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Your soft skills are showing: organizational efforts to develop soft skills

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Your soft skills are showing: organizational efforts to develop soft skills

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Your Soft Skills are Showing: Organizational Efforts to Develop Soft Skills
by

David Todd Harmon

Rossier School of Education

University of Southern California

A dissertation submitted to the faculty

in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Education

August 2021

© Copyright by David Todd Harmon 2021

All Rights Reserved

The Committee for David Todd Harmon certifies the approval of this Dissertation

Jennifer L. Phillips
Jaime D. Goff
Helena Seli, Committee Chair

Rossier School of Education
University of Southern California
2021

iv
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to explore the degree to which Revive, a Fortune 500 healthcare
company based in the Southwest United States, had the capacity to achieve its goal of
increasing the soft skills of its employees to improve business outcomes. Revive’s capacity to
develop soft skills among their employees was analyzed in light of relevant literature
concerning the growing importance of soft skills due to technological advancement. The study
focused on how human resources training designers contributed to Revive’s goal of improving
business outcomes using the Clark and Estes (2008) gap analysis framework to explore the
degree in which training designers had the knowledge, motivation, and organizational resources
to design trainings effective in developing the soft skills of Revive’s over 50,000 employees.
Qualitative interviews and artifact analysis were used to generate data for the study. Training
designers were found to display high levels of motivation through an assessment of their self-
efficacy and utility value. Training designers demonstrated a robust understanding of the
organizational importance of employee soft skill training and training design. They were also
found to have appropriate organizational support, with all five of these influences determined to
be assets in the study. Revive’s capacity to develop the soft skills of their employees would
benefit from enhancing training designers’ knowledge of training measurement and self-
reflection. Revive would also benefit from increased cross-departmental support of the work of
training designers. Training designers demonstrated an awareness of the knowledge and
organizational deficiencies that led to the associated influences being determined gaps,
demonstrating the contemplation of future change. The study culminated with recommendations
informed by relevant literature to address the three gaps identified.
Keywords: soft skills, skills gap, employee training, labor market polarization

v
Acknowledgements
This project has been far from a solidarity endeavor. I remain humbled and grateful by
all of the time and energy others have invested in me up to this point. I am thankful for my
committee, Dr. Jennifer Phillips, Dr. Jaime Goff, and especially Dr. Helena Seli, who’s
guidance and expertise served as a constant companion throughout this process.
I am also thankful for Mark Moore, and the rest of my colleagues at Mana who
supported me in this process. They covered for me when I was spread too thin and served as
sounding boards as I distilled my thoughts throughout this project. I can only hope that they
remain patient with me as the many lessons I have learned in this process show up as future
initiatives at Mana.
I would also like to thank my parents, Bob and Belinda Harmon, and my grandfather.
Dr. David Halbert, who has always served to encourage me in my pursuits. I am grateful for my
in-laws, Tim and Tanya Stidham, who have so often filled in for me as a parent when work and
school would not allow me to present. For my children, Owen, Cora, and Alice, I am thankful
for your patience and understanding. The sacrifice required to complete this degree was shared
by many, especially you three. To my wife Tera, this dissertation would not have been possible
without your love and support. I am intrigued as to what life will be like without one of us in
school.

vi
Table of Contents
Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... iv
Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ v
List of Tables ................................................................................................................................ ix
List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... xi
Chapter One: Overview of the Study ............................................................................................. 1
Background of the Problem ............................................................................................... 2
Importance of Addressing the Problem ............................................................................. 4
Organizational Context and Mission .................................................................................. 5
Organizational Goal ........................................................................................................... 6
Description of Stakeholder Groups .................................................................................... 7
Stakeholder Group for the Study ....................................................................................... 8
Stakeholder’ Performance Goals ....................................................................................... 9
Purpose of the Study and Research Questions ................................................................. 10
Overview of the Conceptual and Methodological Framework ........................................ 10
Definitions ........................................................................................................................ 11
Organization of the Project .............................................................................................. 11
Chapter Two: Review of the Literature ....................................................................................... 12
Soft Skills Defined ........................................................................................................... 12
The Emerging Soft Skill Deficit ...................................................................................... 15

vii
Human Resource Training Designer Knowledge, Motivation, and Organizational
Influences ................................................................................................................... 25
Conceptual Framework .................................................................................................... 41
Summary .......................................................................................................................... 44
Chapter Three: Methodology ....................................................................................................... 45
Research Questions .......................................................................................................... 45
Overview of Methodology ............................................................................................... 45
Data Collection, Instrumentation, and Analysis Plan ...................................................... 46
Ethics and Role the Researcher ........................................................................................ 51
Chapter Four: Findings ................................................................................................................ 54
Participating Stakeholders ................................................................................................ 55
What is the Revive Healthcare Human Resource Training Designers’ Knowledge and
Motivation Related to the Design of Effective Soft Skill Training? .......................... 56
How Does Revive Healthcare Either Support or Hinder the Human Resource Training
Designers’ Capacity to Design Effective Soft Skill Trainings? ................................. 85
Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 97
Chapter Five: Recommendations and Discussion ...................................................................... 101
Discussion of Findings ................................................................................................... 101
Recommendations for Practice ...................................................................................... 105
Limitations and Delimitations ........................................................................................ 109

viii
Recommendations for Future Research ......................................................................... 111
Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 112
References .................................................................................................................................. 115
Appendix A: Interview Protocol ................................................................................................ 125
Appendix B: Artifact Analysis Protocol .................................................................................... 127
Appendix C: Participant Information Sheet for Exempt Research ............................................ 128

ix
List of Tables
Table 1: Organizational Mission, Organizational Goal, and Stakeholder Group’s Performance
Goal 9

Table 2: Five-factor Personality Model 13
Table 3: Base Competencies 15
Table 4: The Knowledge Dimension 27
Table 5: The Cognitive Processes Dimension 28
Table 6: Human Resource Training Designer Knowledge Influences 32
Table 7: Human Resource Training Designer Motivation Influences 35
Table 8: Human Resource Training Designer Organizational Influences 40
Table 9: Data Sources 46
Table 10: Human Resource Training Designer Knowledge Influence Findings 57
Table 11: Participants’ Comments Relative to the Importance of Soft Skill Trainings 62
Table 12: Participants’ Comments Relative to Their Ability to Design Soft Skill Trainings 65
Table 13: Participants’ Comments Relative to Their Ability to Measure Effectiveness of Soft
Skill Training 71

Table 14: Participants’ Comments Relative to Self-Reflection on Their Ability to Provide
Effective Soft Skills’ Training 76

Table 15: Human Resource Training Designer Motivation Influence Findings 78
Table 16: Participants’ Comments Relative to Their Ability to Design Effective Soft Skill
Trainings 81

Table 17: Participants’ Comments Relative to the Value of Soft Skill Trainings 84
Table 18: Human Resource Training Designer Knowledge Influence Findings 86
Table 19: Participants’ Comments Relative to Departmental Support Relative to Soft Skill
Training Design 90

x
Table 20: Participants’ Comments Relative to Organizational Support Relative to Soft Skill
Training 95

Table 21: Summary of Knowledge, Motivation, and Organizational Findings of Gaps and
Assets 99

Table 22: The New World Kirkpatrick Model: The Four Levels of Evaluation 107

xi
List of Figures
Figure 1: Cumulative Changes in Hourly Wages by Skill Type 22
Figure 2: Training Designer Capacity to Respond to the Emerging Soft Skill Gap 42

1

Chapter One: Overview of the Study
There is an emerging deficit of non-technical skills, also known as soft skills, in the U.S.
workforce. This widening gap between those who have adequate soft skills and those who do not
is projected to not only impact employees but also negatively impact business outcomes of
organizations at large (World Economic Forum, 2016). When listing their top five skills needs,
employers identify socio-emotional and higher-order cognitive skills, both of which would be
considered soft skills, 79% of the time (Cunningham & Villaseñor, 2016). Adecco (2013) found
that 92% of the 500 senior executives surveyed believed there was a skills’ gap in the U.S.
workforce. Of the senior executives, 44% attributed the gap to inadequate soft skills, such as
communication, critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration, while only 22% identified
technical skills as the primary concern. Soft skills have also shown to be of value to employers.
Employees with above-average soft skills are paid more (Heckman & Kautz, 2012; Balcar,
2014), promoted more often (Dulewitz & Higgs, 1998), and have higher retention levels (George
& Bettenhausen, 1990). Evidence for promoting soft skills has provided compelling evidence for
the benefit of soft skills employees of whom the soft skills belong, but has only implied benefits
to the employers. However, in recent years, evidence of bottom-line impacts for organizations
related to the level of their employees’ soft skills has arisen. For example, both Haskel et al.
(2005) and Deloitte Access Economics (2017) have found that the above average level of soft
skills among employees can result in up to a three-percent variance in the productivity of an
organization. Adharvu et al. (2016) recorded a 12% productivity increase among employees
assigned to a soft skills training program in an Indian garment factory. The soft skill deficit and
its risk to organizational outcomes are apparent. Unfortunately, with the rise in technological
advancement, this deficit is projected to increase. This study looks at ways this deficit is being

2

addressed at a healthcare company in industry and how soft skills are targeted through their
employee training programs.
Background of the Problem
Artificial intelligence, robotics, automation, and highly sophisticated computing are
causing a polarization in today’s labor market, with technological advances doing more routine
tasks previously done by employees, thus requiring humans to do more manual and abstracted
tasks (Autor, 2015). These manual and abstract tasks often cannot be replaced by automation
because they require soft skills well beyond the abilities of any current technology (Deming,
2017a). Further, technology has rapidly impacted employment with new technologies now
performing routine tasks that humans once performed, elevating the importance of tasks where
there is no technological substitute. For example, jobs in technically skilled STEM (science,
technology, engineering, and math) fields such as engineering, drafting, surveying, and
architecture have declined in numbers since 2000. During the same period, jobs in more manual
and abstracted fields such as teaching, management, nursing, and health technicians have seen
over 40% growth (Deming, 2017a). This polarization of the labor market and elevation of the
importance of soft skills due to technological advancement has created a soft skill deficit among
the American workforce. It is evident that there is a growing deficit of soft skills among the labor
force when considering policy initiatives, employer sentiments, and workplace findings. The
2012 formation of the bipartisan 21st Century Skills Caucus in the U.S. House of
Representatives and their associated legislation provides further evidence to the idea that there is
an emerging problem. The World Economic Forum (2016) projects that over half of children
entering primary school will later work in job types that do not yet exist and finds this changing
nature of work and the need for flexibility to be the top trend impacting industries in the United

3

States. The World Economic Forum’s empirical work looking at core work-related skills in 2015
and projecting future skill demand by 2020, concluded that “social skills—such as persuasion,
emotional intelligence and teaching others—will be in higher demand across industries than
narrow technical skills, such as programming or equipment operation and control” (World
Economic Forum, 2016, p. 22). Many legislators, economists, researchers, and employers agree
that there is a skill gap, and that soft skills make up a significant portion of it.
Deming’s (2017a) work synthesizes the argument for this deficit, its causes, and the
growing importance of soft skills across the labor market and the increased economic returns for
employees with elevated soft skills. Deming (2017a), along with Autor and Dorn (2013),
provided compelling evidence for the polarization of the labor market due to technological
advancement. They argue that technology has “hollowed out” the labor market, eliminating
significant amounts of middle-skill positions that require primarily routinized tasks and increased
the need for high-skilled as well as low or unskilled labor, both requiring abstracted or manual
tasks currently immune to automation and technological advancement (Autor et al., 2006, pp.
12). For example, over the past two decades, manufacturing jobs have declined by 20%, while
service jobs have grown by 27% (OECD, 2019). Much of the research on developing soft skills
is devoted to primary, secondary, and post-secondary educational settings, failing to address the
soft skills needs of adults already in the labor force. The focus of this study is on the soft skill
deficit among workers. Although much of the literature points to a soft skill deficit, Hurrell
(2016) argues that the deficit is an exaggeration by industry to place the role of employee
training on the government to unload the expensive training costs that have traditionally been
burdened by employers. While there is some debate over the skills gap, and whether employers
can rightfully expect the levels of pre-employment training that they do, there is little debate that

4

increasing the soft skills of employees is suitable for both employees and employers (Heckman
& Kautz, 2012; Deming, 2017a).
Importance of Addressing the Problem
The problem of a soft skill deficit among the labor force is important to solve for a
variety of reasons. In the face of increasing automation and computerization, jobs requiring
higher levels of soft skills are growing. As more employees are displaced by machines
performing increasing advanced skills, increased soft skills will reduce job displacement
(Brynjolfsson & Mitchell, 2017). Even professions in medicine, law, finance, and others will see
drastic changes due to future technologies (Brynjolfsson & Mitchell, 2017; World Economic
Forum, 2016). Among these changes will be a shift further away from routine, technical skills,
and toward soft skills that augment new technology (Autor, 2015). Once highly productive
employees may find themselves unemployed and underemployed if this problem is not addressed
(SHRM, 2019). Employers in these industries will also need to overcome the emerging soft skill
deficit if they hope to provide value to an increasingly automated economy. Employers will
continue to be heavily reliant on employees, but less on employee routines and more on their
ingenuity, creativity, and problem-solving as examples. If they fail to do so, businesses will
likely find themselves less profitable and relevant to the market at large (Haskel et al., 2005;
Deloitte Access Economics, 2017). The burden of this soft skill deficit will not only impact
employees but will also impact the business outcomes of organizations. Policymakers,
researchers, and employers are beginning to recognize this emerging problem. Legislators have
begun to act by proposing adding soft skills training to federal mandates, measuring the
effectiveness of soft skills training programs from preschoolers through to employer training,
and are examining the predictive nature of soft skills related to employment success (H.R. Res.

5

250, 2006; H.R.2536, 112th Cong., 2011; H.R.347, 113th Cong., 2013; H.R. Res. 5663, 114
th

Cong., 2016). Congressional concern for soft skills further validates the potential impact on
individual employees and businesses. These legislative efforts, predicted outcomes, and current
skill gaps must lead stakeholders to develop greater creativity, innovation, problem-solving, and
other necessary soft skills among employees if people, organizations, and communities hope to
thrive in this rapidly advancing economy.
Organizational Context and Mission
Revive HealthCare (Revive, a pseudonym) is an international outpatient healthcare
provider based in the Southwestern United States. Revive operates over 2,000 sites serving
several hundred thousand patients each year. The company has well over 50,000 employees and
has a mission to become the greatest healthcare company in the world. Revive’s employee base
is around 50% ethnically diverse, and over 70% female. The majority of their board of directors
is represented by ethnic minorities or women. The company has expressed goals for further
diversity and inclusion initiatives. Revive has been recognized by several organizations for its
excellent training as well as for its business outcomes. The company has an annual revenue of
several billion dollars and invests approximately one-third of every top-line dollar in employee
development, compensation, and benefits. Their human resources department offers a series of
training programs, many of which are focused on soft skills such as leadership, emotional
intelligence, teamwork, belonging, and others. Revive also works with employees to apply the
lessons learned in company-trainings to their roles in their homes, communities, in addition to
their roles at work.
Revive was chosen as the focus of this study for a number of reasons. First of all, Revive
faces many of the same challenges of other organizations today. For example, it is a large,

6

multisite organization with many entry-level positions with wages determined by Medicare
reimbursement rates. These challenges alone make hiring for soft skills more difficult and
necessitate the development of skills among employees. In addition to this, Revive works with
patients with terminal diagnoses requiring technically trained medical employees that also must
attend to their bedside manner.
Organizational Goal
Revive’s goal is to leverage human capital strategies to create a community of belonging
that improves business outcomes in becoming the provider, partner, and employer of choice for
its stakeholders. Revive is determined to be a community first and a company second. As a
company, they strive to enhance employees’ sense of belonging and equip all leaders within the
organization to foster this, rather than relying on a single, centrally located function. Revive
explicitly believes that diversity and belonging help the organization achieve better business
outcomes. For example, they cite that organizations with a strong focus on belonging as twice as
likely to meet or exceed financial targets, three times as likely to be high-performing, six times
more likely to be innovative and agile, and eight times more likely to achieve better business
outcomes (Bourke & Dillon, 2018). Revive believes diversity and belonging to be the necessary
environment to surround their three pillars of human capital management to improve business
outcomes. These pillars include building talent and leadership pipelines, driving retention
through employee experience, and achieving performance excellence through agile people
operations. Soft skills training serves as a necessary component of Revive’s efforts to achieve
these goals using a decentralized approach.

7

Description of Stakeholder Groups
There are several stakeholder groups that have a role in the organizational goal of
creating a community of belonging. This is especially true considering Revive’s stated
decentralized approach. This section provides a description of relevant stakeholder groups.
Understanding the relevant stakeholder groups and their roles within the organization are
important in determining their influences on training designer capacity to design effective soft
skill trainings. Team, department, and various other organizational leaders serve as the
implementers of Revive’s initiatives to create a community of belonging. These conversations,
rituals, and other activities serve as the primary means to create belonging that Revive believes
to improve business outcomes. Effectively designed trainings are especially important to these
leaders as they often serve as the frontline staff for communicating and implementing soft skill
improvement efforts.
The human resources (HR) department employees, specifically those designing trainings,
serve as the stakeholders responsible for equipping leaders within the organization with the tools
to create a community of belonging. HR provides resources to these leaders to implement from
the first day an employee joins a department and then throughout their tenure at Revive. The HR
department serves as a coach and resource for leaders to create belonging among their teams.
Senior management and the board of directors also serve as stakeholders. They are
ultimately responsible for evaluating the sense of belonging at Revive and determining if related
efforts produce sufficient business outcomes to justify their expense. They also have the final say
in the amount of resources allocated towards the effort to create a community of belonging.
The largest internal stakeholder group at Revive is the employees. Non-HR employees
outside of leadership positions serve as the recipients of efforts to create a community of

8

belonging, and their feedback serves as the means to measure the success of such efforts.
Ultimately, their experience of belonging at Revive serves as the most informative indicator of
the status of the organizational goal.
The largest external stakeholder group at Revive is the patients. Their adherence to
treatment protocols and treatment reviews serve to measure Revive’s performance against many
of their objectives. The feedback, experience, and outcomes of patients are the primary
barometer for measuring success toward Revive’s customer goals. Patient input allows for
additional analysis as to if a community of belonging translates to bottom-line business
outcomes.
Stakeholder Group for the Study
Though the combined efforts of all stakeholders contribute to Revive’s outcomes, the
human resources training designers (TDs) serve as the focus of this study. The capacity of TDs
in terms of developing effective soft skills training to be deployed to their employees serves as
the focus. The term “designers” is used loosely to include stakeholders heavily involved in the
creation of related trainings. The designation of designers includes senior managers driving the
direction of these efforts as well as the employees actually writing the curriculum and tools to be
dispersed to leaders and trainers across the organization. This group of designers includes 12
individuals as potential study participants. Revive has shown a commitment to employee training
to include soft skills and other non-technical skills. Their dedication to employee training is
evidenced both by Revive’s commitment to spend one-third of every dollar of revenue on their
employees and their stated organizational goals and related infrastructure to create a community
of belonging. In addition to this commitment, Revive has been recognized for its efforts in terms

9

of not only training but business outcomes. For this reason, the training design function within
Revive has been selected as the focus of this study.
Stakeholder’ Performance Goals
Revive’s mission, performance goal, and stakeholder goal are central to this study. The
TDs’ capacity to design effective soft skill trainings are in relationship to these goals and to the
mission. Table 1 provides this mission and related goals.

Table 1
Organizational Mission, Organizational Goal, and Stakeholder Group’s Performance Goal
Organizational Mission

The mission of Revive is to be the best healthcare company in the world.
Organizational performance goal

Revive aims to leverage human capital strategies to create a community of belonging that
improves business outcomes in becoming the provider, partner, and employer of choice for its
stakeholders.

Human Resources Training Designers’ goal

To design effective training that enhances employees’ soft skills.

10

Purpose of the Study and Research Questions
The purpose of this study is to explore the degree to which Revive has the capacity to
achieve its goal of increasing the soft skills of its employees to improve business outcomes.
These outcomes include creating a community of belonging that proactively builds a leadership
pipeline, improves retention through teammate experience, and promotes performance
excellence through agile people operations. While a complete evaluation would focus on all
stakeholders, for practical purposes, the stakeholders focused on in this analysis are the human
resources TDs. The analysis focuses on these designers’ knowledge, motivation, and
organizational influences related to the development of soft skills training.
The research questions that guide this study are the following:
1. What is the Revive Healthcare human resource training designers’ knowledge and
motivation related to the design of effective soft skill trainings?
2. How does Revive Healthcare either support or hinder the human resource training
designers’ capacity to design effective soft skill trainings?
Overview of the Conceptual and Methodological Framework
The conceptual framework utilizes an adaptation of the Clark and Estes’s (2008) gap
analysis measuring organizational capacity. This framework serves as a systematic approach to
identify the knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences related to the capacity of the
stakeholder group for this study. Assumed knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences
that impact this capacity are generated based on context-specific research as well as general
literature about learning and motivation. The methodological framework consists of a qualitative
case study comprised of individual interviews and artifact analysis.

11

Definitions
Soft skills: non-technical skills and higher-order cognitive skills such as leadership, teamwork,
problem-solving, adaptability, interpersonal skills, and others. This definition has purposefully
been defined broadly to avoid unnecessarily narrowing the scope of the study.
Organization of the Project
This study is comprised of five chapters. This chapter served to introduce the reader to
the emerging soft skill deficit, the related terminology, as well as a brief introduction to the
organization studied. The guiding questions and framework are also identified. Chapter 2
provides a review of relevant literature to frame the scope of the study. The importance of soft
skills, the growing deficit, and a review of empirical training practices are reviewed in this
chapter. Chapter 3 outlines the methodology of the study, participant selection, data collection,
and analysis. Chapter 4 serves as an assessment and analysis of the data collected. Chapter 5
provides a discussion of the findings, limitations, recommendations, and implications for future
research.

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Chapter Two: Review of the Literature
The purpose of this chapter is to provide a comprehensive discussion of the literature
related to the soft skill deficit in the U.S. workforce. It is also important to discuss the role
technology has played in this deficit as well as its projected impact going forward. This chapter
discusses the benefits of soft skills and why stakeholders from employers, employees, educators,
and policymakers are working to address this deficit. Part of this discussion is dedicated to
defining soft skills and making sense of the various terminology referring to non-technical skills
within the literature.
The literature review seeks to ground the study in a theoretical and conceptual
framework. This chapter looks at the relevant knowledge, motivational, and organizational
factors through the lens of Clark and Estes’s (2008) gap analysis in preparation for the capacity
analysis of TDs in designing effective soft skill trainings at Revive. The conceptual framework
serves to guide the reader in terms of the researcher’s approach to this process.
Soft Skills Defined
Soft skills literature is challenging to review comprehensively due to the varying
definitions. In the literature, soft skills are referred to as soft skills, people skills, non-cognitive
skills, personality traits, 21
st
-century skills, employability skills, higher-order cognitive skills,
emotional intelligence, and socioemotional skills, among others (Casner-Lotto, 2006; Heckman
& Kautz, 2012; Lippman et al., 2015; Stewart et al., 2016). Soft skills can also be defined by
what they are not. They are not hard skills, the technical skills that can be learned, practiced, and
then taught in a somewhat linear fashion. Much of the relevant research limits the definition to
the five-factor model, also called the big five personality traits or OCEAN model, developed by
Tupes & Christal (1961) and later expanded upon by Digman (1990) and Goldberg (1990). The

13

five factors are openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism (Table
2).

Table 2
Five-Factor Personality Model
Trait Definition of trait
I. Openness to experiences Individual differences in the tendency to be open to
new aesthetic, cultural, or intellectual experiences.

II. Conscientiousness Also called industriousness, it is the tendency to be
organized, responsible, and hardworking.

III. Extraversion An orientation of one’s interests and energies toward
the outer world of people and things rather than the
inner world of subjective experience.

IV. Agreeableness The tendency to act in a cooperative, unselfish
manner, construed as one end of a dimension of
individual differences (agreeableness vs,
disagreeableness).

V. Neuroticism A chronic level of emotional instability and
proneness to psychological distress.

Note. Definitions are from the “APA Dictionary of Psychology,” by G. R. VandenBos, 2013,
American Psychological Association. Copyright 2007 by the American Psychological
Association.

14

These traits and their associated measurements have been monumental in quantitative
studies looking at the market returns of soft skills (Heckman & Kautz, 2012) and paved the way
for additional research. A bound soft skills definition and measurements served the purposes of
those studies. However, for this study, the definition of soft skills is much broader and uses the
broadest definition found from across the literature, including the five-factor personality model.
Table 3 has been provided to assist the reader and includes an overview of Evers et al. (1998)
base competencies to serve as a reference for components of soft skills concerning the skills gap.
Through extensive employer surveying, they determined there were four base competencies and
18 affiliated skills most in demand by employers. They found soft skills to comprise the vast
majority of the skills gap (Evers et al., 1998). Their overview serves to help define soft skills in
direct relation to the skills deficit, as reported by employers. In Chapter 5, the implications for
future research and limitations sections expand on the implications of this approach.

15

Table 3
Base Competencies
Competency

Description

Related skills

Mobilizing innovation
and change
Conceptualizing as well as setting in
motion ways of initiating and
managing change that involve
significant departures from the
current mode
• Ability to conceptualize
• Creativity, innovation, and
change
• Risk-taking
• Visioning

Managing people and
tasks
Accomplishing the tasks at hand by
planning, organizing, coordinating,
and controlling both resources and
people
• Coordinating
• Decision-making
• Leadership & Influence
• Managing Conflict

Communicating Interacting effectively with a variety
of individuals and groups to
facilitate the gathering, integrating,
and conveying of information in
many forms

• Interpersonal
• Listening
• Oral communication
• Written communication
Managing self Constantly developing practices and
internalizing routines for
maximizing one’s ability to deal
with the uncertainty of an ever-
changing environment
• Learning
• Personal organization and
time management
• Personal strengths
• Problem-solving and
analytic

Note. Overview of “The Bases of Competence: Skills for Lifelong Learning and Employability,”
by F. T. Evers, J. C. Rush, and I. Berdrow’s, 1998. Copyright 1998 by Jossey-Bass, San
Francisco, CA.

The Emerging Soft Skill Deficit
There is an emerging soft skill deficit among workers in the developed world. The World
Bank examined 27 studies and concluded with “remarkable consistency” that the literature

16

identifies higher-order cognitive skills and socio-emotional skills to be the largest gaps perceived
by employers (Cunningham & Villaseñor, 2016, p. 2). The soft skill deficit is referred to as
“emerging,” because there is early literature and evidence to support the importance of technical
skills with no mention of soft skills. However, in the past two decades, the literature has begun to
identify the importance of soft skills. For example, cognitive skills were identified as marked
predictors of labor market returns from the late 1970s to the early 1990s (Deming, 2017b). The
National Longitudinal Survey of Youth in both 1979 and 1997 have been used to argue for the
importance of cognitive skills for workplace success, which assumes employer satisfaction (Neal
& Johnson, 1996). However, when Deming (2017a) replicated these findings in correlation to
soft skills, there was a positive return for them as well. This suggests that the importance of soft
skills may have been underrepresented in the literature for some time and that the growing
importance of soft skills has caused researchers to review previous findings regarding technical
skills. The positive correlation of soft skills to labor market returns supports more current
findings that soft skills can augment technical skills and produce even greater market returns
(Heckman & Kautz, 2012; Autor, 2015).
Within the literature there is differing data in how fast jobs requiring soft skills are
growing and over what periods; however, the literature largely agrees that this trend is currently
underway. For example, Autor and Dorn (2013) found that employment levels between 1980 and
2005 in positions requiring primarily routinized tasks (such as production, transportation,
construction, mining, farming, machine operators, clerical, and retail sales) decreased an average
of 28.75%. Meanwhile, service, managerial, and professional positions that require manual and
abstract tasks increased an average of 30% over the same period (Autor & Dorn, 2013).
Similarly, Deming (2017a) found that between 1980 and 2012, jobs requiring higher levels of

17

social skills grew by 12%, and jobs requiring lower levels of social skills shrank by 3.3%. Autor
(2015) found similar trends in his work, finding that soft skill-intensive positions grew by 4.8%
between 1980 to 2010, while jobs requiring lower levels of soft skills decreased by 3.5%.
Furthermore, the growing demand for soft skills coupled with employer surveys and
professional association findings suggest a soft skill deficit. As mentioned previously, Adecco
(2013) found that of the 92% of employers that reported a skills’ gap, twice as many attributed
the gap to soft skills than did to hard skills. Similarly, Morrison et al. (2011) found that 52% of
the manufacturing companies surveyed reported problem-solving skills and 40% reported basic
employability skills (attendance, timeliness, work ethic, as examples) among the most severe
skill deficits related to their employees. The Society for Human Resource Management (2019)
found that organizations having difficulty hiring suitable candidates attribute nearly one-third of
this difficulty to the lack of soft skills. These are examples of stated soft skill deficits from the
literature from employers, recruiters, and professional associations
The evidence for a soft skill deficit is furthered when looking at legislative efforts coming
from policymakers. Proposed legislation such as the Four C’s for Careers Act (2016), an
amendment to the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of 2006, proposes to
reappropriate state funding to ensure that state plans include requirements to increase critical
thinking, communication, creativity, and collaboration, all soft skills, in technical education
training (H.R. Res. 250, 2006). The 21st Century Readiness Acts have similar provisions and are
currently in committee (H.R.2536, 112th Cong., 2011; H.R.347, 113th Cong., 2013). The
literature provides evidence of a soft skill gap through a combination of empirical evidence
showing the need for soft skills as growing along with professional and employer sentiments
regarding the contributors to the employee skills gap as well as recent legislative efforts. Next,

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this study looks at technology as a significant contributor to the rise in positions requiring
additional soft skills.
Impact of Technology on the Labor Force
The impact of technological advancements and automation has been a concern of
employees for over two centuries (Autor, 2015). The agricultural industry experienced such an
impact as it accounted for 41% of the workforce in 1900 and only 2% in 2000 with technological
advancements in farm equipment and crop technology accounting for much of this (Autor,
2015). As mentioned previously, the literature points to a “hollowing out” of the labor market
(Autor et al., 2006, p. 12). “Hollowing out” refers to the idea that technology most easily
replaces the most routine tasks; therefore, the more routine the job, the more susceptible to being
replaced by automation. In the past, automation was a term reserved primarily for routine
manufacturing tasks, but is making forays into a variety of occupations and industries
(Brynjolfsson & McAfee, 2011). This shift is evident in the development of driverless cars
replacing professional drivers. In the chapter, “Why People Still Matter,” Levy and Murdane
(2012) went as far as to identify driving as immune to automation due to the intricacies of human
perception. Since then, driving has been proven to be comprised of routine tasks replaceable by
technology, and not requiring intricate manual tasks. (Brynjolfsson & McAfee, 2011). This idea
further supports the soft skill deficit as an emerging problem, as technology will continue to
replace routinized tasks. The forecasted replacement of routinized tasks by technology is
consistent with the World Economic Forum’s (2018) report that 40% of current jobs could be
automated by the 2030s.
The outlook of such a substantial marketplace disruption has significant implications. In
the same report, the World Economic Forum (2018) projects that one-third to over two-thirds of

19

companies in every industry and country profiled would need to adopt the reskilling of
employees as the most important strategy going forward. For example, their report projects 51%
of American companies needing to adopt such a strategy.
Increased Demand for Soft Skills Due to Technological Advancement
Technology is also increasing the demand for soft skills among U.S. employers as it
elevates tasks where there is no technological substitute. The World Economic Forum (2016)
concluded that soft skills would come to be in higher demand than technical skills. Bartel et al.’s
(2007) analysis of empirical evidence found that companies that bought automated equipment
saw a 16.6% increase in the need for problem-solving skills among their employees. This
supports more generalized findings in the literature that automation often augments human
capital rather than simply replacing it (Autor, 2015). Krueger and Schkade (2008) found that
more social employees self-select into less routine occupations. When coupled with the findings
of technology producing job polarization and displacement, the literature suggests that
technology will continue to make self-selection into more routine occupations for less social
employees more difficult. In short, technology will make job placement more difficult for less
social employees in the future and less difficult for employees with higher social skills.
Deloitte’s (2017) findings support this as they project nearly two-thirds of all occupations will
become soft skill intensive by 2030 due to technology, globalization, and demographic shifts.
The World Economic Forum (2016) goes as far as to call this period of significant technological
influence the “fourth industrial revolution” (p. 3).
The empirical evidence predicts an increasingly polarized job market. Routine tasks are
being replaced with technology (Autor & Dorn, 2013) and occupations requiring higher levels of
soft skills are proving less susceptible to automation to date (Deming, 2017b). The empirical

20

evidence coupled with reports of reputable global bodies suggest the continued role technology
is playing in the soft skill deficit.
Benefits of Soft Skills
Some of the most convincing empirical research on soft skills is related to their market
returns for employees. There has been an assumed correlation of organizational benefit in an
attempt to explain the returns for employees with above-average soft skills. However, in recent
years, research has begun to measure the organizational benefits of employees with above-
average soft skills and bottom-line returns for soft skill training programs. The following
sections on the benefits of elevated soft skills move the discussion beyond a projected problem in
the future due to technology and provide compelling evidence for hiring practices and training
programs beginning to encourage soft skills among employees. Organizations do not have to
predict whether or not technology alone will increase their need for soft skills, as there is
evidence to the benefit of these skills outside of the impact of technology. Increasing the level of
employee soft skills is an immediate opportunity and an emerging problem.
Benefits for the Employees
The benefit of soft skills for employees is two-fold. Some benefits assist a person in
obtaining employment and other benefits are realized once employment has been obtained.
Almlund et al.’s (2011) seminal work is constructive in looking at these potential benefits. In
terms of benefits that help to obtain employment, grades across varying levels of education were
found predictive. Conscientiousness nearly equaled cognitive ability in its association with
grades across levels (Almlund et al., 2011). Heckman et al. (2006) found levels of one’s locus of
control and self-esteem to be similarly predictive of adult earnings as cognitive ability, and even
more predictive among GED recipients, high school dropouts, and college dropouts.

21

Neuroticism, locus of control, and self-esteem were found to be associated with much of the
variance in an analysis looking at results of the Armed Forces Qualification Test, a test designed
to measure pure intelligence (Almlund et al., 2011). In short, to screen service member
applicants for intelligence, the test may have unknowingly screened for certain personality traits
as well.
Soft skills are not only beneficial in obtaining employment but have benefits during
employment. Several studies have linked conscientiousness to job performance and wages.
Conscientiousness and neuroticism have been found nearly as predictive and extraversion about
one-fourth as predictive as cognitive ability in terms of job performance and wages (Almlund et
al., 2011). Interestingly, the importance of IQ increases with job complexity (Schmidt & Hunter,
2004); but, the importance of conscientiousness remains mostly stable regardless of complexity
(Barrick & Mount, 1991). Therefore, conscientiousness may be even more impactful across job
types (Almlund et al., 2011) and theoretically grows in importance if technology were to reduce
the complexity of an occupation. Deming’s (2017a) work looks at the wage returns by isolating
high and low soft skill occupations and high and low math occupations from the Occupational
Information Network (O*NET) data and trends them over time. His findings have been provided
in Figure 1, as this data supports the benefits of soft skills to employees and the growing need for
soft skills over time. Beyond wages and performance, soft skills are associated with career types
and promotions (Almlund et al., 2011). According to their data, men with higher levels of
conscientiousness are 21.1% more likely to be employed as managers, and 33.3% less likely to
work as a factory worker (Cobb-Clark & Tan, 2011). Dulewitz and Higgs (1998) looked at the
impact of IQ, managerial competence, and emotional intelligence (EQ) on the organizational
advancement of employees. They found EQ to account for 36% of the variance in advancement,

22

while IQ accounted for 27% and managerial competence 26%. Many of the employee benefits
would also serve as organizational benefits.

Figure 1
Cumulative Changes in Hourly Wages by Skill Type

Note. The y axis measures the percent change in median hourly wages. The x axis represents
the time period from 1980 to 2012. Categories were determined for occupations that are above
and/or below the 50th percentile in nonroutine analytical and social skill task intensity as
measured by the 1998 O*NET. From “The growing importance of social skills in the labor
market,” by D. J. Deming, 2017, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 132(4), p. 1627.

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Benefits for the Organization
The organizational benefits of employees with above-average soft skills are difficult to
separate from employee benefits. Increased wages, performance, and promotions are mutually
beneficial and are welcomed by both employees and employers. The purpose of this section is to
specifically highlight the literature linking soft skills to organizational performance. As
mentioned previously, Deloitte (2017) reports that soft skills account for three-percent of the
productivity gap between the best and worst-performing firms and that the soft skills of
employees alone could increase the average revenue of a firm by $90,000. Haskel et al. (2005)
suggest that top-performing firms hire employees with higher levels of soft skills, which would
be a logical opportunity for organizations based on this review of the literature. Another potential
opportunity is employee training. Adharyu et al. (2016) implemented a soft skills training
program in a garment factory and found a 12% productivity gain among employees enrolled in
the program. Additionally, Slaski and Cartwright (2003) found that managers who received
weekly training in soft skills for just four weeks saw significant increases in team morale and
significant decreases in work-related distress. Azim et al. (2010) found that soft skills improve
the outcomes of complex projects. Their findings suggest that people are often the cause and
solution of complexities and, therefore, require soft skills to excel in managing such complexity.
The benefits of soft skills for organizations provide cultural, productivity, and bottom-line
improvements.
Arguments Against a Soft Skill Deficit
There are two arguments against the idea a soft skills gap presented in this section. The
first argues that it is not entirely possible to distinguish cognitive abilities from personality traits
or soft skills. Borghans et al. (2008) point out that much of a person’s personality is a result of

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cognitive ability, and much of cognitive ability is a result of one’s personality. They suggest that
much of intellectual measurement is impacted by aspects of personality such as anxiety and
motivation and that the development of cognitive ability is even influenced by personality traits
such as curiosity, ambition, and perseverance. Almlund et al. (2011) find that openness to new
experiences is associated with general intelligence and that any measurement of one may be, at
least in part, a measurement of the other. This argument makes for a difficulty in distinguishing
between the importance of soft skills apart from technical skills.
The second argument presented revolves around the idea of the reported skills gap being
a myth. Much of this research is regarding technical skills and seemingly coincides with the
polarization of the labor market, leaving skilled employees without work. However, Hurrell
(2016) argued specifically against a soft skills gap. He pointed out that the gap could be a result
of poor recruitment, selection, and training processes, or a withdrawal by employees in response
to dissatisfying employment conditions. It could also be a result of managerial bias or
organizational politics. Hurrell’s most impactful argument in relation to this study proposes a
soft skill withdrawal and the possibility that environmental factors cause employees to
underutilize their soft skills when dissatisfied. This possibility has not been discussed at length
within the literature.
Overall, the concern about distinguishing between hard skills and soft skills is supported
in the literature. This concern serves to temper findings associated with intelligence and
personality. In a sense, this objection adds a qualitative layer to all research in the area of soft
skills. Soft skill withdrawal is a concept in need of further research. The methodology of this
study attempts to take this critique into account without allowing it to become the focus of the
study.

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Human Resource Training Designer Knowledge, Motivation, and Organizational
Influences
The Clark and Estes (2008) gap analysis is used as the methodological framework of this
study. The gap analysis framework is an effective tool for identifying performance gaps within
any organization (Clark & Estes, 2008). In turn, it is also effective in identifying where there are
not gaps. The gap analysis framework is especially useful for the purposes of this study in
analyzing the soft skill training capacity of TDs and identifying where there are gaps and there
are not. In an effort to analyze TDs’ capacity, Clark and Estes’s (2008) distinction of knowledge,
motivation, and organizational influences are to be assessed. Specifically, this study seeks to
explore the degree in which TDs at Revive have sufficient knowledge, motivation, and
organizational resources to develop effective soft skill trainings. These influences have been
analyzed to determine if Revive is prepared for the impact of technology on the need for soft
skills. Areas and practices where Revive appears to excel in preparing its workforce for the
growing soft skill need, enhancing organizational performance, have been identified as areas that
Revive possesses high capacity and serve as potential areas for promising future research and
practice. Areas where Revive appears ill-prepared, displaying gaps that impede organizational
performance, are seen as a lack of capacity providing insight to Revive and outside organizations
and practitioners for further intervention.
In this section, the knowledge influences of TDs are discussed in terms of the importance,
recognition, and transfer of soft skills. TDs’ beliefs and motivations about soft skills have been
analyzed, as well as organizational buy-in and resources around the design and deployment of
soft skill trainings at Revive. As a reminder, the bounds of this study have been limited to the

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applicable influences of the TDs’ goal of designing effective training that enhances employee
soft skills to create a community of belonging that advances organizational outcomes.
Knowledge Influences
The soft skills gap will limit organizational performance among organizations across the
globe if organizations do not develop the capacity to develop soft skills among their employees.
(World Economic Forum, 2016). In order to meaningfully respond to such an impact, Revive’s
TDs must possess adequate knowledge to effectively develop these skills among their
employees. Knowledge influences from the literature are outlined below. The TDs at Revive
must possess a working understanding of the elements of knowledge dimensions, as defined by
Anderson and Krathwohl’s (2001) revised taxonomy, an adaptation of Bloom’s taxonomy
(Engelhart et al., 1956). Knowledge dimensions, as laid out by Anderson and Krathwohl (2001),
include factual, conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive knowledge types, moving from
concrete to abstract. Table 4 illustrates these knowledge dimensions. TDs must also have a
working knowledge of the scaffolded cognitive process dimension illustrated in Table 5. The
information in Tables 4 and 5 serve as a means to evaluate TDs’ knowledge influences and
capacity as well as provide a means to discuss the analysis and findings regarding their capacity
to design effective trainings that increase employee soft skills.

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Table 4
The Knowledge Dimension
Concrete knowledge <<-------------------------------------------->> Abstract knowledge
Factual Conceptual Procedural Metacognitive

• Knowledge of
terminology

• Knowledge of
specific details
and elements

• Knowledge of
classifications
and categories

• Knowledge of
principles and
generalizations

• Knowledge of
theories, models,
and structures

• Knowledge of
subject-specific
skills and
algorithms

• Knowledge of
subject-specific
techniques and
methods

• Knowledge of
criteria for
determining
when to use
appropriate
procedures

• Strategic
knowledge

• Knowledge
about cognitive
tasks, including
appropriate
contextual and
conditional
knowledge

• Self-knowledge

Note. Adapted from “A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of
Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives,” by D. R. Krathwohl, and L. W. Anderson,
2001. Anderson and Krathwohl, 2001, p. 46. Copyright 2001 by Longman.

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Table 5
The Cognitive Processes Dimension
Lower order thinking skills Higher order thinking skills
Remember Understand Apply Analyze Evaluate Create
Recognizing
Recalling
Interpreting
Exemplifying
Classifying
Summarizing
Inferring
Comparing
Explaining

Executing
Using
Differentiating
Organizing
Attributing
Checking
Critiquing
Generating
Planning
Producing

Note. Adapted from “A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of
Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives,” by D. R. Krathwohl, and L. W. Anderson,
2001. Anderson and Krathwohl, 2001, pp. 67-68. Copyright 2001 by Longman.

Knowledge of Soft Skills
To design effective soft skill trainings, TDs need conceptual knowledge about soft skills.
This necessary conceptual knowledge would include a definition and basic recognition of what
constitutes a soft skill as well as an understanding of what is currently done to foster such skills
at Revive. Since soft skills go by a myriad of names, it is important for TDs to understand what
skills would be considered soft skills and which skills would not (Heckman & Kautz, 2006). For
example, TDs’ definitions of soft skills should include a familiarity with skills and concepts
consistent with a soft skills definition made up of people skills, non-cognitive skills, personality
traits, employability skills, higher-order cognitive skills, emotional intelligence, and
socioemotional skills, among others (Casner-Lotto, 2006; Heckman & Kautz, 2012; Lippman et

29

al., 2015; Stewart et al., 2016). Conceptual knowledge also requires TDs to remember and
understand relevant knowledge, as described by Krathwohl and Anderson (2001). Relevant
knowledge would include which skills are most likely to contribute to organizational
performance. For example, understanding the organizational benefits of increased employee
openness and conscientiousness among TDs would be indicative of conceptual knowledge
capacity. In short, TDs must be aware of the potential or realized benefits of increased employee
soft skills within their organization.
Knowledge of How to Measure Soft Skills
Beyond factual knowledge, TDs must have procedural knowledge to be able to measure
soft skills and their outcomes through traditional assessment methods, such as outcome surveys
observation, and interviews. Soft skills are difficult to measure, and often rely on fairly extensive
instruments to measure them (Almlund et al., 2011, Borghams et al., 2011, & Heckman & Kautz,
2012). The extensive use of such instruments is likely unrealistic in a workplace environment.
Rather, a working understanding of the definition and related attributes of individuals with
adequate soft skills, how to apply that knowledge in an informal assessment, and access to
simple, formal assessments are needed by TDs. A general understanding of how to benchmark to
better understand pre-training and post-training skill levels among employees is also needed
(Mayer, 2011). An effective means to quantitatively measure could be in the form of personality
measures (Heckman & Kautz, 2012). Qualitative measurements would include participant and
supervisor surveys, interviews, and other forms of training related feedback. Procedural
knowledge capacity allows TDs to measure the effectiveness of their training interventions and
aligns with the concepts of application, analysis, and evaluation from Table 4 (Krathwohl &
Anderson, 2001). As many hard and soft skills trainings overlap, the ability to recognize and

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apply soft skill elements within hard skill trainings is also necessary. In addition to simply
measuring employee skills development, TDs, with the help of the organization, need to measure
the impact of employee soft skill development on targeted business outcomes. This is an often
overlooked, but critical step in training measurement and evaluation (Phillips & Phillips, 2016).
Knowledge of How to Effectively Teach Soft Skills Through Employee Training
Additional procedural knowledge is needed by TDs to design effective soft skill
trainings. Knowledge of training techniques and methods allows for TDs to create effective
trainings. Since the literature on soft skill specific training is limited, this study explores the
extent to which TDs have general knowledge of effective instructional design principles that can
be implemented across contexts.
General procedural knowledge regarding employee training includes an assessment of
and connection to participants’ prior knowledge as well as content tailored to employees (Mayer,
2011). Knowledge of appropriate and relevant training outcomes in addition to meaningful and
engaging content is necessary (Mayer, 2011). Knowledge of cognitive overload and motivation
are also important in striving towards transfer, self-efficacy, and intrinsic motivation in employee
trainings (Pintrich, 2003). A knowledge of skill development with adequate opportunity for
practice and application is important for knowledge transfer (Krathwohl, 2002). Overall, TDs
need a working understanding of the basic stages of memory, moving from sensory, to working,
to long-term memory in providing effective trainings (Mayer, 2011).
Beyond the need for generalized procedural knowledge are specific aspects that make for
effective trainings. Clark et al.’s (2008) analysis found that at least five influential instructional
design methodologies rely on Merrill’s (2002; 2006) five instructional design principles. These
five principles include instructor providing realistic cases studies, examples related to relevant

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prior knowledge, clear and complete modeling, frequent opportunities to practice, and
opportunities to apply the learning principles during and after the instruction (Merrill, 2002).
Clark (2004, 2006) expands on Merrill’s five instructional design principles with the Guided
Experiential Learning (GEL) model. This model contributes the additional instructional design
principles of specifying objectives, reasons for learning, associated risks with failure to learn,
overview, conceptual knowledge required, and challenging, competency-based assessments
(Clark, et al., 2008). TDs should possess a working understanding of these principles of best
practice for instructional design and how to effectively include them in their training protocols.
In addition to knowing training technique, TDs need to possess the knowledge of how to
design trainings that utilize an appropriate training environment. A training environment, or
training climate, refers to environmental factors such as opportunities to apply newly learned
skills, the adequacy of training resources, cues referencing prior learning, and implications for
such training on the job (Holton, Bates, Seyler & Carvalho, 1997). TDs need to possess the
knowledge to design training environments that foster skill development over competition and a
mastery focus (Carpenter, 2012; Martin, 2010; Krathwohl, 2002). This is especially true when
effectively training soft skills as gradual skill improvement over time is a more appropriate goal
than expectation of immediate transfer (Laker & Powell, 2011). TDs should design trainings that
promote this type of training environment that is appropriate for the stated desired outcomes. The
ability to measure skills and to design trainings that foster an appropriate training environment
are critical knowledge influences in performing this gap analysis. Tending to the training
environment is critical as exceptional technique and eager participation cannot overcome a poor
environment (Holton, Bates, Seyler & Carvalho, 1997).

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Ability of Training Designers to Self-Reflect on Training Design at Revive
Metacognitive knowledge is necessary for TDs to increase the effectiveness of soft skill
trainings at Revive. The final stage of Engelhart’s (1956) taxonomy is evaluation. However,
Krathwohl’s (2002) revised taxonomy finds creating as the final stage. This suggests the need for
instructional designers to go beyond evaluation in reflecting on and adapting current strategies to
improve knowledge transfer (Schraw, 1998). The reflection process allows TDs to better
understand their own strengths and challenges in designing and adapting trainings to make them
most effective. Metacognitive knowledge also allows TDs a better understanding of the
limitations of their trainings and when additional resources would be required. TDs at revive
need an understanding of metacognitive knowledge to design effective soft skill trainings. Table
6 provides a synopsis of knowledge influences within this study for later use.

Table 6
Human Resource Training Designer Knowledge Influences
Knowledge type Knowledge influence
Conceptual TDs need to have an understanding of soft skills and their
importance in achieving organizational outcomes.

Procedural TDs need to know how to measure the effectiveness of soft skill
trainings.

Procedural TDs need to know how to design soft skill trainings and
environments that promote stated organizational outcomes.

Metacognitive TDs need to know to reflect on their own strengths and challenges
in adapting soft skill trainings to improve training effectiveness.

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Motivation Influences
In addition to knowledge influences, TDs’ motivational influences impact their ability to
design effective trainings that enhances the employees’ soft skills. Motivation is made up of an
individual’s active choice, persistence, and mental effort (Clark & Estes, 2008). Underlying
choice, persistence, and mental effort are psychological variables such as avoidance, distraction,
under, and over confidence (Clark & Estes, 2008). This study examines the motivational
influences of self-efficacy and value regarding the TDs’ capacity.
Training Designers’ Self-efficacy to Enhance Employee Soft Skills
Self-efficacy is directly tied to motivation. Bandura (1977) hypothesizes that individual
self-efficacy determines whether coping mechanisms are initiated, the level of effort expended,
and the length of persistence in the face of adverse conditions. Bandura defines self-efficacy as
the belief that one can successfully execute certain behaviors to bring about specific outcomes
and that such beliefs are influenced by past performance, vicarious experience, verbal
persuasion, and psychological beliefs (1977). The concept of self-efficacy has significant
potential to influence TDs’ motivation.
TDs must possess adequate levels of self-efficacy to sustain their motivation to design
effective soft skill trainings. TDs must make sense of their past performance, observations, self-
talk, and beliefs to maintain adequate motivation to complete the design of effective soft skill
trainings. Their self-efficacy in relation to soft skill trainings is of particular interest due to the
unique challenges of such trainings. For example, soft skill trainings usually involve greater
resistance from trainings participants and produce less immediate proficiency than more
technical trainings (Laker & Powell, 2011). The uniqueness of soft skills training has the
potential to negatively impact TDs’ self-efficacy in a narrow scope in that a TD could be a very

34

effective designer of technical trainings but ineffective in designing soft skill trainings. Job-
related self-efficacy does not necessarily translate to soft skill training self-efficacy. Therefore,
this study looks at the self-efficacy of TDs to design effective soft skills trainings in particular as
self-efficacy is an important predictor of persistence and mental effort.
Training Designers’ Value for Soft Skills Training
The concept of value as a motivational influence was founded on the expectancy-value
theory from Fishbein and Azjen (1975). Eccles and Wigfield (1995) found three predominant
value types: attainment value (the importance of doing well), intrinsic value (the interest in the
task), and utility value (the usefulness of the task). Value, or the lack thereof, can have a
significant impact as a motivational influence.
In order for TDs to design effective soft skill trainings, they need to see value in the
projected outcomes of the trainings. The lack of metacognitive knowledge of the expected
benefit of soft skill trainings, the lack of an organizational value stream that includes TD
contributions, and the unique challenges to soft skills trainings are all opportunities to negatively
influence the motivation of TDs. A marked lack of interest and unimportance of soft skill
trainings would also serve as negative influences of TDs’ motivation. The value TDs place on
soft skill specific trainings serve as a marked motivational influence. Table 7 provides a synopsis
of motivational influences to be used throughout the study.

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Table 7
Human Resource Training Designer Motivation Influences
Motivation construct Motivation influence
Self-efficacy TDs need confidence in their ability to design effective soft skill
trainings that advance organizational outcomes.

Utility Value TDs need to see value of soft skill trainings in the daily work of
employees to advance organizational outcomes.

Organizational Influences
In addition to knowledge and motivation influences, organizational influences are critical
to organizational performance. An organization’s culture is intrinsically tied to skills and
motivations that contribute to individual and organizational performance (Clark & Estes, 2008;
Burke, 2018). Organizational influences from the literature are reviewed below. Within an
organization are a host of cultures that make up the organization’s overall culture (Schein, 2017).
Schein (2017) identifies three levels of organizational culture. They include artifacts (visible
structures, procedures, and observed behaviors), espoused beliefs and values (aspirations,
ideologies, and rationalizations), and basic underlying assumptions (subconscious beliefs and
values) (p. 18). Gallimore and Goldenberg (2001) offer similar concepts called cultural models
and cultural settings. Cultural models are shared understandings of the way things are or how
they ought to be. Cultural settings are specific times in specific locations where two or more
people work together to accomplish a task (Gallimore & Goldenberg, 2001). The concepts of
cultural models and settings serve to inform the analysis of this study.
Understanding the impact of these organizational influences on TDs’ capacity to design
effective soft skills trainings is imperative to this study. TDs at Revive reside in the human

36

resources department. Across the country, executive management teams’ regard for human
resources departments is extremely low. PWC’s (2014) report found that only 34% of the CEOs
interviewed felt that their HR departments were well-prepared to capitalize on transformational
trends in their organizations. McKinsey’s report on the state of human capital found that HR
employees largely see themselves as a support function, with limited strategic origination, no
budgets for innovation, and zero-mistake mentalities. (Ray, Mitchell & Abel, 2012). Graber
(2014) goes as far as to argue that HR departments, in their current state, should not be utilized
as strategic partners.
These are examples of potentially harmful basic underlying assumptions and cultural
models common to organizations. How Revive understands the role of and supports their HR
department has the ability to either help or hinder their ability to impact organizational outcomes.
TDs at Revive need to be strategic partners of the overall HR and organizational strategies. This
requires that they be present and contribute to the conversations that form and drive these
strategies. The cultural setting and models around TDs perceived role at Revive need to be
accounted for in this study to adequately assess TDs’ capacity to develop effective trainings.
Without the assessment of organizational influences, the findings of the study would
inadequately explain the contributing factors and likely omit credible recommendations.
Organizational Support in Leveraging Human Capital Initiatives to Meet Organizational
Goals
Organizational support involves collaborative goals requiring a complex system of
resources and processes requiring skills, knowledge, and motivations to accomplish such support
(Clark & Estes, 2008). Disjointed organizational goals, misappropriated resources, and a
misaligned organizational culture around the importance of soft skills at Revive could all serve

37

as possible gaps warned of by Clark and Estes (2008) in terms of organizational support common
to organizations and evidence of a failing cultural model. For TDs at Revive to be effective, they
must sense alignment with the organization in terms of culture, goals, and resource allocation in
their efforts to design effective soft skill trainings. The assessment of organizational alignment
and behavior is critical to the gap analysis framework (Clark & Estes, 2008). This alignment
serves to prove TDs as partners, valued by the organization.
The degree to which Revive values its HR department, and more specifically, its TDs,
has a evident impact on this study. Whether or not executive management sees a link between
TDs’ ability to design effective soft skill trainings and Revive’s business outcomes is a marked
influence as well. A well-established link to business outcomes, an indicator of organizational
capacity (Clark & Estes, 2008), would likely increase organizational support, resources, and
training hours allotted. Ulrich and Brockbank (2005) discussed this idea in terms of the value the
organization places on its HR department. They suggest that an organization’s relationship with
HR should go beyond traditional HR roles and competencies and include an understanding of
how HR strategically serves internal and external stakeholders and how HR departments help
organizations respond to external business realities. To be effective, TDs need to be seen as
strategic partners contributing to the overall success or failure of Revive. This corresponds with
the importance Clark and Estes (2008) place of cultural alignment within organizations.
Beyond the support of senior management, TDs need support from the organization as a
whole to be effective. Since TDs are designing trainings for the employees of all departments
and are reliant on the allocation of time and resources of these departments for soft skill
trainings, they need buy-in from managers and employees from across the company. Alignment
from varying levels of the organization displays a unified vision and value for the role of the

38

TDs. Artifacts and cultural models provide insight into measuring these organizational
influences. This study explores organizational support as a contributing organizational influence
to TDs’ capacity to design effective soft skill trainings.
Organizational Value Stream that Includes Enhanced Employee Soft Skills
Clark and Estes (2008) also discussed the importance of organizational value streams.
Value streams were first introduced into lean manufacturing environments and sought to drive
value to the customer or end user at each step in a manufacturer’s process (Rother & Shook,
2003). Clark & Estes (2008) describe value streams as the analytical processes organizations use
across departments in determining a unified strategy. Value steam mapping involves the
identification of organizational goals, the related work processes required to achieve such goals,
and the relevant knowledge, skills, and motivation to carry out such processes. It then involves
the identification of needed resources to accomplish these processes (Clark & Estes, 2008).
Henrique et al. (2016) discussed the appropriate use of value streams in healthcare settings,
further validating the importance of organizational value streams for organizations beyond those
in manufacturing. Emiliani and Stec (2004) found value streams to be useful in determining the
effectiveness of leadership development programs, an example of the usefulness of value streams
in soft skill training program evaluation. This is not to say that a formalized value stream map is
an organizational necessity, but that organizations with an appropriate value placed on employee
development will include soft skill trainings in their overall organizational strategy. For an
organization to understand the benefit of enhanced employee soft skills, the organization must
see how these trainings fit into their overall organizational strategy. This is a difficult task in
terms of soft skills because soft skill trainings usually produce less immediate results with a
lesser degree of proficiency immediately following the training (Laker & Powell, 2011). For an

39

organization to demonstrate the value they place on enhancing employee soft skills, they need a
long-term view of their value stream and how such trainings might intersect with it. As soft skill
trainings intersect Revive’s overall organizational value stream, a needed organizational capacity
outlined by Clark and Estes (2008), positive cultural settings can be established that influence
overall cultural models, as indicated by Gallimore and Goldenberg (2001), in viewing TDs as
consistent contributors to Revive’s success. This study examines Revive’s organizational
understanding of the benefits of soft skills, their place within the organizational value stream,
and leadership efforts to communicate to TDs the importance of soft skills being developed
among Revive employees.
For TDs to be effective, Revive must go beyond a unified vision and establish
incremental expectations for how employees with higher levels of soft skills will help to better
fulfill their organizational goals and mission. Departmental goals that do not align with
organizational goals and value streams and do not reflect the organizational benefit of employees
with enhanced soft skills reflect a poor organizational understanding of the role of the TDs and
fall prey to the warnings of Clark and Estes (2008). In contrast, departmental goals aligned with
the organizational goals of creating a community of belonging that improves patient outcomes
and situates Revive as the partner of choice for its stakeholders that are integrated into the
organizational value stream reflect sound organizational understanding and is indicative of
organizational capacity. Organizational artifacts and espoused beliefs absent of cultural settings
of the benefit of soft skills trainings fail to influence underlying assumptions and cultural models
(Gallimore & Goldenberg, 2001).
Overall, TDs should be part of creating, implementing, and measuring Revive’s
organizational strategy to create a community of belonging in becoming the healthcare partner of

40

choice for its stakeholders. TDs should be provided clear and measurable expectations as would
be provided to other departments that are seen as critical to the overall mission. TDs need
adequate time and resources to design effective soft skills trainings as well as an organizational
reliance on their trainings in the form of employee training to effectively measure their
organizational impact, consistent with the recommendations for the identification and allocation
of resources by Clark and Estes (2001). Evidence of TDs being part of the Revive’s overall value
stream would include TDs in the creation, implementation, and evaluation of Revive’s
overarching strategy to become the best healthcare company in the world. Table 8 provides the
cultural models and settings to be used to measure organizational influences in this study.

Table 8
Human Resource Training Designer Organizational Influences
Organizational influence type Organizational influence
Cultural setting Revive leadership needs to provide cross-department
support of TDs in the leveraging of human capital
initiatives in meeting organizational goals.

Cultural model Revive needs to ensure TDs have the capacity to design
effective soft skill trainings.

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Conceptual Framework
The conceptual framework guiding this study originates from the problem of practice
regarding the soft skills gap, the related research questions, and the review of relevant literature.
The goal of this study is to explore and to support the capacity of TDs to design effective soft
skill trainings to achieve organizational outcomes at Revive. The framework draws directly from
the Clark and Estes (2008) gap analysis and is used to analyze the knowledge, motivation, and
organizational capacities of TDs in developing effective trainings in response to the soft skill
gap. The capacity analysis of TDs at Revive is situated within an emerging soft skill gap. The
emerging, or growing gap, is meant to depict the need for current and future capacity for TDs to
design effective soft skill trainings. At the heart of the theoretical framework is the interplay
between the knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences in determining TDs’ capacity
to enhance employee soft skills. Figure 2 provides a visual depiction of the theoretical
framework.

42

Figure 2
Training Designers’ Capacity to Respond to the Emerging Soft Skill Gap

The Clark and Estes (2008) gap analysis model serves at the methodological framework
for examining TDs’ capacity to design effective soft skill trainings in the context of a growing
soft skill gap due to technological advancement. The impact of technology is examined in light
of the emerging opportunity soft skills have to better equip the U.S. workforce if effective
training is implemented. The gap analysis analyzes necessary knowledge TDs need to design

Emerging Soft Skills Gap

Organizational
Influences

Motivation
Influences

Knowledge
Influences
TDs’ Capacity to
Design Effective
Soft Skill Trainings

43

effective soft skills trainings as well the impact technological advancement has on motivation,
the leading cause of organizational performance problems. Going beyond TDs’ knowledge and
motivation, the methodological framework analyzes organizational influences impacting the
capacity of TDs to design effective trainings. Inherent to the framework, though not reflected in
the visual depiction, are the influences of the researcher in how the problem, influences, and
TDs’ capacity are framed.
Pragmatism serves as the paradigm of inquiry as the literature supports this soft skill
deficit as a need of employers and employees. The pragmatic worldview encourages researchers
to use any tool or method at their disposal to better understand and address a problem with little
distinction between understanding a problem and acting upon it (Creswell & Creswell, 2018).
The axiology, the role of values and ethics in this study (Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill, 2015),
primarily deals with the corporate responsibility, versus that of individual responsibility, in
preparing people for the workforce. Today’s adult workers were taught skills that technology is
rapidly replacing and lawmakers, educators, corporations, parents and mentors failed to predict
this rapid change and failed to adequately prepare these workers in terms of the soft skills needed
to excel in this changing workforce. The ontology, an effort to define reality (Saunders et al.,
2015), stays true to the pragmatic worldview in looking for what works rather than what is real.
TDs’ capacities that lead to enhanced soft skills that are found to improve organizational
outcomes will be the measure for what is true and real. The epistemology, concerned with what
knowledge is valid and knowable (Saunders, et al., 2015), also adheres to a pragmatic worldview
looking for hard data, the capacity of TDs to design effective training in enhancing the soft skills
of employees. The epistemological approach is broad in hopes that later inquiry will serve to

44

refine. The worldview, axiology, ontology, and epistemology, though not reflected in Figure 2,
serve as guides to understanding the problem, the stakeholders, and the implications of the study.
Summary
In review, Chapter 2 has served to add clarity to how soft skills have been defined in
previous research and how they are defined within this study. It has made the case for a soft skill
deficit due to technological advancement as well as the individual and organizational benefits of
enhanced soft skills among employees. Arguments against the findings of the literature review
within this study were also briefly discussed. Clark and Estes’s (2008) gap analysis, the
methodological framework for this study, was discussed at length in the context of the
knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences on TDs to design effective soft skill
trainings. The conceptual framework and epistemological, ontological, and axiological
influences were also introduced. Overall, the individual and organizational benefits of soft skills
from empirical evidence, employer surveys, legislative efforts, professional opinion, to the
findings of respected global bodies have been presented in an effort to defend the purpose and
direction of this study.

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Chapter Three: Methodology
This study focuses on an analysis of the knowledge, motivation, and organizational
influences impacting the capacity of TDs at Revive to design effective soft skill trainings to
improve business outcomes. TDs’ effectiveness is important in Revive’s organizational context
as the company intends to use such human capital initiatives to drive organizational outcomes.
This chapter reviews the research questions, an overview of the research methodology, a detailed
look at the methods used, and the role of the researcher.
Research Questions
1. What is the Revive Healthcare human resource training designers’ knowledge and
motivation related to the design of effective soft skill trainings?
2. How does Revive Healthcare either support or hinder the human resource training
designers’ capacity to design effective soft skill trainings?
Overview of Methodology
This study relies on qualitative research methods. Interviews served as the primary means
of gathering data with artifact analysis serving as a secondary method. Interviews were chosen
because they maximize the data able to be gathered from a relatively small sample of potential
participants. This decision was informed by Merriam and Tisdell’s (2016) recommendations for
gathering quality data from similar populations where observation would be ineffective. Artifact
analysis was chosen to both enhance the interview process and allow for the triangulation of data
across methods. Artifact analysis allows the researcher to better understand the language and
definitions of how revive conceptualizes soft skills and communicates relevant information
throughout the organization. Table 9 provides a graphic displaying the intersection of the
methods and the research questions such methods are intended to inform.

46

Table 9
Data Sources
Study questions Interviews Artifact
analysis

What is the Revive Healthcare human resource training
designers’ knowledge and motivation related to the design of
effective soft skill trainings?

X X
How does Revive Healthcare either support or hinder the
human resource training designers’ capacity to design
effective soft skill trainings?

X X

Data Collection, Instrumentation, and Analysis Plan
Artifact analysis took place first as I gathered publicly available information and
documentation about Revive to inform the study. This analysis was used to inform participant
interviews followed by additional artifact analysis from materials gathered from participants.
Limited relevant artifacts were found prior to the interviews, and most served to substantiate
interview findings rather than generating significant independent findings themselves.
Interviews
Interviews have been chosen as the primary means for gathering data for this study. The
limited participant group and specificity of information to be gathered allow interviews to serve
as an appropriate research method (Creswell & Creswell, 2018). The following details the
interview protocol for this study.
Participating Stakeholders
All full-time Revive training designers and their supervisors who are involved in the
training effort were invited to participate in the interview. The aim of the study was to interview

47

a complete sample of 12 participants with a minimum goal of eight participants. In the end, I was
able to interview seven participants. Three of the 12 potential participants left the organization
during the course of the study, making the total population nine individuals. By the sixth and
seven interviews, I felt the data to be consistent with the previous five interviews, and I
determined that saturation had been reached using the guidance of Creswell and Creswell (2018).
Network sampling was chosen, as not to limit the study to only pre-determined participants as
that would likely omit participants that influence training design in part-time and less formal
capacities. An example would be a supervisor or manager of training designers or potential
executive that provides direction over such activities. Revive’s decentralized HR functions also
suggest that some design capacity resides outside of the training designers alone. Regardless of
title, both participants and Revive recognized the participants of this study as integral to
designing trainings that impact employee soft skills and were solicited using network sampling.
Snowball, chain, or network sampling is a form of purposeful sampling that allows participants
to identify other potential, and useful participants (Merrian & Tisdell, 2016). It was through this
networking that the TD population at Revive was determined to consist of nine individuals.
Instrumentation
Semi-structured interviews were used for this study relying primarily on the interview
protocol but not in a rigidly prescribed sequence or order (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The nature
of the literature on soft skills and the varying definitions and bounds of what soft skills actually
are make semi-structured interviews an appropriate protocol. This protocol allows for
participants to use the language in which they describe soft skills and allows the interviewer the
ability to clarify. A semi-structured protocol also fits my skills as a licensed therapist, the

48

pragmatic worldview of the project, and the chosen sampling approach in allowing me, the
researcher, to follow the data.
The types of questions are directly related to the conceptual framework, which is rooted
in the methodological framework of a gap analysis as framed by Clark and Estes (2008).
Questioning began by looking at general knowledge of employee training design and moved into
soft-skill specific questions. The interview items probed the knowledge influences of TDs to
design and adapt effective soft skill trainings. Additional questions looked at motivational
influences of self-efficacy and value. Lastly, the questioning moved to inquiry around
organizational capacity and resourcing to effectively design soft skill trainings.
Data Collection Procedures
Interviews were conducted via videoconferencing. Online interviews make for unique
challenges in protecting participants’ rights to informed consent. Therefore, the recording
function of the videoconferencing platform, Zoom, was not enabled until the participant had
given explicit consent. Participants were given guidance for masking their names and identities
as they so chose. One participant refused to be audio recorded in any way, requiring additional
notes within a printed interview protocol during the interview. Appendix A presents the
interview protocol. Follow-up interviews were not utilized for follow-up questions as interviews
did not encounter unforeseen circumstances or unreasonable time constraints. Once the
recordings were no longer needed for the purposes of this study, they were promptly destroyed.
Videoconferencing was utilized due to concerns related to COVID-19 and university guidelines
requiring interviews to be performed exclusively online. Interviews were performed when
convenient to participants whether while at work or at home.

49

Interviewees were introduced to the purpose of the study: determining TDs’ capacity in
developing effective soft skills trainings. Interviewees were given the parameters of the study
and the expected time commitment. Participants were provided a participant information sheet
for exempt research (Appendix C) and were asked if they agreed to be interviewed and recorded.
Upon consent, they were asked questions from the protocol as well as additional probing
questions that arose. Following the interview, participants were reminded of their rights to
review recordings and to contact the researcher as needed.
Data Analysis
The analysis of interview data took place throughout the length of the study as
recommended by Merriam and Tisdell (2016). Interviews were transcribed and catalogued with
interview notes and observer comments. Further, the analysis included themes, concepts,
metaphors, pictographs, and a regular re-examination of relevant literature to assist in coding the
data through the lens of the study’s conceptual framework in sense-making around the data that
was gathered throughout the research process. The methodological framework and research
questions served to frame and focus the study around the knowledge, motivation, and
organizational influences impacting the capacity of TDs to design effective soft skill trainings
and to eliminate data unrelated to the purposes and questions of the study. In the end, categories
were established, data sorted into categories, and the categories named to inform the purposes of
the study as recommended by Merriam and Tisdell (2016).
Credibility and Trustworthiness
Credibility and trustworthiness are important aspects of this study. Multiple procedures
were utilized in this study to promote credible findings. First, data was triangulated through the
use of interview and artifact analysis. Triangulation refers to examining evidence using multiple

50

methods to create a coherent perspective in increasing validity (Creswell & Creswell, 2018).
Participant transcript review was utilized to enhance credibility and trustworthiness of the
observations and findings. Researcher bias and data that was inconsistent with the findings of
this study has also been presented. Accurate transcription from recording devices as well as the
utilization of one researcher for the interviewing, and artifact analysis also promoted credible
research. Triangulation, participant transcript review, disclosed researcher bias, accurate
transcriptions, and data discrepancies were utilized. Such efforts are critical to promoting
credibility and trustworthiness in the gathering, analyzing, and presentation of data.
Artifact Analysis
Documents and other organizational artifacts serve as additional sources of data in
performing qualitative research (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). For the purposes of this study,
artifacts included documents, websites, audio, and visual materials related to the design of soft
skill trainings at Revive. This includes any organizational resources, publications, internally
created materials, and participants’ backgrounds as examples. As mentioned previously, many
artifacts were gathered and analyzed before interviewing participants. Artifacts were also
gathered during and following participant interviews.
Instrumentation
Artifacts solicited include training design materials utilized by TDs, training documents,
and any other artifacts utilized by TDs in the design of trainings, regardless of if they are related
to soft skills. All training artifacts related to TDs’ overall approach to training are useful to
understanding their capacity to design and deliver effective training. As mentioned before,
participants that are seen as integral to the design of soft skill trainings at Revive were
considered stakeholders. In addition, any materials instructing TDs in their design were included

51

as artifacts as well. Artifacts gathered prior to the interview process were gathered via thorough
internet searches. Searches were related to the organization, interview participants, and
executives. Artifacts were solicited as part of the interview process.
Data Collection Procedures
Documents for review relate to the interview participants, participant backgrounds,
organizational goals, organizational methods, organizational culture, and materials produced by
TDs relating to soft skills. Prior to participant interviews, the researcher reviewed publicly
available artifacts such as the Revive’s website, publications, awards, annual reports, press
releases, and participant and organizational LinkedIn profiles. Following the interview process,
artifacts provided by participants were collected and reviewed. Appendix B presents the artifact
analysis protocol for the study.
Data Analysis
First, I worked to maintain an open mind in the discovery of useful artifacts. The primary
purpose of gathering artifacts was to inform the interview and participant feedback process. This
allowed for artifacts, documents, and online claims to be authenticated by participants as well as
their influence on the organization. Beyond informing the interview process, artifacts have been
used to help measure capacity in terms of knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences
in impacting employee soft skills.
Ethics and Role the Researcher
Positionality, power, and ethics are critical components of responsible data collection and
analysis (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). It is important that I adhered to established and accepted
ethical standards. Interviewees participated voluntarily as a result of informed consent.
Voluntary participation was particularly important for this study. I gained permission for this

52

study from senior management and therefore, required me to be explicit in ensuring voluntary
participation free from coercion or force. I have no relationship to Revive, other than publicly
available information that led me to identify Revive as an organization of interest for this study.
In addition to this, I have always admired Revive from afar and have utilized the dissertation
requirement at the University of Southern California as an opportunity to perform a capacity
analysis relative to soft skills, a subject of which I have great interest. I worked to minimize
unnecessary risks as recommended by Glesne (2011). Such avoidance included avoiding
extraneous information and maintaining a research focus pertaining to the research questions and
frameworks. For example, I did not guide interviews and findings into areas outside of the
research focus that could have unnecessarily compromised the anonymity of a participant.
Furthermore, pseudonyms for the both the organization and for participant anonymity have been
utilized to avoid conflicts of interest between the researcher, participants, and the organization.
Participants were introduced to the purposes and methods of the study, the study’s commitment
to confidentiality, and the potential limits of confidentiality given the relatively small number of
participants within a single organization. My positionality was also presented to participants.
Participants should not have sensed that I had taken a side either with them or with the
organization. The parameters of the study along with disclosures of positionality helped to avoid
unnecessary power influences within the study.
My relationship with the organization, the participants, and the subject matter are a
contributor to potential bias in this study. My positive regard for the organization and subject
matter could have impacted the study’s findings. Though a single researcher can help in terms of
consistency, a single researcher also allows for the potential for individual bias. As the primary
instrument for data collection and analysis, inherent researcher bias has likely impacted the study

53

as well. Participant transcript review aided in limiting such bias. It was important that I remained
mindful of such influences and biases in the collection, analysis, and findings based on the
research data. Remaining grounded in the relevant literature in analyzing capacity also served to
limit the influence of researcher bias.

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Chapter Four: Findings
The purpose of this study is to explore the degree to which Revive has the capacity to
achieve its goal of increasing the soft skills of its employees to improve business outcomes.
These outcomes include creating a community of belonging that proactively builds a leadership
pipeline, improves retention through teammate experience, and promotes performance
excellence through agile people operations. Organizational capacity is an organization’s
capability to deliver products and services to satisfy current and anticipated demand (Murphy,
2007). For this study, capacity refers to the ability of training designers (TDs) at Revive to
design effective soft skill trainings that meet current organizational demands in addition to the
projected growing demands for employee soft skills as found in relevant literature. This study
utilizes a gap analysis framework (Clark & Estes, 2008), implemented via qualitative methods of
individual interviews and artifact analysis. This chapter discusses the findings of these efforts
guided by the following research questions:
1. What is the Revive Healthcare human resource training designers’ knowledge and
motivation related to the design of effective soft skill trainings?
2. How does Revive Healthcare either support or hinder the human resource training
designers’ capacity to design effective soft skill trainings?
Influences were analyzed for TDs’ capacities and have been determined to be assets or
gaps. The threshold for influences to be determined assets is the majority of TD participants, at
least four, demonstrating knowledge or motivation or having a positive perception when it came
to organizational influences as outlined in Chapter 2. Assets described as “robust” refer to the
vast majority of relevant influences identified from relevant research in a specified area being
soundly demonstrated by the majority of the participants. Gaps have been identified where less

55

than a majority of TDs demonstrated capacity with regard to the influences identified in relevant
literature.
To provide further clarity regarding identified gaps, TDs’ awareness of identified gaps
has been noted in this study. Where a gap has been identified, interview data was examined to
determine if TDs acknowledged such shortcomings or not to determine if TDs appeared aware of
such gaps. Awareness of an identified gap demonstrates that TDs have begun to contemplate
change in that area, a progression of change according to the transtheoretical change model. The
transtheorical model of change includes the following stages: precontemplation, contemplation,
determination, action, relapse, and maintenance (Prochaska, 2001). TDs’ awareness
demonstrates a level of contemplation and possibly even determination towards change that is
worth noting and serves as a distinct advantage over gaps where TDs have not yet started to
contemplate change. TDs’ awareness has been indicated where a number of TDs recognized the
identified capacity deficiencies and were able to discuss future efforts to overcome them. TDs
demonstrated varying levels of awareness of identified gaps depending on the gap and on the
participant. The determination of TDs’ awareness of identified gaps is an important data point in
analyzing the capacity of TDs as it distinguishes between gaps being addressed by TDs versus
gaps where TDs have little, if any, awareness that they exist. Organizational gaps go beyond the
ability of TDs to solely impact them; however, they are part of the organization and have some
ability, though it may be limited, to impact organizational influences. Therefore, their awareness
of organizational gaps has also been assessed.
Participating Stakeholders
A total of seven individuals participated in video conference interviews in this study.
There were 12 training designers (TDs) at the outset of the study; however, three TDs left the

56

organization prior to the interview process commencing, leaving a total of nine designers
available to be interviewed. Ultimately, seven designers at Revive were interviewed as data
saturation was reached at this number. Participants ranged from two to nearly 20 years in their
roles with Revive, and all had at least seven years of experience in the field of training design.
The educational background of participants ranged from a participant with a related bachelor’s
degree to another with a related terminal degree. All other participants had pertinent graduate
work or a graduate degree. Participants were pleased to participate, seemed forthcoming, and
seemed comfortable talking candidly about their work at Revive. Demographic information has
been left out of the findings of this study to protect the anonymity of the participants of such a
small population within Revive. Participants have been identified using identifiers of P1 through
P7 when necessary.
What is the Revive Healthcare Human Resource Training Designers’ Knowledge and
Motivation Related to the Design of Effective Soft Skill Training?
The first research question was designed to explore the assumed knowledge and
motivation influences presented in Chapter 2. An analysis of qualitative data helped determine
how TDs’ knowledge and motivation impacted their capacity to design soft skill trainings.
Knowledge influences included TDs’ knowledge of soft skills, training design, and training
effectiveness. TDs’ motivation was analyzed regarding the value TDs place on soft skill design,
as well as their use of self-reflection in the context of their ability to design effective soft skill
trainings. The following section outlines the associated findings.
Knowledge Findings
A number of interview questions were designed to assess the knowledge influences of
TDs at Revive. Artifacts were also used in assessing knowledge influences. Overall, the TDs

57

interviewed for this study demonstrated a robust understanding of the organizational importance
of soft skills as well as how to go about designing trainings specifically geared at developing soft
skills. TDs’ knowledge of how to measure soft skills in evaluating training effectiveness and the
importance of self-reflection in improving training design demonstrated some level of capacity,
and an awareness by TDs of the gap, but a demonstrated gap nonetheless. Table 10 provides a
summary of findings for each identified knowledge influence in this study.

Table 10
Human Resource Training Designer Knowledge Influence Findings
Knowledge type Knowledge influence finding Asset Gap TD awareness
of gap

Conceptual TDs’ robust understanding of soft skills
relative to achieving organizational
outcomes

X
Procedural TDs’ robust ability to design soft skill
trainings

X
Procedural TDs’ growing ability to measure the
effectiveness of soft skill trainings

X X
Metacognitive TDs’ growing self-reflection on their
ability to provide effective soft skills’
training

X X

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Training Designers’ Robust Understanding of Soft Skills Relative to Achieving Organizational
Outcomes
To design effective training that enhances employees’ soft skills, TDs need to have a
working understanding of what soft skills are. This would include a definition and basic
recognition consistent with the relevant literature of what constitutes a soft skill. TDs’
knowledge of soft skills should recognize soft skills and include terminology such as people
skills, non-cognitive skills, employability traits, higher-order cognitive skills, emotional
intelligence, and socioemotional skills, among others (Casner-Lotto, 2006; Heckman & Kautz,
2012; Lippman et al., 2015; Stewart et al., 2016). TDs also need to demonstrate relevant
knowledge, as described by Krathwohl and Anderson (2009). Relevant knowledge would include
which skills are most likely to contribute to organizational performance to demonstrate capacity
in this area, including such benefits as increased employee soft skills within their organization. In
the interview process, TDs demonstrated a robust understanding of the importance of employee
soft skills in helping organizations achieve their desired goals.
TDs’ Ability to Define Soft Skills. A common definition of terms was needed to assess
TDs’ capacity to enhance employee soft skills. Coming to a common definition required
understanding the language TDs at Revive use to discuss soft skills as compared with relevant
literature. In exploring the degree to which TDs understood what soft skills were, they were
asked about specific training needs they have identified, trainings they have developed, and
trainings they have amended. TDs at Revive used consistent terminology during the interview
process for how they framed soft skills. For example, each participant delineated between hard
and soft skills by either using the term “business skills” or “human skills.” P1, P3, and P6 spoke
of “human skills,” P4 spoke of “business skills,” and P2, P5, and P7 used both “human skills”

59

and “business skills” in their interviews. Their usage of these terms was not found widely in the
literature; however, TDs used them interchangeably with technical skills, hard skills, and soft
skills, thus demonstrating knowledge of soft skills consistent with relevant literature. All
participants but P4 discussed evaluating potential employees in the hiring process, trainees, and
current employees via “performance reviews” or “360” reviews with separate ratings for soft
skills and hard skills. All participants but P2 and P5 used the language of employees’ “mission”
and “values” fit or “M and V fit,” which they used to describe the soft skill ratings of each
performance review at Revive. Though these terms are not soft skills recognized in the literature,
recognizing that TDs use these terms in reference to soft skills at Revive helped to clarify
terminology and allowed for the assessment of their knowledge capacity relative to their
understanding of soft skills.
As mentioned previously, for TDs to design effective training that enhances employee
soft skills, they must understand what soft skills are. TDs used language specific to the
organization rather than terminology found in research, but they did demonstrate a robust
understanding of what soft skills are as a group. TDs were consistently able to translate their
terminology to terms more consistent with the literature and provide concrete examples of the
skills they are trying to develop among their employees. Each participant identified leadership
and teamwork as prioritized soft skills at Revive. Both of which are identified within soft skills
literature, such as Lippman et al.’s. (2015) comprehensive work identifying key soft skills. Other
soft skills that multiple participants in interviews discussed were self-awareness (P1, P2, P4, and
P5), vulnerability (P3, P4, and P6), communication (P1, P3, and P6), emotional intelligence (P1
and P4), and authenticity (P4 and P5). These skills are also consistent with the literature, all
falling into Lippman et al.’s (2015) categories of soft skills: 1) social skills, 2) communication

60

skills, 3) higher-order thinking, 4) self-control and 5) positive self-concept. Although the
literature does recognize that skills such as leadership and communication often have both soft
and hard skill components. Other soft skills mentioned were conflict-resolution, empathy, grit,
and self-confidence. The interview protocol (Appendix A) could have been more explicit in
probing around TDs’ knowledge of applicable soft skills. Each TD consistently identified soft
skills consistent with the categories of soft skills identified in Chapter 2: people skills, non-
cognitive skills, employability skills, higher-order cognitive skills, emotional intelligence, and
socioemotional skills. (Casner-Lotto, 2006; Heckman & Kautz, 2012; Lippman et al., 2015;
Stewart et al., 2016). However, each participant demonstrated capacity to know what soft skills
are throughout the interview process, with several TDs demonstrating a robust capacity. For
example, in describing their role as a TD, P1 said, “we need to teach them how to lead and
demonstrate some of those…and so, communication, managing conflict, emotional intelligence,
all of those things are bedrock competencies.” In discussing the impact of Covid-19, P2
identified several soft skills found in the literature when they said,
In a post-pandemic world, what are the skills that are most desirable or needed? And
they're all in the soft skills. They're all about empathy, about helping people feel fulfilled
in what they do. And so I think that just leadership is a human skill, it's an obvious
statement. And it's needed now more than ever. People are burnt out, they're stressed,
they know they need to find resilience.
Both P1 and P2 conveyed two examples where TDs demonstrated knowledge of what soft skills
are and demonstrated this knowledge to be an asset in developing training that enhances
employee soft skills.

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TDs’ Understanding of the Importance of Soft Skills to their Organization. Beyond
the ability to define soft skills, TDs must also know the importance of soft skills in impacting
organizational outcomes through training design. TDs demonstrated a robust capacity in their
knowledge of the importance soft skills have in achieving organizational outcomes and the
increasing importance soft skills will have within organizations in light of emerging
technologies. All participants but P6 offered their version of the organization’s history and the
positive outcomes seen within the organization after Revive began prioritizing soft skills
training. Only one of the participants worked at Revive during this transition, yet this common
example has served to validate the belief of TDs that soft skills continue to impact Revive’s
outcomes. P1 identified several soft skills as “bedrock competencies,” P4 identified soft skills as
“core competencies,” and P1 and P2 called soft skills “foundational.” P2 went on to describe soft
skills as “central to what we do.” These examples demonstrate a generalized understanding of
the importance soft skills has in achieving organizational outcomes. P6 discussed a more
granular example in discussing a job analysis they had done for a key role at Revive’s clinics.
They said,
We have done a big job analysis, to say what are all the tasks that this person, this role, is
responsible for? And then, what are the key leadership capabilities that would be critical
for success in that role? And they're mostly soft skills.”
Each participant identified soft skills as important to Revive achieving its goals, demonstrating a
robust capacity among TDs to understand the impact soft skills have in achieving organizational
outcomes. Table 11 serves to identify additional comments from participants further
demonstrating knowledge capacity around what soft skills are and their potential to impact
organizations, with particularly pertinent portions of comments indicated in bold.

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Table 11
Participants’ Comments Relative to the Importance of Soft Skills at Revive
Participant

Response

P1 “But when you think about soft skills and how it plays into achieving our
goals, our mission, it's absolutely the foundation.”

P2 “We're delivering health care, oftentimes life-sustaining care for our patients,
majority of our patients pass away. And so that, just the human skill, the
ability to relate, to empathize, to be able to provide care to patients is
central to what we do.”

P2 “We also know that healthcare is a team sport, it's not an individual exercise.
So you've got to have good teaming behaviors amongst the clinic and the
care teams. There's a lot of coordination that has to happen. And so being able
to, we call them citizenship behaviors, being able to relate well as a village
and work together.”

P4 “It lends itself to how do you create a sense of team, you have to have the
ability to have emotional intelligence with self-awareness and how do you
do coaching, doesn't matter what level you are in an organization. Whether
you have direct reports or not, you tend to have to do some kind of coaching.
And so a lot of those soft skills, it's just about I think being a human being…
most of the coaching, 99% of it is on the soft skill stuff.”

P5 “You can call it soft skills, but it's really fascinating, right? That's such a
misnomer. That's like, you have soft skills? It's not soft skills, man. It's the
hardest skills you can teach, is to have people realize that the environment
that they're in is probably 70%, not 30%, of their happiness in that job.”

P7 “Management is a business skill and leadership is a human skill. To become
a better leader, you have to become a better human.”

Every TD communicated an understanding of the importance of soft skills, supporting the
finding of this being as asset. Many TDs used terms specific to Revive, but were able to connect
their terminology to that of relevant literature. P5 consistently talked about soft skills and
corporate culture interchangeably, as evidenced in Table 11. It is possible P5 was referring to

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teaming and citizenship behaviors as other participants did; however, it appeared to be an
expanded definition that falls outside of the relevant research. Nonetheless, P5 and every other
participant understood the importance of soft skills. This robust understanding served as an asset,
aiding TDs in their training design.
Training Designers’ Robust Ability to Design Soft Skill Trainings
To demonstrate knowledge capacity in designing soft skill trainings that enhance
employee soft skills, TDs need to possess generalized procedural knowledge, aiding them in
designing effective training at Revive. Relevant procedural knowledge needed by TDs includes a
working understanding of the elements of Mayer’s (2011) findings that training should assess
and connect to participants’ prior knowledge with meaningful, and engaging content, as well as a
working knowledge of learner motivation, cognitive overload, self-efficacy (Pintrich, 2003),
practice, and application (Krathwohl, 2002). TDs need a working understanding of these
foundational elements of effective design to demonstrate knowledge capacity relative to training
design. TDs were asked a series of questions about design elements and altering trainings to
assess their knowledge capacity around training design. Interview and artifact data was used in
determining TDs to have demonstrated robust knowledge in the design of effective soft skill
trainings.
Interview Findings. Overall, TDs at Revive demonstrated robust knowledge of training
design relative to the pertinent literature. They largely exhibited a working knowledge around
foundational design elements of effective trainings. For example, P3 described their design
efforts to connect to prior knowledge in their training design as moving “from novice to mastery
and thinking about what sort of scaffolding you need to build up so that they can reach higher
levels of complexity.” Additionally, P1 described their role in designing trainings with engaging

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and relevant content the following way, “our job is to cultivate the best content, create it,
modernize it, and make sure it's up to date with the latest and greatest research in the industry,
best practices, and such.” P1 further described tailoring trainings to learners’ needs,
demonstrating a working understanding of learner motivation. TDs also demonstrated an
understanding of the role that practice and application play in effective training design. P2
described their process as “teach, practice, assess,” and P3 described the process similarly as
“instruction, practice, assess.” P6 provided a concrete example of their understanding of the
importance of using application in effective training design with their description of the
“application part of a relationship-building skill.” These are all examples of TDs’ capacity in
terms of their working knowledge of design practices found in the relevant literature.
Much of the conversation around TDs’ knowledge of designing training environments
centered around Covid-19. Several participants discussed the way training environments were
conceptualized before the pandemic and how they are continuing to adapt. P3 described the
transition due to Covid-19 as going “from basically 100% live in-person to virtual.” A lack of
TDs’ capacity could be argued in that they are still moving from predominantly in-person
training to predominantly virtual training. However, for this study, this unprecedented shift was
not seen as a lack of capacity as TDs’ knowledge of foundational design elements found in
relevant literature have served as an asset in this process. Table 12 serves to identify additional
comments from participants demonstrating knowledge capacity around soft skill training design,
with particularly pertinent portions of comments indicated in bold.

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Table 12
Participants’ Comments Relative to Their Ability to Design Soft Skills Trainings
Participant

Response

P1 “I think of learning and development as part of a much bigger process. If
you look at the field of organizational development, training is only one part
of the solution. And I really believe that in order for there to be meaningful
change and for there to be true advancement with soft skills in an
organization, you have to have it on all ends.”

P1 “And so, things that we're thinking about doing more to reach people are more
like micro trainings; microlearning videos, things that are in their moment of
need… and then there's learner's access, learner's motivation.”

P2 We use this acronym, teach, practice, assess. So we give them a bit of a
teach video, maybe five, ten minute video on a concept. Then we give them
an application exercise to do in their work world. And then assess is more of
like reflect on what did you learn, what worked, what didn't?

P2 “I think from (Revive’s) perspective, we've probably favored more on sort of
the human transformation piece, the inside out, than we have on the
traditional skills training. We still have skills training, but at least within my
shop and within the (Revive) University, we've really focused on, who are
you as a leader? Who are you becoming? What are your values? What are
your beliefs? And how does that drive your behavior? Because we have sort
of a model, that beliefs drive behaviors, which then shape your results. We
try to get people to peel back the onion a bit and really look at themselves as a
human first and then layer on the actual practical skills.

P2 “And they've quoted some research around the forgetting curve. And basically
what it says is that when people are introduced to a concept, they need three
or four subsequent opportunities to practice what they're learning in order
to become somewhat proficient in it. The idea is to move away from these
classroom events to more of a drip kind of thing.”

P3 “And so it's, everything is blended learning where there's classroom
instruction. There's some sort of application on the job, an opportunity to get
feedback. And then everybody in the program has a really robust support
system…it's that combination of instruction, practice and feedback. It's
really the 70, 20, 10 model.”
P3 “We have done a nice job of being really learner centric. And so really
honing in on what are the characteristics of the population and what they
specifically need.”

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Table 12 (continued)

Participant

Response

P4 “And so the opportunity to just watch and learn and doing it in a way of
actually seeing it live versus actually, they've just come from being in school
where they're reading a bunch of case studies, where they're doing a bunch of
simulations. Now this is real life, and it's kind of the way to connect it.”

P5 “You can teach people all the technical skills you want. If you don't deal
with the human that's sitting in front of you, it doesn't matter how good
of a technical teacher you are. In any learning environment, you have to
understand the human being that's sitting there. What are their motivations?
Why do they care? What do they care about?”

P6 “So, let's say it's an application part of a relationship-building skill. So, if
you're trying to get learners to apply relationship building within a learning
environment, we used to be able to do that with happy hour and dinner, and
now, how do we replicate it to your interpersonal environment?”

Most TDs demonstrated a working understanding of how to design soft skill trainings
consistent with relevant research; therefore, supporting the finding of this being as asset. Many
TDs had specific, technical knowledge beyond that of a working understanding. For example,
TDs demonstrated knowledge of components of influential instructional design methodologies
such as scaffolding, supporting learner motivation, managing cognitive overload, increasing self-
efficacy, and providing opportunities for practice and application. The finding of robust TDs’
knowledge around soft skill training design was supported during the analysis of relevant
artifacts.
Artifact Analysis Findings. The LinkedIn profiles of TDs served as relevant artifacts in
determining their capacity in soft skill training design. Four participants were found to have
graduate degrees related to organizational change, organizational psychology, or counseling. Six
participants had pertinent prior work experience before coming to Revive. P2 and P3 were found

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to be certified administrators of various personality assessments. Though none of this
information proves soft skill training capacity, the educational backgrounds and work experience
of TDs serve to support the finding that TDs have a robust understanding of how to design soft
skill trainings. In addition, a detailed review of three TDs’ prior work experience further supports
this finding. P1 previously managed a team of instructional designers and eLearning developers
in one role and managed learning and development for a 10,000-employee organization in
another role. Both roles had significant soft skill offerings. P2 has prior work experience that
includes leading leadership and organizational effectiveness initiatives, as well as having served
as a chief learning officer before coming to Revive. P3 has a consulting background, where they
developed and implemented competency frameworks and learning plans targeting soft skill
development for one of the largest companies in the world. Overall, the artifact findings further
support the robust ability of TDs to design effective soft skill trainings. However, relevant
research requires the measurement of training effectiveness as an additional element of training
design, discussed in the following section.
Training Designers’ Growing Ability to Measure the Effectiveness of Soft Skill Trainings
In addition to the knowledge of how to design soft skill trainings, TDs need additional
procedural knowledge around measuring soft skills and their outcomes to demonstrate capacity
to design training that enhances employee soft skills. TDs need a working understanding of the
attributes of individuals with adequate soft skills and how to apply that knowledge in formal and
informal assessments. Formal, quantitative measures could include personality assessments and
qualitative assessments utilizing surveys and interviews (Heckman & Kautz, 2012). The
effectiveness of TDs’ trainings must be measured to determine if there is a relationship between
employee training and enhanced employee soft skills, consistent with the evaluation

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recommendations of Krathwohl and Anderson (2001). Beyond measuring the enhancement of
soft skills among individuals, TDs must measure the impact of soft skill trainings on targeted
organizational outcomes. The following section outlines the analysis of TDs’ capacity at Revive
relative to the measurement of soft skill trainings using interview data. TDs demonstrated a
capacity to measure soft skills among employees, but failed to adequately demonstrate the ability
to measure the impact of their trainings on desired organizational outcomes.
TDs’ Ability to Measure the Enhancement of Employee Soft Skills. TDs at Revive
demonstrated high capacity in their knowledge of training measurement methods. Six
participants demonstrated a working understanding of measuring soft skills among employees at
Revive. P1 discussed their modified personality measures to initiate self-awareness and
reflection, “we do a lot of different personality assessments.” Revive’s practice of utilizing self-
reported personality assessments and training measurements is consistent with relevant literature
as personality assessments and self-reporting are effective means to measure soft skills. P1
described an example of utilizing self-reporting in measuring soft skill enhancement to determine
training effectiveness:
The question is, how can you tell whether it worked? How can tell whether this training
intervention actually advanced soft skills for these teammates and for the business? And
one of the ways that we’ve done it is through… it can be a self-assessed skills increase…
and what we want to see as a positive number. We want to see a positive growth. We
don't really have a target, like it needs to be 1%, 5%, etc., but we just want to see a
positive, because, of course, the higher the skill level, the better.
P2 mentioned the use of “pre” and “post” tests to demonstrate training effectiveness. P4 spoke of
their history in developing soft skill measures, “it was so hard to define it and then evaluate to it.

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And so we just started to break it down… the further you can break down the soft skill, so that it
can become less and less subjective.” P4 further highlighted the importance of organizational
alignment around the tools used to measure soft skills, “if you can align people on at least the
scale of the soft skill, the easier it is for people to, in my experience, process and connect to it.”
P2 and P5 spoke specifically about how 360 assessments, performance reviews where input from
superiors, colleagues, and direct reports are gathered, were used to measure soft skill
development among employees. P3 and P4 spoke of the importance of observation and
interviews, a part of their coaching process that accompanies soft skill development trainings.
These are all examples of TDs’ knowledge of how to measure employee soft skill development.
TDs’ Failure to Measure the Impact of Enhanced Employee Soft Skills on Desired
Organizational Outcomes. Most TDs failed to exhibit knowledge capacity to measure the
impact soft skills had in achieving organizational outcomes. Each participant discussed their
beliefs that soft skills had significantly impacted all areas of the organization, but failed to
provide evidence of appropriate measurements. P1 and P2 recognized this weakness and
expected measures to be in place in the near future. However, at the time of this analysis, the
ability to measure impact of soft skills on organizational outcomes was a knowledge gap among
TDs. P1 and P2 described future solutions as being a result of the future efforts of TDs. P2
described it as follows:
But I think we've been relatively weak in that area… Now what we're doing, we're
redesigning a couple of programs right now where we're really looking at what's the
business outcome we want to impact. How do we isolate that in terms of, on the job
behaviors that we want the teammates to demonstrate. And then from there, what other
knowledge and skills that they need in order to do that. So I think we're going to get a lot

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better at measurement and evaluation than we've been in the past and understanding that
impact.
P2’s comments are an example of the knowledge gap among TDs relative to measuring the
organizational impact of their work, as well as an example of TDs’ awareness of this knowledge
deficiency. The lack of TDs’ knowledge but evident awareness of the gap supports the finding
that TDs have a growing ability to measure the effectiveness of their training design.
In terms of procedural knowledge around the measurement of soft skills, TDs
demonstrated a robust ability to measure employees' soft skills and initial awareness that their
training efforts should be linked to measures of organizational impacts and evaluation.
Therefore, TDs’ knowledge capacity has been identified as a growing knowledge, with some
elevated capacity and an opportunity for additional knowledge to bridge the gap. Table 13
highlights interview comments from TDs around their growing capacity to measure the
effectiveness of their soft skill trainings, with particularly pertinent portions of comments
indicated in bold.

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Table 13
Participants’ Comments Relative to Their Ability to Measure Effectiveness of Soft Skills
Trainings
Participant

Response

P1 “We do a lot of different personality assessments. So, our foundational
program, which we call the Academy, and that's the general cultural
onboarding for all new teammates. That has components to them, that are;
teach people about team, teach people about conflict, teach people about
communication, and then we have them also take personality assessment
based on the Myers-Briggs test.”

P1 “So, I think one of the hardest things, if you're thinking about from a training
perspective of the learning department perspective, which is the field I'm in,
it's the measurement; how do you measure it?”

P1 “Another way that we try to do it, and this is fairly new, which is level three
of Kirkpatrick's evaluation of training…And then the other way that we are
trying to get to, which is a bit harder, it's level four, which is impact. How, is
it impacting the business? Did it move any numbers, did it impact retention?
Did it impact what we call our leaderboard points? Which is, for our field
operations, it is the set of business metrics that they have targets for.”

P2 “I think historically we've relied on a lot of qualitative data, just people's
reaction to these events they go through, the experiences they have, and
they're generally very, very high. That's been our primary source. We do 360s
in a lot of our programs, we use 360 assessments as a way. And you can do
pre, post kind of thing on that.”

P2 “We do look at talent review data. So when we do talent management and
they go through the process of assessing our leaders and where do people fit
in terms of their promotability and things like that, that's another factor that
might look at that. But I think we've been relatively weak in that area.”

P4 “That's kind of like the airplane test, would you be willing to be stuck next
to the person on the airplane, would you share a beer with them? And that
lends itself to your ability to create connection and build relationships. And so
that's something we tend to ask questions around, how did you build
relationships or create a sense of team, or deal with a classmate or a project
mate that you didn't tend to agree with, and then how do you rally behind
something.”

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Table 13 (continued)

Participant

Response

P5 “At the end of every day, or week, or month, or whatever you want to decide
to report on, you better be damn proactive about reporting on what you did
to tell me you're serious about this relationship, and you want to build trust.”

P5 “So (participant 7’s) dream early on was, what if we create a place that gave
people that, gave people more self-awareness and self-confidence that they
could have more choices in their life? And oh, by the way, it's probably true
that they're going to be a better doctor, a better nurse, a better care tech,
because they're going to be more grounded in their life. The chances are that's
really true, but we had no way of knowing whether it would work until we
got into it. Then we realized, holy shit. Our engagement scores are top of the
industry.”

P5 “It includes two components: your performance, how you do in doing what
you're supposed to do here, number one. Then Y-axis is always, always,
always, are you a role model for what we're trying to create? Do you live the
mission and values? We want examples of when you don't. We want to know
how engaged your team is. We want to know how fulfilled your team is. So
we're very, very specific on, is the leader leading a place of caring? Does
the leader lead a place that feels more like a community and a village
than it does a company? That's number one. Number two is performance
reviews, like I mentioned. You do the same thing in every performance
review.”

P7 “I ask our folks, what’s the incremental evidence we’re serious about this.”

P7 “You've got to track your progress. That there's another do piece. You have
got to measure whether it's working or not.”

Every TD appeared to demonstrate the need for and difficulties in measuring the
effectiveness of soft skill trainings. Several TDs reported that Revive uses methods consistent
with the literature such as personality assessments, interviews, and observation to measure the
impact of soft skill trainings. Beyond the assessment of individual soft skills increases, TDs at
Revive failed to demonstrate the capacity to measure collective soft skill increases in relation to
desired organizational outcomes. A few TDs demonstrated an awareness of this lack of capacity,

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supporting the finding of TDs having a growing capacity to measure training effectiveness. TDs
recognizing the challenges and deficiencies impacting their training design is an example of
necessary metacognitive knowledge, specifically self-refection, discussed in the following
section.
Training Designers’ Growing Self-Reflection on Their Ability to Provide Effective Soft Skills’
Training
TDs need metacognitive knowledge to evaluate and improve soft skill training design to
enhance employee soft skills at Revive. Specifically, TDs need to demonstrate the use of self-
reflection and adaptation to demonstrate metacognitive knowledge capacity. Such self-reflection
is necessary for TDs to understand their own strengths and challenges in designing and adapting
trainings programs to maximize their effectiveness. Self-reflection also allows TDs to recognize
their limitations and the limitations of their programs to know when additional resources may be
necessary. TDs were asked about trainings that have been adapted, removed, or added to their
training repertoire to assess metacognitive knowledge capacity. The following section outlines
TDs’ capacity at Revive relative to this needed metacognitive knowledge. TDs failed to
demonstrate adequate self-reflection in the interview process.
TDs at Revive demonstrated a growing understanding of self-reflection in their work. It
was evident that self-reflection was a part of their training programs, encouraging training
participants to reflect on their training experiences. Several TDs specifically mentioned self-
reflection in describing their training programs. P1 described the importance of self-reflection in
their training design in the following way:
We try to do is peel back the onion a little bit deeper, like one layer deeper into the
beliefs. And we try to get people to be more self-aware. All of our programs are really

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built around self-reflection; who are you? Really trying to understand who you are, why
you are the way you are, and then being able to make choices about how you show up.
P2 also described using reflection in their training design in the assessment phase of training in
the following way, “and then assess more of like reflect on what did you learn, what worked,
what didn't?”
TDs also demonstrated the use of self-reflection in evaluating and adapting their
performance in training design. P2 spoke of a failed program design demonstrating self-
reflection saying the following, “But that's an example where we had a program that was well-
designed on paper, but it just was failed in execution. So people have very inconsistent
experiences with it.” P1 discussed being adaptable conveying, “we are constantly looking at
continuously tweaking and improving our program.” P6 discussed one of their largest challenges
they have yet to overcome. P6 stated, “we've quite failed multiple times at figuring out this
happy hour business, and we've tried multiple ways to do it, we keep iterating that, and we're not
going to give up, although this is going to be probably one of our bigger challenges.” TDs
demonstrated a marked willingness to adapt their programs, ignoring some of their high
engagement scores, suggesting that certain trainings could be improved.
However, TDs discussed their challenges, failures, and need to adapt in collective terms.
Only P2 and P7 discussed personal challenges. TDs discussed challenges corporately and did not
demonstrate refection on how they may have contributed to their challenges as individuals or
how they might assist in overcoming challenges individually. More specific examples of
individual reflection would have indicated greater capacity.
TDs demonstrated a hesitancy around seeking additional resources and notifying
leadership that these needs had been assessed. Participant 2 described this as an “internal” and

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“homegrown” focus. While Participant 1 described Revive’s training programs as “95% in-
house,” with both participants indicating the need for additional external resources. P2 quoted a
previous supervisor as saying, “no one knows (Revive) like we do, we’re going to build our own
content.” P2 went on to say, “that is shifting now,” indicating openness to seeking additional
resources when it is deemed necessary through self-reflection.
TDs’ apparent use of self-reflection about their training design processes demonstrated
metacognitive knowledge. The lack of individual examples of self-reflection and the hesitancy to
admit to the need for external resources demonstrated gaps in metacognitive knowledge among
TDs. However, several TDs acknowledged the recent recognition of these gaps, demonstrating a
growing metacognitive knowledge capacity. No relevant artifacts were sourced relative to this
finding. Table 14 highlights interview comments from TDs around their growing metacognitive
knowledge capacity, specifically around self-reflection, with particularly pertinent portions of
comments indicated in bold.

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Table 14
Participants’ Comments Relative to Self-Reflection in Soft Skills Training Design
Participant

Response

P1 “We are constantly looking at continuously tweaking and improving our
program, so I guess I could give you an example from the COVID era,
because, we've had to flip our live programs to virtual programs. And so the
question is, "Are these having the same impact? Are we losing a bunch of
stuff without it?" And from content perspective in our training, we've had
very similar scores from the live to the virtual, and it's possible that they're
grading us on a curve. They're saying, "Well you have no other option than
to deliver this virtual.”

P2 “And so the challenge I face is often times our leaders will look to training
as the problem. Like your training program isn't good enough to get them to
be proficient. They're struggling, they're leaving, and we need to do more.
And to some degree, yes, of course we can do more and better, but there's
also some systemic issues there that are really hard to address.”

P3 “To this year, from basically 100% live in person to virtual. And so, we
actually did pretty well with the program scores. but we just know that we
can make the experience better, and we can, you know, reduce fatigue as
people kind of information, maybe.”

P5 “We're still struggling to make that stick. Well, why? Because we already
had the mission, the values, the vision, the core values, all this other stuff.
Now we're adding this other set of six words. For me, it became concept
creep, and the glue started to fall apart because we got too big into
different things.”

P5 “The question that (P7) asked me early on, when I was trying to debate do I
stay with (Revive) through the years, was he said, really, that his belief is that
companies can be the biggest force for good, even over governments and
other things. He said, "A company can be a major force of good. Do you feel
like you're doing good for the world here?" He would always kind of pose
that question. And I would always think, "You know what? Yeah. As long as
I'm feeling like I have enough impact on the world, that I'm helping the world
do good.”

P5 “We had enough leaders that crept in the organization that were super smart,
got great performance results, but were not getting the role model human
results. And it cost us, man. It cost us, big time… Some of these
realizations are tough, tough to realize. Like, you thought you were
making a good decision.”

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Table 14 (continued)

Participant

Response

P6 “And so, we've quite failed multiple times at figuring out this happy hour
business, and we've tried multiple ways to do it, we keep iterating that, and
we're not going to give up, although this is going to be probably one of our
bigger challenges; is because it's not cognitive, it's an interpersonal thing.
And that is not only hard to measure, but it's hard to simulate in a virtual
environment.”

P7 “You are the leader people experience you to be. Early on, I had to track
how people were experiencing me, particularly my poor behaviors, and how I
wanted them to experience me.”

Most TDs reported the use of self-reflection in trainings they have designed and they
discussed their strengths and challenges in the context of their achievements as a group,
demonstrating collective efficacy. However, TDs reported a hesitancy to seek outside help, and
failed to demonstrate individual self-reflection in their training design; therefore, TDs’ self-
reflection was found to be a gap. Several TDs recognized their hesitancy to seek additional
resources when necessary, supporting this as an area TDs demonstrated awareness and growth
potential. However, only two TDs reported individual challenges in their work as designers,
suggesting a gap with a lack of TDs’ awareness relative to individual self-reflection.
Of the four knowledge influences impacting TDs’ knowledge, two were found to be
assets and two gaps. TDs demonstrated robust knowledge of the importance of soft skills and
how to design trainings targeting soft skill development. TDs demonstrated the ability to
measure soft skill development but failed to adequately measure the impact of training on overall
organizational outcomes. They reported an understanding of self-reflection but failed to
demonstrate it individually. The motivational findings of the study are presented next.

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Motivation Findings
TDs responded to questions around their self-efficacy and utility value related to soft skill
training design. Interviews were used to assess the motivational influences of TDs to design
trainings that enhance employee soft skills. No artifacts were sourced specifically related to TDs’
motivation. Overall, motivation served as the TDs highest level of capacity within the gap
analysis framework with TDs demonstrating high levels of confidence in their ability to design
effective soft skill trainings and the value placed on such training to achieve organizational
outcomes. Table 15 provides a summary of findings for each motivation influence in the study.

Table 15
Human Resource Training Designer Motivation Influence Findings
Motivation construct Motivation influence finding Gap Asset
Self-efficacy TDs’ evident confidence in their ability to design
soft skill trainings

X
Utility Value TDs’ high value for soft skill training in achieving
organizational outcomes

X

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Training Designers’ Evident Confidence in Their Ability to Design Soft Skill Trainings
TDs must possess adequate self-efficacy, a construct directly linked to motivation, to
demonstrate the capacity to design trainings that enhance employee soft skills. To demonstrate
self-efficacy, TDs should exhibit sense-making around their past performance, observations, and
beliefs. TDs’ self-efficacy is of particular interest in this study because of challenges in
measuring and witnessing improved soft skill training.
Interview Findings. TDs at Revive demonstrated high levels of self-efficacy. Each TD
was confident in their ability to design effective soft-skill trainings. TDs described their self-
efficacy mostly collectively. They described their ability to design effective trainings mostly in
the context of the group of TDs or the organization, and rarely as individual ability. For example,
in reference to the training programs at Revive, P1 said, “there are so many amazingly powerful
examples of how we change people's lives through our programs, and it's hard to argue with.” P2
said of their experience in designing training targeting soft skills, “I looked at things like
optimism, resiliency…you can develop those attributes or traits or characteristics through
practice and through intentionality… I think that more so here than in any organization I've been
in.” P3 shared their experience by stating,
We definitely see through, through the journey, especially as our programs are multi
month we see people, you know, figuring out their leadership style, figuring out how to
communicate…and the way that we measure success is that people actually get the role
that they're that they're aiming for.
In addition to these observations, TDs provided further evidence of their impact and identified
areas of improvement within their training designs, all of which they believed their teams were
largely equipped to address. P2 spoke of upcoming “transformations” their programs will

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undergo in response to improvement opportunities they have identified. TDs’ self-efficacy
included impactful anecdotal stories of lives being changed and formal data indicating outcomes
such as high engagement and other measures. P1 told a story saying, “I actually had someone
come up to me after our cultural onboarding program, and say... ‘I wanted to just let me know
that (P5) has saved my life.’” P1 and P5 also discussed measurable impacts describing their
employee “engagement scores” as being “very high” and “top of our industry.” TDs’ self-
efficacy appeared grounded in previous success as well as a future opportunity for growth. Their
self-efficacy was also positively impacted by cultural models, an organizational influence, which
is discussed in depth later in the study. Table 16 provides additional examples of TDs’ comments
demonstrating marked individual and collective self-efficacy related to their ability to design
effective soft skill training, particularly pertinent portions of comments indicated in bold.

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Table 16
Participants’ Comments Relative to Their Ability to Design Effective Soft Skill Trainings
Participant Response
P2 “You could take somebody who's not very good and give them a great
experience and they can grow into the role.”

P4 “And we also want people to be better people versus just like being really
good at some of those hard skill things. I think that has been a huge part of
the success.”

P5 “The chances are that's really true, but we had no way of knowing whether it
would work until we got into it. Then we realized, holy shit. Our
engagement scores are top of the industry.”

P6 “I think we have really built that muscle well. And for example, at the
executive level, when I lead our executive talent reviews with our CEO, they
don't need me to facilitate. I basically flip slides because they know they've
got that muscle.”

P7 “We had an employee we were going to have let go because of his lack of
human skills, his M and V fit. He was a one. Now he’s president of the
company.”

Most TDs demonstrated confidence in their abilities to design effective soft skill
trainings, indicating that TDs’ self-efficacy is an asset at Revive. This confidence was primarily
expressed as collective efficacy versus individual self-efficacy. Had this been identified during
the interview process, additional probing questions could have been asked for clarification. It is
possible TDs’ self-efficacy would have been a robust asset had further questioning around this
influence been asked. Next, this study examines the motivational influence of TDs’ task value.

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Training Designers’ High Value for Soft Skill Training in Achieving Organizational
Outcomes
TDs must place value on designing soft skill training to demonstrate motivation capacity
in developing employee soft skills. The lack of metacognitive knowledge, the omission of soft
skill training from the organizational value stream, and the unique challenges of developing soft
skills among employees are threats to TDs’ utility value. A lack of utility value has proven to
impede motivation (Eccles & Wigfield, 1995). This study analyzed the presence of utility value
in measuring TDs’ capacity relative to their ability to design effect soft skill trainings.
Interview Findings. Only one interview question was asked specifically related to TDs’
utility value. However, TDs’ value emerged throughout each interview. TDs were found to have
high utility value related to soft skill training development consistent with the literature. These
findings overlapped significantly with conceptual knowledge and cultural model influences.
TDs at Revive see great value in their soft skill trainings to the organization. For example, P1
spoke of the value of their leadership training, saying “we want them to be leaders from
wherever they are in the village. Anyone could be a change agent, anyone can be someone that
others will want to follow.” P5 discussed their regular self-evaluation and ongoing decision to
stay with Revive “as long as I'm feeling like I have enough impact on the world, that I'm helping
the world do good.” TDs linked their work as designers to employee and patient success. P1
described the link between patient and employee care, saying:
It's not about just what we do, which is, deliver life-saving care, it's about how we do it.
And the how is what we consider our culture. So, The (Revive) Way is the name we give
to our culture, and it means; we dedicate our whole heart and hands to pursue our

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mission, living our values, and creating a healthy village. It means that we care about
each other with the same intensity with which we care for our patients.
Much of this perceived value is relative to big picture organizational goals. However, several
more specific examples were given of gaps in employees “success profiles,” that identify
trainings specific employees need to be successful. TDs’ task value for the design of soft skill
trainings, more than any other influence, demonstrated alignment among TDs with Revive’s
leadership development, employee retention, and performance excellence goals. No artifacts
were sourced relative to this finding. Table 17 provides examples of TDs’ comments
demonstrating high task value toward soft skill training design, with particularly pertinent
portions of comments indicated in bold.

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Table 17
Participants’ Comments Relative to the Value of Soft Skill Trainings
Participant Response
P1 “But when you think about soft skills and how it plays into achieving our
goals, our mission, it's absolutely the foundation.”

P4 “I think the biggest thing, the way I've seen it work and why I think I
responded to it too is when you have everyone from the CEO down to a
patient care technician, can relate one of the values to a personal story and
then feel like they're in a place where they can share that to create
relationships.”

P5 “So people will stick to work, even work they don't like as much, if you
can also partner with human beings that they really care about, that they
really want to succeed.”

P6 “We have done a big job analysis, to say what are all the tasks that this
person, this role, is responsible for? And then, what are the key leadership
capabilities that would be critical for success in that role? And they're mostly
soft skills or leadership skills, like communication, building, and inspiring
teams.”

Each TD expressed a high value for soft skill training at Revive. This influence
significantly overlapped with TDs’ knowledge of the importance of soft skills as well as the
organizational influence of organizational support to be discussed later. It was difficult to
distinguish TDs’ task value from the cultural model at Revive that also places a high value on
soft skill development. Nonetheless, TDs conveyed a high value on soft skill trainings in general.
Overall, TDs demonstrated robust knowledge around the organizational importance of
soft skill trainings as well as a robust knowledge for how to design effective trainings. They
demonstrated the ability to measure soft skill training impacts on employees, but could improve
in measuring the impact of soft skill development among employees on the organization at large.
TDs could also improve in metacognitive knowledge as their use of self-reflection was generally

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demonstrated collectively. In answering the knowledge component of the first research question,
TDs’ knowledge of the design of soft skills demonstrated the presence of gaps and assets.
However, TDs’ awareness of their knowledge deficiencies provides a critical component in
addressing such gaps in the future.
TDs’ motivation was found to be the most evident asset within the gap analysis
framework. TDs demonstrated collective efficacy and utility value for the task of designing soft
skill trainings. This led to the finding that TDs conveyed robust motivation in terms of their
ability to design soft skill trainings. However, there are opportunities for improvement.
Expressed individual self-efficacy, beyond collective efficacy, would be an opportunity to
enhance TDs’ motivation. The demonstration of collective self-reflection and collective efficacy
by TDs was likely impacted by the organizational influence findings discussed next.
How Does Revive Healthcare Either Support or Hinder the Human Resource Training
Designers’ Capacity to Design Effective Soft Skill Trainings?
The second research question was designed to specifically target organizational
influences of the gap analysis framework. Organizational influences relate to TDs’ knowledge
and motivation within an organizational context. The interview protocol (Appendix A) and
artifact analysis protocol (Appendix B) were used to analyze the organizational influences of
TDs to design effective soft skill trainings. The following section outlines the findings from this
analysis.
Organizational Findings
Two questions from the interview protocol (Appendix A) were designed to probe for the
two identified organizational influences impacting TDs’ capacity to design effective soft skill
trainings. However, organizational influences and findings were found from throughout the

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interview process, with much overlap with a discussion of knowledge and motivational
influences. Artifacts were also useful in the analysis of organizational influences.
The organizational influence findings from this study are complex. It was challenging to
silo organizational findings into influence types. Revive demonstrated exceptional capacity in
some areas and very limited capacity in others. For example, TDs at Revive demonstrated
appropriate and influential cultural models around soft skill training but demonstrated deficient
cultural settings, leading to the determination of one influence gap and one influence asset.
However, there is significant overlap among influence types. This section discusses Revive’s
moderate cross-departmental support and appropriate organizational support and oversight in
light of this. Table 18 provides a summary of findings for each organizational influence in the
study.

Table 18
Human Resource Training Designer Knowledge Influence Findings
Organizational
influence type
Organizational influence finding Asset Gap TD awareness
of gap

Cultural Setting Moderate cross-departmental support in
achieving soft skills related
organizational goals

X X
Cultural Model Adequate organizational support and
oversight of training designers

X

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Moderate Cross-Departmental Support in Achieving Soft Skill Related Organizational Goals
There is moderate cross-departmental support of TDs to enhance employee soft skills
through training designed to produce desired organizational outcomes. The determination of this
support comes from analyzing the presence of collaborative goals, alignment around the
appropriation of resources, and organizational alignment regarding the work of TDs at Revive.
The following section outlines the interview and artifact findings that led to this determination.
Interview Findings. Interview findings served as the primary source for the finding of
there being only moderate cross-departmental support of TDs in the design of soft skill trainings
targeting specific organizational outcomes. Prior to Covid-19, according to P1, P3, and P4, every
employee at Revive was invited to their headquarters for two days of training, predominantly
around soft skills. This two-day training has been done virtually for over a year due to the
pandemic. P3 estimated that participation numbers had remained largely unchanged, with only
around 10% of employees participating in these events on a year-to-year basis. P1, P2, and P4
described Revive as having a “decentralized” operations model, and P3 described it as being
“federated.” Meaning, departments are largely independent, with each department having the
ability to determine their employees’ training needs. Essentially, executive leadership has made
two days of primarily soft skill training available to every employee with fairly low uptake on
training attendance, even when done virtually. And ongoing training needs are largely
determined by departments with several exceptions. For example, certain promotions or
identification as what P6 described as a “high performer” would be an exception that would
trigger additional training, most of which is soft skill related.
After analyzing the interview findings further, there appears to be alignment between
senior leaders and TDs around the importance of developing soft skills among Revive

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employees. Participant 6 pointed out strong support from the head of HR and the CEO and other
executives demonstrating support of the work of TDs. P2’s comments indicate agreement with
this sentiment when they were asked about how those in the organization support the
development of soft skills, saying,
I really felt that the leadership at the most senior levels was very authentic. And a lot of
our current, our CEO and COO, and a lot of our senior executives have grown up through
(Revive). They've been influenced by (P7’s) teachings and (their) philosophy. And the
programs that we run or programs that they themselves went through when they were a
manager and a director.
There seems, however, to be a gap between TDs and department heads. At the least, there is an
opportunity for gaps between TDs and department heads. The “decentralized” and “federated”
model seems to require TDs to obtain some level of alignment with every department instead of
being able to rely on a single, more streamlined directive from senior leaders. For example, P1
said, “it's been a little bit challenging to figure out; how do we make decisions together and how
do we get economies to scale, how do we have more solutions that support everybody.” P2
articulated the strength of senior leadership support in teaching soft skills as well as the
challenges of the current structure conveying the following:
Our senior leaders get up on stage when we hold events and actually teach this stuff.
Many of them are in our faculty and they can teach and coach on these concepts. So from
that perspective, that's really positive. I think the other side of that is we're an operations
company. And so our leaders are operators, they're problem solvers. They're just get her
done. So you've got this sense where there's not really a stated manifesto around how
much training or how much time we're going to give for learning and development. And

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so it's encouraged, it's role modeled. I always find that we could be more explicit about
what the expectation is for learning and development and how much learning and
development people ought to be doing in their role. I don't think we're not very explicit
about that. And that's what I experience as some of the challenge.
Fortunately, there is a strong cultural model around soft skills at Revive, to be discussed in the
following findings section, that does serve to influence departments to engage in soft skill
development of their employees. Therefore, cross-departmental support of TDs was moderate,
but still revealed an overall gap due to the lack of demonstrated cross-departmental support. TDs
demonstrated an awareness of the challenges of a “decentralized” model as indicated in Table
18. Table 19 provides examples of TDs’ comments demonstrating moderate cross-departmental
support, with the most pertinent portions of comments indicated in bold.

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Table 19
Participants’ Comments Relative to Departmental Support Relative to Soft Skill Training Design
Participant Response
P1 “From the structural standpoint, (Revive) is very decentralized currently,
when it comes to learning and development structure. So, we don't really have
a main learning and development office.”

P1 “How much centralization do we need in order to achieve the best of
economies to scale and being able to scale training to the whole village, make
sure it's aligned, make sure it's more on our focus, make sure a teammate
doesn't have to know five different teams to go to if they need training, and to
make it easy as possible from the teammate perspective.”

P3 “As an enterprise, we have a very federated model so we have like twenty-
five different routines across (Revive). I would say our resources are scattered
and there are probably some efficiencies if we were combined.”

P3 “So, it's been a little bit challenging to figure out; how do we make
decisions together and how do we get economies to scale, how do we have
more solutions that support everybody rather than a disproportionate amount
of efforts supporting a small group?”

P4 “A lot of HR functions within (Revive) are decentralized, which is
awesome in some places but totally doesn't make sense when you're trying to
align on leadership competencies or even strategies on how you attract and
retain talent.”

P4 “I think that would be one of the things I would change. I would centralize
some of those core things… there are just some core things that need to align
so that we're all giving the same (Revive) story out on the market. That's
probably like the biggest thing.”

P6 “So for example, our chief (HR) officer is really bought into our success
profiles. And so if you don't have the support from the top, you can’t be
successful.”

Lack of cross-departmental support was demonstrated by TDs to be the most evident gap.
TDs consistently identified cross-departmental support as an organizational weakness and
demonstrated an acute awareness of the problem. The reported alignment between TDs and

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senior leaders at Revive regarding the role of TDs led to the determination of there being at least
moderate support. However, the lack of expectations of TD engagement across departments
supports the finding of cross departmental support being a reported gap. TDs’ awareness of the
problem coupled with the knowledge and alignment of senior leaders suggests that this gap could
be overcome. Interview comments and findings were supported by relevant artifacts.
Artifact Analysis Findings. Artifacts related to specific departmental support were
difficult to find. However, a publicly available report was found where Revive partnered with a
virtual reality developer to design virtual reality simulations to allow employees to experience a
clinical environment like a patient would, designed to promote empathy among their workforce.
Several thousand employees were able to experience this at an annual meeting, with a desktop
version later launched for every Revive employee. This information seemed to suggest that
levels of departmental support may be higher than found in interviews of TDs. However,
according to the publication, less than 10% of Revive employees participated in the onsite virtual
reality simulation. No numbers were reported on the number of employees who participated
using the desktop version. A 2010 journal article in Training, where the author of the article
attended the two-day “university” training offered to every new hire at Revive, described it as a
“soft skills training program.” However, A Revive “university” report suggests that only a
fraction of employees had attended this training and that less than 10% of employees join semi-
monthly company-wide meetings. These findings support interview comments about the limited
reach and scope of TDs’ trainings and suggest an organizational gap regarding the opportunity
that employee soft skill training across all departments would provide.

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Adequate Organizational Support and Oversight of Training Designers in Designing Effective
Soft Skill Trainings
TDs receive adequate support in terms of the organizational value and support placed on
developing soft skills among employees. The importance Revive placed on soft skill training,
incorporated soft skills training into their corporate value stream, and espoused appropriate
cultural models were assessed in determining this finding. The following sections outline the
interview and artifact data used in this analysis.
Interview Findings. Based on TD interview data, Revive has a strong cultural model
around the importance of skills in achieving organizational outcomes. Each participant, none of
which worked at the Revive at the time, told of the importance soft skills training played in the
company’s turnaround story from near bankruptcy to historic profits and accolades from the
industry. P2 described the transition of Revive in prioritizing soft skills when they hired a new
CEO saying, “his belief that leadership is a human skill and management is a business skill, was
a real driver.” P2, P3, P4, P5, and P7 further cited the presence of human skill and/or business
skill distinctions on performance reviews as evidence of this continued cultural model. This
cultural model, holding to the failure of a pre-soft skill Revive and attributing the later success to
a Revive that values soft skills, serves as influential support of the work of TDs. P7 went as far
as to describe the mission of most companies as “generating shareholder return,” but at Revive,
generating shareholder return simply as “the means to creating a community” where “human
skills are essential.” P1 noted that senior leaders teach some of their soft skills classes, and P6
noted that leaders are bought into success profiles and can complete the evaluation process with
very little help from them as the facilitator. These are both signs of buy-in and support. Revive

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demonstrated robust organizational support for TDs in their soft skill training design regarding
the organization value stream.
A secondary goal of Revive is to build and maintain a leadership pipeline. Participants
discussed at length the efforts Revive goes to in recruiting, developing, and retaining talented
employees. This marked emphasis on leadership and leadership development leads to the bulk of
soft skill development targeted at a small portion of employees. P3 estimated that only 10% of
employees were being accessed by their trainings each year. P2 spoke of being surprised by
finding from a recent third-party assessment that Revive spent less money on employee training
than other similarly situated companies. The emphasis of manager soft skill training is not
wholly out of line with the literature as found by Slaski and Cartwright (2003). However, it does
neglect literature, such as Adharyu et al. (2016) and Azim et al. (2010), that suggested additional
organizational success could be achieved from training all employees in soft skills. Another
possible explanation why so few employees are trained in soft skills each year goes back to
Revive’s decentralized model. Upon hiring and at various promotions, employees are
encouraged to attend trainings with a significant soft skills focus. However, many do not attend.
It is unclear whether senior leaders, department leaders, or the employees themselves are the
most significant factor in the poor attendance. Revive’s decentralized model, and possible
overemphasis on their leadership pipeline serve as possible contributors. The robust cultural
model led to the finding that Revive has adequate organizational support of TDs in soft skill
training design. However, the lack of attendance, which three TDs reported, needs further
investigation as a lack of support for the training of all employees could serve as a deficiency.
Several TDs mentioned this lack of scope but expected their move to virtual training to
dramatically increase employees' numbers reached through their trainings. Table 20 provides

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examples of participant comments regarding Revive’s soft skills cultural model and potential
overemphasis on leadership development, with pertinent portions of comments indicated in bold.

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Table 20
Participants’ Comments Relative to Organizational Support Relative to Soft Skill Training
Participant Response
P1 “But when you think about soft skills and how it plays into achieving our
goals, our mission, it's absolutely the foundation.”

P2 “I think that more so here than in any organization I've been in. Two reasons I
was really attracted to (Revive). One was, obviously the mission that's central.
But the other piece of it was that I really felt that the leadership at the most
senior levels was very authentic.”

P2 “Our spend on training and development is actually relatively low
compared to most organizations.”

P3 “We did do an assessment of all of our ability and scope and from the
effectiveness and the scope and basically…our formal programs are only
getting, like 10%, in a given year.”

P3 “I would say the kind of core, that the singular objective that runs across
all our programs is that we want people to be successful in them and have
the tools that they need to demonstrate readiness for that role that you're
stepping into…and there's kind of big buckets of soft skills that run across
the system.”

P4 “You have to have the ability to have emotional intelligence with self-
awareness and how do you do coaching, doesn't matter what level you are in
an organization. Whether you have direct reports or not, you tend to have to
do some kind of coaching.”

P5 “And I keep telling them, "Don't do this if you're not expecting this to be a
major amount of your time spent dealing with this, because if you don't
spend a big proportion of your time dealing with this stuff, it's never going
to fly. It's never going to happen.””

P5 “The culture is only replicable if you have enough leaders that believe in
it…We, many times, let too many leaders get away with not being role
models…We had enough leaders that crept in the organization that were super
smart, got great performance results, but were not getting the role model
human results. And it cost us, man. It cost us big time.”

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Table 20 (continued)

Participant

Response

P6 “So that when we do, let's say, a development plan for an facility
administrator, and we say, okay, this person could really be stronger at
leading or at communicating, Wisdom has a specific program they can go
into get better at that soft skill. And then, we utilize those success profiles
or those competencies in the development plan, and in promotion
decisions.”

P7 “We want to be a community that happens to be structured as a
company.”

TDs were found to have adequate organizational support and oversight. The participants
reported that senior leaders work diligently to maintain a cultural model that values the work of
TDs. This cultural model is tempered with the limited scope TDs have within the organization,
primarily focusing on leadership development. A careful look at relevant artifacts support this
finding.
Artifact Analysis Findings. Revive’s transformation from near bankruptcy to record
profits is no secret. Countless videos, interviews, and articles provide an in-depth assessment of
this turnaround. Within these artifacts are marked evidence of organizational support of the work
of TDs. Videos of senior leaders telling Revive’s turnaround story had several identical
components to the stories told in participant interviews. TDs’ understanding of “human skills”
versus “business skills” was evidenced in these artifacts, as well as the prioritization of soft skills
such as authenticity and self-awareness. These artifacts support the finding of a evident cultural
model around the importance of soft skill trainings. Webpages and the article in Training suggest
a contradiction to the finding that Revive underemphasizes the importance of all employee soft
skill training and instead overemphasizes the importance of their leadership pipeline. These

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artifacts note the availability of these trainings to each employee. However, when specific
numbers are given, there appears to be a gap. Revive’s robust cultural model around soft skill
development coupled with TDs’ limited scope in terms of how many employees receive their
trainings support the finding that TDs have adequate organizational support.
Interaction Between Organizational Influences and Stakeholder Knowledge and
Motivation
Many of the knowledge, motivation, and organizational influence findings are complex
and difficult to look at independently. For example, the solid cultural model around the
organizational importance of soft skills intersects the motivational gap of linking soft skills
trainings to their organizational impacts. Suppose Revive has already determined the importance
and outcomes of soft skill trainings. In that case, it may not be a TDs’ motivation gap that they
are not continuing to link these to organizational outcomes; it could represent an organizational
gap. Another example is the finding of the need for additional self-reflection among TDs. TDs
presented self-reflective knowledge as communal knowledge rather than individual knowledge.
It is possible that Revive’s focus on teaming behaviors influences this knowledge gap. All of that
to say, the strong cultural model around soft skills at Revive likely contributes to every asset and
gap from across knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences. This study attempts to
isolate influences by type, but the reality is much more organic and interconnected than
discussed on paper.
Conclusion
Data from interviews and artifacts were analyzed to answer the two research questions
around the knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences that impact TDs at Revive in
designing effective soft skill trainings. TDs at Revive displayed knowledge and motivation

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around their abilities to design effective soft skill trainings. They had robust cognitive and
procedural knowledge around what soft skills are, how to design appropriate training to develop
soft skills among employees, and how to measure their training effectiveness. They demonstrated
metacognitive knowledge in their trainings and as a team but failed to demonstrate how they
reflect on their strengths and challenges individually in becoming better designers. TDs
demonstrated robust self-efficacy and task value relative to soft skill training design. Their robust
motivation seemed influenced by a strong cultural model and a clear place for the work of TDs
in the organizational value stream. Revive’s demonstrated moderate cross-departmental support
and coordination, but their decentralized model serves as the most evident capacity gap in this
study. TDs also demonstrated a gap in their knowledge of how to measure the organizational
impact of their trainings. Addressing this knowledge gap would provide useful evidence in
soliciting cross-departmental support. TDs also demonstrated some level of awareness of the
determined knowledge and organizational gaps. This determination suggests that some TDs have
begun to contemplate change in these areas. This is a distinct advantage over gaps with no
awareness, where change has yet to be contemplated. Table 21 provides a summary of the gaps
and assets identified in this study.

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Table 21
Summary of Knowledge, Motivation, and Organizational Findings of Gaps and Assets
Knowledge Type Knowledge Influence Finding Asset Gap TD Awareness
of Gap

Conceptual TDs’ robust understanding of soft
skills relative to achieving
organizational outcomes

X
Procedural TDs’ robust ability to design soft skill
trainings

X
Procedural TDs’ growing ability to measure the
effectiveness of soft skill trainings

X X
Metacognitive TDs’ growing self-reflection on their
ability to provide effective soft skills’
training

X X
Motivation
Construct

Motivation Influence Finding Asset Gap
Self-efficacy TDs’ evident confidence in their ability
to design soft skill trainings.

X
Utility Value TDs’ high value for soft skill training
in achieving organizational outcomes

X
Organizational
Influence Type

Organizational Influence Finding Asset Gap TD Awareness
of Gap
Cultural Setting Moderate cross departmental support in
achieving soft skills related
organizational goals

X X
Cultural Model Adequate organizational support and
oversight of training designers

X

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Overall, TDs demonstrated the capacity to design effective soft skill trainings. The
determination of capacity was measured against the best practices in soft skill training design,
emerging from the latest available research. A different type of study, a benchmarking study for
example, might conclude there to be exemplary knowledge, motivation, and organizational
influences among TDs at Revive compared to similarly situated organizations. However,
Revive’s aim is not to be like a similarly situated organization; its stated mission is to be the
greatest health care company in the world. Recognizing and acting upon gaps and assets to
enhance TDs’ capacity in soft skill training design would further that mission.

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Chapter Five: Recommendations and Discussion
Chapter Five begins with a discussion of the findings of Chapter Four concerning the
relevant literature. This discussion examines the literature used to determine the knowledge,
motivation, and organizational influences as either assets or gaps. Suggested recommendations
are also presented in response to the identified gaps to provide insights into how Revive can
enhance TDs’ capacity to develop effective soft skill training. Following these recommendations
is a discussion of the limitations and delimitations of the study and recommendations for future
research. Finally, there is a brief discussion on the potential for integrating technology and soft
skill development to impact equity in certain settings.
Discussion of Findings
This study, a capacity analysis of TDs to develop effective soft skill trainings at Revive,
analyzed eight knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences. Five influences were found
to be assets, and three influences were found to be gaps based on the findings from interviews of
TDs and the analysis of related artifacts. TDs displayed areas of marked capacity and areas for
improvement pertaining to each influence discussed in Chapter Four. This section briefly
reviews the findings of this study in light of the review of relevant literature identified in Chapter
Two.
Knowledge, Motivation, and Organizational Assets
The analysis found TDs’ knowledge of soft skills and their potential to impact
organizational outcomes to be an asset. TDs demonstrated an understanding of soft skills
consistent with the literature. For example, TDs discussed soft skills from across Lippman et
al.’s (2015) five categories of soft skills. Their discussions were also largely consistent with
Evers et al.’s (1998) four base competencies and affiliated skills most in demand by employers,

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though with limited discussion of the competency of mobilizing innovation and change and
associated skills identified in Table 3. The analysis also revealed that TDs possessed knowledge
of the importance of soft skills that employees have in achieving desired organizational
outcomes. For example, TDs’ understood the importance of soft skills among organizational
managers and leaders consistent with the findings of Slaski and Cartwright (2003). They also
demonstrated knowledge of the importance of soft skills to organizations' bottom line, consistent
with Haskel et al. (2005) and Deloitte’s (2017) findings.
TDs’ ability to design soft skill trainings was also found to be an asset. TDs demonstrated
a working understanding of foundational elements of training design, with several TDs
demonstrating a deep understanding. For example, TDs displayed knowledge consistent with
Mayer’s (2011) findings that training should assess and connect to participants’ prior knowledge
with meaningful and engaging content, as well as a working knowledge of learner motivation,
cognitive overload, self-efficacy (Pintrich, 2003), practice, and application (Krathwohl, 2002).
TDs’ self-efficacy and utility value for designing soft skill trainings also proved to be
motivational assets according to the analysis. Though TDs demonstrated limited individual self-
efficacy, their collective efficacy appeared to provide motivation to cope with challenges, expend
adequate mental effort, and persist in the face of adverse conditions. These components were all
motivational impacts of self-efficacy consistent with Bandura (1977). The impact of Covid-19 on
the work of TDs provided a concrete example of TDs demonstrating the constructs of self-
efficacy.
TDs also exhibited high utility value, a component of task-value identified by Eccles and
Wigfield (1995), for the design of soft skill trainings. Discussion of study’s findings reveal that
TDs see great value in their work relative to the overall success of Revive. The continued

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success of TDs at Revive over the past 20 years was a large contributor to TDs’ utility value.
Revive’s cultural model around the importance of the work of TDs overlapped significantly with
the finding of utility value.
This study determined the organizational support and oversight of the work of TDs to be
an asset. The cultural model at Revive, identifying the prioritization of soft skills as the key to
the company’s financial and cultural turnaround, serves to support the work of TDs. This cultural
model places the development of soft skills into Revive’s overall value stream. The inclusion of
organizational priorities into one unified strategy is consistent with the literature such as Clark
and Estes (2008) discussion of value streams. The findings of Henrique et al. (2016) and
Emiliani and Stec (2004) also support Revive’s inclusion of soft skills into their overall strategy.
TDs at Revive demonstrated knowledge, motivation, and organizational capacities to
develop effective soft skill trainings that are consistent with relevant literature. Revive would be
well served to continue to foster the work of TDs in these areas to ensure they remain assets.
TDs also demonstrated gaps in their capacity. The following sections outline the identified gaps
relative to the literature and their affiliated recommendations.
Knowledge and Organizational Gaps
The TDs’ ability to measure the effectiveness of soft skill trainings at Revive was
determined a gap. TDs’ demonstrated capacity in their abilities to measure the impact of their
trainings on employee soft skills against benchmarks. They demonstrated measurement practices
consistent with the benchmarking suggestions from Mayer (2011) and their use of self-reported
qualitative measures found useful by Heckman and Kautz (2012). TDs demonstrated a gap in
their evaluation of their trainings on targeted organizational outcomes. Krathwohl and Anderson
(2001) as well as Phillips and Phillips (2016), found the evaluation of training against targeted

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outcomes to be a critical step in training design. Three TDs recognized the absence of and need
for comprehensive evaluation relative to their work. Thus, TDs’ awareness of this deficiency and
determined an area of growth needed by TDs.
TDs’ metacognitive knowledge, specifically their use of self-reflection in soft skill
training design, was identified as a gap in this study. TDs discussed the use of self-reflection in
their trainings for their trainees. However, they spoke primarily of their self-reflection in
collective terms. Their failure to self-reflect does not account for recommendations from
literature, such as findings from Krathwohl (2002) and Schraw (1998), that highlighted the
importance of self-reflection in training design. The lack of self-reflection can lead to ineffective
training adaptation and the refusal to seek outside help when needed. Most TDs did recognize
their historical reluctance to seek outside help, demonstrating some awareness of the perceived
gap. Therefore, the TDs’ revealed they have demonstrated a growing use of self-reflection in
their training design.
Revive’s cross-departmental support of TDs was identified as a gap in this study.
Organizational support is a complex system of processes requiring skills, knowledge, and
motivations to accomplish collaborative goals (Clark & Estes, 2008). TDs at Revive described
their various departments as “decentralized” and “federated.” The lack of continuity between
departments regarding the importance of soft skills training can lead to disjointed priorities and a
misaligned organizational culture. Revive’s cultural model of the importance of soft skills has
likely served to temper the consequences of this gap. However, addressing this gap would likely
lead to greater organizational support. The three gaps found in this study informed the following
recommendations.

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Recommendations for Practice
There are three recommendations identified below to address the three gaps identified in
this study. The first recommendation responds to the organizational gap of inadequate cross-
departmental support that also intersects knowledge influences. The following recommendation
directly responds to the TDs’ knowledge gap of the lack of demonstrated self-reflection. The
final recommendation is related to the TDs’ knowledge gap relative to the incomplete
measurement of training effectiveness and the need for future measurement to be part of the
organization’s overall training evaluation plan. These recommendations are informed from the
influences identified in the relevant literature.
Recommendation 1: Define Soft Skill Training Needs for Each Employee Type
The first recommendation is that Revive define the soft skill training needs for each
employee type. Department leaders and employees themselves can greatly diminish the hours
allotted to soft skill development. This lack of prescribed cross-departmental collaboration
undermines the organizational need for cultural alignment as found by Clark and Estes (2008)
and the recommendations of Ulrich and Brockbank (2005) for human resource departments to be
integral, strategic partners in responding to internal and external business realities.
Beyond creating cultural alignment between departments relative to soft skill trainings,
Revive should define specific training expectations for each employee type. TDs at Revive
currently reach around 10% of all employees, emphasizing new hires and promoted employees.
Though this is not completely out of line with past empirical research, it fails to account for the
growing importance soft skills will play in the future. Revive would be best served to heed the
findings of global bodies, such as the World Economic Forum and Office of Economic
Cooperation and Development, around the growing need for soft skills that their employees will

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need in the future (WEF, 2016; 2018; OECD, 2019). Revive could look to organizations like the
manufacturing company profiled by Adharyu et al. (2016) that found 12% productivity gains
among employees enrolled in soft skill training programs. At the very least, defining soft skill
trainings hours allotted to each employee would allow Revive to evaluate the effectiveness of
their soft skill trainings across departments and to adapt their trainings in response to the
measured outcomes of their training programs.
Recommendation 2: Cultivate Self-Reflection Among Training Designers
According to empirical research, soft skill training programs will only grow in
organizational importance (WEF, 2016; 2018; OECD, 2019). It is recommended that Revive
cultivate metacognitive knowledge, specifically, the use of self-reflection among TDs in their
training design. Self-reflection will allow TDs to better understand their strengths and challenges
in designing effective soft skill trainings. Self-reflection will also help TDs know when to adapt
trainings to increase effectiveness and when to look for outside resources to address a need that
cannot be filled by the TDs alone (Clark & Estes, 2008). Self-reflection will allow TDs to apply
the evaluation conclusions into the redesign of training to maximize training effectiveness as
outlined by Krathwohl (2002). Simply increasing the number of training hours allotted will not
necessarily improve effectiveness (Mayer, 2011). Trainings should be tailored to the needs of the
employees at Revive to maximize the benefit of every training opportunity, and self-reflection is
critical to the continuous improvement of training programs.
Recommendation 3: Integrate Soft Skills Training into Revive’s Overall Training
Evaluation Plan
The final recommendation on this study is for Revive to integrate soft skills training into
the overall organizational training evaluation plan. TDs at Revive discussed their use of the

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“Kirkpatrick Model” in reference to the training evaluation model formally known as the New
World Kirkpatrick Model (NWKM). The NWKM is a suitable model for training evaluation at
Revive, consisting of four levels of evaluation. The four levels are presented in Table 22 in the
order they should be considered during the evaluation planning stage.

Table 22
The New World Kirkpatrick Model: The Four Levels of Evaluation
Levels of evaluation Description
Level 4: Results The degree to which targeted outcomes occur as a result of the
training and the support and accountability package

Level 3: Behavior The degree to which participants apply what they have learned
during training when they are back on the job

Level 2: Learning The degree to which participants acquire the intended
knowledge, skills, attitude, confidence, and commitment based
on their participation in the training

Level 1: Reaction The degree to which participants find the training favorable,
engaging, and relevant to their jobs

Note. Overview of the four levels of the New World Kirkpatrick Model found in “Kirkpatrick’s
Four Levels of Training Evaluation” by J.D Kirkpatrick and W.K. Kirkpatrick, 2016. Copyright
2016 by the Association for Talent and Development.

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During the interview process, TDs described training practices consistent with the
recommendations in Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick (2016) for Level 1. TDs described the need for
relevant and engaging content in their training designs and their engagement scores to measure
employee satisfaction and engagement. They also described their use of formative evaluation
methods such as simulations and role-plays and summative evaluation methods like surveys,
interviews, observations, and pre- and post-testing. These formative and summative methods are
consistent with the recommendations for Level 2 evaluation in the NWKM (Kirkpatrick &
Kirkpatrick, 2016). Based on the interview data of this study, TDs attended to Levels 1 and 2,
consistent with the recommendations of the NWKM model.
TDs at Revive also seemed to utilize evaluation methods to reinforce, encourage, reward,
and monitor employees post-training behaviors consistent with recommendations for Level 3 of
the model. For example, TDs at Revive indicated that they used on-the-job training, job aids,
executive modeling, coaching, mentoring, rewards, recognition, interviews, surveys, and
observations to evaluate employees’ application of newly taught skills. Though these evaluation
tools were in place, the recommendation is that TDs review the critical behaviors portion of the
NWKM to ensure their Level 3 evaluation methods are measuring against well-written critical
behaviors. Doing so would help ensure the link between the appropriate application of soft skills
training in employees' work.
It is recommended that TDs at Revive reexamine their Level 4 desired outcomes
regarding soft skills training. Based on the interview data from the study, TDs seemed to define
their desired results too narrowly, focusing primarily on skill development for their departments
and neglecting the evaluation of skill development on the organization's overall goals.
Kirkpatrick (2019) describes this common organizational occurrence with the following:

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A common misapplication occurs when professionals or functional departments define
results in terms of their small, individual area of the organization instead of globally for
the entire company. This creates silos and fiefdoms that are counterproductive to
organizational effectiveness. The resulting misalignment causes layers upon layers of
dysfunction and waste (p. 5).
It seems that current objectives of soft skill training at Revive would be considered leading
indicators in the NWKM, indicating that critical behaviors are on track and a measure against
organizational goals. TDs’ description of Revive’s organizational structure as “decentralized”
and “federated” likely contributes to goals that appear departmentally focused. It is
recommended that Revive create a unified Level 4 results statement for their overall training
program and evaluation plan and integrate all of their training programs, including that of soft
skill TDs, into a unified evaluation plan. Revive’s evaluation plan should answer how the work
of TDs contributes to their goal of being the provider, partner, and employer of choice for their
stakeholders.
Limitations and Delimitations
Within the study are limitations and delimitations. Limitations are factors within a study
outside of the researcher's control that restrict the study’s methods and conclusions (Baron,
2008). One marked limitation of this study was the sample size of TDs available to interview.
This limitation is not solvable due to the nature of this study as a capacity analysis of TDs within
a single organization. Nonetheless, the sample size limits the data available and serves as a
limitation of the study. The data collection process and timing of the study are limitations of the
study. The data was mainly gathered via self-report and serves as another limitation. Recent
events forcing interviews to be performed via videoconference possibly impacted the rapport of

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the researcher with participants and potentially impacted the data gathered. The researcher’s
access to available literature is a potential limitation. There are several enterprise options for
trainings soft skills that do not appear in the available literature. These solutions are procured by
organizations and could provide effective means for soft skills training not found in the empirical
literature.
Furthermore, Covid-19 serves as a marked limitation of this study. The ongoing
pandemic has eliminated in-person interviews, limiting them to video conferences. Participants
were interviewed in the midst of trying to balance professional and personal responsibilities with
the loss of childcare and usual social interactions as examples of the various impacts caused by
the pandemic. Covid-19 has also likely impacted me as the researcher and the study participants
in ways difficult to assess or quantify. As resilient as individuals and organizations have been
during this time, the loss, isolation, restrictions, and other consequences of this pandemic have
limited aspects of this study.
There are also delimiting factors relative to this study. Delimitations are the purposeful
choices of the researcher that serve to guide and bound the study’s purpose (Baron, 2008). The
methodological framework is a delimitation. There are any number of frameworks that could
have been used, but the gap analysis has been chosen for this study. The methodology of the
study is also a delimitation. Interviews and artifact analysis fit the resources, time, and
organizational access available to the study but do not represent the available methods. The
length of interviews and the number of questions asked were purposefully limited to respect the
participants' time and the organization to maximize the amount of data without overly interfering
with the organization's operations. Another delimitation is the participant criteria. Participants

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are limited to TDs, and though TD is defined broadly within this study, there is likely soft skill
training capacity within Revive not reflected in this study.
Additionally, organizational influences were assessed as part of this study, using only
TDs’ interviews, documents provided by TDs, and publicly available artifacts. A broader sample
group would likely have led to slightly different findings. The limitations and delimitations are
provided to alert the reader to the potential and purposeful limitations of the study. Caution is
advised regarding the interpretation of this study’s findings considering the complexity and
interconnectedness of influences at Revive or any other similar organization or human system.
Recommendations for Future Research
This study asked two research questions that led to examining eight knowledge,
motivation, and organizational influences through a gap analysis framework. Additional research
on the capacity of TDs at Revive to design effective soft skill trainings could include alternative
frameworks, additional influences, and additional research questions. In addition, further
research could expand interview participants to those not identified as TDs or utilize expanded
research methods. A more granular look at training documents, measurement tools, and training
observation are examples of potential methods to be explored in future studies. This further
research would lead to additional findings and recommendations that would aid the organization
and the field.
Beyond the capacity of TDs at Revive, additional research should expand into additional
organizations and into the generation of new theory. Further research should provide more
guidance to practitioners about training, measuring, and evaluating training programs specific to
soft skills. Beyond relying on mostly generalized training methods, future research should
provide empirically validated methods for enhancing the soft skills of students, apprentices, and

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employees. This research should also make considerations for cultural, ethnic, and socio-
economic implications of measuring and developing soft skills. Behaviors currently described in
the literature as being indicative of person’s soft skills may not be universally applicable across
cultures. For example, a behavior seen as adaptable and compliant in one setting could be seen as
a lack of initiative and problem-solving in another. Additionally, future research should address
which soft skills provide the most benefit to organizations and individuals to further guide
students, educators, lawmakers, employees, and employers. This research must also remain
cognizant of the role technology has played and will continue to play in the workforce.
Further research should explore the effectiveness of virtual trainings of soft skills at
Revive and beyond. Covid-19 has caused many organizations, including Revive, to move to
virtual and asynchronous trainings environments with little warning or preparation. This
necessary response to the pandemic will most certainly impact the organizational training of soft
skills. Future research should work to guide practitioners in best practices for utilizing virtual
and asynchronous training environments in developing soft skills.
Conclusion
The purpose of this study was to explore the degree to which Revive has the capacity to
achieve its goal of increasing the soft skills of its employees to improve business outcomes.
Using Clark and Estes's (2008) gap analysis framework, this study focused on the knowledge,
motivation, and organizational influences that impact Revive’s human resource training
designers’ ability to develop effective soft skill trainings. Because capacity is defined as the
ability to meet current and future stakeholder needs, much attention was given to addressing the
emerging impact technology is having on soft skill demands. Utilizing data from interviews and
artifact analysis, this study determined potential assets and gaps of TDs’ capacity to design soft

113

skill training. Where potential gaps emerged, recommendations suggested were informed by
relevant research.
The influences that impacted the motivation of TDs to design effective soft skill trainings
were among the most evident assets identified in this study. TDs demonstrated high levels of
collective efficacy to develop soft skills among Revive’s employees. TDs also reported finding
marked task-value in their work. This study found TDs to possess robust knowledge consistent
with the literature around the organizational importance of soft skills and how to design training
targeting such skills. The final asset identified in this study found there to be adequate
organizational support and oversight of the work of TDs at Revive. Executive modeling and the
apparent cultural model around the organizational significance of soft skills served to support
this finding.
In addition to the five identified assets, three gaps emerged in this study and were
presented along with their corresponding recommendations. TDs were found to need additional
procedural knowledge around the measurement of employee soft skill development on the
organization's desired outcomes. TDs also failed to demonstrate adequate metacognitive
knowledge in the use of self-reflection in their training design. The lack of cross-departmental
support of the work of TDs also emerged as a gap, allowing for a potential misalignment and
lack of a unified vision across departments at Revive. TDs demonstrated an awareness of the
factors leading to the determination of the three gaps identified, indicating a level of growth and
improvement underway in these areas.
Overall, Revive demonstrated marked capacity through the work of TDs to develop
effective soft skill training and opportunities to grow in their capacity. Continuing to foster the
assets and successfully implementing the recommendations identified in this study should

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enhance Revive's capacity to develop soft skills among its employees. Revive has the
opportunity to take the high value they place on soft skill development and incorporate it into the
organizational value stream and training evaluation plan to help them achieve their overall
mission of becoming the partner, provider, and employer of choice among their stakeholders.

115

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Appendix A: Interview Protocol
Introduction of researcher:
- USC EdD student
- Professional background and interest in the topic

Introduction to the Study:
- Soft skill training capacity analysis
- How participant intersects the study – training designer definition
- Interview parameters – 13 questions plus follow-up questions
- Interview Length – no more than 60 minutes
- Information sheet: Voluntary participation, consent to record, limits of
confidentiality, contact information

Revive’s General Training and Soft Skill Training Knowledge and Goals:
1. What are Revive’s overarching goals in conducting HR trainings? Why does Revive
train soft skills? How does this fit into Revive’s strategic plan, if at all? (RQ2, assessing
for O influences)

2. What led Revive to begin training their employees in soft skills? Do you feel the
efforts have been successful? How so? Why not? (RQ2, assessing for O influences)

3. Describe what aspects make for an effective training for employees. What aspects
make for effective soft skill trainings specifically? Does Revive use these techniques that
you have described? What might prevent soft skill trainings from being effective for
employees at Revive? (RQ1, assessing for K and possibly M influences)

4. What specific soft skills trainings does Revive conduct, if any? What resources do you
use? Does Revive use purchased or published resources? Who reviews and selects these
resources? What criteria is used in selecting these resources? (RQ1 & RQ2, assessing for
K & O influences)

5. Who determines soft skill training needs at Revive? How do they determine those
needs? Have you had to push Revive to include soft skills in employee trainings? Or was
it Revive that expected soft skills to be included in employee trainings? Tell me about the
process to determine what soft skills are added or dropped from employee trainings.
(RQ1 & RQ2, assessing for K, O, and possibly M influences)

6. Tell me about a time you modified a soft skills training, either one you inherited or
Revive purchased. What led you to modifying it? How did you determine it needed
modification? (RQ1, assessing for K and possibly M influences)

126

7. Tell me about your approach to designing a soft skills training. What do you design
first? Why? Is there anything you keep in mind specifically when designing soft skills
training versus other types of training? What are the “must have” components you
include in designing soft skills trainings? (RQ1, assessing for K influences)

TDs’ Self Efficacy and Utility Value

8. Tell me about your level of confidence in your ability to design trainings that
enhance the soft skills of Revive Employees? What, if anything, do you feel you need
to improve regarding your ability to design soft skills trainings? (RQ1, assessing for M
and possibly K influences)

9. How important do you believe it is, if at all, for Revive to develop soft skills among
its employees? What organizational outcomes are supported by the development of soft
skills? (RQ1, assessing for M influences)

Organizational Capacity

10. How do those in your organization outside of HR show support for the development
of soft skills, if at all? Do they ever hinder your efforts? How so? (RQ2, assessing for O
influences)

11. What resources are you provided with, if any, to help develop soft skills? What
resources would be helpful that you don’t have? Tell me about your access to employees
to perform soft skill trainings. (RQ2, assessing for O influences)

Questions I Should Have Asked

12. What’s important about your or Revive’s approach to soft skills trainings that I
didn’t ask you about today? Is there anything else I should have asked you? (Broad
question that could interest RQ1 & RQ2, assessing for K, M, & O influences)

Artifact Solicitation

13. What documents, websites, or other resources could you share with me displaying
Revive’s approach to soft skill training?

Conclusion:
o Wrap up & Thank You
o Remind participant of information sheet and contact information

127

Appendix B: Artifact Analysis Protocol

Thorough Review of Revive’s Website and Publications
• External Organizational Information –
o Assess mission and values related to soft skills
o Assess “about us” information related to soft skills
o Identify any memo, announcements, initiatives, and press releases related to soft
skills
o Identify any global desired outcomes related to soft skills
o Access and analyze any available training material and resources, regardless of
subject matter, for an overall sense of an approach to training design

• Internal Organizational Information
o Identify any specific soft skills and related outcomes present is internal materials
or memos
o Identify any results published regarding soft skills initiatives

• Review LinkedIn and Other Social Media Presences Relative to Soft Skills
o Review organizational and participant LinkedIn Profiles
- Identify soft skills prioritizations and mentions
- Identify any formal influences and methods regarding training soft skills

• Review organizational Facebook and Twitter pages for any mention of soft skills

Review External Publications for Soft Skills Influences
Identify any organizational awards or recognition for training, culture, or soft skill
specific mentions in addition to any external publication utilized in the design of employee
trainings.

128

Appendix C: Participant Information Sheet for Exempt Research

University of Southern California
Ed.D. in Organizational Change and Leadership
USC Rossier School of Education
3470 Trousdale Parkway
Waite Phillips Hall (WPH)
Los Angeles, CA 90089-4034

Version Date: 06/22/2020 Page 1 of 2
USC IRB Information Sheet Template Version Date: 07/27/2019

INFORMATION SHEET FOR EXEMPT RESEARCH

STUDY TITLE: Organizational Efforts’ to Develop Soft Skills through Employee Training

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: David Todd Harmon

FACULTY ADVISOR: Helena Seli, PhD

You are invited to participate in a research study. Your participation is voluntary. This
document explains information about this study. You should ask questions about anything that
is unclear to you.

PURPOSE
The purpose of this study is to explore soft skills’ training at Revive Healthcare. You are invited
as a possible participant because of your role as a human resources training designer at
Revive Healthcare.

PARTICIPANT INVOLVEMENT
Participants will be asked to participate in interviews lasting up to 60 minutes. Interviews will
consist of questions related to the understanding, development, and implementation employee
trainings at Revive. Interviews will take place via video conferencing software. Audio and video
recording devices will be utilized unless participants decline to be recorded. Participation is not
dependent on the ability to record.

If you decide to take part, you will be asked to participate in a 45 to 60 minute interview to
answer questions regarding soft skill training design as Revive.

CONFIDENTIALITY
The members of the research team and the University of Southern California Institutional
Review Board (IRB) may access the data. The IRB reviews and monitors research studies to
protect the rights and welfare of research subjects.

When the results of the research are published or discussed in conferences, no identifiable
information will be used.

Research data will be stored on secure, password protected devices. If recorded, interviews
will be transcribed and use pseudonyms in place of participant names. Recording will be
appropriately erased within one year of recording. The research team and participants will
have the only access to the recording during this period. Participants have the right to request
that recording be erased at an earlier date.

129

University of Southern California
Ed.D. in Organizational Change and Leadership
USC Rossier School of Education
3470 Trousdale Parkway
Waite Phillips Hall (WPH)
Los Angeles, CA 90089-4034

Version Date: 06/22/2020 Page 2 of 2
USC IRB Information Sheet Template Version Date: 07/27/2019

Research data will be stored on secure, password protected devices. If recorded, interviews
will be transcribed and use pseudonyms in place of participant names. Recording will be
appropriately erased within one year of recording. The research team and participants will
have the only access to the recording during this period. Participants have the right to request
that recording be erased at an earlier date.

Potential participants are limited in number for this study. Therefore, it is not unreasonable to
believe that some interview information could be identifiable by a manager or co-worker, for
example. This should be taken into consideration before agreeing to participate.

INVESTIGATOR CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have any questions about this study, please contact David Todd Harmon,
davidtoh@usc.edu, 202-701-9394. Helena Seli, PhD, Helena.seli@usc.rossier.edu.

IRB CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have any questions about your rights as a research participant, please contact the
University of Southern California Institutional Review Board at (323) 442-0114 or email
irb@usc.edu.

Appendix C (continued)

Abstract (if available)

Abstract The purpose of this study was to explore the degree to which Revive, a Fortune 500 healthcare company based in the Southwest United States, had the capacity to achieve its goal of increasing the soft skills of its employees to improve business outcomes. Revive’s capacity to develop soft skills among their employees was analyzed in light of relevant literature concerning the growing importance of soft skills due to technological advancement. The study focused on how human resources training designers contributed to Revive’s goal of improving business outcomes using the Clark and Estes (2008) gap analysis framework to explore the degree in which training designers had the knowledge, motivation, and organizational resources to design trainings effective in developing the soft skills of Revive’s over 50,000 employees. Qualitative interviews and artifact analysis were used to generate data for the study. Training designers were found to display high levels of motivation through an assessment of their self-efficacy and utility value. Training designers demonstrated a robust understanding of the organizational importance of employee soft skill training and training design. They were also found to have appropriate organizational support, with all five of these influences determined to be assets in the study. Revive’s capacity to develop the soft skills of their employees would benefit from enhancing training designers’ knowledge of training measurement and self-reflection. Revive would also benefit from increased cross-departmental support of the work of training designers. Training designers demonstrated an awareness of the knowledge and organizational deficiencies that led to the associated influences being determined gaps, demonstrating the contemplation of future change. The study culminated with recommendations informed by relevant literature to address the three gaps identified.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Harmon, David Todd (author)

Core Title Your soft skills are showing: organizational efforts to develop soft skills

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Organizational Change and Leadership (On Line)

Degree Conferral Date 2021-08

Publication Date 07/30/2021

Defense Date 07/06/2021

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag Employee Training,labor market polarization,OAI-PMH Harvest,skills gap,soft skills

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Seli, Helena (committee chair), Goff, Jaime (committee member), Phillips, Jennifer (committee member)

Creator Email david.todd.harmon@gmail.com,davidtoh@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-oUC15669684

Unique identifier UC15669684

Legacy Identifier etd-HarmonDavi-9942

Document Type Dissertation

Format application/pdf (imt)

Rights Harmon, David Todd

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the author, as the original true and official version of the work, but does not grant the reader permission to use the work if the desired use is covered by copyright. It is the author, as rights holder, who must provide use permission if such use is covered by copyright. The original signature page accompanying the original submission of the work to the USC Libraries is retained by the USC Libraries and a copy of it may be obtained by authorized requesters contacting the repository e-mail address given.

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA

Repository Email cisadmin@lib.usc.edu