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Use of Portfolios in a Soft Skills Course
--
Sireesha Mamidenna
Soft skills are very important in the workplace today. These skills reflect the ability
to communicate and interact with others. Their uniqueness lies in the emphasis on the
actionable component. Most of the professional programs are now including courses on soft skills.
Several methods have been adopted for documenting the learning and for assessing the
effectiveness of various courses at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The portfolio
approach provides an alternative mode of assessment, adopted these days to reflect the learning
process, as well as to assess student performance. There are several benefits of the portfolio
approach that make use of portfolios attractive to students, faculty and the administrators of
various educational institutions.
© 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Target Group and Communication
-- Sutapa Banerjee
One can never comprehend the world in its present shape and form without the presence
of communication. Since the dawn of civilization, communication has played a pivotal role
in strengthening human relationships. It also has been instrumental in furthering progress in
the realms of science and technology. Since communication plays an integral part in human
life, there is the need for knowing the `target group'. Unless the communicator studies and
analyzes his target group, his communication is, in all likelihood, bound to be ineffective. As a
matter of fact, a detailed survey at every sphere of life, makes one realize how essential it is to
study the target group and estimate a profile to execute the task of communication, effectively.
One can survey a whole range of cases, replete with examples, which show the truth of the above.
It needs to be remembered that successful and effective communication is the only way to
help fulfill the objective of getting good response and feedback.
© 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Impact of Soft Skills in the Professional Domain
-- Manishankar Chakraborty
The importance of soft skills in one's professional life has increased manifold.
Earlier, professionals were more inclined towards domain-related expertise, but now they are
more oriented towards a blend of domain know-how and soft skills. The organizational
culture, along with the approach of the management in imbibing soft skills in their employees, play
a very important role in embracing soft skills in the overall organizational structure. This
paper, based on a study, tries to bring out the importance and impact of soft skills on professionals.
© 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Indian BPOs: Transforming Aloks
and Nainas into Alecs n Nancys
--
Salonee Priya
Globalization has led to the expansion of business outsourcing, where English has become
the global business language. India dominates the English speaking markets since the
British colonial rule has left its deep imprints on India. However, the way English is spoken in
India differs from the way it is spoken at other places. Thus, voice and accent training have
become an integral part of the training in voice-based BPOs. Voice and accent training entail
the teaching of proper articulation of segmental sounds, i.e., consonants, vowels and
diphthongs, while keeping in mind, the mother tongue influence. Stress, rhythm and intonation are
three important suprasegmental elements used in English. Training in these suprasegmental
features is also imparted in order to render better comprehensibility to the speech of call
center employees. This article discusses various issues to be considered, while providing accent
training to employees working in Indian BPOs. The vowel shift in American English, semantic
differences between British and American English, as well as the rate of speech are few areas which
are also delved upon.
© 2009 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
Stress Management Training: A Boon to Employee Wellness!
--
Rajasshrie Suressh Dhobale
Employee wellness is the need of the hour. It's not just a responsibility but also the
required investment for an organization to have a healthy work culture. There are four parameters
for employee wellnessphysical fitness, nutrition, health education and stress
management. Stress management is not just a part of soft skills training, but is also a part of
employee wellness programs today. Employers are trying different strategies to
destress their employees. Stress management training helps to develop employee
wellness, thereby increasing productivity.
© 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Why Do Willfully Designed Teams Fail?
Factors Leading to Team Dysfunction
--
Vandana Sharma, Iti Roychowdhury and Meenu Verma
Be it in the field of business, politics, education or sports, it is teamwork that builds
camaraderie and trust among the members. Teamwork
improves a company's performance, boosts
employee's wellbeing, enhances employee's interest and motivation, reduces fluctuations in
employee's performance, improves work morale and minimizes the stress level so that employees
may come up with new ideas and improve their performance. Organizations are formed with
the collaborative and coordinated efforts of team members. These team members work
towards the common objective of pursuing organizational goals. In order to generate maximum
output, team members are trained in team building activities. Nowadays, corporate houses
spend huge amounts of money in conducting outbound training programs for their
employees. However, there are situations when these teams of skilled professionals, who value
teamwork, dysfunction. The present study is an attempt to find out the various factors which lead to
team dysfunction. Once the causes are identified, timely curative measures can be taken to
avoid major losses.
© 2009 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
Sources of Stress for Management Students:
A Descriptive Analysis
-- Neeta Sinha and Ritu Sharma
This paper, based on a study conducted at a premier B-School in Ahmedabad, India,
discusses different kinds of stress faced by management students. A stress checklist for students is used
to determine the major sources of stress among management students, who were in the first
semester of their MBA program. The scale consists of 32 potentially stressful situations. The
checklist addresses academic, intrapersonal, environmental, interpersonal, placement-related
concerns and financial issues as sources of stress. The participants were 138 students in the age
group of 20-25 yrs. The study shows that five major sources of stress are: increased class
workload, placement issues like package and job profile, problem in some subjects due to
varied backgrounds in graduation, and change in sleeping habits due to poor time
management. The findings from this study may further be used to construct a suitable and
reliable psychometric device, to assess the degree of psychological stress experienced by students
of professional courses. The results from this study also place importance on the training
needs for stress management in professional courses, which can be designed on the basis of
these stressors.
© 2009 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
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