Managerial Communication – 3

Interpersonal communication is probably the most challenging area of managerial communication. This so happens because, every human being has the right to refuse to be part of a conversation. No amount of force can guarantee that the other party is actually listening. Hence, a managers communications style needs to have an element of persuasion in it. Only the tool of persuasion can increase the possibility of participation of the other party in a conversation. This has to be complemented by refined communication skills.

The case in point are interviews. Giving an interview is an art. Contrary to most of our thoughts, interviews these days are in no way a willingness of the interviewer to know you. Few jobs and many applications gives them this liberty (I am, of course, not considering the IT sector of India which is in need of a lot of talent). Hence, it is important that with each question, the interviewee puts forth her candidature with assertion. Interviewees commonly answer the questions put to them literally and hence fail. Only if with each answer a candidate proves a point about her characteristics can she, at the end of an interview, be sure of the success. At the end of each answer, the interviewer should have some additional information about the interviewee which reinforces her application for the job. This art of giving a convincing interview can be perfected by some persistent practice though, it must be admitted that interviews can place even the best in a spot. Hence all the more reason to develop this skill!

This is a good site to start off the interview preparations.

B-School Placements

I am forbidden to talk about the details. Its taboo to do so, hence, do not expect any details on this post! Nonetheless, today concludes the pre-summer placement process here with majority of the companies coming out with their “CV shortlists”. A mixed bag for most people. A lot of egos broken and many hopes thrashed. I have been lucky, and I must thank my amazing academics for that, to have had a fairly decent number of shortlists. But for once, I realized the importance the so called “pedigree” can have. I could name a whole long list of companies (but as I told you its forbidden) who shortlist you just because you are an IITian or NITian. Now to me, who rejected a confirmed seat in Mech. NIT, Trichy, it seems rather amazing. I made a conscious choice to go to a college which is on the rise (DA-IICT) and where I would have the opportunity to learn rather than just ride on the success of my predecessors. Learn, I did and trust me I do not, even with the short shortlist that I have (which is pretty long compared to most people though), regret my decision. I guess its only fair, if my aim is to learn then going to a company that short lists just on the basis of pedigree does not make sense. After all, all they need are show-pieces who can brag about their glorious past and impress people (am I consoling myself here? Shit, I wish I could list these companies). I do not want to do that, its so “demeaning” (now there’s a story related to this word also). I guess for now I’ll prepare for my interviews and GDs tomorrow. Its a sin to be blogging at this point of the placement process! (More in the next post)

Managerial Communication – 2

As mentioned in the earlier blog, non-verbal communication consists of two components, namely, clothing and body-language. In this blog, I will elaborate on the latter. Think of a situation when you met a new person. This could be at a party, lecture, movie or anywhere. What is the first thing that you notice about her or rather what do you think she would first notice about you? It is the body language. Consciously or unconsciously, we are programmed to take all the environmental cues for our judgments. Most people would agree that while meeting, even before verbal communication, we start to form perceptions about her. This might be intuitive but it is largely based on our analysis of the other person’s “body language”. Hence, if it is the first impressions that are important, then having a proper body language is a must.

Body language comprises of numerous things some of which are facial expressions, eye movement, eye contact, gestures, body postures, voice quality, touch, space and distance. These are very simple day-to-day things. However, a simple oratory exercise will convince most people that these are not so simple to control and more importantly coordinate. While our words might be saying something, our eyes are saying something else and our facial expressions or the tone of our voice betray our emotions. These can be very distracting and confusing for a listener in which case one may end up creating an undesired impression.

How to improve upon it? Well, the best way is to be a part of as many oratory exercises, which would include introducing people, addressing a gathering etc. Another thing that is very effective is practicing such simple speeches in front of a mirror or recording it on a camera and critically analyzing the non-verbal cues to see if they bode well with the situation and the tone. A persistent effort in this direction undoubtedly goes a long way in the success of a manager.

Managerial Communication – 1

This is a series of posts on Managerial Communication. This course is taken by Fr. Jesurajan at XLRI and the content derives mostly from my understanding of the course. Communication is the activity that takes up most of the time of a manager. While communication involves sending and receiving messages, it is not only that. The scope of managerial communication encompasses much more.

 

Managerial communication can be divided into three broad categories namely non-verbal, verbal and organizational. Studies show that non-verbal component comprises of 55% of the managerial communication while the respective percentages for verbal and organizational are 35% and 10%. In this post, I will elaborate upon the non-verbal part of managerial communication which essentially comprises of clothing and body language.

 

Clothing consists not only of the clothes that we wear but also the accessories that we adorn along with the clothes. It is essential for the clothes of a manager to convey the proper status, occasion and philosophy. That is to say, for example, a marketing manager would be expected to wear a decently expensive suit/saree and the colors of the same in alignment with the companies conventions. These clothes, for most, are difficult to buy at one go. Hence, as a managerial student, it is necessay that one starts “building up the wadrobe”. Going to a proper boutique and getting professional help is the way to getting a suitable collection of clothing. One may ask why is clothing so important. Well, firstly, any company would expect its managers to be properly dressed. Not only that, in today’s globalized world, it has become very important for any manager be be able to feel at home anywhere. More important than that is her ability to make people feel comfortable wherever she goes. This inevitably requires for a cosmopolitan style of dressing.

Apart from the clothing, what gives away the origins of a person is the accessories she adorns. The first amongst them is the heavy jewelery/ornaments that make a person look like a countryside person. Following famous sports and film stars in adorning funny looking or heavy jewelery like rings, bracelets etc. is not advisable for a manager. More than anything, this makes the person look superstitious, something that most companies do not appreciate in a manager. Secondly, wearing proper cosmetics (deodorants, scents etc.) is necessary for a manager, especially considering the oppressing weather and the unusually stinking nature of most places in our country. These cosmetics must be bought after some research on its health implications and the intended effect (eg. strong perfumes might be suitable for old people). Thirdly, getting expert advise on hair style is a necessity for a manager. Only with that can a manager, especially a first generation manager, transform her in accordance with the conventions of the managerial world.

This essentially concludes the discussion on clothing in the perspective of managerial communication.

Short Tour of MBA!

Master in Business Administration, that’s what a person is called after getting that coveted degree in MBA. After completing a whole term at one of the top b-schools, I have started to wonder.

Here, from the day 1, people are involved in promising big. Any idea for improvement is easily shrugged aside by saying that “Its in the pipeline” (Just like Indian Government’s pipelines). Class representatives (CR’s) are appointed and guess what, their main purpose is to “negotiate with the admin”. This goes on to such an extent that CR has come to stand for Cancellation and Rescheduling (they negotiate class schedules, postpone exams, assignment submission and what not)! Oh, and talking about the famed placements, there’s such a screwed up system (talking about business administrators) in place that there’s just no scope for aspiring beyond the conventional (You talk about aspiring? Hell, try to get a good summer placement on your own, and you’ll be subject to enough red-tapism so that you just give up). B-school’s a place where its the loudness of your voice that matters, ideas are not just immaterial, but also unwelcome (I mean in practice . In theory they all will harp about amazing ideas!). However, what strikes me is not that such things exist but that nobody even questions them. Everybody just takes this as a norm(Hell, my undergraduate college was much better, at least we thought of doing something worthwhile, and were encouraged). As if that’s not all, there are these “b-plan contests” that are organized by each and every b-school in which the sole purpose of participation is to get some stupid “CV points”. And I thought that these contests were there to excite the students to go for their own start-ups or something like that. The whole perception about everything is so skewed towards career success that I sometimes wonder if this is a place of learning at all. All that happens here is that you get a rubber stamp of an arcane brand so that you get that coveted million rupee job. And interestingly, everybody does admit that that’s their only aim of joining a b-school and I guess that’s the only time when a b-school student is speaking the truth. For once he’s not a hypocrite. Otherwise, MBA’s all about Me Becoming A hypocrite.

The Paradox of Mass Cutomization

Just recently, I was browsing through the library of my institute when I came across an international journal on mass customization. The reason this particular journal caught my attention was not because I am interested in all this stuff. The reason I got interested was the inherent paradox present in the title.

Customization by definition is modifying something for a specific purpose. So we have extra expensive customized cars, bike and what not. Now if this customization is available to everyone, which is what I presume is indicated by mass, what’s so unique about it? One might argue that uniqueness and customization are different but then all the ruckus for customization is because of the uniqueness that it brings. If this uniqueness is itself destroyed by “mass customization”, I wonder what the use of customization is! I guess I will never be able to understand the full import of these confusing terms and probably that’s the reason why I find managers rather incomprehensible at times.