Vitality of Employability Skills for Business Graduates: A Study with Reference to Chennai City

Transcription

1 Volume 119 No , ISSN: (on-line version) url: ijpam.eu Vitality of Employability Skills for Business Graduates: A Study with Reference to Chennai City 1 K. Soundarapandiyan 1 Sri Sai Ram Institute of Management Studies, Sri Sairam Engineering College, Chennai. soundarfinance@gmail.com Abstract The dream of every business grads during the study days are to fetch a lucrative employment or to start a world-class business without imbibing the necessasity of developing the employable skills. For more than a decade, reform in management education has been a major topic in regard with employment opportunity. A majority of these documents identify the perceptions of employees and the employers differ in terms of employability skills required for placement at entry mid level opporunities. Literatures demonstrate the employers perspective and to some extent there are various researches going on to identify the perception of management graduates. A model proposed by World Bank (Andreas Blom, 2011) on employability skills is used in classification of employablity skills. Two sets of questionnaire were developed to assess the perception of sill set required by employers and management graduates. The study is carried out in selected business schools in Chennai city from around 320 students. Anova and discriminant analysis are used prove the significance of the employability skills. The study reveals that there is significant difference between the perception of students and their employer and this disparity makes the students unemployable. Key Words: Employability skills, management graduates, employers perception

2 1. Introduction In todays competitive environment sophisticated jobs demand a highly professional candidate who can increase productivity and thereby increase the value of an organization (Busse, 1992). Shift from production oriented management jobs to service oriented management jobs demands professionals with both sound technical and behavioural skills to attain and retain the job (Hillage J, 1999). Organizations are using different modes of recruitment to attract quality talent to their work force. Recruiting students directly from management colleges is one of the most popular methods (Harvey, 2000).The perceived notion is that the graduates passing out from the management colleges will have good subject knowledge (Knight, 2002). A management graduate with pleasing personality and good communication skills was the best choice for the organization (Forbes, 2004) The industry has classified the skills as market/technical skills and soft skills or generic skills (Employability skills for Australian industry; Literature review and framework development, 2001) (Robinson.J, 2000). Technical skills mostly compose of subject knowledge and generic/soft skill composes of behavioural attributes (Young, 1986). It was perceived that technical skills were essential and generic skills were desirable for a graduate (Buck L.L, 1987). Later in 1980s the researchers realized that generic skills are also essential for the management graduates as personal attributes or key skills are essential for a person to develop his market or professional skills. They have integrated both the skills and called it as Employability skills (Forbes, 2004). In 1980s in UK, in 1990s in Europe and in 2000 in Australia various models of employability skills models were developed by various scholars. These models give due importance to both technical as well as personal attributes. Employability doesn t merely talk about attaining jobs (Atkins, 1999). It focuses on sustainability where the management professional can provide solutions to the society through innovation and best practices (Employability skills for Australian industry; Literature review and framework development, 2001). The ultimate aim of the management curriculam is to produce management professionals who can provide solutions to the societal needs (Hassan B, 2007). The employability skills focus on those attributes that assist a management graduate to achieve this goal. Singh and Singh (2008) investigated employers perception about employability skills needed in Malaysian job market. They found employers prefer to hire graduates from public universities. They observed that the Malay employer rated graduates with information Communication Technology (ICT) and communication skills more favorably than other groups. They also found the younger the employer the more favorablewas his/her perception of graduates employability skills. According to Rasul and Puvanasvaran (2009), the employer in the manufacturing industry in 14902

3 Malaysia view basic skills, thinking skills, sources skills, resources skills, system and technology skills and personal qualities as being the most important skills. Similarly, Zaharim et al. (2010) indicated that personal attributes, personal skills, and knowledge are important to Malaysian employers. Ismail et al. (2011) compared graduates from different institutes and observed that University Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) graduates are better in leadership and Malay language proficiency, whereas other local graduates are better in interpersonal and communication skill, decision making and problem solving skill and team player. Singh and Choo (2012) demonstrated that Malaysian manufacturing industry employers perceive that the graduate employees English language proficiency skills are still below their expectations. They recommend emphasis on the importance of English to be in line with globalization and current workplace demands. Ting and Ying (2012) revealed that practitioners and academicians have similar perception on the importance of business graduates competencies regarding written skills, oral skills, research skills, knowledgeacquiring skills, honesty, diligence, resourcefulness, value-improving, teamwork ability, innovative skills and computer skills. MdSaad et al. (2013) found that problem- solving, tool handling competency and presentation skills are highly featured amongst the skills demanded of graduates by employers. MdSaad et al. added that an employee, who possesses the ability to think critically, act logically, and evaluate situations to make decisions and solve problems is a valuable asset to the organization. Rasul et al. (2013) pointed out that employers place great importance to interpersonal skills, thinking skills and personal qualities that students need to emphasize to be employed in the manufacturing sector. They also provided evidence that employers stress that every position in any size of industry requires some kind of teamwork. Scope and Background of the Study Global ageing of the workforce is the major challenge ahead of most of developed countries in the world (World population ageing , 2002). It will affect the economic, technological, educational and social factors and will rapidly transform the employment trends of developed and developing countries (World population ageing, 2009). The World Economic Forum has conducted a study to examine the talent shortage for the next few decades. The report focuses on the need for better planning of the workforce to meet future needs (Global talent risk-seven responses, 2011) (Stimulating Economies through foestering talent mobility, 2010). The study also focuses on the need for accepting immigrants in the Europe region to maintain the minimum talent requirement. According to IMF and World Bank reports, 68 million immigrants will be needed to meet labour requirements during the period from The UN estimates that Japan would need to admit 647,000 immigrants annually for the next 50 years in 14903

4 order to maintain the size of its working population at the 2000 level (Replacement migration, 2009). Significant labour shortages will develop in developed countries unless immigration policies are dramatically liberalized or large numbers of manufacturing and service jobs are shifted overseas. Most of the developed countries have a negative approach towards immigration. They are focusing on automation of products and services. It is immaterial to automate all products and services. Only 13.5% of all service jobs can be done through automation. Further it generates employment to highly skilled technical professionals (Digital Automation and the New Workforce, April 2000). Employability Skills of Graduates in India India is one of the emerging markets in the world. India s change from an agrarian economy to Industrialised economy is lagging due to the shortage of skilled labour (The skill development landscape in India and implementing quality skill training, August 2010). Although the country has enough potential to deliver to the needs of the global talent market, the strong employability challenge of the graduates; especially management graduates became the bottleneck for India s growth perceptive (Talent shortage survey, 2005) (Global talent risk-seven responses, 2011). There were several studies conducted in India to know the employability skills of the students. It is found that 75% of the Indian graduates are unemployable. (Talent shortage survey, 2005).There was an argument that this study doesn t give a clear picture of Indian graduates and it is outdated. But the recent study conducted by World Bank (2011) points out that 64% of the employers say they are only somewhat satisfied with the performance of the management graduates in India (Andreas Blom, 2011). Globally about 34% of the employers (Talent shortage survey, 2005) find it difficult to fill the talent gap and in India 67% of the employers find it difficult to find right talent in India(from both arts and science graduates).these results points out the need for proper awareness and training among the graduates to enhance their skills. 2. Focus of Study This paper is focusing on the Employability skills of business graduates. To conduct this study the author has used major models of employability framework developed by countries like Australia (Hillage J, 1999)Japan (Nguyen Danh Nguyen, 2005) Malaysia (Azami zaharim, 2009)and the framework developed by World Bank(Andreas Blom, 2011). The questionnaire for this study is typically developed based on the factors which influence the employability skills like personal ability, behavioural skills, knowledge factors and soft skills. This study is carried out among business graduates with the ideology of them having wide understanding about the career path and goal of their lives. This brings the 14904

5 vitality of this study to understand the level of employability skills the business graduates possess in order to meet out their career goals. 3. Objectives of the Study Primary Objective To understand the importance of employability skills for business graduates. Secondary Objective graduates To evaluate the personal and behavioural skills among business To analyze the influence of knowledge factors and soft skill towards employability. 4. Research Design It is a descriptive study. The factors considered for the study has been classified according to the model developed by World Bank for the study of employability skills of business graduates in India. (Andreas Blom, 2011). There were 320 students participated in the survey. All the students were in the final year of their graduate and post graduate management studies. The Response rate for the graduate students was 80% (320/400). Unlike previous studies; the current study classifies students ability into four main categories: Knowledge, soft skills, personal abilities and behavioural skills. Hence, the questionnaire contained four sections to reflect these four categories. The participants were asked to specify the level of importance they assign to the skill set by using 1-5 likert scale, where 1 denotes not important at all and 5 denotes very important. Out of the 400 distributed questionnaires, 320 retuned completed resulting in 80% usable response rate. To assess reliability of the completed questionnaires, Cronbach's Alpha coefficient of reliability was undertaken to assess internal consistency of the participant s answers and appeared to be This suggests that the items covered in the questionnaire have a relatively high internal consistency. A reliability coefficient of 0.70 or more is considered acceptable in social science research. Descriptive statistics will be used to identify the most important factors that employers expect a business graduate to possess

6 5. Results and Discussions Table No. 5.1 Descriptive Analysis Factor Dimension Mean Std Rank based on Knowledge Factors Deviation the mean Resourcefulness Global awareness self-understanding Understanding workplace Value improving Self-quality control Behavioural Factors Adoptability Leadership skills Teamwork ability Working with diversity Work ethics Soft Skills Oral communication skills Writing communication Presentation skills Research skills Numerical skills Computing skills Evaluation skills Learning skills Analytical skills Personal Dependability

7 Abilities Honesty Diligence Risk assessment Risk management Time management Decision making Career Planning Initiative Flexibility Energetic Passionate Self confidence The ranking of the factors are done based on the mean value for each of the items with the respective factors. It is evident that in the knowledge factors there is relatively high level of influence on employability. The table also reveals that the following skills namely resourcefulness and value improving are having highest levels of influence on employability and skills namely self understanding and understanding working place are having moderate level of influence on employability and skills namely global awareness and self quality control has the least level of influence on employability. It is evident that in the Behavioural skill factors there is relatively high level of influence on employability. The table also reveals that the following skills namely team work is having highest levels of influence on employability and skills namely adaptability and leadership skills are having moderate level of influence on employability and skills namely working with diversity and work ethics has the least level of influence on employability. It is evident that in the Soft skill factors there is relatively high level of influence on employability. The table also reveals that the following skills namely evaluating skill and computing skills are having highest levels of influence on employability and skills namely analytical skills, oral communication, presentation skills and numerical skills are having moderate level of influence on employability and skills namely written skills, learning skills and research skills has the least level of influence on employability. It is evident that in the personal ability factors there is relatively high level of influence on employability. The table also reveals that the following 14907

8 skills namely dependability, risk assessment, career planning, passionate, diligence, time management, decision making, flexibility and energetic skills are having highest levels of influence on employability and skills namely honesty, risk management, initiative and self confidence are having moderate level of influence on employability. Table 5.2: ANOVA with Demographic Factors. H0: There is no significant difference between demographic profile of the respondents and the factors that influences employability skills necessary for business graduates

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12 Knowledge factors with Demographic variables Evaluating age with six knowledge factors out of which 4 factors are having p > This proves significant influence that knowledge factor has with employability whereas namely global awareness and self quality control has p < 0.05 indicates that they are not significant and doesn t influence employability. Evaluating gender with 6 knowledge factors out of which 4 factors are having p > This proves significant influence that knowledge factor has with employability whereas namely self understanding and understanding work place has p < 0.05 indicates that they are not significant and doesn t influence employability

13 Evaluating locality with 6 knowledge factors out of which 4 factors are having p > This proves significant influence that knowledge factor has with employability whereas namely global awareness and self quality control has p < 0.05 indicates that they are not significant and doesn t influence employability. Evaluating family type with 6 knowledge factors out of which 4 factors are having p >0.05. This proves significant influence that knowledge factor has with employability whereas namely global awareness and self quality control has p < 0.05 indicates that they are not significant and doesn t influence employability. Behavioral skills with Demographic variables Evaluating age with five knowledge factors out of which 4 factors are having p > This proves significant influence that behavioural factor has with employability whereas the factor namely work ethics has p< 0.05 indicates that they are not significant and doesn t influence employability. Evaluating gender with five knowledge factors out of which 4 factors are having p >0.05. This proves significant influence that behavioural factor has with employability whereas the factor namely adaptability has p < 0.05 indicates that they are not significant and doesn t influence employability. Evaluating locality with five knowledge factors out of which 3 factors are having p > This proves significant influence that behavioural factor has with employability whereas the factor namely leadership skill and work ethics has p < 0.05 indicates that they are not significant and doesn t influence employability. Evaluating family type with five knowledge factors all factors are having p > This proves significant influence that behavioural factor has with employability. Soft skills with Demographic variables Evaluating age with nine soft skill factors out of which 5 factors are having p > This proves significant influence that soft skill has with employability whereas the factor namely oral communication, presentation skills, numerical skills and analytical skill has p < 0.05 indicates that they are not significant and doesn t influence employability. Evaluating gender with soft skill factors all factors are having p > This proves significant influence that soft skill has with employability. Evaluating locality with nine soft skill factors out of which 5 factors are having p > This proves significant influence that soft skill has with employability whereas the factor namely oral communication, presentation skills, numerical skills and computing skill has p < 0.05 indicates that they are not significant and doesn t influence employability

14 Evaluating family type with soft skill factors all factors are having p > This proves significant influence that soft skill has with employability. Personal ability with Demographic variables Evaluating age with thirteen personal ability factors all factors is having p > This proves significant influence that personal ability has with employability. Evaluating gender with thirteen personal ability factors all factors is having p > This proves significant influence that personal ability has with employability. Evaluating locality with thirteen personal ability factors out of which 8 factors are having p > This proves significant influence that personal ability has with employability whereas the factor namely diligence, time management, decision making skill, flexibility and energetic has p < 0.05 indicates that they are not significant and doesn t influence employability. Evaluating family type with thirteen personal ability factors all factors is having p > This proves significant influence that personal ability has with employability. 6. Conclusion One is hired as an individual contributor because of that particular person s knowledge and technical/hard skills in a specific field. Thus, this paper broadly analyzes the skills a business graduate is in need of before he settles in to his job. The skill sets such as knowledge skills, behavioral skills, Soft skills and the personal abilities are essential for business graduates. Every employer and the need of an employee to perform a specific task is always dynamic nowadays and as such, if a business graduate lacking such skills, may not be able to sustain a long innings in any employment. This is the reason why few renowned Business Schools and its graduates find an excellent placement with the best Companies in the world. Thus it s a prime responsibility of a business graduate to develop such skills so as to meet the corporate challenges ahead of them. References [1] (2001). Employability skills for Australian industry; Literature review and framework development Melborne: ACER. [2] (2011). Global talent risk-seven responses. Boston consulting group. [3] (April 2000). Digital Automation and the New Workforce. The Progressive Policy Institute, Boston Consulting group. [4] Abdullah, A. M., Naser, K., & Saeid, M. (2014). Factors Impact 14914

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