MBA courses boost interpersonal skills

The results of a benchmarking exercise conducted about five years ago convinced Hong Kong Polytechnic University's faculty of business that it was time to update its MBA programme.

The survey showed that respected local and overseas institutions were still teaching all the hard skills of finance, accountancy and management theory. However, they were also starting to introduce new modules focusing on the range of soft skills which business professionals need to make it to the top.

'We realised that to be a good manager it was also necessary to have interpersonal skills and the ability to build and motivate teams, so we decided to incorporate these elements,' PolyU's MBA programme director Warren Chiu Chi-kwan said.

Subsequently, when deciding on a suitable course structure and content, the faculty turned to a trusted adviser - Confucius. The faculty had recognised early on that the ancient sage's traditional concept of training based on learning, thinking and executing, was an ideal model for teaching modern-day professional skills.

So, after identifying key requirements such as presenting, negotiating, leadership, problem-solving and writing proposals, professors assigned each to one of the three categories. This helped to ensure comprehensive coverage and made it easier to create a good balance between instruction, discussion, role-plays and other teaching methods.

The topic of change management, for example, is taught mainly through case studies. Each is deliberately chosen to illustrate an all too common scenario, such as conflict between a company's marketing and production departments.