Rethinking the soft skills deficit blame game: Employers, skills withdrawal and the reporting of soft skills gaps

Hurrell, S. A. (2016) Rethinking the soft skills deficit blame game: Employers, skills withdrawal and the reporting of soft skills gaps. Human Relations, 69(3), pp. 605-628. (doi: 10.1177/0018726715591636)

Abstract

Soft (e.g. interpersonal and social) skills are receiving ever more attention with employers frequently reporting that employees lack these skills. The ‘blame game’ for these skills deficits is frequently directed at the individual, family or government. Scant attention has been paid to the possibility that people may possess soft skills but decide to withdraw them because of disaffection with their employer. Taking a critical perspective and drawing on three case study establishments, this article finds that some managers blamed soft skills gaps on skills withdrawal. The employee data did not, however, reveal greater employee disaffection in the establishment worst affected by soft skills gaps. Investigation of withdrawal instead revealed more about employees who had left the organizations and the propensity for employers to blame employees for soft skills gaps. The study also affirmed that organizations may be to blame for their soft skills gaps if they do not contextually integrate selection, induction and training practices with their skills needs.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: The fieldwork for this project was funded by ESRC CASE studentship award PTA-033-2003-00043.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Hurrell, Dr Scott
• Authors: Hurrell, S. A.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > Adam Smith Business School > Management
• Journal Name: Human Relations
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• ISSN: 0018-7267
• ISSN (Online): 1741-282X
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2016 Hurrell, S. A. (2016) Rethinking the soft skills deficit blame game: Employers, skills withdrawal and the reporting of soft skills gaps. Human Relations, 69(3), pp. 605-628. (doi:10.1177/0018726715591636)
• First Published: First published in Human Relations 69(3):605-628
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher