Aligning Leadership Education: Linking Interpersonal Skills Development to Business Needs

Abstract

A disconnect has long existed between what is typically taught in management education programs and what real-world organizations seek in their leadership candidates, particularly regarding interpersonal skills. Primary complaints from the business community revolve around issues of curriculum relevance and delivery methodologies that do not facilitate the transfer of skills learned in the classroom to the workplace. A review of the literature yields very few examples of business programs that have added courses, or topics within existing courses, that address interpersonal skills. We describe a graduate-level course designed to intentionally develop interpersonal skills to meet the needs of local hiring managers, maximize organizational outcomes, and enhance leaders’ career opportunities. The course is delivered via active, experiential instructional methodologies to facilitate the transfer of new knowledge and skills to the workplace. A pre- and post-test comparison of students’ results on a competency-based behavioral model of emotional intelligence showed an increase in students’ scores, indicating that the course has been effective in developing students’ practical interpersonal skills. This article describes the fundamental design and delivery elements of this successful leadership course that can be replicated and implemented at other universities to more effectively align what students learn with what organizations need.

Skill Development Journey through Hospitality: An In-Depth Study of Trainee Experiences in Malaysia

“…The leadership support and organizational culture is important in the success of hospitality education (Quttainah, 2024). Aligning leadership education with business needs bridges management education and industry demands (Fulmore et al, 2022). Fostering future workforces requires continuous learning (Torresan, 2023;Ketchiwou et al, 2022), which can be valuable for enhancing learning experiences (Khalil, 2024).…”

Perception of Skills Students of Universidad Publica in Post-Pandemic

“…From the labor field, it is important that future candidates have technical skills (understood as technical skills), which refer to knowledge, that is, specific skills related to the correct performance of a specific professional field (Álvarez-Santullano et al, 2018). A connection is sought between what is typically taught in management education programs and the interpersonal skills that real-world organizations look for in their leadership candidates (Fulmore et al, 2022). Likewise, the institutions responsible for improving education recognize that Colombia has the need for higher education training that is relevant to society, so they have formulated a series of generic and specialized skills, which constitute the horizon of desirable training actions in higher education being a reference to monitor the quality of training in undergraduate academic programs.…”

Knowledge, skills, awareness, and attitudes: an action research study searching for the elements of cultural competence

“…As a concept and as brick-and-mortar locales, higher education is under scrutiny and has been criticized for the lack of attention focused on graduates' transition from the college classroom to the workplace. Fulmore et al (2022) American management education in which they found that members of the business community wanted business schools to design education programs that were more practical…" (as cited by Fulmore et al, 2022, p. 2).…”