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New business graduates often have difficulty finding suitable employment in a competitive job market. Students need direct instruction for communicating their self-competence to employers. This paper highlights a practical application of mock group interviewing (MGI) and instruction over five semesters exploring multiple practice rounds of behavior-based interviewing with 521 undergraduate business students at one 4-year public university. A culminating MGI event afforded students opportunities to practice their communication and soft skills with area business professionals (N = 126) as interviewers. Results show promise that MGI training may improve employers' perceived competence of students' hireability and be beneficial for students with diminished self-competence.

Soft skills are highly sought by employers and linked to academic and personal success. Employers lament a perceived "skills gap" in new graduates, but few studies have examined faculty perspectives on soft skills. A survey of business faculty across the United States explored how they are teaching students in these areas. The findings show that most faculty believe soft skills are important and are integrating them into their courses. Methods for teaching soft skills are varied, but "passive" approaches like readings and lectures are generally most prominent.

This study explores whether soft skills can be developed through students' participation in collaborative learning projects in entry level accounting courses without sacrificing time allotted to the coverage of technical content. Results indicate that after emphasizing technical competencies throughout the semester, capstone group projects involving collaboration require the exercise of soft skills. Analysis of students' written peer and self-evaluations found instances of soft skills development indicating that, during the project, students display soft skills critical for success in the accounting profession. A model is proposed depicting the observed outcomes of this collaborative learning activity.

In order to identify the main skills required by the labor market and to relate these skills to those developed by institutions accredited by AACSB, we conducted a qualitative study by triangulating information from the literature, World Economic Forum and interviews with accreditation experts, faculty, and students, to argue that accredited schools develop the necessary skills in students for their future. We identified four catalysts for skills: teaching criteria established in accreditations that require a guarantee of learning skills; learning in practice; encouraging international experience; partnerships with organizations that allow experience in the labor market.

Teamwork skills are widely recognized as important, but are these skills being taught effectively within business courses? Two studies utilizing survey research explore how faculty are currently using teamwork in their classes, student perceptions, and how effective the teamwork instruction has been. Conclusions suggest teamwork skills be taught more completely, instructors need to emphasize teamwork skills as skills worthy of development, and increase focus on strategies for within group feedback.

The worldwide big data and analytics investment market continues to grow, with projections indicating strong compound annual growth rates over the next decade. To achieve true competitive advantage from business intelligence and data analytics, organizations must control how these investments are being integrated into the culture of the organization. Analytics integration is dependent on employees displaying a comprehensive set of skills that extends beyond technical competencies. This qualitative research identifies specific personal, interpersonal, and communication skills critical for effective interaction among analytics specialists and corporate decision makers. In applying these skills, analytics professionals can shift the decision culture within the organization to engage a data-informed approach to decision making.

New business graduates often have difficulty finding suitable employment in a competitive job market. Students need direct instruction for communicating their self-competence to employers. This paper highlights a practical application of mock group interviewing (MGI) and instruction over five semesters exploring multiple practice rounds of behavior-based interviewing with 521 undergraduate business students at one 4-year public university. A culminating MGI event afforded students opportunities to practice their communication and soft skills with area business professionals (N = 126) as interviewers. Results show promise that MGI training may improve employers' perceived competence of students' hireability and be beneficial for students with diminished self-competence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to provide a low-cost, effective way to teach emotional intelligence (EI) skills for email communications by utilizing Dale Carnegie's 30 Human Relations Principles. Our teaching approach is based on an actual multiple-party negotiation that included an executive from a Fortune 500 Company. Utilizing negotiation enhances students' critical thinking about real-world, business decision-making scenarios. Active learning is incorporated into the project through student collaboration and reflection. Finally, the project can be administered completely online through the school's learning management system, which reduces demand on valuable class time. We provide extensive resources to assist instructors in teaching EI and administering the project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many have expressed concerns with respect to the development of managerial skills in business graduate programs. Time constraints and limited practice opportunities are, arguably, the key roadblocks for development. The author explores the outcomes of a course that addresses these roadblocks by providing an instruction that cuts across academic terms and utilizes core courses as settings for repetitive practice opportunities. Results support the effectiveness of the course in advancing critical thinking and oral communication skills. From the results, the author details the strengths of the course and the features that could be replicated across business schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Managers now emphasize the importance of soft interpersonal skills for success in business. The authors provide an active learning approach to collaboratively teach students basic soft skills that are needed in most careers. There are initial startup costs for the instructor, but this effort soon reaps extraordinary rewards for students. In the authors' approach, the need for soft skills arises from a real-world issue that results from the application of technical skills in an exercise. A decision must be made, which requires students to learn soft skills. Finally, students apply their soft skills in the real world. The authors provide extensive support for instructors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors' focus was the assessment of skill requirements for information systems security positions to understand expectations for security jobs and to highlight issues relevant to curriculum management. The analysis of 798 job advertisements involved the exploration of domain-related and soft skills as well as degree and certification requirements. Domain-related skills comprised the largest part of the results (16 of the top 20 skills) with the top three related to networks, standards, and policies. The most often found soft skill related to teams or teamwork. Implications for information systems curriculum are discussed, and suggestions for future research are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses the criticisms directed at management education and argues that the causes of today's problems are rooted in the apparent disconnect between management academics and practitioners. It starts with an examination of management education and its discontents from past to present. Then, existing problems are analyzed in the categories of (a) relevance, (b) analytical versus soft skills, and (c) legitimacy. It is asserted that the problems can be overcome when management scholars and practitioners reconcile and exert their joint efforts on redefining management as a professional discipline. Suggestions are offered as to how to carry out this endeavor. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

As the importance of communication skills for students, regardless of their disciplines, becomes evident, it is important to determine whether colleges provide students with adequate opportunities to acquire such skills. The authors compared information systems (IS) educator and student perceptions of communication skills in IS curricula. Gender, discipline, position and student classification, and school size were among the variables that were examined. Results showed that educators and students agreed that IS curricula had the appropriate emphasis on many of the communication skills. However, the two groups significantly differed on their extent of agreement or disagreement with appropriate level of emphasis and the number of courses that cover such communication skills. Results revealed that educators felt there were a few communication skills, such as proofreading, listening, facilitating meetings, and using interpersonal skills with external customers and management, that needed more emphasis in the IS curriculum. Implications for educators and researchers are reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]