In sociological debates, consensus theory has been seen as in opposition to conflict theory. Becker, G. (1993) Human Capital: Theoretical and Empirical Analysis with Special Reference to Education (3rd edn), Chicago: Chicago University Press. 2023 Springer Nature Switzerland AG. It is also considered as both a product (a set of skills that enable) and as a . Bowman, H., Colley, H. and Hodkinson, P. (2005) Employability and Career Progression of Fulltime UK Masters Students: Final Report for the Higher Education Careers Services Unit, Leeds: Lifelong Learning Institute. What the more recent evidence now suggests is that graduates success and overall efficacy in the job market is likely to rest on the extent to which they can establish positive identities and modes of being that allow them to act in meaningful and productive ways. Research into university graduates perceptions of the labour market illustrates that they are increasingly adopting individualised discourses (Moreau and Leathwood, 2006; Tomlinson, 2007; Taylor and Pick, 2008) around their future employment. They see society like a human body, where key institutions work like the body's organs to keep the society/body healthy and well.Social health means the same as social order, and is guaranteed when nearly everyone accepts the general moral values of their society. For graduates, the challenge is being able to package their employability in the form of a dynamic narrative that captures their wider achievements, and which conveys the appropriate personal and social credentials desired by employers. The construction of personal employability does not stop at graduation: graduates appear aware of the need for continued lifelong learning and professional development throughout the different phases of their career progression. The differentiated and heterogeneous labour market that graduates enter means that there is likely to be little uniformity in the way students constructs employability, notionally and personally. This article attempts to provide a conceptual framework on employability skills of business graduates based on in-depth reviews. Less positively, their research exposed gender disparities gap in both pay and the types of occupations graduates work within. At another level, changes in the HE and labour market relationship map on to wider debates on the changing nature of employment more generally, and the effects this may have on the highly qualified. (2008) Graduate Employability: The View of Employers, London: Council for Industry and Higher Education. Thus, a significant feature of research over the past decade has been the ways in which these changes have entered the collective and personal consciousnesses of students and graduates leaving HE. The subjective mediation of graduates employability is likely to have a significant role in how they align themselves and their expectations to the labour market. Naidoo, R. and Jamieson, I. (2003) The Future of Higher Education, London: HMSO. Purpose. The challenge for graduate employees is to develop strategies that militate against such likelihoods. These two theories are usually spoken of as in opposition based on their arguments. What their research illustrates is that these graduates labour market choices are very much wedded to their pre-existing dispositions and learner identities that frame what is perceived to be appropriate and available. Learning and employability are clearly supportive constructs but this relationship appears to be under represented and lacks clarity. Policy responses have tended to be supply-side focused, emphasising the role of HEIs for better equipping graduates for the challenges of the labour market. Such issues may be compounded by a policy climate of heavy central planning and target-setting around the coordination of skills-based education and training. Little (2001) suggests, that it is a multi-dimensional concept, and there is a need to distinguish between the factors relevant to the job and preparation for work. Such notions of economic change tend to be allied to human capital conceptualisations of education and economic growth (Becker, 1993). It further draws upon research that has explored the ways in which students and graduates construct their employability and begin to manage the transition from HE to work. Part of Springer Nature. In such labour market contexts, HE regulates more clearly graduates access to particular occupations. Power, S. and Whitty, G. (2006) Graduating and Graduations Within the Middle Class: The Legacy of an Elite Higher Education, Cardiff: Cardiff University, School of Social Sciences. French sociologist and criminologist Emile . Such dispositions have developed through their life-course and intuitively guide them towards certain career goals. Smart et al. The Varieties of Capitalism approach developed by Hall and Soskice (2001) may be useful here in explaining the different ways in which different national economies coordinate the relationship between their education systems and human resource strategies. In some parts of Europe, graduates frame their employability more around the extent to which they can fulfil the specific occupational criteria based on specialist training and knowledge. These theorists believe that the society and its equilibrium are based on the consensus or agreement of people. Hinchliffe, G. and Jolly, A. Hassard, J., McCann, L. and Morris, J.L. Hall, P.A. of employability has been subjected to little conceptual examination. Further research has also pointed to experiences of graduate underemployment (Mason, 2002; Chevalier and Lindley, 2009).This research has revealed that a growing proportion of graduates are undertaking forms of employment that are not commensurate to their level of education and skills. (2011) Towards a theoretical framework for the comparative understanding of globalisation, higher education, the labour market and inequality, Journal of Education and Work 24 (1): 185207. This may be largely due to the fact that employers have been reasonably responsive to generic academic profiles, providing that graduates fulfil various other technical and job-specific demands. Historically, the majority of employability research and practice pertained to vocational rehabilitation or to the attractiveness and selection of job candidates. Morley (2001) however states that employability . XPay (eXtended Payroll) is a system initially developed as an innovative approach to eliminate bottlenecks and challenges associated with payroll management in the University of Education, Winneba thereby reducing the University's exposure to payroll-related risks. It was not uncommon for students participating, for example, in voluntary or community work to couch these activities in terms of developing teamworking and potential leadership skills. The more recent policy in the United Kingdom towards raising fee levels has coincided with an economic downturn, generating concerns over the value and returns of a university degree. This tends to manifest itself in the form of positional conflict and competition between different groups of graduates competing for highly sought-after forms of employment (Brown and Hesketh, 2004). The consensus theory of employment and the conflict theory of employment present contradictory implications about highly skilled workers' opportunity cost for pursuing entrepreneurial activities in the knowledge economy. Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). Collins, R. (2000) Comparative and Historical Patterns of Education, in M. Hallinan (ed.) Ideally, graduates would be able to possess both the hard currencies in the form of traditional academic qualifications together with soft currencies in the form of cultural and interpersonal qualities. Non-traditional graduates or new recruits to the middle classes may be less skilled at reading the changing demands of employers (Savage, 2003; Reay et al., 2006). Graduate Employability has come to mean many different things. Prior to this, Harvey ( 2001 ) has defined employability in assorted ways from single and institutional positions. European-wide secondary data also confirms such patterns, as reflected in variable cross-national graduate returns (Eurostat, 2009). Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative, Over 10 million scientific documents at your fingertips, Not logged in (2008) Higher Education at Work High Skills: High Value, London: HMSO. Brown and Hesketh's (2004) research has clearly shown the competitive pressures experienced by graduates in pursuit of tough-entry and sought-after employment, and some of the measures they take to meet the anticipated recruitment criteria of employers. Over time, however, this traditional link between HE and the labour market has been ruptured. Brown, P. and Hesketh, A.J. Advancement in technological innovation requires the application of technical skills and knowledge; thus, attracting and retaining talented knowledge workers have become crucial for incumbent firms . (employment, marriage, children) that strengthen social bonds -Population Heterogeneity Stability in criminal offending is due to an anti-social characteristic (e., low self-control) that reverberates . According to Keynes, the volume of employment in a country depends on the level of effective demand of the people for goods and services. Employability skills are sometimes called foundational skills or job-readiness skills. Use the Previous and Next buttons to navigate the slides or the slide controller buttons at the end to navigate through each slide. Such changes have inevitably led to questions over HE's role in meeting the needs of both the wider labour market and graduates, concerns that have largely emanated from the corporate world (Morley and Aynsley, 2007; Boden and Nedeva, 2010). This is perhaps reflected in the increasing amount of new, modern and niche forms of graduate employment, including graduate sales mangers, marketing and PR officers, and IT executives. (2003) and Reay et al. They are (i) Business graduates require specific employability skills; (2) Curricular changes enhance . This review has highlighted how this shifting dynamic has reshaped the nature of graduates transitions into the labour market, as well as the ways in which they begin to make sense of and align themselves towards future labour market demands. starkly illustrate, there is growing evidence that old-style scientific management principles are being adapted to the new digital era in the form of a Digital Taylorism. Mass HE may therefore be perpetuating the types of structural inequalities it was intended to alleviate. Book Various stakeholders involved in HE be they policymakers, employers and paying students all appear to be demanding clear and tangible outcomes in response to increasing economic stakes. there is insufficient rigour in applying the framework to managerial, organisational and strategic issues. Continued training and lifelong learning is one way of staying fit in a job market context with shifting and ever-increasing employer demands. (1996) Higher Education and Work, London: Jessica Kingsley. In terms of social class influences on graduate labour market orientations, this is likely to work in both intuitive and reflexive ways. Research has continually highlighted engrained employer biases towards particular graduates, ordinarily those in possession of traditional cultural and academic currencies and from more prestigious HEIs (Harvey et al., 1997; Hesketh, 2000). 229240. The prominence is on developing critical and reflective skills, with a view to empowering and enhancing the learner. The problem of managing one's future employability is therefore seen largely as being up to the individual graduate. How employable a graduate is, or perceives themselves to be, is derived largely from their self-perception of themselves as a future employee and the types of work-related dispositions they are developing. This is further raising concerns around the distribution and equity of graduates economic opportunities, as well as the traditional role of HE credentials in facilitating access to desired forms of employment (Scott, 2005). Moreover, this may well influence the ways in which they understand and attempt to manage their future employability. Perhaps more positively, there is evidence that employers place value on a wider range of softer skills, including graduates values, social awareness and generic intellectuality dispositions that can be nurtured within HE and further developed in the workplace (Hinchliffe and Jolly, 2011). This paper analyses the barriers to work faced by long- and short-term unemployed people in remote rural labour markets. Consensus is the collective agreement of individuals. This tends to be mediated by a range of contextual variables in the labour market, not least graduates relations with significant others in the field and the specific dynamics inhered in different forms of employment. Research Paper 1, University of West England & Warwick University, Warwick Institute for Employment Research. Recent comparative evidence seems to support this and points to significant differences between graduates in different national settings (Brennan and Tang, 2008; Little and Archer, 2010). Purpose. Kirton, G. (2009) Career plans and aspirations of recent black and minority ethnic business graduates, Work, Employment and Society 23 (1): 1229. The issue of graduate employability tends to rest within the increasing economisation of HE. In effect, individuals can no longer rely on their existing educational and labour market profiles for shaping their longer-term career progression. The problem of graduate employability and skills may not so much centre on deficits on the part of graduates, but a graduate over-supply that employers find challenging to manage. The review has also highlighted the contested terrain around which debates on graduates employability and its development take place. The different orientations students are developing appear to be derived from emerging identities and self-perceptions as future employees, as well as from wider biographical dimensions of the student. As Clarke (2008) illustrates, the employability discourse reflects the increasing onus on individual employees to continually build up their repositories of knowledge and skills in an era when their career progression is less anchored around single organisations and specific job types. As Brown et al. Such graduates are therefore likely to shy away, or psychologically distance themselves, from what they perceive as particular cultural practices, values and protocols that are at odds with their existing ones. Well-developed and well-executed employability provisions may not necessarily equate with graduates actual labour market experiences and outcomes. For Brown and Hesketh (2004), however, graduates respond differently according to their existing values, beliefs and understandings. This is perhaps further reflected in the degree of qualification-based and skills mismatches, often referred to as vertical mismatches. Employability is a key concept in higher education. As Teichler (1999) points out, the increasing alignment of universities to the labour market in part reflects continued pressures to develop forms of innovation that will add value to the economy, be that through research or graduates. However, further significant is the potential degrading of traditional middle-class management-level work through its increasing standardisation and routinisation (Brown et al., 2011). [PDF] Graduate Employability Skills: Differences between the Private and 02 May 2015 Education is vital in the knowledge economy as the commodity of . The concerns that have been well documented within the non-graduate youth labour market (Roberts, 2009) are also clearly resonating with the highly qualified. It draws upon various studies to highlight the different labour market perceptions, experiences and outcomes of graduates in the United Kingdom and other national contexts. Graduate employability is clearly a problem that goes far wider than formal participation in HE, and is heavily bound up in the coordination, regulation and management of graduate employment through the course of graduate working lives. Chevalier, A. and Lindley, J. - 91.200.32.231. More positive accounts of graduates labour market outcomes tend to support the notion of HE as a positive investment that leads to favourable returns. Graduate Employability: A Review of Conceptual and Empirical Themes, Managing the link between higher education and the labour market: perceptions of graduates in Greece and Cyprus, Graduate employability as a professional proto-jurisdiction in higher education, Employability-related activities beyond the curriculum: how participation and impact vary across diverse student cohorts, Employability in context: graduate employabilityattributes expected by employers in regional Vietnam and implications for career guidance. Little and Arthur's research shows similar patterns among European graduates, there are generally higher levels of graduate satisfaction with HE as a preparation for future employment, as well as much closer matching up between graduates credentials and the requirements of jobs. The purpose of this paper is to adopt the perspective of personal construct theory to conceptualise employability. conventional / consensus perspective that places . The consensus theory is based o n the propositions that technological innovation is the driving force of so cial change. The expansion of HE, and the creation of new forms of HEIs and degree provision, has resulted in a more heterogeneous mix of graduates leaving universities (Scott, 2005). Ainley, P. (1994) Degrees of Difference, London: Lawrence Washart. Overall, consensus theory is a useful perspective for understanding the role of crime in society and the ways in which it serves as a means of defining and enforcing social norms and values. 2.2.2 Consensus Theory of Employability The consensus view of employability is rooted in a particular world-view which resonates with many of the core tenets of neo-liberalism. The underlying assumption of this view is that the While consensus theory emphasizes cooperation and shared values, conflict theory emphasizes power dynamics and ongoing struggles for social change. consensus and industrial peace. Avoid the most common mistakes and prepare your manuscript for journal Employability is sometimes discussed in the context of the CareerEDGE model. Research in the field also points to increasing awareness among graduates around the challenges of future employability. Chapter 1 1. This means that Keynes visualized employment/unemployment from the demand side of the model. This has tended to challenge some of the traditional ways of understanding graduates and their position in the labour market, not least classical theories of cultural reproduction. In the United Kingdom, as in other countries, clear differences have been reported on the class-cultural and academic profiles of graduates from different HEIs, along with different rates of graduate return (Archer et al., 2003; Furlong and Cartmel, 2005; Power and Whitty, 2006). The theory of employability can be difficult to identify; there can be many factors that contribute to the idea of being employable. However, there are concerns that the shift towards mass HE and, more recently, more whole-scale market-driven reforms may be intensifying class-cultural divisions in both access to specific forms of HE experience and subsequent economic outcomes in the labour market (Reay et al., 2006; Strathdee, 2011). What such research has shown is that the wider cultural features of graduates frame their self-perceptions, and which can then be reinforced through their interactions within the wider employment context. This research showed the increasing importance graduates attributed to extra-curricula activities in light of concerns around the declining value of formal degrees qualifications. 2003). Arthur, M. and Sullivan, S.E. The simultaneous decoupling and tightening in the HElabour market relationship therefore appears to have affected the regulation of graduates into specific labour market positions and their transitions more generally. The perspective gained much currency in the mid 20th century in the works of Harvard sociologist Talcott Parsons, for whom . Present study overcomes this issue by introducing a framework that clearly Universities have typically been charged with failing to instil in graduates the appropriate skills and dispositions that enable them to add value to the labour market. The consensus theory emphasizes that the social order is through the shared norms, and belief systems of people. 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