View of A STUDY OF EMPLOYER EXPECTATION ON EMPLOYABILITY SKILS OF MANAGEMENT GEADUATES

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Vol. 05, Issue 06,June 2020 Available Online: www.ajeee.co.in/index.php/AJEEE

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A STUDY OF EMPLOYER EXPECTATION ON EMPLOYABILITY SKILS OF MANAGEMENT GEADUATES

JV’n Argha Chatterjee

Research Scholar, Jayoti Vidyapeeth Women’s University, Jaipur, Rajasthan JV’n Dr. Narendra Sharma

Department of Management & Commerce, Faculty of Law & Governance, Jayoti Vidyapeeth Women’s University Jaipur

Dr. K Devi

Department of Commerce, DAV Autonomous College, Titilagarh, Odisha 1 INTRODUCTION

The world of employment has changed dramatically, technology is impacting practices and experiences while societies are becoming more global and multicultural. With the rise of globalisation, employability is becoming one of the main goals for education systems. The term employability skills refers to the skills, knowledge, attitudes, and other abilities that are necessary for a graduate to secure and keep a first entry job into the labor force.

1.1 Background

Rapid forces for change in the post- modern society have left their mark on the labour market, creating a metamorphosis in the nature of work and the way in which individuals approach their careers. Organizations are responding to swift technological changes, increased customer demands and globalisation by implementing work structures that support adaptability and flexibility (Van Dam, 2004). Companies that want to be competitive therefore have to react to these changing market conditions by being smarter, smaller and swifter (Hall & Moss, 1998), often resulting in constant processes of restructuring and employee redundancies, which are forever changing traditional bureaucracies (Baruch, 2004;

Brown, Hesketh & Williams, 2003). In the face of a volatile business environment that no longer offers long-term employment (Rothwell & Arnold, 2007) and clear linear career ladders (Baruch, 2004), new career paths for employees are knowledgedriven (Brown et al., 2003) and include frequent changes in employer and even in occupations, lateral instead of vertical job moves and interruptions in employment (Reitman & Schneer, 2008).

These shifts have resulted in organizations explicitly encouraging workers to take active responsibility for

and manage their own learning and development throughout their careers (King, 2004; Quigley & Tymon, 2006;

Williams, 2005). This requires individuals with the type of knowledge, skills, creative potential and dispositions (Tomlinson, 2007; Williams, 2005) to maintain and enhance their attractiveness in the labour market (Rothwell & Arnold, 2007). In essence, individuals must take a more adaptive, flexible and proactive approach to manage their careers (Hall & Moss, 1998; Tomlinson, 2007; van Veldhoven &

Dorenbosch, 2008), which also involves the management of their employability (Tomlinson, 2007).

1.2 Statement of Problem

Performance appraisal helps to success of the organization in realising of strategic purpose and increasing of effective working process through continuous improvement of individuals‘ performance and process along with focusing on weak improvable points Divandari (2008)10.

With due attention to the fact that performance appraisal is one of the main parts of organisational life and could be consisted of several organisational processes such as measuring of work performance, establishing of purposes and reward management. In comparison with the numerous benefits attained from implementing performance appraisal system, as research findings, many scholars indicated that, performance appraisal practice generally suffer from so many problems in relation to the subjective nature of the performance appraisal criteria, the irrelevant of the criteria used to appraise the performance of the employees like: shortage of skills and knowledge of the raters, the subjectivity, favouritism and bias of the raters, lack of continuous documentation and inability to provide on time feedback are some of the problems most employees

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2 raise. As a result, employees‘ perception towards the PA system is adversely affected and they express dissatisfaction about the implementation of PA practice.

Such situations are also significantly influenced the overall job dissatisfaction of employees‘ and decrease the expected work outcomes in the form of work performance, affective commitment and turnover intention as well. Whereas, if employees are satisfied on the implementation of PA, they will perceive well and exert every possible effort to carry out their responsibilities and duties assigned to them efficiently and effectively thus will make the organization to which they belong more productive and successful. For instance, in order to positively influence employee behavior &

future development it has been frequently argued that, employee must experience positive reactions in the practice of performance appraisal; if not any appraisal system will be doomed to failure. Having these; differences in perceptions of employee about the existing performance appraisal practice based on their perception of fairness is a big question in ANRS office of the auditor general. Currently, most employees of the organization are discussing about the issue informally, but a due attention was not taken to examine the perception of employees toward the appraisal process as well as appraisers, and their reactions (positive or negative) to the appraisal; due to this problem employees of the organization will not satisfied and their contribution throughout their employment will be reduced. This study is therefore, seeks to investigate the employee perception toward the existing PA practice and the resulting work outcomes by analysing; What potential consequences will be happened in the area of work performance, affective commitment and turn over intentions as result of employees‘ different perception of performance appraisal practice in ANRS office of the auditor general.

1.3 Significance of Problem

Today‘s employers require employees to have soft or non-technical skills in addition to technical skills. While such skills may vary with industries; they include knowing how to learn, communication skills, creativity, problem solving, interpersonal skills, leadership,

and ability to function as part of a team.

In addition to information technology and information management skills, other soft skills managers consider essential in employees are: strategic planning and managing customers, and change management (Institute of Management, 1997). Therefore, with rapid technological changes, skill gaps in the workforce will always exist and workers with technical skills only will not effectively function in today‘s industries. The real challenge according to Beebe is that ―The digital world is here and now, and … employers…who [want] to stay prosperous, must ride this information wave into the future on the skills of employees who can work the secrets of microchips, of computer software, of the Internet...and bring their creations into the marketplace‖.

2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Pimpa, N. (2008); Hay and Hodgkinson, (2006) explored that a common reason of MBA education is that it leads to quick career success, in terms of improved salary and senior position. Management students from reputed institutes are more likely to get career progress at early stages but there is difficulty to define whether MBA is being done to get higher pay packages, to attain position in hierarchy or for learning and development. MBA students are generally thought to have realistic self-concepts and some career directions. Consequently, there may be certain objectives or ambitions which pursuits the person to do MBA i.e. many students are looking for MBA degree to improve their employability and to gear up their career goals (Hay and Hodgkinson, 2006).

Growth of management education Commerce Department of Andhra University in 1950, Started first M.B.A.

program in India. In 1963, IIM, Ahmedabad was set up in India in collaboration with Harvard Business School. 1950s to 1960s saw the growth of commerce education and 1970 to 1980s witnessed the growth of Management Education in India. There has been an extraordinary growth of management colleges in our society. Every year almost 14,000 students pass out of management colleges. There is a need to reshape management education to meet upcoming challenges of 21 Century.

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3 With the massive expansion of higher education producing significantly more graduates than the labour market can absorb, university graduates have found themselves to be no longer ‗stars of the sky‘, and many of them must face the cruel reality of becoming the new ‗urban working poor‘, especially when they experience difficulty in securing jobs (Wen

& Ngok, 2011).

2.1 What is Employability?

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) (2009) defines employability as:

A set of attributes, skills and knowledge that all labour market participants should possess to ensure they have the capability of being effective in the workplace – to the benefit of themselves, their employer and the wider economy.

Employability refers to a person's capability for gaining and maintaining employment (Hillage and Pollard, 1998).

Manchester Metropolitan University defines Employability as ―the development of skills, abilities and personal attributes that enhance students capability to secure rewarding and satisfying outcomes in their economic, social and community lives. It is the capability to move self-sufficiently within the labor market to realise potential through sustainable employment.

Employability refers to an individuals perception of his or her possibilities of getting new, equal, or better employment (Berntson, 2008).

3 RESEARCH PARADIGM/PHILOSOPHY A research paradigm is a set of fundamental beliefs that are acknowledged based on faith and that offer a framework for the research process as a whole. This philosophy of science includes beliefs and assumptions concerning ontology (which refers to the nature of reality), epistemology (which refers to the relationship between the researcher and the research participant), axiology (which relates to what role a researcher‘s personal values play in the research process), rhetorical structure (the language and presentation of the research study), and methodology (the process and procedures of the research).

This research study was approached from the positivistic and post-positivistic paradigm. The main ontology, epistemology, axiology, rhetorical

structure and methodology of positivism and post-positivism are summarised in Table 3.1 below.

Positivism is a philosophical point of view based on the assumption that all knowledge is contained within the boundaries of science and it focuses on those questions that can be answered by the application of the scientific method.

The positivistic paradigm therefore relates to the external reality governed by particular laws and is used by observers that are objective and removed and who have tested their hypotheses against experimental and other quantitative methods. Positivism views science as a means to obtain the truth and to understand the world to the extent that it may be predicted and controlled.

Consistent with this approach the universe operates by cause-and-effect laws that can be determined by applying the scientific method. Positivism therefore makes use of deductive reasoning when hypothesising theories that can be tested and subsequently revised if they do not predict reality well. Positivists furthermore believe in empiricism, or the view that observation and measurement is at the centre of scientific undertakings.

Table 3.1: Research Paradigm and Philosophy of Science

4 RESULT AND DISCUSSION

This chapter aims to quantify all the data collected from the students so far. The main aim is to get all data collected from students so that correct figures may be computed, decisions can be reached and subsequently recommendations can be made. There is an enormous pressure on the colleges to market the fact that they are the best to do the same, they engage in lot of marketing activities. With over 50+ colleges in Greater Noida region and the area itself being called ―Knowledge Park‖, all the colleges faces tough competition in terms of admission. Hence, the marketing activities are rigorous. All

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4 the colleges make sure to give the students best possible promises in order to make them take admission in their colleges. But are they able to fulfill all the promises made? We are trying to ascertain the same, through this study.

Questionnaire for Students

The first question of the questionnaire was about the source of the college. The respondents were ask about the source of information from where they come to know about the college. Out of 500 respondents, 95 respondents (19%) got the information from the newspaper advertisement, 132 respondents (26%) got the information from social networking sites, 120 respondents (24%) got the information from word of mouth from existing students/ seniors/ friends, 103 respondents (21%) got the information from education fairs and 50 respondents (10%) mentioned no source of information. It is clearly evident from the data and graph that the most of the respondents got information from the Social Networking Sites.

The second question of the questionnaire was about to take admission in the institution. The respondents were asked about the source that prompted them to take admission in the institution. Out of 500 respondents, 72 respondents (14%) were attracted from the institutional Infrastructure/ Transport facilities, 89 respondents (18%) were attracted from the overall placements and result percentage, 150 respondents (30 %) were attracted from marketing strategies, 101 respondents (20%) were attracted from word od mouth existing students/

seniors/ friends / alumni about the brand image of the Institution, 41 respondents (8%) were attracted from satisfactory and great college experience, 24 respondent (5%) were attracted from impressive admission counselor and 24 respondents (5%) seleced more than 1 option. It is clearly evident from the data and graph that most of the respondents were got attracted from Marketing Strategies.

The third question of the questionnaire was about if the expectations generated by the marketing strategy of the college fulfilled or not. The respondents were asked about the fulfillment of the

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5 expectations by the marketing strategy of the college. Out of 500 respondents, 160 respondents (32%) said Yes and 340 respondents (68%) said no for the same.

This indicates most of the students are not satisfied with the expectations generated initially by the marketing strategy of the institution.

The question of the questionnaire was about the promises of deliverables by the institution at the time of taking admission. The respondents were asked about the promises of the deliverables by the institution. Out of 500 respondents 97 respondents (19%) responded about the great academic growth, 256 respondents (51 %) responded that the institution promised fro the Best Placements, 103 respondents (21%) said that the institution promised for Quick Solution to academic and administrative issues, Trained and qualified Faculties, 40 respondents (8%) responded that the institution promised for providing value for the fee paid . It is clearly evident from the data and graph that most of the institutions promised for the best placements.

The fifth question of the questionnaire was if the institution had been able to match the expectation s of the respondents by the promises of deliverables at the time of admission. The respondents were asked about their expectations set by the promise of the deliverables at the time pf admission. Out of 500 respondents 200 respondents (40%) accepted that the institution had been able to match their expectations by the promises of deliverables at the time of admission, 214 respondents (43 %) denied for the same and 89 respondents (18%) didn‘t replied the question.

The sixth question asked of the questionnaire was about the importance given by the respondents to a faculty‘s attribute and if their expectations set by them to the attributes by the marketing strategy. The respondents were asked about the importance given by them to the attributes of the faculty‘s in terms of practices &attitudes. Out of 500 respondents 380 respondents (56%) thought it to be Mandatory, 110 respondents (22%) thought it to be very

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6 important, 57 respondents (11%) rated it as important, 31 respondents (6%) rated it as somewhat important , 12 respondents (2 %)rated it as not at all important, 10 respondents (2%) didn‘t replied at al. it is clearly evident from the data and graph that faculty‘s attributes in terms of practices & attitudes is an important point for any institution.

The seventh question of the questionnaire was about the satisfaction of respondents with the contact hours per course in the Institution‘s curriculum / Time Table. The respondents were asked about their contentment with the institution‘s curriculum/Time Table. Out of 500 respondents 195 respondents (39%) responded Yes and 294 respondents (59%) responded No and 11 respondents (3%) didn‘t answered. It is clearly evident from the data and graph that most of the respondents are not satisfied with the contact hours in the institution‘s curriculum /Time Table.

The thirteenth question that was asked to the employers was about the different life skills that a graduate sought to have so if we talk about communication skill out of 50 employers 23 employers (46%) responded that communication skills is very important , 12 respondents (24%) said that it is important where as 15 respondents (30%)replied that it is not that important for a graduate. With this data it is clear that maximum number of employers find communication skill as an important part for a graduate.

Talking about strong interpersonal skills out of 50 employers 12 respondents (24%) replied it as a very important skill, 17 respondents (34%)responded as an important skill whereas 21 respondent (42%) found it not important that a graduate sought to have.

When asked as a team player 18 respondents (36%) said that a graduate should know how to work in a team, 21 respondents (42%) responded it a very important skill whereas 11 respondents (22%) replied that team playing is not an important skill that a graduate should have. From the data we can clearly see that team playing is a skill which a graduate sought to have.

4.1 Statistical Analysis

With the purpose of measuring gap between expectation and perception about different aspects of service quality, all the questions of questionnaire were segmented into five dimensions, with the standard instrument developed by Parasuraman, Ziethaml and Berry in 1988. The instrument is called SERVQUAL. These five dimensions are:

 Tangibles

 Reliability

 Responsiveness

 Assurance

 Empathy

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7 The results showed that all of the items and constructs measuring the gaps are negative with empathy representing the construct with the highest gap (-0.81), followed by responsiveness (-0.75), tangibles (-0.72), reliability (-0.69) and assurance (-0.64). The negative gap indicates that the students‘ perceptions scores are less than their expectation score i.e. students are expecting more from their institution than they are getting in reality. The negative results imply that the institutions (service providers) are lacking in service quality standards. As observed from table 2 all the expectations are greater than the means of perceptions implying that all the mean gaps for the 28 items are negative.

The above table shows that the mean scores of all the students on expectations

is 93.645 and perception is 84.58. The calculated t-test between the mean scores of expectations and perceptions is 15.251.

The calculated t-value is greater than the tabulated value at both the levels of significance. It means that there is significant difference between the expectations and perceptions of the students about service quality parameters. So, the null hypothesis is rejected at both the levels. This implies that there exists a significant difference between the expectations and perceptions of the students about the service quality by the higher education institutions.

4.2 Gender

Analysis- as per the above table and chart, this can be seen that the sample size of study is 300. Among these respondents, the female are 81 and remaining are male which are 219. This shows that majority of candidates are male in this study.

4.3 Education qualification

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8 Analysis- In accordance to the above table this can be seen that out of 300 respondents, there are only 1 respondent who has done the doctorate. Most of the respondents have done post graduate that has been justified by above table that shows hat around 139 respondents have done PG. In addition to this, 129 respondents have done graduation and 31 people have done under graduation.

In the questionnaires and the subsequent interviews of the students, it was found that a majority of students were satisfied with their faculty as they felt that their teachers were knowledgeable and skillful in teaching their respective subjects. They were of the opinion that their teachers were capable of delivering effective lectures and handling the classes properly.

The findings cannot be said to be very encouraging as most of the respondents said that they regret the decision of taking admission in the institution they are studying and would not recommend others to take admission there. The students were happy with the course which they were pursuing but overall satisfaction with the higher educational institution where they were studying was low.

5 CONCLUSION

Employability skills are vital to the sustainability of human capital and

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9 economic development. However, employers believe that higher education does not adequately develop employability skills of business graduates in general.

This study presents an assessment of the current status of employability skills in management degree programs, and provides insight on both the skill deficiencies and instructional methods to address them.

Findings indicate that both faculty and students perceive all employability skills addressed in this study as important which coincides with findings of other employability skills studies.

Contrary to much of the literature, management faculty and students appear to be doing well in the areas of problem solving, teamwork, critical thinking, and project management. However, the data suggests that less value may be attributed to written communication and customer service skills. Faculty must also give greater attention to change readiness, supervisory/ management, and verbal communication skills which rated low in the areas of integration and student possession. These findings concur with multiple studies that cite the need for employees that can speak and write effectively.

Faculty must continue to embrace innovative teaching methods to impart employability skills to students. Although the lecture method remains popular, faculty also utilize team learning and project-based learning. Conversely, faculty rarely apply faculty internship, student internship, and peer assessment, all of which the literature supports as methods for imparting real world knowledge and practices.

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