The importance of social competence as a human resource has its origin in the development of modern society.
The business world of today, more than ever, has to observe its environment thoroughliy, has to meet the specific demands of the customers and has to react immediately and flexibly to the latest technological developments.
Coordination and net working are increasingly important for experts in any field. Social competence is, therefore, indispensable for transferring professional know-how into practical life. Only then, a solid scientific education achieves its potential.
Today, we are acting in a rapidly changing environment in a global context with daily new challenges in our working life. Therefore, we need team players who are able to solve conflicts in difficult situations and who are aware of their personal limits. They need to be able to collaborate within their organization and in complex and intercultural contexts.
Occupational careers are more and more individualized, jobs are changed more often. A good education does not include the guarantee for a good job. Traditional values are changing proportionally with technological advances and the increasing importance of intercultural contexts which makes it necessary for the people to reorganize themselves as well as their social and professional networks. This is the only way to benefit from the increasing diversity of opportunities. And social competence turns out to be a precious human capital in the era of individualisation.
We observe the „hard impact of soft skills“, which means: that we also investigate the economic value of social competence.
Due to the increasing global complexity, higher demands are made on a well running democracy: Our society needs the innovative and intelligent participation of its citizens at regional, national and international levels. Social competence is seen as a capacity to develop creative solutions for unusual tasks as well as social problems and conflicts.