Matthew Zuccaro
Professor Goeller
College! 201
March 7, 2016
Research Proposal
Working
Title: Greek Life: The
Breeding Ground for Soft Skills
Topic:
My topic
involves the debate of whether or not being a member of a Greek organization
leads to the development of ‘soft skills’ or, are Greek organizations simply
places that attract individuals more likely to already possess these skills
because of their social nature. Soft skills are defined as personal attributes
such as interpersonal skills and the ability to work and communicate with
others. This paper will explore not only
whether or not fraternities and sororities help members develop soft skills
more so than those not in a Greek organization, but also whether these soft
skills are useful and adequate predictors of success in life after college.
Research
Question:
Does
being a member of a fraternity or sorority help in the development of soft
skills or do fraternities and sororities attract individuals who already
possess these skills due to their social nature and structure. Are these soft
skills even beneficial in the real world, or do managers not actually place too
much emphasis on these skills.
Theoretical
Frame:
I
started off by reading an article “Executive Perceptions Of The Top 10 Soft
Skills Needed In Today’s Workplace” by Robles. This article not only showed the
top soft skills needed but it also validated the importance of soft skills.
This article made it well known that soft skills were desired in the workplace
and that well developed soft skills are highly regarded by hiring managers. Just
for clarification as well as tying sources together, I will continue to look
into articles discussing the benefits of soft skills and their value in today’s
workplace. With the help of this article
though, it was a big step in concluding the value and importance of soft skills
in the workplace. In the article “Unchallenged, Professed Core Values: Do
Undergraduate Fraternity/Sorority Members Actually Benefit In The Areas Of
Scholarship, Leadership, Service, And Friendship?” by Long., a study was
conducted and the results showed the fraternity and sorority members benefited
in certain areas. A few of the areas in which they benefited that could be
constituted as soft skills include leadership and friendship. This study was
also a good start in showing benefits of fraternal membership.
This
topic is very relevant to me since I am a member of a fraternity. I truly
believe being a member of one has greatly improved my soft skills and prepared
me for life after college better than if I was not in a fraternity. Although I
was always a social individual, I believe that by joining a fraternity my soft
skills were improved much more and much faster than if I were not a member of one.
I hope from my research I can find overwhelming evidence that being in a
fraternity does help the growth of soft skills. I also hope to find
overwhelming evidence of the importance of soft skills in the real world. If my
research supports my theories I believe I can write an extremely well written
paper.
Research
Plan:
Something
I really hope to utilize in my paper is first hand sources such as interviews
of individuals I know who were in Rutgers Greek life who now are successful in
the professional world. I hope they can better answer my two main questions of
my research. The first being if they think being a member of a fraternity
helped their growth of soft skills and the second being whether these soft
skills have helped them succeed in the business world. I think these first hand
sources will greatly help my research. In addition to conducting interviews of
current and former members of the Rutgers Greek community, I plan on exploring
the article “Soft
Skills as a Predictor of Perceived Internship Effectiveness and
Permanent Placement Opportunity” by Dabke to see the value of soft skills
in an internship. This is because internships are usually an individuals’ foot
in the door when it comes to the professional world and by receiving favorable
internship reviews, individuals will be set up for future success.
To dive deeper into the world of
college fraternities and sororities I plan to read the book “Inside Greek U.: Fraternities, Sororities,
and the Pursuit of Pleasure, Power, and Prestige” by Desantis. Hopefully
this book can give me more of an insight into how certain choices and
opportunities that come out of Greek life can alter the future for an
individual. What I hope to get out of this is more so the positives created
instead of the negatives.
Although
it seems like I am exploring a very broad range of ideas in the research
proposal I hope through this broad search I can pull out ideas linking soft
skills to Greek life. I feel as though being a member of a fraternity has
really helped my soft skill development and I hope after extensive research I
can prove this is also true universally.
Bibliography
Dabke, Deepika. "Soft Skills As A
Predictor Of Perceived Internship Effectiveness And Permanent Placement
Opportunity." IUP Journal Of Soft Skills 9.4 (2015):
26-42. Business Source Premier. Web. 29 Feb. 2016.
Deepa, S., and Manisha Seth. "Do
Soft Skills Matter? – Implications For Educators Based On Recruiters'
Perspective." IUP Journal Of Soft Skills 7.1 (2013):
7-20. Business Source Premier. Web. 29 Feb. 2016.
DeSantis, Alan D. Inside Greek U:
Fraternities, Sororities, and the Pursuit of of Pleasure, Power, and Prestige.
N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.
Employers Seek Recent Graduates with
Soft Skills, Found Best in the Liberal Arts – Christendom College." Christendom
College RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Feb. 2016.
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
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.
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