Soft Skills for TQM in Higher Education Standards. by Everard van Kemenade, Ph.D.

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1 Soft Skills for TQM in Higher Education Standards by Everard van Kemenade, Ph.D. The concern about whether higher education institutions are doing the right things to provide education in total quality management (TQM) is not a new subject. In fact, two studies conducted in the United States and written about in Quality Progress examined this question more than a decade ago. In 1996, James R. Evans surveyed 13 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipients and concluded that organizations attach the most importance to an individual employee s quality attitude. 1 The most highly valued knowledge, skills and attributes were customer orientation, continuous process improvement and teamwork. Further investigation indicated, however, that college graduates often did not have the requisite skills. After graduation, many needed company-subsidized training courses covering 16 of the 23 highest valued objectives in the field of TQM, with the primary focus on practical orientation. Evans concluded from his study that in the past, higher education apparently has not succeeded in teaching the required knowledge and skills associated with TQM. The second study, conducted in 1998, supported Evans conclusions. 2 The study focused on the range of courses available in higher education and found the main expectations of business are either insufficiently covered by higher education or not covered at all. The researchers called for greater awareness of business needs and improvement of courses. A follow-up study on the subject in Europe was conducted two years later and looked at several companies and institutes of higher education in Finland, England, Belgium, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. 3 In general, this study s results matched the findings of the U.S. studies, concluding that the traditional, school-type education is probably insufficient to meet the real needs of businesses. Not only should study programs and teaching objectives be updated, but so also should the didactic work forms, study materials used and role of the lecturing staff to enable students to learn to learn.

2 A new paradigm: soft skills More than 10 years later, it seems the TQM skills researchers deemed inadequately taught by higher education institutions are regarded to be more important for professionals than ever. In 2010, a Quality Progress article looked at quality management from a historical perspective and asked what we can learn from this history and what it can tell us about the direction in which quality management was heading. 4 What we find is the new paradigms of quality management, such as continuous improvement, commitment and breakthrough, require the use of soft skills. According to researchers Dianne Waddell and David Mallen, quality management has evolved from its highly rational and purely statistical origins (what we refer to as hard elements) to a focus on softer concepts, such as employee empowerment and involvement. 5 Therefore, the skills and roles of the quality expert in the paradigm of continuous improvement and commitment can be characterized as increasingly soft. For 50 years, management theory and practice have adopted a technical, analytical approach in which the role of soft factors, such as emotions and feelings, has largely been denied. 6 Now, the role that emotions play in shaping corporate behavior is acknowledged. A study by Christos B. Fotopoulos and Evangelos L. Psomas confirmed that soft elements are important for total quality management in business today, stating that quality improvement and the consolidation of the company s market position are mostly influenced by adopting soft TQM elements and secondarily hard TQM elements. 7 Defining soft skills It s clear that the soft skills have gained importance in businesses today. But to what extent are soft skills considered to be important for quality professionals? And, if they are important, which specific skills are needed? To what extent do accreditation standards in higher education require higher education institutes to address these needs? In 2011, I explored literature trying to examine the extent to which soft skills are considered to be important for quality professionals and which skills are needed. 8 Six articles were selected for relevance and reviewed.

3 Three of the articles discussed the hard and soft side of TQM. One Total Quality Management article argued that soft skills play a more dominant role in service organizations, unlike in manufacturing, where the emphasis is on hard issues such as superiority in product, process and technology. 9 In a survey conducted in 2004, researcher John Addey concluded companies will need quality managers who are able to understand complex business matters and who can address both hard and soft quality issues in an effective way. 10 Meanwhile, another article stated: The soft aspects stand as the fundamental issue of concern for organizational management in quality planning and creating a quality working climate to ensure successful expected performance. 11 The three remaining articles continued to define the soft skills necessary for quality professionals. According to researchers Jen-shou Yang and Chin-yi Chen, In addition to hard skills, such as statistical quality techniques, there are soft skills, including team learning skills, sharing visions and learning climate development that should be regarded as important, as well as team-based quality management activities. Soft skills may increase the power of hard skills and, together with hard skills, lead to the continuous quality improvement in an organization. 12 In his article, Kostas N. Dervitsiotis noted that a soft skill, such as the proper interpretation of language data, is not as well or as widely developed as technical skills employed for quantitative variables. 13 Finally, Marcia Hagen called for training in soft skills to be included in Six Sigma training courses 14 and agreed with James E. Brady that training in soft skills, such as leadership and coaching, often take a back seat to more technical skills. 15 This literature review concluded that the need for soft skills in quality professionals has been acknowledged among organizations today, but a clear definition of the necessary soft skills did not exist. Therefore, based on the literature review, the definition for soft skills was established as including two elements: 1. Personal: the ability for a professional to develop and grow as an individual at work. Examples of personal skills include: reflection, learning to learn, commitment to the organization, self-criticism, handling emotions (such as comfort, resignation, aggression and passion), coping with complexity, ethical responsibility (including trustworthiness and conscientiousness), self-awareness, adaptability, critical thinking and liability.

4 2. Interpersonal: the ability to manage interactions with others inside and outside the organization in which one works. Examples of interpersonal skills include: inspiring people, mediation, coaching, team learning skills and teamwork, sharing visions, creating a learning climate, communication (including proper interpretation of language data), persuasion, negotiation and establishing relationships (See Table 1). Table 1: Soft skills for TQM 1 Personal, cognitive skills 1.1 Reflection 1.2 Learning to learn 1.3 Commitment to the organization 1.4 Self-criticism 1.5 Handling emotions (comfort, resignation, aggression and passion) 1.6 Coping with complexity 1.7 Ethical responsibility, trustworthiness, conscientiousness 1.8 Self-awareness 1.9 Adaptability 1.10 Critical thinking 1.11 Liability 2 Interpersonal and interactive skills 2.1 Inspiring people 2.2 Mediation 2.3 Coaching 2.4 Team learning skills, teamwork, creating a learning climate 2.5 Sharing visions 2.6 Communication (proper interpretation of language data) 2.7 Persuasion 2.8 Negotiation 2.9 Establishing relationships Source: Everard van Kemenade, Higher Education and the Teaching of Soft Skills for TQM, 2011.

5 Digging deeper If these are the skills needed for quality management in business in the 21 st century, these are the skills students should be trained on in higher education, and they should be visible in higher education curricula. So we began a second study building on the results of the 2011 study, focusing on the question: To what extent are the soft skills mentioned in the literature review recognized in higher education? To answer this question, we began researching the standards for higher education programs. Higher education programs have considerable autonomy to design their own curricula and choose the knowledge, skills and attitude the graduate should acquire. In countries where higher education is accredited, accreditation standards tend to limit this autonomy and to prescribe at least certain objectives that need to be met. In this study, we examined accreditation standards from six sources: 1. The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACBS), located in Florida, is an accrediting agency for bachelor's, master's and doctoral degree programs in business administration and accounting. For this study, we examined the standards for business 16, 17 and accounting programs from AACBS. 2. The Association of MBAs (AMBAs), an international, impartial authority on postgraduate business education in London. It accredits MBA, doctorate in business administration and master s in business and management (MBM) programs. For this study, we examined the standards for the MBA and MBM programs The European Quality Improvement System (EQUIS), a system of quality assessment, improvement and accreditation of higher education institutions in management and business administration. The system was developed by the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD), the Bruxelles accreditation body of quality in management education that has established accreditation services for business schools and business school programs, corporate universities and technology-enhanced learning programs. For this study, we examined the EQUIS criteria for management and business administration. 19

6 4. The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), the recognized accreditor for college and university programs in applied science, computing, engineering and technology, located in Baltimore, MD. 20 Its standards for soft skills are combined to one set of criteria applied to all programs it accredits. 5. The Asian University Network (AUN), a network for universities in Asian countries headquartered in Thailand. 21 It established a working group on quality assurance (AUN-QA), made up of a group of chief quality officers (CQO) appointed by the AUN member universities to be a focal point for coordinating activities to move forward the harmonization of educational standards and continuously improve the quality of universities in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The working group produced several documents that members can voluntarily use. Central in these documents are QA guidelines that relate to all higher education programs in all fields The European Joint Quality Initiative, an informal group that designed the Dublin Descriptors. The Dublin Descriptors are a general statement of the expected attributes a student should have after they complete a bachelor s degree or master s degree program. Although these descriptors are not mandatory, many accreditation bodies in Europe have used them to define standards on output at program level. For this study, we examined the Dublin Descriptors for bachelor s and master s programs. 23 In total, we reviewed nine criteria from six different sources: two from AACSB, one from ABET, two from AMBA, one from EQUIS, one from AUN and two from the Dublin Descriptors. Analysis In our research, we found AACSB criteria for business studies covered four areas: Three personal skills: reflection, ethical responsibility and analytic skills. One interpersonal skill: communication. More skills were needed to comply to EQUIS, including self-criticism, coping with complexity, self-awareness, critical thinking, teamwork and communication. Interpersonal skills and leadership skills were mentioned in the criteria, but not elaborated on.

7 Two sets of criteria from AMBA were analyzed for MBA and MBM programs. The MBA required eight sets of skills, while the MBM required seven. Both mentioned development of personal skills specifically. The MBM program focused more on the personal side and on change management, whereas the MBA was strong on both personal and interpersonal skills, including interaction and communication skills. ABET standards for applied sciences, computing, technology and engineering all address the same four areas when it comes to soft skills: 1. Functioning in teams. 2. Understanding professional and ethical responsibility. 3. Effective communication. 4. Recognition of the need for and an ability to engage in life-long learning. General guidelines from the AUN address six soft skills: 1. Reflection. 2. Learning to learn. 3. Self-criticism. 4. Self-awareness. 5. Critical thinking. 6. Communication. Leadership skills were mentioned but not elaborated on. The AUN-QA criteria had the most personal soft skills of all criteria reviewed in the study. Meanwhile, the Dublin Descriptors for a (European) bachelor s program addressed two soft skills: learning to learn and communication. On the master s level, handling complexity is mentioned as a third skill. See Table 2 and Table 3 for an overview of the soft skills addressed in each set of criteria.

8 Looking ahead It is clear that the soft skills are most recognized by two of the accreditation standards in the area of business management programs EQUIS and AMBA for MBA and MBM programs. But in technical education, such as the ABET criteria, it seems soft skills are regarded as less important. For higher education in general, the Dublin Descriptors saw far less necessity for soft skills than the AUN guidelines, as the AUN-QA guidelines were advanced in prescribing eight soft skills for all professions. This difference could be due to cultural influences. As Su Mi Park Dahlgaard stated: The long history of Japan shows they have had an extraordinary capability to import foreign elements, whether it is a system, a language, techniques, a philosophy or whatever. 24 This idea applies to the development of quality management. The same capability might be available in other Asian countries and visible now in what they want graduates to be able to do. When we look at the whole picture, communication is covered by seven out of the nine criteria. However, nine of the 20 skills mentioned in the quality management literature were not mentioned in any of the standards: three personal and six interpersonal skills. Some may argue that some soft skills are absent in higher education criteria because these skills cannot be trained at all in a higher education context. Handling emotions or establishing relationships might require psychotherapy sessions not fit for education. Some skills might be too difficult to assess. How can you measure a person s liability or his commitment to the organization? On the other hand, skills such as inspiring people, mediation, coaching, persuasion and negotiation can be trained and assessed. But they are still lacking in the criteria. Based on this analysis, we propose a new set of 16 skills that should be incorporated into higher education criteria and further studied and explored (see Table 4).

9 Table 4: Proposed set of soft skills for TQM 1. Personal, cognitive skills 1.1 Reflection 1.2 Learning to learn 1.3 Self-criticism 1.4 Coping with complexity 1.5 Ethical responsibility, trustworthiness and conscientiousness 1.6 Self-awareness 1.7 Adaptability 1.8 Critical thinking 2 Interpersonal and interactive skills 2.1 Inspiring people 2.2 Mediation 2.3 Coaching 2,4 Team learning skills, teamwork and creating a learning climate 2.5 Sharing visions 2.6 Communication (proper interpretation of language data) 2.7 Persuasion 2.8 Negotiation The results of this study do not address the actual programs in the universities. These can go far beyond the guidelines and standards. It only shows the way these programs are guided or directed. Based on this analysis, however, it is strongly recommended that higher

10 education authorities reconsider its criteria and question why soft skills, such as reflection, selfcriticism, ethical responsibility, self-awareness, adaptability, inspiring people, mediation, coaching, team learning skills and teamwork, persuasion and negotiation are all lacking from its standards. While soft skills may be more difficult to train or measure, they re proving increasingly valuable in TQM in business today. To prepare our students for success, it s crucial to incorporate these skills into the standards that define a quality higher education. References and Note 1. James R. Evans, What Should Higher Education Be Teaching About Quality? Quality Progress, August 1996, pp Larry B. Weinstein, Joseph A. Petrick and Paula M. Saunders, What Higher Education Should Be Teaching About Quality, But Is Not, Quality Progress, April 1998, pp Everard van Kemenade and Paul Garré, Teach What You Preach, Quality Progress, September 2000, pp Everard van Kemenade, Past is Prologue, Quality Progress, August 2010, pp Dianne D. Waddell and David D. Mallen, Quality Managers: Beyond 2000, Total Quality Management, Vol. 12, No. 3, 2001, pp H. Bruch and S. Ghoshal, Unleashing Organisational Energy, MIT Sloan Management Review, Vol. 35, No. 1, 2003, pp Christos B. Fotopoulos and Evangelos L. Psomas, The Impact of Soft and Hard TQM Elements on Quality Management Results, International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management, Vol. 26, No. 2, 2008, pp Everard van Kemenade, Higher Education and the Teaching of Soft Skills for TQM, unpublished manuscript.

11 9. G.S. Sureshchandar, C. Rajendran and R.N. Anantharaman, A Conceptual Model for Total Quality Management in Service Organizations, Total Quality Management, Vol. 12, No. 3, 2001, pp John Addey, The Modern Quality Manager, Total Quality Management, Vol. 15, No. 5-6, 2004, pp Noor Azman Ali, Fauziah Mahat and Zairi Mohamed, Testing the Criticality of HR-TQM Factors in the Malaysian Higher Education Context, Total Quality Management, Vol. 12, No. 11, 2010, pp. 1,177-1, Jen-shou Yang and Chin-yi Chen, Systemic Design for Improving Team Learning Climate and Capability: A Case Study, Total Quality Management, Vol. 16, No. 6, 2005, pp Kostas N. Dervitsiotis, Building Trust for Excellence in Performance and Adaptation to Change, Total Quality Management, Vol. 17, No. 7, 2006, pp Marcia Hagen, The Wisdom of the Coach: A Review of Managerial Coaching in the Six Sigma Context, Total Quality Management, Vol. 21, No. 8, 2010, pp John E. Brady, Six Sigma and the University: Teaching, Research and Meso-Analysis, unpublished doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, AACSB Standards: Standard 15 for Business Studies, Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, AACSB Standards: Standard 37 for Accounting, Association of MBAs (AMBAs), MBA Accreditation Criteria and MBM Accreditation Criteria, (case sensitive).

12 19. European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD), European Quality Improvement System Accreditation Standards and Criteria, 2010, pdf (case sensitive). 20. Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), Accreditation criteria, html. 21. Members of the Asian University Network are 22 universities from the following 10 ASEAN countries: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. 22. Asian University Network, AUN QA Guidelines, Joint Quality Initiative, (2004), The Dublin Descriptors, Su Mi Park Dahlgaard, The Evolution Patterns of Quality Management: Some Reflections on the Quality Movement, Total Quality Management, Vol. 10, Nos. 4-5, 1999, p Everard van Kemenade is a quality manager and consultant/trainer in quality management in emerging countries and countries in transition for MeduProf-S in the Netherlands.