Impression management.

What got me thinking was when someone asked me “Dude, tell me in one word what MBA is all about? What is that you guys are going to manage? “. The jargonizer in me, who has become an integral part of my identity after i came to K, was suddenly on the alert. Nothing quirky or out of the box came out initially...all i could think was “MBA is about time management “ ...Come on...Any school kid can give a better answer than that. “ MBA is all about resource and strategy management”...It’s getting better, but still i felt something was missing....Suddenly it struck me, “ MBA is nothing but impression management” – ‘IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT’ , two words jargonizingly juxtaposed along side each other yet somehow making some (un)common sense. [Look at the sentence, a jargonizer’s delight ].

You must be thinking ‘What the hell is this impression management???' .Though bordering on cautious optimism, i m sure that it’s already created an impression. MBA is all about learning ‘common sense’ in an uncommon way and ‘commonizing uncommon sense’. But that’s just a small part of it, ultimately it comes down to the way u carry urself, the impression u create, the image u project. This is what impression management is all about – ‘Controlling and managing the impression that others form of you’.

Why do u need Impression management? Unless you carry urself well, all the commonized uncommon sense and the uncommonized common sense you prophesize, the jargon bombs u hurl at people will have no earth-shattering impact you want it to create. People will construe them as the ramblings of a mad man. MBA equip you to be the ‘impressiono uno’ while giving a presentation ( even if u don’t know if the ppt is written in English or some other language ) , while attending a placement interview ( even if u aren’t aware if the company is a marketing or a fin one ) , while attending meetings with honchos ( even if u can’t make sense of what’s the topic of discussion ).

Dramaturgical perspective argues that human behaviour and actions are not isolated whole, rather it is a theatrical performance dependent upon place, time and audience. Thru impression management one becomes more aligned to the dramaturgical perspective, ready to tackle any situation, tweaking the behaviour to suit the needs n making people see the halo around you, a halo which might or might not be existent....