Final Reflection (Blog Post #7)

Looking back at my first post, being able to communicate effectively to establish good relationships still holds true. Effective communication is essential for the fostering and strengthening of relationships with our family, friends and future colleagues. Besides the 48 hours of official tutorial hours, there were countless hours of hard work outside class to meet the various deadlines of assignments, such as the resume and blog posts, and of course, the survey report project.

The written assignments of this course had improved my understanding of written communication. At the start of the course, I had no idea what the 7Cs of writing was. Now, I am able to remember to apply the 7Cs to my writings. Working on the survey report project also plays a big part to my learning. I am now able to understand the scientific research approach to reports and how to write a formal one. In my first post, I had mentioned that nonverbal communication is a skill that is not as easy to master. Through this course, my understanding of this aspect of communication was enhanced. Nonverbal communication cues, such as maintaining eye contact and appropriate postures in communicating, are now pointers that I always remind myself when communicating with other people. This skill is particularly important when going for a job interview. This course had also taught me a lot about being in a job interview and writing a resume and cover letter when applying for a job. And the list of questions that interviewers might ask really lets me think hard on giving the appropriate answer. This is important as I’ll be graduating next semester.

Though the skills that we have learnt at the end of this course are important, the friendships, which were established with our tutor and classmates, are also as significant. I believe I have learnt more than just effective professional communication. For my last post, I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to Ms Kim and my fellow classmates.

Thanks Ms Kim! Thanks for the guidance and teachings on the various topics in this course. We really appreciated your patience and sharing of your work experiences in class. Oh! And not forgetting your treat of sponge cakes and egg tarts on the last lesson, thank you!

Thank you fellow classmates: Peng Siang, Hui Min, You Fei, Matthew, Shaun, Joyce, Illya, Miranda, Brandon, Jia Hwa, Edwin, Chen Xin, Dai Jing, Yun Nian, Gary and Zhi Lian! (It’s according to the usual seating arrangement!) I have certainly enjoyed the course with all of you as my tutorial mates, especially my project group mates. Thanks Brandon, Joyce and Miranda! It has been a wonderful experience working with the three of you. Hope that all of you had fun too. And also, pardon my noisiness in class or “craziness” as you all put it (and Brandon’s, Haha!). Well, it’s a 12 weeks, 4 hours weekly course! We would not want it to be dull and boring, no? Anyway, thank you everyone and all the best to whatever you do! Here's my msn/facebook/email add: chew_cg@yahoo.com.sg. Keep in touch!

It’s not what you do. It’s who you do it with that makes all the difference.

Biodata (Blog Post #6)

I was born in Singapore and I’m a 4th year undergraduate at the National University of Singapore (NUS), currently pursuing a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering. Being a Student Councillor in Xinmin Secondary School, I was actively participating in organizing major school events such as Chinese New Year celebrations and Homecoming Day, etc. Apart from my duties as a Student Councillor, I was also the Head of Logistics in the Audio and Visual Aids Club. In recognition for my contributions to the school, I was awarded a Graduation Service Award. Having a cheerful and friendly personality, I love to bring smiles to the faces of people around me.

Edited post:

I am a 4th year undergraduate at the National University of Singapore, currently pursuing a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering. Being a Student Councillor in Xinmin Secondary School, I actively participated in organizing major school events. Apart from my duties as a Student Councillor, I was also the Head of Logistics in the Audio and Visual Aids Club. In recognition for my contributions to the school, I was awarded a Graduation Service Award. Having a cheerful and friendly personality, I love to bring smiles to the faces of people around me. I like to be optimistic and find satisfaction in overcoming tough challenges in life.

Reflecting on the Research Project Experience (Blog Post #5)

1) Did you have a positive learning experience doing the research project?

Of course! Although there was a lot of hard work as our group attempted to do a topic (Passion in NUS undergraduates) that is more abstract, I learnt a lot from doing this research project, such as knowing myself and my group members better.

2) What have been some significant things you learnt about:

• Having clear communication as a whole?
Initially, as we were not familiar with each other, our communication was not as easy and clear. However, after spending weeks on the project, we subsequently got to know each other more and thus, we were able to communicate and convey our ideas better and efficiently. Clear communication is very important for a group to function well. I have learnt that speaking in a concise manner or using illustrations can lead to better communication.

• Building interpersonal relationships?
We got to know each other more as friends rather than just project mates. I really appreciate the chit-chats that we have before we dive into doing our project at our meetings. I have learnt that, by engaging in active listening, communication is made simpler.

• Being a team player?
The report requires a lot of cooperation and coordination as it is quite substantial. Therefore, it would require every member to be able to work as a team. I would say that every member in our group has been very cooperative and we were able to bring up and discuss issues freely. I have learnt that it is important to keep an open mind to the ideas of others in order to improve our project.

• Doing research
As mentioned, our group’s research topic is relatively abstract, thus, we must dig deeper in order to find relevant materials for our project. I have learnt that it is important to support our report with secondary sources in order to prove our point.

• Writing reports?
I have learnt to adopt and observe the 7C methodology of writing. For instance, the report must be concise and clear in what we are trying to convey.

3) What are some specific principles of communication that you would want to use to extend to your next team project, the oral presentation?

• Look out for non-verbal cues on whether our audience is paying attention to what we are saying, and then make subsequent adjustments such as changing tone of presentation to re-engage their attention.

• Engage in active listening when the audience has queries on our presentation. This would allow us to answer their questions confidently and convincingly when we know what they are asking.

4) What are some weak areas of communication that you do not want to extend to completing the team oral presentation project?

• Be open-minded about the questions or suggestions that the audience might have and, although we do have to defend our point of view, we must not get too uptight about it. It is important to be firm but not overly aggressive.

Evaluating Intercultural Behavior (Blog Post #4)

During my Student Exchange Program in University of Adelaide in South Australia, I met a group of Japanese students who were also on exchange. They were really friendly and out-going and we became good friends almost right away. Although their command of the English language was not as good, we could still communicate pretty well. We would often have parties and invited everyone we knew in the University. The parties were often mixed with international students and people from all over the world, Australians, Germans, Spaniards, Americans, Japanese, Malaysians, and, of course, Singaporeans. While talking to our fellow Singaporeans, we sometimes used our most famous “language”, Singlish, and often mixed some Chinese words in our conversations. Perhaps we felt that it was more comfortable conversing to other Singaporeans this way and we did not really think about how it would affect the other international students.

One day, back in the University campus, I met one of the Japanese exchange students, A. She appeared to be serious and said that she wanted to talk to me regarding an issue. I was alarmed and proceeded to ask her what it was. She said that she was feeling uncomfortable that my Singaporean friends and I were talking in Singlish and Chinese at the parties. I was shocked to hear that from her and quickly apologized for our insensitivity. I then told her that we were unaware that she was feeling like that and we had no intentions of excluding anyone from our conversations. After that incident, we kept reminding ourselves not to talk in a way that will exclude other people at the parties. Fortunately, that incident was not blown out of proportion and I remained good friends with them ever since.

Here's a picture of me and the Japanese exchange students when we were on a cruise to see dolphins!

Potential Research Project Topics (Blog Post #3)

Issue/Problem/Product:

The issue of foreign talents in the recent achievement of Singapore’s Olympic silver medal.

General research question:

Do Singaporeans take pride in the foreign talents that has helped the nation to clinch the first Olympic medal in 48 years?

Hypothesis:

Having a campaign to promote the foreign talents’ image of being citizens of Singapore will allow more people to embrace them as being true Singaporeans and their achievements will not be looked upon negatively.

Problem statement:

The objective of this study is to analyze whether a campaign to promote the foreign talents’ image of being citizens of Singapore will allow more people to embrace them as true Singaporeans and take pride in their achievements for the nation.

Target readers:

Singaporeans, foreign talents and relevant authorities such as the Singapore Sports Council.

Purpose statement:

One objective of this report is to inform the relevant authorities such as the Singapore Sports Council that there is a segment of the Singapore population that looks negatively upon the achievements of the foreign talents in the recent Olympics. Also, another objective is to persuade the authorities that, by having a campaign to promote these foreign talents’ image of being citizens, it will allow more people to embrace them as true Singaporeans and take pride in their achievements.

Purpose of Survey:

To accurately determine the percentage of Singaporeans who view the achievement of the Olympic silver medal by foreign talents negatively. Also, it is to determine if having a campaign to promote the foreign talents’ image will aid in Singaporeans’ acceptance of their achievements for the nation.

Resolving Interpersonal Conflict (Blog Post #2)

This incident happened to me during my secondary school holidays that i took on a part time job selling men’s business pants in a major shopping centre along Orchard Road. On my first day at work, i got to know a few nice co-workers and there was a girl, Esta (not her real name), who was particularly friendly and outgoing. We often had lunch together and we were able to communicate with each other very easily. We became closer, not in romance sense, but more of closer friends.

On work, i began to observe some phenomenon. While i was a promoter of a certain brand of business pants, there were other promoters selling other brands. In that sense, we were working under different companies but we were in the same department. The promoters of other brands were really aggressive in their sales tactics as i realized that they were working under a commission-based scheme. So their salaries were based on how many business pants they were able to sell. But as i was only working part time, my pay was on an hourly basis, which might explain why i was much laid back in my sales. Esta was a promoter of another brand and also works on the commission basis. There was also some “rules” in sales that all of us must abide by. To avoid conflicts among the promoters, customers are free to walk around and when they stop to see a particular brand, other promoters of other brands are not supposed to “snatch” their customers.

There was this time when this customer decided that he wanted to try on Esta’s brand of pants and, while waiting for her to come back with the right size, that customer came over to my counter and said he wanted to try on some of the pants i was promoting too. In the end, that customer bought the pants that i was selling. Now, as all of you might have guessed, Esta became very angry with me. Her attitude towards me has completely changed since that incident. She refused to talk to me and i even heard from other co-workers that she has been telling everyone that i stole her customers. I have tried explaining the situation to her but it was of no use. It was then my school holidays ended and i have to go back to studying again. I have never contacted her since then and, looking back at it, it was such a pity that this friendship has to end just like that. What would you have done if you are in my shoes?

Effective Communication Skills (Blog Post #1)

Communication involves every aspect of our interactions with the people around us. Thus, communication and relationships are closely intertwined. Relationships with our family, friends or colleagues, can’t be forged and strengthened without communicating with them. Therefore, to be able to communicate effectively allows healthy relationships to be fostered and maintained. This is why I feel that developing effective communication skills is paramount in order to have good relationships to the people around us. More importantly, by establishing good and healthy relationships, we are exposing ourselves to more opportunities, either socially or professionally. Socially, i mean, by having good relationships with friends, they would be more than happy to introduce you to his/her friends. This enables us to widen our circle of friends and networks. The same goes for our professional relationships. Having such relationships not only allows you to have more opportunities to employment, it also opens up a lot of business possibilities. All this, however, is based on the assumption that one is able to communication efficiently.

Communication also involves the way in which we express our thoughts, feelings and ideas to people. No matter what we actually say to other people in words, we send out other kinds of information such as what we think of them, what we think of ourselves, and whether we are being sincere and genuine in what we say. It is our nonverbal communication, our gestures, body language, facial expressions and attitude, which speak volumes about us. This directly shapes how other people experience us and how they communicate in return. Therefore, to effectively communicate, one must be skilled in this regard. This aspect of communication, in my opinion, is not as easy to master as we need to pay a lot of attention to detail. But, like they always say, practice makes perfect.