An Experiential Learning Approach for Teaching Appropriate Assertiveness: An Example of Indian Management Students

ABSTRACT The paper underscores the need for including assertiveness skills training for international business students amidst the growing demand for other interpersonal skills such as empathetic communication, strong listening capabilities, conflict handling, and tackling difficult conversations. While these skills increasingly dominate the screening criteria of recruiters, making these the most “sought after” employability skills across the globe, the authors contend that appropriate assertiveness is a critical skill especially in cross-cultural communication contexts to establish strong interpersonal relationships and align communication to the globally accepted norms of organizational behavior. The paper provides practitioners with insights to design an assertiveness teaching module and outlines a portfolio of experiential learning activities and approaches including assignment design, module architecture, deliverables and rubrics, models and frameworks, and role-play resources that can be used to impart assertiveness training. It further discusses the implications for curriculum design and presents a case for adopting an integrative approach to teaching appropriate assertiveness, embedding it across other communication modules to strengthen the efficacy of learning.