POWER OF SOFT SKILLS DETERMINING ACADEMIC CAREER SATISFACTION: EMPIRICIAL STUDY ON RESEARCH ASSISTANTS

Abstract

Recent debate on skill acquisition by employees focuses on skill shortages (lacking required skills) and skills gaps (lack proficiency in the job) (Hurrell, 2015). Technical skills are not only ones considered in this context. As mostly discussed in literature, performing a job requires several technical skills that are acquired by knowledge in cognitive sense and influenced by an individual’s intelligence. However, such skills are not enough for today, there is a need to have interpersonal, human, people or behavioral skills in order to apply technical ones in the workplace (Weber, Finley, Crawford, Rivera, 2009) that are not reliant on abstract reasoning, are involving interpersonal and intrapersonal abilities to facilitate mastered performance in particular contexts (Hurrell, Scholarios and Thompson, 2012). Thus, technical skills are discussed to complement with soft skills such as human, conceptual, interpersonal and leadership etc. to allow the proper expression, implementation and collaboration of knowledge assets (Brill, Gilfoil and Doll, 2014; Weber, Crawford, Lee and Dennison, 2013). Even there is not a precise taxonomy of such skills; in literature four categories are mostly used to define them as leadership/people/ relationship; communication; management and organization, cognitive skills and knowledge (Kantrowitz, 2005). In this context, the ultimate aim of this study is to discuss whether academician’s soft skills (e.g. communication, interpersonal relations, openmindness, positive attitudes, teamwork, creativity etc.) have an impact on their satisfaction from their career. This study also argues that without having soft skills, how a prospective academician, here Research Assistants, could prepare his students for the future demanding more than technical skills in order to manage themselves and their careers. Proposed sample consists of research assistants who are working in a state university located in Istanbul. The importance of this study lies in the changing role of educational institutions especially universities and the changing role of academia as well

Keywords

• Soft skills, Career Satisfaction, Academia

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35. Table 1: SOFT SKILLS CONSTRUCT EXAMPLES STUDY
36. Soft skills and category explanations
37. De Villiers, R. (2010). The
38. incorporation of soft skills into
39. accounting curricula: preparing
40. accounting graduates for their
41. unpredictable futures. Meditari
42. Accountancy Research, 18(2), 1- 22.
43. Communication Skills: Presentation skills, negotiation skills, active listening skills, questioning techniques, persuasion, conflict resolution, understanding different perceptions, handling objections, giving and receiving feedback, rapport building, written communication and report writing skills.
44. Problem-solving and thinking skills: creativity, analytical skills, framing issues, asking questions, probing and awareness of ambiguities and complexities.
45. Ethical and moral values: cultural awareness, a professional code of conduct and values, cross-cultural, appreciation, diversity management, work ethic, trustworthiness, integrity and honesty.
46. Self-Management: self-awareness and knowledge, self- confidence, time management, self-motivation, realistic self- assessment and self-regulation,work-life balance, responsibility, accountability, goal-setting, workplace organisation, use of electronic tools, personal values, flexibility and adaptability, curiosity, openness to change, CV writing and continuous learning and upgrading of skills
47. Brill, R. T., Gilfoil, D. M., & Doll,
48. K. (2014). Exploring Predictability
49. Of Instructor Ratings Using A
50. Quantitative Tool For Evaluating
51. Soft Skills Among MBA Students.
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53. Education (Online), 7(3), 175.
54. Leadership: The ability to effectively guide or direct others.
55. Teamwork: The ability to cooperatively and with a coordinated effort work with others to reach a common cause or interest.
56. Critical Thinking: Disciplined thinking that is clear, rational, open- minded, and informed by evidence which helps one to decipher whether a claim is true or false.
57. Logical Reasoning: The ability to determine a conclusion, by applying a rule to a given precondition. The three types of logical reasoning include deduction, induction, and abduction.
58. Communication Skills: the ability to convey thoughts, opinions, and information to others. This can include speech, writing, or signs.
59. Holistic Thinking: The ability to recognize the larger picture and understand the interrelationship between the parts and the whole
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64. Personal Quality:
65. • Personality: exerts a high level of effort and preserves towards goal attainment.
66. • Self -esteem: believes in own self-worth and maintains a positive view of self. hotels", International Journal of
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68. Management, Vol. 23 Iss 6 pp. 739 - 763
69. • Sociability: demonstrates understanding, friendliness, adaptability,empathy and politeness in group settings.
70. • Self-management: assess self accurately, sets personal goals, monitors progress, and exhibits self control.
71. • Integrity/honesty: chooses ethical courses of action. 2. Thinking skills:
72. • Creative thinking: generates new ideas, combines information in new ways.
73. • Decision making: speciŞes goals and constraints, generates alternatives, considers risks, and evaluates and chooses best alternative.
74. • Problem solving: recognizes problems, devises and implements plan of action.
75. • Knowing how to learn : uses efŞcient learning techniques to acquire and apply new knowledge and skills.
76. • Reasoning: discovers a rule or principle underlying the relationship between two or more objects and applies it when solving a problem
77. Interpersonal skills:
78. • Participates as a member of a team : contributes to group with ideas, suggestions, and effort.
79. • Teaches others: helps others learn.
80. • Serves customers : works and communicates with customers to satisfy their expectations.
81. • Exercises leadership: communicates ideas to justify position, persuades and convinces others.
82. • Negotiates : works toward agreements that involve exchanging resources or resolving divergent interests.
83. • Works with diversity : works well with men and women from diverse backgrounds.