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International Journal for Quality Research 10(1) 97–130

ISSN 1800-6450

Barbara Cimatti 1
DEFINITION, DEVELOPMENT,
ASSESSMENT OF SOFT SKILLS AND THEIR
Article info: ROLE FOR THE QUALITY OF
Received 14.12.2015 ORGANIZATIONS AND ENTERPRISES
Accepted 02.02.2016

UDC – 54.061
Abstract: Soft Skills is a very popular term nowadays, used to
DOI – 10.18421/IJQR10.01-05
indicate personal transversal competences such as social
aptitudes, language and communication capability,
friendliness and ability of working in team and other
personality traits that characterize relationships between
people. Soft Skills are traditionally considered complementary
of Hard Skills, which are the abilities to perform a certain type
of task or activity.
Soft Skills are strategic to be successful in personal and
professional life then are essential for a candidate when he
tries to obtain any kind of job. Enterprises generally hire new
employees, in particular recent graduates, taking more in
consideration their Soft Skills than their Hard Skills. This
happens also for technical professions, such as engineers,
because the company, in order to be competitive, needs to
create good and effective teams and a collaborative working
atmosphere. The quality of products provided by any industry
then doesn’t only base on the materials chosen and on the
technology used, neither only on the expertise of workers who
contribute to their fabrication, but also on the quality of the
enterprise in its whole. And this quality strongly depends from
the human resources involved and their capability of positively
interacting to achieve a common aim: the company success.
Keywords: quality, soft skills, management, organization

1. Introduction1 company can achieve. This happens in both


services and manufacturing companies, even
Any organization is made of people and its if in these last ones, the competitiveness of
success depends mainly on the capabilities the product also bases of course on the
of the human resources and on the kind of choice of materials and processes used to
collaboration they are able to establish. fabricate it. In the past manufacturing
Human capital is then a fundamental companies of any kind of industrial product
component for any enterprise and the quality were mainly concerned about the technical
of it deeply affects the results that the aspects of their production, in terms of
methodologies, systems, facilities,
1 components etc. and tried to select workers
Corresponding author: Barbara Cimatti
email: barbara.cimatti2@unibo.it technically prepared and able to perform the
tasks they were hired for. Nowadays this

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view has changed and workers are Definitions, methods, models, tools here
considered a key element not only for their described have been presented during the
ability to perform a certain activity, but in workshop “Soft Skills and their role in
particular for their transversal competences, employability – New perspectives in
also called Soft Skills. teaching, assessment and certification”,
The term Soft Skills is used to indicate all proposed by the University of Bologna in
the competences that are not directly collaboration with AlmaLaurea, a
connected to a specific task; they are consortium of 72 Italian universities
necessary in any position as they mainly collecting data of graduates now containing
refer to the relationships with other people 2.200.000 cv. The event was held at the
involved in the organization. Hard Skills, on University Residential Center in Bertinoro
the other hand, indicate the specific on the 18th and 19th of November 2015 with
capabilities to perform a particular job. Then the participation of 28 speakers (several
a Hard Skill can be for example the ability of international), from 18 Universities,
a worker to regulate and control a CNC Institutions and Companies and a total of
machine to fabricate a component, while a 160 participants. Some considerations and
Soft Skill is his capability of collaborating conclusions here reported have been
with the colleagues working at the same elaborated by the author, who proposed this
factory department. initiative. The workshop was realized within
the project Adria Hub – Bridge technical
Soft Skills are then considered a strategic
differences and social suspicious
element in any industrial organization and
contributing to transform the Adriatic area in
they deserve high attention from the Human
a stable hub for a sustainable technological
Resources management, not only in the
development. This European project has
recruitment phase but also during the whole
been coordinated by the University of
professional career of employees. The
Bologna with the aim of a technology
quality of the industry, in terms of quality of
transfer of the system used from
the product, of the organization, of the
AlmaLaurea to collect and select the CV of
services and of the workers’ life, strongly
graduates to some universities located in the
depends on the Soft Skills possessed by
Balkans, in particular in Croatia, Serbia,
personnel at any level. The quality of the
Bosnia Herzegovina and Montenegro to
Human Capital working at any company,
favour their employability trough the
then the results they can achieve, mainly
matching with enterprises. As Soft Skills are
depends on their Soft Skills.
considered essential for graduates to get a
This paper intends to provide a complete job at any organization or enterprise, the
view on Soft Skills and on their importance event can be considered a significant action
in order to achieve quality in any job and of the project with the following aims:
more widely in individual’s life, starting  To describe the state of the art
from their definition, learning and concerning Soft Skills
assessment. The aim of this work is  To identify new methods and tools
furthermore to enhance the relevance of Soft for Soft Skills determination and
Skills within industrial organizations, certification for education and
describing how an enterprise can collaborate employability purposes
with educational institutions to “teach” Soft  To identify lines of development for
Skills and can contribute to the development the political and institutional
of these competences for its employees, decision-makers and for the
increasing the competitiveness and success researchers, considering the
of the whole organization. enterprises needs.

98 B. Cimatti
Soft Skills are a relevant cross-disciplinary Personal and Social Skills. Personal Skills
theme. The workshop has collected several mainly correspond to cognitive Skills, such
prestigious international and national experts as knowledge and thinking skills while
along with scholars of excellence who are Social Skills refer to relationships with other
studying and analysing transversal people. To just mention some, a knowledge
competences, who are looking for a bridge skill is the capability of elaborating
between research, teaching and employment information and a thinking skill is the ability
and who are fostering and developing these of exercising critical judgment. Examples of
competences within the enterprises. The personal skills are the capacity and desire to
workshop has provided a complete panorama continue to learn and the ability to plan and
of Soft Skills from their definition to their achieve goals. Main Social Skills can be
expression and application in the labour identified in communication, listening
work. capability, negotiation, networking, problem
solving, decision making and assertiveness
2. Definition and selection of Soft (Engelberg, 2015).
Skills Soft Skills give Hard Skills the required
plasticity to develop and keep up-to-date in
Many definitions of Soft Skills exist in changing circumstances. Soft Skills are
literature. closely related to plastic, rational,
A first distinction can be made between Self- elaborating, abilities, elaborated in the pre-
oriented/Intrapsychic and Other frontal cortex, developed by Man in the last
oriented/Interpersonal Skills. The first ones 50.000 years. Hard Skills allow Man to be
refer to what the person must understand and what he is: an engineer, a physicist, a
develop by himself while the second philosopher. Soft Skills operate in a direction
category gathers what the person can that is rather separate from the role of the
develop relating with other people. This individual and go beyond the strict demands
distinction can also be made in terms of of the profession (Grisi, 2014).

Basic Interac ons


‘Response-Able’ – Capable of choosing how we respond

Achiever’s Orienta on
Response-Able Awareness Response-Able Ac on

InTRA-Personal
Self Awareness Self Management
Competence

InTER-Personal Rela onship


Social Awareness
Competence Management

In the Purposeful Context of Our Values and Goals

©2015 Center for Crea ve Leadership. All rights reserved.

Figure 1. Definition of Soft Skills - Bryce Kingsley

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The meaning of Intra-Personal and Inter- correspond to Soft Skills. Technological
Personal Competences is well described in Skills are the ones that allow performing
Figure 1 based on a research of Daniel specific tasks. The parallel with Software
Goleman. Any individual is responsible of and Hardware in Information Technology is
his actions, this bases on different elements, evident: Software controls and manages
each of them connected to the others. Hardware. This is particularly true in the
Awareness and Action interact with Personal Indo-European approach, while in the
and Inter Personal competences, as the figure Oriental one there is more integration
clearly shows (Kingsley, 2015). between the two parts (Ciappei, 2015).
Many personality features have a strong A proposed integrated taxonomy of Skills is
influence on the individual transversal the one in Figure 2 where Soft Skills are
competences. Moral virtues can be organized in two clusters: Political and
considered connected to Soft Skills: Ethical Skills – Strategic and Organizational
Temperance, Justice, Prudence, Courage are Skills while a third one corresponds to Hard
all significant traits for the development of Skills: Managerial and Technological Skills.
transversal competences (Ciappei, 2015). Politics and Ethics allow the interpretation,
Soft Skills can be furthermore distinguished Strategy and Organization bring to planning
in Entrepreneurship Skills and and Management and Technology imply the
Technological Skills. Entrepreneurship Skills coordination of actions. All these skills
are connected to leadership, to risk facing, to concur to the realization, then to the
innovation and change management and production of the effect (Ciappei, 2015).

The main integrated taxonomy of skills


Fractal approach

Politics
Interpretation Ethics
Sense making
soft skills

Strategy
Planning Organization
Sense-action design

Management Implementation Technology


Action coordinatin
hard skills
Realization
Production effect
Figure 2. Taxonomy of Skills – Cristiano Ciappei

A famous simple definition of Soft Skills cause-effect correlation between Soft Skills
comes from the winner of the Nobel prize and personal and professional achievements
2000 for Economics James Heckman: “Soft of people (Cinque, 2015).
Skills predict success in life”. He identifies a

100 B. Cimatti
Different names have been proposed for Soft Some European projects have been
Skills by several institutions and developed to define and study the Skills
organizations, including the European Union issue. One of them is the “Tuning” project in
(UE) and the Organization for Economic Co- which Generic Competences are divided in
operation and Development (OECD) Figure three categories: Instrumental, Interpersonal
3. Hard Skills are also called Specific and Systemic. Instrumental Competences
Competences and Soft Skills are often correspond to cognitive, methodological,
indicated as Generic Competences (Poblete technological and linguistic competences.
Ruiz, 2015). The term cross-cultural Interpersonal can be divided in two groups:
competencies appeared in Europe 20 years individual and social. Systemic competences
ago. Now expressions such as Key are considered organizational,
Competences and, after Microsoft-Intel entrepreneurial and leadership skills (Poblete
definition, 21st Century Skills are also very Ruiz, 2015).
common (Hautamäki, 2015).

Life skills (WHO,1993)

Transversal skills (ISFOL,1998)

Generic competences (Tuning project, 2000)

Key competencies for a successful life and a well-func oning society (OECD, 2003; 2012)

Key competences for lifelong learning (UE, 2006)

21st century skills (Ananiadou & Claro, 2009)

Transferable skills (RPIC-ViP, 2011)

Future work skills (IFTF, 2010)

So Skills for Talent (Manpower Group, 2014)

Skills for Social Progress (OECD, 2015)


Figure 3. Different names proposed to define Soft Skills - Maria Cinque

It is important to try to understand which reached and tools to train, to develop and
skills will be necessary in future. The work increase competences and capabilities.
skills that will be required in 2020 can be In order to define and identify Soft Skills,
defined as the skills that should be acquired the Center of Creative Leadership in
by all citizens, in order to ensure their active Bruxelles (Kingsley, 2015) has proposed a
participation in society and economy, taking tool named “Social Identity Mapping”,
into account the major drivers of change. which considers gender, nationality, religion,
Among them, the skills in using technology, sexual orientation, race or ethnicity, age,
in particular digital skills, will be education, socioeconomic status etc. of
fundamental in most jobs to perform many people. This mapping involves three internal
tasks (Cinque, 2015). Furthermore digital processes: categorization, identification and
resources can help students to develop and comparison. First it is necessary to define
train their Soft Skills, then they can be groups based on shared believes, experiences
considered at the same time aims to be and characteristics. Second each individual

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should identify himself as belonging to a revisited like dispositions, looks like a
group. Third the groups have to be complex construction in which many
compared. It’s human nature to want to fit in components interact and are developed over
some group as well as to be unique. To be time, showing performances based on a
aware of his own social identity is the first coherent set of knowledge, abilities, attitudes
step in order to understand which is his own and values.
idea and connection to leadership, in order to In the concept of disposition three
be able to develop this kind of Soft Skill. interacting components can be distinguished:
The identity is not static, it can change and
be developed over time. Identity is made of  attitudes and values
three components: Given Identity (for ex. to  knowledge and abilities involved
be a male of a certain age), Chosen Identity  a set of coherent behaviours
(for ex. university-educated and married), The disposition can only be inferred evinced,
Self Identity (includes traits, behaviours, from repeated congruent behaviours and
beliefs, values and skills). performances (Pellerey, 2015).
Social Identity is important for Soft Skills Following another approach, competences
because it leads to: can be distinguished in three categories:
 Self awareness  Knowing-why competences
 Managing Self implying Reflectiveness
 Communication  Understanding and Self-awareness
 Empathy  Knowing-What, When, Where
 Effective dialogue across competences implying Proactivity
differences Further Soft Skills important to be
All the above mentioned transversal skills considered regard the capacity to develop
are really significant to be successful as a and take advantage of an extensive network
manager and more in general in any kind of of relationships, the Knowing-How, Whom
profession. competences implying Reactivity and the
A Soft Skill that most experts recognize such Transferable competences in terms of
as a very important one is Emotional knowledge and employability improving
Intelligence. A possible definition of this skills (Guglielmi, 2015).
transversal skill is the ability to perceive and
express emotions, to understand and 3. How to teach and develop Soft
positively use them, and to effectively Skills
manage emotions in ourselves and others.
Thus Emotional Intelligence is central to “The universities’ mission of spreading
performance. It can be considered connected knowledge among the younger generations
to individual personality but it can also be implies that, in today’s world, they must also
developed trough attention and development serve society as a whole; and that the
(Kingsley, 2015). cultural, social and economic future of
The conceptual model of Skills developed by society requires, in particular, a considerable
John Dewey in the book “The Human Nature investment in continuing education.” Magna
and Conduct” defines the personality as the Charta Universitatum, signed in Bologna in
interpretation of his habits, which are not 1988.
pure repetitions but dispositions that the This famous statement includes the idea that
person expresses as specific ways of acting Education Institutions don’t have only the
in different challenging situations. duty of forming young generations providing
Dispositions motivate, activate, and direct them with Hard Skills to become capable
abilities. Then the model of soft skills, professionals, but must first of all create

102 B. Cimatti
citizens able to actively and positively authority, reduced our sympathy with the
participate in society, then they also have to marginalized and different, and damaged our
support them for the development of their competence to deal with complex global
Soft Skills (Morandin, 2015). problems. Then Soft Skills are so important
Teaching Soft Skills is a fundamental not only for the labour market but for a
educational activity that must start very early complete human being, in order to achieve
at primary school, then it is not an issue only happiness in life (Cinque, 2015).
regarding Universities and Enterprises. Emotional Intelligence has been identified as
Furthermore the development of Soft Skills one of the most significant Soft Skills in
starts within the family, then even earlier paragraph n.2.
than the time when the child goes to School. How is it possible to develop it? To
It is very difficult to predict what the labour effectively answer this question, we can use
world will be in future, only short-term the metaphor of an ascending ladder (Figure
prediction can have sense. Educational 4), whose steps correspond to different Soft
programmes should try to consider possible Skills to be sequentially acquired during the
future scenarios in order to educate young process of development. The base
people to find a job, but this is not easy to correspond to Self-Awareness, which is
do, as the future is often unpredictable. fundamental to start the process, then Self-
(Hautamäki, 2015). But Soft Skills are not Control, Directed Motivation, Social
only necessary to work, they are essential for Awareness and finally Social Influence can
everyday life, then educational institutions be achieved (Engelberg, 2015).
must focus on methodologies and techniques
In order to acquire Soft Skills the support of
to help students develop transversal
more experienced people who have already
competences that will be useful for them in
achieved professional results is fundamental.
any circumstance.
Then experts’ seminars, coaching and
A recent report “Skills for social progress” tutoring are effective tools to teach Soft
produced by OECD, stressed the need to Skills. In particular mentors, who can
develop a “whole child” with a balanced set personally support and taking care of the
of cognitive, social and emotional skills in individual growth and learning, are
order to better face the challenges of the 21st considered particularly powerful in the
century. process of development of transversal
As “skills beget skills”, early interventions in competences of their pupils. The University
social and emotional skills can play an tutor doesn’t only provide support to the
important role in efficiently raising skills and student to pass an exam, but he can help him
reducing educational, labour market and to better understand his attitudes, to develop
social disparities (Cinque, 2015). his skills then to find his way in his
It is evident that school must provide professional life (Ciappei, 2015).
students with Soft Skills not only to find a Teaching of Soft Skills has a different
job, but to flourish as human beings and relevance in several countries. Few countries
citizens. In the book “Not for profit”, written considered it mandatory, in some other
by Martha C. Nussbaum in 2010, the nations it is offered as an extra activity on
following passage is notable: … we demand only for students interested in it. In
increasingly treat education as though its both cases schools organize courses and
primary goal were to teach students to be activities to teach Soft Skills. In some cases
economically productive rather than to think students themselves organize these courses,
critically and become knowledgeable and such as in some polish cases where students’
empathetic citizens. This focus on profitable unions propose themselves activities to teach
skills has eroded our ability to criticize Soft Skills (Cinque, 2015).

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Emo onal Intelligence
Social Influence

Social Awareness

Directed Mo va on

Self-Control

Self-Awareness

Building A Developmental Perspec ve on“ So Skills” and Employability Dr. Sydney Engelberg

Figure 4. The Ladder of Emotional intelligence – Sydney Engelberg

The didactical methods to teach Soft Skills Skills teaching in Higher Education
are many. Soft Skills teaching can be programmes. This project has been carried
embedded in a regular course corresponding on in Europe in collaboration with 135
to a specific discipline, or they can be taught universities and in Latin America with 62
in separated dedicated activities (not only universities. One of the most significant
courses, but also project works, visits, outcome of the project is the need of a
journeys etc.). paradigm shift from a Teaching Based
A significant European project developed by Knowledge (TBK) system to a Learning
Fondazione RUI concerning transversal Based Competences (CBL) (Poblete Ruiz,
competences is “Mediating Soft Skills at 2015).
Higher Education Institutions” (ModEs), The “Tuning” project proposes some
whose aim was to find a unified alternative methods to teach Soft Skills:
methodology for teaching Soft Skills at the 1) Integrating Soft Skills in the
undergraduate level. Some deliverables of different subjects of a Degree.
this project now available are a handbook in 2) Conducting Seminars and
several languages and the prototype of a Workshops during the weekend
learning game. The focus is to help students aimed at teaching different Soft
identifying their own gaps in Soft Skills and Skills.
autonomously learning how to fill them. The 3) Devoting two weeks at the
main outputs of the project are a self- beginning of each semester to train
evaluation and orientation tool for students Soft Skills.
and a lesson learned kit (Cinque, 2015). 4) Setting up different subjects for
Is it possible at university to well teach and each Soft Skill and integrating them
develop Soft Skills? There are projects to in programs with different teachers,
define methods and best practices for it. An who are only dedicated to the
example is the already mentioned “Tuning” teaching of Soft Skills.
project that focuses the presence of Soft

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5) Dedicating a full semester in the context.
Degree to train some specific Soft It is very important to underline that the
Skills. responsibility of implementing the model,
The first one has been preferred, because it is then of effectively teaching Soft Skills, is
considered more effective, concrete and easy totally of the Institution. The top
to apply than the other four. management must decide which Soft Skills
The model to teach Soft Skills implies first are the key ones, not only a limited group of
to define the competence to be taught, then professors. It is advisable to identify 4 or 5
to consider their implications. Depending on Soft Skills, not more. Then it is necessary to
the level of Mastery different indicators and check these Soft Skills consistency with the
descriptors are used. For instance, referring goals and values of the University and
to the competence Teamwork, which is the finally the identified Soft Skills must
actively participation and collaboration in become a part of the strategy of the
team tasks and the promotion of confidence, University described in some official
cordiality and involvement in shared work, document.
possible indicators are: From the practical point of view, in order to
 Completing assigned tasks within implement this action, a deep analysis of
deadlines as a group member each academic and professional profile and
 Participating actively in team didactic programme must be carried on in
meetings, sharing information, order to define Soft Skills that have a
knowledge and experiences. connection, then can be included in each
 Collaborating in defining, subject. It is necessary to evaluate how
organizing and distributing group important these Soft Skills are in each profile
tasks and how to evaluate them. A permanent
 Focusing on and being committed team to monitor the program and to support
to agreement on shared objectives. during the development and evaluation of
Soft Skills should be created. The workload
Descriptors define the grading of the
of teachers must be carefully calculated and
indicators. Going on with the previous
they have to be trained and motivated. Each
example, the first indicator can be defined
professor should be the referent for some
through the following descriptors referring to
indicators and should use the descriptors to
each group member:
assess the level of acquisition of the Soft
 Does not complete the assigned Skills from the student (Poblete Ruiz, 2015).
tasks
 Partially complete the assigned The University of Genova and AlmaLaurea
tasks or does it with some delay have realized a significant survey to
understand how Soft Skills are considered
 Reports before the deadline on the
and taught at Italian Universities (Mangano,
outcome of the assigned task
2014). The “CT3” (Transversal
 The quality of the work on the
Competences research) has been carried on
assigned task is a clear contribution
in collaboration with Unioncamere, an
to the team
Italian association of enterprises.
 In addition to completing the
assigned task well, his/her work Eight Soft Skills have been investigated:
guides the other team members. 1) Problem Solving
In order to implement the teaching of Soft 2) Analysis and synthesis of
Skills into a specific subject, a map can be information
designed in which each didactical module is 3) Autonomously criticism
connected to one or more transversal 4) Effective communication
competences that can be taught within that 5) Long-life learning

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6) Team working help the user to become aware of himself.
7) Initiative Another tool is “Leadership Metaphor
8) Organization and planning Explorer” that uses drawings and captions to
A questionnaire was sent to the Directors of increase understanding of how leadership
Didactical Programs at 78 Italian operates in organizations, communities and
Universities, 74 answered. across boundaries. Some framing questions
used in this tool are: Which is your ideal
The survey had in particular the aim to
leadership style? What leadership metaphor
enhance the connection between different
best describes our team/group/organization?
skills and different disciplines.
This tools lead to develop significant Soft
A first result regards the easiness to teach Skills, in particular: Self-Awareness,
competences related to their typology. The Communication Skills, Empathy,
most difficult to transfer are the capabilities Networking (Kingsley, 2015).
of initiative and of organization and
An interesting recent research carried on at
planning, while the analysis and synthesis of
the University of Bologna shows the last
information is considered the easiest one for
trends in the educational debate about
Universities to teach.
teaching Soft Skills at the University level.
Another outcome regards the connection Magazines, Journals and Trade publications
between discipline and perception of the have been analysed using the EBSCO
relevance of the skill. Different disciplinary database, looking for the term Soft Skills. A
groups perceive differently the importance of first significant result is that Soft Skills
each Soft Skill: for example for architects is appear more often in Business literature than
much more significant to be able to work in Education one (Figure 5). The term Soft
team than for lawyers. Skills is still not often used compared with
Some tools to teach the above-indicated Soft Generic Skills, but it is becoming more
Skills are furthermore suggested and popular. Most research about this topic takes
investigated: place in Europe and USA and the amount of
 Laboratories it has increased in these last years.
 Work teams Researches focus on teaching methods and
 Case study on tools already developed and used in order
 Simulations to evaluate and consolidate them or they
 Project works propose some innovation in didactics
 Presentations from the students addressed to teach Soft Skills.
The Center of Creative Leadership in Some existing activities to foster Soft Skills
Bruxelles has developed some specific tools development are:
to teach and develop Soft Skills basing on  Clinical pairing / Internship/
the idea that leadership should be Industrial training programme /
democratized, therefore leadership stage at enterprises and
development should be more affordable and organizations
accessible to people to give more chance to  Collegiate capstone projects (thesis)
anyone to express his attitudes, then to  Courses integrated in university
improve our world. programmes (Leadership certificate
An example is “Visual Explorer” that opens / degree)
creative conversations and deep dialogues,  Competitions out of University,
using a wide variety of images, about almost such as the “Elevator pitch
any topic chosen by the user. Questions such competition” in which students are
as: How do you think you are perceived? required to quickly present an idea
What is your greatest strength/weakness? for a new project.

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Method

Magazines, Journals and Trade publications

Business
Education
Source
Research
Premier
Complete
(N=2433)
212 (N=5138)

2221 4926

Figure 5. Investigation on Soft Skills literature - Massimo Marcuccio

Some more innovative methods presented in  "simulated environment" /


literature are: industries simulated by creative
 Academic writing interventions / learners (networking).
production of communicational In particular the last two methods, related to
items digital tools and simulation, should be
 Interpersonal Professional considered to innovate current didactical
Development Programs / academic methodologies, as they can be very effective
disciplines focusing on social skills in particular for students’ Soft Skills
and leadership development. Writing courses, ODL self-
 Programs on the development of learning, training in presentations,
Soft Skills / incorporation of Soft integration of activity developing Soft Skills
Skills seminars in courses in each course, thesis projects, Web-courses
 Multiple-solution problem / for Soft Skills development are the most
integration of content-based popular methods according to literature.
learning with problem-based (Marcuccio, 2015).
learning (system level) / In order to effectively acquire Soft Skills an
international competition individual’s positive psychological state of
 Collaborative learning / development is necessary.
cooperative classroom / work with It can be built basing on:
peers in a constructive and 1) having confidence (self-efficacy)
cooperative manner / virtual groups 2) making a positive attribution
using online technologies (optimism)
 project assignments using Web 2.0 3) persevering toward goals (hope)
tools

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4) sustaining and bouncing back An effective approach is the Learning-to-
(resilience) (Guglielmi, 2015) Learn. There is a significant Finnish
Recent trends consider the teaching of Soft definition for it: the ability and willingness
Skills alones an obsolete approach. The to adapt to novel tasks, activating one’s
border between Soft Skills and Hard Skills is mastery of thinking and the perspective of
difficult to be defined because Soft Skills hope by means of maintaining one’s
and Hard Skills are integrated and the same cognitive and affective self-regulation in and
task always requires using both together. For of learning action (Hautamäki, 2015).
instance a project manager must know
economics, planning, informatics but at the 4. The assessment and certification
same time he needs to be able to manage a of Soft Skills
team, to communicate with providers, to
motivate employees etc. Then the most Traditionally schools and universities assign
effective way to teach Soft Skills can be school marks to evaluate knowledge and
proposed in term of learning them integrated performance of students in different
with the Hard Skills (Bonomo, 2015). disciplines (Hautamäki, 2015).
The method of teaching Soft Skills is strictly Some tools to assess Soft Skills have been
connected to their definition. When Soft proposed, a significant one has been
Skills are considered personal resources, developed by Fondazione RUI with
they can be activated by the context and by Università Cattolica Milano consisting in a
the situation, then simulations and case questionnaire based on the theories of Martin
studies can be particularly helpful. Soft Seligman, the founder of Positive
Skills as capabilities and performances can Psychology. Seligman wrote with
be better developed by a functional Christopher Peterson, a book: “Character
approach, methods such as project work can Strenghts and Virtues”, which represents the
in this case may more effectively support first attempt to identify and classify the
their development. Once Soft Skills are positive psychological traits of human
acquired they can be transferred from one to beings. The questionnaire can be used by
another context, then the same learning students for self-assessment or to assess their
process can produce results in different peers, when they require it (Cinque, 2015).
surroundings. Vice versa Soft Skills
definition is also connected to the best The Bologna process has enhanced the
didactic method that can be used to help importance of moving from more
their development. The distinction between concentration in Learning than in Teaching.
Subject Bones and Cross Curricula Soft This shift is fundamental in order to
Skills is helpful in this sense. The first ones effectively prepare students for life and
are connected to the theme and the second work. Students don’t only study to get a title
ones are transversal to subjects, then Subject but to acquire competences and abilities that
bones can be taught within specific subjects will increase during their whole life (Long-
while Cross Curricula can be fostered within life Learning). Soft Skills learning of course
each discipline and also through initiatives doesn’t only take place at the University,
dedicated to the development of transversal competences are acquired also out of School,
skills (Sarchielli, 2014). in everyday personal and social life, even if
Institutions play a fundamental role.
A final important point to be considered
regarding the teaching of Soft Skills is that One of the main current issues concerns the
the learning process of these competences is assessment of skills. A fundamental question
a dynamic one, during which these skills can is: Is the assessment in Higher Education a
evolve and develop over time thanks to process or a product? Process corresponds to
commitment, involvement and habituation. teaching and product to learning, then

108 B. Cimatti
evaluation can and must be considered a study and improve the assessment of
learning tool that helps the student to self- students’ competences during their
regulate his learning process (Figure 6). university career. Indicators and descriptors
Several projects (“Ahelo”, “Tuning”, have been defined for each Soft Skill.
“Teco”) have been developed in order to

Assessment and
soft skills learning

• Assessment of learning
(internal/external)

• Assessment for learning

• Assessment as learning

Balancing the tensions


between different functions

Figure 6. Assessment versus Learning of Soft Skills – Maria Lucia Giovannini (2015)

A fundamental target that each university then understanding of which competences he


should pursue is to provide a reference already possesses and which are the ones he
framework to identify the key Generic needs to work on (Giovannini, 2015).
Competences of each degree program in Referring to the interpretation of Soft Skills
order to tune the teachings also to allow and as dispositions reported in paragraph 2, the
favour students’ learning of these Soft Skills. assessment must be considered in terms of
This operation should be done from the an evaluation of probability about future
Direction of any Higher Education performances. To assess a disposition the
Institution (Giovannini, 2015). question is: What is the likelihood that
An innovative tool to foster the development something will happen? To this aim the
of Soft Skills is the ePortfolio. Bayesian approach can be helpful. Bayesian
Three ePortfolio can be distinguished, methods are often recommended as the
depending on the main mission they have proper way to make formal use of subjective
(Figure 7): information such as expert opinion and
1) ePortfolio to support learning personal judgments or beliefs of an analyst.
2) ePortfolio concerning the learning They directly address the question of how
results new evidence should change what we
3) ePortfolio to present themselves currently believe and they extend naturally
into the labour world into making predictions, syntheses of
The ePortfolio is then a powerful tool to evidences deriving from multiple sources
support the individual in his self-assessment (Pellerey, 2015).

109
ePortfolio model

Figure 7. The different uses of the ePortfolio Model - Maria Lucia Giovannini (2015)

In assessing Soft Skills as dispositions the questions that tap into a subject’s
Bayesian method suggests: awareness and feelings about the
The explicit use of evidences derived from meaning and value of particular
subjective, objective, and inter-subjective dispositions.
sources in the design, monitoring, analysis,  Open-ended questionnaires in
interpretation and reporting, starting from a which the subjects express their
set of beliefs about their presence and level awareness of the meaning and value
of development. of one or more dispositions.
The model of assessment proposed is built  Internal observations of
on two basic principles (Pellerey, 2015): performances: How does one
1) the assessment is a continuous perceive behaviour when he/she
process: the subject and others applies a disposition?
actors monitor the development of  External observations of
the skill, collecting data from performances: what does it look
internal and external sources in a like when he/she applies a
recursive process. disposition?
2) to make the process possible we  Narratives about personal
have to make the intended skills experiences and life situations
visible both to the subject as well as  Simulations and role-playing
to the others.  Other possible sources: Journals,
In order to make the dispositions visible the Diaries, Blogs
following may be suggested:  Consensus about the estimation of
 A set of selected choices to the level of a skill developed by a
subject.

110 B. Cimatti
Collecting data about a particular disposition The certification of Skills is at the moment
become easier and more accessible using a mainly voluntary.
digital portfolio. To certify his skills a professional in Italy
When dispositions (Soft Skills) can be better can address to a accredited certifying body
assessed: (Accredia) that can state that he meets the
 during vocational and/or certification criteria in compliance with a
professional education specific national standard: this means having
 at the end of a process of education, specific knowledge and skills that are needed
or a university cycle for the job and corresponding to the
 in an interview for recruitment and reference standard. UNI is the “Ente di
selection normazione Italiano” (National Standard
 in a period of initial employment. Board) in charge of publishing these
At the University level the student and staff regulations.
must be aware of the Skills of the student Some professions in Italy require a
and a systematic plan of self-evaluation and mandatory certificate, such as for Security
external evaluation must be elaborated. Managers (UNI 10459) or Energy Managers
The periodical assessment takes the (UNI 11339). There are now 33 published
character of a formative evaluation, in which standards for Hard and Soft Skills in specific
feed-back has a pivotal role: technical professions. Anyway Skills
a) Feed-Up: were am I going (You are certification can be important and useful for
going)? any professional for several reasons
b) Feed-Back: how am I going (You (Ferragina, 2015):
are going)?  work experience and careers can be
c) Feed-Forward: what is the next optimized basing on a
move? diversification of knowledge and
The periodical self-evaluation includes: skills by providing uniformity,
 awareness of the most important impartiality, defining clear roles
dispositions and of their nature;  capitalization of knowledge and
 perception of personal coherent and skills in order to guarantee a
incoherent behaviours. method that ensures effectiveness
At the end of a University cycle the and efficiency
summative evaluation must be referred to the  from an employee’s perspective, it
final profile. facilitates flexibility, employability
and continuous empowerment.
In that activity the staff and the student have
to make an analysis of the collected  from a company’s perspective, this
evidences in order to express a plausible translates into a strategic
final evaluation. competitive advantage, introducing
know how and re-usable training
A final profile must be developed that tools. It helps better defining
includes the most important Soft Skills or existing retention policies, as well
personal dispositions coherent with the as attracting new resources. It
curriculum. The plausibility of the final guarantees clients a high quality
judgement derives from weighing the certified service.
amount, variety and consistency of the Some research works have developed and
positive evidences against the amount, are currently carried on to define the
variety and consistency of the negative methods for the professional roles
evidences (Pellerey, 2015). certification. In next future KIWA-
Who are the Boards who can certify Skills? CERMET, which is a international

111
certification board present in many shows some significant results of four
countries, Italy included, mainly dedicated to surveys conducted in the USA regarding
technical requirements of materials, product, skills gap. A lot of positions go unfilled due
systems, will also play an important role in to a skills shortage in particularly concerning
the certification of professions, a service that Soft Skills such as punctuality, precision,
is already included in their offer (Ferragina, professionalism, ethics etc. (Cinque, 2015).
2015). The Bloomberg research carried on in 2015,
A last consideration regarding the delicate investigating the MBA’s market (Master in
point of the assessment of Soft Skills is the Business Administration) in USA, highlights
necessity to use multi-sourcing information, that the most desired and hardest to find
the evaluation of only one teacher is not skills are communication, leadership,
enough to correctly assess Soft Skills, problem-solving and strategic thinking skills.
different sources are needed, included the A NACE (National Association of Colleges
self-assessment (Sarchielli, 2015). and Employers) research of the same year
shows that employers mainly look for
5. Soft Skills: the employment leaders who can work as part of a team and
bridge communicate effectively. Then these surveys
confirm the importance for employers of
Several researches and surveys demonstrate Soft Skills.
that the Skill Gap in employability mainly The McKinsey Report Education to
concerns Soft Skills than Hard Skills. This Employment: Getting Europe’s Youth into
gap expresses the inconsistency between the Work of 2014 demonstrates that skills gap is
human resources looking for a job and the a problem in several countries, but it is more
requirements of enterprises to hire serious in those with the highest youth
employees for available positions. Fig. 8 unemployment, such as Italy (Figure 9).

Surveys in the USA


• more than 600,000 posi ons in
Deloi e Survey (2011) manufacturing went unfilled due to a skill shortage

Manpower Group’ • nearly 20% of employers cited a lack of so skills as a


Survey (2012) key reason they couldn't hire needed employees

Human Resource • "professionalism" or "work ethic" is the top


Management (2012) "applied" skill that younger workers lack

Career Builder Survey • 2,138 human resource managers: “a strong work


(2014) ethic”, “a posi ve a tude” etc.

Figure 8. Surveys in USA on Skill Gap - Maria Cinque


3

A relevant research work concerning skill This sector in Italy has perhaps been the
mismatch was carried on at the University of earliest that off-shored its manufacturing
Bologna, focusing in particular the specific processes in the 90s' (Prota and Viesti,
Italian labour market of fashion production. 2007), moving the production to low labour

112 B. Cimatti
cost countries. Now, several entrepreneurs (Ferrari and Emiliani, 2009) has clearly
are back-shoring or declare the intention to shown that the most common complaint
back-shore in the near future. One of the among fashion entrepreneurs is the skill
main problems they face, coming back to mismatch which 'affects' Fashion operators
Italy, is the skills shortage. Previous research when they leave school.

Figure 9. Skill Gaps in different countries - Maria Cinque

The most significant conclusion of this mismatch, it is necessary to insert soft skills
survey are: in learning activities (communication;
 In the opinion of employers, problem-solving; teamwork and customer
educational outlines are care) and to utilize more effective teaching
characterized by unnecessary and/or methods (i.e. cooperative learning).
useless skills rather than skill Furthermore, it is advisable to provide final-
shortage, hence, it’s fundamental year students with early orientation and
to update these outlines. assessment paths, in order to improve their
 The students perceive themselves as self-esteem and self-efficacy.
under-skilled, both in technical Some research recently conducted in the
skills and soft skills, and they don’t USA identify as essential competencies on
feel ready for the labour market. the job Problem Solving, Teamworking and
 Soft skills (communication, Critical Thinking, in order of importance,
teamwork, problem-solving) are considering this last essential but relatively
almost always critical: this skills easy to hire in comparison to the first two,
category has more relevance in which are essential but hard to hire.
employers' opinion than in the one Creativity is considered a less essential
of teachers and students perceive competence however significant, but very
themselves as under-skilled. hard to hire. Figure 10 and Figure 11
In conclusion, the local labour market graphically represent the results of this
studied in this research shows frictions in research listing the competences most
school-to-work transition. To reduce this important to be hired and showing that

113
Technical Skills are at the second to last be hired for most employers interviewed
position in the ranking. Soft Skills therefore (Poblete Ruiz, 2015).
result also in this survey more important to

Figure 10. Essential competences to be hired – Manuel Poblete Ruiz (2015)

Figure 11. Difficulty in hiring Skills – Manuel Poblete Ruiz

114 B. Cimatti
An important issue is the difference in South Africa students with technical degrees
perception of the skills gap between are in short supply and demand high salaries
providers and employers. Teachers believe or emigrate. In India multinational
that students are well prepared to work while employers consider only 10 to 25 % of
youth and employers don’t. A McKinsey graduating students to be employable. Then
report of 2012 showed that 74% of education the perception of a skills gap is spread all
providers were confident that their graduates over around the world, independently from
were prepared for work, but only 38% of specific school and university programs. The
youth and 35% of employers agreed. In Italy consequences are serious, as some statistics
employers often claim that university report that 1 out of 4 graduates are likely to
graduates are well prepared in their leave their employer within 12 months
disciplines, but they lack general (Chinotti, 2015).
competences and practical skills (Cinque, Some surveys demonstrate that graduates
2015). have, in order of importance, the following
In order to fill the gap, after the gathering of five goals in their first job:
data, several initiatives can be carried on and 1) a desire to achieve career goals
different tools used: publications to spread 2) opportunities to learn, develop and
the results and the awareness of this grow
problem, research projects, best practices 3) the opportunity to demonstrate their
and policies by governments and institutions, talent
use of social media etc. 4) recognition for doing a good job
The CT3 research, already mentioned in and giving a significant
paragraph 3, confirms the different contribution
perception in Italy between the Directors of 5) material reward, salary and benefits
Didactical Programs at 74 Universities, Then the least important point is the wage
graduates employed for one year and and money, which is an unexpected result.
employers. The Soft Skills for which the gap One problem that arises during the
is higher are Initiative and Effective recruitment of new hires is that the recruiters
Communication, while the Analysis and from the company tend to describe only the
Synthesis of Information is a capability that positive aspects of the job in order to attract
all the three actors agree to be a skill that candidates. This tendency of commutating
students can generally learn at university only the best of the company leads to wrong
(Mangano, 2015). expectations and disappointments once the
Several surveys confirm that graduates candidate is hired. It is important that the
generally don’t meet employers description is reliable and correspondent to
expectations. In the USA only 16% of hiring the reality. Recruiters must be clear to
managers think that student hires are well prevent failures in terms of newcomers
prepared with the knowledge and skills they leaving the job after a short time. The current
need for new jobs. In United Kingdom over approach is to try to influence more than
70% of employers think that students need to attracting, to create a genuine interest in the
do more to prepare themselves for the candidate for the job, but also awareness of
workplace. In Middle East many students the real conditions of the offered position.
hires lack Soft Skills, including workplace According to employers, the most required
etiquette, communication skills and time skills from employers in new hires are:
management. In Canada more than 25% of  verbal communication
student positions were unfilled in 2010,  team working
usually because students accepted offers at
 making decisions and problem
the last minute from another organization. In
solving

115
 planning and organization At Ce.Trans. (Center for Transitions to work
 information processing and in work at the University of Bologna,
 analysis of data Italy) a tool for the employability self-
 technical knowledge evaluation has been elaborated focusing in
 computer software use the three above mentioned dimensions. It is a
 report writing questionnaire based on a Likert scale, in
which each dimension of employability is
 ability of influencing (Chinotti,
investigated through the following points
2015).
(Guglielmi, 2015):
The competences needed to advance in the  Career identity: importance of
career change along its development are work, vocational planning, external
mainly Soft Skills. obstacles
The Self Career management process as  Human and Social capital:
showed in (Figure 12) is composed by three networking, Social skills, Social
steps, at each one the worker must be aware support, Perceived Employability
of Which competences he needs, How he  Adaptability: Job search self-
can develop them and Who has to support efficacy, Entrepreneurship, Career
him to do it (Guglielmi, 2015). management skills, locus of control,
Within a psycho-social approach a profile of Resilience.
employability is composed by: It is important to identify which actors are
 Career identity (Career goals) involved in the Self-Career management
 Human and Social Capital process to make people who need to develop
(knowledge, skills and contextual their skills aware of whom can support them
resources) in doing it (Figure 13).
 Adaptability (Ability to cope with
change)

Figure 12. The process of management of Self Career - Dina Guglielmi

116 B. Cimatti
Figure 13. Stakeholders involved in career development - Dina Guglielmi

Together with the Placement and Internship develop this dimension, specific tools should
Area of the University of Bologna, Ce.Trans be studied and created for graduands and
has realized a survey distributing the graduates who need to increase this specific
questionnaire to 2618 graduands and skill (Guglielmi, 2015).
graduates, of which 62.1% females, Several actors are taking attention to the
demonstrating that for almost all the “Bridge” and the problems of students who
investigated characteristics, the work must enter the world labour at the end of
experience contribute to develop a stronger their educational path. Also political
skill (the only one for which the situation has institutions must intervene to establish
been evaluated equal is the Internal locus of policies and guidelines in collaboration with
control). educational institutions. The government of
The results of the employability self- the Emilia Romagna region in Italy, has
evaluation are fundamental in order to orient established an consortium of Universities,
the graduate to address to the right service centres of Research and association of
depending on his/her personal needs. enterprises called ASTER, with the aim of
If the critical point is in the Career goals the promoting the innovation of industrial
correct service to address to is the production through the collaboration
Orientation. It the graduand/graduates are between the world of research and
lacking competences, Educational services enterprises.
are suggested such as laboratory for Aster has been realizing in the last years
entrepreneurship, internships, training. several initiatives to favour the
Adaptability, which is the capability to communication between researchers and
effectively and quickly reacting to the labour entrepreneurs, in particular focusing on the
market changes, is the most innovative target of Ph.D. students, in order to provide
dimension, then it is still difficult to identify them also with transversal competences,
an existing service taking care of it. To fundamental to collaborate with industries.

117
Bestr is the place where learners, companies and
learning providers meet

e-portfolio
Learner
offer ad-hoc
training skill match

Open Badges
Skills

define the
Learning Providers required skills Companies

26/02/2015 9

Figure 14. The Best project for the diffusion of digital badge - Chiara Carlino (2015)

Besides traditional competences, already of the acquired skills of the owner. By means
well known “new” competences, very of digital open badges, issuers can describe
important for young researchers are and publish the skills that they are willing to
nowadays: certify, and declare in a clear, interoperable
 A sense of community, in terms of manner that a learner has a given set of
sustainability, respect of the skills. It is a personal and secure tool that
environment, capacity of facing can be very useful to bridge the gap and
social challenges; connect learners, providers and companies
 The capacity of promoting changes [20]. In Italy the consortium CINECA is
within the organizations promoting the use of the digital badge,
 Teamworking in international and through the project Bestr, offering the
multidisciplinary contexts possibility to Learners, Learning Providers
 Creativity and interests. and Companies to meet, matching their
needs and sharing opinions and actions in
Aster proposes Doctor Skill, a questionnaire
order to focus the most required skills by the
available on line, in collaboration with ABG
labour market as shown in Figure 14
- L'intelli'agence®, France, studied for Ph.D.
(Carlino, 2015).
students and doctors who can self-evaluate
their skills through it, in particular referring
to the most important ones for their role and 6. The importance and
professions (D’Angelo, 2015). development of Soft Skills
An innovative IT tool applied to the within enterprises
certification of skills, that is rapidly
spreading around the world, in particular Soft Skills are a very hot topic nowadays for
already popular in the USA, is the digital companies because an outstanding CV not
Badge. It is the visual digital representation always corresponds to the real performance

118 B. Cimatti
of the person once hired. In Figure 15 a achieved in a company implementing new
significant graph shows that only 11% of actions. This happens in particular to experts
failures of new hired managers correspond to who totally trust their forecasts in their field
lack of technical competences, while 89% of expertise. A healthy self-criticism can be
are due to scarce Soft Skills, in order of very helpful in these cases to prevent errors
importance: Coachability, Emotional and failures. Self-criticism can be considered
Intelligence, Motivation and Temperament a Soft Skill, meaning the capability of the
(Engelberg, 2015). subject of self-awareness of his knowledge
Another survey carried on by McKinsey in and expertise but also of his limits in
April 2015 on 1,946 executives at different applying them, in particular when the results
industries shows that just 26% of the also depend from other variables (Engelberg,
organizational change programs to improve 2015).
company performance are successful. These Any enterprise uses graphical charts to
failures mainly depend on the executives’ define and represent the processes and roles
Soft Skills. within it. This is called Organizational
A cause of failure in enterprise management Design. We can distinguish between
strictly connected to executives’ Soft Skills Organization Design and Organizational
is oversimplification and overconfidence. Behaviour, which refers to what happens
There is a general trend to oversimplify the when people take their role into the
issue of Soft Skills and to be optimistic in organization, then how they behave within
the prediction of the results that will be the organization (Morandin, 2015).

Figure 15. Job failures versus lack of Soft Skills in managers - Sydney Engelberg

119
A recent research conducted at Harvard in Resources mangers is “Why are my
USA by Keith Ferrazzi shows that: employees working?” (Ulrich et al., 2010).
 nearly 33% of new hires look for a Participation and Sensemaking have to be
new job within their first six fostered in particular during the first period
months on the job of work at a new company and don’t have to
 23% of new hires turn over before be taken as granted. The connection between
their first anniversary quality of work and personal life have to be
 the organizational costs of considered also as one key element to
employee turnover are estimated to increase the satisfaction of the worker, not
range between 100% and 300% of only in terms of money and wage, but to
the replaced employee’s salary allow him to express himself within the
 it typically takes eight months for a organization and to feel satisfied of his job,
newly hired employee to reach full then of his life.
productivity. The difference between employees who have
To solve this problem and to reduce gone through an onboarding phase and
enterprises costs it is necessary to insert employees who have not been offered this
between Recruitment & Selection and Job possibility is evident in Figure 15. The job
Performance, the fundamental phase of performance of workers who don’t pass an
Onboarding. onboarding phase is mainly depending on
the possibility of earning money, while who
Onboarding is a very important period
has participated in an onboarding phase is
during which it is necessary to motivate new
mainly focused in his career prospective.
hires and to prevent them from leaving and
looking for another job in a short time. The
first question to be made by Human

Figure 15. Factors influencing job performance with and without onboarding - Gabriele
Morandin

120
When people join a company, they cope with onboarding phase for their new hires.
a period of organizational entry, during International Labour Organization suggests
which they determine what their company is firms to organize appropriate initiatives to
like and they decide whether they fit-in. decrease the phenomenon of the “shopping
How newcomers can integrate into the around”, which means changing very often
organization largely shapes the job (Morandin, 2015).
Psychological Contract that is defined with Onboarding is a fundamental part of the
the employer and has long-lasting effects on recruitment and selecting process. It creates
job attitudes and performance (Morandin, a sold bridge fixing the base for a good
2015). This contract should match the new future performance of the people at any
comer’s expectations, whose adjustment is company (Chinotti, 2015).
the core of the organizational entry. This A good start in a new job is then
phase is conceived as a sense-making fundamental for the hiring company and for
process, occurring in the first months after the employee and its whole career and life. It
the entry and involving the interpretation of is demonstrated that the initial experience in
the leader/supervisor, colleagues, the job and the labour market has a strong influence not
the whole organization. New hires, besides only on the first job, but on the whole
accomplish daily tasks, activate search professional life and an initial failure can
processes (information, knowledge, etc.) and negatively affect the whole working life of
build relationships (peers, supervisors, etc.) the employee. Turnover risk is higher among
to complete this process and answer to new employees causing the already
questions such as: “Do I fit with this mentioned economic damage for the
organization? Where’s my place in there?” companies hiring them as shown in Fig. 16
Then it is strongly recommended to (Jokisaari, 2015).
enterprise managers to plan and design an

Turnover risk is highest among new


employees

Quit rate
10%
9%
8%
7%
6%
5%
4%
3% Quit rate
2%
1%
0%
s

s
10 r s

s
ar
ar

ar

ar

ar

ar

ar

ar

ar

ar
a
ye
ye

ye

ye

ye

ye

ye

ye

ye

ye

ye
1
1

9
<

Hom, Roberson & Ellis 2008


Figure 16. Turnover risk versus employment time - Markku Jokisaari

This is particularly true for younger workers related transitions to a new job during their
and recent graduates. Younger employees occupational careers. During these
face increased number of job changes and transitions new employees need to learn

121
organization and job-specific skills and organization serves as a role model
practices and to assimilate to the new vs. a role model not available
organizational environment. Graduates’  Investiture – Divestiture tactics:
adjustment to work takes longer time than social support and positive
adjustment among more experienced feedback from experienced
employees. members of the organization vs.
Organizational socialization is another word support is not available or negative
to indicate onboarding and can be defined as feedback
a process during which "employees are Social tactics (serial and investiture) showed
transformed from organizational outsiders to the strongest relations with adjustment
participating and effective members" outcomes (Saks et al., 2007).
(Feldman and March, 1981). Another Porter had already stated it in 1975: “To the
definition for Organizational socialization is new hire, the supervisor is the organization".
making sense of the new situation and Then it is suggested to the enterprise
learning the expected capabilities" (Ashforth mangers to identify the correct people within
et al., 2007). the organization to act as supervisors of the
Both parts benefit of a successful newcomers during their organizational
organizational socialization: the individual in socialization.
terms of learning to do the job, development It is difficult to connect the newcomer
of organization-and job-related skills, work behaviour during the socialization phase to
adjustment, career benefits; the organization his performance. In general the more
for the return on investment costs of proactive the new employees are, the more
recruitment, selection and training; new they are effective and productive, but some
employees’ organizational commitment, researches also demonstrate that sometimes
enhanced job performance, organizational proactivity is related to poor performances
citizenship behaviour. for different reasons connected to possible
The organizational socialization not only work-family conflict, job stress, role
corresponds to learning the job goals and overload etc.
responsibilities and to clarify the role within A pro-active behaviour can even give a
the enterprise (Feldman and March, 1981), negative impression to supervisors and co-
but also implies to learn skills and enter workers if it doesn’t express a real willing of
procedures required to perform the tasks and the new employee to learn. High Positive
develop relationships with co-workers and to Affect (PA) that is the tendency to feel high
achieve a social integration within the energy, concentration and engagement
enterprise. defined by Watson et al. (1988) generally
There are different ways for organizations to decreases in time. The social environment is
make newcomers socialize: Human then a fundamental element during the
Resources practices; orientation programs, organizational socialization (Jokisaari,
training, are some of them. 2015).
Examples of socialization tactics are: One main issue that the company must face
 Collective -- Individual tactics: once a new hire enter the organization is
common learning experiences as a after the onboarding phase to train and help
group vs. individual learning the employee development of skills to be
 Formal -- Informal tactics: clearly able to well perform his tasks.
defined socialization activities vs. In order to make a graduate effective in the
learning as a by-product on the job enterprise or to move an employee
 Serial – Disjunctive tactics: an effectively from a leader position to another
experienced member of the one, 9 months can be considered a normal

122 B. Cimatti
and correct time. Not all the graduates can be fostering a continuous competition and
top talent and employers must accept it and causing high frustration.
plan onboarding and trainings to help them In previous paragraphs several definition of
integrate in the company and develop their Soft Skills have been provided. An important
skills. question is: From the point of view of
Company always want to hire the best enterprise which are the most important Soft
talented people, but must become aware that Skills?
this is not possible, the labour market is rich Beyond the all above already mentioned a
of offers but most human resources available fundamental one is considered Flexibility.
are just normal people who can well perform This skill will become more important in
but rarely can possess all together the desired future when changes will be more frequent
qualities. and the worker will have to adapt quickly to
From a employers perspective, skills can be them. An important skill that is required in
effectively divided in two main categories: particular in international companies is the
Execute and Engage. The first term refers to capability of Understanding Cultures.
the capabilities of acting of the employee, Employees often deal with clients located in
making things and producing. The second different countries and colleagues at foreign
means collaboration, sharing of branches, then the communication skills and
responsibilities, and capabilities referring to the ability to adapt them to the specific
ability of people of engaging other people in context are keys for the success of
the job. The enterprise must be able to help companies that are always more global
the individual to develop the aspects in (Bonomo, 2015). A further skill recognized
which he is weaker, then the Execute or the as very significant is Empathy. In this case
Engage, as it is very difficult to find people the skill can be considered a personal trait,
excellent at both (Chinotti, 2015). then it is not easy to foster it through specific
During the onboarding phase and also along programs, but it is an important added value
the whole career of the employee, company for people who possess it in order to be
managers must be able to help their hired. People who go for a new job to an
employees to clarify which their professional interview often neglect to take information
aims are and to express them. Furthermore and to try to understand the company
one of the most important point is that mission and vision. This is a big mistake, as
workers must be aware of which their skills the empathy in this circumstance means that
are and if they are aligned with the enterprise the selector feels that the candidate is really
needs (Bonomo, 2015). An important issue, interested in the company and has chosen it
in particular in the post-boarding phase, among others because he is willing to work
regards the continuous motivation and in that particular context (Alberani, 2015).
improvement that most companies await Some enterprise identifies few areas of
from their employees. Is it realistic to expect importance and foster the competences
that individuals will never reach a ceiling to connected to these areas. Future, Life Values
their achievement? It is arguable that not and Networking are in several cases
everyone can continuously improve. In fact, considered priorities. Some competences
most people reach what is, for them, an required to be able to positively face the
optimal level of functioning and are content future are the capability to explore new
to remain that way (Engelberg, 2016). The options, to wide horizons and to choose the
awareness for enterprises management of change. Some connected to living values can
this natural human condition, is fundamental be considered the expression of potential, the
in order to design employees careers’ plan spread of responsibility and the overcome of
without making the common mistake of expectations. Linking Networks mean to

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develop communication, to cultivate business anymore but also culture plays an
relationships and to foster collaboration important role (Bonomo, 2015).
(Sirolli, 2014). To reduce Skills Gap and to favour a fast and
How to teach Soft Skills within a company? effective integration of new hires, in
It is almost impossible by a training program particular graduates and
to modify the personal traits of the Ph.D. doctors in the enterprise, many
individual, who arrives already with his companies are now carrying on joined
personal features, values and attitudes, then training programs for high school and
companies generally focus the skills required university students. The most popular
to perform the assigned tasks. It is topical to solutions are:
understand that the same skill must be taught  Joined programs for High
in a different way depending on the role and Apprentice
assignment of the receiver. Another  Master for graduates organized in
important point is to tune the training collaboration between University
depending on the phase of the career of the and Enterprise
trainee, a new hire must be approached in a
 Internships for Ph.D. students
different way compared to a mature
 Joint open laboratories
employee who needs to be motivated.
Several methods can be applied to  Partnerships and joined research
employees training, one of the most effective projects.
is the use of Case Studies connected to the The last three initiatives are mainly directed
process and tasks of the receiver, under the to Higher Education third level students and
guidance of some senior employee who can to young researchers. The possibility for
supervise the work. them to work in collaboration with
professionals and senior company employees
The enterprise approach related to the human and senior researchers allows them to
resources management has changed from the effectively develop their Soft Skills (Sirolli,
traditional one in which fidelity to the 2015). At the same time the company can get
company, sense of belonging and seniority to know new resources and start a
were considered the key points to keep professional relation with them, which can
employees committed and prevent them even bring to the hire of the student after the
from changing job. Nowadays these end of his study.
principles have been substituted by a
relationship between the employer and the More flexibility in School and University
employee simply based on a contract where programs, enhancing the alternation School
the enterprise defines the targets that they –Work within the different curricula by
want to reach and the employee commits to offering different kind of experiences to
achieve them, but Soft Skills necessary to students, depending on their own interests
perform the job are not specified. and attitudes, in collaboration with
enterprises is one of the expected change in
Companies are customer-oriented, must pay order to improve the preparation of youth to
attention to sustainability in any sector and enter the labour world. Anyway the need of
for any product, then this vision must be collaboration between Academy and
shared between management and employees. Enterprise and the graduates’ necessity of
This means that sensitiveness to the achieving a job after their study must not
environment and social commitment are cause the false belief that University can or
becoming new relevant Soft Skills for must totally substitute the real labour world,
enterprises. This along with a good general skills and Soft Skills in particular have to be
culture of the candidate, because the identity developed for the quality of life in its whole,
of the company doesn’t only correspond to not only for professional reasons, such as

124 B. Cimatti
already mentioned more than once in the them. A genuine dialogue between
present text (Luzzatto, 2015). all the stakeholders for true
A final important consideration must be understanding is necessary to well
done regarding the importance of Soft Skills define needs and methods.
within the enterprise, relates to who need in  The individual himself plays a
a company to acquire transversal fundamental role in Soft Skills
competences: Soft Skills are not only development, because he must be
important for “white collars”, even if most first of all aware of his skills and
literature focuses on them. Blue collars also able to active strategies and actions
need transversal competences that are to improve his competences.
fundamental to rule successfully a workshop  A precise measurement of Soft
and a manufacturing plant (Alberani, 2015). Skills is impossible, it is more
correct to talk about a disposition or
7. Conclusions a probability to act in a certain way.
 Soft Skills imply a long-life
Several considerations emerge from this learning approach. It means that
work, here a list of significant points that they can be learned and developed
must be considered to focus, understand and during the whole life of the
foster Soft Skills, whose importance for the individual, through Educational
achievement of quality in any organization Institutions but also in personal and
and enterprise results evident through what professional experience.
reported in this paper.  In order to effectively teach Soft
 Soft Skills are difficult to define in Skills an updating of the didactic
a univocal simple way. Making a programs at School and
“shopping list” of skills isn’t a real Universities is wished. But not all
solution, neither over-simplify. the Soft Skills can be developed at
Many elements must be considered Educational Institutions, some need
to effectively define them. a work context to grow.
 Soft Skills must be taught since the  Soft Skills teaching can effectively
primary School and even before be integrated in each discipline
within the family. using didactic tools to help students
 Soft Skills can be considered to develop them, such as project
integrated with Hard Skills and can work, simulation, case study,
be taught together with them. A learning game etc. Other specific
synergy exists between Soft Skills initiatives such as seminars and
and Hard Skills, last trends indicate workshops focusing this topic can
that it is hard to teach the first ones be activated.
separated from the second ones.  New technologies are a very
 The context plays an important role powerful tool to teach Soft Skills.
for Soft Skills, which cannot be The use itself of technology, in
separated from it. Each individual particular if we refer to digital
expresses his Soft Skills relating to technologies, requires good
the surrounding when he works and transversal competences and
lives. capabilities in using them.
 Soft Skills involve several actors:  Collaboration between Educational
providers such as teachers, Institutions and Enterprises play an
employers and schoolmates and important role in the development
colleagues can all help to develop of Soft Skills. Visits, internships,
joined programs, laboratories and

125
projects are very effective to Acknowledgment:
increase the transversal The author wishes to thank all the speakers
competences of students. Learning who have presented their research and
by doing is one of the best ways to considerations during the workshop “Soft
increase skills. Skills and their role in employability – New
 Soft Skills are not only necessary in perspectives in teaching, assessment and
professional activity, they play a certification”, who are below listed in the
fundamental role in life. Good Soft “References” paragraph. The author
Skills help people to be happy. expresses sincere gratitude to all the
All these considerations can be very helpful members of the Scientific Committee of the
to Providers such as School and University conference: Maria Lucia Giovannini and
and to Employers such as Enterprises, which Massimo Marcuccio of the Department of
are always looking for human resources Educational Sciences, Marco Depolo of the
technically well prepared but in particular Department of Psychology, Gabriele
able to bring a significant contribution in Morandin of the Department of Management
terms of competitive advantage of the and Marco de Candido of AlmaLaurea for
organization in its whole. their fundamental support and commitment
It is evident the importance for any company for the realization of this event. Finally a
to select human resources with the best Soft further thanks to Cristiano Fragassa, project
Skills available in the labour market and to manager of Adria Hub, within which the
go on fostering their development for workshop has been accomplished.
employees once hired. Transversal AdriaHub is a collaborative project funded
competences are fundamental in order to by the European Union (EU) inside the
allow any organization to work effectively Adriatic IPA CBC Programme, an
and efficiently, then to reach a high quality Instrument for the Pre-Accession Assistance
of the products and the services offered. (IPA) of neighbour countries of Western
Even in industry, where the level of Balkan thanks to investment in Cross-Border
technology plays a particularly significant Cooperation (CBC) aiming at a joint
role, technical competences are not sufficient economic and social development. Savoia
to correctly run the production: a M., Stefanovic, M., Fragassa C. report more
coordination and harmony between details (2016).
employer and employees are fundamental to
achieve the necessary level of quality to be
competitive.

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Barbara Cimatti
University of Bologna
Institute of Advanced
Studies,
Via Petroni 26, 40126
Italy
barbara.cimatti2@unibo.it

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130 B. Cimatti

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