ALIGNMENT OF WORK SKILLS FOR MANAGEMENT PROFESSIONALS IN SOUTHERN PERU

Objective: Informal employment in Latin America, especially in Peru, poses challenges to job stability, as workers' skills are not aligned with market needs, leading to increased unemployment and underemployment. It is crucial for universities that offer management programs in Peru to understand the labor market, identify the necessary competencies for their graduates, and update their curricula accordingly. This study analyzes the competencies required for management professionals in southern Peru, identifying gaps and proposing solutions to improve education-employment alignment. Method: A survey with 33 multiple-choice questions was conducted among 41 private companies and 20 public institutions. Exploratory factor analysis was used to categorize competencies and the Wilcoxon test was used to determine the gap between the supply and demand of skills. Result and Conclusion: The results reveal three categories of competencies: specific, interpersonal and technological, highlighting skills such as teamwork, adaptability to change, ethical behavior, commitment to quality, and decision making. A gap is observed where demand exceeds supply, indicating an unmet need for competencies, except in social responsibility and civic engagement. Research implications: These findings are valuable for universities offering management programs in Peru, as they allow curriculum improvement and, consequently, optimize the teaching-learning process, as well as rationalize efforts and resources to meet labor market demands. Originality/value: It addresses a real and relevant issue that affects both graduates and companies in the specific context of southern Peru, providing a more detailed and contextualized understanding of the challenges and opportunities in this region.


INTRODUCTION
In Europe, systemic competencies, especially interpersonal ones, are highly valued in the labor market (Freire et al., 2011), whereas in Latin America, the landscape is more complex, with structural heterogeneity and a prevalence of informal employment (David et al., 2020).This creates difficulties for companies in the search for qualified personnel, indicating a gap between education and work (Novick, 2017).
Currently, universities are focused on providing quality education that aligns with the demands of the labor market (Giraldo et al., 2021).Learning outcomes encompass competencies, knowledge, and skills that students should expect to acquire during their educational process (Wagenaar, 2014;Zaitseva & Quadrado, 2019).The Tuning project, initiated in 2000-2001, was crucial in establishing this approach by linking competencies with learning outcomes and the development of educational profiles (Goel et al., 2021).Since the Bologna Declaration in 1999, the outcomes-based approach has gained traction in European higher education institutions (Cumming & Ross, 2007).However, a lack of competency-based teaching is observed in Latin America (Palmieri, 2023).The transition from knowledge-based to competency-based curricula has been challenging, especially in adapting teaching practices (Jerez et al., 2016).Furthermore, the lack of pedagogical training for instructors worldwide also contributes to this deficiency in competency-based teaching (Kaynardağ, 2019).
In the Peruvian business environment, high value is placed on interpersonal competencies such as teamwork and customer orientation, coupled with analytical skills, proactivity, and proficiency in tools like Excel and English (Becerra & La Serna, 2010;Tello et al., 2023).Therefore, it is essential for Peruvian universities offering management programs, whether with established accreditation or in the continuous improvement process, to have a deep understanding of the labor market.This understanding involves recognizing the necessary competencies and the desired academic and behavioral profile.Adopting this perspective allows educational institutions to accurately identify the skills their graduates must possess, thus enhancing their employability and facilitating the updating of competency-based curricula.This 3 strategy optimizes the teaching-learning process, maximizes resource utilization, and ensures that academic programs are aligned with the demands of the current labor market, thus promoting continuous improvement of the institution.
This study provides detailed information on the labor market for management professionals, with the aim of identifying the most sought-after competencies and defining the academic profile required for management graduates.The research focuses on analyzing the demands of the labor market for managers in Southern Peru, in order to determine the gap between the supply and demand of competencies in this field.Exploratory factor analysis is performed to identify three main factors that explain the variability of required competencies: specific competencies, interpersonal competencies, and technological business competencies.The most requested competencies by both companies and public institutions are examined and a comparative analysis between them is performed.The Wilcoxon signed rank test is used to assess the gap between supply and demand.

Competencies
The concept of competence encompasses the holistic education of citizens in cognitive, psychomotor, and affective areas.Refers to the ability to solve problems in specific contexts, combining knowledge, skills, and attitudes (Beneitone, 2007).In the workplace, it implies having the knowledge, skills and ethical attitudes to perform tasks successfully (Guevara de la Rosa, 2013).That is, it is the ability to perform effectively, mobilizing acquired resources (Boyatzis, 2008;Cano, 2005).In Tuning Europe, they are understood as a dynamic combination of knowledge, understanding, capacities, and skills, continuously developed and assessed continuously (Beneitone et al., 2007).Likewise, the Tuning Project 2004-2007 for Latin America proposes a distinction between generic and specific competencies.Generic competencies include skills and attitudes considered fundamental for professional performance in any field, while specific competencies focus more on the skills necessary for business management.Among the generic competencies are abstraction, analysis, and synthesis skills, practical application of knowledge, time planning, social and citizen engagement, effective communication, use of information technology, and capacity for research and continuous learning.On the other hand, specific competencies encompass areas such as strategic planning, business risk management, process optimization, logistics management, administrative control, interpretation of accounting and financial information, managerial decision making, leadership, human talent management, administrative innovation, entrepreneurship, use of information and communication technologies, among others.
Likewise, (Bisquerra Alzina & Escoda, 2007) present a classification of competencies into two categories: sociopersonal and technical-professional.The category of sociopersonal competencies includes skills and attitudes related to emotional and social aspects.These competencies include motivation, self-confidence, self-control, patience, self-criticism, autonomy, stress management, assertiveness, responsibility, empathy, team spirit, and altruism.Technical-professional competencies refer to the mastery of specific knowledge and skills related to a profession or field of study.This includes the mastery of basic and specialized knowledge, the mastery of tasks and skills required in the profession, the mastery of necessary techniques, organizational capacity, coordination and management of the environment, networking, adaptation and innovation, decision-making, and conflict prevention and resolution.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
This study focuses on analyzing the necessary competencies for management professionals in southern Peru.To this end, a questionnaire was designed to assess the perception of private companies and public institutions regarding the most relevant competencies and to identify possible skill gaps between recent graduates and the labor demands of management professionals.The questionnaire consisted of 33 multiple choice questions.In its development, generic and specific competencies for administration from the Tuning Project 2004-2007 for Latin America were considered, as well as the competencies demanded by the Peruvian labor market, as identified by (Becerra & La Serna, 2010), along with contributions from various authors.The selected competencies have been adapted to the business management culture in southern Peru, as they are distinguished by their uniqueness rooted in the local culture.The chosen generic and specific competencies are detailed in Table 1.(Becerra & La Serna, 2010;Beneitone et al., 2007;Tiesheva, 2022) Identifying functional interrelationships within the organization 24 (Agarwal, 1983;Becerra & La Serna, 2010) ___________________________________________________________________________ 5 Developing, evaluating, and managing projects 25 (Becerra & La Serna, 2010;Raffaini & Manfredi, 2022) Interpreting accounting information and financial statements for decision-making 26 (Beneitone et al., 2007;Das, 2023;Mohammed, 2022) Using cost information for planning, control, and decision-making 27 (Effiok & Bessong, 2016;Łazarczyk, 2020) Making investment, financing, and financial resource management decisions in the organization 28 (Begiełło, 2022;Beneitone et al., 2007;Grozdanovska et al., 2017) Managing and developing human talent in the organization 29 (Beneitone et al., 2007;Sen, 2023;Tokoro, 2023) Identifying opportunities for starting new businesses 30 (Beneitone et al., 2007;Rowshan & Adnani, 2014) Applying Marketing and Market Research knowledge in defining solutions 31 (Becerra & La Serna, 2010;Romano & Ratnatunga, 1995) Formulating and optimizing information systems for management 32 (Awulor et al., 2022;Becerra & La Serna, 2010;Beneitone et al., 2007) Managing functional processes of marketing, finance, operations, and human talent in organizations 33 (Becerra & La Serna, 2010;Singh, 2012) Source: Own development based on the authors studied (2024).
The study was carried out in private companies and public institutions in the city of Cusco, Peru.Those maintaining links with the university were selected, with priority given to those willing to host students for preprofessional internships.Two study groups were formed: one consisted of 175 companies affiliated with the Cusco Chamber of Commerce, from which 41 were selected; and another of 80 public institutions influential in the city, from which a sample of 20 was drawn.These criteria were based on their relevance and representativeness in the context of southern Peru, as the companies are associated with the Cusco Chamber of Commerce, a significant institution that brings together formal businesses, traders, and entrepreneurs from the region, and the public institutions representing the 13 Cusco provinces.In the investigation, Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to assess the reliability of a scale.The results revealed a Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.978 for the supply and 0.983 for the demand, suggesting that the scale items are highly correlated with each other, indicating very high reliability in measuring the variable in question.This finding reinforces confidence in the validity of the results obtained through this scale and underscores the robustness of the research conducted.
Through exploratory factor analysis, underlying patterns are discovered, and the complexity of data regarding the most important competencies in the labor market is reduced.Identify three main factors that explain the majority of total variability: specific competencies, interpersonal competencies, and technological business competencies.Subsequently, the most requested competencies are identified through a frequency table.Finally, the gap between the supply and demand of competencies is evaluated through the Wilcoxon test.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
To uncover underlying patterns and reduce data complexity, as well as validate theoretical foundations within the study's context, an exploratory factor analysis of competencies demanded by private companies and public institutions was implemented.The principal component method was employed, determining the number of principal components based on the criterion that their eigenvalue exceeds unity.In addition, the Varimax method was applied to minimize the number of variables with high loadings in each factor.It was verified 6 that the shared correlation among competencies, according to the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy, is 0.916, considered good; similarly, the significance of Bartlett's sphericity test is 0.000 < 0.05.For rotation, the orthogonal Varimax rotation method was considered, with the aim of minimizing the number of competencies with high loads in each factor, as shown in Table 2.  Table 3 shows that three components or factors explain 74.60% of the total variance.These three factors were named specific competencies, interpersonal competencies, and technological business competencies.The naming of these factors is based on theoretical foundations.Factor 1, specific competencies, has an explanatory power of 65.84% of the total variance (29.76% with rotated axes).It includes competencies such as: making investment decisions, financing and managing financial resources in the organization; managing and developing human talent in the organization; interpreting accounting information and financial statements for decision-making; using cost information for planning, control, and decisionmaking; developing, evaluating, and managing projects; applying marketing knowledge and market research in defining solutions; managing functional processes in marketing, finance, operations, and human talent in organizations; developing strategic plans; identifying opportunities for new business ventures; customer orientation; improving and innovating administrative processes; developing, implementing, and managing administrative control systems; managing a comprehensive logistics system; results orientation; and leadership.Factor 2, interpersonal competencies, accounts for an explanatory power of 5.64% of the total variance (28.95% with rotated axes).It includes competencies such as identifying and solving problems, social responsibility and civic engagement, generating new ideas (creativity), continuous learning and updating, teamwork, applying knowledge in practice, ethical behavior, analytical and synthesis skills, adaptability to change, decision-making ability, commitment to quality, and strategic vision.Factor 3, business technological competencies, has an explanatory power of 3.11% of the total variance (15.88% with rotated axes).It includes competencies such as research skills, proficiency in the English language, oral and written communication, identifying functional interrelationships within the organization, formulating and optimizing information systems for management, and mastery of the Excel program.
However, for competencies such as managing functional processes in marketing, finance, operations, and human talent in organizations; improving and innovating administrative processes; results orientation; leadership; decision-making ability, and strategic vision, it seems that they share their variance with factors 1 and 2. The same applies to competencies such as developing, evaluating, and managing projects; applying marketing knowledge and market research in defining solutions; developing, implementing, and managing administrative control systems; managing a comprehensive logistics system; identifying functional interrelationships within the organization; and formulating and optimizing information systems for management, which share their variances with factors 1 and 3.Meanwhile, oral and written communication does so between factors 2 and 3.

Competencies most demanded
Table 4 details the most demanded competencies, evaluated by mean and standard deviation to measure the consistency of the responses.Among the competencies most sought after by companies and public entities are: teamwork, adaptability to change, ethical behavior, commitment to quality, decision-making ability, social responsibility and civic engagement, continuous learning, creativity, practical application of knowledge, and mastery of Excel, all with means above 3.4.Four competencies stand out, particularly with means above 4.5: teamwork, adaptability to change, ethical behavior, and commitment to quality.The competencies with the most uniform responses are Excel mastery, adaptability to change, analytical and synthesis skills, teamwork, and commitment to quality.However, the least demanded competencies include proficiency in English, use of cost information for planning and decision making, project management, financial decisions, and application of marketing and market research knowledge in defining solutions.Specific competencies: In Table 5, it is highlighted that among the most demanded specific competencies are leadership, customer orientation, results orientation, and improving and innovating administrative processes.In contrast, the least requested specific competencies include using cost information for planning, control, and decision-making, followed by developing, evaluating, and managing projects, making investment decisions, financing, and managing financial resources in the organization, and applying marketing knowledge and market research in defining solutions.It is worth noting that all competencies, except one, have a mean score higher than 4.1, indicating that companies and public entities consider them important for the effective performance of a management professional.Among the 15 specific competencies selected in this study, the first four exceed the threshold of 4.3, highlighting their great relevance.Only the competency of using cost information for planning, control, and decision-making has a score lower than 4.1.
Interpersonal competencies: In Table 5, it is highlighted that among the most demanded interpersonal competencies are teamwork, adaptability to change, ethical behavior, and commitment to quality.In contrast, the least requested interpersonal competencies include strategic vision, analytical and synthesis skills, problem identification and resolution, and applying knowledge in practice.It is worth noting that all competencies have a mean score higher than 4.2, indicating that companies and public entities consider them important for the effective performance of a management professional.Among the 12 interpersonal competencies selected in this study, the first four exceed the threshold of 4.5, highlighting their great relevance.This category of interpersonal competencies proves to be the most demanded.
Business technological competencies: In Table 5, it is highlighted that among most demanded business technological competencies are mastery of Excel, oral and written communication, and research skills.In contrast, the least requested competencies include proficiency in the English language, formulating and optimizing information systems for management, and identifying functional interrelationships within the organization.It is worth noting that all competencies have a mean score higher than 4.2, except for two of them, indicating that companies and public entities consider them important for the effective performance of a management professional.Among the 6 business technological competencies selected in this study, the first three exceed the threshold of 4.3, highlighting their great relevance.Only proficiency in the English language has a score lower than 4.0.

Gap between demand and supply of competencies
Finally, the gap between the demand and supply of competencies in the labor market for management professionals is determined; for this, the gap is calculated by taking the difference between the demand and the supply.For the latter, companies and public institutions evaluated the level of development of the skill or competency in a recent graduate of the management career working within their organization; the result of this evaluation constitutes the supply of competencies.Table 5 presents the demand, supply, gap (difference between demand and supply) and the significance of the Wilcoxon signed rank test.It is noteworthy that, out of the 33 competencies evaluated, only one, social responsibility and civic engagement, does supply exceed demand; however, this discrepancy is not statistically significant.In other words, for all competencies except one, the demand for competencies from companies and public institutions is greater than the supply provided by management graduates.These findings indicate the presence of unmet demand in most competencies in the labor market for management professionals.Regarding specific competencies, demand exceeds supply.The demand-supply gap is significant in eight competencies, which are making investment decisions, financing, and managing financial resources in the organization, managing and developing human talent in the organization, developing, implementing, and managing administrative control systems, leadership, developing strategic plans, interpreting accounting information and financial statements for decision-making, managing the functional processes of marketing, finance, operations, and human talent in organizations, and identifying opportunities to start new businesses (p value < 0.05).The specific competency with the smallest demand-supply gap is customer orientation, as observed in Figure 1.Regarding interpersonal competencies, the competency of social responsibility and citizenship commitment is the only one where supply exceeds demand; in all others, demand exceeds supply.However, the demand-supply gap is only significant in the competencies of generating new ideas (creativity) and decision-making ability (p-value < 0.05).The interpersonal competency with the smallest demand-supply gap is teamwork, as observed in Figure 2. Regarding business technological competencies, the demand-supply gap is only significant in three competencies, which are proficiency in the English language, mastery of the Excel program, and formulating and optimizing information systems for management (p-value < 0.05).The business technological competency with the smallest demand-supply gap is oral and written communication, as observed in Figure 3.

DISCUSSION
The research provides a detailed insight into the competencies most demanded by the labor market in the field of management in Peru, which are teamwork, adaptability to change, ethical behavior, commitment to quality, decision-making ability, social responsibility and civic participation, continuous learning and updating, generating new ideas (creativity), applying knowledge in practice, and proficiency in the Excel program, mainly.These findings align with previous research, such as that of (Becerra & La Serna, 2010), which highlights the importance of interpersonal skills, teamwork, and customer orientation, and with (Alvarez et al., 2022), which mentions the demand for both soft and hard skills for managerial positions, with an emphasis on leadership and assertive communication.
The socioeconomic and cultural context in southern Peru significantly influences professional management.Values such as collaboration and solidarity are fundamental and the ability to work in teams is crucial to both labor and social success, as pointed out by (Rodriguez et al., 2023).Rapid adaptation to changes is essential in a country that undergoes constant economic, social and political evolution.Effective and timely decision making is crucial for leadership and efficient management in an environment of economic growth and diverse challenges.Digital and technological skills in management are highlighted (Gilli et al., 2023), and continuous learning and innovation are necessary to maintain competitiveness in the globalized labor market, as noted (Xu, 2023).Practical application of knowledge is essential for professional success, and mastery of technological tools such as Excel is required in various fields (Szabo & Psenakova, 2017).Companies value integrity and honesty, as well as a commitment to quality and social responsibility, to build trust relationships and maintain a solid reputation in a competitive business environment and a society facing social and environmental challenges, as stated (Gonzalez, 2021).
After the exploratory factor analysis, three dimensions of competency were identified: specific, interpersonal, and technological business competencies.The most sought after specific competencies in southern Peru, such as leadership, customer orientation, and innovation in administrative processes, are vital for management success.Strong leadership fosters collaboration, customer orientation maintains competitiveness, and innovation in processes allows adaptation to constant changes (Tyukhtenko & Garafonova, 2022).The low demand for cost management competencies is attributed to a lack of training, prioritization of other competencies, and limited access to detailed cost information.Interpersonal competencies, such as teamwork, adaptability to change, and ethical behavior, are equally crucial.Teamwork facilitates creative problem solving, adaptability to change is vital in a dynamic environment, and ethical behavior builds trust in a competitive market (Svagzdiene et al., 2022).On the other hand, the low demand for skills in strategic vision and analysis is due to a lack of focus on the long term, training limitations, and organizational culture.Business technological competencies, such as the mastery of Excel and effective communication, are highly sought after.Peruvian companies seek professionals with these skills to improve efficiency.Although effective communication is essential, the demand for English may be limited due to the predominance of Spanish, local focus, and priorities in other competencies.
Competencies in educational programs and training are not adequately addressed because, in the labor market in southern Peru, a gap between the supply and demand of competencies is identified, with demand exceeding available supply.This phenomenon reflects a similar trend to that observed by (Becerra & La Serna, 2010) in the Peruvian labor market in the economic-business sphere.These authors point out difficulties in the development of emotional intelligence, integration into the work team, and corporate policies, lack of proactivity and action orientation, as well as commitment and sense of process.Additionally, they identify deficiencies in analytical skills, problem solving, attention to detail, and communication skills, along with deficiencies in advanced mastery of the English language and the Excel program.To close the gap between the skills demanded and those acquired during the training of management professionals in Peru, measures are proposed such as updating curriculum programs, promoting work placements, fostering partnerships between educational institutions and companies, and promoting continuous education programs.

CONCLUSIONS
The exploratory factor analysis conducted to identify the underlying patterns and validate the theoretical foundations of the competencies demanded in the context of the study revealed three main factors: specific competencies, interpersonal competencies, and technological business competencies.These factors together explain 74.60% of the total variance.The competencies most demanded by companies and public institutions include teamwork, adaptation to change, ethical behavior, commitment to quality, decision-making ability, social responsibility and civic engagement, continuous learning, creativity, practical application of knowledge, and mastery of Excel.Four competencies stand out with means above 4.5: teamwork, adaptation to change, ethical behavior, and commitment to quality.A gap is observed between the demand and supply of competencies in the labor market.In most of the competencies evaluated, demand exceeds the supply provided by graduate school graduates, suggesting a need for improvement in the training of these professionals to meet the demands of the labor market.Competencies with the greatest gaps between demand and supply include decision making on investment, financing, and financial resource management in the organization, developing, implementing, and managing administrative control systems, and leadership, among others.
The results allow universities in Peru to have a deep understanding of the labor market.This understanding implies recognition of the necessary competencies.Adopting this perspective allows educational institutions to accurately identify the skills their graduates must possess, which, in turn, enhances their employability and facilitates the updating of competency-based curricula.This strategy optimizes the teaching-learning process, maximizes resource utilization, and ensures that academic programs are aligned with the demands of the current labor market, thus promoting continuous improvement of the institution.It is important to recognize that these competencies have been adapted to Peru's reality.A longitudinal follow- ___________________________________________________________________________ Rev. Gest.Soc.Ambient.| Miami | v.18.n.2 | p.1-18 | e04863 | 2024.

Figure 1 :
Figure 1: Gap between supply and demand of specific competencies Source: Own development based on the data obtained (2024).

Figure 2 :
Figure 2: Gap between supply and demand of interpersonal competencies Source: Own development based on the data obtained (2024).

Figure 3 :
Figure 3: Gap between supply and demand of business technological competencies Source: Own development based on the data obtained (2024).

Table 1 :
Selected generic and specific competencies

Table 2 :
Total explained matrix Note: Varimax rotation method with Kaiser normalization.

Table 3 :
Total explained variance Own development based on the data obtained (2024).

Table 4 :
Competencies demanded by companies and public institutions Own development based on the data obtained (2024).

Table 5 :
Gap between supply and demand of competencies