Of Changing Needs and Mismatched Expectations: Teaching Business Communication in Indian Business Schools

Abstract

The exploratory research uses the framework of Communication Studies and Sociology to demonstrate how restructuring of social hierarchies impacts language use in the Business Communication class of an Indian management institute. The study examines how dominant communication practices are being subverted by issues of identity, power, privilege, sociopolitical forces and technological transformation. It suggests that instructors teaching Business Communication may benefit by aligning their pedagogy to the sensibilities of the present generation of management students. The paper is premised on the interpretivist belief that meanings and identities are socially constructed through respondents’ engagement with everyday realities. Twenty-two in-depth personal interviews were conducted with participants of the postgraduate programme in management and instructors of Business Communication. Further, a questionnaire was administered to 51 participants of an executive management programme to understand attitudes towards language use at the workplace. The responses indicate that a variant of indigenised English appears to be acquiring legitimacy amongst young professionals, while instructors continue to emphasise grammatical accuracy, blindsided by their training in language and literature. Therefore, to cater to the next generation of managers, instructors may have to shed their bias against non-formal expressions in English, and consider focusing on the functional aspects more important for intra-national purposes.