Development of social competences, as key factors for long-term employability, through the economics study program

U današnje se vrijeme gotovo sve organizacije susreću s izazovima i promjenama koje nosi moderno poslovanje. Pitanje koje se postavlja jest koliko su naše organizacije evoluirale te na kojoj su razini razmišljanja današnji poslodavci što se tiče uvođenja noviteta, odnosno prihvaćanja trenutnih trendova na svjetskom tržištu rada vezanih uz afirmiranje socijalnih kompetencija. Kompetencije općenito imaju veliki značaj kada je u pitanju zaposlenikova radna uspješnost. Temelj upravljanja ljudskim potencijalima svake organizacije počeo se zasnivati upravo na sustavu upravljanja kompetencijama. Kako bi se postigla najveća učinkovitost zaposlenika, potrebno je omogućiti osnovne predispozicije za postizanje te učinkovitosti, krenuvši od treninga, mentorstava, edukacija i svega potrebnoga za jačanje kompetencija potrebnih za obavljanje nekog zadatka. Kada se razmišljalo o edukacijama, najčešće se razmišljalo o tome da su one potrebne u svrhu razvijanja konkretnih znanja i kompetencija potrebnih za posao. Međutim, inozemno je tržište postalo sve otvorenije za razvoj nekih drugih kompetencija, a to su upravo socijalne kompetencije, bez kojih je ponekad teško savladati konkretna znanja jer su one preduvjet uspješne komunikacije. U skladu s time, i hrvatski poslodavci već neko vrijeme prate trend uvođenja edukacija u svrhu jačanja kako stručnih tako i socijalnih kompetencija. Ovo je istraživanje propitalo koliko su posvećeni razvoju socijalne kompetentnosti svojih zaposlenika i koliko im je ona zaista važna za napredovanje i dugoročnu zapošljivost. Teorijski dio rada govori o važnosti kompetencija u suvremenom društvu, s naglaskom na razvoju i određenju socijalnih kompetencija te njihovoj usporedbi sa stručnim kompetencijama. Sumirajući rezultate istraživanja, izdvojene su i objašnjene ključne stručne i socijalne kompetencije. S obzirom na to da je danas gotovo cjelokupno poslovanje zasnovano na kontaktima i radu s drugim ljudima, kao najčešće spominjana socijalna kompetencija izdvaja se timski rad. Nadalje, u radu se govori o odnosu socijalnih kompetencija sa socijalnim kapitalom i emocionalnom inteligencijom, koji je neraskidiv. Puni se potencijal emocionalne inteligencije ne može ostvariti bez socijalnih kompetencija, a one ujedno dovode do stvaranja socijalnog kapitala. Također, ističe se uloga okoline u stvaranju socijalno kompetentnih ljudi. Jasno je da se socijalna kompetentnost razvija od najranije dobi te da najznačajniji utjecaj na njezin razvoj vrše upravo roditelji, vršnjaci i odgojitelji, no društveni razvoj tu ne prestaje, već se nastavlja tijekom visokog obrazovanja. Socijalizacija se spominje kao prvi korak prema razvitku socijalno kompetentne osobe, a označava dugotrajne, složene procese u kojima pojedinac u interakciji s društvenom okolinom razvija, oblikuje i uči društveno relevantne oblike doživljavanja i ponašanja: uvjerenja, stavove, vrijednosti, navike, običaje. U ovom se radu naglašava stav da su cjeloživotno učenje i obrazovanje, a posebice visoko obrazovanje, ključ za uspješnost na tržištu rada, pri čemu su mjera poslovne uspješnosti napredovanje i dugoročna zapošljivost. Teorijski dio rada zaključuje da ljudi kao društvena i emocionalna bića svoju sreću i poslovni razvoj primarno razvijaju kroz društvene odnose. Drugi dio rada odnosi se na empirijsko istraživanje. Istraživanje je podijeljeno na dva dijela te je provedeno metodom ankete. Prvi se dio odnosi na poslodavce u Republici Hrvatskoj. Anketirano je 113 poslodavaca koji dolaze iz poduzeća različitih veličina, pripadnih različitim gospodarskim sektorima. Drugi dio ankete odnosi se na studente. Anketirano je 665 studenata Ekonomskog fakulteta Sveučilišta u Zagrebu i Veleučilišta Baltazar u Zaprešiću. Anketirani su studenti prve i pete godine studija. U skladu s prethodno navedenom problematikom kreirano je šest hipoteza, od kojih su neke na temelju empirijskog istraživanja nepotvrđene ili djelomično potvrđene. Prvi dio empirijskog dijela rada temelji se na ispitivanju provedenom na uzorku poslodavaca u Republici Hrvatskoj. Rezultati anketa namijenjenih poslodavcima otkrili su mnogo značajnih podataka, no osnovna je premisa da je za ostvarivanje napredovanja i dugoročne zapošljivosti važnost socijalnih kompetencija neupitna. Promatrajući ukupne rezultate i procjenu važnosti svih kompetencija s aspekta različitih gospodarskih sektora, ne može se kategorički tvrditi da određeni sektor pridaje veći značaj pojedinim socijalnim kompetencijama u svrhu postizanja napredovanja ili dugoročne zapošljivosti zaposlenika. Između voditelja ljudskih potencijala, kao jedne ciljane skupine ispitanika, i vrhovnog menadžmenta odnosno vlasnika organizacija, kao druge ciljane skupine ispitanika, razlike su u odgovorima značajne. Rezultati pokazuju da su voditelji ljudskih potencijala u prosjeku davali svim kompetencijama veće značenje, odnosno veće ocjene, nego što je to dao vrhovni menadžment. Unatoč tomu što gotovo sva pitanja odnosno odgovori ukazuju na veliku važnost koja se pripisuje socijalnim kompetencijama u usporedbi sa stručnim kompetencijama, zaključuje se da je nemoguće odvojiti jedne od drugih, odnosno da je nemoguće istaknuti samo jednu vrstu kompetencija kao neophodnu za napredovanje i dugoročnu zapošljivost. Rezultati istraživanja među poslodavcima također ukazuju na nedosljednost poslodavaca u vlastitom razmišljanju – socijalne se kompetencije u usporedbi sa stručnim kompetencijama shvaćaju kao manje važne (prema prosjeku dodijeljenih ocjena), no kada se pitanje postavi na drugi način, odnosno kadaIII se poslodavce izravno pita smatraju li da su socijalne kompetencije važnije od stručnih, velika ih se većina složila da jesu važnije. Drugi dio empirijskog dijela rada fokusiran je na studente ekonomskih visokih učilišta, odnosno na sustav visokog obrazovanja. Istraživanje je fokusirano na mjerenje trenutne razine socijalne kompetentnosti studenata te na razvoj socijalne kompetentnosti kroz studij. Također, naglasak je istraživanja i na percepciji studenata o važnosti socijalnih kompetencija te na razlikama između stručnih i socijalnih kompetencija. Rezultati pokazuju značajan razvoj empatije kroz studij, što je jedna od glavnih sastavnica socijalnih kompetencija, ali isto tako pokazuju da se komunikacijske vještine i vještine upravljanja konfliktima ne razvijaju značajnije tijekom studija. S obzirom na to da se među svim navedenim (socijalnim i stručnim) kompetencijama komunikacijske vještine navode kao najvažnije, a empatija kao najmanje važna, rezultati istraživanja ukazuju na slabu točku sustava visokog obrazovanja – naime, komunikacijske se vještine ne razvijaju proporcionalno s godinom studija. Rezultati studentskih anketa pokazuju da su studenti svjesni važnosti socijalnih kompetencija u poslovnom svijetu, ocjenjujući ih važnijima od stručnih kompetencija. Također pokazuju da je osobni nivo socijalnih kompetencija studenata, koji se temelji na samoanalizi, dostatan za ostvarenje poslovnog uspjeha, prema mišljenju poslodavaca i voditelja ljudskih potencijala poduzeća u Hrvatskoj. Osim tih rezultata, disertacija donosi i druge relevantne nalaze, poput sociodemografskih karakteristika ispitanika te razlika između studenata javnog i privatnog fakulteta. Istraživanje pokazuje da su studenti privatnog fakulteta socijalno kompetentniji od studenata javnog fakulteta na temelju njihove samoanalize. Rezultati ukazuju na razlike kod socijalnih kompetencija studenata ovisno o uspješnosti studenata na studiju te učestalosti pohađanja predavanja, kao i mnoge druge. Konačni rezultati istraživanja ukazuju na veliku važnost socijalnih kompetencija za postizanje napredovanja i dugoročne zapošljivosti i s aspekta studenata i s aspekta poslodavaca, ali isto tako ukazuju na prostor za poboljšanja unutar sustava visokog obrazovanja kako bi on bio što usklađeniji s trenutnim potrebama poslodavaca.Nowadays almost all organisations face the challenges and changes brought about by the modern business. Thus, we are interested to know in what degree our organisations have evolved and what today's employers think about introducing innovations, i.e. accepting current trends present on the world market related to affirmation of social competences. Overall, competences are of great importance for employee's work performance success. The basics of human resources management of every organisation is precisely resources management system. In order to achieve the greatest efficiency of employees, it is necessary to enable the basic preconditions for gaining efficiency, like training, mentoring, and everything else necessary for strengthening the competences required for performing work tasks. When talking about training, the most often opinion is that training is necessary for developing concrete knowledge and competences required for the job at hand. However, foreign market has become more open towards the development of some other competences, i.e. social competences, without which it is difficult to master concrete knowledge as they represent prerequisite for successful communication. In alignment with the abovementioned, Croatian employers are also keeping up with the trend of on-job- training with the purpose of strengthening not only professional, but also social competences. This research questions in what degree employers are devoted to the development of social competences of their employees and their importance for career promotion and long-term employability. The theoretical part of the paper talks about the importance of competences in contemporary society, with emphasis on the development and definition of social competences and their comparison with professional competences. When summarizing the research results, key professional and social competences are given and explained. Having in mind that doing business today is based on the contacts and cooperation with other people, the most often mentioned social competence is teamwork. Furthermore, the paper talks about the relationship between social competences, social capital, and emotional intelligence, which are inseparable. The full potential of emotional intelligence cannot be fulfilled without social competences, which pave the way for gaining social capital. Moreover, the role of environment in creating socially competent people is also emphasized. It is clear that social competences are developed from an early age and that parents, peers and caregivers are the ones who influence them the most. However, social development does not end here, it encompasses also higher education. Socialization is mentioned as the first step towards the development of socially competentV person, and it includes long, complex processes in which, interacting with the environment, an individual develops, shapes and learns relevant forms of experiencing and behaving in a society: beliefs, attitudes, values, rituals and customs. This paper supports the view that lifelong learning and education, and especially higher education, are the key for success on the labour market, whereby promotion and long-term employability are taken as measures of business performance success. The theoretical part of the paper concludes that humans, as social and emotional beings, find their happiness and advance in career development with the help of social relationships. The second part of the paper refers to the empirical research. The research is divided into two parts and a survey was conducted for its purpose. The first part refers to the employers in the Republic of Croatia. One hundred and thirteen employers from different size enterprises and different economic sectors completed the survey. The second part of the survey refers to students. Six hundred and sixty-five students of the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb and the University of Applied Sciences Baltazar Zaprešić completed the survey. The participants were the first and fifth year students. In alignment with the above mentioned, six hypothesis were created, some of which were not or were partially confirmed. The first part of the empirical part is based on a survey conducted on a sample of employers in the Republic of Croatia. The results of surveys have revealed a great deal of significant data. However, the basic premise is that the importance of social competences is indisputable for achieving career promotion and long-term employability. Looking at the overall results and assessment of the importance of all competences from the perspective of different economic sectors, it cannot be categorically argued that a particular sector attaches greater importance to particular social competences for the purpose of achieving promotion or long-term employability of employees. There are significant differences between the HR managers, as one target group of respondents, and the top management, or the owners of organizations, as the other target group of respondents. The results show that, on average, HR leaders gave all competences greater importance, that is, higher grades than the top management. Despite the fact that almost all questions and answers point to the great importance attached to social competences in comparison with professional competences, it is concluded that it is impossible to distinguish one from the other, that is, it is impossible to define only one type of competence as necessary for advancement and long-term employability. The results of the survey among employers also point to the inconsistency of employers' opinions. On one hand, social competences are perceived as less important compared to professional competences (by theVI average of the marks awarded). On the other hand, when asked directly whether social competences are more important than professional ones, the vast majority of employers agreed that they were more important. The second part of the empirical part focuses on economics and business students of higher education institutions, i.e. the higher education system. The research focuses on measuring the current level of students’ social competence and on the development of social competence through study. The emphasis of the research is also on students' perceptions of the importance of social competences and on the differences between professional and social competences. The results show a significant development of empathy through study, which is one of the main components of social competences, but also reveal that communication and conflict management skills do not develop significantly during study. Given that among all the aforementioned (social and professional) competences, communication skills are listed as the most important and empathy as the least important, the results of the research indicate a weak point of the higher education system - namely, communication skills do not develop proportionally with the years of study. The results of student surveys show that students are aware of the importance of social competences in the business world, assessing them as more important than professional competences. They also show that the personal level of students' social competences, based on self-analysis, is sufficient to achieve business success, according to the employers and HR managers of business enterprises in Croatia. In addition to these results, the dissertation paper provides other relevant findings, such as socio demographic characteristics of the participants and the differences between public and private university students. The research shows that private university students are more socially competent than public university students based on their self-analysis. The results indicate differences in students' social competences depending on the students' performance in the study and the frequency of class attendance, as well as many others. The final research findings highlight the importance of social competences for career promotion and long-term employability, both from students' and employers' point of view, but also indicate there is room for improvement within the higher education system so that it is more aligned with current employers' needs