Soft skills ‘relevance and categorization: the alleged ‘skill mismatch’ of Chinese workforce.

Abstract

There is no denying that firms operating in the current economy of knowledge increasingly focus on developing resources capable to provide inimitable value to win the struggle of competition. As a consequence, human capital and its inner knowledge obtained greater importance; above all, employees’ soft skills package and development opportunities became the heart of the debate. Global institutes, recruitment agencies and expertise called together for a serious soft skills shortage within Chinese labour market that may lead to huge challenges in facing the global competition. The main purpose of the dissertation is to understand whether this alleged shortage may still be relevant or not taking into account seven of the most in-demand soft skills: proactivity, communication, teamwork, critical thinking, time management, problem solving and leadership. To this end, three fundamental arguments are settled as research’s basis related to soft skills importance and the mismatch phenomenon from foreign employers and local employees’ perspectives as well as on-the-job training in support of soft skills’ development. Inquiry’s questions are answered through a deeper analysis of the consistent literature sustained by a case study built on a mixed approach towards qualitative interview and quantitative questionnaires. This double approach has been carried out within the context of an Italian brand operating in China in order to highlight both foreign CEO and local labour force points of view. Even though results show how Chinese market is even closer to international perspectives with regard to soft skills relevance, several steps forward need to be implemented to enhance communication between employers and employees conveying performances, deficiencies and training opportunities.