Assessing the Role of 21st Century Skills on Internship Outcomes in a Steel Multinational Enterprise

Internships prepare students for the workplace by giving them opportunities to develop relevant skills. The Committee on the Assessment of 21st Century Skills of the U. S. National Research Council (NRC), the operating arm of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), has been developing definitions of workplace skills enabling individuals to face 21st Century challenges. In 2010 the Committee defined three categories of skills underpinning a broad range of jobs: cognitive, interpersonal, and intrapersonal. The goal of this paper is to identify the NRC 21 Century skills that are related to measured internship performance outcomes. The three outcomes we studied are execution of the internship main tasks, learning task-related new knowledge, and overall internship performance. The subjects for this study include interns, participating in a Mexican National Internship Program from summer 2006 to summer 2010 working at a multinational enterprise in the global steel industry, Ternium Mexico. Intern performance data had been collected using a unique instrument that was developed to evaluate the professional performance of the full time employees of the firm. A general model of internship outcomes was created using the three categories of 21 Century skills. Linear regression was used to predict main task and learning performance internship outcomes, and ordered logistic regression was used to predict overall internship performance. The results confirmed that (1) cognitive intelligence or technical skills are necessary but not sufficient for success in executing professional tasks and (2) certain interpersonal and intrapersonal skills were also significantly associated with better professional performance as an intern. P ge 24209.2 Introduction Competition in the global market requires employees to be highly qualified for different types of tasks 1,2 and have transferable skills. In 2007, the European Union called for more research on the skills and competencies required for incremental innovation on products, processes, and organizational and marketing methods. Clarke and Winch defined skill as “an attribute or property of an individual, associated with the performance of specific tasks, associated with physical or manual dexterity and is not necessarily associated with a particular knowledge base.” 5 Clarke and Winch also defined skill in an industrial framework as “the ability to apply theoretical knowledge in a practical context”. In 2011, Toner added that the notion of “the theoretical knowledge encompasses not just technical subjects, but mathematics, work planning, autonomous working, problem solving and critical thinking.” 6 The NRC Committee on the Assessment of 21st Century skills has created a list of skills necessary for different types of employment, from high-wage scientists and engineers to low-wage restaurant servers and elder caregivers. The NRC defined three categories of skills that will be the independent variables in this study: (1) Cognitive skills: problem solving (non-routine), critical thinking, systems thinking, information/ ICT literacy, creativity, and learning to learn/meta-cognitive skills; (2) Interpersonal skills: complex communication, social skills, teamwork/collaboration, social-cultural sensitivity, responsibility, tolerance for diversity, emotional/social intelligence, and leadership; and (3) Intrapersonal skills: self-management, time management, self-development, self-regulation, adaptability, flexibility, executive functioning, core self evaluation, work ethic, persistence, study skills, ethics & integrity, and citizenship. Page 24209.3 Previous studies have investigated the skills that will be required in the 21st Century. Some have focused on specific skills such as critical thinking, 8,9,10 while others have studied categories of skills independently, including cognitive skills, 11,112,13 social skills, 14,15 self-regulation, 16,17 and intrapersonal skills. A few other studies have investigated more than one skill or category of skills simultaneously such as the effect of cognitive and interpersonal skills on individual performance. A more recent theoretical discussion of professional performance considered multiple aspects such as thinking and working skills, working tools, and living in the world skills. Empirical studies (based on data on individual employees) have modeled the impact of cognitive and non-cognitive ability on income, 21 and some colleges have been using standardized tests and noncognitive skill tests to assess correlations between admission scores and professional effectiveness. 22 Researchers agree that cognitive intelligence or technical skills are needed, but not sufficient to have success in executing complex professional tasks and that interpersonal and intrapersonal skills improve performance. 23,24 Some authors hold that the cognitive skill is the basic determinant of labor market outcomes. 25 In contrast, others researchers have stated that “Non-cognitive ability is as important, if not more important, than cognitive ability.” 26 Globalization and world class competitiveness requires teamwork skills, occupational competencies, applying theoretical learning in practical solutions, routine and non-routine problem solving, the ability to deal with uncertainty, verbal and written communication skills, the understanding of needs of external and internal customers, and the ability to engage with external suppliers, among other skills. 27 Page 24209.4 The present study empirically relates the NRC 21 Century Skills Categories to internship performance metrics using data from industrial internship performance reports. In Mexico, college students must participate in a country-wide mandatory internship program established by Mexican Law. 28 Firms propose projects involving interns in spring, summer and fall. The firm’s department of human resources visits universities and technological institutes to identify students who meet the internship criteria. The students select the project they want, and are interviewed and accepted by the firm project owner, also called the internship tutor. Mexican Law of Professions and Law of Education requires an internship tutor to advise, support and assess interns. Students plan and organize their time in order to meet the objectives, main tasks, and learning goals to complete the internship. At the end of the academic period, each intern is assessed as an employee and the firm sends an internship completion letter to the student’s university. This study used national level information regarding a Mexican Internship Program of a steel multinational enterprise. The internship tutor uses the same instrument to evaluate regular employees to assess interns, evaluating the internship outcomes: (1) mastering main tasks, (2) learning new knowledge, and (3) overall performance. Methodology This study used Structural Equation Modeling, methodology generally used in social sciences to study complex relationship among multiple attributes in determining an effect. 30 In this study, the success of the internship may be thought to be the result of the students having and developing a set of skills. The various skills would then be the variables and the internship success the function of these variables that produces the desired outcome. This approach uses a statistical method to sort out the significant variables and then test and estimate them to arrive at a model that represents the significance Page 24209.5 of the possible variables in describing the features of the internship experience that can be considered determinants for its success. In brief, we define the independent and dependent variables that describe the experience; and use a statistical analysis of qualitative questionnaire-based data to sort out their relevance in answering the research questions, and for testing our research hypotheses described below. A methodology in eightsteps was used, which is explained herewith. Step 1. Set a research question and its particular hypotheses. Step 2. Conceptualize a general model and define the dependent and independent variables. Step 3. Design and pilot a questionnaire; random application or census to build a database. Step 4. Perform multicollinearity tests to identify which of the variables should be kept and/or dropped from the database to execute the structural model to be able to answer the research question and finally test the hypotheses. Step 5. Once the multicollinearity test has been met, an internal data consistency test and explanatory descriptive analysis can be executed. Step 6. Execute the structural equation modeling, using at least one regression method to run the structural model in accordance with the type of the dependent variable. A set of models should be tested to find the best one, ensuring that each new model met the overall significance of the regression and improve the R-squared. Once the best model is found; it was tested for heteroskedasticity, model specification error and for omitted variables problems. Step 7. Interpret the results. Step 8. Formulate conclusions and discussion In the following paragraphs, each of the steps are showed in detail. Research questions and hypotheses This study addresses whether the three NRC skill categories are determinants of professional intern performance. Taking into account the context of an industrial internship, the hypotheses are: P ge 24209.6 H1: Understanding of internal and external clients is a cognitive skill that improves at least one of the following internship outcomes: accomplishing main tasks, learning new knowledge, and overall performance as an intern. H2: Planning and organizing ability is a cognitive skill that increases at least one of the internship outcomes. H3: Applying theoretical learning to practical solutions is a cognitive skill that fosters at least one of the internship outcomes. H4: Teamwork or collaboration ability is an interpersonal skill