Recent research findings have reinforced the importance of soft skills for managerialsuccess. Consequently, there is an ongoing practical need for and research interest ineffective soft skill training. In order to improve the soft skills of their employees,companies have begun to turn to performing artists in the hope of achieving a hightraining effect. While this phenomenon has created excitement, it has hardly been thesubject of serious investigation guided by research questions and executed researchmethodologies. In particular, hardly any insights exist into the exercises artists use whenproviding soft skill training and coaching for a business audience. In order to exploresuch activities in a systematic way, this thesis turns the attention to the performing artshigher education curriculum for identifying relevant exercise categories and for linkingthem to soft skills. This is accomplished through in-depth interviews conducted withclassical singing and drama teachers in Germany. In order to achieve a transfer to thebusiness world, HR representatives from German-based management consulting firmsare also questioned through in-depth interviews in order to explore relevant soft skillsaddressable by performing arts interventions. The results show transfer links betweeneight performing arts curriculum items and seven soft skill categories. Apart fromexploring the relationship between arts-based exercises and managerial soft skills, theresearch results confirm the benefit rationale for arts-based training and highlightsuccess factors. The outcomes are visualised in a suggestive model aimed at providing asystematic orientation for arts-based trainers and for organisations considering soft skilltraining based on the performing arts. However, the research has also limitations,especially a too conservative number of connections between performing arts curricularitems and soft skill categories. Other limitations include a regional and cultural focus onGermany, as well as the reduction of arts-based training activities to the boundaries offormal performing arts education. These shortcomings are used for motivating futureresearch.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:555246 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Havar-Simonovich, Timea |
| Contributors | McMillan, Janice |
| Publisher | Edinburgh Napier University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/5340 |
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