Evaluating the Work Readiness of Business Students: A Report

This report analyzes the work readiness of business students, drawing on several research papers. It examines factors influencing employability skills, the role of stakeholders, and the perspectives of undergraduate students. Key findings include the importance of employability skills for business graduates, the inconsistency between skill development and employment outcomes, and the need for increased awareness of employability-related development within higher education institutions. The report also highlights the significance of integrating both management and employability skills into the undergraduate curriculum to equip graduates with the necessary skills for the workplace. Furthermore, it explores the competencies required for success in the hospitality sector, emphasizing the need for flexibility and self-confidence among students. The research underscores the importance of addressing skill gaps and preparing students for the demands of the modern labor market. The report references several papers that used quantitative and qualitative methods to assess the work readiness of students. The research suggests that there is a limited alignment between the views of students and stakeholder groups.

Running head: ARE BUSINESS STUDENTS WORK-READY?
Are Business Students work-ready?
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1ARE BUSINESS STUDENTS WORK-READY?
Topic: Are Business Students work-ready?
Jackson, Denise. 2014. “Testing a model of undergraduate competence in employability
skills and its implications for stakeholders.” Journal of Education and Work 27 (2): 220-242.
DOI: 10.1080/13639080.2012.718750
The paper examines the ways in which the stakeholders can contribute towards the expertise
of the undergraduates related to these skills and provides a model of business undergraduate
competence pertaining to the employability skills. For conducting the research, the author used
quantitative method for the collection of data by conducting an online survey on the 1008
business undergraduate students, who were accomplishing their core employability skills
program from an Australian University (Jackson 2014). The researcher used a sample of 1232
business and law undergraduate students who were enrolled in a core employability skills
program in an Australian University. The main findings of the research was the vital factors that
influences the employability skills competence of the undergraduates and the joint responsibility,
which the educators and the stakeholders possess in order to develop the employability skills of
the undergraduates. The strength of the paper was that the sample size that was taken for the
research was large and the proposed model of the research made use of the large number of
parameters that provided significant amount of accuracy. The weakness of the paper was that the
study made use of the self-assessed ratings of the students in order to measure the dependent
variables of competence related to employability skills. The researchers concluded that the
employability skills is just one of the key factors related to graduate employability , there are
other factors like the mobility of jobs , market conditions of labour , learning transfer and
disciplinary knowledge(Jackson 2014).

2ARE BUSINESS STUDENTS WORK-READY?
Topic: Are Business Students work-ready?
Wilton, Nick. 2011. Do employability skills really matter in the UK graduate labour
market? the case of business and management graduates. Work, Employment & Society 25 (1):
85- 100. DOI:10.1177/0950017010389244
The paper examines the two rationales provide by the UK policymakers pertaining to the
expansion of the higher education. One of the rationale aims to help the high-skill labour
requirements of a knowledge economy and the other rationale aims to increase the employment
and educational opportunities for the underrepresented groups. The research adopted a
quantitative survey method by making use of questionnaires to the students who completed their
under graduation in the year 1999 from the UK higher education institutions. Samples of 8571
undergraduate students were used, out of which 1060 students were from Business and
Management (Wilton 2011). The research findings indicate that for the Business and
Management graduates, the relationship between employability and employment is inconsistent
and identifies the disadvantages related to the traditional labour market which acts as an
obstacle for the achievement even if the undergraduate students develop their employability
skills during their undergraduate studies . The strength of the paper is that the sample size taken
for the research was large and wide range of factors were used in order to evaluate the
employability skills. The weakness of the paper was that, for the research there were low
response rate from certain minority ethnic group data, which hindered detailed analysis of the
data. The researcher shed light to the fact that the contribution of the Business and Management
degrees shows inconsistency with the development of skills (Wilton 2011). The research helps to
conclude the fact that the relationship between employability and employment is not
straightforward.

3ARE BUSINESS STUDENTS WORK-READY?
Topic: Are Business Students work-ready?
Tymon, Alex. "The student perspective on employability." Studies in higher
education 38, no. 6 (2013): 841-856. DOI: 10.1080/03075079.2011.604408
The paper studies the views of the undergraduate students in order to evaluate whether
the undergraduate graduate students are engaged with employability skills development. The
researcher used the quantitative method of data collection. The researcher conducted a survey
using questionnaires to the undergraduates students of UK universities, who were completing
their majors in human resource, business studies or business administration and marketing.
Samples of 400 undergraduate students were engaged for the research from various universities
of UK (Tymon 2013). The sample consisted of 400 undergraduate students from various
universities of UK. The research findings indicated that the first year students were hesitant
about their contribution, the second year students were confident to express themselves. The
final year students were showed great confidence to express their views. The weakness of the
paper was that the sample size of the final year student taken for the research was very low. The
strength of the paper was that the sample size for the first and second year student was large that
provided useful contribution. The author identified that there is only limited alignment between
the views of the students and the stakeholder groups (Tymon 2013). There were observed lack of
engagement associated with the employability-related development, which resulted in the
difference between the first, second and final year students. The paper suggests that the higher
education institutions should make improvements by increasing the awareness related to
employability.

4ARE BUSINESS STUDENTS WORK-READY?
Topic: Are Business Students work-ready?
Jackson, Denise. "Business graduate employability–where are we going wrong?." Higher
Education Research & Development 32, no. 5 (2013): 776-790.
The article examines the proposed model of graduate employability that includes the
process of developing and transfer of non-technical skills, which are fundamental to graduate
employability. The research adopted a method of qualitative analysis for gathering information
and data related to the topic (Jackson 2013). For conducting the research, the author utilized the
secondary sources of data that were related to the research topic. The researcher for the research
used no sample for collection of data, the author made use of the secondary sources of data .The
research findings analyzes the extent to which transfer occurs and it also highlights the strategies
for the graduates and universities in order to protect environment of workplace that would
facilitate transfer and help to make graduates work-ready . The strength of the paper was that the
paper was very informative and used graphical interpretations in order to clearly depict the
proposed model related to graduate employability incorporating transfer. The weakness of the
paper was that the paper demanded more detailed discussion related to the research topic while
proposing the model. The paper emphasizes the fact that the less attention has been paid to the
measurement of the non-technical skills outcomes and to the transfer of the acquired skills to the
workplace. The research contributed a model of graduate employability that would help to
understand the factors influencing the transfers and its implications of the graduate workplace
performance (Jackson 2013).

5ARE BUSINESS STUDENTS WORK-READY?
Topic: Are Business Students work-ready?
Spowart, Jane. "Hospitality students' competencies: Are they work ready?." Journal of
Human Resources in Hospitality & Tourism 10, no. 2 (2011): 169-181. DOI:
10.1080/15332845.2011.536940
The aim of the research was to identify the competencies or the soft skills for the
hospitality management final year undergraduate students from the school of Tourism and
Hospitality , university of Johannesburg. The research adopted a quantitative survey method
where the respondents were asked to rate in four –point Linkert scale. The research also made
use of the questionnaires that were provided to the respondents. 65 final year graduate
Hospitality Management students at the University of Johannesburg took part in the research
(Spowart 2011). The sample size for the research was small as only 65 final year graduate
students took part in the research. Self confidence , achievement orientation ,ability and the
willingness to learn , organization awareness , personal planning and the organizational skills
wee the competencies that were identified before and after the training (Spowart 2011) . The
strength of the paper was that the large number of factors were parameters were used in
the ,model in order to provide significant degree of precision to the research . However, the
weakness of the paper was that the size of the sample taken for the research was very small that
would affect the result of the research. The research highlights that the both the management
skills and the employability skills should be integrated in to the undergraduate curriculum which
would enable the graduates to posses the skills required for them to operate professionally within
the workplace (Spowart 2011). The paper also highlights the importance of the competencies that
are needed in the workplace so that the students are flexible as well as self-confident.

6ARE BUSINESS STUDENTS WORK-READY?
References
Jackson, Denise. "Business graduate employability–where are we going wrong?." Higher
Education Research & Development 32, no. 5 (2013): 776-790.
Jackson, Denise. 2014. “Testing a model of undergraduate competence in employability skills
and its implications for stakeholders.” Journal of Education and Work 27 (2): 220-242. DOI:
10.1080/13639080.2012.718750
Spowart, Jane. "Hospitality students' competencies: Are they work ready?." Journal of Human
Resources in Hospitality & Tourism 10, no. 2 (2011): 169-181. DOI:
10.1080/15332845.2011.536940
Tymon, Alex. "The student perspective on employability." Studies in higher education 38, no. 6
(2013): 841-856. DOI: 10.1080/03075079.2011.604408
Wilton, Nick. 2011. Do employability skills really matter in the UK graduate labour market? the
case of business and management graduates. Work, Employment & Society 25 (1): 85- 100.
DOI:10.1177/0950017010389244