More and more corporations around the world recognize that to gain a competitive advantage, they also need to make sure that with their people know how to handle themselves at work and how to deal their customers and peers. From showing empathy and optimism to extreme self-awareness to knowing what's going on around them, these vital competencies are an integral part of a progressive organization. These soft-skills or emotional intelligence revelations are interesting subjects for discussion. All technical institutions, have realized that study of humanities and social sciences helps in developing the overall personality of the students. This article delineates how soft skills help to increase organizational effectiveness.

The fast changing demands of the industrial and professional world has made it mandatory for all the professionals to hone their soft skills in addition to their hard skills. A professional has to be proficient and up-to-date both in professional/technical skills as well as business and management skills. He has to be creative, innovative, motivated, and adept at coping up with the changes and growing needs of the workplace. This has given rise to a clamoring from all business and academic quarters for developing the soft skills of both existing and future workforce. It has been seriously realized that the organizational effectiveness and sustainability does not solely depend on `technical skills' but to a great extent on `soft skills'.

While the term `soft skills' has become a `buzz word' in contemporary job market and academic circles, there are still some very basic questions like, what are soft skills?; and do they matter? The expert opinions don't provide any kind of solace either as they are divided on this issue. But still churning through the bulk of literature, scattered all around, helps us in identifying the core issues and competencies collectively falling under the umbrella term `soft skills'. Soft skills as defined in scholarly literature are non-technical skills, abilities, and traits required to function in a specific employment environment. They include four sets of workplace competencies: problem-solving and other cognitive skills; oral communication skills, personal qualities and work ethics; interpersonal skills; and teamwork skills. (Conrad and Leigh, 1999)

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