Employability and talent development in the knowledge economy: What's going on?

This paper aims to demonstrate that there is a link between soft skills and organisational performance in the knowledge economy. The objective resides in expanding and developing human capital base in organisations. The paper substantiates the debate inherent in dichotomy of soft and hard skills. Organisations require to develop their 'knowledge base' in order to achieve competitive advantage. Over the last two decades, the question of Knowledge Management has been the subject of consideration because knowledge is the capital which instills value for organisational sustainability and also employability of individual employees. The key for developing soft skills lies in cultivating tacit knowledge to boost organisational sustainability, as well as to demonstrate the impact of the three intelligences, namely, practical, emotional and intuitive, on the adaptability and flexibility of contemporary organisations. The fundamental element of practical intelligence sustains the organisation's competitive advantage through innovation and creativity. The current research findings obtained from an analysis of a case study pertaining to a Multinational Corporation in Suzhou Industrial Park, Jiangsu Province, China, highlight the role of soft skills in increasing work performance as compared to technical skills in improving employees' performance. The current research further revealed that employees in the Research and Development department generally consider soft skills more helpful than expertise competencies (hard skills). This paper is of value to practitioners, scholars and academics in the field of Human Capital Development. © Common Ground, Ana Martins, Isabel Martins, Liu Xiao, All Rights Reserved.