A case study on the Workplace skills provided by the BA OrCom Program to its graduates through its Marketing related subjects and its correlation to the workplace sills perceived relevant by the Marketing Industry

Abstract

BA OrCom, or any other program for that matter, aims to be able to provide their student’s with comprehensive training to learn workplace skills so that they might be able to find suitable employment. Goldhaber (1990) states that One of the main objectives of Organizational Communication is to provide applied courses that mold and enhance skills in different types of both verbal and nonverbal mediums of communication. The knowledge, skills and attitudes developed from OrCom will greatly affect the job profiles of its graduates and the industries in which they will start and build their careers. From previous studies done regarding the program and its variables, a description of the status quo has been established. Among those is Tayag(2008)’s job profiles and employability of its graduates where he has shown that the trend for the program’s graduates is to end up in the field of Marketing and its sub-fields like advertising and PR. The knowledge of where the graduates end up working after graduating has spurred this study to be conducted with the hope of improving the program’s aims and goals into something that will meet the needs of the graduates and their employers. This research represents an effort to assess if the current Orcom Program, through the marketing related subjects it offers, provides its graduates with the workplace skills which are perceived relevant by the Marketing Industry and is presented as a vehicle to suggest potential areas of further research and investigation. For the purpose of this study, the OrCom Curricular subjects being considered as marketing related are as follows: OC 105 - Dynamics of Public Relations, OC 143 - Approaches to Communication Management, OC 152 - Communication Trends and Styles, OC 153 - Communication Strategies and OC 180 - Practicum. With the study conducted on 25 OrCom graduates and 25 Marketing Executives, it has been found that the current UP Manila BA OrCom Program offerings identified in the previous paragraph does not provide its graduates with the workplace skills which are perceived relevant by the Marketing Industry. Based on the results, the workplace skills identified in this study be it cognitive, psychomotor or affective were considered highly relevant by the employers in the Marketing Industry while its graduates have revealed that the same skills found relevant by the Marketing Industry were learned or developed not through the OrCom program’s course offerings but mostly through their respective workplaces. A few Marketing respondents have specified other skills which they consider to be relevant in their field. Among those skills are: goal setting / identify what she wants in the future / ambition, knowledge and understanding of his/her role in relation to other people in the company, integrity among others. OrCom respondents though did not provide their inputs on the matter. Both Marketing Industry and the OrCom Graduates found the study to beneficial to their industry and to the program respectively. According to the perception of the respondents, future studies of similar or the same concept should be conducted annually. Based on the results of the study, further research should be conducted as to which of the workplace skills identified in the study are covered in each of the current OrCom subjects being offered in the program. A follow up study may be done to find out the applicability of these skills and how to integrate them into the OrCom program. A study should also be made as to determine the perceived effect of the OrCom Program aspects to the adaptability and Job Performance of its graduates in the Marketing Industry. This study also recommends for future studies to recognize the other skills required in the other industries entered by Orcom graduates. And lastly as suggested by the respondents, this study recommends a periodic evaluation of the industry destinations of Orcom graduates and the necessary skills applicable.