Enterprise Skills - Assignment Example

Enterprise skills are crucial skills needed by research organizations, non- academic and academic employers. A person said to be enterprising is one with a mix of creativity, individuality and leadership. These skills are so crucial in the field of management. The development of these skills is, therefore, fundamental to the success of not only organizations but also individuals. Young people should prepare for a future characterized by rapid innovation in a time marked by profound change of technology. In the past, education systems focused on the outcome that is educating a person to get a job (Ward, 2004, pp 104). Entrepreneurialism mattered less, and remained so for long although we can see the importance it plays in the economy at present. Ward asserts that we are in the third phase of the industrial revolution marked by telecommunications, nanotechnology, and information technology (IT), robotics and biotechnology. The traits of the present revolution include breakthroughs and harnessing scientific knowledge. Technological changes have brought social impacts in the present world. A fast response time is a requirement for the emerging mass customization. There has been the emergence of skills divide over the last decade, and the gap between skilled and unskilled labour has grown immensely. High-skilled labour demand has been on the increase for the present technological change. On the other hand, there has been automation or outsourcing of low-skilled labour to low-wage countries. Martinez et al. (2007, pp 1) asserts that, in the new economy, many people have accepted the increasing relevance of entrepreneurship in job creation. However, he argues that a few exhaustive studies on the subject exist. This means that people are still viewing entrepreneurship with a negative attitude. Galloway et al. (2005) mentions that it is not large industrial companies that drive the growth of modern economies, but rather small and new businesses. The concepts of innovation and flexibility are fundamentally crucial in the present shift of economic focus. Entrepreneurial economy and the past industrial capitalist economy are similar in that both have innovation, exploitation of innovation and creation as economic drivers. Ward mentions refers to this present time as the ‘Age of Personal Sovereignty’ in which, unlike the previous generations, there are several choices for individuals to make (Ward, 2007). However, taking a responsibility and making a choice is a skill lacking in young people. At present, organizations focus on soft skills and not hard skills as in the past where education only geared individuals towards employment. According to Martinez et al. (2007), a consistent interest to identify the factors that lead an individual to become an entrepreneur, has existed. Entrepreneurial activities literature has revealed this. The factors, according to available evidence are the same. These factors include professional background, gender, age, educational and psychological profiles and work experience. Entrepreneurship research has been seeking to find the between young graduates, higher education and entrepreneurs. The definition of success in the present economy is no longer by intelligence quotient (IQ). Although intelligence quotient plays a role, a broader definition is necessary than as it was in the past. According to Ward (2004), people who will take self-employment or employment pathway need to have common enterprise skills, which are crucial for success. These skills include: Good numeracy and literacy skills; Self discipline and management; Self control; Work ethic; Ability to build successful relationships; Optimism; Resilience and persistence; Ability to solve practical problems; and Ability to learn from mistakes. Entrepreneurship education Most education systems have not taken into consideration the teaching of entrepreneurship. The methods of teaching entrepreneurship in the UK Business Schools faced criticism at some time (Galloway et al., 2005). Galloway and his colleagues in the paper, ‘Enterprise skills for the economy’ consider the need of equipping students with enterprise skills and their importance in the current, developing economy. Their study focused on four Scottish Universities where entrepreneurship education has developed more as compared to other countries. Galloway and his colleagues had an aim to find out the perceptions of students taking entrepreneurship studies. In this case, they endeavored to know whether the students felt assisted by taking the studies. They also wanted to investigate any disparities among students in different faculties. The results from their study supported findings from earlier studies that entrepreneurship education would not help students in the short-term. However, this would help the students in the long-term. Students would expect to graduate and engage in employment, in the private sectors, before founding their own business firms. This applies most to students taking entrepreneurship courses. According to their findings, a high percentage of engineering students would like finding employment from the private sectors rather than establishing their own businesses in the short-term. This could be because opportunities to start small firms in engineering are lacking due to preregistration requirements and high start-up costs. A large proportion of students believe that they have necessary enterprise skills and are aware of these skills required for entrepreneurship (Martinez et al., 2004, pp 110). Most of the students showed a belief that skills from entrepreneurship education are weighty and applicable to business ownership or non-self employment occupations. The Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) for Higher Education in the UK, in conjunction with Association of Business Schools reviewed the existing benchmark statement used in general management and business programs. The function of management and general business programmes include: 1. The study of organizations, their external changing environment and management; 2. Getting ready for and developing business and management careers; and 3. Enhancing personal development and lifelong learning skills for the benefit of the society. The benchmark statement expects graduates to demonstrate understanding and knowledge in areas such as markets, customers, finance, communication and information technology, information systems, operations, persuasiveness and business policy and strategy (QAA, 2007). Intellectual and cognitive skills are extremely crucial for graduates. Graduates need to develop relevant interpersonal and personal skills in the cited areas above. Veronica, Ian Jones and Mike Doherty from University of Luton, UK, carried out a study on transferrable skills through the undergraduate degree courses. Students should be able to translate what they have learnt into the real life situations (Burke et al., 2005). Educational environment is where students learn the required skills while the business environment is a person should apply the skills. This makes transfer of skills an issue in that the educational environment contrasts from the business environment. Veronica and colleagues found out that students perceived that they had acquired a number of skills from their undergraduate programmes (Burke et al., 2005). They support the recommendation that incorporating skills into the Higher Education (HE) curriculum is necessary. It is crucial to address the processes and not the outcomes of skills development initiatives, as it is clear from the studies that not all students perceive to have developed the necessary skills. Key issues in entrepreneurship education Entrepreneurship education faces many challenges and needs improvement and emphasis worldwide. The key issues in this include involvement of teachers, engaging businesses and making entrepreneurship integral in the curriculum (Zagreb, 2010). Teachers should work to make a broad definition of entrepreneurship for their students. Students should learn how to develop applicable competences in all spheres of life instead of the running of a business only. Governments should help teachers through the development of research for approaching enterprise education, training them including school managers and establishment of support networks. There should also be space created for testing new methods in curriculum and the dissemination and creation of teaching tools, contents, materials and methods. These will help a lot in successful teaching and learning of enterprise skills. Ministries of education should work to make entrepreneurship integral in the curriculum. Teaching methods should change. Teachers should be moderators, facilitators and coaches while applying experienced learning. The context of education should also change by taking students out into real businesses and local community, not just learning in the classroom. In the learning processes, students need to engage businesses through role models, case studies, experiences and visits. Use of small companies raised founded by students will serve as mentors. Non-governmental organizations can also play a critical role by promoting entrepreneurship education. Principles of good questionnaire For one to write a good questionnaire, he or she must in the first place have a clear knowledge of what the questionnaire needs to achieve. It is crucial to put down the goals of the research and then one should think about the information needed to meet the research goals (Loughborough University). One should avoid lines, which are unnecessary in questioning during planning. A questionnaire should have a meaningful and short title, be succinct and short in order to maximize success. One should also be creative by using by using different images and colors to make the questionnaire attractive. When designing a questionnaire one should consider the target, respondents as not all people will respond. Thus, it is wise to consider the population, sample and the respondents. It is good to ensure that the sample represents the population under study. For example, it should cater for all genders, socio-economic groups and ages (Burke et al., 2005, pp 141). A good questionnaire design should have clear instructions. The researcher should introduce himself or herself clearly. The researcher should also state why the needed response is important and state the purpose of the survey. The researcher should explain how he or she would consider the responses confidential and anonymous. A good questionnaire will give clear instructions on answering of the questions therein and give the dateline including the mode of returning it to the researcher. The questions in a questionnaire fall into closed and open questions. In cases where the aim is to get data that are rich qualitatively, one should use open questions, but for cases needing rich quantitative data, closed questions are applicable. Open questions refer to those that can allow respondents use their own words in giving answers while closed questions demand choices from them. Closed questions have an advantage in that they are easy to analyze and code, can improve response rate because they are quick to answer and all literacy levels can respond to easily. Open questions have a disadvantage in that they may be hard for less literate people to answer, can put off people and take longer to answer and are difficult to analyze. When designing a good questionnaire one should be specific and avoid use of leading questions. Leading questions include: Do you think that……….., while to be specific one should avoid words such as “often”, “regularly” amongst others. One should avoid double barreling the questions in a questionnaire by dealing with one topic at a time. Unless the researcher does not have any other choice, it wise not to assume the respondent as an expert. It is also good to avoid questions, which are beyond respondents capabilities. A good questionnaire avoids use of false premise (Loughborough University). For example, “What should be done to stop the high rate of the spread of HIV? This question has a false premise that HIV is spreading at a high rate, which respondents may not agree. It is wise to avoid use of negatives and double negatives in questionnaires. Question order in a questionnaire matter a lot. Researchers should make crucial items come first in the questionnaire, as many people in most cases do not complete questionnaires. When embarrassing or awkward questions start in a questionnaire, it may cause discouragement and make respondents give up. It is good to start with non-threatening and easy questions, which encourage respondents. The questions should go to particular things from the general ones, from open to closed questions and from factual to abstract questions. It is crucial to leave personal and demographic questions to appear last. The layout of the questionnaire is also extremely crucial. The questionnaire should give enough space for the response from the respondents. However, one should not use too small fonts in order to create enough space for response- use of at least 10pt font works well in this case. Testing of the key issues We were able to test for the key issues using the questionnaire. The null hypothesis we postulated was; the method of teaching entrepreneurship skills in colleges and universities is poor and should change. Through this hypothesis, we sought to find out whether the teaching methods needed a revision or not. Another hypothesis was that schools do not use a practical approach in teaching entrepreneurship and thus a practical approach was necessary to solve the issues in the field of entrepreneurship. The questionnaire also sought to elicit from the students knowledge of entrepreneurship skills such as communication problem solving, information technology skills, emotional intelligence and self-control amongst others. The questionnaire tested the confidence of the respondents in the varied enterprise skills. The skill areas tested included time management, inter-personal skills, empathizing with people, IT skills, use of ones initiatives, innovation or creativity, coordination and planning. The survey sought to find out whether the respondents were confident, developing confidence or not confident in these skill areas. The questionnaire also sought to find out the places where the skills applied in respondents, that is, either in the work place, university or in the family. The overall aim was to address the definition of enterprise skills and their knowledge including application by the respondents. Entrepreneurship education should seek a uniform definition, as there is no accepted, uniform definition of entrepreneurship skills. Results Gender of respondents The gender of the respondents was varied during the study as shown in figure 4.1. Majority of the respondents 42(53.8%) were male and 36(46.2%) were female. From the study, it showed that there was gender disparity in the study. Figure 4.1 Gender of respondents Age of respondents The age of respondents were varied during the study as shown in the figure 4.2. Majority of the respondents 41(52.6%) aged between 18-21 years, with 27(34.6%) aged between 22-25 and the least 10(12.8%) were above 26 years. From the study it showed that majority of the respondents 68(87.2%) were below 25 years of age and within their youthful age. Figure 4.2 Age of respondents Ethnicity of respondents The ethnicity of the respondents was varied during the study as shown in table 4.1 below. Majority 31(39.7%) of the respondents were drawn from white ethnic groups comprising of British, Irish or Any other White background. Of these, 19(24.4%) from Asian or Asian British of Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi or Any other Asian background, the Black or Black British of Caribbean, African or any other Black background comprised of 12(15.4%) and the least 8(10.3%) of the respondents were Chinese and 7(9%) from middle east and Arab state. The findings showed that a larger percentage of the respondents were white, Asian or Asian British. Table 4.1 Ethnicity of respondents Frequency Percent Cumulative Percent White (British, Irish or Any other White background) 31 39.7 39.7 Mixed (White and Black Caribbean/Black African/Asian or Any other mixed background) 1 1.3 41.0 Asian or Asian British (Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi or Any other Asian background) 19 24.4 65.4 Black or Black British (Caribbean, African or Any other Black background) 12 15.4 80.8 Chinese 8 10.3 91.0 Middle East or Other Arab State 7 9.0 100.0 Total 78 100.0 Problem solving and team work During the study, the respondents identify various methods they use in solving their problems as well as how they employ teamwork to achieve their entrepreneurship skills as summarized in table 4.2. Majority of the respondents 34(43.6%) Identify that they enjoy solving technical/ mathematical problems, with 27(34.6%) disagree and 17(21.8%) undecided that they enjoy solving technical/ mathematical problems. Majority of the respondents 43(55.1%) identify that they enjoy solving Logical problems, with 12(15.4%) disagree and 23(29.5%) undecided that they enjoy solving Logical problems. Majority of the respondents 50(64.1%) identify that they enjoy solving social Problems, with 12(15.3%) disagree and 16(20.5%) undecided that they enjoy solving social problems. Majority of the respondents 56(71.8%) identify that they enjoy solving disputes, with 7(9.0%) disagree and 15(19.2%) undecided that they enjoy solving disputes. Majority of the respondents 44(56.4%) identify that the team expect them to resolve issues, with 8(10.3%) disagree and 26(33.3%) undecided that they team expect them to resolve issues. Majority of the respondents 60(76.9%) identify that they enjoy working in a team, with 8(10.3%) disagree and 10(12.8%) undecided that they enjoy working in a team. Most of the respondents 46(59%) identify that they enjoy working on their own more than in a team, with 25(32%) disagree and 30(38.5%) undecided that they enjoy working own their own more than in a team. Most of the respondents 19(24.4%) prefer working on their own rather than in a team, with 30(38.5%) disagree and 29(37.2%) undecided that they prefer working on their own rather than in a team. Most of the respondents 47(60.3%) enjoy leading a team, with 12(15.4%) disagree and 19(24.4%) undecided that they enjoy leading a team. A few of the respondents 25(32%) prefer being a member of the group rather than a leader, with 29(37.2%) disagree and 24(30.8%) undecided on their preference being a member of the group rather than a leader. Most of the respondents 46(59%) felt of making an effort to be part of a team, with 18(23.1%) disagree and 14(17.9%) undecided on their feeling to be part of a team Table 4.2 Problem solving and team work SD D U A SA F % F % F % F % F % Mean Sd Enjoy Solving Maths 15 19.2 12 15.4 17 21.8 21 26.9 13 16.7 3.06 1.371 Enjoy Solving Logical Problems 5 6.4 7 9.0 23 29.5 31 39.7 12 15.4 3.49 1.066 Enjoy Solving social Problems 3 3.8 9 11.5 16 20.5 29 37.2 21 26.9 3.72 1.104 Enjoy Solving Disputes 1 1.3 6 7.7 15 19.2 34 43.6 22 28.2 3.90 .948 Look to me to resolve Issues 1 1.3 7 9.0 26 33.3 30 38.5 14 17.9 3.63 .927 Enjoy Working in Team 2 2.6 6 7.7 10 12.8 39 50.0 21 26.9 3.91 .969 Enjoy Working on my Own 9 11.5 16 20.5 30 38.5 23 29.5 23 29.5 3.86 .977 Prefer On my own than Team 6 7.7 13 16.7 29 37.2 18 23.1 12 15.4 3.22 1.136 Enjoy Leading a team 5 6.4 7 9.0 19 24.4 23 29.5 24 30.8 3.69 1.188 Prefer to be member rather than leader 11 14.1 18 23.1 24 30.8 20 25.6 5 6.4 2.87 1.144 Have to make effort as part of team 6 7.7 12 15.4 14 17.9 28 35.9 18 23.1 3.51 1.225 During the study, the various methods used by youth in solving their problems include enjoying solving Logical problems, social Problems and disputes. Teamwork was vital in achievement of enterprise skill as it enabled the respondents to have responsibility to resolve issues, enjoy working in a team, working on their own more than in a team, leading a team. Confidence in Enterprise skills The respondents identified that they have varied confidence in various skill areas as summarized in the table 4.3 below. Majority of respondents 44(56.4%) had confidence on their time management skills and 31(39.7%) were developing confidence on time management and the least 3(3.8%) were not confident on their time management skill. Majority of respondents 39(50%) were developing confidence on their initiative skills and 37(47.4%) were confidence on their use of initiative skills and the least 2(2.6%) were not confident on their initiative skill. Majority of respondents 42(53.8%) were developing confidence on their creativity/innovative skills and 31(39.7%) were confidence on their use of creativity/innovative skills and the least 5(6.4%) were not confident on their creativity/innovative skill. Majority of respondents 43(55.1%) had confidence on their interpersonal skills and 33(42.3%) were developing confidence on interpersonal skills and the least 2(2.6%) were not confident on their interpersonal skill. Majority of respondents 45(57.7%) had confidence in empathizing with people and 26(33.3%) were developing confidence on emphasizing skills and the least 7(9%) were not confident on their empathy skill. Majority of respondents 40(51.3%) had confidence in their planning and co-ordinating and 37(47.4%) were developing confidence on planning skills and the least 1(1.3%) were not confident on their planning and coordinating. Majority of respondents 39(50%) had confidence in their IT skills and 30(38.5%) were developing confidence on information technology skills and the least 9(11.5%) were not confident on their IT skills. Table 4.3 Confidence in Enterprise skills Skill area Confident Developing Confidence Not Confident F % F % F % Mean SD Time Management skill 44 56.4 31 39.7 3 3.8 2.53 .575 Use of initiative skill 37 47.4 39 50.0 2 2.6 2.45 .550 Creativity/ innovation skills 31 39.7 42 53.8 5 6.4 2.33 .596 Inter-personal Skills 43 55.1 33 42.3 2 2.6 2.53 .552 Empathising with People(empathy skills) 45 57.7 26 33.3 7 9.0 2.49 .659 Planning and Co-ordinating(Planning skills) 40 51.3 37 47.4 1 1.3 2.50 .528 IT Skills 39 50.0 30 38.5 9 11.5 2.38 .688 From the study findings, it showed that respondents had confidence on their time management skills, interpersonal skills, empathizing with people, in planning and co-coordinating and in information technology skills. However, majority of respondents were developing confidence on their initiative and creativity/innovative enterprise skills. Learning of Enterprise skills From the study it showed that learning of skills in various areas was found to be obtained from various areas as shown in table 4.4. Majority of the respondents 43(55.1%) mostly learn time management skills in either school/university, with 10(12.8%) obtaining them in the home/family and 25(32.1%) in their place of work. Most of the respondents 35(44.9%) learn initiative skills at school/university, with 26(33.3%) at home or family and 17(21.8%) in their place of work. Most of the respondents 47(60.3%) learn innovation skills at school/university, with 20(25.6%) at home or family and 11(14.1%) in their place of work. Majority of the respondents 37(47.4%) learn inter-personal skills at school/university, with 24 (30.8%) at home or family and 17(21.8%) in their place of work. Most of the respondents 39(50%) learn empathetic skills at home or family, with 22(28.2%) at school/university and 17(21.8%) in their place of work. Majority of the respondents 47(60.3%) learn planning skills at school/university, with 10 (12.8%) at home or family and 21(26.9%) in their place of work. Majority of the respondents 55(70.5%) learn IT skills at school/university, with 14 (17.9%) at home or family and 9(11.5%) in their place of work. Table 4.6 Learning of Enterprise skills Skill area Home And Family School/ University In the Work Place F % F % F % Mean SD Mostly Learn Time management at 10 12.8 43 55.1 25 32.1 2.19 .646 Mostly Learn Initiative Skills at 26 33.3 35 44.9 17 21.8 1.88 .738 Mostly Learn Innovation Skills at 20 25.6 47 60.3 11 14.1 1.88 .624 Mostly Learn inter-personal skills at 24 30.8 37 47.4 17 21.8 1.91 .724 Mostly Learn empathetic skills at 39 50.0 22 28.2 17 21.8 1.72 .804 Mostly Learn Planning Skills 10 12.8 47 60.3 21 26.9 2.14 .618 Mostly Learn IT skills at 14 17.9 55 70.5 9 11.5 1.94 .543 From the study, it emerged that learning of skills was from various areas in once live and the time management, innovation, planning and IT skills mostly learned in school or university. In addition, the initiative and interpersonal skills were learned in the school and university but at a lower level. The empathetic skills were found to be learned mostly in the home and family as compared to school or in the place of work. Testing of Hypothesis Data was categorical and involved a relatively large sample size. The chi- square test of independence was used to test the hypotheses. The chi-square test was chosen because it is quite versatile and can be applied in a variety of situations. In particular, it is used to test suspicion about the relationship between any two variables. Chi – square was used since the following conditions had been met: the data was collected by random methods, the sample size was sufficiently large and observations made were independent and had finite values. Chi-Square was used to test the following hypothesis; Ho1: The method of teaching entrepreneurship skills in colleges and universities is poor and should change. The cross tabulation was used to determine the relationship between method of teaching and entrepreneurship skills as shown in Table 4.7. The results showed that there was no significant relationship between the teaching of problem solving methods and entrepreneurship skills, X2 = (167.45), (150) p>0.05. The findings also showed that there was an association between method of teaching and entrepreneurship skills. This was an indication that the teaching methods used do not affect the learning of entrepreneurship skills. From these results, we accept the null hypothesis that the problem solving method of teaching entrepreneurship skills in colleges and universities is poor and should change. Table 4.7 Chi-Square Tests on problem solving method of teaching entrepreneurship skills in colleges and universities Value df Asymp. Sig. (2-sided) Pearson Chi-Square 167.451a 150 .156 Likelihood Ratio 110.280 150 .994 Linear-by-Linear Association 14.032 1 .000 N of Valid Cases 78 a. 176 cells (100.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .01. Ho2: Schools do not use a practical approach in teaching entrepreneurship and thus a practical approach was necessary to solve the issues in the field of entrepreneurship. To achieve the practical approach in teaching entrepreneurship the effect of team work and individualism in solving the problems were used to test this hypothesis. The cross tabulation was used to determine the relationship between practical method of teaching and entrepreneurship skills as shown in Table 4.8. The results showed that there was significant relationship between the school using teamwork practical approach teaching methods and entrepreneurship skills in solving issues, X2 = (292.14), (150) p Read More