1.

0 Introduction
There is a general opinion that the standards of NUS graduates' oral
communication skills are not up to par. The purpose of this report would be
to determine which aspects of oral communications would be the most
important for the students to develop and improve upon to achieve
success in the workplace. An optimal strategy will be devised and then
recommended to the NUS administration to assist them with their decision
on curriculum changes.
The scope would be limited to oral communication skills, as results from
our data show that inadequate oral communication skills is the most
common barrier to effective workplace communication. Also, the target
group would be NUS business students in particular, as the development
of the appropriate oral communication skills would be the most applicable
to these students, with respect to their potential work environment. The
findings for this report will be supported by data collated by the NUS CELC
for a survey commissioned by the Temasek Foundation. One of the
limitations of this report would be that the information gathered is not
comprehensive enough to be segregated according the different
industries. Thus, the recommendations would be for a more general
improvement of selected aspects of oral communication skills, rather than
a more specified focus for the individual industries. Another limitation
would be the incongruity of some of the data, with some frequencies of
options being monthly, and others being annually. This incongruity might
distort some of the findings.
The report will cover the findings from the data, the conclusions drawn
and the recommendations to address the conclusions.
2.0 Findings
Two particular aspects of oral communications came to the fore, when comparing
the consensus regarding importance of various skills in the workplace.
2.1 Meeting Skills
61.8% of respondents feel that good meeting skills was a very important
asset to have in their job. The more common types of meetings include:
informal interactions with colleagues(78.9%), meeting with clients(57.0%)
and meetings in which personal perspectives needed to be shared(55.9%).
These meetings occur more than 10 times per year.
2.1.1 Clear Articulation of Ideas
63.4% of respondents feel that the ability to articulate ideas clearly
is very important.
2.1.2 Convincing Expression of Ideas

63.2% of respondents think that the ability to express ideas

convincingly is very important.
2.2 Oral Presentation Skills
66.8% of respondents agree that oral presentation and its associated skills
is a very important component of their job. Some of the more common
types of presentation include: information giving presentations(88.1%),
proposal presentations(71.2%), and training presentations(62.9%). The
frequencies of these presentations are at least once per month.
2.2.1 Clear content
60% of respondents feel that having clear content when doing a
presentation is very important.
2.2.2 Confidence
58.9% of respondents believe that confidence is a very important
factor in contributing to the effectiveness of a presentation.
3.0 Conclusions
3.1 Meeting Skills
Out of the many components, clear articulation and convincing expression
are thought to be the most crucial and they can be applied across the
various meeting types. NUS business students will benefit the most by
focusing on improving these aspects. Therefore, these two aspects shall
receive the most attention and priority when it comes to revising the
curriculum.
3.2 Oral Presentation Skills
Of the many elements that make for a good presentation, confidence and
clarity of content are the most widely agreed upon to be very important
factors. By building up these two skills, NUS business students will be able
to conduct more effective presentations. Therefore, updates to the
curriculum should reflect this and focus on building up these elements.
4.0 Recommendations
4.1 Improving Meeting Skills
Professional speech coaches could be engaged to guide and teach NUS
Business students better articulation skills, and drama teachers might be
able to expose students to different methods of expressing oneself, be it
through speech or body language. With these recommendations, students'
will develop stronger articulation and expression of ideas, and will be able
to apply these in various meeting types in their future workplace.
4.2 Improving Oral Presentation Skills

Professionals who specialise in public speaking could be hired to impart

methods of building confidence with regard to speaking and making
presentations. Modules could also include more chances for students to
make presentations, with detailed guides on crafting clear content
structures in their presentations. By including these in the curriculum,
students will benefit by being more prepared for various presentation
types in their future workplaces, by virtue of having already developed key
presentation skills such as confidence and clear content.
5.0 Overall Conclusion
Introducing new elements into modules and revising the old curriculum will help
NUS Business students improve key oral communication skills, in order to
become more competitive and achieve success in the workplace.