Supply Chain Complexity: The Role of Soft Skills in Effective Complexity Management

Abstract

Global supply chains are increasingly characterised by growing complexity, particularly resulting from globalisation, digitalisation and volatile environmental influences. While existing approaches to supply chain complexity management (SCCM) focus primarily on technological solutions and structural measures, the influence of the human factor has so far been insufficiently considered. This paper addresses this issue by examining the relevance of soft skills in SCCM and their individual contribution to effective SCCM. Furthermore, recommendations for companies and individual persons are derived. The analysis is based on a structured overview of the relevant soft skills in supply chain management (SCM) which is deduced from existing literature. The overview is divided into four categories: cognitive, self-management, social & communicative, and leadership & change skills. Building on this, a qualitative research design was implemented with 17 guided interviews with experts from the sectors retail and industry examining several areas of the supply chain (SC). The evaluation was conducted using qualitative content analysis, combining deductive and inductive elements to determine the relevance of individual soft skills and to identify their connection to dimensions of supply chain complexity (SCC) as well as to existing strategies of reduction, absorption, and prevention. The results show that soft skills should not be understood as supporting secondary factors, but as central enablers of SCCM. The findings reveal that both intrapersonal and interpersonal soft skills are crucial for effective SCCM. Furthermore, each skill contributes to SCCM in its own way, but does not act in isolation from the others. Rather, they gain influence through interaction. Across the interviews, two central functions emerged: soft skills provide orientation by structuring information and conveying direction and they secure the ability to act by enabling decisions, flexible responses, and perseverance in volatile contexts. Moreover, the study shows that specific soft skills are more closely tied to different dimensions of complexity than to distinct SCCM strategies. This highlights the need for companies to become more aware of the complexity they face and cultivate targeted soft skills by embedding them in human resource development to complement technological tools and organizational measures. By placing greater emphasis on the human factor, the work contributes to the scientific progress regarding SCCM and offers companies concrete starting points for integrating human skills into a sustainable approach to dealing with complexity

Date of Award	2025
Original language	English
Supervisor	Veit Kohnhauser (Supervisor)