Individuals therefore need to proactively manage these risks (Beck and Beck-Gernsheim, 2002). Keynesian economics is an economic theory of total spending in the economy and its effects on output and inflation . Employers propensities towards recruiting specific types of graduates perhaps reflects deep-seated issues stemming from more transactional, cost-led and short-term approaches to developing human resources (Warhurst, 2008). Keynesian economics was developed by the British economist John Maynard Keynes . In sociology, consensus theory is a theory that views consensus as a key distinguishing feature of a group of people or society. Teichler, U. Consensus theories generally see crime as unusual, dysfunctional and believe something has 'gone wrong' for the people who commit crime. For such students, future careers were potentially a significant source of personal meaning, providing a platform from which they could find fulfilment, self-expression and a credible adult identity. Consensus Theory. They construct their individual employability in a relative and subjective manner. Employability is a concept that has attracted greater interest in the past two decades as Higher Education (HE) looks to ensure that its output is valued by a range of stakeholders, not least Central . Consensus theories posit that laws are created using group rational to determine what behaviors are deviant and/or criminal to protect society from harm. Consensus theory, on the other hand, looks at how individuals interact and how this can lead to agreement. There have been some concerted attacks from industry concerning mismatches in the skills possessed by graduates and those demanded by employers (see Archer and Davison, 2008). This also extends to subject areas where there has been a traditionally closer link between the curricula content and specific job areas (Wilton, 2008; Rae, 2007). Kirton, G. (2009) Career plans and aspirations of recent black and minority ethnic business graduates, Work, Employment and Society 23 (1): 1229. . A Social Cognitive Theory. Roberts, K. (2009) Opportunity structures then and now, Journal of Education and Work 22 (5): 355368. Department for Education Skills (DFES). Mass HE may therefore be perpetuating the types of structural inequalities it was intended to alleviate. 'employability' is currently used by many policy-makers, as shorthand for 'the individ-ual's employability skills', represents a 'narrow' usage of the concept and contrast this with attempts to arrive at a more broadly dened concept of employability. Consensus theory is a social theory that holds a particular political or economic system as a fair system, and that social change should take place within the social institutions provided by it .Consensus theory contrasts sharply with conflict theory, which holds that social change is only achieved through conflict.. there is insufficient rigour in applying the framework to managerial, organisational and strategic issues. In flexible labour markets, such as the United Kingdom this remains high. Again, graduates respond to the challenges of increasing flexibility, individualisation and positional competition in different ways. The traditional human and cultural capital that employers have always demanded now constitutes only part of graduates employability narratives. the consensus and the conflict theory on graduate employability . Research has tended to reveal a mixed picture on graduates and their position in the labour market (Brown and Hesketh, 2004; Elias and Purcell, 2004; Green and Zhu, 2010). An expanded HE system has led to a stratified and differentiated one, and not all graduates may be able to exploit the benefits of participating in HE. (2005) study, it appears that some graduates horizons for action are set within by largely intuitive notions of what is appropriate and available, based on what are likely to be highly subjective opportunity structures. Brown, P., Lauder, H. and Ashton, D.N. Perhaps significantly, their research shows that graduates occupy a broad range of jobs and occupations, some of which are more closely matched to the archetype of the traditional graduate profession. If the occupational structure does not become sufficiently upgraded to accommodate the continued supply of graduates, then mismatches between graduates level of education and the demands of their jobs may ensue. Use the Previous and Next buttons to navigate the slides or the slide controller buttons at the end to navigate through each slide. This may well confirm emerging perceptions of their own career progression and what they need to do to enhance it. HE systems across the globe are evolving in conjunction with wider structural transformations in advanced, post-industrial capitalism (Brown and Lauder, 2009). Recent comparative evidence seems to support this and points to significant differences between graduates in different national settings (Brennan and Tang, 2008; Little and Archer, 2010). As Teichler (1999) points out, the increasing alignment of universities to the labour market in part reflects continued pressures to develop forms of innovation that will add value to the economy, be that through research or graduates. Hammer, Peter McIlveen, Soo Jeung Lee, Seungjung Kim & Jisun Jung, Higher Education Policy Careerist students, for instance, were clearly imaging themselves around their future labour market goals and embarking upon strategies in order to maximise their future employment outcomes and enhance their perceived employability. (2007) The transition from higher education into work: Tales of cohesion and fragmentation, Education + Training 49 (7): 516585. One particular consequence of a massified, differentiated HE is therefore likely to be increased discrimination between different types of graduates. 2003) and attempts to seek integrate them by formulating a model of explanatory form together with the existing empirical literature. While consensus theory emphasizes cooperation and shared values, conflict theory emphasizes power dynamics and ongoing struggles for social change. The research by Archer et al. Research done by Brooks and Everett (2008) and Little (2008) indicates that while HE-level study may be perceived by graduates as equipping them for continued learning and providing them with the dispositions and confidence to undertake further learning opportunities, many still perceive a need for continued professional training and development well beyond graduation. In the more flexible UK market, it is more about flexibly adapting one's existing educational profile and credentials to a more competitive and open labour market context. With increased individual expenditure, HE has literally become an investment and, as such, students may look to it for raising their absolute level of employability. (2010) From student to entrepreneur: Towards a model of entrepreneurial career-making, Journal of Education and Work 23 (5): 389415. A consensus theory is one which believes that the institutions of society are working together to maintain social cohesion and stability. Longitudinal research on graduates transitions to the labour market (Holden and Hamblett, 2007; Nabi et al., 2010) also illustrates that graduates initial experiences of the labour market can confirm or disrupt emerging work-related identities. Moreover, there is evidence of national variations between graduates from different countries, contingent on the modes of capitalism within different countries. The challenge for graduate employees is to develop strategies that militate against such likelihoods. This has been driven mainly by a number of key structural changes both to higher education institutions (HEIs) and in the nature of the economy. <>stream The purpose of this study is to explain the growth and popularity of consensus theory in present day sociology. known as "Graduate Employability" (Harvey 2003; Yorke 2006). Perhaps one consensus uniting discussion on the effects of labour market change is that the new knowledge-based economy entails significant challenges for individuals, including those who are well educated. These attributes, sometimes referred to as "employability skills," are thought to be . Brown, P. and Hesketh, A.J. (1999) Higher education policy and the world of work: Changing conditions and challenges, Higher Education Policy 12 (4): 285312. . The expansion of HE and changing economic demands is seen to engender new forms of social conflict and class-related tensions in the pursuit for rewarding and well-paid employment. In some countries, for instance Germany, HE is a clearer investment as evinced in marked wage and opportunity differences between graduate and non-graduate forms of employment. The theory of employability can be difficult to identify; there can be many factors that contribute to the idea of being employable. Purpose. In light of HE expansion and the declining value of degree-level qualifications, the ever-anxious middle classes have to embark upon new strategies to achieve positional advantages for securing sought-after employment. Conversely, traditional middle-class graduates are more able to add value to their credentials and more adept at exploiting their pre-existing levels of cultural capital, social contacts and connections (Ball, 2003; Power and Whitty, 2006). The theory rests on the assumption that Conservative governments in this time period made an accommodation with the social democratic policy . Moreau and Leathwood reported strong tendencies for graduates to attribute their labour market outcomes and success towards personal attributes and qualities as much as the structure of available opportunities. The shift to wards a knowledge econo my where k nowledge workers Beck, U. and Beck-Gernsheim, E. (2002) Individualization, London: Sage. These negotiations continue well into graduates working lives, as they continue to strive towards establishing credible work identities. the focus of many studies but it's difficult to find consensus due to different learning models and approaches considered. Historically, the majority of employability research and practice pertained to vocational rehabilitation or to the attractiveness and selection of job candidates. Employability is a promise to employees that they will hold the accomplishments to happen new occupations rapidly if their occupations end out of the blue ( Baruch, 2001 ) . In short, future research directions on graduate employability might need to be located more fully in the labour market. Thetable below has been compiled by a range of UK-based companies (see company details at the end of this guide), and it lists the Top 10 Employability Skills which they look for in potential employees - that means you! Such perceptions are likely to be reinforced by not only the increasingly flexible labour market that graduates are entering, but also the highly differentiated system of mass HE in the United Kingdom. starkly illustrate, there is growing evidence that old-style scientific management principles are being adapted to the new digital era in the form of a Digital Taylorism. What has perhaps been characteristic of more recent policy discourses has been the strong emphasis on harnessing HE's activities to meet changing economic demands. Individual employability is defined as alumnus being able . (eds.) French sociologist and criminologist Emile . Employability skills include the soft skills that allow you to work well with others, apply knowledge to solve problems, and to fit into any work environment. Reay, D., Ball, S.J. Employment relations is the study of the regulation of the employment relationship between employer and employee, both collectively and individually, and the determination . The end of work and its commentators, The Sociological Review 55 (1): 81103. However, there are concerns that the shift towards mass HE and, more recently, more whole-scale market-driven reforms may be intensifying class-cultural divisions in both access to specific forms of HE experience and subsequent economic outcomes in the labour market (Reay et al., 2006; Strathdee, 2011). Graduate employability is clearly a problem that goes far wider than formal participation in HE, and is heavily bound up in the coordination, regulation and management of graduate employment through the course of graduate working lives. Rae, D. (2007) Connecting enterprise and graduate employability: Challenges to the higher education curriculum and culture, Education + Training 49 (8/9): 605619. (1972) Graduates: The Sociology of an Elite, London: Methuen. For graduates, the process of realising labour market goals, of becoming a legitimate and valued employee, is a continual negotiation and involves continual identity work. Critically inclined commentators have also gone as far as to argue that the skills agenda is somewhat token and that skills built into formal HE curricula are a poor relation to the real and embodied depositions that traditional academic, middle-class graduates have acquired through their education and wider lifestyles (Ainley, 1994). Universities have experienced heightened pressures to respond to an increasing range of internal and external market demands, reframing the perceived value of their activities and practices. This relates largely to the ways in which they approach the job market and begin to construct and manage their individual employability, mediated largely through the types of work-related dispositions and identities that they are developing. This tends to be reflected in the perception among graduates that, while graduating from HE facilitates access to desired employment, it also increasingly has a limited role (Tomlinson, 2007; Brooks and Everett, 2009; Little and Archer, 2010). Fevre, R. (2007) Employment insecurity and social theory: The power of nightmares, Work, Employment and Society 21 (3): 517535. In the context of a knowledge economy, consensus theory advocates that knowledge, skills and innovation are the driving factors of our society. This tends to manifest itself in the form of positional conflict and competition between different groups of graduates competing for highly sought-after forms of employment (Brown and Hesketh, 2004). Brooks, R. and Everett, G. (2009) Post-graduate reflections on the value of a degree, British Educational Research Journal 35 (3): 333349. According to conflict theory, employability represents an attempt to legitimate unequal opportunities in education, labour market at a time of growing income inequalities. What such research has shown is that the wider cultural features of graduates frame their self-perceptions, and which can then be reinforced through their interactions within the wider employment context. The paper then explores research on graduates labour market returns and outcomes, and the way they are positioned in the labour market, again highlighting the national variability to graduates labour market outcomes. Department for Education (DFE). The consensus theory of employability states that enhancing graduates' employability and advancing their careers requires improving their human capital, specically their skill development (Selvadurai et al.2012). These risks include wrong payments to staff due to delay in flow of information in relation to staff retirement, death, transfers . Consensus v. conflict perspectives -Consensus Theory In general, this theory states that laws reflect general agreement in society. The consensus theory is based o n the propositions that technological innovation is the driving force of so cial change. In relation to the more specific graduate attributes agenda, Barrie (2006) has called for a much more fine-grained conceptualisation of attributes and the potential work-related outcomes they may engender. (2003) The Future of Higher Education, London: HMSO. Wilton, N. (2008) Business graduates and management jobs: An employability match made in heaven? Journal of Education and Work 21 (2): 143158. Various analysis of graduate returns (Brown and Hesketh, 2004; Green and Zhu, 2010) have highlighted the significant disparities that exist among graduates; in particular, some marked differences between the highest graduate earners and the rest. Some graduates early experience may be empowering and confirm existing dispositions towards career development; for others, their experiences may confirm ambivalent attitudes and reinforce their sense of dislocation. %PDF-1.7 However, further significant is the potential degrading of traditional middle-class management-level work through its increasing standardisation and routinisation (Brown et al., 2011). Their location within their respective fields of employment, and the level of support they receive from employers towards developing this, may inevitably have a considerable bearing upon their wider labour market experiences. 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