The multifaceted influence of personality on employability demands that the development of effective communication skills becomes an imperative fora PGDM curriculum. The future managers need to learn the skillful art of communicating effectively to their teams, their customers, their suppliers and financiers. To be able to explain and communicate the details of a plan of action, speaking clearly, using accurate, unambiguous language, to avoid disaster, requires the possession of this magical ability of effective communication skills.
This need of acquiring effective communication skills springs from the fact that one often thinks that one knows what one means but can’t communicate it. One needs to be able to communicate facts, ideas, information, and feelings in a clear, confident and professional manner.
As would be managers there will be times when critical feedback needs to be given to people who are not performing in the expected manner. It is important to be able to reprobate people in a style that amends the behavior, gets them to enhance their performance, but does not foul the relationship, as several failures have been caused by the collapse of relationships amongst team members. Management students need to understand that this ability to communicate constructive criticism is indispensable!
Besides this need, to be taught the ability for artful criticism, it is equally vital to be able to possess the ability to communicate appreciation. Aptly timed and worded, distinguishing approbation is one of the most gracious instigators. Although not tangible motivators, these inspire people into action as they are often words that trigger positive emotions such as dignity, loyalty and self-esteem.
Therefore, in order to become good managers, management graduates need to be good at communicating well-timed and unambiguous praise and recognition, unlike poor leaders and managers who are tightfisted and ungenerous in their use of acknowledgement and praise.
As future managers, PGDM students have to develop the ability to keep people motivated and feeling strong. In other words, a world-class PGDM curriculum is supposed to help PGDM students acquire the ability to communicate that interim defeat and failures are not permanent but aligned with the need for constant change, and know that success is inevitable.
The magical ability, that brings about this brand of managerial effectiveness, and affects the minds of listeners, inspires them towards the positive, and which remains with them resonating courage, for a long time, inexorably and undoubtedly needs to be paid attention to and accommodated in a PGDM curriculum that is designed for the implementation of this skill!
At Asian Business School, to increase the relevance with future employment market (including promotion of self-employment), communication skills are made an integral part of skill development. Several aspects of communication in the different semesters are tailored to emphasize communicating empathically and critically in both oral and written contexts, and thus focus at enhancing communication skills that would prove to develop the magical ability for effectiveness in the corporate world.