Proposal about the introduction of the soft skills in the teaching of product development

Abstract

Particularly in technical professions, many competences are greatly needed: Those specific of the profession (Hard Skills) and transversal (Soft Skills), which are particularly important for Engineer 4.0. Soft Skills are relative to, e.g., behavior, interpersonal relationships, communication, deontology. One important aim of Soft Skills is to reach the “Personal Acumen”. In this way, someone can accomplish the role of “difference maker”: I.e., (s)he can confer his/her life a new very important aspect for the subject, for all other persons, and in all professional and personal fields. The aim of the present paper is to investigate the link between Soft Skills and the teaching process of product development. The link between Soft Skills and product development phases, with a specific reference made to design process teaching, is considered. Finally, some proposals about contents regarding Soft Skills in Engineering Design Education are made. Some examples of the considered Soft Skills from the bibliography are: Communication, Courtesy, Flexibility, Integrity, Relationship development, Positive attitude, Professionalism, Responsibility, Teamwork, Work ethics, etc. The authors propose, in line with their studies and experience, the following Soft Skills: Creativity, Awareness, Human aspects of technology, Talent development, IQ + EQ = IF, which means Intellectual Quotient plus Emotional Quotient results in Intellectual Fusion (a complete personality requires not only intellectual, but also emotional components). The conclusions of the paper are some proposals of including Soft Skills in teaching.