EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

International Journal of Management (IJM), ISSN 0976 – 6502(Print), ISSN 0976 - 6510(Online), INTERNATIONAL Volume 5, Issue 7, July (2014), pp.JOURNAL 73-80 © IAEME OF MANAGEMENT (IJM) ISSN 0976-6502 (Print) ISSN 0976-6510 (Online) Volume 5, Issue 7, July (2014), pp. 73-80 © IAEME: http://www.iaeme.com/IJM.asp Journal Impact Factor (2014): 7.2230 (Calculated by GISI) www.jifactor.com

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EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK SamsonPackianathan1,

Rajagopal Narayanan2

Research scholar of Karunya University Business School, Karunya Nagar; Karunya University; Coimbatore -641 114; Tamilnadu; India Associate Professor, Karunya University Business School Karunya Nagar; Karunya University; Coimbatore -641 114; Tamilnadu; India

ABSTRACT The role of higher educational institutions in promoting employability skills to their graduates is getting momentum. The competition in the labour market is even tougher for management graduates, owing to the widespread career options open to them. These skill deficiencies often referred to as graduate competency gap has been the empirical footage of many researches done globally and in India. This article attempts to provide a conceptual framework on employability skills of business graduates based on in-depth reviews. Reviews for a period of 20 years between 1994 and 2013 have been assimilated and categorized into two propositions. They are (i) Business graduates require specific employability skills; (2) Curricular changes enhance employability skills of business school graduates. Based on these propositions, a conceptual framework on employability skill has been developed. Keywords: Employability Skills, Business Graduates. INTRODUCTION A large number of business graduates land up in varied work arenas and retrospectively stare at the missing link between their collegiate education and work expectations. Literature highlights these dispositions as difficulty in practicing effective communication (written, oral), inability to work in teams, problems in applying theory to real-world situations and lack of understanding the requirements of the employers (Bianca, K and Peter, F. 2005). Graduate deficiencies referred to as graduate-competency gap has been addressed universally and a few dispositions from the global stand point are showcased. According to Jackson (2010), businesses should articulate what they need and want from graduates, and graduates should be aware of what they are learning and its use in the workplace. Graduates from MBA program testify that the relationship between employability and employment is 73

International Journal of Management (IJM), ISSN 0976 – 6502(Print), ISSN 0976 - 6510(Online), Volume 5, Issue 7, July (2014), pp. 73-80 © IAEME

far from straight forward (Wilton 2011). Research also articulates that business studies have a positive effect on skills, employability and compensation and moderate effect on career advancement (Dimitrios and Kristina, 2006). When supervisors / managers were asked to rate their perceptions on graduate-skill gap, they claim that graduates are proficient in non-technical skills and deficient in essential managerial skill set (Jackson and Chapman, 2011). Pedagogy is the source which is targeted for bridging this graduate skill gap and they are advised to reflect and articulate required competencies in recruitment situations (Jackson, 2010). James (2013) sums up these factors and urges researchers to re-direct their efforts to investigations which focus on provision of graduate skills which is based on demand, development and deployment. Exploring the business graduates’ employability skill in the Indian perspective, exposes research generated content which requires exemplification in the pursuit of generating solutions to the existing trend. Shrivastava (2013) claims that developing soft skills is no more a matter of choice rather it is essential for efficient work performance, growth and success at an international platform. Jog (2013) synonymizes the same by stating that there is a definite mismatch of skills that are required in the real world of work compared to mainstream education. The answers to these empirical situations is summarized by Noronha (2011) who recommends that business schools must meet the challenge to deliver management education and knowledge that is relevant in both global and local settings. There is a need to improve the skilled based training in business education. OBJECTIVE The major objectives of the study are: To develop propositions related to employability skills of business graduates To identify the factors related to employability skills of business graduates To develop a conceptual framework on employability skills of business graduates

• • •

METHODOLOGY Systematic review was done to ascertain the existing literature on the competencies required by business graduates to market themselves to the recruiters and to sustain their employability. A total of 57 research work for a span of 20 years (1994 and 2013) was assimilated and were classified into two propositions. These proportions are: • •

Business graduates require specific employability skills Curricular Changes Enhance Employability skills of Business graduates

These propositions give clear indications about factors related to employability skills, and based on that a conceptual framework has been developed. DISCUSSION ON PROPOSITIONS Proposition I: Business School Graduates require specific employability skills Business graduates are placed in varied employment capacities and the norm of the day is for them to possess certain competencies which will help them to transit from a graduate to an employee. The competencies often cited as important for the employment of business graduatesare written communication, oral communication, investigating and analyzing skills, planning and organizing skills, negotiating and persuading skills, cooperation, leadership, and numeracy. Literature points out that these competencies have been repeatedly magnified by employers, 74

International Journal of Management (IJM), ISSN 0976 – 6502(Print), ISSN 0976 - 6510(Online), Volume 5, Issue 7, July (2014), pp. 73-80 © IAEME

business leaders and educationist to empower employability among business graduates. Literature review in this regard is highlighted Table 1. Table 1: Selected Studies related to Employability Skills S.No

Author, Year

1.

Bhatia and Hynes, 1996

2.

Martyn, New Zealand Herald, 2005 Jackson, 2010

3.

4.

Maes, Weldy and Icenogle, 1997

5.

CIHE, 2008

6.

“Q&A”, 1996, as cited in Braun, 2004, p. 232 Awayiga, Onumah and Tsameny, 2010 Gokuladas, 2010

7. 8.

9. 10.

Mallick and Chaudhury, 2000 CIHE, 2008

11.

Curry et al., 2003

12.

IOD, 2007

13.

FSSC, 2007

14.

Chaturvedi, Yadav and Bajpai, 2011

15.

Brownell and Chung, 2001 Benjamin and Reilly, 2011

16.

17. 18.

IOD, 2007 Rizvi, Teckchandany, and Ahuja, 2013

Key Findings Written Communication Highly rated course topics by graduate business students are making presentations, writing memos and letters, listening and interpersonal communication, impromptu speaking, and business report formats. The “ability to communicate accurately, clearly and at a professional level” is cited as one of the top three skills repeatedly asked for by employers From a lecturer’s perspective, advances in the age of technology have caused a worrying decline in the graduate’s written word; exacerbated by the everyday use of abbreviated English in texts and emails. Oral Communication Findings of this study show that oral communication is the most important competency for college graduates entering workforce and that the oral skill most important for entry level graduate are following: instruction, listening, conversing and giving feedback. Employers considered good communication skills to be important yet many were unsatisfied with graduates’ abilities in expressing themselves Investigating and Analyzing Skills “Business schools should really be teaching critical thinking more than anything else”

Analytical/critical thinking was rated as the most important professional skill by both the employers and the graduates. Verbal reasoning, logical reasoning and soft skills was a stronger predictor of employability than grade obtained in technical education Planning and Organizing Academicians and Practitioners claim that a priority for improvement in marketing education is to teach the graduates the ability to ‘set priority’ Planning and organizing was considered the 6th most important skill when recruiting graduates Negotiating and Persuading Of 24 transferable skills, negotiation was identified by Irish employers as the skill they were least satisfied with in recent graduates Influencing and negotiation skills were some of the skills experiencing the most significant gap between required and satisfaction ratings of surveyed UK employers Cooperating Interpersonal skills was identified as a key area for improvement in business graduates in the UK The authors conclude that, when it comes to being a good manager or leader, you must master the hard skills of your specific job as well as the soft skills of interpersonal relations Leadership The authors argued that competency based education provides the “most effective means for preparing graduate business students to become leaders in a truly global market place” The researchers elaborated that leadership development is often cited as an important organizational priority. Numeracy Numeracy was ranked as the 6th most important employability skill in recent graduates. India comprises of financial institutions, banks, insurance companies and various nonbanking finance companies which offer immense opportunities to management graduates looking for specialized jobs in finance area. Some of the skill sets required for such jobs include analytical ability and quantitative skills.

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International Journal of Management (IJM), ISSN 0976 – 6502(Print), ISSN 0976 - 6510(Online), Volume 5, Issue 7, July (2014), pp. 73-80 © IAEME

Proposition II: Curricular Changes Enhance Employability Skills of Business Graduates Researchers urge the need to infuse essential competencies in the educational arena to make business graduates employable and useful to society. The implications in most of the above stated abstracts are for curricular changes which foster employability skills. Major research findings on integrative curricular changes from the global and national front are briefed in Table 2. Table 2: Selected Studies related to curricular change and employability Author, Year Key Findings

S. No 1.

Kagaari, 2007

2.

Mason, 2009

3.

Wellman, 2010

4.

Pandiyan, 2011

5.

Joyner and Mann, 2011 Chynoweth, 2012 Crayford, 2012

6. 7.

8. 9.

Joshi, 2012 Shrivastava, 2013

This paper calls for involvement of stakeholders in design, implementation and evaluation of the university curriculum. He found that structured work experience and employer involvement in degree course design and delivery have clear positive effects on the ability of graduates to secure employment They suggest a need for "pruning" of the theory syllabus and the creation of a "toolbox" of practical methods and techniques is required to resolve the gap between theory and practice A flexible MBA program is suggested to accommodate the needs of changing industrial scenario, keeping in mind only a program which allows constant assessment and re-evaluation with scope for modification will help achieve meeting the changing demands of the industries. They conclude that emotional intelligence (EI) is gaining ground in academic settings Internship programs improves the employability of new graduates There is a need for personal development, employability skills and attributes of an entrepreneurial mind-set among graduates for the post 2011 workplace There is a need to introduce a new Experiential Learning Pedagogy Read, revise and restructure the India education system and joint initiatives by the industry, academia & government to wash out the talent gap

A Conceptual Framework of Employability Skills of Business Graduates The framework takes its root from Systems Theory Framework (STF) of career development and counseling (Patton, W & Mc Mahon, M. 2006). This theory was founded primarily for career counseling and is based on the philosophy of traditional predictive theories and more recent constructivist career counseling approaches (McMahon & Patton, 2002; McMahon, Patton & Watson, 2003; 2004; McMahon, Watson, & Patton, 2005). This framework functions as a link between theory and practice, which is the core need behind graduate competency gap. The reviews summarized in table 1 and 2 provide sufficient information about the required skills of business graduate and the curricular changes which could enhance employability. It is also needed to be understood that the required skills vary according to personal characteristics (age, gender, religion, family background, personality trait, educational background, previous job experience and future job preference). In Figure 1, the propositions are magnified and are connected by ‘bolded arrows’ to the employability of business graduates, due to their strong evidence based foundation. The influence of personal characteristics in the development of employability skills is illustrated in Figure 1 with ‘dotted arrows’ as it is a grey area to reckon with. 76

International Journal of Management (IJM), ISSN 0976 – 6502(Print), ISSN 0976 - 6510(Online), Volume 5, Issue 7, July (2014), pp. 73-80 © IAEME

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS Age Gender Religion Family background Personality trait Educational background Previous job experience Future job preference

PROPOSITION I Employability Skills Written Communication Verbal Communication Investigating and Analyzing Planning and Organizing Negotiating and Persuading Co-operating Leadership Numeracy

Employability of Business Graduates PROPOSITION II Curricular Changes and Employability Stake holder involvement in curriculum planning Experential learning pedagogy Flexible curriculum Soft skill training Mock interviews Figure 1: Conceptual Framework on Employability skill

CONCLUSION This model can be used as a tool that helps the business graduates to: - (1) self-assess their capabilities, potentials and strengths; (2) self-initiate in acquiring skills which is required for their expected job performance; and (3) constantly self-realize their achievement in the ever-evolving education-employment arenas. Assessing these behaviors will foster self-confidence among business graduates which will enhance their chances of employment. The focus for the business schools is to provide effective and efficient graduates equipped with the skill-set required by the the job market. This requires them to be up-to-date with current literature and also forces them to perform empirical surveys on novel pedagogical methodologies. The burden is heavy on the educationist and they need to modulate themselves to perform what they have been called for. A summary from the research work of Rao (2011) amplifies the multifaceted approach to be undertaken by the nurturing institutions. Rao (2011) presented factors which enhances employability from the preview of curriculum, teacher and student experiences. He purports that curriculum should be mapped with the current market demand. Teachers should be well aware of market conditions and potential of their students, and know, how to enhance those potentials. Students should be exposed to quality workintegrated learning, cooperative learning, and mentoring programs. Business leaders and recruitment agencies are called to be stake holders and contribute to the revisions required in the curricular content and teaching-learning methodologies.

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International Journal of Management (IJM), ISSN 0976 – 6502(Print), ISSN 0976 - 6510(Online), Volume 5, Issue 7, July (2014), pp. 73-80 © IAEME

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