De afgelopen jaren is in de media in toenemende mate bericht en gerapporteerd door journalistiek en toezichthouder over de wijze waarop accountants hun rol als “hoeder van het maatschappelijk verkeer”vervullen. Corruptieschandalen (Ballast Nedam), geknoei met cijfers en waarderingen (Ahold, Vestia, Steinhoff) en bedrijven die onder het toeziend oog van accountants failliet gingen (DSB en IMtech) hebben ertoe bijgedragen dat het accountantsberoep in zwaar weer is terecht gekomen en dat de competentie van degenen die het beroep uitoefenen in twijfel wordt getrokken. De vraag in vervolg op het eerder in TEO geplaatste artikel (Soft Skills deel 1) is in hoeverre bedrijfseconomische en accountant opleidingen kunnen bijdragen aan een noodzakelijke verandering.
MULTIFILE
The hard side in total quality management of measurement and data analysis can only be successful if it is replenished with the soft side, the people side. This conclusion has serious consequences for the education of professionals, especially managers. Managers should be trained in soft skills, trained in managing themselves and their relations with others. The recent research done by Meduprof-S focuses on the question which skills are needed and on the extent to which business schools quality standards consider soft skills to be important in the education of managers .
DOCUMENT
To find, design and create solutions to global challenges, 21st century engineering professionals work in multi-disciplinary and international teams that are expected to work effectively, efficiently and innovatively. Universities are following this trend, as they acknowledge the importance of soft skills for employability. The integration of soft skills in higher education curricula is not straightforward, especially in engineering education. At our university, soft skills courses score low in student satisfaction surveys. This is the reason why we study the motivation, attitude and anxiety of computer engineering students toward learning soft skills. To do so, we performed a quantitative study using an online survey based on the mini-AMBT. Overall, our data indicate that computer engineering students have a positive motivation and attitude toward learning soft skills from both an integrative and an instrumental perspective. The obtained results do not give clear insights as to what causes the low satisfaction scores for soft skill courses. All of the above calls for further, qualitative research. We studied the motivation and attitude of computer engineering students in a Dutch university of applied sciences; the motivation and attitude of students in other disciplines and countries may differ and should be studied separately. Full text for members of IEEE : https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/8363231/
DOCUMENT
This study addresses the role of a Dutch chief information security officer (CISO) and the soft skills required in this leadership role. The overview of soft skills is the outcome of the CISO perspectives in a Delphi study combined with an analysis of soft skills mentioned in job ads. A comparison with an earlier US-based study revealed that soft skills are ranked differently by Dutch CISOs. Moreover, we found that soft skills are not clearly described in job ads – none of these ads had explicitly listed soft skills. The present study demonstrates that CISOs with soft skills are in demand. The development of soft skills starts at a young age through various social activities and is also the result of self-actuation. The practical implications of this study are that it offers insights into the soft skills required for the role and discusses best-fitting leadership styles and ways in which organisations should include soft skills in recruitment.
DOCUMENT
While many researchers have investigated soft skills for different roles related to business, engineering, healthcare and others, the soft skills needed by the chief information security officer (CISO) in a leadership position are not studied in-depth. This paper describes a first study aimed at filling this gap. In this multimethod research, both the business leaders perspective as well as an analysis of CISO job ads is studied. The methodology used to capture the business leaders perspective is via a Delphi study and the jobs adds are studied using a quantitative content analysis. With an increasing threat to information security for companies, the CISO role is moving from a technical role to an executive role. This executive function is responsible for information security across all layers of an organisation. To ensure compliance with the security policy among different groups within the company, such as employees, the board, and the IT department, the CISO must be able to adopt different postures. Soft skills are thus required to be able to assume this leadership role in the organisation. We found that when business leaders were asked about the most important soft skills the top three consisted out of 'communication', ‘leadership’ and 'interpersonal' skills while 'courtesy' was last on the list for a CISO leadership role.
MULTIFILE
Times a changing. Mangement roles change. Quailty managers more an more are change managers and need soft skills to perform well.
MULTIFILE
De term soft control wordt gebruikt voor een keur aan sturings- en beheersmaatregelen die organisaties helpen op koers te blijven. Ze hebben vooral betrekking op gedrag en cultuur. Uit ons inventariserend onderzoek blijkt dat er geen eenduidigheid over de definitie van soft control is en al helemaal niet over de manier waarop soft control wordt uitgewerkt. Hierdoor zijn veel uitwerkingen en meetinstrumenten voor soft control in omloop. In dit artikel vragen we ons af hoe we de kwaliteit van meetinstrumenten voor soft control kunnen beoordelen. Op basis van een aantal methodologische criteria ontwikkelen we een ordeningskader van deze instrumenten. Hiermee scheppen we helderheid in de fascinerende wereld van sociaalwetenschappelijke meetinstrumenten.
DOCUMENT
This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the AI-related skills and roles needed to bridge the AI skills gap in Europe. Using a mixed-method research approach, this study investigated the most in-demand AI expertise areas and roles by surveying 409 organizations in Europe, analyzing 2,563 AI-related job advertisements, and conducting 24 focus group sessions with 145 industry and policy experts. The findings underscore the importance of both general technical skills in AI related to big data, machine learning and deep learning, cyber and data security, large language models as well as AI soft skills such as problemsolving and effective communication. This study sets the foundation for future research directions, emphasizing the importance of upskilling initiatives and the evolving nature of AI skills demand, contributing to an EU-wide strategy for future AI skills development.
MULTIFILE
The importance of professional skills in future engineering jobs is beyond discussion. Increasing numbers of universities have integrated training for such skills in their engineering curricula to prepare students to become highly qualified employees. HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht also implemented professional skills training in the IT Bachelor program to help our students develop towards successful and highly demanded IT engineers. However, these courses consistently score low in our student satisfaction surveys. To find the cause of this negative evaluation, we previously studied the motivation, attitude and anxiety of IT students towards learning soft, or professional, skills. This former quantitative study indicates that our IT students tend to have a positive motivation and attitude toward learning professional skills, while ’anxiety’ in learning professional skills increases from the first to the third year. In this qualitative study, we try to find causes for the increasing anxiety among IT students. We interviewed six third and fourth year IT students and after analysing these interviews we found that these students have experienced the need for professional skills during their internship. Besides, they emphasize the need of obtaining these skills for future employment. From the analysis of the interviews, it also appears that IT students rather felt difficulty in obtaining communication skills then anxiety. A possible cause for this difficulty mentioned by students was the character of students and the influence of the teacher. To overcome this difficulty obtaining communication skills, students suggested that training skills in an authentic engineering situation is more effective than doing exercises with simulated cases. However, the results of this study did not yield a conclusive insight in the cause of increased anxiety, hence further research is needed.
DOCUMENT
