generic skills in personel development - Jabatan Pengajian Politeknik

GENERIC SKILLS IN PERSONNEL DEVELOPMENT
Saifuddin Kumar Abdullah M. Ed
Department of Polytechnic
Kementerian Pengajian Tinggi Malaysia
sainash6565@hotmail.com
ABSTRACT
The global challenge nowadays making the competition for a job is particularly
high. Any organizations need all-round candidates that can bring the company
ahead of others. Graduates with high generic skills are the most preferable for
taking on a job. Generic skills are also known as skills, qualities and trait that an
individual has to master in order to succeed in their studies and career. This
quality defined as also team-work, time management, problem solving, and
sharpen numerical skills. The focus of this paper is to discuss the challenges
faced and the strategies to overcome the problems faced in personnel
development
INTRODUCTION
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‘To place the right people with the right skills in the right jobs for the
right cost at the right time....’
Tuan Hj Abbas Bin Hj Awang
The phrase above reflects the concern of employers today. Basis of
recruitment for prospective employees will be on the skills that they possess
besides their academic qualifications. At a glance reveals that employers look for
well-rounded people with a variety of generic skills; people who can learn
independently and have a desire to keep increasing their knowledge and abilities
throughout life. They want people capable of both critical thought and creativity.
In this paper, we will look at what generic skills are and the importance of
generic skills in personnel development. We shall also be looking at the
challenges faced in personnel management and describe the strategies to
overcome the challenges based on generic skills.
GENERIC SKILLS
Generic skills are also known as skills, qualities and trait that an individual
has to master in order to succeed in their studies and career. They are skills,
other than their technical skills required for their jobs and cannot e developed
overnight. Rather these skills are something that an individual picks up time and
experience.
Generic skills are also known by other names overseas (FIGURE 1).
Employees with a variety of generic skills will be competent in their work and thus
highly value by their employers. The Australian Chamber of Commerce defines
generic skills as:
“…….skills required not only to gain employment, but also to progress within an
enterprise so as skills are also sometimes referred to as generic skills,
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capabilities or key to achieve one’s potential and contribute successfully to
enterprise strategic directions.”
According to Prof. Dr Zakaria Kasa in his notes ‘Personnel Developments’,
generic skills are:
“Those skills which can be used across large numbers of different occupations.
They include what are defined as key skills – communication, problem solving,
team working, IT skills, application of number and an ability to improve personal
learning and performance. They also include reasoning skills, scheduling work
and diagnosing work problems, work process management skills, visualizing
output, working backwards for forward planning purposes and sequencing
operations”
There is no define list of generic skills. However, the list can be divided into six
common elements. They are:
a. Basic/fundamental skills – using numbers and technology.
b. People-related skills – communication, teamwork.
c. Personal skills and attributes – being responsible, and resourceful.
d. Conceptual/thinking skills – collecting and organizing information.
e. Skills related to the business world – enterprise skills, innovation skills.
f. Skills related to the community – civic or citizenship skills.
Importance of Generic Skills in Personnel Development
Generic skills are important in personnel development for variety of reasons.
They are as follows:
1. The need to remain competitive.
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Reports (2005) indicate that, beginning 1980, there is a drastic change in
the field of technology, manufacture, marketing and ICT. Increased competition
resulted in the world beyond borders. The increase in competition among
organizations in the global market will further strengthen the economy of the
country. Therefore, companies need to have employees with good problem
solving skills that enables them to identify, remedy and resolve business
problems. It would be an added value to the company having employees with
entrepreneurship skills such as ability to think critically, analyze situations and be
able to identify business opportunity.
Of equal importance are the abilities to communicate well with people from
different cultures, to be able to use technology in presentations and
communications, interact with colleagues and to establish good rapport so that
they can work together to accomplish the organization’s goal and objectives.
Team working helps to increase the productivity of the company as well since the
tasks are shared and effectively delegated. According to Henry Ford, ‘Nothing is
particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs.’ Team working ensures smooth
operation of the company and help save costs. Prof. Dr Zakaria Kasa (2005), on
team working, quoted that ‘The 1998 Workplace Employers Relations Survey
found that 83% of managers stated that at least some employees in their largest
occupational group worked in formal designated teams. Employees who
demonstrate such generic attributes, help meet the objectives of personnel
development among which are elimination of labor shortages and decrease
personal turnover.
2. The need to acquire new knowledge and information in the knowledge –
based world (k-world).
There is a need to meet the vast and rapid change in the field of science
and technology. There is also a need to cater to the shift to an IT savvy society. It
is also imperative to look at the expanding educational needs and expectation of
students from a diverse background. Hence, employees need to incorporate
lifelong learning in their lives. In addition, they need to have good personal
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management and communication skills. They should be able to work
independently, be able to search and use relevant information from a wide
variety of sources and be able to think of new ideas. Also of great importance is
for employees to always have a thirst for knowledge and always be in search of
new knowledge and skills. These types of employees will definitely become
better qualified to perform the duties of their present jobs and advance to more
responsible person.
Companies that are able to utilize talents, abilities and increase potential
of such employees will improve their productivity and effectiveness.
Skills that they look out for include abilities to have a high sense of responsibility,
respect the actions and beliefs of their colleagues, able to adapt to changes and
challenges in the workplace, to negotiate and reach an agreement and to work
with other people to achieve the same goal.
3. Need to interact and socialize among one another in an inter-dependent
world.
Employers need people with people’s skills, who are able to function
effectively in a wide range of social and professional contexts. Investing in staff
communication could be the difference that makes the difference. Quotations
from communication skills:
‘Never mind location…If your managers cannot communicates with your staff, if
your staff cannot communicate with your clients, then you have no business.’
Employees that have good communication skills will be able to carry
themselves well in some difficult working situations. Horizontal communication is
needed to monitor progress of any project. Vertical communication, on the other
hand, to ensure instructions are clearly sent and jobs clearly delegated so that it
is easily monitored. Workflow for the project becomes smooth and effective. This
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goes the same when it comes to teamwork client communication skills are very
important for those working behind the counters like customers service. This will
reduce costs and wastage of resources.
4. The demands of the workplace.
There is a high demand of generic skills in the challenging workplace. Due
to the need to increase productivity at a minimal cost, employers do not have
much time to train or retrain graduates from higher institutions. They need people
who are ‘work ready’ in terms of their generic skills. They need employees who
are able to adapt quickly and effectively as well as being able to face new
challenges in the workplace. Evidence from Australian Chamber of Commerce
shows that proficiency in the broad range of generic skills has become the main
requirement for the modern worker.
Jobs used to be more specific and defined. Multitasking among staff today
is not unusual. In fact, it is a must for any organizations today to thrive
successfully. For this, employees are expected to be having problem solving
skills, communicate effectively across a wide range of audience as well as be
team player. Also, of great importance are computing skills, interpersonal skills,
having self-confidence and a lot of enthusiasm to keep their spirits going and
remain motivated in their job.
Challenges Faced and Strategies used
In the pursuit of accomplishing the organization’s goals and objectives,
managers today strive to create an environment that enhances the potential and
maximizes the energy and creativity of their employees. In order to employ the
right people with the right skills, they face many challenges that test their
leadership skills and hinder the organization’s success. Therefore, they need the
skills not only to overcome these challenges but firstly to identify them and think
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of ways to overcome. Let us take a look a few challenges that managers today
have to face.
1. Personality Differences
Where there are people, there will be interactions. When there are
interactions, definitely, conflicts occur because different people have different
personalities. Some are good at team work while others prefer to do their work
alone. Some go an extra mile to do a job while some have to be coaxed into
doing it. Some adapt easily to changing requirements and information while
others don’t.
Challenge to managers arises when communicating about work
assignments. Some people use the same approach when dealing with different
people. Therefore, it is not surprising when they did not get enough cooperation
or information from their colleagues. This in turn makes them incompetent and
inefficient.
They have to understand certain behavioral adaptations. They have to be
aware that they need to ‘use different strokes for different people.’’ In other
words, they have to apply different ways of communicating with different people.
In short, increase their communication skills. This can be done through
a) Observing other people’s behavior.
b) Coaching by immediate boss or an experienced colleague.
c) Counseling by the department’s counselor.
d) Highlighting this matter during meetings or sharing sessions in formal
office settings.
2. Differences in attitude
Some individuals are hardworking. They work diligently with the others to
increase the organization’s productivity. However, there are others who work
solely for their personal gain. They are the self-centered people who do not care
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much for their organization. These are typical examples of their activities carried
out during office hours
a) Take a long time to perform prayers
b) Receive personal visit from personal friends or relatives
c) Conduct direct selling or sells other product to personal gain
d) Make personal call and duplicate copies for personal use using the
office facilities
e) Run personal errands
These problems can be alienated by adopting the following strategies:
a) Conduct morning sessions or staff assembly twice a week to touch on
these matters. This serves as reminder their duties to God and the
goals of the organizations.
b) Instill a sense of obligation and responsibility to the organization by
keeping a record of staff movement outside office area for every one’s
information. In addition, a payment system can be made for personal
calls and copies made.
By keeping a check on their activities, these individuals learn how to manage
their time better and are thus able to increase their performance in their work.
3. Differences in age
Differences in opinions between senior staff and junior staff are quite
common. Mahatma Ghandi once said “Honest differences are often a healthy
sign of progress’. However there are cases where differences in opinion often
leads to bigger problem. Therefore, it must be handled be carefully. For example,
senior staff are quite set in their ways due to their longer service. It is natural for
them to feel they should have the upper hand in situations. They believe that
their idea and opinions are right most of the time. They are also not prone to
changes. Due to their many years of service, they are now in their comfort zone
especially those that have served more than ten years. In some cases, their
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performance have decline and it is unfortunate if their attitude towards work
affects the other staff.
On the other hand, the younger staff, especially those that have just
entered the service, are overall very vibrant and proactive with new ideas. They
are more susceptible to changes in comparison. Their skills in using technology
are also more advanced. In addition, the more senior staff have strict upbringing
so they tend to be more conservative and tactful in their ways. In comparisons,
the younger staff are brought up by parents who are less traditional and more
relaxed. Therefore, they tend to be more vocal, blunt and less tactful when
voicing their opinion. At times, their attitude are considered rude by the senior
staff.
The following steps can be taken to overcome these challenges.
a) Conduct Yassin Recital with the staff once a week. At the end of the
recital, every one will embrace each other or shake hands to ask for each
other’s forgiveness. This is one way to resolve any conflict and also to
reduce the generation gap and keep the team spirit going. Setting up
Internal sports competition between the them would be another way to
improve relations.
b) Have a sharing session regularly to increase knowledge and skills among
staff
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Conclusion
Differences in opinion are healthy unless it leads to serious arguments
and underlying current between employees. Unresolved conflict too may affect
the harmony in the workplace. Before it leads to bigger problems that might affect
the productivity of the organization, immediate action needs to be taken.
Managers have to acknowledge the fact that each individual has their own
strength and weaknesses. Some are leaders while others are followers. Some
are proactive and independent while others are procrastinators. What they need
to bear in mind that despite all this differences, hey must only have one thing in
mind. Differences between employees are not to hinder them from working
together to accomplish the organization’s goals and objectives.
I tend to agree with Dr. Shafee, who suggested that any organization’s
portfolio should include the generic requirements needed for each jobs. In that
way, prospective employees can make the necessary steps to equip themselves
for the job. Also the existing staff will know what generic skills they need to
master in order to be a competent person.
In addition, teachers can familiarize students with the term ‘generic skills’
in their class. For example, on the subject of titration in a chemistry course.
Teachers can inform students that by doing experiments on titrations, they are
actually developing their skills, skills that employers look out for when recruiting.
For example, in team working (by working in pairs), time-management (by
planning to complete experiment in time), in problem solving (by determining
endpoints), sharpening their numerical skills (by reading measurements on the
burette and doing calculations). In this way, students who cannot figure out how
titrations can mean anything to him in the future will finally see the relevancy
learning and begins to enjoy learning.
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References
Australian Chamber of commerce and industry & Business Council of Australia,
Employability skills for the Future, Department of Education, Science and
Training, Canberra.2002. Available at URL: http://www.
Core Communication skill set. Available at http://www.skillscan.net
Dr.Shafee Mohd Daud, ,UPM,Serdang,27 th June 2008
Generic Skills and UTM’s Graduate Attributes. Available at URL:
http://www..ctl.utm.my/students/attribute.html
NCVER(National Centre for Vocational Research),Defining Generic Skills , At A
Glance, Adelaide,2002.Available at URL;http;//www.ncver.edu au
Prof. Dr. Zakaria Kasa,2008, Personal Developments. Modul PTK
48,UPSI,Tanjong Malim
Tn Hj Abbas Hj Awang, 2008, Pengurusan sumber Manusia
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FIGURE 1
APPENDIX
TERMS USED IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES TO DESCRIBE GENERIC SKILLS
United Kingdom
New Zealand
Australia
Canada
United States
Singapore
France
Germany
Denmark
Core skills, key skills common skills
Essential skills
Key competencies, employability skills,
generic skills
Employability skills
Basic, skills, necessary skills, work
place know-how
Critical enabling skills
Transferable skills
Key qualifications
Process independent goals
Sources: NCVER(National Centre for Vocational Research)2003,Defining Generic Skills
:At A Glance, Adelaide
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