A Study on Enhancing Master of Business Administration (MBA) Students’ Knowledge Quotient by equipping better Soft Skills

Technical Paper Title: A Study on Enhancing Master of Business Administration (MBA) Students’ Knowledge Quotient by equipping better Soft Skills with special reference to the VTU Colleges of South Bangalore

Author: Kishore M N⁽¹⁾, Assistant Professor, K S School of Engineering & Management, Bangalore, 2012 & Department of Management Studies

Pradeep⁽²⁾, Assistant Professor, K S School of Engineering & Management, Bangalore, 2012 & Department of Management Studies

ABSTRACT

With the recent revolution in education trends, availability of highly educated personnel made tough competition between themselves and the competition of finding right job becoming more and more challenge for everyone. Hence students must have soft skills in addition to education to get added advantage over the competitors and better placements. In this direction, many of the educational institutes have initiated many soft skill programmes, projects, seminars and various activities to upgrade the soft skills to the students in post graduates (MBA) programmes.

This paper attempts to know the awareness, needs and importance of soft skills at post graduate level and to find out the impact of developing soft skills to the students and take initiative steps to avoid the gap demanded by the corporate world and skill possessed by young management professionals with the way to increase knowledge and employability quotient.

Keywords: Education, Placements, Soft skills

INTRODUCTION

Soft skills are personal resources that enhance an individual’s interactions, communicating, conflict management, human relations, making presentations, negotiating, team building, and other such ability, defined in terms of expected outcomes and not as a specific method or technique such as statistical analysis. Unlike hard skills, which are about a person’s skill set and ability to perform a certain type of task or activity, soft skills are interpersonal and broadly applicable.

Soft skills are often described by using terms often associated with personality traits, such as:

Optimism & Common sense
Responsibility & Sense of humor
Integrity

And abilities that can be practiced (but require the individual to genuinely like other people) such as:

Empathy & Teamwork
Leadership & Communication
Good manners & Negotiation
Sociability & The ability to teach.

It’s often said that hard skills will get you an interview but you need soft skills to get (and keep) the job.

NEED OF SOFT SKILLS TRAINING FOR MBA STUDENT

·Great communication skills: The ability to read, writes, and speak clearly and effectively will never go out of style -especially in students wants to get into the IT & manufacturing sectors. Most of the students will fail in the interviews because of poorly communicated in spite of good knowledge about the subject.
·A sixth sense about the job: There are formal training programs that teach people about the soft skills to the students. But for most people, it takes several months to develop the specific skills and to exhibit skills in the interviews. But the natural sets of students have this sixth sense. In many cases, it is simply a talent that can’t be taught. But when a student’s discovers a natural soft skill themselves who can understand the interview process of the companies, then they can do wonders.
·Great team player: It’s easy for enclaves of students to remain isolated in their areas of expertise. Individuals who can excel these technical silos and work for the good of the team or the project are valued for their ability to see the big picture. They are also viewed as candidates for promotions when they join in companies.
·Teaching, mentoring, and knowledge sharing: Trainers able to teach new applications to trainees are helpful in student’s placements. If the trainers and students can work one to one with others and provide mentoring and support, then they become even more valuable — because the “real” knowledge learning occurs on the job and in the trenches.
·Contract negotiation: The growth of technological solutions has increased the need for contract negotiation skills and legal knowledge. Individuals who bring this skills package to IT and manufacturing are both recognized and rewarded, often with highly paid executive positions.

LITERATURE REVIEW

The ability of sound soft skills students always has more preference in selection of the job as compared with the poor and average students. In order to develop these habits, one needs to first acknowledge the fact that they need to improve communication skills from time to time. Soft Skills are behavioral competencies. Also known as Interpersonal Skills, or people skills, they include proficiencies such as communication skills, conflict resolution and negotiation, personal effectiveness, creative problem solving, strategic thinking, team building, influencing skills and selling skills, to name a few. Many significant business researchers have identified soft skills as the singular factor in differentiating star performers from mediocre performers.

As regards to James & James (2004) suggest that Continuous enhancement of soft skills will enhance the capabilities of employee & also helps in retaining the employee in the present organization & bring his new skills & talents in the workplace .

Bowen & Schneider, (1988), study reflects that soft skills required not only for production but also it is mandatory to the service sectors due to close interaction between management and employee, customers and employees.

In today’s highly competitive employment market, jobs and roles are often described in terms of competencies which are a combination of behaviors that lead to superior performance in a job. The two major concerns of employers are finding good workers and training them. The skills-gap, which is the difference between the skills needed on the job and those possessed by applicants, is of real concern to managers and business owners looking to hire competent employees. India currently has 600 million youth below 25 years of age of which 320 million are in schools and colleges. Less than 25% of these are employable due to the skills gap!” – India Employability Skills Survey (2009 – 10)

Few of the authors describe soft skills as “micro social” skills & categories them as: 1) subjective & collective related skills 2) intellectual skills 3) interpersonal & intrapersonal skills (Muzio, Fisher, Thomas, & peters, 2007)

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Companies always rely on potential work forces and it’s keen about the selection of the right candidates. While selecting the candidates it adopts various strategies to get the best of the best candidates to the companies and in order to match these company’s requirements, it is very much essential to candidates to acquire various skills out of which soft skills plays a vital role to lead a successful career. So it is important to all the students to acquire the soft skills before giving the interviews to the companies. Hence making an attempt to the study the effects of soft skills training program on the MBA students which helps in enhancing their knowledge.

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

To know the importance of soft skills in the management education
To understand the suitable training methods of teaching soft skills to the MBA students
To study the level of soft skills in MBA students and to suggest their improvements

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

An effort is made to know about the effects of soft skill training program on MBA students in educational institutions.

It helps in exploring the skills of the students, after attending the training programs. The study covers the views and opinions of the limited students about the soft skill training programs, which they have expected in the organization.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Descriptive Research

The data collected from both Primary and secondary sources.

Sampling method: Random sampling

Sample size: 100

There were 100 questionnaires distributed among the MBA students affiliated to VTU colleges in South Bangalore, on that the 90 respondents were received, out of which 15 were rejected because of incompleteness. Total 75 questionnaires were used for analysis. The research design is purely descriptive and simple random samplings have been used for primary data collections.

PLAN OF ANALYSIS

Using a simple percentage method for statistical interpretation supported by tables, graphs & diagrams

LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The study is restricted to MBA students of engineering colleges in South Bangalore.
The data gathered from the opinions of the students which are assumed to be correct.
Lack of time

DATA ANALYSIS

1. Table shows importance of soft skills to the students

Parameter	Respondents	Percentage
Strongly agree	28	37.3
Agree	30	40
Disagree	13	17.3
Strongly disagree	04	5.4
Total	75	100

2. Table shows the level of students’ soft skills

Soft Skills % Respondents

Total

Very poor

Poor

Fair

Good

Excellent

Decision making

100 %

25.3 %

20%

24%

22.7%

Team work

100 %

10.7%

13.3%

32%

26.7%

17.3%

Critical thinking

100 %

30.7%

22.7%

26.7%

13.3%

6.6%

Ethical behaviour

100 %

36%

22.7%

16%

20%

5.3%

Communication

100 %

40%

26.7%

16%

14.7%

2.7%

3. Table shows the types of soft skills for the students’ development

Parameter	Respondents	Percentage
Interpersonal/intrapersonal	13	17.3
Cognitive	21	28
Social skills	12	16
All of the above	29	38.7
Total	75

4. Table shows individual personality role in acquiring soft skills

Parameter	Respondents	Percentage
Strongly agree	37	49.3
Agree	23	30.7
Disagree	10	13.3
Strongly disagree	5	6.7
Total	75	100

5. Table shows the rank of the soft skills of your preference

Soft skills % Respondents	Total	Very poor	Poor	Fair	Good	Excellent
Oral/written communication	75100%	2533.3%	1520%	1824%	912%	810.7%
Time management	75100%	3242.7%	2128%	1317.3%	56.7%	45.3%
Analytical ability	75100%	3546.7%	2330.7%	1216%	34%	22.7%
Presentation skills	75100%	2736%	2330.7%	1317.3%	79.3%	56.7%

6. Table shows various instrumental strategies for achieving effective soft skills

Parameter % analysis

Total

Strongly agree

Agree

Disagree

Strongly disagree

Learning others

100%

24%

26.7%

16%

33.3%

Learning by doing

100%

40%

33.3%

13.3%

Learning by discovery

100%

33.33

34.7%

18.7

13.3%

All of the above

100%

50.7%

37.3%

6.7%

5.3%

7. Table shows the most suitable methods of training the soft skills

Parameter	Respondents	Percentage
Role plays	15	20
In basket	14	18.7
Simulation	12	16
All of the above	34	45.3
Total	75	100

8. Table shows the challenges in soft skills learning by the MBA students

Parameter	Respondents	Percentage
Susceptible to short term coaching effect	20	20
Extra work	13	18.7
Objective in assessing	10	16
Support from the lecturer	30	45.3
Others	2
Total	75	100

9. Table shows the facilities available in developing soft skills.

Parameter	Respondents	Percentage
Multimedia	13	17.3
Outside experts	10	13.3
Inside experts	23	30.7
All of the above	29	38.7
Total	75	100

10. Table shows the sources of learning soft skills

Parameter	Respondents	Percentage
Colleges/universities	18	24
Training centers	33	44
By own self	13	17.3
Other ways	11	14.7
Total	75	100

11. Table shows the importance & necessities of soft skills.

Parameter	Respondents	Percentage
For daily life needs	21	28
Career development	23	30.7
Employer seek from applicants	24	32
Others	7	9.3
Total	75	100

FINDINGS

Majority of the students strongly agrees as 37.3% that soft skills are very much important for their knowledge & career development.
Most of the students believe that they lacks in various soft skills such as communication, decision making, critical thinking & team work.
It is found to be that many students agree that individual personality play an important role.
Majority of the students believe that facilities are required to learn soft skills.
From the analysis the students’ needs outside experts training for their development of the soft skills.
Majority of the students found that college/universities play fewer roles in enhancing the soft skills.
It is found to be that lecturer plays an important role in supporting & developing the soft skills.

SUGGESTIONS

The Universities/educational institutions must focus on training programs for skill developments such as time management, stress management, communication skills and so on.
The present study reveals that students’ lacks in communications skills and results in fail to get better jobs. The institutions should assist the students to overcome the communication barriers by orientation to the students, protective listening, and strategic use of grapevine.
The lecturers have to provide training on the soft skills by the management. It helps the many students to acquire the soft skills knowledge.
The institutions should strictly inculcate the soft skill training programme to the students in their academic activities and must monitor by Universities.

CONCLUSION

The study is carried out to know the soft skills programme implemented by various VTU engineering colleges and also an attempt is made to the levels of soft skills of the students. Hence the study discloses that many students lacks in soft skills such as communication, critical thinking, interpersonal skills and so on and based on soft skills assessment of the students, few methods are suggested to acquire certain soft skills, helps them for better placements in the reputed companies.

REFERENCES

Hariharan, S and Sundararajan, N and Shanmugapriya, S.P, 2010, MPJ Publishers. Soft Skills, 110p, 278p.
http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/soft-skill.html#ixzz2cfex5RhG, Time 11.00 AM, Date: 20-10-2013
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_skills, Time 10.26 AM, Date: 22-10-2013
http://www.issbs.si/press/ISBN/978-961-92486-3-8/papers/ML11-45.pdf, Time 12.30 PM. Date: 15-11-2013