A Research Proposal on the Topic

“Employability and Soft Skills of recent Management graduates”

Sudeep Bhatt

Akanchha Joshi

Pratyush Mishra

Trishna Shakya

Sabin Subedi

Submitted to:

Asst. Prof. Sabina Baniya

Kathmandu University School of Management

October15, 2019
Employability and Soft Skills of recent Management graduates

Introduction

Employment is a complicated affair. On one hand there are college graduates waiting in the

employment pool whereas on the other, there are employers who are very specific on the people

that they want and more often than not they want people who check all their requirements. The

gamut of being employed is far reaching and stretches beyond just text book learning and into

the realm of skills of an individual. One of the most used skills on the job are the various soft

skills that an individual has acquired throughout his life. Through this study we aim to establish

the importance of soft skills in the case of recent management graduates who are willing to enter

the workforce.

This proposal of the research for the same, will start with the Background and Context of the

scenario that exists in the job market currently. The proposal will also shed a light on the

literature that has covered this subject in the past and the caveats that exist in the same. This

proposal will then progress onto the Problem Statement and the problem that will be addressed

by this study.

Background

A long way from taking in the fresh graduates, organizations are retrenching their current

workers. New degree-holders with yearnings however without soft skills are being pushed into a

market that they are not ready for (Yadav, 2019).

In the new economy of quick innovative change and expanding business unpredictability,

organizations are taking a stab at creating quality human capital. Soft Skills can give the way

towards this objective. Soft Skills are imperative to improve employability. Soft Skills should be
upgraded in understudies to make them skillful enough to satisfy the needs of the present place

of employment showcase. There ought to be an incorporated methodology from every one

including students, universities and organization to realize the importance of soft skills among

the students and advance the equivalent for upgrading employability (Remedios, 2012).

Soft skills are considered to be somewhat important as an employability consideration for fresh

graduates in the workplace. However, current data show that graduates lack said skills and

therefore employers are at loss. Employers say that the job applicants do not possess enough

skills that make them employable candidates (Jaschik,2005). Despite the need of soft skills

graduates have not been able to showcase such required soft skills. The universities are not

aiding in acquiring such skills and are more focused towards the academic portion of the

student’s growth. This study will look into how important soft skills are for the employability of

graduates of management colleges in the context of Nepal.

Problem Statement

Employability and Soft Skills of recent Management graduates

Employability is understood as the ability to be employed. It is the ability to gain initial

employment; the ability to maintain employment and make 'transitions' between jobs and roles

within the same organization to meet new job requirements and the ability to obtain new

employment if required, i.e. to be independent in the labour market by being willing and able to

manage their own employment transitions between and within organisations (Van der Heijde,

2005).

The number of fresh management graduates entering the job market is increasing in context of

Nepal. For this research, we look at employability primarily as an ability to gain an initial
employment in an organization. Today the employers not only look at the academic results and

the hard and technical skills of the candidates, but the soft skills like punctuality, perseverance,

flexibility, interpersonal skills, communication skills, problem solving and critical thinking,

teamwork, ethics and so on are also given high priority. The soft skills also referred to as

employability skills are considered necessary for all management related jobs. In spite of the role

the soft skills play in the graduates’ employability, most of the fresh graduates are found to be

lacking these skills.

The Research Problem

Soft skills are considered to be important as an employability consideration for fresh graduates in

the workplace. However, current data show that graduates lack said skills and therefore

employers are at loss. Employers say that the job applicants do not possess enough skills that

make them employable candidates (Jaschik,2005). Despite the need of soft skills graduates have

not been able to showcase such required soft skills. The universities are not aiding in acquiring

such skills and are more focused towards the academic portion. This study will look into how

important soft skills are for the employability of management graduates in the context of Nepal.

The Background and Justification:

Soft skills are considered to improve one’s competency and therefore increasing one’s ability to

contribute to societal advancement and modernization (Duncan & Dunifon, 2012; Remedios,

2012). In current times, it has also been revealed through research that communication and soft

skills are central to graduate employability (Remedios, 2012). Despite the importance of such

skills the graduates show lack of it. It is evident that whilst the employer sector assumes such
skills to be taught in universities and higher institutions, such is not the case (Sparks & Waits,

2011).

Deficiency in the evidence

According to Watts and Watts (2008), “15% of one’s success is dependent upon technical skills

whereas 85% of one’s success is dependent upon soft skills”. In spite of the evidences on

importance of soft skills in one’s job there is little emphasis given to soft skills in business

colleges. A study shows that Business schools and universities still place higher emphasis on

technical and hard skills instead of soft skills (Wellington, 2005). This clearly indicates that there

is a gap between what the need and reality of employer and graduates respectively. Additionally,

management has been taught in universities of Nepal for more than a decade now but there has

not been significant research done to address improvements about employability in the context of

Nepal.

Audience and Purpose

The research paper aims to be of primary focus towards the recent management graduates, the

students who will graduates in 2-3 years from the day of research and the employers who are

looking to hire fresh graduates. In other words, this encompasses the management scholars, the

recent graduates, colleges that impart management education and the prospective employers who

seek to place, in their workforce, management graduates. Research papers in the past have shown

that in sectors where management students are inclined work the most require soft skills

(Nickson et al). Further researches have also shown that employers rate soft skills in an even
higher regard when it comes to jobs that involve front line interaction with customers (Andrews

and Higson).

Through this research, we hope to figure out the correlation between the employability of recent

graduates and their level of soft skills. If we do get a positive correlation then it will be an

important point for colleges to improve upon as college in Nepal rarely provide knowledge apart

from their prescribed course. This results in a skills mismatch between what the recent graduates

who are entering into the market have to offer and what the prospective employers are searching.

Through this research we seek to provide the clarity of what is actually required of the graduates

to ensure their employability and bridge that employability gap. In fulfilling this purpose, the

audience of our research may not just be the aforementioned group and it may very well extend

beyond that.

Research Questions

Is there a relation between soft skills and employability of fresh management graduates in the

context of Nepal?

Literature Review

With the development and the increase in availability of education, the competition is bound to

increase tremendously among the job seekers. However, the formal education comprising of rote

learning and memorization which is limited to the qualms of the classroom seem to be obsolete

for the employability factor of young graduates.

When looking into the real corporate world, along with the hard skills and the formal education,

employers are equally concerned about the work related practical skills or competences that

prospective new hires are able to use in order to perform various job tasks with ease. (The Future
of Jobs Employment, Skills and Workforce Strategy for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, world

economic Forum, January 2016, page 20). Moreover, the employers expect the management

graduates to have good work ethics, sound management and leadership skills, critical thinking

and analytical abilities, and a good grasp of local, Asian and global business practices (Tay,

2001).

The profound change that has taken place in the new world competitive marketplace today,

brought about by innovative technologies, globalization, business engagement across cultures,

has made it necessary to enhance the quality of management education to make it relevant for the

employability (Uk, 2015).So this dynamic business climate today requires the young graduates to

not only know the technical aspect of a job but possession of soft skills have become vital.

Although the importance of soft skills seems to be extensive, the application seems to be lacking

in the real scenario. There exists a wide skills gap between what the employers want and what

the universities have been producing. According to the survey carried out by Global Higher

Education company Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), for 13 out of the 15 skills identified by the

survey, there exists a serious imbalance between the supply and the demand. This discontent in

the market for management education relevance and shortfall of soft skills has coincided with a

wave of criticism from employers and media that concerns academe (Uk, 2015).

The business school curricula are criticized for focusing more on the technical skills and not

addressing the soft skills in a formal setting or on a consistent basis. (Winstead, Adams, & Sillah,

2011). Higher emphasis is placed on technical skills at the cost of soft skills such as

communication, interpersonal skills and team work which results in lack of adequate preparation

of graduates for the world of work. (McMurray, Dutton, McQuaid, & Richard, 2016).
According to an article “How to Get Hired” published in the Wall Street Journal, recruiter placed

greater importance on soft skills rather than the hard business knowledge, with communication

and interpersonal skills, team player, ethics and integrity, analytical and problem solving skills

and leadership potential as top five attributes that recruiters actually want when hiring the

graduates. But when interviewing the graduates, they clearly seemed to lack the skills. As per the

findings most of them fail to display the leadership potential (Alsop, 2004). Likewise, N.R.

Narayana Murthy, founder Chairman of Infosys Technologies Limited (2009) also opines that

the present day business leaders fail to successfully address diverse global audience which is the

result of absence of impactful, simple, direct and powerful communication to convey one’s ideas.

Frank Ghannadian in BizEd (March/April 2013) in an article “What Employers Want, What We

Teach” says that in the past few decades, business schools have adapted their curricula

specifically to meet employer demands. They have incorporated the skills that are expected from

the graduates but the problem lies in the alignment of the programs with the need of the industry.

(Uk, 2015; Ghannadian, 2013). For instance, as per Crosling and Ward, 2002 the business

schools have been incorporating the oral presentation in their curriculum, but it does not align

with what the kind of presentation and oral communication that the industry is seeking. So, the

business Schools need to go beyond students undertaking formal presentations to improve

graduates’ oral communication skills.

In case of Nepal, many graduates seek job in private sectors due to its efficiency in comparison

to government jobs in the market. However, the current education system neither pays attention

not produces human resources that fit said private sectors. (Need of Soft Skills for

Undergraduate Urban Youth for Career Development ,Suresh Gautam, Journal of

Training and Development 2016, Volume 2). In the context of Nepal, although the actual
demand and supply situation is unknown, it is certain that the imbalance does persist (Shrestha,

2007). This study will thus aid in clarification of the status quo.

Moreover, the study is focused on fresh graduates from the management background. The reason

being that as per UGC reporting 2074 BS , the highest Bachelor Level Student Enrollment by

Faculty falls under this field with around 73,586 students as per the year 2017. Considering that

this will have a greater coverage and will be a better representative of the youths the study will

be focusing in said area.

Reference

Alsop, R. (Sept22, 2004). How to Get Hired. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from

[Link]

Crosling, G., and Ward, I. (2002), “Oral communication: the workplace needs and uses of

business graduate employees”, English for Specific Purposes, Vol. 21, pp 41-57.

Ghannadian, F. (March 1, 2014). What Employers Want, What We Teach. BizEd AACSB

International. Retrieved from [Link]

what-we-teach

GoN(2017). Education in Figures. Ministry of Education Science and Technology. Retrieved

from [Link]

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Heijde, V. (2005), “The development and psychometric evaluation of a multi-dimensional

measurement

instrument of employability—and the impact of aging” Retrieved from

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Shrestha, B. K. (2007). Perceptions of Differences in Quality of Graduates : Employers versus

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Uk, F. (2015). Management Education and Employability Skills : Business ’ Looking for More

than a Quality Major in Graduates : Can Academe Get-with-it ? Yes *! 5(1), 1–75.

Winstead, A. S., Adams, B. L., & Sillah, M. R. (2011). Teaching The Soft Skills: A Professional

Development Curriculum To Enhance The Employability Skills Of Business Graduates.

American Journal of Business Education (AJBE), 2(5), 35–44.

[Link]

World Economic Forum (2016). The Future of Jobs Employment, Skills and Workforce Strategy
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