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It's finally time for the final post.
As I looked through my very first post, I realised I mentioned alot about the importance of effective communication in our daily lives as well as in our workplace. After this course, I've realised that effective communication is EVEN more important and valuable then I had expected it to be. This is because effective communication is something that not everyone is capable of, and really, to me, this just makes effective communication more valuable than ever!
As important as effective communication may be, many people (including myself) are guilty of being ineffective communicators at times.
I've always thought that it shouldn't be too difficult to communicate effectively, because most of the time, my friends are able to get what I am saying! However, along the course of this module, I've realised that really, communicating well is not as easy as it seems!
There are many different forms of communication, and through this module I've found out that one of my major weaknesses lies in my oral presentation. As I've mentioned earlier in one of my previous posts, I tend to feel really awkward presenting in front of a crowd, not knowing how my posture should be like and what to do with my free hands. However, with the help of my groupmates and the feedbacks recevied from them during our many many practices, I feel that I've improved quite a fair bit (as compared to the last time I did a formal presentation, which was in JC2!). Though still not a perfect presenter, I am satisfied enough!
Therefore, learning how to be a good presenter is one of the most valuable things that I have gained in this module. It is also a very useful skill because it is something that I would definitely need to apply when I enter the workforce!
Another aspect of the course which I really find enriching is the proper construction of a professional resume and cover letter. I know the importance of a good resume but never really knew how to construct a good one. Hence, I usually relied on my friends' and relatives' resumes as templates! Now that I know how to construct a personalized professional resume, one which is specifically tailored just for me, I definitely feel more confident in applying for internships!
To sum it up, this module is undeniably a very useful one. However, it has its own share of downsides. The heavy workload can sometimes get frustrating. There is always an assignment due (ie, blogpost) every week! Nonetheless, taking up this course is something that I will not regret, because the skills learned will remain for life.
I am a 3rd year undergraduate at the National University of Singapore (NUS), currently majoring in the Biomedical Sciences. I attended Crescent Girls’ School and completed my ‘A’Levels at Saint Andrews’ Junior College. An active girl guide during my days in Crescent Girls’ School, I was appointed to take up the role of a patrol leader. In addition, I was awarded the President Guide Award in 2002 in recognition of my leadership skills and commitment towards the organization. I was also awarded the Crescent Girls’ School Colours Award for my outstanding performance in my Co-curriculum Activity as well as the Silver Award for academic excellence in 2003. Being an individual with good communication and interpersonal relation skills, I served in the marketing committee for TalentQuest’07, an annual nation-wide event organized by the Faculty of Science at the NUS.
Throughout my past 2 years in NUS, I’ve never once done a major project without people I’m familiar with (that is, people whom I’ve already known beforehand) in my group before. Therefore, it had been a very interesting and new experience working with Miranda, CG, as well as Brandon, people whom I’ve only gotten to know during the course of ES2007S.
During our first informal meeting, we each took turns to voice out our expectations and agreed on transparency among group members. Transparency among members is very crucial in order for the group to work well together, and we achieved that.
Each of us had different styles of writing, citing and researching etc, but there were no major conflicts due to that. Rather, it was a great learning experience for me because I was exposed to these various styles which I believe would benefit me. It helped that everyone in the group was patient and opened to each others’ ideas, so whenever there were any disagreements, group members were most willing to hear each other out to provide useful insights. Communication among all of us was efficient, and no major conflicts or disagreements resulted. Therefore it was indeed a very positive experience working with my group mates.
I would say everyone in the group worked well together because everyone was a team player- each completed their assigned tasks on time. I believe it is such cooperation that allowed us to meet our tight deadlines.
On a more individual level, I personally find that the research skills that I had to apply here vary quite a bit from scientific research which I’m more used to. This is so because there are many online Scientific databases with vast collections of journals and scholarly articles, so researching is much easier and more general- only key words are required. However, researching for literature reviews for this report required me to be more specific. Writing this professional report incorporated Maths and Statistics with English language skills, so it was quite a challenge, no doubt enriching. Nonetheless, I believe this would better equip me with report-writing skills when I enter the workforce in future.
A major challenge that I think I might face would be the oral presentation. I feel that I might not be a very good presenter because I tend to get a little too monotonous at times, hence the audience might get bored as a result. Therefore I hope to be able to look out for cues that might indicate that they are bored. Doing so would allow me to try to gain back their attention by engaging them in my presentation. I believe a good presenter is one who is able to get her audience to listen to her actively. Therefore, I hope to have more interaction with the audience.
In past presentations, I’ve always encountered the problem of not knowing what to do with my free hands. As a result I get rather fidgety yet rather stiff at times, and that not only affects my performance but my level of confidence as well. This problem sorts of forms a barrier between me and the audience. Hence, I definitely hope to overcome this problem in the coming oral presentation.
A few weeks back, while waiting for my friend at the canteen, I got so bored that I started to observe the group of girls who were seated at the table next to me. That group comprised of a Muslim and 2 Chinese girls, and there was nothing unusual about them except that they were talking rather loudly. They were loud enough for me to overhear every single word of what they were saying. Shortly into their lunch, the Muslim girl excused herself to the toilet leaving the 2 Chinese girls behind. One of them was eating char siew noodles while the other was having mee soto from the Muslim stall, as identified by its trademark utensil colour.
What followed was this short conversation between them:
Chinese girl A: " Hey, you should try this mee soto, its really good! I heard its quite a popular item from the stall!
Chinese girl B: " Really? Alright! "
Chinese girl B then proceeded to try her friend's mee soto using her chopsticks. At that point of time, the Muslim girl returned and when she saw them sharing that bowl of mee soto, she seemed quite alarmed. She tapped her Chinese friend on her shoulders and said " Hey, you can't use your chopsticks to eat the mee soto! Your chopticks are not supposed to have any contact with the utensils from the Muslim stall, remember? " Though alarmed by her friend's actions, she was gentle in her tone.
Chinese girl B: " Oh yah! I really forgot! I'm so sorry! "
I was not surprised at all by this situation because it commonly happens among my friends. Sometimes, it is because they genuinely do not know that the slightest utensil contact can offend the Muslims, but sometimes, they are just too careless. Personally, I feel that the Muslim girl's reaction is not uncalled for as pork is considered a taboo to the Muslims. In addition, they are also very careful to not 'contaminate' their utensils with the utensils from non-halal stalls which would contain the slightest trace of pork. This is because pork is considered a sin and unclean in Islam (the main religion for Muslims).
Since we are living in a multi-racial society, I feel that we really should make it a point to be more sensitive towards the other religions, races and their cultures. It is inevitable that misunderstandings occur sometimes, like what happened in the situation mentioned earlier, but as long as we are all tolerant of each other's differences and are willing to accommodate each other, conflicts can be avoided. It is also crucial to be understanding towards each other.
In the situation above, there were no conflicts because the Chinese girl apologised to her Muslim counterpart upon realising her mistake. Her Muslim friend, too, was understanding and forgiving towards her, and so the matter did not blow up. In this, we can see that effective communication is also important in such a situation. This is because had the Muslim girl raised her voice at her friend in the very first place, her friend probably would have been unhappy with her and things might turn really ugly. Effective communication is a two-way thing and really takes two hands to clap. By going close to her friend and tapping her on her shoulder, the Muslim girl made it a point to overcome physical and noise barriers to get her message across to her friend. On the Chinese girl's part, she was an active listener and did not ignore her Muslim friend. If she had turned a deaf ear to her friend, her friend would have been offended, leading to an unnecessary misunderstanding. Active listening, hence, is also a very important aspect of effective communication.
Gone are the days when meeting up with friends for dinner simply means having a meal in the foodcourt or nearby coffeeshop. I feel that there has been an increasing trend which sees students, especially undergrads, dinning at more upmarket places like Cafe Cartel, Swensens, New York New York, NYDC, just to name a few, when eating out with friends. As a result, expenditures on meals have increased. Being one who is also guilty of this, I would like to research on this issue. To qualify as overspending on a meal, one would have to spend, on average, more than $15 on only a main course. My general research question in relation to this would then be are most undergrads overspending on a single meal when dinning out with friends?
My hypothesis which follows would be:
Most undergrads overspend on a single meal when dinning out with friends.
The most crucial part of this research would be to conduct an attitudinal survey to find out how much, on average, an undergrad would spend on a meal when eating out with friends. The survey would be a fairly simple one, which compromises 2 main questions: where they usually eat and how much they usually spend on average on a single meal. A simple survey like this is important for one to guage if a student actually overspends by means of the qualifiers as mentioned above.
The objective of this study would be to determine if dinning outlets frequently patronised by many of the undergrads should offer tertiary student discounts to them if they indeed are spending too much when eating out. This would help reduce the students' meal expenditures, as well as boost the business of these restaurants/cafes.
The target readers for this study would then be the restaurant/cafe operators as well as the student unions of the various local tertiary instituitions. This is because the student union looks after the welfare of the students, and would be involved in the negotiation with the relevant operators to offer the undergrads discounts.
I feel the pinch when I spend up to $10 for a salad like this when I dine out with my friends. Just curious, are any of you like me too?
Image courtesy of Getty Images: http://www.gettyimages.com/
I can never forget the one major conflict that I had with my best friend, Vic, as our friendship had always been strong and smooth-sailing.
Well, what actually happened was that, Vic and I, being avid online clothes shoppers, decided to start our own blogshop a few months back. Si, Vic’s friend, was interested as well, and so we invited her to join us in this venture. Things started out really smoothly, and the three of us worked well together. As school got more hectic, we found that we had less time to meet up to discuss the new collections. We had conflicting schedules, especially since Vic and Si are from NTU, and it was only after much effort that Vic and I could compromise on a day to meet up.
However, Si was not able to make it on that particular day, so Vic suggested that we postpone the meeting. I was perfectly fine with it as I felt that Si should also be included in the meeting. A week later, however, Vic told me via sms that she had already discussed the latest collection with Si, and that the photos were ready to be uploaded onto our blogshop. At that moment, I felt betrayed as I was not included in the discussion. I confronted Vic about it, and she said that because the stocks had already arrived, we had to sell them fast. Also, Si lives near her and they’re in the same course, so it was more convenient for them to discuss during their common breaks. At that point of time, that made no sense to me because I was almost overwhelmed by jealousy and the betrayal.
The following day, I called Vic up and told her I wanted out. I felt that there was no point being part of this joint venture since I had no say in it. Vic was really upset and she tried to reason things out with me, persuading me not to withdraw from this. However, I took the incident quite badly and insisted on doing so.
Thinking back now, what Vic and Si did actually made some sense, as it was easier for them to discuss matters, especially since we were already pretty pressed for time. However, I wouldn’t exactly say I was wrong for feeling the way I felt, because I reckon any normal human being would feel betrayed as well. On hindsight, I shouldn’t have let my emotions get the better of me. I should have reasoned things out with Vic proper instead of insisting on quitting.
Vic had no choice but to get things done soon, and she probably must have already felt really bad for not engaging me in the discussion. I guess I really upset my best friend by not giving her a chance to explain herself. After all, it was just that once, and I believe what she did was for the good of our online business. Things just got bad because I wasn’t understanding enough I guess. Just so to let u all know, things are fine now and we’re back to being best friends, no more hard feelings or whatsoever. Thankfully. Not to worry, we won't kill each other for real.
I'm still not too sure if it was my foul temper (and maybe low EQ, according to the quiz) that caused me to react the way I did. If you were in my shoes, would you also have left the venture without first talking things out?
There cannot be more truth in the saying "No man is an island". That, I reckon, is the reason why people communicate. Anyone is capable of communicating, be it verbally or not, but not everyone can do so effectively.
I believe that no family, no organization, no society can function when communication breaks down. It is therefore of paramount importance that we communicate effectively, and not just for the sake of interacting with one another. I want to communicate well because I need the other party to understand the message I’m conveying, the feelings and emotions going through me, share my thoughts, come out with ideas, and basically get things done. Yet, whether the communication process is effective or not depends on the other party too. How he/she responds is equally important. Therefore I feel that one crucial aspect of effective communication is active listening, which would allow the other party to properly process my words. Even though I can manage to get my point across well, my friend will still not get what I’m trying to say if she just listens passively and has her thoughts else where. Effective communication, thus really takes 2 hands to clap.
Another aspect of effective communication that I appreciate would be body gestures and eye contact. A friend of mine never seems to establish eye contact with me whenever we engage in a conversation. Is there something morbidly ugly on my face that he can't bear looking at me? Does he abhor me so much it irks him to look up at me? Or maybe he doesn't think I'm of any importance and so cannot be bothered to establish eye contact with me. I choose to think that maybe he harbors a secret crush on me and is simply too shy to look at me in the eye. Sadly, this would be as highly impossible as Michael Phelps not being able to attain his 8th gold medal in the Olympics. Whatever it may be, it is just plain rude and makes me feel really awkward. But at least now I know that he is really uncomfortable communicating with me and if I ever need a project mate, he is going to be the last person I'll want to work with. The wonders of eye contact indeed, it makes or breaks a relationship!
Effective communication in the workplace is vital too because tasks MUST be accomplished efficiently. Thus, in order to be a good team player, irregardless of status and age, one must appreciate the ideas of others. If disagreements occur, it is crucial to voice them out in a diplomatic manner without sounding disrespectful because conflicts arising from poor communication among members will hamper the team's progress. There will come a point of time when we will be put in such a situation when we go out to work.
For now, group projects actually do help us develop good communication skills. Furthermore, I have made good friends out of my project mates, people whom I never thought I would foster friendships with!
Let me then end off this post with a picture of me and some of my lovely project mates.(look how happy 
we are!)
