March '20
The IUP Journal of Soft Skills
Focus
A mere knowhow today will not be enough to excel, but whether or not work performance is influenced by individual's relevant soft skills like personality, attitudes and communication besides technical knowledge and skill has long been discussed by the managers and thinkers alike. Many today consider that good soft skills along with a blend of adequate technical skills are essential conditions for performance at work and any absence thereof is a major barrier for professional growth and performance. The first paper, "The Impact of Soft Skills Training on the Behavior and Work Performance of Employees in Service Organizations", by Sanjay Deshpande and M M Munshi, attempts to examine the influence of soft skills on employee performance and dwells on evaluating the efficacy of soft skills training initiatives.
Experiences of several professionals testify how invaluable mentoring can be to professional and personal development of employees. Today, mentoring is not just an option but has become a part of mainstream corporate program which in an investment to success. A tailor-made mentoring program which adopts to the needs of the organization can dramatically improve the performance of their employees. Mentors accompany the employees in their journey to performance, show them the ropes to combat challenges, advocate the mentee to meet their professional goals and integrate their professional development. The second paper, "Modeling of Mentoring Needs Assessment in IT Companies", by Mihir Dash, Suprabha Bakshi, Shongita Roy and M Arpana, presents the process of effective mentoring by focusing on the importance of aligning need assessment with the demands of the organization.
The variations in pronunciation and the quality of accent based on place of origin have been issues of common concern among English speaking professionals. It is common to rate those who speak with standard pronunciation more favorably than those who posses regional or mother tongue accent. A stereotyped negative attitude towards those with regional accent despite possessing proficiency in technical competence makes it imperative to impart accent training to enhance the language skills. There is a growing need to adapt the accent patterns to suit to the expectation of clients as it seems to make a major impact on professional outcomes. The third paper, "An Accent Improvement Model for the Non-Native English Speakers: A Voice and Accent Trainer Perspective", by Bikram Kumar Singh, makes an effort to present the major differences between the accent of people from non English-Speaking (nNES) countries and Native-English-Speaking (NES) countries. The study makes an attempt for the students and other speakers to become aware of the importance of accent training and the perceptions people form on the basis of accent.
Promoting quality in education is emerging as one of the prominent causes of concern among the teachers and managers alike. The process of engaging students in learning activities undoubtedly increases attention, drives the motivation to learn and thus promotes meaningful learning. Hence, several educators and trainers are adopting student-centric instruction approach by designing several learning activities to increase opportunities for student engagement leading to better accomplishment of learning objectives. The fourth paper, "Learner-Centered Approach: Engaging Students in Learning Activities", by S Durga Sasi Kiran, turns the attention to the importance of designing student engagement activities by focusing on strengths and weaknesses of the students to enhance the learning processes. The paper illustrates how engagement through flipped class model, activity-based learning and individualized activity would maximize the students' academic growth.
The attrition of employees has emerged to be one of the most expensive and seemingly unyielding human resource challenges confronting several organizations. Hence, the arduous task of motivating and retaining right employees in an environment of increased competitiveness and escalating opportunities remains a fundamental challenge. The paper, "Employee Retention Through Listening-Centered Communication", by Sushmita Chakravarti and Saikat Chakraborty, takes an innovative approach to retain the employees by empathetic listening and responding to the concerns of the employees as recognizing the voice of employees can be a key to retention. The paper makes an attempt to establish the role and relevance of listening-centered communication to retain employees.
Consulting Editor
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| Article | Price (₹) | ||
| The Impact of Soft Skills Training on the Behavior and Work Performance of Employees in Service Organizations |
100
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| Modeling of Mentoring Needs Assessment in IT Companies |
100
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| An Accent Improvement Model for the Non-Native English Speakers: A Voice and Accent Trainer Perspective |
100
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| Learner-Centered Approach: Engaging Students in Learning Activities |
100
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| Employee Retention Through Listening-Centered Communication Sushmita Chakravarti and Saikat Chakraborty |
100
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The Impact of Soft Skills Training on the Behavior and Work Performance of Employees in Service Organizations
Soft skills have become inevitable for employees to effectively perform their jobs in the services sector. A growing body of research shows that soft skills can indeed be effectively taught (Bush, 2012). The effectiveness of soft skills training on the employees is measured using Kirk Patrick's model of training evaluation to study whether soft skills training imparted to the employees of the service sector can transform employee behavior and impact dimensions of employee work performance. The results of this research study reveal that soft skills training is successful in changing employee behavior and does impact employee work performance. This research study has provided insights on the impact of soft skills training on the work performance of employees of the service sector and has contributed to the body of knowledge through the suggested training model and pedagogical tools for imparting soft skills.
Modeling of Mentoring Needs Assessment in IT Companies
This study proposes a model for mentoring needs assessment of freshers in IT companies. The study is based on a sample of 75 freshers in a medium-sized IT company using a structured questionnaire. The study uses work-style preferences to classify the freshers, and finds that these classes essentially determine the mentoring variables. According to the model, mentoring needs assessment starts by identifying the work-style preferences of the freshers. This is combined with the perceived fit between self and organizational culture, enabling the identification of areas requiring mentoring. Finally, all of these variables cumulatively determine the type of mentoring required and the duration of mentoring.
An Accent Improvement Model for the Non-Native English Speakers: A Voice and Accent Trainer Perspective
Increasing globalization has led to the outsourcing of voice operations from Native-English-Speaking (NES) countries to organizations in non-Native-English-Speaking (nNES) countries such as India and the Philippines, thus creating a demand for an entirely new line of training professionals, voice and accent (VANC) trainers. The nNES employees' mother tongue has a significant influence on the Indian English (IE) accent and impacts the NES customers' overall perception and experience of the voice service encounter. The Indian BPM industry faces challenges in hiring nNES employees with a 'neutral' accent. VANC trainers struggle in their efforts to improve the accent of nNES new hires. The purpose of this paper is to present a synthesis of the extant literature, concluding with a six-step nNES new-hire training model to assist VANC trainers during their new-hire accent improvement training program, comprising Transformative Cultural (TC), Accent Analysis (AA), Accent Neutralization (AN), Accent Ratification (AR), Accent Familiarization (AF) and finally a Continuous Learning Process (CLP).
Learner-Centered Approach: Engaging Students in Learning Activities
Learners must project learning independence, understand their strengths, weaknesses, learning processes, demonstrate ability to select suitable learning strategies while working in a group in order to develop interpersonal and active listening skills. Name it 'active learning, self-managed learning, learner-centered', all are synonyms with subtle distinctions, resulting in knowledge acquisition processes relevant to today's student temperaments. Researchers have found that effectively performing an activity can positively impact subsequent engagement. This paper shows how student engagement through flipped class model, activity-based learning and individualized activity would maximize the student's academic growth; accordingly, when 'the jigsaw model' was tried, which was an explicit but direct approach characterized by a series of frameworks, students were guided through clear instruction.
Employee Retention Through Listening-Centered Communication
It is always a challenge for managers to retain the right kind of talent in the form of employees in organizations. Considering the fact that a significant proportion of employees exit their organizations due to lack of listening to, understanding, interpreting, evaluating and responding to employees' communication, this paper focuses on the value of listening-centered communication in retaining employees in organizations. Despite the importance of communication and communication skills in employee retention discussed by several practitioners and researchers, the contribution that listening-centered communication can provide in this regard has found less attention and therefore becomes the motivation for this paper. After establishing the relevance of listening-centered communication in employee retention, the paper further provides certain ways that managers and organizational stakeholders can develop using the listening-centered communication model to reduce job hopping and increase employee satisfaction. Subsequently, the paper develops employee-retention targeted strategies of listening-centered communication at different stages of employment tenure.