¶ … People Skills:
Why Soft Competencies Are Important to Software Development
Makasiranondh, Maj, and Veal (2011) recently investigated the apparent disconnect between student opinions on soft skills and the general requirements in the software industry. As the results have shown, the students in their sample had a generally low opinion on the importance of soft skills for their future careers -- they just don't see the point of learning people-oriented competencies when there are other, more 'practical' technical skills to be underscored. Of course, there is a disparity between these very same opinions and what's needed in the IT industry; you can't survive in the field without getting along with others (Levasseur, 2010). So the general challenge, as of this point, is in establishing how to argue the benefits of people skills given the asymmetrical importance given to the more technical skills. This is the subject of this paper.
Why Do Projects Fail?
McManus and Wood-Harper (as cited in Levasseur, 2010) had pointed out that about 65% of IT projects fail because of the lack of people skills. Without learning how to get along, with the best of intentions, even those who are experienced software development team leaders will have a hard time completing a particular project (Levasseur, 2010). It is then not an unreasonable stance to point out that people skills...
efficiency built on specialization) requires the capacity to juggle the different needs and particularities of members -- these are non-technical issues that require social finesse to handle. Giuri et al. (2010) echoes the same idea in its reiteration of team production theory, which also explains that social collaboration is essential to project success. In addition, collaboration, in tandem with capital and specialized skills, not only maximizes output but adds to it, ensuring a high total productivity for the whole team (Giuri et al., 2010).
In this case, it is then a simple matter to say that soft skills are prime influencers to team success. Since this particular structure would not be fundamentally changed anytime soon, it is then advisable for students like us to be able to develop these skills even before we join the workforce. This is a line of reasoning that most would be able to understand.
Leadership in the 21st Century
Of course, it needs to be…
That is management. Leadership also involves addressing unknown problems. It involves understanding what the rest of the organization does not, and then shoring up these organizational blind spots without alienating the organization's core values. The ability to identify problems and address them in such a manner is known as organizational intelligence. The leader of the firm can demonstrate this trait and lead the firm to success, but in a large
"Cancellation, in particular, can have a profound and lasting affect on the organization and its employees." (Hormozi, 2000) Interdependence of Department in Organization The following statement is an excerpt from the work entitled "Knowledge Worker Team Effectiveness: The Role of Autonomy, interdependence, team development, and contextual support variables" written by Brian D. Janz, Jason a. Colquitt, Raymond a. Noe: Those studies that have examined teams of knowledge workers have employed samples of
This will help me become more aware of effective communication techniques. This step should begin immediately and should continue for six months. To determine if this is effective, I will seek feedback from my team members on my communication skills at the beginning and at the end of the process, to quantify any improvement. To improve my relationship building skills, I will again focus on seeking out written resources regarding emotional
Having this traditional silo-structured environment makes it very difficult to properly develop a curriculum surrounding service management. Because of this there is a significant gap that exists between the education received by business school graduates and the skills that they need to succeed in today's service heavy environment. Non-traditional Business Skills and Tactics Nontraditional business skills are often referred to as soft skills or people skills. These consist of the ability
Personal Skills Assessment and Analysis Report Developing optimally effective managerial skills can be a challenging enterprise in any industry, and it is axiomatic that it is essential to measure individual strengths and weaknesses in order to identify strengths to build on as well as opportunities for improvement. To this end, this paper provides a review of the relevant literature concerning effective management practices in general and how these practices can be
Behavior Modification and Skill Enhancement for High-Risk Students in Community Colleges Community colleges traditionally maintain an open-door policy, often enrolling students who are poorly prepared to enter higher education. Once these students are enrolled, they often find themselves struggling with severe skill deficiencies and, in a survey of 6,246 students attending a large, urban community college, Jack Friedlander (1981) discovered that, of the students who were not confident in one or more