What’s the Good Word
Good communication skills certainly improve managerial capability. For managers one important challenge in their daily work is choosing the right word at the right time. It requires recognizing the context in shaping the best means of communication. Choosing the right word to match the meaning you intend is an equally challenging task and a process that requires a fair amount of trial and error. It is advisable to avoid clichés and empty words in communication.
Denotation is the definition of a word as one finds it in a dictionary, while connotation refers to the implied meanings carried by a word. Connotations build from how a word is used in particular context. Moreover, two words can have the same denotative meaning, but differ in their connotations. For example, home and house both refer to ‘a shelter’ in which one or more people live. However, while house refers primarily to the physical structure, home generally refers not only to the structure itself but also to a person’s relationship to that structure, which connotes being in the right place and warmness.
We played a game by calling it ‘What’s the good word’ on Friday, 10th November 2017. Students formed their own groups and they were given clues in form of synonyms and also some antonyms to find the correct word. Most words were related to management concepts for example: process, planning, organizing, activating, controlling, strategy, supply chain, staffing, objectives, goals, intent etc. The anchoring was done by faculty members. We thoroughly enjoyed the game!