Over the course of the past 12 weeks, there are so many life lessons and communication skills that I have picked up from my ES2007S lessons that it is difficult to for me to pinpoint or specify what exactly meant the most to me.
However, I will try my best to summarize what I have learnt along this course in this few short paragraphs.
One of the first things I have learnt is to be a better listener by paying attention to the speaker when he or she is talking about a particular subject matter. This is extremely important so that we do not miss out any important details the speaker may have mentioned.
Another important aspect would be the building of interpersonal skills through our dressing, tone, posture and the way we speak. First impressions do count and these details do partially reveal the kind of person and emphasis we put into our work.
We also learnt about preventing and mitigating interpersonal conflicts by learning about possible scenarios resulting in misunderstandings and that we should never assume a person's character and personality just by observing his outer appearance even before we communicate with him or her.
Next, we learnt how to craft an effective application letter and resume as well as going through mock job interviews while we begin to work on our final project proposal.
Overall, I feel that while there were hard times when all the deadlines began to stack up, the course was fun as we made many friends and this is probably one of the reasons why it stands out from the other courses I have taken in the past. Thanks for the experience everybody and I wish all of you guys all the best in your exams and in your working life(for those graduating :))
Yours Sincerely,
Zi Yang
Sunday, 21 April 2013
Reflection on Oral Presentation
Ah Oral Presentation! On the week before, Mdm Fazilah asked all four groups to pick a lots to decide the order of presentation. Being the very "lucky" person, I decided to pick my group a lucky number for our presentation and as my members and I happily unraveled the number depicting the order of our presentation hoping for the best draw, we got the "best" draw! Yay! Number 1! =___=
After that, everyone in the group gave the look that they were gonna have me for dinner. Hmm hehehe >:3
Having less than 3-4 days till our presentation, there were much issues to be sorted out and the whole group stayed behind late on monday to finish up our data analysis of the survey results, interviews with a TA and even revamped our entire proposal to meet the presentation deadline on Tuesday.
By the next morning, during presentation, my mind literally went blank and had to resort to reading from the basic script i made from the slides. But we were glad that we finally finished the assignement and can take a break...
Tuesday, 19 February 2013
Thursday, 7 February 2013
Resolving Interpersonal Conflict
My second blog entry will be on the issue of interpersonal conflict. In life, interpersonal conflicts are unavoidable due to our many differences, but it is in the way we manage these conflicts that prevents these clashes from escalating and erupting into an all out war where everyone gets hurt. :'(
Today, I will be reenacting a conflict that occurred in my workplace when I was working in a Japanese restaurant as a service staff a few years back.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Before I begin, let me first introduce the parties involved. I will be using dummy names for my post because I do not wish to expose the names of the people involved.
Firstly, person A is the restaurant manager, she's basically in charge of running the store and making sure everything runs smoothly from the kitchen, the service area and kaiten area. She looks tough and mean on the outside but when you get to know her better on a personal level, she will always listen to your opinions and will not hesitate to lend you a helping hand when you are unable to cope. She's like a big sister to us.
Next, person B is the "lao jiao" or the super experienced senior who has been working for over two years and knows the store inside out and is able to take on any role proficiently. She knows her stuff probably even better than the store manager herself and we can always look to her for advice on what to do if we aren't sure.
Also, there's me, the newbie that has been working for 2 months who knows most of the basics in my job and what to do and what not to, at least most of the time. :3
Lastly, person C is the "new-newbie" who started working 1 month after I started working in the restaurant but has managed to learn everything extremely quickly due to her previous working experience in the sector.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And it begins, the conflict that I'm bringing up now is not a direct conflict between any two individuals but rather more of a mini "cold" war between B the senior and C and me the newcomers.
When C and me first started working in the restaurant, we saw B as an extremely efficient, hardworking staff who was also very meticulous in her work. She was also willing to help us and give us useful advice when we were new to the job despite our occasional mistakes.
At that point in time, C and me had a very good impression of B because if not for her, we would not be able to adapt to the job as quickly as we did. However, C and me were still frequently scolded by A for making tiny mistakes such as keeping the stations fully stocked up on chopsticks and other items or for some small issues such as sitting down to pack sushi during store opening when there wasn't any customers.
It was only when another senior who was resigning due to other commitments she had at home told us about what B has done that we realised that all the while it was B who was talking behind our backs to A about all the small little mistakes we made.
We felt betrayed and began to lose our trust in B but did not express our displeasure to her so that the working environment will not be affected, hoping that things will get better if we improve our attitude towards work and avoid making mistakes in front of her.
But it was not to be. No matter how hard we try, B will always find trouble with everything we do, such as complaining that we did not keep the stations stocked up during lunch/dinner hours when we are all busy taking orders and serving the food to the customers or complaining to A about the person who was in charge of the station she was taking over from.
It was getting more of a nuisance that began to affect everyone and slowly but surely everyone, including A, began to distance themselves away from B because of the fact that she keeps talking behind other's back such as talking about A's and C's bad points to me and telling A's and my bad points to C.
If you were in my shoes, what would you do to rectify the situation?
If you were A, what would you do to stop the situation from affecting the working atmosphere?
Today, I will be reenacting a conflict that occurred in my workplace when I was working in a Japanese restaurant as a service staff a few years back.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Before I begin, let me first introduce the parties involved. I will be using dummy names for my post because I do not wish to expose the names of the people involved.
Firstly, person A is the restaurant manager, she's basically in charge of running the store and making sure everything runs smoothly from the kitchen, the service area and kaiten area. She looks tough and mean on the outside but when you get to know her better on a personal level, she will always listen to your opinions and will not hesitate to lend you a helping hand when you are unable to cope. She's like a big sister to us.
Next, person B is the "lao jiao" or the super experienced senior who has been working for over two years and knows the store inside out and is able to take on any role proficiently. She knows her stuff probably even better than the store manager herself and we can always look to her for advice on what to do if we aren't sure.
Also, there's me, the newbie that has been working for 2 months who knows most of the basics in my job and what to do and what not to, at least most of the time. :3
Lastly, person C is the "new-newbie" who started working 1 month after I started working in the restaurant but has managed to learn everything extremely quickly due to her previous working experience in the sector.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And it begins, the conflict that I'm bringing up now is not a direct conflict between any two individuals but rather more of a mini "cold" war between B the senior and C and me the newcomers.
When C and me first started working in the restaurant, we saw B as an extremely efficient, hardworking staff who was also very meticulous in her work. She was also willing to help us and give us useful advice when we were new to the job despite our occasional mistakes.
At that point in time, C and me had a very good impression of B because if not for her, we would not be able to adapt to the job as quickly as we did. However, C and me were still frequently scolded by A for making tiny mistakes such as keeping the stations fully stocked up on chopsticks and other items or for some small issues such as sitting down to pack sushi during store opening when there wasn't any customers.
It was only when another senior who was resigning due to other commitments she had at home told us about what B has done that we realised that all the while it was B who was talking behind our backs to A about all the small little mistakes we made.
We felt betrayed and began to lose our trust in B but did not express our displeasure to her so that the working environment will not be affected, hoping that things will get better if we improve our attitude towards work and avoid making mistakes in front of her.
But it was not to be. No matter how hard we try, B will always find trouble with everything we do, such as complaining that we did not keep the stations stocked up during lunch/dinner hours when we are all busy taking orders and serving the food to the customers or complaining to A about the person who was in charge of the station she was taking over from.
It was getting more of a nuisance that began to affect everyone and slowly but surely everyone, including A, began to distance themselves away from B because of the fact that she keeps talking behind other's back such as talking about A's and C's bad points to me and telling A's and my bad points to C.
If you were in my shoes, what would you do to rectify the situation?
If you were A, what would you do to stop the situation from affecting the working atmosphere?
Thursday, 24 January 2013
Why effective communication skills are important to me?
To me, being able to communicate effectively means that
you’re able to articulate your ideas to others clearly yet at the same time
remain sensitive to the feelings of your targeted audience.
In this day and age, where communication through various
channels such as the mainstream media and social media are commonplace, it is
even more crucial for us to equip ourselves with these skills so that we will
be able to communicate with our peers confidently.
On the other hand, ineffective communication may lead to
misunderstandings that may severely hamper the operations of the company we
work in. For example, a miscommunication between the chef and the manager of a
restaurant in ordering food materials or drinks can very well result in the
unavailability of certain food items in the menu or the wastage of precious
food materials.
To add on, it is important for us to make sure that we
remain considerate of the feelings of others as we speak to minimise any
chances of misunderstandings occurring. On the other hand, as a listener, we
should also seek to clarify our doubts with the speaker as soon as possible so
that misinterpretations of the message do not occur that may in turn affect our
relationship.
All in all, effective communication is about being objective
and clear in delivering what we want our target audience to understand while
being sensitive of what they feel.
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