What competencies are taught at schools?
The economy is growing, unemployment is falling. Employers must dig deeper into their pockets to find the right specialists with the appropriate education and skills. Measured by the ratio between costs or, more precisely, investments into studies, and professions with the highest salary, the offer seems to be adequate.
When looking at the professions with the highest income (i.e. executives of large companies, CEOs of companies operating in the financial services and insurance fields, in IT, advertising, and sales directors*), it seems quite logical that the number of, for the most part, private universities, of which there are now about 40 in the Czech Republic, is growing. Nevertheless, it is evident that their focus correlates with the most profitable professions, whether it is economic, administrative, or marketing fields or fields focused on international relations. Everything, therefore, appears to be in order. The educational system is generating professional candidates valued by the labour market. But is this not just a case of meeting the labour demand in the short-term?
Everyone who has anything to do with education knows of, or at least suspects, the fact that the today’s education system can no longer make do simply with the traditional concept, i.e. to teach students to read, write and count. However, some facts support the claims made by some evil tongues that the new teaching methods remain, to date at least, at the talking phase only.
I have yet to come across a detailed analysis on the topic of why companies that were considered a symbol of success for many years, are now tottering on the edge of viability, or even beyond. It is sufficient to name companies such as Vítkovice Holding or Kovosvit MAS. What managerial competencies were missing in these cases?
Let us name a few such competencies that should be an integral part of preparing young people before they become the workforce and before they start to influence the lives of the people who they will manage.
First of all it is the responsibility, co-operation and the communication related thereto, as well as critical thinking, humility and self-criticism, and, on the other hand, confidence as well as pride and patriotism. Correct or strategic judgment, i.e. long-term decision-making, must certainly not be lacking the chain of many competencies. If we take into account the fact that strategic decisions of selected companies include or included driving a significant part of their commercial activities towards risky markets, we are left with a little choice but to conclude that the senior managers‘ barometer of a political and economic development failed. It is beyond a discussion that some decisions are complex and undergo a detailed analysis. However, in the case of the Russian or Chinese market, it must be evident that these do not represent standard markets in the European or American sense of the word.
Let us teach the youth attending our schools to also evaluate risks from a different perspective than that of an immediate profit, and to deepen not only their exact (hard skills) but also their soft competencies.
Ondřej Hlaváček
Principal, Pedersen & Partners
* Source: ISPV