Lit Review #2

2) Long, Larry D. "Unchallenged, Professed Core Values: Do Undergraduate Fraternity/Sorority Members Actually Benefit In The Areas Of Scholarship, Leadership, Service, And Friendship?." College Student Affairs Journal 30.2 (2012): 15-30. ERIC. Web. 29 Feb. 2016.

3) Summary:  Before this article was written, there had been not much prior research on whether fraternity membership can lead to certain skill development such as scholarship, leadership, service and friendship. The study was conducted on members of greek organizations in 15 southeastern universities. Results showed that fraternity members excelled in areas of critical thinking, management, skills, and career skills. Other skills that were enhanced through greek life include friendship, interpersonal skills, scholarship, leadership, and service. Although all these skills were not drastically enhanced by greek life, members of greek life did show AT LEAST some moderate improvement over non greek members. 

4) Larry D. Long - Is currently an employee at Michigan State University in the student success department. He has previously held high positions at MSU such as the Community Director and the Student Life Coordinator. He has written many articles on topics of student life ranging from articles involving greek life, to college dormitory experiences, to student success based on living arrangement. Larry has masters of arts degrees in student affairs, admin, sociology, and educational psychology.

5) Key Terms:

Friendship: although friendship is a very basic term it is a large part of this article, The study conducted shows fraternal members have increased sense of belonging and friendship with others. Friendship translates to other skills such as interpersonal skills which can lead to career success.

Leadership: Another basic term but a essential one in this article. Fraternities give individuals excellent opportunities to hold leadership positions and obtain practice in being a leader.

6) Quotes: 

"This is significant because social integration is associated with persistence (Allen, Robbins, Casillas, & Oh, 2008; Lohfink & Paulsen, 2005) and strong interpersonal abilities are associated with career success (Myers & Larson, 2005; Sermersheim, 1996)."  Page 23

"This confirms the conclusions of previous research that found fraternal organizations provide many opportunities for students to serve in leadership roles" Page 24

"The results of the current study revealed members reported gains pertaining to the espoused values. Respondents rated their fraternity/sorority experience as excellent in producing gains in sense of belonging and peer interaction and good in developing study skills, critical thinking, commitment to service, management skills, and career skills." Page 26

7) Value: The topic of my paper is about how being in a fraternity can help develop soft skills of its members and prepare them for future success after college. Although this article does not specifically discuss soft skills it talks about how fraternities benefit specific traits, traits that can be considered soft skills. Soft skills are considered more traits such as interpersonal skills. This article discusses how fraternities can benefit specific skills such as friendship and leadership. By developing friendship it can help interpersonal skills and people skills which ties in with soft skills. This article helped validate a belief of mine that fraternities benefit individuals with many useful life skills.

Lit Review 1

Robles, Marcel M. "Executive Perceptions Of The Top 10 Soft Skills Needed In Today’S Workplace." Business Communication Quarterly 75.4 (2012): 453-465. Business Source Premier. Web. 22 Feb. 2016.

Summary: This reading is based on a study of a survey given out to business executives. The survey asked what were the top soft skills employers hoped new employees would posses. This article also makes an interesting argument that states soft skills are better predictor of job success over hard skills.Soft skills are skills such as communication, interpersonal skills, and certain attributes such as integrity. Hard skills are those skills which are technical and knowledge based. Business executives value individuals with strong soft skills and the 10 in order of how much they were listed by executives from most to least follows: Integrity, Communication, Courtesy, Responsibility, Interpersonal Skills, Positive Attitude, Professionalism, Flexibility, Teamwork Skills, Work Ethic. The article goes on to say soft skills are very valued because they help build strong relationships in the work place and are very transferable across industries.

Author: Dr. Marcel Marie Robles is a professor at Eastern Kentucky University. Her credentials include a PHD, a masters of science, and a bachelors of business administration. She has many years experience as a teacher and is a member of various professional and academic organizations. She has served as the department chair of the information systems and business education department at the University of North Dakota. She has written many articles and received many awards for her work.

Key Terms:

Soft Skills: personal attributes including interpersonal skills and communication skills. It might be wrong to call these skills because they are more concerned with attributes such as ones ability to work with others and effectively communicate. However it may be appropriate to call them skills because they can be taught and developed. Overall these skills are personality driven.

Hard Skills: Technical skills and knowledge required to do a job. These are the abilities for an individual to do their job well. Ties in with competencies as well.

Quotes 1- Much research has been done on the importance of soft skills in the workplace (Klaus, 2010; Maes, Weldy, & Icenogel, 1997; Mitchell et al., 2010; Nealy, 2005; Smith, 2007). One study found that 75% of long-term job success depends on people skills, while only 25% is dependent on technical knowledge (Klaus, 2010). Another study indicated that hard skills contribute only 15% to one’s success, whereas 85% of success is due to soft skills (Watts & Watts, 2008, as cited in John, 2009). (Page 454). 

2- Companies are continuing to rate their employees’ interpersonal skills as more important than their analytical abilities (Klaus, 2010). It is often said that hard skills will get you an interview but you need soft skills to get (and keep) the job. (page 460)

3- In addition to interpersonal skills, soft skills include personal qualities and career attributes (James & James, 2004; Nieragden, 2000; Perreault, 2004). Personal attributes might include one’s personality, likeability, time management prowess, and organizational skills (Parsons, 2008). (page 457).

Value:  Being in a fraternity has developed my soft skills a great deal more than any class could have. This article has a lot of value for my paper because it verifies through many studies and individuals the importance of these soft skills and how they can translate to success in the business world. This helps my overall research paper because I can use the findings in this paper to explain the importance of soft skills in acquiring and keeping a job. 

Research Blog #3

My topic talks about how being a member of a Greek organization has benefited me personally. More specifically the 'soft skills'  that being a member of a fraternity has helped me develop. These skills include communication, interpersonal relations, and leadership. I am not entirely sure how privatization connects with my topic. I have one connection in mind but it might be more of a loose correlation than a strong connection. In The Neoliberal Arts by Deresiewicz, he makes a point to talk about the decline of liberal arts majors such as English and the rise of more 'practical' majors such as business and communication. He also goes on to make a point that students invest more time in extra curricular (hence my involvement in a fraternity) over going to class and studying. These extra curriculars, whether it be greek life, various clubs, sports etc. can all help develop soft skills. These soft skills are very useful in more practical majors such as business and communications. Privatization of colleges has made practical majors much more popular. This benefits me because I plan on going into a business field and these soft skills which I have developed through greek life will help me be more successful. Privatization may not be directly correlated with this but it definitely played a role.

Blog Post #2 Scouting the Territory

Since my first post, and with the help of Professor Goeller, I have changed my topic slightly. Originally I had originally thought about writing a paper with two topics. The first topic was how fraternities are negatively portrayed in the news and media. The second topic was how being in a fraternity has benefited and changed my life. The topic idea I am going with at this point will highlight the positives I have gotten out of being a member of a great organization. This is a single topic and will be a much more concise and overall a stronger paper than one that would be discussing two topics and being all over the place. To start my search on this topic I wanted to search some statistics to see if being in Greek organizations translated to academic success and success after college. Turns out.... it does, the very first statistic I found read "85% of the fortune 500 executives belong to a fraternity".
After researching articles and books on fraternities, I have learned just how controversial this topic really is. On one hand you can find articles talking about the good fraternities do for the community and for the intellectual and personal growth they provide the individual. On the other hand many articles and books talk about some extreme negatives associated with fraternities such as binge drinking, drug use, and rape which definitely makes this topic controversial. This topic may have many issues but I am going to stick to the positives for the topic of my paper and include  research and statistics that prove Greek life can be extremely positive for the individual. In addition I will also include a personal testimony of myself and my fellow peers who have been positively changed and become intellectually and professionally more successful because of Greek life.
In the two links posted below, they both advocates of Greek life. One includes some statistics on Greek life members succeeding after college. The other one includes statistics as well as other reasons Greek life can benefit individuals.





Links used:

https://www5.njit.edu/greeklife/directory/facts.php

http://www.businessinsider.com/dont-ban-fraternities-2014-1

Intro

Of late, the news has been filled with extremely negative stories regarding fraternities. These headlines range from members chanting racial slurs, to various sex related crimes. As a member of a Greek organization, these stories were extremely frustrating and upsetting to see on a national stage such as the news. This is not only because what these individuals did was horrible, but also it gave fraternities a very negative image (if they didn't already have one). Many times these negative news stories are the only information people have about fraternities and because of this it leads to many dismissive attitudes towards fraternities.

It is understandable why fraternities have such a bad rep, especially when the only press they receive in the news is negative. To truly know what Greek organizations are about, one must be a part of one. Being a member of a Greek organization has greatly helped me grow as a person and has given me great opportunities to succeed after college. I have made so many great friends here, people that I would normally have never met. I have participated in many philanthropy events and raised money for great causes such as cancer research. I have made many great connections with alumni which have helped me gain interviews and internships at prestigious companies. Ever since joining a fraternity my GPA has skyrocketed, I attribute this to the hard work and success of my brothers which has been contagious to me. All these reasons listed are just part of the reason why joining a fraternity was one of the best decisions of my life. If more individuals were educated on the benefits of going Greek, not just the poor actions and decisions of the very few, fraternities would definitely be seen in a more positive light.