Soft skills

Soft skills are a combination of people

skills, social skills, communication skills,
character traits, attitudes, career
attribute,[1] social intelligence and
emotional intelligence quotients among
others that enable people to navigate
their environment, work well with others,
perform well, and achieve their goals
with complementing hard skills.[2] The
Collins English Dictionary defines the
term "soft skills" as "desirable qualities
for certain forms of employment that do
not depend on acquired knowledge: they
include common sense, the ability to deal
with people, and a positive flexible
attitude."[3]

History
Since 1959, the U.S. Army has been
investing a considerable amount of
resources into technology-based
development of training procedures. In
1968 the U.S. Army officially introduced a
training doctrine known as "Systems
Engineering of Training" covered in the
document CON Reg 350-100-1.[4][5]
PG Whitmore cited the CON Reg 350-
100-1 definition: "job related skills
involving actions affecting primarily
people and paper, e.g., inspecting troops,
supervising office personnel, conducting
studies, preparing maintenance reports,
preparing efficiency reports, designing
bridge structures."[6]

At the 1972 CONARC Soft Skills

Conference Dr. Whitmore presented a
report[7][8][9] aimed at figuring out how the
term "soft skills" (in the areas of
command, supervision, counseling and
leadership) is understood in various
CONARC schools. After designing and
processing a questionnaire, the following
tentative definition was formulated: "Soft
skills are important job-related skills that
involve little or no interaction with
machines and whose application on the
job is quite generalized."[7][9]

They further criticized state of the

concept then as vague with a remark "in
other words, those job functions about
which we know a good deal are hard
skills and those about which we know
very little are soft skills." Another
immediate study by them also concluded
in a negative tone.[7]

Psychologist Nicholas Humphrey

famously stated that it is social
intelligence that defines humans rather
than quantitative intelligence. Many
industries today give prominence to soft
skills of their employees. It is through a
1972 US Army training manual identified
formal usage of the term "soft skills"
began.[10]

Concept
Soft skills are a cluster of productive
personality traits that characterize one's
relationships in a milieu. These skills can
include social graces, communication
abilities, language skills, personal habits,
cognitive or emotional empathy, time
management, teamwork and leadership
traits. A definition based on review
literature explains soft skills as an
umbrella term for skills under three key
functional elements: people skills, social
skills, and personal career attributes.[11]
National Business Education Association
deems soft skills as critical for being
industrious in today’s workplace.[12] Soft
skills complement hard skills also known
as technical skills, for productive
workplace performance and everyday life
competencies (Arkansas Department of
Education, 2007). Hard skills were the
only skills necessary for career
employment and were generally
quantifiable and measurable from
educational background, work
experience or through interview. In the
20th century soft skills are a major
differentiator, a sine qua non for
employability and success in life.[13] A
study conducted by Harvard University
noted that 80% of achievements in career
are determined by soft skills and only
20% by hard skills. Experts say soft skills
training should begin for a person when
they are students, to perform efficiently
in their academic environment as well as
in their future workplace. A public
interest study conducted by McDonald’s
in UK predicted over half a million people
will be held back from job sectors by
2020 due to lack of soft skills.[14]

Enumeration and
categorization
A person's soft skill is an important part
of their individual contribution to the
success of an organization.
Organizations which deal with customers
face-to-face are generally more
successful if they promote activities for
staffs to develop these skills through
wellness enhancing programs. Training
or rewarding for personal habits or traits
such as dependability and
conscientiousness can yield significant
return on investment for an organization.
For this reason, soft skills are
increasingly sought out by employers in
addition to standard qualifications.
Studies by Stanford Research Institute
and the Carnegie Mellon Foundation
among Fortune 500 CEOs established
that 75% of long term job success
resulted from soft skills and only 25%
from technical skills (Sinha, 2008).
Hence, soft skills are as important as
cognitive/technical skills (John, 2009;
Zehr, 1998).

Soft skills for business

executives

Following is a "top ten" list of soft skills

compiled by Eastern Kentucky University
from executive listings.[11]
1. Communication – oral speaking
capability, written, presenting, listening.
2. Courtesy – manners, etiquette,
business etiquette, gracious, says please
and thank you, respectful.
3. Flexibility – adaptability, willing to
change, lifelong learner, accepts new
things, adjusts, teachable.
4. Integrity – honest, ethical, high morals,
has personal values, does what’s right.
5. Interpersonal skills – nice, personable,
sense of humor, friendly, nurturing,
empathetic, has self-control, patient,
sociability, warmth, social skills.
6. Positive attitude – optimistic,
enthusiastic, encouraging, happy,
confident.
7. Professionalism – businesslike, well-
dressed, appearance, poised.
8. Responsibility – accountable, reliable,
gets the job done, resourceful, self-
disciplined, wants to do well,
conscientious, common sense.
9. Teamwork – cooperative, gets along
with others, agreeable, supportive,
helpful, collaborative.
10. Work ethic – hard working, willing to
work, loyal, initiative, self-motivated, on
time, good attendance.

See also
Basic interpersonal communicative
 skills
Critical thinking
DISCO - European Dictionary of Skills
and Competences
People skills
Empathy
Life skills
Social intelligence
Social skills
Theory of multiple intelligences
21st century skills
Vocational skills

References
1. "Identifying your Skills & Attributes" .
Retrieved 5 December 2016.
2. Workforce connections: Key soft skills
that foster youth workforce success ,
Child Trends, June 2015
3. "the definition of soft skills" . Retrieved
5 December 2016.
4. CON Reg 350-100-1 (PDF), Fort
Monroe, Virginia: UNITED STATES
CONTINENTAL ARMY COMMAND, 1968,
retrieved November 21, 2016
5. Silber, K.H. & Foshay, W.R., Handbook of
Improving Performance in the Workplace,
Instructional Design and Training Delivery,
John Wiley & Sons 2009,
ISBN 9780470190685, p.63
6. CON Reg 350-100-1, as cited in
Whitmore, Paul G., "What are soft skills?"
7. Whitmore, Paul G., "What are soft
skills?", Paper presented at the CONARC
Soft Skills Conference, Texas, 12-13
December, 1972
8. Fry, John P., "Procedures for
Implementing Soft-Skill Training in
CONARC Schools," Paper presented at the
CONARC Soft Skills Conference, Texas,
12-13 December, 1972
9. Whitmore, Paul G.; Fry, John P., "Soft
Skills: Definition, Behavioral Model
Analysis, Training Procedures.
Professional Paper 3-74.", Research
Report ERIC Number: ED158043, 48pp.
10. Katherine S. Newman, Chutes and
Ladders: Navigating the Low-wage Labor
Market, Harvard University Press 2006,
ISBN 0674023366, p.351
11. Marcel M. Robles, Executive
Perceptions of the Top 10 Soft Skills
Needed in Today’s Workplace Archived
2016-08-12 at the Wayback Machine.,
Business Communication Quarterly, 75(4)
453–465 (pdf )
12.
https://www.nbea.org/newsite/curriculum
/policy/no_67.pdf
13. Heckman and Kautz, Hard Evidence
on Soft Skills , 2012
14. "McDonald's Backing Soft Skills" .
Retrieved 5 December 2016.

Further reading
Peggy, Klaus (2008), The Hard Truth
About Soft Skills: Workplace Lessons
Smart People Wish They'd Learned
Sooner, HarperCollins, ISBN 978-0-061-
28414-4
Giusti, Giuseppe (2008), Soft Skills for
Lawyers, Chelsea Publishing,
ISBN 978-0-9558926-0-8

External links
Hard Numbers from Soft Skills:
Measuring the impact of soft skills
programs
 The Soft Skills of Business English
NCWD - Helping Youth Develop Soft
Skills for Job Success

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Soft skills

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