

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Nelson, D., & Low, G. (2003). Emotional Intelligence: Achieving Academic and Career Excellence.Upper Saddle River, PA: Prentice-Hall.

Our research has found a close mapping between the responses of the survey with 1 year tenured campushires and managers on the competencies impacting employability and the job capabilities that EQ bringsto the table. Along with the recommendations of revising the curriculum and instruction deliveryapproach, as researchers, we feel that it’s important to also conduct a post-implementation research tofully validate and bring out the applicability and scalability of our recommendations. To do so werecommend the below approach for further research by forming a hypothesis as stated below:

Hypothesis

H0 – Employability (Getting billed sooner than others) across graduate engineers in the Indian IT sectorhappens by chance.H1 – Students with higher EQ scores are likely to be more employable (get billed sooner) than those withlower EQ scores

Research Design

Dependant variable – Time to get billed (employability)Independent variable – EQ Score / Level

Research Methodology

Identify a batch of 80 students who have joined from Engineering Colleges Use a EQ assessment on them and identify two groups – one who are high on EQ and the other which

is average Ensure that the entire batch goes through the same joining formalities and induction Assign them all to the same Business Unit for deployment For each individual measure the date of first billing Sampling size – each group to have approximately 40 students so that experiment can be focused and

tested.

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Data analysis

We can use the paired 2 Sample Independent t-Test This is typically used to compare means between two groups. Assumes that the data are continuous and have a symmetric, uni-modal (one peak) distribution. Assumes the two groups are independent. The t test statistic involves the difference between the sample averages of the 2 groups. It turns out that under the null hypothesis, the t-test statistic has a certain distribution or shape (called

the t distribution or Student’s curve). Using our knowledge of the distribution, we can compute a p-value to help decide whether or not to

reject the null hypothesis.If found relevant, the methodology of teaching across the country for subjects in the 3rd and 4th yearof Engineering curriculum can be modified to embed acquiring of a balanced EI score thus impactingemployability favorably across the country

Assumptions

There is no gender bias Students have not been exposed to EI yet Interest levels of students to be employable is high Teaching and instruction patterns are similar across all AICTE affiliated colleges

Limitations of the Research

Following are some of the limitations of this research:

Appreciation of the concept of psychometric assessment among academia Availability of a normalized EI assessment for the Indian context Cost limitations of administering it across students in campuses Debriefing or segregating audience without hurting their sentiments Avoid discrimination by using the tool Using the assessments purely for developmental purposes

Conclusion & implications of bringing in changes in engineering curriculaand instruction methodology

If the Hypothesis that a better EQ indeed paves the way for better employability is validated, it can lead toa lot of changes in the way Engineering education is being administered in the country. Applying the newlearning approach across Engineering Education will enhance EQ of the students, thus bringing about astatistically distinct positive difference in the employability criteria among students.

The engineering education institutes can play a very crucial role in helping students anticipate and preparefor the transition by putting together an ecosystem where students develop self awareness and variousaspects of emotional intelligence. A few changes in the curriculum design, methodology and assessmentprocess and career support infrastructure will go a long way in producing students who are reflective andadaptive learners, well articulated, understand the nuances of relationship building and capable ofdeploying developed skills to their advantage. However, it will be completely naïve to expect that theculture shock of transition from college to corporate will be fully overcome unless the industry equallyparticipates in easing this transition. The Industry will have to extend a helping hand to the academia

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through more industry-academia interactions, Industry-student interaction, sponsorship of more researchin line with business needs, generate opportunities for live case studies and business problems – Ideas andinitiatives that will definitely contribute to developing multiple perspectives and personality developmentof the students

Moving towards a new model of Engineering Education

We believe the academia can explore and apply the above meta-model towards ensuring that thegraduating engineering students of their institutes have enhanced their employability in line with theindustry expectations, thereby increasing their chances of employments as well. The eco system requiredto adapt and implement the above meta model of learning can be achieved in a systematic and phasedmanner. This, no doubt, would involve significant investment of effort and resources on part of theacademia in order to align every curriculum across the engineering discipline to this model along with re-skilling faculty to use multiple and neo learning approaches in the class that would significantly alter theoutput of the Institutes.

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Appendix 1

Scales EQ Sub-scales Description of Behaviour

Self Perception

Emotionalawareness

Demonstrates Confidence and gracefully accepts and acts onfeedback by making changes to work/attitude

Self regardUnderstands own strengths and limitations and accuratelyjudges own ability and capacity to complete tasks.

Selfactualization

Demonstrates Initiative, focus and ownership of self developmentby seeking additional work or directions once a task is complete.Demonstrates Creativity by thinking of creativeSolutions/Improvements that work

Self Expression

Emotionalexpression Uses effective Communication Skills to deliver clear verbal and

written messages that are completely understood by the recipient

Independence

Achievement orientation: Demonstrates a sense of urgencytowards completing assigned tasks on time with minimumsupervisory support. Shows courage and ownership in takingresponsibility of the consequences of own work

Assertiveness Demonstrates Assertiveness while dealing with difference ofopinion or approach to work in a firm and respectful manner

Inter personal

Interpersonalrelationships

Good team player who builds positive work relationships with theteam by contributing ideas, sharing team responsibilities in additionto being a good individual contributor

Empathy Networks and builds rapport with people from different ‘walksof life’;

Socialresponsibility Shows concern and care towards team members well being

Decision MakingImpulse Control Demonstrates Emotional stability while focusing on getting work

done without appearing brash, aggressive and impulsive;

Reality testing Uses Analytical skills and actual facts to deal with work relatedissues/situation

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Problem Solving

Exhibits good Problem solving skills by systematicallyapproaching a problem/situation and identifying reasonablealternative solutions.

StressManagement

FlexibilityDemonstrates Flexibility and adapts personal approach to meet the

project needs or new situations

Stress Tolerance Handles pressure, is resilient and adapts to increased demands inworkload without getting frustrated or seeking constant supervisoryintervention. Attempts to positively influence the situation

Optimism Demonstrates Positive Attitude even in adverse situations andshows ownership

Others

Has the requisite Technical Skills to perform

Pride at work: Contributes to the common objectives of the team.

Demonstrates numerical ability in managing complexity of dataand work modules

Escalation management: Is able to assess the criticality of an issueand seeks help from supervisor at the right time.

Manages Conflicts and disagreements constructively

183

Appendix 2 – Supervisor sample questionnaire

Dear Supervisor,

Thanks you so much for taking time out and responding to this questionnaire. As Managers, whatqualities/competencies beyond technical skills, do you look for in a fresh engineering graduate, especiallyafter 3 months of their joining your team? Please tick mark the 10 most crucial/important behaviors.

SNo Description of Behaviour

Most criticalbehaviors

desired in ateam member

1Demonstrates Confidence and gracefully accepts and acts on feedback bymaking changes to work/attitude

2Understands own strengths and limitations and accurately judges ownability and capacity to complete tasks.

3Demonstrates Initiative, focus and ownership of self development by seekingadditional work or directions once a task is complete

4Uses effective Communication Skills to deliver clear verbal and writtenmessages that are completely understood by the recipient

5

Achievement orientation: Demonstrates a sense of urgency towardscompleting assigned tasks on time with minimum supervisory support. Showscourage and ownership in taking responsibility of the consequences of ownwork

6Demonstrates Assertiveness while dealing with difference of opinion orapproach to work in a firm and respectful manner

7Good team player who builds positive work relationships with the team bycontributing ideas, sharing team responsibilities in addition to being a goodindividual contributor

8Networks and builds rapport with people from different ‘walks of life’;

9Shows concern and care towards team members well being

10Demonstrates Emotional stability while focusing on getting work donewithout appearing brash, aggressive and impulsive;

11Uses Analytical skills and actual facts to deal with work relatedissues/situation

12Exhibits good Problem solving skills by systematically approaching aproblem/situation and identifying reasonable alternative solutions.

13Demonstrates Flexibility and adapts personal approach to meet the project

needs or new situations

14

Handles pressure, is resilient and adapts to increased demands in workloadwithout getting frustrated or seeking constant supervisory intervention.Attempts to positively influence the situation

184

15Demonstrates Positive Attitude even in adverse situations and showsownership

16 Has the requisite Technical Skills to perform

16 Pride at work: Contributes to the common objectives of the team.

18Demonstrates Creativity by thinking of creative Solutions/Improvements thatwork

19Demonstrates numerical ability in managing complexity of data and workmodules

20Escalation management: Is able to assess the criticality of an issue and seekshelp from supervisor at the right time.

21Manages Conflicts and disagreements constructively

22

Is Resourceful in obtaining resources to implement Change Initiatives andworks to make others feel ownership of the change.

23Influence others using a good persuasive argument

185

Appendix 3 – 1 year tenured sample questionnaire

No. Alternative Teaching methodologies Tick markany 7 that you

think areimportant

From the list of 16 skillsbelow, please write the

number of the skill that thetechnique that you have

chosenwill help develop

1 Periodic Student to Student discussions2 Case studies based of real world experience3 Panel discussions and debates4 Working on a big project with a group of 9 or

10 students5 Surprise quizzes and exams to evaluate

Individual grades6 Evaluations based on group based

assignments7 Classroom activities like impromptu

presentations structured around the coreconcepts of the lecture

8 Multi-stage peer feedback and review toassess project progress

9 Problem formulation exercises10 Solving open ended problems11 Brainstorming and trouble-shooting

problems12 Within-Group anonymous feedback by

group mates to assess contribution13 Post project self evaluation14 Group presentations

# Skill # Skill # Skill # Skill

1 Team Work 5 Presentation 9 Networking &Relationship

13 ProjectManagement

2 Problem solving 6 Influencing 10 Analytical 14 AchievementOrientation

3 Creativethinking

7 Multi-Tasking 11 Conflict Management 15 Handling Emotions

4 Communication 8 DecisionMaking

12 Time Management 16 Coaching &Feedback

186

Appendix 4 – Fresh Engineering Graduates sample questionnaire

1. Which of the below programs were conducted in your college prior to campus placement.

Soft skills Training Tick against allApplicable

In-housetrainer/External

trainer

Conducted inwhich semester

Interview skillsCommunication skillsTime Management skillsDecision making skillsProblem solving skillsClient management skillsProject ManagementskillsGiving and receivingFeedbackInterpersonal skillsManaging emotionsAssertiveness SkillsStress ManagementSkillsMulti-tasking andprioritization skillsAny other (pls specify)

2. What could your College have done in helping you transition better into the corporate world?

SNo. Initiatives/Actions to be taken by College in preparing students for transitioninto Corporate World

187

References

1. Laporte, B. (2007). Building knowledge economies: education in a global and competitive world.Retrieved December 24, 2007, from,http://www.ifees.net/documents/2007_ifees_presentations/laporte_presentation.ppt

2. Bloom, B.S., Englhart, M.D., Furst, E.J., Hill, W.H., & Krathwohl, D.R. (Eds.). (1956).Taxonomy of educational objectives, the classification of educational goals, Handbook I:cognitive domain. New York: Longmans.

3. Clark, D. (2007). Learning domains or Bloom’s taxonomy. Retrieved December 20, 2007, from,http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/bloom.html#one

4. Nasscom. (2007). Indian IT Industry: NASSCOM Analysis. Retrieved December 11, 2007, from,http://www.nasscom.in/upload/5216/IT%20Industry%20Factsheet-Aug%2007.doc

5. Natarajan, R. (n.d.). Emerging talent management challenges and strategies in the corporate andtechnical education sectors.

6. Presentation on Learning Styles/Multiple Intelligences. (1999). Retrieved December 19, 2007,from, http://www.utexas.edu/research/chemed/lagowski/gloria_to_group_99.pdf

7. The relation between career anchors, emotional intelligence and employability satisfaction amongworkers in the service industry from, www.ajol.info/index.php/sabr/article/download/76406/66864

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