Matching Items (2)
Description
The interpersonal, subjective, and communication skills we carry with us are crucial to our professional successes, sometimes even more crucial than the technical skills we use to execute tasks. The engineering industry is wildly technical and competitive in order to define a better tomorrow for the human population. However, such a technical field often neglects the use of these soft skills, both originating from students, employees, and companies. In this thesis, I delve into the importance and various applications of soft skills within the engineering industry, the presence of a gap among engineers' expected versus actual soft skill usage, and if anything can be done to mend that gap.
ContributorsHove, Colton (Author) / Montoya, Detra (Thesis director) / Schlacter, John (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor)
Created2023-12
Description
Change in the workplace is a constant. This is even more true due to changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The changes have altered work locations, the modes of communication used, and how meetings are held, conversations, and trainings. It has become evident that, with these pandemic-caused changes, communication skills, the ability to empathize, and the opportunity to connect with one another are more desirable than ever before. The purpose of this mixed-method study was to examine how, and to what extent, participation in professional development workshops developed and refined the participants’ communication skills, collaboration skills, communication self-efficacy, and collaboration self-efficacy, and generated an environment that fostered positive connections. The study was guided by five theoretical frameworks, including the work of Wenger (1998), Tuckman (1965), Bandura (1977), Goleman (1995), and Luthans et al. (2007). This action research study utilized a mixed-method research approach in which both qualitative and quantitative instruments were used to gather data. Study participants were staff members in New College. The innovation was conducted over the length of the semester and involved participation in a series of professional development workshops. Quantitative data indicated a positive change in the dependent variables between a retrospective pre-innovation assessment and a post-innovation assessment. The qualitative data allowed for a descriptive story to be told and also provided a way to understand the numerical data. Discussion focused on describing the complementarity of the data, explaining outcomes relative to the theoretical frameworks, and noting limitations, implications for practice and future research, and lessons learned.
ContributorsSchulte, Jennifer (Author) / Giorgis, Cyndi (Thesis advisor) / Buss, Ray R. (Committee member) / Preach, Deborah (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021