Reflection on Learning

To be honest, ES2007S is one of the very few modules that provide me with real empowerment and satisfaction throughout my life as an undergraduate in NUS. With a great teacher like Brad Blackstone to complement, I could finally learn to manage professional communication confidently and systematically before graduating this July.

The 7Cs of communication that are constantly emphasised throughout this course will be my lifelong indispensable tools for professional communication. Writing proposal, resume and cover letter as well as conducting interviews and oral presentations are only a handful of the channels of of professional communication that we typically encountered. By focusing on these channels that undergraduates are familiar with, ES2007S brings students face-to-face with the realities of communication in an era of globalisation.

Speaking of globalisation, I still could recall how well Mathew Linus, my tutor for HR2002 defined it: "Everything at the same time". In fact, with everything happening all at the same time regardless of distance and boundaries, the most basic yet essential aim of professional communication is to effectively convey ideas. More often than not, errors in the course of action are a result of miscommunication at the initial stage. This is one of the realities of communication that we are living with today.

In addition to verbal and nonverbal communication, internalisation of content also plays an equally if not more crucial role in professional communication. If you do not know your work well, even the 7Cs of communication would be useless. However, Mastering internalisation is much tricky than communication. Unfortunately, one could discover his own effective method for internalisation for himself only when he pays attention to the unconscious effort he makes in the process of internalisation. Once one masters internalisation, the rest would be considerably easy when one is equipped with the flexibility (e.g. know your audience) in applying the tools for professional communication.

I thank Brad Blackstone and all classmates in making this module a fulfilling learning experience and wish all the best in your future endeavours.

Reflection on Oral Presentation

After going through the video of my group’s presentation, I could not help but to compare it to my previous week’s oral presentation for a module called JS2230: Itadakimasu – Food in Japan. Despite how often we are reminded that practice makes perfect, I realised that internalisation is equally, if not more important, as well.

In the JS2230 module, I was in-charge of translating food-related segments of a Japanese housewife magazine called Suteki na Okusan into English.

I unconsciously internalised the content of the magazine very well not only through translation, but also through clarification and explanation during face-to-face liaison with other groupmates. During the presentation, not only did I not fumble at all when presenting within the confines of the 15-member tutorial, but more importantly, my ideas flowed nicely and fluently as I proceed from slides to slides. In the end, our presentation was very well received by the tutor and classmates alike on top of the A-grade that we have achieved for our 3000-word research paper.

To be honest, not only were my 12 slides full of magazine scans only up two days before the presentation, I also did not rehearse nor prepared any script at all save for memorising keywords for the Food Presentation part I was in-charge of.

For our ES2007S presentation, despite having rehearsals in the classroom next door with a structured preparation in speaking as well a paying attention to pitching and emphasis, I was still a little shaky and fumbled quite a bit. The rehearsals and slide-by-slide preparation certainly did improve our presentation significantly. However, have I internalised the content better, I could have delivered a smoother presentation.

Although I am a strong believer in genchi genbutsu indoctrinated in the Toyota Production System, this exciting learning experience in my last semester in NUS redefined my understanding in internalisation and persuasive speaking in the genba. I have finally realised a hidden take-away point between these two presentations: flexibility in the face of adversity. I really appreciate this revelation that will be very useful in tackling future challenges, and hope that you will also benefit from it.

ES2007S Recyclists Project Presentation

Evaluating Intercultural Behavior

My Japanese senior Watanabe from last year’s Kyushu University ATW summer programme came to visit Singapore last week with his Thai girlfriend Pear and another Vietnamese friend Duc. To complete their gourmet experience in Singapore, a couple of my Singaporean friends and I brought them to have chili crabs for dinner at No Signboard Seafood Restaurant at The Central.

In this region of Southeast Asia, having chili crabs for dinner also means getting your fingers and platters messy in the process of devouring the delicacy hidden within the confinement of the crabs’ shells. While Pear found this to be the norm even among Thais, to Watanabe, this was a mind-blowing dining experience eating with bare hands. We explained how appropriate and practical enjoying chili crab in this manner is and the use of warm water with sliced lime in a bowl to clean fingers to his astonishment. Nevertheless, he enjoyed the sumptuous meal served in a sea of thick and slightly spicy gravy, albeit not without occasional help from Pear at the beginning of the meal.

In the context of Japanese table manners, the use of bare hands when dining is strictly reserved for certain types of food such as nigirizushi, temaki and bread. Even eating these two kinds of sushi using bare hands is governed by strict manners and restrictions; regardless whether utensils are used, one is expected to treat the food served with honour and respect (teinei) to demonstrate the care given and knowledge about proper table manners. This refined attitude towards food is strikingly different that when one meets face-to-face with chili-crabs. On the other hand, Duc might have thought that it is absolutely proper to follow what the locals do given the different understanding in what defines a “proper attitude towards food”.

What do you think about the way people acclimatize their presupposed interpretation of culture in a globalised world?

Application Letter Critique

1st Draft

February 11, 2011

Block D, Room D238

25 Lower Kent Ridge Road

Ridge View Residences

Singapore 119081

Mrs. Jennifer Ng

Group Human Resources Director

Human Resource Division

HTC Corporation

The HTC Apex

32 Joo Chiat Road

Singapore 609434

Dear Mrs. Ng:

I would like to be considered the Senior Officer (Media) position offered in HTC Corporation. After graduating from NUS with a fruitful and dynamic undergraduate journey, I am inspired to continue my passion in an aspiring organization to seek opportunities­­ in acquiring new media-related skills and paving a sustainable direction for the development of media-related infrastructure.

My result-oriented approach to tasks and challenges involving multi-party benefits emphasizes active learning through hands-on experiences and strategic negotiation. Along with the drive to record moments from engaging people-oriented initiatives by hostel residents in the form of media, I piloted an initiative to establish a 130-member strong multi-disciplinary (Photo, Video, IT, Design and Digital Media Management) media committee known as EusoffWorks for inter-committee publicity and media collaboration in Eusoff Hall. Teamwork and interpersonal collaborative skills I picked up in float and side prop building in Eusoff Rag provided me a momentum to substantiate achievable goals with fellow members from the Photography Wing in the quantum development of EusoffWorks.

With my accumulated experiences in conflict resolution and conscious reinforcement about the common goal of collaborative teamwork, a Senior Officer (Media) position allows me to contribute profoundly to the sustainability of HTC Corporation in reaching out to potential clients of a broader background to crystalize and further solidify long-term relationships.

Enclosed is my resume for your kind perusal. I look forward to your correspondence. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Chen Qingyao

Enclosure: My Resume

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2nd Draft (Ammendments denoted as underlined)

February 11, 2011

Block D, Room D238

25 Lower Kent Ridge Road

Ridge View Residences

Singapore 119081

Mrs. Jennifer Ng

Group Human Resources Director

Human Resource Division

HTC Corporation

The HTC Apex

32 Joo Chiat Road

Singapore 609434

Dear Mrs. Ng:

I would like to be considered for the Senior Officer (Media) position offered in HTC Corporation. After graduating from NUS with a dynamic and fruitful undergraduate journey, I am inspired to continue my passion in an aspiring organization to seek opportunities­­ in acquiring new media-related skills and paving a sustainable direction for the development of media-related infrastructure.

My result-oriented approach to tasks and challenges involving multi-party benefits emphasizes active learning through hands-on experiences and strategic negotiation. Along with the drive to record moments from engaging people-oriented initiatives by hostel residents in the form of media, I piloted an initiative to establish a 130-member strong multi-disciplinary (Photo, Video, IT, Design and Digital Media Management) media committee known as EusoffWorks for inter-committee publicity and media collaboration in Eusoff Hall. Teamwork and interpersonal collaborative skills I picked up in float and side prop building in Eusoff Rag provided me a momentum to substantiate achievable goals with fellow members from the Photography Wing in the quantum development of EusoffWorks.

With my accumulated experiences in conflict resolution and conscious reinforcement about the common goal of collaborative teamwork, a Senior Officer (Media) position allows me to contribute profoundly to the sustainability of HTC Corporation in reaching out to potential clients of a broader background to crystalize and further solidify long-term relationships.

Enclosed is my resume for your kind perusal. I look forward to your correspondence to discuss how my experiences and qualities could help HTC Corporation scale greater heights. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Chen Qingyao

Resolving Interpersonal Conflict

Here is an interpersonal conflict that is happening to Mary, a 3rd year NUS undergraduate at this point of our semester.

Mary and her coursemate Jane have been taking several core modules together all this while. They and other coursemates started out as mere acquaintances and gradually became friends in classes. The tutorials for these modules happen to share a same teaching assistant by the name John. Coincidently, John and Jane have been in a relationship since 1st year.

It wasn’t until this semester that Mary could finally get a chance to work closely with Jane on assignments in the same tutorial group. Unfortunately, it is also a chance for Mary to learn about some of Jane’s bad personalities: she likes badmouthing other coursemates and spreading rumours while pretending to be friendly to everyone. For example, Jane would say how gay or dirty-minded certain guys in class are, how kiasu and eccentric certain classmates are. Even Mary is not spared from the badmouthing, which is something she only realised when revealed by other coursemates.
Mary feels so disgusted and upset about Jane’s two-faced personality after treating her like a friend all this while, that she feels like giving her a good tight slap in class. She even cried over the phone when she was sharing her feelings with another friend.

To rub salt into wound, John has been unprofessional in his teaching profession by sharing confidential academic information such as classmates’ assignment grades with Jane. With sensitive matters of grades at Jane’s disposal, the gossiping and badmouthing are straining the relationship between Jane and her classmates. Some classmates could no longer tolerate such insensitive gossiping that they even contemplate filing a complaint with the Dean’s Office about John’s unprofessional conduct.

After analysing the situation, I realise the main problems are Jane’s insensitive personalities and John’s failure to maintain confidentiality and integrity as a teaching staff in the premise of his relationship with Jane. It is in the interest of Mary and other affected classmates to achieve a resolution to this conflict so as not to hamper their studies and relationships.

Here is my question: How could Mary and other affected classmates approach this conflict in a systematic and controllable manner and come to an effective solution without straining the relationship between John and Jane as well as between Jane and the classmates?

Why Effective Communication Skills are Important for Me

Communication is a platform that facilitates the conveying of information and intention between functioning individuals in a community. To me, the ultimate goal of communication is to not only make others understand what we want them to understand as complete as possible, but also, conversely, to understand what others want us to understand.

Unfortunately, as pointed out in last Friday's class, contrary to this ideal, communication in the real world is subjected to barriers that distort and cloud the original information and intention to be conveyed. Effective communication skills are important in identifying and overcoming these barriers. Although it is usually difficult to achieve the ultimate goal of communication mentioned above within the short time allowed for response in real world communication, we could at least employ relevant communication skills to address and overcome the more serious obstacles.

One of the skills for effective communication is the 7 Cs of communication. Here are two of my experiences that illustrate how such an effective communication skills could be at disposal readily and easily in overcoming obstacles in communication.

In an interclass basketball competition back in my high school, after being defeated in the semi-final and emerged only as the second runner-up, our class instructor highlighted a communication breakdown among our players. During that lost match, players at the bench were keeping up with the game and occasionally shouted out reminders to players in the court to avoid fouls. One of the more frequent shout-outs was "Don't stand inside the line!" Our class instructor pointed out that in such an intense and heated game like basketball with all the cheering from the crowd, especially during semi-final stage, it is important to avoid confusion by sending a clear and concise message like "Stand behind the line!" instead. We were taken aback by this communication breakdown and realised the hard way how important effective communication skills are in teamwork.

The second experience in communication breakdown happened when I was in charge of my Hall's Dinner and Dance (DnD) pageants photoshoot. The theme conveyed by the DnD committee to my media committee lacked concreteness and completeness despite constant emphasis and intense follow-ups on my media committee's part. In fact, several unnecessary photo retakes ensued when the DnD committee turned down the photos for not meeting up with the theme requirement. To be honest, we strongly believed that the DnD committee lacked clarity and concreteness in the process of outlining the theme. As a result, the photo-"rush" became two-month overdue not without taking a toll on my members' time and effort.

These experiences in communication breakdowns are the reasons I am taking this module this semester -- to learn effective communication skills. I look forward to an exciting and fruitful learning experience in my last semester as an NUS undergraduate.