Last but not least.....my final reflections

First off, I’d like to say that I’m glad to have taken up this module though initially I was indeed overwhelmed by the workload of the course. What Ms Lim has taught us in this course is very relevant to all areas and aspects of our lives. I quote from Plato “Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something.” Effective communication can help us to bring across what we have to say to those around us.

The biggest take away I’ve had from this course is that I’ve learned that communications is not a one way process but rather it’s a two way process, hence the importance to have the “YOU” attitude in all forms of communications that we do, from our writings to our presentations. After all, we can write the best essay or give the best speech, but if the audience is unable to receive our message, those words being written or said will be pointless.

Secondly, I’ve also learned in the process of crafting our team’s proposal to be critical of that we are including into our proposal. It is through this process of giving feedbacks and improving on subsequent ideas that I realize this is a very important process to improve the quality of our work. This is definitely another skill that I’ve honed in this course where I can use it for other areas of my life in future.

Lastly, I’d like to thank all my peers in ES2007s whom I’ve worked with especially my peer teaching group and Team Planet. I’ve learned a great deal about working in groups with all of you and as well as the wonderful memories of staying late in school and during the weekends to complete our work. I’d also like to thank Ms Lim for her guidance and patience to impart the skills for effective communications to me. You have been a wonderful teacher and thank you for everything. =)

Reflections on my Oral Presentation

Finally the oral presentation is over!

One thing I realized is that no matter how many presentations we’re done before, the fear of doing an oral presentation will always be there. The nervousness and jitters I gets before it’s my turn to present will affect the performance of my oral presentation. Therefore, it is important that I learn to be more competent at giving a good oral presentation by consciously working on improving on my weaker points. 

In terms of preparation, I feel that having a speech text is good in helping me to prepare what I am going to talk about for the presentation. However I do feel that it can be rigid at times as we tend to memorise and regurgitate the script. Therefore I break down what I have to say into main points and elaborate the points with my own words during rehearsal. I have done numerous rehearsals with my team, However I feel that I could have put in more time and effort into my preparation for my individual part and be more familiar with all the main points that I am suppose to say.

For delivery section, I believe that I have used appropriate gestures to bring my points across to the audience. The volume of my voice was also loud enough to be heard by everyone in the audience. Some areas that I can work on to improve would be the speed of my presentation. As I get nervous, I tend to unknowingly start speaking faster, one way I can overcome this would be to use pauses and modulate my voice during my presentation.

Lastly, my group decided to use prezi for our presentation. I feel that it was a challenge as we’re not very competent with the software. Overall, the flow of the presentation turned out to be smooth and the effects were used appropriately to drive our points across. However, there are several aspects of our slides we can work to improve on like the size of the slides and content. I noticed during the presentation that several slides we had were too small to be seen clearly. Therefore, we can work to improve the visibility and standardization of the size for all slides.

In retrospect, oral presentation no doubt frightening can be overcome by adequate preparation. It is important as well to calm my nerves and remain relax so my performance for the actual oral presentation can be done better.

Evaluating Intercultural Behavior

Speaking of intercultural behaviour, allow me to share an interesting observation that I came across last month. I was walking along orchard road and I saw something that stopped me on my tracks. Two Caucasian women were engaging in a deep conversation and both their children around 2-3 years old were on a leash. I was shocked yet amused at the same time because it was my first time to observing something like this in Singapore. Apparently, I was not the only one as passerby were giving stares and muttering among themselves after the sight they have just witnessed. The two mothers were completely oblivious of the reaction they are getting and most importantly what their children are doing.

One of the toddlers was rolling around on the ground and crawling about, while the other tugging the leash and trying to run away. His mother simply tugged the leash back and the child would fall bottoms to the ground. I started to question whether what the parents did was right. To me, that was something totally unacceptable in the culture I was brought up in. I feel that it’s not the right way to teach the kids. That was when I found this whole scene a little infuriating. Is this a sign of cultural decay? I feel that the parents are no longer concerned with the well-being of their children and are taking an easy way out to discipline them. At the same time, the children are being treated like dogs.

I shared this story with my friends and they revealed that they have seen similar scenarios themselves involving Caucasian mothers and their children. Upon finding out more, I realize that this situation is actually more common in the Caucasian countries and the leash is called child safety tethers. It ensures that the children have the freedom to do what they want within distance limit and also keeps them close to their parents. Thus Caucasian parents are willing to adopt this practice with the mindset that it is safer for their child and more convenience for themselves. 

In these situations, I feel that it is important for us to understand the cultural differences of people from other places before being judgmental towards what they do. This will greatly help to minimize misunderstanding between differences in mindsets between cultures.

Resolving interpersonal conflict

Conflicts are unavoidable in all interpersonal relationships. The reasons leading to interpersonal conflicts are numerous ranging from miscommunications to differences in agenda between people. Likewise, there are many ways to resolve interpersonal conflict that people adopt. I have always been conflict adverse and will avoid them if possible.

I recalled an incident during one of my projects in school. One of the requirements for this project was allocating how we want the total marks to be distributed among the members at the end. In my perspective, the entire group project went on smoothly until it was over. When we had a meeting to discuss the grades distribution, one of the members, A, felt that he had contributed the most work and asked for an uneven distribution and that he should be allocated more marks. 

When he made that stand, we were surprised. The rest of us felt that the workload was evenly distributed. However, A stated that for the final essay, he made some major changes to the essay and credit himself for this extra work he put in. While he was doing the essay, the rest of us were busy with our parts for the project video. 

During the meeting, group member B got into a heated debate with A, stating that B did not ask for help when he was working on the changes to the essay. A would argue that we did not take the initiative to approach him for what needs to be done. B would rebuke him saying that we were not informed of the changes to be made. The conflict went on for 30 minutes. The whole time I was taking the back seat. Eventually the conflict was ended when I suggested that A gets the extra marks from me while B gets to keep his even share of the marks.

I felt that there were several reasons that lead to the conflict arising. Firstly was that during the group project, there was insufficient communication going on between group members. Secondly, B felt that A did the extra work without informing us so he is able to get more marks at our expenses, thus he went on a direct confrontation with A. For me, I do feel that it was unfair to us what A has done, but I can’t think of any other ways to solve this conflict other that to give in. How do you think I could have handled the situation better?

Application Letter & Job Advertisement

APPLICATION LETTER:

Blk 111, Wonder Ave 1

#03-456

Singapore 111111

8^th February 2011

Ms Tina Ong

Human Resource Division

PSA Corporation Limited

460 Alexandra Road

37th Storey PSA Building

Singapore 119963

Dear Ms Ong,

I am writing to apply for the position of operations executive that was promoted at the career fair that was held in National University of Singapore (NUS) during 27^th and 28^th January 2011. I find the process of planning and directing container-handling operations interesting and would like to take on the role. I strongly believe that being analytical and decisive would help me to excel in this field and be a great addition to your team.

I am a third year undergraduate at NUS pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Life Science. I will be graduating after this semester in June 2011. I understand that performing shift duties will be part of the job and I have the willingness to do so.

My past experiences in leadership roles, have taught me to manage and lead teams of people. As a marketing head in NUS Science RAG committee, I had the opportunity to lead four members in my department and also be a team player in a committee of 21. I believe these past experiences have equipped me with strong leadership skills. Furthermore, my past working experiences in sales and promotion, have given me ample of opportunity to interact with clients and customers. As such, I have developed strong communication and interpersonal skills, which are vital for the role of operations executive in one of the world’s busiest ports

On top of these, my background in Taekwondo martial arts, have cultivated in me a strong sense of discipline in all things that I do. In addition, my awards and achievements in various competition and events that I take part in is prove that I am results-oriented. I believe that I am a suitable candidate for the position.

I would greatly appreciate the opportunity to discuss more extensively on how I can contribute to your firm in an interview. I will be available at any time convenient to you and can be contacted at 91231239. I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,

Jeremy Lee

Encl: Résumé

Effective communication skills are important to me

There are plenty of reasons why effective communication skills are important to me. I shall elaborate the three most important ones to me.

The first being that effective communication can help me to form positive bonds and strengthen my existing relationships with my family and peers. When I was a small child, I used to be very shy and awkward in social settings. It was very uncomfortable situation to be in. So I learned it the hard way of the importance in being able to communicate freely and effectively with those around me. With effective communication skills, I’ll be able to form new relationships with ease and feel confident in social settings.

The other reason being, I give private tuitions and my communicative skills will determine how effective it is for me to bring across what I am teaching to all my students. This way, it can greatly enhanced the learning of my students and increase my efficiency as a tutor.

Furthermore, I foresee communications skills being very crucial in future after I graduate and hit the workforce. Learning to have effective communications can greatly enhance my opportunities to secure a good job as I go through the interviews and excel in my chosen career. In today’s workforce, there is more emphasis being placed on people’s skills and having effective communication skills can greatly help when to comes to dealing with colleagues, bosses or clients. Being able to communicate well means I am able to put my idea across effectively and able to persuade better.