The pink elephant

Reflections

2008-11-08T19:35:00.000+08:00

“And now that we’ve reached the end…” –I’ll hear your voice by Rockapella

From my first post, to me, the basis of effective communications was to maintain, construct and improve my social network. Now, at the end of this module, I still feel strongly for this. However, after taking this module, I think that maintaining, constructing and improving my social network is insufficient. Effective communications can also help to create a good first impression in others about me, no matter in workplace or other social settings.

The most important thing that I have learnt from this module is to be a good team player. In this module, we did a lot of group work other than with our own research group. Not only did I get to know most of my classmates better, it also helped me in communicating and cooperating better with other people. In other modules, we also get to do projects with people from different faculties, but in ES2007s, we get to work with different people almost every week! Hence, we not only need to be receptive to ideas, we have to be adaptable.

From this module, my EQ and interpersonal communications have also improved. I identified the EQ skills that I need to improve on and also learnt to deal with conflicts in different situations. Although there might not be a perfect solution to every situation, I learnt how to handle conflicts in the most appropriate way. Improving my EQ also helped to make me a better team player. All in all, this module had definitely taught me how to work with other people.

I enjoyed this module a lot and a big part that contributed to this is our fun class. Being in this class had made me feel comfortable to speak out and not afraid to make mistakes. Brad not only guided us well, he was also there as a friend, which made the lessons very interesting.

Biodata

2008-10-18T01:16:00.004+08:00

I am yuklum majoring in Life Science. I chose to do Life Sciences because it was one of the most familiar things I have done throughout my 14 years of studies. I am one who works well under moderate amount of stress and I tend to procrastinate when given too much free time. As a result, I participated in many different activities. I am very passionate about singing in choir and hence, I have been singing in choir for 8 years and I am currently in 3 different choirs which do very different kinds of music!

Besides singing, the other activity that I am most passionate about is doing voluntary work. I have been doing voluntary work since JC and seeing the smiles on the recipients’ faces gave me a lot of satisfaction. The optimism of some patients at the hospital where I volunteer at, gave me the reason to continue with what I am doing.

All these activities not only made me spend more constructive time doing many different things, it also made me learn a lot. Moreover, these activities made me who I am today because I have became more sociable and can manage my time better.

Reflection on our research project

2008-10-10T23:37:00.002+08:00

Every project I had encountered in school semesters, or in any part of my life, have made me learn something and develop new skills. This effective communication research project was no exception.

For this project, communication was not a big problem. Even though we only knew Benjamin through this module, we did not have any major communication problems with him. This might be because all of us were quite receptive towards other’s opinions. I think this is a very important part of communication because it not only minimizes misunderstandings, it also help us improve ourselves.

Another thing that I learnt from this project is to be a good team player. From the previous paragraph, being receptive is essential to be a good team player. I learnt to accept negative comments more readily as negative comments are usually more constructive. However, as a team player, I will also offer constructive opinions and this can only be done if I am a good listener to what others have to present.

Also, giving compliments is important because it encourages others and acknowledges their efforts. We should compliment others because we ourselves will also hope that others compliment us when we did something good.

Apart from the things that I have already learnt from this project, I think that non-verbal cues will be an essential skill for our oral presentation. Non-verbal communications should be carried out with both my group members and also the audiences. NVC with group members, such as eye contacts and nodding head to acknowledge them, will ensure that I speak properly and make sure the presentation will flow. NVC with audiences, such as hand gestures and also keeping eye contact with most of them, will ensure that I am more engaging.

Hence, even though we are almost done with this project, these skills will still be with me for everything I do. I felt that communications skills have definitely improved after this research project and hope that these communications skills will help us through the oral presentation too.

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2008-09-30T00:07:00.001+08:00

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Intercultural conflict

2008-09-26T23:49:00.001+08:00

This happened when I was in Primary school.

Atiqah was the only Muslim in her group of good friends, who were all Chinese, and she would always have lunch with them during breaks. Even during Ramadan, Atiqah’s friends would still ask her to join them while they eat despite knowing that she needs to fast. Atiqah always feel uneasy to look at them eat while she has to fast during the day. However, she did not dare to tell the rest how she felt because she was afraid of being labeled as anti-social. Hence, the rest of her friends also became ignorant about her feelings. There was no direct argument or conflict between Atiqah and her good friends but she felt unhappy that her friends were unaware of her feelings.

Fasting is a way to teach the Muslims patience, sacrifice and humility. Thus, during Ramadan when the Muslims have to fast for the day, we should be sensitive and not eat or drink in front of them, as it is a temptation for them. We might not know the significance behind fasting but we should be receptive and aware of how the Muslims will feel towards our actions such as in this incident. In this case, I think Atiqah’s friends should ask her if she would feel uneasy to join them for lunch before actually asking her to join them. If she expressed that she feels uneasy, they should be accommodating and not force her.

This situation can commonly be seen in a multi-racial country like Singapore. We should always compromise and accommodate practices of another culture. Just knowing about the practices of other cultures might not be sufficient, as we might know their beliefs but not do anything to prevent misunderstandings. Being culturally sensitive will be more effective in minimizing intercultural misunderstandings and conflicts.

Research topic on Organic Food

2008-09-06T00:51:00.004+08:00

Food is important in our lives and one big problem that the world is facing, is the decreasing amount of food resources. In Singapore, the price of food has always been increasing and in recent years, it has increased more rapidly.

One way to solve this problem of decreasing amount of food resources in Singapore is the production of organic food, which is also the main focus of this research.

The main causes that had led to the decreasing amount of food resources are the increase in world population, usage of food resources to produce biofuels and the increase in the number of foodborne illnesses around the world. And all these factors that happened in the world will affect the amount of food resources in Singapore.

However, do many Singaporeans know about this problem of decreasing food resources? And are they aware that organic food can serve as an alternative food and its potential benefits?

This problem actually applies to every part of the world hence everyone should play a part. Moreover, this problem is extremely crucial to Singapore because we depend almost totally on the import of food. The production of organic food can be costly, but there are many benefits. It is also a way for Singapore to be self-sufficient.

The general research question will be “Do Singaporean housewives know much about organic food and are they willing to purchase organic food?” I chose this target group because they are the ones who cook for the family and are more concern about the well-being of the family.

Research must be done to find out more about organic food and also investigate whether organic food really has higher nutritional values. An attitudinal survey can also be gathered to know whether Singaporean housewives support the production of organic food in Singapore and more importantly, whether they know much about the alternate means of food, which in this case is the production of organic food.

Thus, the general research question will be whether Singaporean housewives are supportive of the production of organic food. If they are not in favor of the production of organic food, we can also find out why they are against this idea and this will allow us to look deeper into the disadvantages of organic food.

-edited on 7 September

Solution to conflict

2008-09-05T22:00:00.001+08:00

Thanks everyone for your comments!

This problem was actually a real argument but it has already been solved quite a while ago.

Both of us realized that we had different opinions and there is no point forcing each other to accept the other person’s point of view. We also apologized to each other for being too emotional. And we also think that having different point of views can instead help us get a more in depth view for all these issues. We were also glad that we were willing to talk about all these so that we will not have any misunderstandings in the future!

“Separate work from play”

I agree with that too. But, to both of us, our friendship and choir are interlinked. This is because we really love singing and this choir is made up of all our friends. However, I am sure that when a real problem arises, we will stand together and solve it together! :)

Resolving Interpersonal Conflict

2008-08-29T23:02:00.006+08:00

Conflicts can happen anytime, anywhere and through any communication channels.

I had a very long argument over MSN with a friend, who is studying in Australia now, a while ago. Both of us are in the same choir and on that particular day, we were discussing about issues regarding our choir.

We had very different perspectives on the different issues and we were too affected by our emotions. On a simple topic like whether to have an official email for our choir, we had very different opinions and cannot agree with each other. He believed that having email is “RETARDED” because he thinks that friends in our choir do not check their emails and what more the official email? Moreover, he believed that someone can just take on the responsibility to email everyone about updates or any potential organizations for performances. However, I believed that having an official email will enhance our professionalism. Having an official email also means that we have a proper space to store important emails.

Besides that issue, we also argued about stress and leadership. He was the leader of the choir but he stepped down after a few months. However, he still felt much stressed after that because he thinks that he still is the leader of the choir. I argued that he felt stressed because he takes on too much unnecessary responsibility especially when he sees himself as the “leader” of the choir. I told him that he is taking this label too seriously but he insisted that he did not want to be the leader but is the situation which forced him to take up the role and he emphasized that I will not understand how he feels because he assumed that I was never a leader before.

We had diverging opinions on all the issues we talked about. Most of the conversation was typed in capital letters which showed that both of us were angry and agitated at that point of time. His use of words such as retarded also made the situation worst.

In order to work effectively together in the choir, we need to resolve the conflict between us, but how can we reach a mutual understanding or agree with each other?

p.s. To this friend of mine, if you ever saw this post, I really did not hold any grudge against you but this is just for my module :)

-edit on 3rd September

Why is Effective Communication Important?

2008-08-23T01:40:00.002+08:00

For me, the basis of effective communications is to maintain and construct a more extensive and improved social network. Effective communications is the indispensable way to clearly convey a message, regardless whether it is formal or informal. Hence, communicating effectively, which includes active listening, plays an important in putting a message across resourcefully which develops good social network and enhance the interactions between these social networks.

To me, not having effective communication will cause misunderstandings and will definitely strain my relationships with my family, friends and schoolmates. For example, having a biased opinion or being too emotional often results in misunderstandings. When communication becomes ineffective and relationships weaken, our informal social circle will be affected most significantly, as we habitually cannot hold back our emotions towards our family and friends. Without effective communication skills, I will not be able to maintain good relationships with my family and friends.

We are usually more cautious about the things we say or do when we interact with our formal social network; hence we are less affected by our emotions. However, developing effective communication skills is nevertheless important. In school, communicating effectively helps me to express myself clearly and also understand others better. Thus, developing effective communication skills is important as it aids us in establishing good relationship with everyone, which will develop our social network.

To build an extensive social network, we must make use of different channels of communication. With the advance in technology, new modes of communication emerged, such as Facebook, which are more appealing to most people, especially those who do not have ample time to have face-to-face communication with their social networks. With these new communication channels, I am also able to communicate with family or friends who are overseas.

-edited on 27 Aug