Degree

BS (Social Sciences & Liberal Arts)

Faculty / School

School of Economics and Social Sciences (SESS)

Department

Department of Social Sciences & Liberal Arts

Date of Award

Spring 2023

Date of Submission

2023-09-08

Advisor

Dr. Yasir Mansoor Kundi, Assistant Professor, Department of Management

Project Type

SSLA Culminating Experience

Access Type

Restricted Access

Abstract

There are two types of skills: hard and soft. The literature shows that there are multiple soft skills, and almost all are considered to be extremely important today. It also shows that employers evaluate candidates’ soft skills during the hiring process. Research also emphasises on how fruitful internships can be. Since students are exposed to a corporate environment through internships only and literature emphasises on the importance of soft skills as well as internships. This research aimed to find out the workplace factors that influence soft skills development of interns, as little research exists on this topic. The 3 soft skills focused on in this study are communication skill, team working skill, and time management skill. It was focused on the current students of IBA, Karachi, who had completed at least one on-site internship of minimum 6 weeks. 9 in-depth interviews were conducted, and each interview was transcribed manually. Through transcriptions, thematic analysis was done to identify themes and sub-themes. The results showed 8 workplace factors that – according to the students of IBA, Karachi – enhance soft skills of interns. The factors identified are Inclusion Climate, Discretionary HRM, Peer Support, Organisational Communication, Workplace Friendship, Participative Leadership, Leader-Member Exchange, and Workload Management.

Pages

59

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