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21st Century Skills and Prospective Job Challenges
--Vitthal Gore
The emergence of the concept of a global village has drastically changed the increasing competitive job market, and has greatly affected the emerging Indian economy. A candidate seeking a job needs something extraordinary than just a degree awarded by a university. Many jobs involve repetitive tasks like computer programs or monotonous script-oriented emotionless jobs in a call center or Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). Candidates having a multidimensional personality and well-equipped with the 21st century skill sets would be more suitable to work in the present competitive Multinational Corporations (MNCs), and can perform effectively. In view of these aspects, the present paper deals with the 21st century skills in general, and correlates the same to the contemporary content, evaluation, and the forces that are changing the skill demands. © 2013 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Construct Validation of Self-Efficacy Scale
--Anju Verma and Brij Sharma
The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the construct validity of self-efficacy scale developed by Schwarzer and Jerusalem (1995). A sample of 782 respondents completed the self-efficacy instrument. The self-efficacy scale contains 10 statements describing the individual’s belief that he or she is capable of performing a given task. A person with high self-efficacy believes in taking more risks and accepts challenging tasks, whereas people with low self-efficacy tend to avoid difficult tasks and accept easy ones to perform according to their efficacy beliefs. High or low self-efficacy belief also determines the frequency of the efforts one would take to achieve success. © 2013 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Arjuna and the Art of Concentration
--R Venkatesan Iyengar
Soft skills include not only proficiency in interpersonal, social, and communication skills, but also a wide range of self-management traits. Concentration is one of them. Whether one is a student or a professional, one needs to organize and consolidate one’s thoughts and focus one’s attention on the immediate task at hand in order to perform well in one’s chosen field. Failure to concentrate well can not only dent one’s performance but also damage one’s reputation. In fact, ancient Indians set much store by concentration and prized one’s ability to probe into higher truths or excel in a chosen vocation through self-discipline and concentration. They have bequeathed the modern world vibrant and enduring systems of discipline and a rich repository of spiritual and literary texts that are filled with examples and essences of their experiences and insights. The Mahabharata is one such text. This paper takes a close look at an episode from the epic involving Arjuna, one of its heroes, to draw lessons on concentration, a soft skill requisite. © 2013 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
The Harmony Between Vocabulary Building Competency
and Comprehension Skills: Experimental Technology-Enhanced
Methods for Strengthening Word Power
--G Srinivas Kumar, K Kishore Varma and V Radha Devi
A concrete knowledge base of vocabulary is essential to facilitate effective skills of language acquisition and comprehension capabilities. Vocabulary building is an important aspect of achieving language proficiency and academic excellence. For this reason, vocabulary has great significance in contemporary English language teaching curricula. There is a harmonious and well-established relationship between the knowledge of vocabulary and reading comprehension. This paper focuses on the need for using ‘technology-driven methods’ on an experimental basis to enhance vocabulary building competencies, which in turn enhance skills of reading comprehension. This paper gives an overview of the intimate relationship between knowledge of vocabulary and skills of comprehension, and presents the various technological means that trigger rapid and efficient vocabulary acquisition and perfect reading proficiency. Finally, the efficacy of technology utilization in augmenting vocabulary acquisition and comprehension is examined. © 2013 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Using Literature for Cross-Cultural Training
--Abhisek Upadhyay
Literature is the most endurable and extensive embodiment of a nation’s culture. By reading a nation’s literature, we not only acquire knowledge about the culture, we gain a firsthand experience of the nation’s culture. Literature reflects the norms and values of a society, the ethos of a culture, the social forces of a nation, and the fads and fashions of a society. Further, literary texts offer insights into mentality, psychology and attitudes which cannot be gleaned from social sciences. This paper explores how literature can be used to supplement conventional tools for cross-cultural training and increase cross-cultural understanding and awareness. © 2013 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Factors Influencing Finance as a Career Choice
Among Business School Students in India:
A Qualitative Study
--Rajneesh Ranjan Jha, Chetna Priyadarshini,
Abhilash Ponnam and Shirshendu Ganguli
The fast changing educational processes in the 21st century have affected the syllabus and methods of teaching in all the disciplines, prominently in B-Schools. Various factors influence the students’ decisions in exercising their option for the subject area of specialization in the Post Graduate Business Management (PGBM) programs. The present study tries to gain insights into the underlying motives and perceptions of the students in opting for finance as a career. The study also provides some interesting inputs to B-Schools which would enable them to select the right candidates. © 2013 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
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