Blog Post #7: Final Reflection

As review to my first post, effective communication is needed anywhere and in our daily life. In addition, developing effective communication skills indeed takes effort, and is a life-long process. After taking this course on ‘Professional Communication’, I realized that much of my prior understanding of the value of effective communications skills has not changed much on the whole. However, I must highlight that the course has definitely refined these prior concepts of mine. Although the learning process was rather tedious and time-consuming, on hindsight, it was worth the while.

Through all the blog postings and exchange of comments, resume writing, sharing of ideas through group and classroom discussions, survey report and the presentation, I am even more convinced of the importance of effective communication skills in the ways I thought in my first post.

I believe I have benefitted most from the ‘search for job’ element of this module which includes job application letter, resume writing and preparation for and performance at job interviews which would be important for me as I will be entering the workforce in the near future. The course has also equipped me with effective writing skills. Through editing of survey report, the cover letter and resume for job application, and blog posts, I learnt a lot regarding sentence structure, format and organization and the choice of words that should be used for writing for different purposes, for instance persuasive writing.

Lastly, my experience in the research project has been very pleasant with many thanks to Sherine and Xueli. Our relationship has progressed to one that is closer and more personal! :) Also, I wish to say a great thank you to Miss Kim.

Blog Post #6: Biodata

After obtaining my Diploma in Chemical Process Technology, I went on to pursue a Bachelor degree in Chemistry at NUS currently. Being a responsible, self-motivated and organized individual, I was appointed as a leader in my final year project during my polytechnic education with my project mates. With a fun-loving and easy-going attitude, I enjoy traveling and meeting new faces. My ambition is to set up my own fashion business. I believe that positive attitude and perseverance are the keys to survival and success in my life. “When the going gets tough, the tough gets going”

Blog Post #5: Reflecting on the Research Project Experience

Completing this research project has been a truly enriching experience for me. A few positive experiences I gained from doing the research project are the ability to work as a team, improved writing ability, time management, building interpersonal relationships and doing research. All of these learning experiences I have acquired over this period definitely benefited me in many ways.

The three of us maintained a harmonious working relationship which was very important in getting the project completed on time. During the course of this project, I have also acquired knowledge with regards on research reports; how surveys were expected to be carried out, brain storming of ideas behind the basis of each question, doing research for our project topic which was rather time-consuming, how to go about analyzing the survey results, formality of language used in transmittal letter and employing the APA style for listing of references.

Problems encountered would be the tight schedule of the project, and the three of us usually have to stay back after our ES2007S class to meet up for discussion. Time is probably the most valuable asset available to people and planning is necessary to achieve success in time management. From this research project, I had realised the importance of time management and working as a team. As we were faced with a tight timetable in less than a month to conduct an online survey, complete and compile the whole report, planning and pacing our workflow became important. Another problem faced is that there were no respondents from the Faculties of Law and Medicine through the online survey. Therefore, questionnaire forms were handed out at the Law Canteen and at NUH eateries to get the required number.

Team work enables us to cope with the escalating volume of the project as each person volunteered to do the different components of the project report. With careful planning, self-discipline and ability to work together as a team, we managed to keep up with the fast pace. Pondering if this report will to be completed by me alone, I would have had much difficulty to meet the deadline, much less to guarantee the quality of the work.

The principles of communication that I would like to employ in the upcoming oral presentation would be to make my presentation concise so as to avoid ambiguity and confusion to my audience, the appropriate use of tone and perhaps formal tone for the presentation. I would like to avoid NVC such as lack of eye contact with my audience.

Blog Post #4 : Evaluating Intercultural Behavior

Cultural differences are an important factor in international negotiations. In addition to language differences, different cultures have differing values, perceptions and philosophies. As a result, certain ideas may have very different connotations in different cultures. These differences of interpretation may lead to conflict, or escalate existing conflict.

For instance, Americans and Japanese tend to have different views on the purpose of negotiations. An American was renegotiating a contract with a Japanese. What the Japanese see as a reasonable willingness to modify a contract to reflect changes in the parties relationship, Americans see as a tendency to renege. American insistence on adherence to the original terms of the contract may be perceived as distrust by the Japanese. Consequently, a conflict erupted and the relationship turned sour because on their different views on contract.

As what I view, Americans see the goal of negotiations as to produce a binding contract which creates specific rights and obligations. The emphasis is on getting a contract signed rather than building a relationship. The relationship may develop once the first contract has been signed. While Japanese see the goal of negotiations as to create a relationship between the two parties; the written contract is simply an expression of that relationship and contracts are not perceived as final.

People from different cultures encode and decode messages differently, increasing the chances of misunderstanding, so the safety-first consequence of recognising cultural differences should be to assume that everyone’s thoughts and actions are not just like ours. It is essential that we research the cultures and communication conventions of those whom we are propose to meet, this will minimise the risk of making the elementary mistakes.

The main strategy for effective communication is to learn to be empathetic, it is only through empathy that we see things from the audience’s perspectives and know what their expectations are. In addition, to be versatile in the way to be open and welcome others’ feedback about who we are so that we can improve progressively and lastly, to reflect ourselves as a communicator constantly so that we can communicate effectively with people no matter where they come from and who they are.

Blog Post #3 : Potential Research Project Topics

Industrial Attachment Programme enables students to learn beyond the boundaries of the classroom. It integrates both training and performance evaluation as part of the program requirements. Through this program, it allows students to gain on-the-job training and work professionalism to prepare us to contribute effectively as soon as we graduate.

But as far as we know, the industrial attachment programme in NUS is not made available to all science students. Not all the science students need to go through the industrial attachment programme in NUS, it is not an integral part of our curriculum. This might possess problems to gain practical experiences in the working environment as compared to other fresh graduates from other universities. Other problems that might resulted are students are not able to put into practice the knowledge and skills acquired from their course, applying it to real-life working environment, gaining the required experience even before they graduate. In that case, the students are not prepared for ready absorption into the workforce as theories learnt in university and real-life working situations are totally different. The students are not instilled with the right kind of work attitudes and professionalism through interaction with people in the organizations, then how can we become effective and productive to our respective organizations? People from the industry might judge the NUS graduates as being not well-equipped with hands on skill. Therefore, my research question is should industrial attachment programme be made available to all science students in NUS?

An attitudinal survey is used as a medium for the population to voice out their feedback and suggestions. In this case, it would help by identifying how science students feel about the current Industrial Attachment Programme system in NUS and also to determine if industrial attachment programme should be made available to them.

Blog Post #2 : Resolving Interpersonal Conflict

WHO said blood was thicker than money?

This conflict involved my dad and my uncle (my dad’s elder brother) over financial issues. When I was young, my family lived with my grandfather in a HDB flat owned by my father and grandfather, and my uncle had his own flat living with his family as well. After my grandfather died when I was five years old, my family continued to live in that flat. 7 years later, my dad decided to sell this 3-room flat and moved into a new 4-room flat.

During this time, my uncle brought up the issue of splitting up the money from the sale of the HDB flat and demanded fifty percent from it. It did cross my dad’s mind to give a portion of the money to my uncle and two aunts but certainly not half of it. This is because my younger sister and I were still young, hence the money was needed for the new house and any excess money was use to support our family. Whereas my uncle held a job and his children were all working at that point of time. The most disappointing issue was that he mentioned of severing all ties with my dad if he refused to give him half of it. In the end, my dad still did not give in.

My dad was resentful and felt absurd since my uncle had his own flat, and the flat we sold was not his anyway, why does he insist gaining half of it? Both my aunts did not demand anything except him. My uncle might felt enraged as well and not resigned to the arrangement my dad had made.

This dispute over money occurs because both of them have different values. My uncle is taking on his perception that it is reasonable for him to acquire half of it. My dad has his individual view of not giving half of the sum because he needs it to support the family since we are still young and thinks that my uncle desired too much.

Questions

1) If you were the dad in the context, how would you respond if the uncle approached you for the amount?

2) Is there any win-win solution to solve this conflict?

Blog Post #1: Effective Communication Skills

I think that developing effective communication skills are important to everyone as we communicate in our daily life. Effective communication is needed at home, at work, between friends and in a relationship. Hence it is a fundamental part of the common core. Well, it is important to be able to communicate both on a one-on-one basis and in a group context. Communication is not just about the words we use, but also our manner of speaking, body language and, above all, the effectiveness with which we listen.

As a student, effective writing skills are particularly useful when writing academic papers, reports, letters and emails, while effective oral skills are required during project presentations. As I will be entering the workforce in the near future, it would be important for me to learn to present myself well during interviews, build relationship with my colleagues and clients, and to communicate effectively with my colleagues. Even when I am giving tuition, good communication skills will come in handy in rapport establishment with my students.

Voice can be an intentional or unintentional communication of feeling. I believe that one way we can achieve effective communication skills is to develop our voice. During an interview, if we stammer when we say “I am confident in doing this job well,” might present doubts or nervousness to the interviewer instead of confidence and this definitely affect our performance. How we should vary our pitch, the tempo of the conversation and the volumes of our voices play a vital part as well, especially when we are talking to our family members, boy or girl friend and colleagues. Arguments and conflicts can arise if it is not handled appropriately.

Developing effective communication skills takes effort, but they can be learned in lifelong and hence, through this course, I hope I can acquire the skills and techniques that will aid me well in life.