Abstract
This chapter makes the case that higher education should be more focused on the development of capabilities rather than skills. Many alternate avenues exist for the development of those hard skills desired by some employers. However, all employers have expressed a desire to see various soft skills in the applicant pool. In a technology-mediated world that is increasingly utilizing artificial intelligence to augment or replace many job functions, higher education needs to respond by focusing on the development of a complementary set of human intelligences that will strongly position its graduates within this new world order. These complementary abilities take on the form of what we refer to as a set of work-ready capabilities.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Roose (2020, p. 71).
- 2.
Education, like many social entities, requires training (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1977).
- 3.
- 4.
How universities are responding to AI such as ChatGPT is discussed in Huang (2023).
- 5.
A survey undertaken by Deloitte offers interesting insights (Hupfer, 2020).
- 6.
World Economic Forum (2020).
- 7.
- 8.
Coursera (2022).
- 9.
- 10.
- 11.
Verbal communication is just one item that is usually found on every list of those skills desired by employers. The growing importance of soft skills is discussed in Deming (2017).
In addition to a number of other websites, Indeed.com, a major job website, has its own list of 11 Work Readiness Skills (Indeed Editorial Team, 2022).
- 12.
- 13.
Advertising provides a great example of the power of a strong narrative. See, for example, Kang et al. (2020).
- 14.
Fryer (2003).
- 15.
- 16.
More information about the EconJourney project can be found in Niman et al. (2018).
- 17.
- 18.
- 19.
An interesting study undertaken by McKinsey & Company looks at reasons why it is so difficult to attract and retain talent (Dowling & Schaninger, 2021).
- 20.
Of particular concern to employers, if workers don’t get that flexibility from their current employer, they are not hesitant to find one that will (Bindley & Cutter, 2022).
- 21.
Bindley (2022).
- 22.
Bindley and Cutter (2022).
- 23.
- 24.
The traditional workplace emphasized showing up to a physical space (the office) at a predefined time (e.g., 9–5, Monday–Friday), with employees hired to perform a specific task and assessed based on how well they got the job done.
- 25.
The military was one of the first to recognize situational awareness as an important capability for fighter pilots. It was used by fighter pilots to assess flying conditions, formulate responses to potential threats, and map out future courses of action. It later became a standard tool in the area of health and safety. Within a business organization, being situationally aware can help determine what you should be doing, how it is going to be received, and what sort of follow-up will be required to ensure you have made an impact. Much of the academic work is based on Endsley (1995).
- 26.
Reacting to the Past is an engaged learning pedagogy based on role-playing games. More information about the approach can be found in Reacting Consortium (2023).
- 27.
Just as textbooks have responded to learning goals, we might expect to see case authors build more soft skills development into their materials. This is similar to what we might call the goalification of the publishing industry.
References
Bindley, K. (2022, March 4). Tech companies are reopening their offices, but tech work has changed forever. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved March 21, 2023, from https://www.wsj.com/articles/tech-companies-reopen-their-offices-facebook-google-11646365155?mod=hp_lead_pos4
Bindley, K., & Cutter, C. (2022, January 25). Workers care more about flexible hours than remote work. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved March 21, 2023, from https://www.wsj.com/articles/workers-care-more-about-flexible-hours-than-remote-work-11643112004?mod=article_inline
Bischof, J. (2022, May 29). Hybrid competence is the newest soft skill with an outsize impact on your career. Here’s how you can work it into your resume. Insider. Retrieved March 21, 2023, from https://www.businessinsider.com/hybrid-competence-is-the-newest-soft-skill-for-your-resume-2022-5
Bourdieu, P., & Passeron, J. C. (1977). Reproduction in education, society, and culture. (R. Nice, trans.). Sage.
Bruner, J. (1991). The narrative construction of reality. Critical Inquiry, 18(1), 1–21.
Campbell, J. (1973). The hero with a thousand faces (1. Princeton/Bollingen paperback print., 3. print). University Press.
Coursera. (2022). Global skills report. Coursera. Retrieved March 21, 2023, from https://pages.coursera-for-business.org/rs/748-MIV-116/images/Coursera-Global-Skills-Report-2022.pdf
Deming, D. J. (2017). The growing importance of social skills in the labor market*. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 132(4), 1593–1640. https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjx022
Denning, S. (2011). The leader’s guide to storytelling: Mastering the art and discipline of business narrative (Revised and updated ed.). Jossey-Bass.
Dewey, J. (1963). Experience and education. Collier Books.
Dowling, B., & Schaninger, B. (2021). The great attrition or the great attraction? The choice is yours. McKinsey & Company. Retrieved March 21, 2023, from https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-live/webinars/the-great-attrition-or-the-great-attraction-what-will-it-be-for-you
Endsley, M. R. (1995). Toward a theory of situation awareness in dynamic systems. Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 37(1), 32–64. https://doi.org/10.1518/001872095779049543
Falchetti, D., Cattani, G., & Ferriani, S. (2022). Start with “Why,” but only if you have to: The strategic framing of novel ideas across different audiences. Strategic Management Journal, 43(1), 130–159. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.3329
Fryer, B. (2003, June). Storytelling that moves people. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved March 21, 2023, from https://hbr.org/2003/06/storytelling-that-moves-people
Hammack, P. L. (2008). Narrative and the cultural psychology of identity. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 12(3), 222–247. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868308316892
Huang, K. (2023, January 26). Alarmed by A.I. Chatbots, universities start revamping how they teach. The New York Times. Retrieved March 21, 2023, from https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/16/technology/chatgpt-artificial-intelligence-universities.html
Hupfer, S. (2020, March 3). Talent and workforce effects in the age of AI. Deloitte. Retrieved March 21, 2023, from https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/focus/cognitive-technologies/ai-adoption-in-the-workforce.html
Indeed Editorial Team. (2022, June 24). 11 work readiness skills. Indeed. Retrieved March 21, 2023, from https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/work-readiness
Janin, A. (2022, February 20). Thanks to remote work, many in Gen Z may never work in an office. Will it matter? The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved March 21, 2023, from https://www.wsj.com/articles/remote-lets-generation-z-work-without-any-office-will-matter-11645220523?mod=hp_lead_pos7
Kang, J., Hong, S., & Hubbard, G. T. (2020). The role of storytelling in advertising: Consumer emotion, narrative engagement level, and word-of-mouth intention. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 19(1), 47–56. https://doi.org/10.1002/cb.1793
Niman, N. B., Furnagiev, S., & Lemos, S. (2018). Developing the journey process: A novel approach to teaching undergraduate economics. Journal of Economics and Finance Education, 17, 96–113.
Parker, K., & Horowitz, J. M. (2022, March 9). Majority of workers who quit a job in 2021 cite low pay, no opportunities for advancement, feeling disrespected. Pew Research Center. Retrieved March 23, 2022, from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/03/09/majority-of-workers-who-quit-a-job-in-2021-cite-low-pay-no-opportunities-for-advancement-feeling-disrespected/
PwC. (2017). Workforce of the future: The competing forces shaping 2030. PwC. Retrieved March 21, 2023, from https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/services/people-organisation/publications/workforce-of-the-future.html
Reacting Consortium. (2023). Reacting to the past. Reacting Consortium. Retrieved March 23, 2023, from https://reactingconsortium.org/
Rogoff, B. (1990). Apprenticeship in thinking: Cognitive development in social context. Oxford University Press.
Rogoff, B., Callanan, M., Gutiérrez, K. D., & Erickson, F. (2016). The organization of informal learning. Review of Research in Education, 40(1), 356–401. https://doi.org/10.3102/0091732X16680994
Roose, K. (2020). Futureproof: 9 rules for humans in the age of automation. Random House.
Smith, M. (2022, January 14). Professor who predicted ‘The Great Resignation’ shares the 3 trends that will dominate work in 2022. CNBC. Retrieved March 23, 2023, from https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/14/the-great-resignation-expert-shares-the-biggest-work-trends-of-2022.html
Vogler, C. (2007). The writer’s journey: Mythic structure for writers (3rd ed.). Michael Wiese Productions.
World Economic Forum. (2020). The future of jobs report. World Economic Forum. Retrieved March 21, 2023, from https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_of_Jobs_2020.pdf
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Niman, N.B., Chagnon, J.R. (2023). Human Capabilities. In: The Work-Ready Graduate. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-33910-3_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-33910-3_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-33909-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-33910-3
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)