Final Reflection

The last day of week 13 marked the end of the last lesson of ES2007S. ES2007S is definitely one of the most beneficial and enjoyable modules that I have ever taken in my five semesters in NUS and it is pretty amusing to look back on the first few weeks of the semester and remembered how I almost dropped this module during one of the bidding rounds. I was afraid that the constant work and preparation needed for lessons through the semester would be too overwhelming. However, 13 weeks later, I am glad that I trusted my instincts and went on with this module anyway! J

If I were to identify the biggest takeaway from this module, it would have been the working experience and interaction from the group project. Having to work closely with people of vastly different working styles and perspectives on certain things taught me the importance of compromising in order to produce the best possible outcome for everyone. To take, we sometimes have to give first.

In the initial group meetings before we finalized on the research topic, I suggested that we work on Cybercrime and Education in Singapore, something which I felt strongly for. However, I realized that my fellow project mates were not as particularly keen on this topic. Thus,we geared in the direction of education and welfare, before finally deciding on tackling the issue of congestion in NUS Shuttle Buses(ISB), (which was actually a topic probably done by so many others and I personally thought was hard for us to prove it to be successful).  Despite that, due to group consensus, we went ahead with this topic.

 It was then, that I realized how important it is to meet people halfway, especially our work mates-ones who we will be working directly with. This lesson serves as a vivid reminder to constantly see things from people’s perspectives and not merely fighting for my own ideal, when I venture out into the corporate world in future.

The group project also taught me important organizational skills as we were responsible for coming up with our own timeline and pace ourselves towards the completion of the project. In addition, during the proposal presentation sessions, I internalized the importance of listening intently and picking up verbal cues while my peers were presenting, as it not only helped me understand their topics better, but it also enabled me to learn from them in terms of presentation skills, be it their strengths or areas in which they fell short.

Finally, I have also seen improvements in my presentation skills. Being a natural fast speaker, talking at a slower pace has always been an issue for me, especially so when I get excited about what I am about to say! Dr Jaidev shared that making use of pauses, and internalizing them, before starting on a new section to consciously slow myself down actually helped quite a bit! The use of purposeful hand gestures was also one important point to note.

Overall, from the feedback on my final oral presentation, I was quite glad to have heard from my peers that I have improved. However, I still need to work on it to ensure that I remove my habit of saying “right” after I finish a sentence, which I tend to do in hope of gaining the approval of the audience.

All in all, ES2007S has been a wonderful experience, it taught me lessons I could not have learnt from books, and it in fact motivated me to keep improving myself, to be a better communicator and hopefully, a sought-after fresh graduate when I leave NUS! :) Thank you Dr Jaidev, for sharing your inspiring stories and interesting perspectives on the corporate world, and thank you ES2007s classmates, for I have truly learnt something from each and everyone of you! Special thanks to my groupmates Dinah, Mayee and Akaash, for seeing through the completion of our proposal, and making our oral presentation a success! ;)

Reflection: Oral Presentation

Just a few days ago, our group presented our proposal to rest of the class of ES2007s. Looking back, my group mates and I have really dedicated a great deal of time and effort into refining the proposal to the best of our abilities, and the same goes for the oral presentation!

Week 11 was a week when all four of us were swamped with endless term papers due,other tests and presentations for other modules, but our wanted very much to do justice to our proposal through our presentation, and we made time for it nonetheless and started preparing for it as early as possible. As we did not have time for much face-to-face meeting to prepare the slides together, we divided the workload according to the parts which we would be presenting. The good thing was we saved time (we got a lot of things covered in the shortest amount of time possible) but then we might have compromised on making our personal styles of presentation fit more snugly together as a group. Upon hindsight, I thought we could really improve on that, if we took more effort to take the time out to comment on one another’s mistakes and flaws during our practice sessions. Although I believed that our slides sufficiently aided us in bringing our ideas across, it could have been better if it had a more professional finish and if our styles of presentation blended in more seamlessly, as this was, ultimately, a group effort.

On a positive note, preparation was done more thoroughly for the implementation of the content itself, bringing across to the audience our cause for this proposal. Our proposed solutions for the NUS Internal Shuttle Buses(ISB) services, as well as at busstops will serve to benefit everyone of us in the class, in fact the whole student and staff population, if they are implemented. Thus, we aimed at making the audience internalize the real situation at hand, and pause to analyze if they, indeed feel the same way as we do. In my opinion, I feel that we have achieved that to a certain extent!

With regards to personal delivery during the presentation, I have to admit that I did feel the jitters right before it was my turn to present. It was most nerve wrecking few seconds -as I heard the last two sentences of the presenter before me float past my ears, and before I knew it, I was up. It was the 5 minutes which will make or break it. Despite knowing the proposal inside out, I was still not as fluent as I thought I would be. Sometimes I wonder if even with many more hours of practice, the same mistakes will corrected. I have come to reaslise that it is proabably better to prepare for the worst situations and keep calm at all times. It is our anxiety, which brings us down.

To end off looking on the brighter side, I believe that I was energetic and enthusiastic while presenting my part, because I believed very strongly in our proposal and was set to convince the rest of the class of the viability of our proposal as well! Also, keeping up the level of energy and audience interaction was important in keeping up with their short attention span. This 20%-worthy-5-minute-presentation has definitely taught me that I must first convince myself that I am prepared to persuade others of my ideas, before I set out to do so.

Evaluating Intercultural Behaviour

Speaking of differences in cultural behavior, I would like to share one of my experiences as a private tutor over the past 3 years. I have since taught Chinese, Indian and Malay students and one of them was a girl named Preeti. Her parents migrated from Bangladesh to Singapore after she was 6 years old and did this so that she could obtain a Singaporean citizenship, assimilate into the Singaporean culture, and inculcate the values in the local education system when she joined a primary school.

Bangladeshi’s culture is largely defined by Islam’s teachings and I thought by having many friends from various ethnicities, especially quite a few Malay friends, I thought that it would be a breeze when it came to interacting with people who had Bangladeshi cultural practices. Before the first lesson, I took the initiative to offer a handshake to her mother and brother, who were the only ones at home at that time, a simple greeting most of us Singaporeans normally will offer as a friendly gesture. I was being polite by extending my handshake as usually I would only come into direct contact or conversation with the tutee’s parents. I was a little surprised to feel the lack of enthusiasm and firmness in her elder brother’s handshake and it seemed to me like he was trying to brush me off rudely. Why the difference in attitude between the mother and son? A young, fiery and impulsive teenager like me, jumped to the wrong conclusions easily, and I took it as insincere and rude, and was honestly offended by his impolite response.

I brushed aside this disturbing experience till one day when I was browsing the Internet; I found out that it was actually a Bangladeshi type of handshake. Shaking hands was common in Bangladesh, but it was in their culture to have a rather “limp” handshake. One which did not carry much force of firmness the way we commonly shake an acquaintance’s hand in Singapore for example.

In the Bangladeshi culture, greetings usually take place between members of the same sex. Women will only really be met within business contexts and even so, it is best to wait and see if a hand is extended before doing so.  Upon hindsight, I was glad that I did not show any signs of displeasure in front of them as Preeti’s elder brother was somewhat already trying his best to adapt into the Singaporean culture by accepting my handshake. I guess it was awkward for him to receive a handshake from a lady younger than him. However, if we bring our focus to the Singaporean context, it is common place to see both males and females exchanging handshakes and even more intimate forms of physical contact such as a friendly hug between friends.

From this, I learnt to be less judgmental and to take one step back to contemplate if certain cultural practices make one act differently in situations like this. It is not possible for others to fit into our perspective and see things from our viewpoint if they have been brought up in a different way.

Traditionally, the Malays dine with their right hand while the Chinese dine with both hands with chopsticks. When they dine together, the Chinese probably will not ask the Malays to use chopsticks event though they might feel that using our bare hands to eat isn’t the most hygienic way. Likewise, Malays probably will not ask the Chinese to use only their right hands even though they think that left hands are dirty according to their religion.  In this case, both ethnicities respect each other's cultures but stick to their own practices at the same time. I guess, this is what we mean, by adapting to other cultures’ differences, and yet preserving the uniqueness of our own ethnic group at the same time.

One last thing: I observed that one of my current Malay students always puts her hands to her heart after a little handshake with her relatives. I know that it is not expected of me, but do I attempt to do the same thing to show respect to the elderly in her house? I have always wanted to do that, but it thought it might be awkward and I might embarrass myself if I do it the wrong way! ;(

Draft of Application Letter

Lee Xue Hui

Blk 27 Cantonment Close #12-25
Singapore 080027

(65) 97624321

A0069495@nus.edu.sg

13^th September 2012

Hiring Manager

Yahoo! Singapore Pte. Ltd

60 Anson Road

#13-01, Mapletree Anson

Singapore 079914

Re: Position of Human Resource Intern

Dear Hiring Manager,

I am a student from National University of Singapore (NUS) Science Faculty, currently pursuing my third year of studies in the Chemistry Department.  A fellow schoolmate of mine who is currently pursuing a semester-long internship programme at Yahoo shared her experience with me. I found out more through your company website and would like to express my keen interest in securing an internship with Yahoo during the summer period of year 2013.

As the Marketing/Publicity Head in NUS Muay Thai Club, I fulfilled my duties of increasing awareness for this sport. During recruitment drives every semester, we typically utilize mass media and promotional banners to draw potential members' attention. Despite stiff competition from 27 other sports clubs, the NUS Muay Thai Club usually emerges with the highest number of 100 over sign-ups. Having consistently achieved these results, I strongly believe that I possess the strong communication skills required of a Human Resource Intern.

I was appointed the role of Vice president and Assistant Student Conductor in St. Andrew’s Junior College Guitar Ensemble (SAGE). I learnt how to be an efficient leader, working alongside with the president, and together with the sub-committees. My role was to delegate duties to the committee heads to ensure that their assigned tasks were well executed. It was then that I learnt the importance of horizontal management of human capital, instead of top-down management style which rarely gained the approval of many. In the process, I became skilled at dealing with individuals of different personalities and working styles, which is essential of a HR personnel.

In addition, I was also a School Ambassador and Programme Host in Singapore Chinese Girls’ School (SCGS).  Both roles honed my vocal skills, creativity, and helped me to build confidence in public speaking. When faced with impromptu situations, I had to think on my feet to answer challenging questions, making sure the tone and the choice of words I used was appropriate in a public situation. This has taught me to be an effective communicator who can reach out to the masses, and contribute to the HR department.

Despite being a Chemistry major, my involvement in a wide array of activities shows my willingness to step out of my comfort zone and experience new things. I am eager to learn and have an open mind which allows me to benefit from the experiences of HR professionals in Yahoo. I hope that I can be part of the Yahoo team and contribute to the vibrancy and excellence of this company.

I sincerely hope that I will be offered a HR internship opportunity in Yahoo and I am confident that my easygoing nature and soft skills will be an asset to your esteemed company. I can be contactable at the above details.

Thank you for your kind consideration.

Yours Sincerely,

_______________

Lee Xue Hui

Resolving Interpersonal Conflict

There are many reasons why conflict between people can arise. As such, it is important that we learn interpersonal skills, probably considered life skills, which we use them throughout our lives as we deal with people from all walks of life.

However, how often do we take the first step to solve the issue between each other? 

This happened many years back while i was 10 years old. Being in primary school, I was young, innocent and playful. A few girls and I had formed a little " girl gang" and played little tricks on others, ignoring if they would be hurt or not. Once, we had gone too overboard and tore part of the school uniform of one of our targets. She was furious and slapped one of our friends in exchange. Both parties threatened to report to the teacher the situation. Of course, we were afraid as we were the ones who provoked her first. Thus, we decided that we should resolve the situation between ourselves instead of alarming the teacher we would get into trouble in the end. We started the problem, so we should be the one to end it.

Looking back, I am glad that we made the right choice despite our young age. I felt that we were somewhat mature enough for 10 year olds, to think of the bigger picture and made sure the involved parties were agreeable with the way the situation was handled.

Sometimes, it takes us a whole lot of courage to say " I am sorry", but do not be afraid to take the first step to admit your mistake, if you know that you are wrong in any way! You will find yourself forging better relationships with others.

How does effective communication help me?

If asked, will I proudly claim to be an effective communicator?
My answer – probably a big No.

Even though we have been communicating with others in various aspects since the day we were born, sometimes the message that we try to convey, may not get through to the other party. Information may be translated ineffectively in the process and at the end of the communication line, the whole message gets thwarted.  In another scenario, we may think that our words are harmless, but to the one on the receiving end, it might be rude, belittling or even offensive. This is probably why some say that communication is a form of an art, one that is not easily mastered.

Indeed, I agree with that. Poor communication skills will lead to a communication breakdown, where information is not successfully delivered from one person to another. In some cases, poor communication skills harm relationships because misunderstandings arise. This is why effective communication skills are important, because we are not living alone on a deserted island. We are living in a highly globalized world, where many people of different cultures live together in one country, some even working together in the same company. Often times, one needs to build healthy relationships with one another to work together, and what we need is –good communication skills.

I believe that this is an asset which everyone should aim to acquire as this will enable people to look at us in a different light, as compared to a person who cannot express himself clearly. No doubt, these skills cannot be attained overnight but through practice over time. I hope that after going through this module, I would be able to apply these skills confidently label myself an effective communicator.