Purpose

In today’s highly competitive global business environment, there is a growing demand for professionals who possess well-developed soft skills. Such abilities include flexibility, effective communication and other skills. Soft skills are personal attributes and qualities that are more closely related to the emotional side of human beings. Individuals must cultivate and hone soft skills during their undergraduate studies. These skills, also known as interpersonal or non-technical skills, are essential to complement hard skills and pave the way for a thriving career trajectory. Soft skills are developed over the course of one’s career and are indispensable in establishing a strong, professional presence in the corporate or academic realm. The field of engineering is no exception in this regard, and the business approach during the engineering course is of significant relevance. By acquiring soft skills, engineering graduates will become competitive and adaptable professionals capable of handling the current and future challenges of the job market. The purpose of this study is to investigate the soft skills that students perceive as being better developed during their business classrooms in the engineering course and identify areas for improvement in the business education process.

Design/methodology/approach

The research method consisted in four different phases from variables identification to statistical analyses. Then, as part of this approach a structured questionnaire was administered at the end of the engineering course, where students rated their perception of the degree of development of each of the soft skills covered in the course on a scale of zero to ten. The collected data were analysed using multivariate analysis techniques, including factorial analysis.

Findings

The results of the study demonstrate that the set of skills acquired by individuals in business classrooms pursuing a degree in industrial engineering is in high demand by potential employers. Such skills are deemed essential for the successful operation of businesses in modern-day industries. The findings of this research validate the significant role that industrial engineering students play in fulfilling the requirements of the job market and pave the way to meaningful insights on how to approach this topic during the business education process in engineering courses.

Practical implications

The findings bring about significant insights for national educational councils and ministries, universities and educational stakeholders in the process of updating, rethinking and implementing new curricula criteria in higher education, particularly in the Latin American context.

Originality/value

This paper enriches the literature by assessing the development of soft skills of engineering students in the Latin American context. The research reinforces the importance of developing soft skills aligned with those required for the context of current and future labour markets.

中文翻译：

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在巴西工业工程学生的商业课堂中培养软技能

目的

在当今竞争激烈的全球商业环境中，对拥有良好软技能的专业人士的需求不断增长。这些能力包括灵活性、有效沟通和其他技能。软技能是与人类情感方面关系更为密切的个人属性和品质。个人必须在本科学习期间培养和磨练软技能。这些技能也称为人际技能或非技术技能，对于补充硬技能并为蓬勃发展的职业轨迹铺平道路至关重要。软技能是在一个人的职业生涯中发展起来的，对于在企业或学术领域建立强大的专业形象是不可或缺的。工程领域在这方面也不例外，工程课程中的商业方法具有重要意义。通过获得软技能，工程毕业生将成为有竞争力、适应性强的专业人士，能够应对就业市场当前和未来的挑战。本研究的目的是调查学生认为在工程课程的商业课堂中得到更好发展的软技能，并确定商业教育过程中需要改进的领域。

设计/方法论/途径

研究方法包括从变量识别到统计分析的四个不同阶段。然后，作为该方法的一部分，在工程课程结束时进行了结构化调查问卷，学生以 0 到 10 的等级对课程中涵盖的每项软技能的发展程度进行评分。使用多元分析技术（包括因子分析）对收集的数据进行分析。

发现

研究结果表明，潜在雇主对在商业课堂上攻读工业工程学位的个人所获得的一系列技能有很高的需求。这些技能被认为对于现代工业中企业的成功运营至关重要。这项研究的结果验证了工业工程学生在满足就业市场要求方面所发挥的重要作用，并为在工程课程的商业教育过程中如何处理这一主题铺平了道路。

实际影响

研究结果为国家教育委员会和部委、大学和教育利益相关者在更新、重新思考和实施高等教育新课程标准的过程中提供了重要的见解，特别是在拉丁美洲背景下。

原创性/价值

本文通过评估拉丁美洲背景下工科学生软技能的发展丰富了文献。该研究强调了发展与当前和未来劳动力市场背景所需的软技能相一致的软技能的重要性。