Soft Skills and European Labour Market: Interviews with Finnish and Italian Managers

Recent reports have suggested that many employees in the labour market today lack essential soft skills. Yet, the specific relevance of these skills for particular job occupations is still to explore. We investigated perceptions of skill requirements and their development potential reflected against cultural impacts, using close interviews of 64 managers at firms in different fields of industries in Italy and Finland. Managers reported that, due to heightened competitive pressure, specific soft skills, particularly Work in team and flexibility to develop, are becoming increasingly important. The study indicates that the perceived significance of soft skills seems to vary according to the working environment and occupation. Furthermore, some soft skills seem to have a higher potential for development and thus suggested to be implemented in the university curricula. The paper concludes that a country characterized by working  environments conducive to the development of soft skills, must however promote research for the identification and relevance of the skills themselves

Soft skills para un desempeño exitoso de trabajo: estudio comparativo intercultural sobre las competencias transversales en los managers

Los retos que plantea la revolución 4.0 requieren una gestión capaz de gestionar el cambio organizativo. Las competencias técnicas por sí solas no son suficientes para garantizar el éxito empresarial. Lo que determina la competitividad es la posesión de competencias transversales como medio de interconexión entre los recursos técnicos y el capital humano. El manager se convierte en el papel clave de la organización que debe implementar constantemente el desarrollo de competencias transversales con miras a la innovación y el desarrollo. ¿Cuáles son las soft skills que determinan el desempeño exitoso? ¿La dirección es consciente de esta importancia? Autores como McClelland, Boyatzis, Spencer & Spencer, Goleman, han sentado las bases para el estudio de las competencias necesarias para la competitividad empresarial y han dado lugar a una línea de investigación realizada por las propias organizaciones. Nuestra investigación es parte de un marco complejo, aún poco explorado y lleno de variables. El objetivo del trabajo es investigar el nivel de habilidades blandas en gerentes con más de cinco años de experiencia profesional a sus espaldas, con el fin de construir cursos de formación para la implementación de soft skills. La comparación entre muestras internacionales ha arrojado resultados interesantes, especialmente desde el punto de vista pedagógico.The challenges posed by the 4.0 Revolution require a management capable of facing and managing organizational change. Technical skills alone are not enough to guarantee business success. What determines competitiveness is the possession of transversal skills as a means of interconnection between technical resources and human capital. The manager becomes the key role of the organization which must constantly implement the development of soft skills with a view to innovation and development. What are the soft skills that determine successful performance? Is management aware of this importance? Authors such as McClelland, Boyatzis, Spencer & Spencer, Goleman, have laid the foundations for the study of the skills necessary for corporate competitiveness and have given rise to a line of research conducted by the organizations themselves. Our research is part of a complex framework, still little explored and full of variables. The goal of the work is to investigate the level of soft skills in managers with more than five years of professional experience behind them, in order to build training courses for the implementation of transversal competences. The comparison between international samples has produced interesting results especially from a pedagogical point of view

Soft Skills and European Labour Market: Interviews with Finnish and Italian Managers

Recent reports have suggested that many employees in the labour market today lack essential soft skills. Yet, the specific relevance of these skills for particular job occupations is still to explore. We investigated perceptions of skill requirements and their development potential reflected against cultural impacts, using close interviews of 64 managers at firms in different fields of industries in Italy and Finland. Managers reported that, due to heightened competitive pressure, specific soft skills, particularly Work in team and flexibility to develop, are becoming increasingly important. The study indicates that the perceived significance of soft skills seems to vary according to the working environment and occupation. Furthermore, some soft skills seem to have a higher potential for development and thus suggested to be implemented in the university curricula. The paper concludes that a country characterized by working environments conducive to the development of soft skills, must however promote research for the identification and relevance of the skills themselves

Retinal neurodegeneration in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus: the role of glycemic variability

Aims: Recent studies have identified neuroretinal abnormalities in persons affected by diabetes mellitus, before the onset of microvascular alterations. However, the role of glycemic variability (GV) on early retinal neurodegeneration is still not clarified. Methods: To explore the relationship between glycemic control and neuroretinal characteristics, 37 persons with Type 1 diabetes mellitus (Type 1 DM) divided into two groups with no signs (noRD) and with mild non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) compared to 13 healthy control participants (C) were recruited. All persons underwent an optical coherence tomography with automatic segmentation of all neuroretinal layers. Measurements of mean of nasal (N)/temporal (T)/superior (S)/inferior (I) macular quadrants for individual layer were also calculated. Metabolic control was evaluated by glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), and indexes of GV were calculated from continuous glucose monitoring. Results: The difference among the three groups in terms of RNFL thickness was significantly dependent on quadrant (F(6;132) = 2.315; p = 0.037). This interaction was due to a specific difference in RNFL-N thickness, where both Type 1 DM groups showed a similar reduction versus C (−3.9 for noDR and −4.9 for NPDR), without any relevant difference between them (−1.0). Inner nuclear layer (INL) was increased in all quadrants in the two Type 1 DM groups compared to C (mean difference = 7.73; 95% CI: 0.32–15.14, p = 0.043; mean difference = 7.74; 95% CI: 0.33–15.15, p = 0.043, respectively). A negative correlation between RNFL-N and low blood glucose index (r = −0.382, p = 0.034) and positive correlation between INL and continuous overall net glycemic action −1, −2, −4 h (r = 0.40, p = 0.025; r = 0.39, p = 0.031; r = 0.41, p = 0.021, respectively) were observed in Type 1 DM patients. The triglycerides were positively and significantly correlated to INL (r = 0.48, p = 0.011), in Type 1 DM subjects. GV and triglycerides resulted both independent predictors of increased INL thickness. No correlation was found with HbA1c. Conclusions: Early structural damage of neuroretina in persons with Type 1 DM patients is related to glucose fluctuations. GV should be addressed, even in the presence of a good metabolic control

Emotional status and fear in patients scheduled for elective surgery during COVID-19 pandemic: a nationwide cross-sectional survey (COVID-SURGERY)

Background Fragmented data exist on the emotional and psychological distress generated by hospital admission during the pandemic in specific populations of patients, and no data exists on patients scheduled for surgery. The aim of this multicentre nationwide prospective cross-sectional survey was to evaluate the impact of pandemic on emotional status and fear of SARS-CoV-2 contagion in a cohort of elective surgical patients in Italy, scheduled for surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results Twenty-nine Italian centres were involved in the study, for a total of 2376 patients surveyed (mean age of 58 years ± 16.61; 49.6% males). The survey consisted of 28 total closed questions, including four study outcome questions. More than half of patients had at least one chronic disease (54%), among which cardiovascular diseases were the commonest (58%). The most frequent type of surgery was abdominal (20%), under general anaesthesia (64%). Almost half of the patients (46%) declared to be frightened of going to the hospital for routine checkups; 55% to be afraid of getting SARS-CoV-2 infection during hospitalization and 62% were feared of being hospitalised without seeing family members. Having an oncological disease and other patient-related, centre-related or perioperative factors were independently associated with an increased risk of fear of SARS-CoV-2 infection during hospitalization and of being hospitalised without seeing family members. A previous infection due to SARS-COV-2 was associated with a reduced risk of worse emotional outcomes and fear of SARS-CoV-2 infection during hospitalization. Patients who showed the most emotionally vulnerable profile (e.g. use of sleep-inducing drugs, higher fear of surgery or anaesthesia) were at higher risk of worse emotional status towards the hospitalization during COVID-19 pandemic. Being operated in hospitals with lower surgical volume and with COVID-19 wards was associated with worse emotional status and fear of contagion. Conclusions Additional fear and worse emotional status may be frequent in patients scheduled for elective surgery during COVID-19 pandemic. More than half of the participants to the survey were worried about not being able to receive family visits. Psychological support may be considered for patients at higher risk of psychological distress to improve perioperative wellbeing during the pandemic