Psychological and Socio-economic changes of Nepalese Youths through

Soft Skills Trainings

Pradip Bista
Email:[email protected]

Abstract

Soft skills training is important medium for imparting various skills, knowledge and attitude to
bring out positive psychological and socio-economic changes in the context of Nepalese youths.
The paper aims to review how far Nepalese youths have been able to develop determined
psychology towards socio-economic changes in the past five years. Qualitative inquiry was used
for the study. Structured questionnaires were distributed to fifty trainees of age group 25 to 35
from seven different provinces of Nepal to understand their psychological and socio-economic
changes post trainings. Soft skills training is found to play the greatest role in increasing the
productivity of participants in their work, understanding the core values of life and finding better
ways of earnings to live a standard, peaceful and progressive life. Despite these many positive
impacts, these are challenges which include matter of affordability, quality of training content,
efficiency of training, lack of professional trainers and so on. The study suggested and
recommended some policies to increase the efficiency of training, proficiency of trainee and
measures to uplift the psychological and economic status of Nepalese youths. The finding of this
study adds value to the training sector of Nepal, process of psychological and socio-economic
progression as well as its importance specially to the Nepalese youths which helps to formulate
plans, policies and strategies accordingly in the future.

Key words: Trainings, Psychology, Socio-economic, Progressive life, Professional trainers

Introduction
At the present context, the market structure, market value and educational sector is growing
rapidly. Those individuals who had achieved marvelous academic records with additional work
experience were preferred by most of the corporate companies a decade ago. Though there is
increment in literacy rate, physical and intellectuality among the Nepalese youths, most of them are
still unable to utilize their potential in an appropriate way due to lack of self-management in the
real scenario. ‘In the present time, hard skills and experience are not abundant enough for the entry
and then progress in the corporate world. Employers prefer to recruit and elevate those people who
are ambitious, imaginative, inventive, and self-directed with good communication and soft skills.
Inadequacy of soft skills in the candidates has resulted in low hiring by corporate. (John,2015)’.
Formal schooling in the context of Nepal only teaches the academics but many students and youths
are lacking the soft skills which is really essential for them to enhance their productivity They also
lack the skills to interact with customers, work in teams, act professionally and even represent
themselves in job interviews. Employers aim to recruit such individuals can fill their existing job
vacancies based on the skill level for the posts. The historical focus has been on hard skills. Hard
skills: Technical skills including an individual’s mental and physical capacity (Robles, 2012;
Zhang, 2012) Generally, hard skills area technical in nature and easier to assess within a short time
frame. As businesses face a changing competitive battleground, the employee skill set needs are
adjusting as well. (John,2015)’

The new world is the world of science and technology. The new world wants the change. The
world is also constantly changing and influencing to be the part of the change (Connell, Gough,
McDonnell, & Burgess, 2014). The new world is inclusive in nature. People tend to live a life of
dignity with no discrimination on any basis at all. Therefore, we can say that the new world
comprises of people from diverse backgrounds. In spite of diversity, they still seek for unity so that
they can influence globally. At the present, inter-personal and communication skills are very
crucial for building up team working together smoothly. The mixture of workers is also changing.
We can find workers of different age groups working in a team which even includes individuals
who are very near to their seclusion (Bailey, 2014). The people included may belong to various
ethnicities as well. Change in generations have resulted in the inclined necessitate for soft skills
(Bailly, & Lene, 2013). For example, during the review of total 28 reports using corporate
documents in different countries, Cunningham and Villaseñor (2014) helped find out that socio-
emotional skills are the first priority of 76.5 % of the studies that rank employer skill preferences.
Similarly, various surveys of US employers identify the lack and need of soft skills as the area
where young job seekers have the largest deficiency (White, 2013). Literally, the condition of
young job seekers in US match with the condition of Nepalese Youths. Having achieved higher
degree, several Nepalese Youths are psychologically disturbed in terms of their goal, economically
not sound and are not paid well in the workplace.

For inculcating soft skills in today's management professionals, Youths have to be provided with
trainings as a part of their professional curriculum. Soft skills: Skills such as motivation,
commitment level, and reliability (Parente, Stephan, & Brown, 2012). Soft skills are not technical.
They include interpersonal skills such as communication, empathy, honesty, integrity, and a sense
of humor. This in turn will help them to improve their personality and empathy. Thus, it enables
them to secure a respectable position in the corporate world. Nepal being a developing country
which is just in the path of development in almost all sectors, practical based education here is still
a dream for many youths. Being confined by theoretical knowledge and not being able to explore
any topic due to lack of quality resources and materials is the major problem of Nepalese Youths in
Nepal. Several millionaire Nepalese Youths are seen depressed and psychologically disturbed
while youths belonging to middle and lower class are seen happy. Some youths seem to be social
while some of them seem to be unsocial. A major issue facing business today is preparation for a
changing world (Finch, Peacock, Levallet & Foster, 2015). The major requirement for all such
youths is soft skill training. It is important to guide and motivate them towards their goal. They
must be made clear about their goal. It is equally important to teach them to live their life instead of
spending. Every youth must learn about the core value of their life. They must be made aware
about their national duty also. They must be taught to believe in “We” rather than “I”. Every youth
must be made to believe that psychological and socioeconomic change is possible only with
combined and consistent effort. Technology is influencing interpersonal relationships through the
advent of mobile devices to communicate (Connell et al., 2014). Sooner or later, every Nepalese
Youth want to rise. As youths have the will to do something great but lack the guidance only, soft
skill trainings can help them upgrade their psychological and socioeconomic status.

Chambers (2013) stated it is common practice in business to promote individuals into supervisory
level positions based on their technical proficiency. On the other hand, as per the National Youth
Policy 2072(2015) approved by Nepal Government (Council of Ministers) on 2072/6/19 (October
6, 2015), youth consciousness and acknowledgement programs shall be conducted for
improvement in their psychological and socioeconomic status. Programs shall be conducted
through local bodies to improve social competence of inhabitants specially youths. For the youths
to gain national as well as international experience of various topics various programs such as
youth exchange, study tour, country visits and youth camp programs shall be conducted. Nationally
and internationally reputed youths should be encouraged for accomplishing creative works and
they shall be rewarded and honored as well. Under the National Youth Council for development of
leadership, a Youth Leadership Development Training Academy shall be established to helps
youths involved in various sectors. Inspection of the policies give us insight that the Government
has also focused on imparting soft skills through various trainings.

An individual’s technical skills are no longer sufficient as the demand for soft skills is increasing
(Robles, 2012). Ministry of Youth and Sports, Nepal has made some plans and policies for
mobilizing the Nepalese Youths. Mobilization requires motivation and feeling of ownness. The
common youth shall be mobilized as volunteers in every nook and corner of Nepal for the activities
like nation building and various aspects of social service. They can also be involved in rescue
activities during national calamities, accidents and situations of emergency. Government would
target those groups of youths who are educated yet unemployed and will provide with minimal
subsistence maintenance allowance. IN this way, youths will be mobilized as competent volunteers.
By increasing the meaningful and active involvement of the youth in the peace process of Nepal,
reconstruction of the vulnerable states and the act of nation building. After the increment in
participation, emphasis shall be given to the youths to make them play the leading role in its
implementation. Programs for promotion shall be conducted to ensure the participation of the youth
at the international forum also. The youth shall be effectively mobilized at all levels in the process
of policy and plan formulation. The youth shall be involved in the management of various activities
in the community including infrastructure building, schools and forest. Promotional programs
regarding accountability shall be conducted to mobilize the youth as the agents of social
transformation by making them accountable to the society and the nation. By involving the youths
actively in social programs as partners, volunteers, etc. the level social responsibility and
accountability can be upgraded. Demand for individuals who have skills such as the ability to
communicate effectively is on the rise with the individuals poised for success in the highly
competitive marketplace (Lazarus, 2013). The youths shall be mobilized against inhuman and evil
practices taking place in the community like untouchability, jhuma, deuki, badi, witchcraft,
kamara/kamari (slavery), halia, haruwa, kamaiya/kamalari, dowry and chhapadi, blind faith and
bad culture. These are some of the policies to be adapted and implemented by the Government
sector of Nepal to increase the psychological and socioeconomic status of Nepalese Youths as
youths can be the change maker if they get proper guidance. While the demand for individuals who
have skills such as the ability to communicate effectively is on the rise with the individuals poised for
success in the highly competitive marketplace (Lazarus, 2013), Nepalese Youths are still lagging behind.

Objectives
The major aim of the paper is to review how far Nepalese youths have been able to develop
determined psychology for socio economic changes in the past five years. The present paper
focuses on the importance of soft skills trainings and the benefits of imparting soft skill related
education in our curriculum i.e., developing social, emotional & thinking skills in students, as they
are the important building blocks for a dynamic citizen, who can cope up with future challenges,
and survive well. The paper also explores the soft skills training strategies used by logistic industry
trainer. The paper also evaluates the impacts that have been made on trainee aged 25-35 by the soft
skill trainings. This paper is also prepared with the hope that this might be an important resource
for anyone who is keen to know about the Nepalese Youths, their psychological and socioeconomic
status and possibility in bringing out the change in their status through soft skills trainings. The
study may contribute to distinguish the changes in life of Nepalese youths before and after the
training. This study is also conducted to find out the real problems and challenges the youths from
all over Nepal is in the process of making effort to improve their psychological and socio-economic
status. It also aims to know how far and how inclusively soft skills trainings have been imparted in
every corner of Nepal. This paper aims to find out the significant improvement that soft skills
training can bring forth in the life of a Nepalese Youth. The nature of impact of soft skills training
on Nepalese Youths was measured by comparing their soft skills levels before and after the
intervention. This paper not only attempts to find out the challenges faced by Nepalese Youths but
also attempts to know far trainers are troubles with very challenges in the process of imparting
trainings. Soft skills are critical to success in business (Dana, Hancock, & Phillips, 2011). It is also
definite for this paper to let everyone know the background status and quality of trainers in Nepal,
the quality and effectiveness of the training content they use and affordability of trainers. The study
may also help the readers and training industry personnel to identify the major and minor defects in
the soft skills trainings imparted, strategies for betterment and upliftment of training sector of
Nepal and most importantly the effectiveness of training in the past five years. In fact, some
corporations are using Situation Judgment Tests (SJT) as a method of rating interpersonal skills in
individuals (Lievens & Sackett, 2012). The soft skills identified as important in the workplace
include communications, teamwork, motivation, problem-solving, enthusiasm, and trust (Chute,
2012; Ellis, Kisling, & Hackworth, 2014; Rasul, Rauf, & Mansor, 2013; Robles, 2012; Wahl et al.,
20 2012). On the other hand, here are areas of the study that are outside of the control of the
researcher that could affect the study (Price & 7 Murnan, 2004).

Significance
The topic has been a significant area of interest to the researchers, theorists, and practitioners, and
there have been numerous researches carried out to emphasize the need of soft skills trainings for
improvement of psychological and socio-economic status of Nepalese Youths. The topic aims to
contribute in the development of students’ social, emotional and cognitive development & dealing
with their psychosocial problems and issues. Some of the recently carried out research in the field
of soft skills trainings include John (2015) and White (2013) who carried out the research to find
out the need of soft skills trainings in the 21 st century and problems faced by youths due to lack of
soft skill trainings. The result portrayed that soft skill trainings like motivational training, life coach
training, etc. had direct relationship with the quality and happy life. Their result of research also
depicts that the need of soft skills trainings is at the peak in the recent time. The researchers
concluded that the need to be able to use interpersonal communication skills is critical for
employees to work with and understand team members. The workforce mixture is changing.
Marques (2013) stated there has been a change in corporate America. 10 Expectations exist for
business leaders once considered weak for displaying soft skills to openly use soft skills in the 21st
century workforce. There is a blend of individuals from multiple age groups including individuals
who are near to their retirement. Researcher Bailey (2014) also drew the conclusion that included
in the mix are people of different ethnicities and genders. Change in generations has also resulted
in the increased demand for soft skills. Similarly, Roodbari, Sahdipoor, and Ghale (2013) in their
research showed that life skills training has a positive effect and improves social development,
emotional and social adjustment, suggesting an increase in compatibility of children and public
health. In the same way, the research also concluded that psychological factors such as fear,
shyness, hopelessness, lack of confidence and motivation has hindered the socioeconomic growth
of Youths. The problems with Nepalese Youths are also the same. Most of the research in common
conclude that young mind is being considered, as the most productive members of the society, due
to their physical and intellectual capability. But in real scenario and context of Nepal, most of them
are unable to utilize their potential in an appropriate way due to lack of guidance and motivation.
Problems occurring in the society such as alcoholism, drug abuse, sexual abuse, smoking, juvenile
delinquency, anti-social acts, etc. have an adverse effect to a large extent on them. Furthermore,
data analysis from reports published by Nepal Government can also help us conclude that lack of
equality, time-relevant and employment-oriented education, inaccessibility to soft skills training
and technology, goalless, etc. also has hampered the psychological and socio-economic growth and
progress. However, the present study attempts to find out real psychological and socio-economic
status of Nepalese Youths and the ways in which soft skill trainings can help them promote their
status. Although considerable progress has been made in the past decade, and in the present study
too, to reflect soft skills trainings as an effective mode of education, which does enhances social,
emotional and thinking skills, and helps the Nepalese Youths to achieve their goals, by
strengthening their abilities to meet the needs and demands of the present society and be regarded
as respectable and competent personality but still further empirical research is needed from future
researchers, academicians and professionals in the related field to demonstrate robust findings.

Limitations
The focus of the study was on the psychological and socioeconomic changes of Nepalese Youths
through soft skills trainings. The interview participants consisted of trainees who had academics
degree. The limitation of the study is that the study included the opinions of the educated trainee
only regarding the possibility of psychological and socioeconomic change through soft skills
trainings. Interviewing uneducated professionals may elicit different feedback.

Methodology
The research design adopted for the study was qualitative inquiry and researcher’s personal
experience. Qualitative inquiry was used for the study. Qualitative research results in an emergent
design with a strong story (Bansal & Corley, 2012). Structured questionnaires were distributed to
seven trainees of age group 25 to 35 from seven different provinces of Nepal to understand their
psychological and socio-economic changes post trainings. For the study, only those youths who
were homogeneous with respect to certain demographic factors like education qualification, age
group, gender, and economic background were selected by the researcher.

The central research question for the study is: What soft skills training strategies do leaders in the
logistics industry use?
Interview Questions
The interview questions for the study are:
1. What strategies do you think have been applied in your organization for motivating the co-
workers?
2. What kind of soft skill trainings do you think are most important for you and why?
3. What are the psychological changes that have been brought in you post training?
4. What strategies do you use to overcome challenging workplace behaviors after the training?
5. How do you rate the quality of training content delivered by the trainer in the most recent
training you attended?
6. Do you think is there any socioeconomic changes in your life after attending soft skills trainings?
7. What types of workers have you observed with soft skills challenges?
8. What do you think on “Psychological and socioeconomic changes of Nepalese Youths through
soft skills training? Is this really possible?
9. How do you measure the success of the soft skill training that you have attended recently?
10. How to differentiate the activities in your life and post training?
Findings
‘Those students' who are regularly exposed to soft skills sessions will have an edge over other
students not only with respect to employability but also with respect to overall personality
development. This is predicted to be reflected whenever they will be facing interviews for their
placements and in their overall performance throughout their life. Though technical skills are
needed at the entry level for any manager it is his soft skills and conceptual skills that is going to
help him/ her in scaling the heights in career. (John,2009)’

The focal point of the research was recognition of the fruitful and delicate abilities for preparing
systems in the co-ordinations business through soft skills trainings. Three logistic association
pioneers in the provinces of Burlington, Middlesex, and Somerset, New Jersey, were participators
of the study. Information was gathered through semi structured questionnaires and analysis of
company documents. Four subjects arose through information research of converging information
sources:
(a) the use of ideas generated by combined associated group and researcher’s personal training
experience
(b) the identification of true needs of youths and people
(c) the use of structured and organized method to control and handle the emotional stress and
behavior
(d) the importance of effectual communication. (Dean, 2017)’

Findings
The finding of this research is that proper soft skill training and quality training content delivery is
the need of an hour for today’s society. Most of the organizations are not used to with the modern
and most essential trend of giving motivational session on a regular basis. Most of the Nepalese
Youths believe that trainings like Life Coach, Motivational Talks, Neuro Linguistic Programming
(NLP) etc. are most important for them as they believe that they lack psychological guidance and
time to time motivation. Another major finding of this study is that the Nepalese Youths have been
able to achieve change in their thought process after the training. They have been able to work
confidently, think positively and make clear vision of their goal. Questionnaires has helped the
researcher find out that performing activities like meditation, yoga and thinking positively has
helped them ensure psychological and socioeconomic changes. From questionnaires, it has also
been found out that they have been able to increase their productivity in the workplace, get good
review regarding their dedication towards their work, live a peaceful life, etc. Moreover, trainings
attendants also responded that they have been able to earn better than ever before in their life,
create a positive mark in the society and gain respect in the community after the trainings. Some of
the attendants even feel that soft skills trainings have brought drastic change in their life. As per the
response given by seven trainees from seven different provinces, the average rating of the
effectiveness of training is pretty good. The trainees responded that they don’t even want to turn
around and look back at the pre-training life. They believe that they have received even more than
what they expected from soft skills trainings. On a overall note, the response can help us draw a
conclusion that psychological and socioeconomic change is possible through soft skills trainings.

From the overall responses, we can find out that imparting of such trainings deliberately to the
youths has helped them:
1. Enhance their creative and critical thinking
2. To “think outside the box”
3. Make informed decisions
4. Make them more likely to achieve the desired results.
5. Gain Personality skills
6. Increase problem solving ability,
7.Increase critical thinking capability
8. Improved communication abilities for the long-term success
9. Boost Workplace Productivity
10. Reduce risks
11. Increase sales
12. Build strong team
13. More self-confidence, less stress

The trainees after the successful completion of training have been able to delegate, provide
feedback, accept feedback, take responsibility and motivate themselves to reach their targets. Self-
confidence and customer relations skills are important soft skills (Selvadurai, Choy, & Maros,
2012). Individual self-confidence is a factor in emotional intelligence (Perry, 2011). The overall
finding is positive. Regarding the quality of trainers and quality content delivery, the response is
satisfactory. The response helps us find out that soft skills has helped them add life to their hard
skills and academics degree, change their life, think differently and think for all. This in return is
certain to help trainees achieve psychological and socio-economic change in their life.

Conclusion
The researcher feels the problems faced by the Nepalese Youths regarding the unavailability of
resources regarding psychological and socioeconomic status of Nepalese and change through soft
skills trainings. It is therefore concluded from the research that there is rapid change in the status of
Nepalese Youths. Data, responses from trainees and researcher’s personal experience insist that the
changes on Youths is non-imaginary. The researcher through this journal also concludes that
psychological and socioeconomic change is easily possible through soft skills trainings. While this
study doesn’t offer a conclusive answer to the question of how much change is really possible
through soft skills trainings, it does help every reader to know the real difference in the life
Nepalese Youths who have at least once attended the soft skills training program as a trainee. If the
training content delivered is based on need analysis, the training delivery is impactful and the
participation of youths is admirable, soft skills trainings will surely lead to psychological and
socioeconomic changes in the context of Nepalese Youths.
Reference

1. Anthony, S., & Garner, B. (2016). Teaching soft skills to business students: An analysis of
multiple pedagogical methods. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly, 79.
doi:10.1177/2329490616642247

2. Borghans, L., Weel, B., & Weinberg, B. (2014). People skills and the labor-market
outcomes of underrepresented groups. Industrial & Labor Relations Review, 67, 287-334.
doi:10.1177/001979391406700202

3. Finch, Peacock, Levallet & Foster, (2015) A dynamic capabilities view of employability:
Exploring the drivers of competitive advantage for university graduates ISSN: 0040-0912

4. Robles, M. (2012). Executive perceptions of the top 10 soft skills needed in today’s
marketplace. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly, 75, 453-465.
doi:10.1177/1080569912460400

5. Robles, 2012; Zhang, 2012 Critical Soft Skills to Achieve Success in the Workplace

6. White M (2013) The real reason new college grads can’t get hired, Time, November 10,
http://business.time.com/2013/ 11/10/the-real-reason-new-college-grads-can’t-get-hired/