Application of Soft Systems Methodology in Defining Professional Communication Skills for Malaysian Graduates

660 | P a g e J a n u a r y 0 6 , 2 0 1 5 Application of Soft Systems Methodology in Defining Professional Communication Skills for Malaysian Graduates Ahmad-Tajuddin Azza Jauhar, Ganakumaran Subramaniam Department of Languages and Communication, Center of Fundamental and Liberal Studies, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Malaysia. azzajauhar@umt.edu.my School of Education, University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, Selangor, Malaysia. Ganakumaran.subra@nottingham.edu.my ABSTRACT This paper investigates the usage of Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) as an assessment tool for improving teaching and learning English in Malaysian higher education institutions (HEIs). In this study, the Malaysian stakeholders – industries, government agencies of Malaysia and HEIs – are the „interveners‟ who create the best solutions of the problematic situation of poor professional communication skills amongst the graduates. By using SSM, it is anticipated that stakeholders involved would reach a common ground in defining Professional Communication Skills (PCS), which will decrease the problem of skill mismatches. It is discovered that SSM was able to examine the requirement from all parties by offering them a proper and equal stage to voice out their opinion. It is believed that SSM can help instructors and policy makers of Malaysian HEIs in making a sound judgement in teaching PCS in classrooms, and help to develop our graduates‟ potential to be more marketable employees. Indexing terms/


INTRODUCTION
Given the challenges facing the higher education institutions in Malaysia, the issue of the quality of English in Malaysian higher education (HE) institutions cannot be taken lightly. Firstly, there is a lack of holistic and comprehensive research on current English for Occupational Purposes (EOP from here onwards) curriculum practices in Malaysian HEIs. The quality of teaching English in Malaysia has been debated with the evidence of the decreasing of English language proficiency level among Malaysia"s university graduates (Gill, 2005;Lim, 2008; Mohd Radzuan & Kaur, 2010; Noor Azina, 2011; Rasul, Ismail, Ismail, Rajuddin, & Amnah, 2009). English education, particularly in higher education (HE), has been in the limelight mainly due to the many negative testimonies. Findings from the National Institute of Research in Higher Education (IPPTN) discovered that Malaysia is grappling with the quality issues in HE which impacted on its unemployability figures at worrying 48.5% (IPPTN, 2010). However, studies discovered that employment in Malaysia is set back by educational and skill mismatch, which occurred when HE institutions produce a new workforce that cannot enter the labour market because of the differences in what they perceive is needed in the market and what is actually needed (Koo, Pang, & Mansur, 2007;Shafie & Nayan, 2010;Wong & Ming, 2010).
Hence, to overcome this problem, this research will determine the key definitions of professional communication skills identified by Malaysian stakeholders -Malaysian based multi-national companies, government agencies and academiafor successful workplace function. The study covered a total number of 24 respondents in the following subgroups: 1) human resource managers from multi-national key industries (10 respondents); 2) government executives who recruit entry-level employees for public sectors (4 respondents) and; 3) EOP instructors and HE liaison officers for industrial training (10 respondents). The data obtained were subjected to computer assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS), namely ATLAS.ti 7.0 and sits within the interpretivist tradition. Additionally, in completing this objective, soft systems methodology will be applied in understanding this issue.

OVERVIEW OF SOFT SYSTEM METHODOLOGY
Soft Systems Methodology (SSM from here onwards) has been the outcome of a huge and thoughtful research work by Checkland and his colleagues to create a general framework, which able to tackle ill-structured problems faced in most of the interrelationships with their fellows (Delbridge, 2011). SSM is a systemic approach, whereby the systemic view recognises that the parts and internal relations of a system are dependent on its environment (Checkland, 1986;Checkland and Scholes, 1990). Checkland and Poulter (2010) describe SSM as an organized way of tackling perceived problematical social situations. It is action-oriented, whereby it organises thinking about situations so that actions can be taken to improve problematic situations. SSM is generally applied to situations where there are conflicts among stakeholders or where the goals of a system are debatable (Morcos & Henshaw, 2009). In addition, the core aspects of systems thinking are gaining a bigger picture (going up a level of abstraction) and appreciating other people"s perspectives. Checkland (2000), in his thirty year retrospective of SSM, affirms that a system can never be studied in isolation, but must be seen in relation to its environment. This approach provides conceptual tools for modelling the system as well as the environment in which the system is located (Tajino and Smith, 2005). The systemic approach depicts the system"s environment as being composed of various interveners and active processes that influence the system (Avenier, 2002).
In the case of this study, the stakeholdersindustries, government departments of Malaysia, HE institutions and the graduates themselves are the "interveners" who are searching, grasping and creating the best solutions of the problematic situation of poor professional communication skills amongst the graduates. Applying SSM in this research will hopefully clarify and explore solutions to the problem of incompetence of Malaysian graduates in English at workplace. Researchers agree that the potential benefits of SSM is not only used to clarify objectives in complex and dynamic problem situations but can also be used to explore actual and future needs (Hassan, 2012;Patel, 1995). It can also act as an intellectual systemic tool to orchestrate and implement change in the real world in topics concerned to human affairs. It is a framework composed by seven steps organized in a special manner (See Figure 1) that leads to the implantation of culturally feasible and systemically desirable changes in human organisations of any kind (Checkland, 2000).
Agreeing with the views of Rose (1997), Hindle (2011) and Liu et.al.(2012), SSM is suitable for social sciences research, as this one, since it involves all stakeholders during all stages and it will ensure that their views are reflected in the outcomes and their acceptance of the new system by validating the proposed solutions or framework. The version of SSM presented in this study is most closely associated with the work of Peter Checkland, as presented in Checkland and Scholes (1990) and Checkland and Poulter (2010). J a n u a r y 06, 2 0 1 5

Methods
The role of researcher in the context of SSM approach is to identify the ill-structured problem and try to improve the problem in a given situation. For the purpose of this study, SSM was used to assist researcher to explore the real world situation of graduates" PCS required by three groups of Malaysian stakeholders.
In stage 1 and 2 the researcher tried to develop the richest picture possible of the problematic situation. The function of these 2 stages was "to display the situation so that a range of possible and, hopefully, relevant choices [of relevant systems to be described in the following stages] can be revealed" (Checkland, 1986: pp. 166). Rich picture was employed as a method of capturing the problem situation; recognising that different stakeholders had diverse views and experience to fit their requirements of Professional Communication Skills among Malaysian graduates. Through rich-pictures, such different world-views (known as Weltanschauungen amongst SSM scholars) were highlighted. Such pictures could also draw attention to the degree of social interaction and begin to focus on issues which were considered purposeful and critical, as well as eliminating mismatches and disagreement associated with PCS between the stakeholders involved. The rich picture portrayed all the key players involved in the process and presented a structured view by putting into context the factors affecting the process. To enter to its way of working and application, it was necessary to present the rich picture, as being illustrated below ( Figure 2). J a n u a r y 06, 2 0 1 5 Figure 2 Rich picture: An area of concern on the Malaysian graduates' level of PCS generated from field data. Stage 3, Patel (1995) has used SSM"s root definitions to identify responsible actors, key transformations, and the knowledge resources that are appropriate to the needs of all stakeholders. A root definition 'expresses the core intention of a purposeful activity system' (Wells, 1995) and is structured into three distinct parts: the 'what', the 'how' and the 'why'. The what is the immediate aim of the system, the how is the means of achieving that aim, and the why is the longer term aim of that purposeful activity (Platt and Warwick, 1995). Another significant characteristic of SSM is that the root definition must include a number of elements, which Checkland and Scholes (1990, pp.32) characterise under the mnemonic 'CATWOE' and the definitions of CATWOE are listed in Table 1 below.

Meanwhile in
Combining the elements identified in the rich picture ( Figure 2), the subsequent main issues and CATWOE analysis, the following root definition is constructed for Professional Communication Skills (PCS): "PCS is a system that provides a list of necessary skills for workplace communication in English language. PCS framework is initiated and validated by stakeholders (companies, government of Malaysia and academia) in ensuring Malaysian graduates to be highly employable. The PCS framework will feed into the education system and worker training schemes to generate quality workforce with the right skills needed. It ensures greater effectiveness and efficiency in teaching and learning in HE institutions." In stage 4, Venters, Cushman, & Cornford (2002) further describes how SSM can be used to develop conceptual models that identify patterns in knowledge activities. Such patterns can be used to provide a basis for technical design and organisational and social intervention. Based upon the need to address the problems in developing fluent communicators amongst Malaysian graduates, the following model to apply SSM has been developed ( Figure 3) and is being incorporated into investigations in this research.


Though grand agendas listed in ETP, in human capital development, the graduates do not really care about it. Many might not even know it exists.
 Speaking and writing skills are deteriorating.
 It boils up to the practical use of languagewaiting for the right environment.


Graduates groomed with lots of ideas, early exposure to internet, but failed to put ideas into comprehensible words.
 Very high number of applicants, but vacancy is limited.
 Weak personal attributes (no resilience, lazy, no effort or own initiative, lack of confidence, individualistic) becomes the huge barrier for graduates to succeed in working life.  Students are anxious of constant evaluation, too much workload, which made the EOP course not enjoyable.  No confidence, lack of motivation. None will start a discussion unless the instructors initiate something.  Poor grammar, lack of vocabulary. The skill of communication is very limited, especially with groups they"re unfamiliar with.  No structure in formal writing, what they don"t have in quality, they give in quantity.  Weak presentation skill, especially hindered by nerve.  Students sat for EOP exam because they need to pass it, but they don"t really understand. They are far from workplace ready. J a n u a r y 06, 2 0 1 5 The remaining stages are again set in the real world where action can take place. During stage 5 the ideal conceptual model is used to find similarities and differences with the perceived real world model. This has been shown in Figure 3 (the process below the dotted lines). The comparison between the conceptual model with reality is done by asking feedbacks from all stakeholders as well as an expert on Professional Communication Skills.

AREAS OF CONCERN
During Stage 5, the researcher leaves the systems thinking (or in this research context, the theories of communications) and initiates the debate concerning desirable feasible changes by setting up discussions which compares the models build in stage 4 with the problem situation expressed in stage 2. As Checkland and Scholes (1990) suggested, in ensuring the whole model works, researchers must focus on the intention of building of the models, which are to -"debate" (p. 42-43) and "accommodate" (ibid. p. 28-30).
The purpose of the conceptual model is to question and debate whether the activities from the model (the skills enlisted in PCS framework) can be extended in the real world, how well can it accommodate and function, and the debate is also to find if alternative and better ways of doing them could be suggested. Informal discussion and formal questioning were implemented during this study. This took place during the second interview sessions, when the stakeholders has the chance to look back at what has been discussed during the earlier interviews and validate the framework by giving more feedback and criticism. This stage offers member-checking process to be implemented.
From various researches, many agrees that stage 7 may seem to be the last stage, but in human activity systems an apparent improvement simply creates a new situation which unsurprisingly creates new problems (Delbridge, 2011;Morcos & Henshaw, 2009;Tajino & Smith, 2005). The SSM model, in good practice, is cyclic and continual. However, since time factor was an issue, this stage is still working in progress. J a n u a r y 06, 2 0 1 5 Figure 3 Conceptual model of the study divided into practical phase.

Conclusions and Further Work
All in all, SSM was conceived as a framework for the inquiry into ill-structured situations. It "…provides a general set of concepts and an intellectual framework for articulating the search for "images of reality" which are relevant to taking purposeful action within some problem situation" (Ledington and Donaldson, 1997). Checkland"s 7-stage model progresses from finding out about a situation to taking action to improve it. During stages 1 and 2 the problem is still unstructured and expressed by the participants in a rich picture. Stages 3 and 4 involve systems thinking. Root definitions and conceptual models of possibly relevant systems are developed. Stages 5 and 6 are functioned for "find(ing) a version of the real situation and ways to improve it which different people with different worldviews can nonetheless live with" (Checkland and Poulter, 2006, p. 54). There are different ways to achieve this activity, but an approach used heavily is the one used in the present research: formal questionings during interview sessions (Checkland and Poulter, 2006). Finally, the last stage is used for applying the debated and reviewed model in the real world.
This study has demonstrated that SSM can be used as a framework to investigate a problem within the Malaysian educational discipline. The benefits that can be derived from its use are primarily its ability to focus on issues and dwell in depth with the whole system as compared to the quantitative results-driven and analytical quality assurance processes that are traditionally used to assess the effectiveness of a module. Additionally, being a methodology that can deal with complex organisational and hierarchical situations where those involved may lack of a common agreement, SSM offers the best solution by giving the stakeholders involved a proper stage to voice out their opinion. It promotes shared thinking and helps to persuade people to work together and find a common ground.
Industry Get details of specific PCS skills required. Collate information.
MOHE Get details of specific PCS skills required. Collate information.
Academia Get details of specific PCS skills required. Collate information.

Literature and Previous Research
Get details of specific PCS skills required. Collate information.
Systematically organise PCS proposed by each stakeholders according to Communication Competence Model into PCS Frameworks.
Overlay and merge four frameworks and produce one digested and comprehensive PCS Framework.
Review the merged PCS Framework from all stakeholders.

Stage 5 (Comparing conceptual models to real world)
Industry Review and give feedback of PCS framework .

Review and give feedback of PCS framework .
Academia Review and give feedback of PCS framework .

Subject Area Expert
Review and give feedback of PCS framework .
Review and realign PCS Framework base on validation review feedback/report from all stakeholders.

Phase 1
Data derived from a) Semi structured interviews b) Annual reports c) Government Document

Phase 2
 All data is pooled in one HU in ATLAS.ti software.  Data is coded using themes derived from the CCM.  Other themes emerged from data is compiled in PCS framework.  A comprehensive and digested PCS framework is developed.

Phase 3
 Validation process. a) Member checking by the stakeholders who has been interviewed. b) Peer debriefing by experts in the area of HE and TESL.

Phase 4
Finalise the PCS framework. J a n u a r y 06, 2 0 1 5 J a n u a r y 06, 2 0 1 5  Engage small talks with superior, colleagues and clients informally.
 Telephone conversations skillanswering inquiries, giving instructions. J a n u a r y 06, 2 0 1 5

Non-verbal communication
Contribute to the ease and comfort during interactions.


Appropriately dressed according to workplace occasions.


Be on time in all workplace functions.
 Control own nerves in meetings with superior and clients in order to be less agitated.
 Ensure their body language is not offensive during conversations with colleagues, superiors and clients.
 Wear pleasant facial expression.

Communication Skills
Listening Skill Contribute to successful working relationships and effective execution of tasks.