Behavioral and functional competencies expected from management graduates: Manufacturing and services sector

Skills and competencies are needed for individuals to excel at workplace. It becomes necessary to measure these skills and competencies and understand how education and training systems can nurture these skills. This paper aims to determine the difference in opinions of Manufacturing and Services sector about the behavioral and functional competencies expected from management graduates. The questionnaire was addressed to 186 middle order or higher executives in Manufacturing and Services sector. Two-round exploratory research technique with experts as participants was conducted. Judgement sampling method was used. Statistical treatment included mean and one sample t-test using SPSS. The outcome of the study confirmed that both Manufacturing and Services sector agree that a young professional with right behavioral skills is more likely to develop functional competencies quickly. The Services sector had higher focus on behavioral skills than Manufacturing sector. It was recommended that the institutions in the field of Business Education consider including the required Behavioral courses in their programs. The program structure, course structure, pedagogy and learning outcome evaluation should be designed to ensure embedding of the desired skills and competencies.