Part IV: Training Intervention

Non-Conventional Soft Skills Training
Intervention for Garment Factory Workers- How do we train soft skills? Pimmada Charoensilp, Nagoya University

28 February 2022

What are the challenges in training soft skills?
•Interpreting the idea to fit into the specificwork conditions.

•Soft skills tend to be taught in an abstract andgeneral manner, so most of the trainings offer
knowledge on soft skills at conceptual levels.

•However, recently, there are arguments thatsoft skills should be learned contextually.
Trainees may find it difficult to connect
generals concepts with their everyday
situations at the workplace (Laker & Powell,2011).

Teamwork is theeffective
collaboration
within a group andit helps increasing
productivity in a
production line

How?
When? Andto whom
exactly?

Decalative knowledge
VS
Procedural knowledge

How many doors inyour house?

How many letters are there in
English Alphabet?

Decalativeknowledge●●The knowledge that helps
individuals to name, explain
and talk about matters.
Knowledge of ‘what’●

E.g. explaining the method,giving examples●

Learners receive newknowledge in declarative form.

VSProceduralknowledge• The knowledge that helps us
to act and perform tasks.

• Knowledge of ‘how’• E.g. the body knowing how tomaintain balance while riding
the bike, teachers knowing
how to transform knowledge
to students• Expertise develops over timethrough actual trial and error.

What do we expect from soft skill training?

Declarativeknowledge

Proceduralknowledge(behavioralchanges)•

Conventional training methods such as lecturing may create some changes in trainees’ declarativeknowledge, but might not be sufficient to motivate behavioral changes.

•Aiming to capture also changes at behavioral levels, the SKY project employs ‘Behavior ModelingTraining’ to initiate the soft skills training module.

Behavior Modeling Training•••

Behavior Modeling Training, also known as BMT, is grounded on the Sociallearning theory of Bandura (1977).
Social-learning theory emphasizes that individuals learn by observing
others’ behaviors.
Observed behaviors might not be learned unless the observation goes
through the following steps of the modeling process;(1) Attention, (2) Retention, (3) Reproduction, and (4) Motivation.

5 steps in BMT approach
explaining trainees well-defined
behaviors to be learned●Decker and Nathan (1985)
proposed five sub-steps of
the BMT from the originalmodeling process as follows;presenting models performing
the to-be-learned behaviors
providing trainees opportunities
to practice the behaviors
providing feedback to trainees
guiding trainees to transfer thelearned behaviors to their job.

Games as the training delivering method•••

In the current decade, the spotlight on game-based learning is sharply
expanding in the field of education along with the extreme growth oftechnology (Armstrong & Landers, 2018).
SKY projects merges the concept of BMT with a package of board games.
Not only to give trainees more relaxed training atmosphere, games offer moresignificant elements to accelerate the effectiveness of BMT.

Games as the workplace simulation practice•Many researchers suggest that learning soft skills in the workplace simulation is the mosteffective way (Dawe, 2002; Shuman et al.,2005; Talavera et al., 2007).

•Game design and endless creatable functions of games can create any mimicked actualplace, situations, and even intangible concepts of things.

•By practicing through games, the employees will know how to properly behave when
encountering real-life challenges they have already confronted in games.

•Practicing in the game reduces the risk of loss in real life and allow players to repeatedly
explore different possibilities of behaviors’ consequences through a trial and error process ina gamified setting.

•The SKY project’s board games are designed based on actual production lines as well as otherelements in garment factories, such as garment pieces, sewing stations, and recycle bins.

Games enable remote trainings•

Using games in BMT training enables remote training and minimizes the time consumption
and cost of live models.

Livemodels

Symbolicmodels

Verbalmodels
Bandura (1977)•Models in our games are mainly in symbolic and verbal instructional.
(1) Cards with illustration and verbal instructions,(2) Games’ board and other elements’ design

Games create the sense of achievement•The functions of games in BMT grant players a sense of accomplishment, which is considered internalrewards.

•​Bandura's (1977) Social learning theory: Internal factor connect observed behaviors with learners'
motivation to imitate and transfer them to real situations.

•Internal/mental factor: individuals' internal reward or self-satisfaction, such as sense of achievement.

•Games enlarge the positive intrinsic reinforcement through many creative functions.

•In the game of the SKY training module, there are both goal setting and quest functions. We create a
trainees' soft skill progress board for placing the received cards in front of them to provide a sense ofacquiring particular skills indirectly.

Structure of SKY’s training package
Introduction session
The facilitator explains training’s objectives
Game 1: Card gameTrainees are given chances to know and retain targeted behaviors
Game 1 reflection time
The facilitator guides trainees to reflect on the 1st game within the groupGame 2: Role-playing gameTrainees will have to use skills they have known in the 1st game to achieve the 2nd game’s objective. This game is designed to mimic the realsetting and situations at garment factory in Ethiopia.

Game 2 reflection time

The facilitator guides trainees to reflect on the 2nd game within the group and compare with other groups
Wrap-up session

The facilitators initiate a discussion on how to apply the learned skills to trainees' daily life at work

BMT approach’s steps

SKY’s training package

explaining trainees well-defined skills or behaviors to belearned

Introduction session

Presenting targeted models

Game 1: Card gameproviding feedback to trainees*Game 1 reflection time

providing trainees opportunities to practice thebehaviors

Game 2: Role-playing gameproviding feedback to trainees*Game 2 reflection time

guiding trainees to transfer the learned skills to theirworkWrap-up sessionReferences
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Armstrong, M. B., & Landers, R. N. (2018). Gamification of employee training and development.
International Journal of Training and Development, 22(2), 162-169.
Bandura, A., & Walters, R. H. (1977). Social learning theory (Vol. 1). Prentice Hall: Englewood cliffs.
Dawe, S. (2002). Focussing on generic skills in training packages. Leabrook S. Aust.: NCVER
Decker, P. J., & Nathan, B. R. (1985). Behavior modeling training: Principles and applications. Greenwood.
Laker, D. R., & Powell, J. L. (2011). The differences between hard and soft skills and their relative impact ontraining transfer. Human resource development quarterly, 22(1), 111-122.
Shuman, L. J., Besterfield-sacre, M., & Mcgourty, J. (2005). The ABET “Professional Skills” —Can They Be Taught? Can they Be Assessed. JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING EDUCATION,
94, 41--55.
Talavera, E. R., & Perez-Gonzalez, J. C. (2007). Training in Socio-Emotional Skills through OnSite Training. European Journal of Vocational Training, 40(1), 83-102.

Illustration card: Soft skills cardTeamworkI help my colleages
when they needassistance.