A Need Analysis of the Language Skills required by the Organisations from the Project Management Graduates

Abstract

Needs analysis (NA) is a vital asset for teachers of English to identify the learners' needs and determine the areas in which they lack skills. Against this background, this study was undertaken during the academic year 2020-2021 to define the English Language needs of Business Management students with honours in Project Management. The main objectives of the NA were to find out the language skill required by the employers in the field of project management and the relevance of the course contents in the newly designed course unit Business Communication. The need analysis was carried out in the mixed method with two types of samples. The first sample type was 42 employees (internship trainees) from the faculty of business studies following the bachelor of business management in project management degree programme. The second was selected managers from government, non-government, and private organisations, where the internship trainees are placed. A questionnaire was used to get the quantitative data, and a semi-structured interview with the internship trainees and the organisational managers was used to get the qualitative data. The data collected from the Need Analysis was analysed under two significant sections; Preference of the language skills by the undergraduates, employees, and employers and Content Relevancy for the Business Communication Course Unit. Results of the data analysis offered significant insights to the course unit of Business Communication. The semi-structured interviews with the organisational managers pointed out that speaking is the most expected language skill in an organisation. Further, there were two strong recommendations from the employees to develop their writing skills; providing course materials and conducting practical sessions for writing. Based on the findings, the present study concluded that the business communication content is relevant to the job market environment and perfectly matches the employees' needs.