Blog Post #7 : Final Reflection

After 1 semester of attending this course on professional communications. I have realizes the many aspects of effective communications. They transcend mere verbal communication to those around me, but also encompass the written aspects, such as letters to superiors and subordinates, as well as the non-verbal cues when communicating. I also learnt about the many ways and types of letters that could be written in an organization depending on the occasion and the person that one was writing to. Through learning all these, my understanding of effective communications skills has been broadened and have realised the importance of effective communications as it is in almost every aspect of my everyday interaction with others.

I feel that this module has benefited me as i have become aware of the different aspects of effective communications and was also able to practice my communication skills through the many assignments, such as resume writing and job application letters, and the opportunities to engage in an interview setting.

The best opportunity and experience i have had in this module to practice effective communications is in the group work where we had to complete a project that included report writing and a presentation. This put my communication skills that i had learnt in theory to pratical use. I feel that I have understood the theory taught to me better through this experience. For example, I learnt in theory that when one was not clear in expressing yourself in writing, it would lead to misunderstanding when the reader did not understand you. This happened in my project group as when i did not clearly express myself in emails to my group members, it lead to alot of confusion and misunderstandings. I had to re-explain myself to clear up the misunderstanding, another practical opportunity that was valuable.

Blog 6: Biodata

My Biodata:


From past experience, I believe I am an organised and maticulous person. One who is able to coordinate and relate well to people, I enjoy organising events and take each problem as a challenge and opportunity to better my social and problem solving skills.

My frankness and openness in relating to people coupled with my cheerful smile has gained me many friends. With my calm and rational personality in facing problems, I have been an asset during stressful times where decisions have to be made.

Other than pursuing my academic dream, I indulge in ice skating, diving and wake boarding. Like most girls, I too enjoy watching movies and shopping to destress amidst my homework and exams.

Blog 5: Reflecting on the Research Project Experience

It has indeed been a memorable and a positive learning experience during the 3 weeks i spent with Pei Yu and Nicole conducting the survey and writing the report for ES2007S.

During this time, I witnessed and learnt the importance of communication as we had to split up of the report that each of us had to complete for the final submission. Clear and detailed instructions had to be communicated between the 3 of us to ensure that the final report was consistent, from the writing style (third party point of view) to the fonting and paragraphing, to enable easy collation of the various parts. Interpersonal relationships played a very important role as friendships were forged during this time and any insensitive word spoken rashly during periods of stress was going to subtly undermine this relationship. Thus, we adopted the ‘group mentality’ when we were working on this project, where we would rally around each other to offer help to others even when that part was not our portion of the report to complete. This helped to ease tension during stressful periods where we had other assessments and reports to submit concurrently. Being a life science student, I was more versed with research and finding research papers. Thus I was able to teach Pei Yu the various methods to find the relevant research papers we needed to substantiate our survey results. Also when she was unable to find the source for the research paper, I went on to assist her to find the sources. This is because I remember how frustrating it was when I was still learning the technique of looking for research papers and sources. During the report writing, I was very encouraged by the enthusiasm Pei Yu and Nicole showed, we were not only able to complete the report but were also able to proof read each others parts.

For future presentations, I would definitely want to keep up the ‘group spirit’ we have but would like to improve on communications especially when stress level is high by asking other group members if they have difficulty in their parts before they come to ask for help. I believe this would help to create a happier team environment.

Evaluating Intercultural Behavior

I witnessed this incident at a formal Chinese dinner at a rather expensive restaurant. There was a extended family dinner that was in about to commence. There was an elderly lady, possibly the grandmother, present with a young gentleman, possibly her son, and his fiancee. The fiancee was very well dressed and had professional make up done. As she greeted the elderly lady, the elderly lady praised her in the Chinese language that she was very beautiful and her dress was well chosen. Replying in the Chinese language but with a very strong English accent, the young lady thanked the elderly lady profusely. Upon hearing that, the elderly lady shook her head and turned away with a unhappy look on her face.

I believe this miscommunication was due to the lack of cultural understanding between the Chinese educated elderly lady and the English educated young lady. In the Chinese culture, praise by someone is normally brushed aside with words of doubt of the recipient on herself. To receive the praise would imply pride and poor upbringing on the receiver. However, in the English culture, one normally receives the praise with words of gratitude.

Thus, I envisage the elderly lady thinking that the young lady is a prideful person with little respect for her elders. The young lady on the other hand could possibly be in a state of confusion as she most probably put in extra effort to dress up for the event in respect for her fiancee's relatives and upon receiving the praise in way deemed polite in her culture was given the disapproving face by the elders.

Blog 3: Potential Research Project Topics

During my group discussion with survey team mates Pei Yu and Nicole, we came up with many topics that we were interested in surveying. However, one of the more prominent survey topic was ‘What physical attributes of a female are male Chinese attracted to?’. The female physical attributes include height, build, features like color and size of their eyes, skin color and hair type.

We decided on this topic as we believe that with the change in the social landscape from yesteryear, gender roles and expectations have changed dramatically. In the past, females were expected to assume the domestic and child-bearing role with a subservient and demure attitude. However, with the rise in the standard of living and education level, women now enter the workforce with equal footage as males and command leadership positions. With the advent of the mass media, flashes of anorexic, heavily made up models strutting down fashion walkways has contorted meaning of beauty. Many girls have resorted to health threatening methods to conform to the twisted form of beauty the media portrays as glamorous to gain the attention of males. However, do males really idealize the stereotype of beauty offered by the media?

Problem Statement:
The objective of this study is to analyze the physical features of females that males are attracted to and from the data to see if those features correlate with that portrayed by the media.

Reader:
Females in NUS of any race, culture or religion, NUS Social Relations Office

Purpose Statement:
The objective of this report is to inform females in NUS of the traits that Chinese males are attracted to. This is especially targeted at single females who may tend to be more desperate and thus resort to dangerous means to make themselves more attractive by conforming to the ‘beauty’ that the media portrays it to be.
Another objective of this report is to analyze if the media has had a negative impact on males by contorting their perception of beauty. If such a trend is observed, steps can be taken by NUS to engage external speakers or social work lecturers to educate the students in such areas.

Blog 2: Interpersonal Conflict

Janice and James got to know each other through an orientation camp before entering NUS. After being friends for a year, they took the next step into their relationship and became a couple. During that time, Janice got to know through the rock climbing club in NUS. Sharing the same passion, they became good friends.

During year 2, Anabelle, Janice and James with a few other mutual friends coincidentally took 2 similar modules. Taking the same modules meant having lectures and tutorial classes together and thus after some time, they became a clique and often hung out together for movies and meals. Anabelle and James shared many common interests like music, reading and ice skating. Thus, they often had many topics to chat about and became good friends. Unknown to Anabelle at that time, Janice was unhappy about James apparent friendliness and frequent chats with her. In addition, Janice suffers from an inferiority complex about her looks and academic abilities. Being an introvert, Janice kept her unhappiness to herself and did not voice it out to Anabelle for fear of loosing her friendship or to James as she did not want to appear to be patty. Soon it became apparent that something was troubling Janice as she remained quiet during group outings and spoke less to Anabelle even when they were rock climbing. When Anabelle asked her if anything was the matter, she would flash a smile and said that it was just study stress and divert the topic away. Due to the lack of communication, nobody knew the struggle that Janice was facing and soon the relationship between James and Janice deteriorated when Janice started to have sudden outbursts of anger over small issues between them. Having known Janice for 2 years, James senses that she is unhappy about his friendship with Anabelle. He wants to keep Anabelle as a good friend however Janice is someone that he keeps close to his heart.

How should James communicate this to Janice?

Blog 1: Importance of Effective Communications

Explain why developing effective communication is important for you?

Personally, effective communication forms the basis and essence of everyday life. This is especially so in NUS which aspires to embrace a global community with students from all walks of life (be it race, culture, religion or nationality). After 2 years here, i believe that effective communication is one of the platforms that pivots one to greater social and academic heights. From lectures and laboratory work to team sports and hall activities, i have noticed that most of my peers that have risen to leadership positions have mastered the crux of effective communication enabling them to gain favor with their juniors, peers and superiors.

Being in the Science faculty, laboratory work and group reports has formed a part of my academic requirements. Due to the technical jargon that we have to use to communicate everyday, it is imperative that we are clear, concise and accurate in putting forth our experimental results or the troubles that we face in the experimental process. The occasional lack of this has caused me to face many misunderstandings when data communicated was not interpreted as i had meant. However, the work process was expedited when there was a clear communication channel between my group members which resulted in a happier work environment. Effective communication is especially important in the lecture settings. I have noticed that lecturers who are effective communicators are able to engage the students into the topic he is lecturing on. I think that this is very important as students would be mentally and psychologically active in understanding the topic which would greatly aid them in their exam preparations. In contrast, lecturers who are unable to engage the students often fail to communicate the essence of the topic across, leading to a loss in interest of the students in the topic and students may have to spend more time reading up to gain understanding of the subject.

My attachment as a cancer research assistant at John Hopkins Clinic has enabled me to interact with cancer stricken patients. This opportunity has enabled me to witness the importance of nonverbal communications as patients often do not understand the medical terms doctors use and thus rely on the doctors facial expressions and gestures to infer their disease condition. I have noticed too that doctor's often use touch to reassure or comfort patients and this correlates with that stated in the textbook 'The Science of Effective Communication in the Workplace', which refers to touch as being therapeutic and communicating involvement and warmth (pg 23, chapter 1). These doctors have learnt to establish effective communications with the patients and from this I infer that it is not just the ability to establish communication but also to develop the correct channel of communication depending on the audience you are interacting with. With these patients, it would be useless if the doctor was clear and precise in the medical terms he used as they have no understanding of it. Instead, the use of nonverbal ques was necessary to communicate effectively with these patients.

Thus, developing effective communication is important in strengthening social and work relationships in this rapidly globalizing economy. By developing effective and diversified methods of communications i believe that it will enable me to be adaptable and effective in my work environment as well as stand me in good stead with my peers and superiors.