Final Reflections

This has to be the only module that ended too fast for me. I suspect the 13 weeks lesson was barely enough to cover what truly constitutes communication, even though we certainly did cover the basics. 

In contrast to the numerous theoretical lectures, the ideas and skills that were exchanged during lessons was extremely valuable because it has real world application. For instance, I suspect that the resume writing, job interview and presentation skills would be beneficial especially when we are about to enter the working world. More ever, because of the constant feedback that was given during class, I was able to improve myself and learn from my mistakes. 

One particular aspect of this module that I enjoyed was the mocked interview even though it spanned only two lessons. I always have a phobia of interviews because I was clueless about how it works. However, those lessons help me realise how irrational my fears were. I was able to see both the interviewer’s and interviewee’s point of view during the mock interview and as such, I believe those lessons would help me prepare well for an actual interview.

I selected this module to learn how to communicate effectively, specifically on improving my presentation skills. After going through 2 presentations and numerous dry runs, the take home message was to be prepared before each presentation and to be aware of the body language during the presentation itself. While admittedly it was this part of the module that was the most time consuming, but I can confidently say that my presentation skills (the chunking part and the voice cracking part) have improved because of these opportunities to practise what has been taught.

Finally, I would thank Dr Radihka for being such an enthusiastic and encouraging teacher who patiently answers all of our questions, as well as everyone from my peer teaching and proposal group for making this module such an enjoyable one for me.

Evaluating team dynamics

Our group have come a long way ever since we decided to investigate the decline on the vibrancy of hawker food in Singapore.

In contrast to the numerous theoretical lectures in which communication was one sided (lecturer to students), the numerous small group meeting requires all of us to make full use of interpersonal communication skills learnt during class. I thank Dr Radihka for patiently answering all of our questions regarding the group proposal and my proposal group for making this module such an enjoyable one for me.

In team Apollo, although all of us were from the same faculty (science) but we were unable to find a common timeslot to hold a meeting. However, but we took every opportunity during lesson time to constantly give updates and to clarify any doubts that we had on the part that we were working on. Such two way communications allowed each of us to be clear on the objective of the proposal so that we can work together to accomplish each stage of the proposal in a timely manner.

During the course of writing the proposal, it was inevitable that all of us, at some point in time, were too busy to complete the assigned part of the proposal on time. However, because we constantly give each other updates about our assignment deadline and the dates of our CAs tests, we were able to avoid misunderstanding thus preventing conflicts within the group. I think that this is one reason why it was important to have an appointed group leader within the team. This is so that there can be accountability within the team to ensure that each of us is doing our part in the writing the proposal.

Finally, in the process of writing the proposal as a team, each of us contributed in a manner that is to our best of ability. For instance, ynovvne having studied statistics modules, volunteered to do the surveys questions and to interpret the statistical data. Whereas for me, having took SSA 2204 (Nation building in Singapore), understood the cultural importance of street food. As such I volunteered to frame the background understanding for the proposal. By contributing our individual strengths and talents, we were not only able to eliminate and/or compensate for weakness in the team, but also created an environment of trust where we respected each other’s capability.

In conclusion, I believed that our team exhibited positive team dynamics. Not only did each of us contributed to the best of our abilities, but we took every opportunity to prevent misunderstanding from happening by practising good interpersonal communication skill.

Evaluating Inter-Cultural Behaviour

                                         Faire la bise

Last semester I took LAB 1201 which was an introductory language module to Bahasa Indonesia. Within class, there were exchange students who came from various parts of the world such as France, India and Laos. During the very first lesson, when the Ibu*was introducing herself to the class, the French guy actually stepped out to the Ibu and in front of the entire class, kissed her on the cheeks.

From observing my classmates facial expression, I could tell that they thinking somewhere along the lines of ‘Oh my god this blond guy is kissing the teacher’ because of their surprised and shocked look on their face. From an Asian perspective, the guy’s behaviour was seriously offensive and rude because he is just a stranger who is meeting everybody for the first time. Such a behaviour is deem inappropriate as Asians are generally more conservative and do not welcome such liberal gestures. However, from the guy’s point of view, the Faire la bise (the kissing gesture) was simply nothing more than a greeting; even if it was the first time being introduced to a stranger.

However, to the Ibu credit, she did not push the blond guy away but rather gamely return the Faire la bise. I believe she understands the cultural context of the Faire la bise and exercised tolerance to his behaviour. As a result, the friendly atmosphere and the goodwill that have been created during the introductory lesson were maintained for the rest of the subsequent lessons.

I personally felt that while the Ibu had handled the entire situation professionally, the same could not be said about the French exchange student. I felt that he could have been made more culturally aware of the different etiquette that exits around the world. What is considered as a friendly greeting in one culture may be considered rude in another. Perhaps the French exchange student could have learnt more about Asian culture so that these kinds of awkward situations could have been avoided entirely.

*Superiors are often called "bapak" or "ibu", which means the equivalent of father or mother, sir or madam. 

Interpersonal Conflict

One of the part time jobs I had done before matriculating into NUS was to work at a call centre for XYZ government agency. Many times the work was emotionally draining, partly due to the large volume of calls and partly because of long call time with extremely annoying customers.

As our call centre was underperforming, there was a change in management to troubleshoot the team’s performance. Under the new management, it was required that all agents, regardless of part timers or full time stuff were to answer a certain number of calls per hour.

While I was consistently meeting the quota, there was one day that I had to deal with multiple long call time with quite demanding customers. This caused me to fail to hit the minimum quota for that particular day. As a result the new manager chided/lectured me over my poor performance at the end of my shift.

Feeling emotionally drained after my shift, I shot back at the manager challenging him to fire me since he claimed that I was under performing. While I was not fired, needless to say for the rest of my employment term, I was given the cold turkey treatment by the manager.

In retrospect, I could have easily communicated the reason for my poor performance instead of assuming that the new manager knew about it. I believe the reason why I was confrontational that day was because I may have misinterpreted my manager’s comments. What the manager could have meant was that I should improve on my performance, yet after a tiring day, I let my emotions take over and misinterpreted his comments that I was too incompetent and therefore I should resign from the call centre.

When I related this act of ‘bravado’ to a close colleague of mine, he simply couldn't believe that I was foolish enough to pull off such a stunt. This was because no one would benefit from having such a confrontational attitude especially when it comes to career advancement. Instead, he advised that in situation whenever a superior is pointing out certain errors, the best course of action is to apologise immediately and offer a brief explanation for the error followed by a promise not to repeat it again.

Needless to say, I learnt a huge lesson from this incident. Not only would I need to be more aware of my emotions in order to communicate my message effectively but also by placing aside my ego would I be in a better position to diffuse conflicts as it arises.

So do you agree with my colleague’s approach in dealing with such situation and what other approach do you think I should have taken? More importantly, what kind of approach do you think I should have taken in diffusing the cold turkey treatment from the boss?