Soft Skills Evaluation in The Information Technology and Business Process Management Industry

 

Figure 1

The term skill has various definitions. Oxford Learners Dictionary (2019) defines skill as ‘ability to do something’. Skills are defined as one’s capability of using knowledge effectively in generating performance. Skills are classified in different ways. One such classification is dividing skills into soft skills and hard skills. Different terms are used to refer the purpose of the term soft skills such as generic skills, key skills, essential skills, key competencies, necessary skills, transferable skills, core skills, common skills, key qualifications, and employability skills (Petroni, 2019).

The term soft skill does not have any globally accepted definition. Soft skills describe a form of employability qualities such as common sense, human and personal skills to communicate with people harmoniously, interact effectively and positively with a flexible attitude which are not dependent on one’s gained knowledge. Soft skills are skills that determines one’s personal individuality that impacts on behaviour of a person while helping interacting with others in a work set up (Burke, 2021). Soft skills have been referred to personality traits, work ethics, interpersonal skills, problem-solving, and language skills of an individual. Soft skills are non-technical, intangible, personally specific and qualitative as they are hard to measure. They may define the strength of an individual and describe the interpersonal qualities. Soft skills are the qualifications that exceed, empower, and complement hard skills which are more technical- specific (Capelli, 2022).

Different clusters of soft skills can be identified. One such cluster is dividing soft skills as personal and intrapersonal skills. Soft skills are grouped into three groups such as; personal, interpersonal, and situational skills. There are four dimensions of soft skills: managing tasks, managing self, managing career, and managing others including superiors, subordinates, peers and clients (Mitchell, 2018). There are twelve clusters of soft skills such as communication, workplace thinking, conflict resolution and negotiation, teamwork and collaboration, stress management, workplace professionalism, workplace productivity, workplace ethics, workplace delivery, planning and organizing, self-intelligence, and social intelligence (Jüttner, 2022).

Communication, team building, flexibility and creativity, leadership, stress management, time management, and conflict management are essential soft skills in the field of software project management. Research is done, using IT internship students, has identified ten common soft skills in the field of business computer technology: communication, critical and decision making, interpersonal skills, negotiation, problem-solving, self-confidence, self- management, teamwork, and work ethics (Capelli, 2022). The most important soft skills for the IT industry in South Africa are communication, flexibility, self-management, teamwork, multidisciplinary thinking, client management, decision making, conflict management, work ethics, interpersonal relations, negotiation, self-confidence, critical thinking, emotional intelligence and professionalism (Burke, 2021).

Evaluating soft skills is important though it is a hard task. To measure these social skills situational judgements, structured interviews, group interactions, role plays, and presentations have been identified as useful methods (Petroni, 2019). Personality tests, used in graduate selections and case study interviews which are used to evaluate soft skills such as problem solving, communication, and customer orientation have been recognized as common soft skills evaluation methods. Behavioural interviewing which values past performance has been regarded as a better predictor of future performance (Mitchell, 2018).

Soft Skill Quantification (SSQ) model which measure micro social skills numerically using a 3600 feedbacks system is another important measurement of soft skills. MOSSA, the Model of Soft Skill Assessment is also an important model to evaluate soft skills. Different approaches such as specific ability approach, mixed method approach and self-reporting are used to measure the Emotional Intelligence of employees. Emotional Competence Inventory (ECI) and Emotional Quotient (EQ) are such important assessment tool in measuring soft skills (Jüttner, 2022).

Taylor (2016) has identified soft skills are essential not only for personal development but also for social participation and for the success of job performance. According to Ahmed et. al. (2015) soft skills enhance the individual success. Similarly, this study has revealed that soft skills are a set of skills that are essential for both career development and project success. This study findings mainly agree on the claims of Ahmed et. al. (2018) that all IT professionals should have both hard and soft skills which are complement to the relevant technical skills (Capelli, 2022).

The most common method of skill evaluation is interviews. In this study, the researchers revealed that respondents use different methods to evaluate soft skills during the interviews such as: open ended questions, project-based questions, past experience technical based questions, and psychometric test. Researchers further observed that the literature had explained soft skills evaluation methods such as structured interviews, situational judgements, group interactions, role plays and presentations (Burke, 2021). The use of personality test, and case study interviews to evaluate soft skills like problem solving, communication and customer orientation, which was not observed in this research. Researchers noted that respondents had used ‘observation’ as a complementary method during internship, background check-up, and phone call-based interviewing in assessing soft skill (Petroni, 2019).

Compared to some underline theories, soft skills evaluation is subjective to evaluators’ personal perspectives and experiences. The Control theory acknowledges that soft skills may vary from situation to situation and from context to context as well as assessor to assessor. This was confirmed by this study as well. Further, according to the goal theory, soft skills evaluation is challenging when goals are not developed properly by both evaluators and learners of soft skills (Capelli, 2022).

Conclusion

The dearth of soft skills and lack of such soft skills measurement tools are the key for many problems in the Information Technology and Business Process Management industry. Blog on soft skills evaluation methods are skeletal within the industry concerned. The paper investigated the soft skills required by different job categories, currently used soft skills measurements, and the problems and challenges associated with the soft skills measurement process in the industry concerned. To measure such skills, eleven different soft skill evaluation methods were found out. Finally, the model, developed can be used as a framework for IT related competency development, and educating and training IT professionals at institutional levels.

References

Burke, 2021. A Cumulative Study of the Effectiveness of Managerial Training. Journal of Applied Psychology, 10(5), pp. 27-38.

Capelli, 2022. Integrating Strategic Human Resources and Strategic Management. International Journal of Industrial Relations and Human Resources, 12(2), pp. 56-71.

Jüttner, 2022. The Influence of Human Resource Management Practices on Retention of Core Employees. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 8(4), pp. 4-25.

Mitchell, 2018. Performance Measuring in a Supply Chain. Journal of Operations and Production Management, 7(3), pp. 31-42.

Petroni, 2019. A Quality Assurance-oriented Methodology for Handling Trade-offs in Supplier Selection. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 18(10), pp. 12-35.