Final lap of a awesome journey...

 

 

 

Deciding to take up the module ES2007S seems to be like a “yesterday” decision that I pondered during the semester module bidding period. I remember how I queried my peers and went online to read student’s blog entries about this module; it was indeed an unnecessary worry now that I think back. Therefore, I am going to input this last entry analytically for future student who might stumble across my blog in the future when they are deciding if they should take up this module.

 

Many modules that we as an undergraduate take up during our course of study might be highly specialized and technical with regards to its content which corresponds to our field of majors. Many a time, we will just end up completing the module and seldom or maybe we will never even get to apply what we learnt into our life. Perhaps this is a dilemma in our education system. However, I can honestly say that professional communication is a module where we learnt skills that we can almost incorporate and apply it in our daily life, if not, definitely useful when we enter into the workforce.

 

It provides an insight of what to expect when we enter into the professional working world and equip us with the necessary interpersonal skills which is relevant in all career out there. I believe this is a skill that many graduate may be lacking in our present society. We may have the conceptual knowledge of the relevant field but not the “fundamental” skill that a person essentially need in life.

 

I believe I did grew and learnt many useful skills within my journey in ES2007S. Especially learning so much apart from my usual “adrenaline-rush” style of presentation. I understood the need to adjust the “release of adrenaline” to effectively correlate it to the audience and delivery of the message. Trust me, things that seems “common sense” may not necessary be so common after all, there’s a lot to be learn.

 

One of the common conceptions for student before they take up this module is thinking that the workload for this module is relatively high. But I actually beg to defer this conception. Yes, there is no denying that there is a prominent set of assignment lined up for the module. However, if we would to conscientiously follow closely with the well planned schedule provided, it might not be a big issue after all. Of course, there are times where we will find ourselves choked up with the lined-up assignment especially during the oral presentation and proposal phase, but it a time-management skills that perhaps is a skills instill within this module that is to be transmitted to us.

 

One entry only is rather insufficient for me to state down every single memorable moments that I been through together with the class in this module. These class of mine is indeed a spontaneous class that contains a group of diverse student and professionally led by our ever amiable and friendly coordinator Dr.Radhika who is ever understanding and allow room for discussion and negotiation (even for an extension of assignment è which makes the workload not as heavy as it isJ)

 

Just when the class starts to bond, the module comes to an end… Thanks everyone in the class for making this a memorable module for me before I officially graduate from NUS and of course your ever-patience to handle my “nonsense” in classJ

Keep it touch and forget me NOT!

Cheers forever.

Edmund Yap

16th November 2013

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Extravaganza - The Oral Presentation

The module “Professional communication” is indeed one module in NUS that provides the student with ample chance to work with different people from different fields, permitting proficient and interacting communication opportunities through projects and allowing peers to learn from each other positively and effectively.

Time really files and now we are already in the stage of finalizing our “major” project for this module - The Oral Presentation.

Believe it a not, I am always blessed with great team members in the group who add spices to my overall working experience. (Though I may always seem to be complaining about them, in actual fact, they are awesome!)

The team member consist of two relatively serious-looking and amiable seniors who have relatively different personalities who came together with me and called ourselves, “SupermEn”

(Hopefully I unleashed their inner humorous side during the project…)

Preparation

The team set aside our common goals for this project and we agreed upon to achieve excellence in this project.

With that common goal set in mind, we set off to brainstorm and come up with our main ideas. Due to many different perspective of view different members have, we faced a situation of not being able to come up with a main idea that was able to substantiate as a strong point for our project. Plenty of ideas starts to flow in, however we were unable to finalize our point to the extend we start to lag behind compare to other teams in the class who have already proceeded on to the next phase of the project.

In order to finalize a plan, the team set up various group discussion platforms according to our convenience using technologies such as GoogleDoc as well as Whatsapp application to aid in our discussion. This was essential due to different schedule of each member; it was relatively difficult to find consensus timings for discussion. The different ideas were then collated in our document which aids the team in effectively identifying the main concern we would like to work upon. Finally, coming to a main point being identified successfully.

After the main idea was developed, the preparation proceeded smoothly and the progress of the project was updated systematically in our communication platform. Whenever the need arises, a face-to-face meet up were scheduled accordingly to the member availability, to some extend over the weekend.

 

Though the process was rather hectic, fortunately the members were of people who are able to take critics with an open-heart and are joyous by nature. Each and every one is able to provide concise and concrete suggestion timely and handled different issue effectively. The process was handled openly and maturely. Overall, the preparation process was enjoyable with work being accomplished yet with constant humors accompanied to lighten the hectic moments.

Delivery

Datelines were set and met for each task assigned to ensure the proper progression of the project. Task allocation was also frequently reviewed to ensure the proper delivery of task.

Fortunately, the team does not really have issue with members who faced major problems and fear with presentation (all members are home-grown Singaporean and “thick-skinned” to start off with) except some presentation-style issues such as unconscious habits when presenting. The team sets aside suffice time to meet-up face-to face to have numerous dry-run practices within our team apart from the one conducted in class where valuable feedbacks were received.

Though the delivery process was not a big issue, the team faced a problem. Due to the more formal presentation style this project adopts as well as the targeted audience group involved in this presentation, the usual light-hearted, joyous and humorous style of presentation style that most of the member in this team prefers has to be omitted, revised and altered accordingly. Slides were also reviewed numerous times to ensure the appropriateness of the theme in order to correspond to our presentation.

 

Presentation Aids

After many discussions, the team decided that we will stick to the conventional PowerPoint presentation however ideas and flow of the presentation were taken into careful consideration during presentation. Pictures and videos were incorporated as an eye-catcher of our presentation to highlight the importance of our proposal. Many pointers and tips on presentation skill taught by our course coordinator, Dr Radhika were applied and discussed throughout the preparation process till the delivery stage to ensure a professional yet persuasive presentation being delivered.

 

Overall

Many of us will have to agree that the oral presentation has the heaviest workload among all the other assignment in this module and also carry a relatively huge percentage in terms of assessment. However on the whole, the oral presentation allows the student to apply what we have learnt over the entire span of the module and apply it in our “final” presentation. Be it in term of managing conflict all the way to handle a professional presentation, the oral presentation covers it all. Although it might consume a lot of time for preparation and to come out with the final presentation, overall I felt that the oral presentation is an enjoyable and fulfilling experience.

Definitely is an “extravaganza” for this module!  

I believe most of my classmates will share this similar sentiment….

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Signing off...
Edmund Yap

Fostering Intercultural Communication

Culture can be very well related to learning a language. It is like acquiring a language; if you are able to master it effectively, you conquered it. However, if you fail to do so, you will be defeated and be faced with glares and stares and many a time leading to embarrass consequences.

There is simply no hard and fast rule on how can we actually master adaptation to a new cultural community as it is simply very wide and differ within culture to culture. Perhaps the best way would be to experience it through socialization, learn from mistake and of course learning it with an open heart as it is often tough to accept a new culture behavior.

Being a Singaporean, no doubt we are living in a multi-cultural society. However we are very bonded and indeed we lived very well together compromising each other differences within our fast-paced society.

However, the Singaporean-style may not always be applicable in many other foreign countries. Let me share one of my experiences when I went over to Australia for my holiday with my friends.

Australia unlike Singapore adapts a more carefree and relaxed lifestyle. These cultural differences often lead to Singaporean being unable to integrate into it since we are so used to a fast-paced lifestyle.

Let’s take a look at two different scenarios.

 

Visit to a café in Tasmania for lunch

 

Everything seems to be the same as how a normal café in Singapore functions. However the difference comes after we placed our order. After waiting for approximately more than half an hour, the food that we ordered has not arrived. My friend who was in Aussie for the first time start to get impatient and attempt to question one of the waitress even though we advised not to. Being a aggressive broker in Singapore, he simply can’t wait further and called the server and questioned her when the food will be ready.

 

As expected, instead of being apologetic as per the server in Singapore would be, the server simply just gave a rather sarcastic smile and walked away. Neither was the food served any sooner and only arrived after near an hour.

[Perhaps it was longer due to my friend’s complaints…]

 

The matter of fact is that, in Australia, due to their more relaxed, courteous life-style, it is considered rude to rush the cook to serve the food. It is very common to have to wait up to half an hour for the food to be served in café especially during peak hour. The rule is never rush the cook.

Another scenario worth to mention…

 

Driving in Australia

 

In Singapore, drivers on the road tend to honk other drivers very often even though it might not be necessary. Common examples where we will honk would be if the vehicle in front of us drives at a slower speed in the traffic of our favor or perhaps if a vehicle get a little over our lane. This might be seemed to be perfectly fine to most of the drivers in Singapore as it might be assumed to be a honk of caution.

However, back in Australia, it is completely different.

 

While I was driving along the highly-jammed Goodwood road in Australia, many vehicle seem to be moving at a rather slow speed despite the jam. Being a typical Singaporean driver, once the traffic light turn to my favor and the vehicle ahead of me didn’t seem to move off as quickly as I expected, I

subconsciously pressed the honk with the intention to alert the vehicle ahead to move off. However, what I got in return after the pressing of the honk were glares and stares from the neighboring drivers.

I was then informed by my Aussie friends that pressing the honk is rather a taboo in their country and unless in absolute emergency case, the honk were never used. Using the honk unnecessary is deemed as rude and impolite and equivalent to be asking for trouble. I was rather startled by these unique roads ethnic but have no choice but only to follow through the slow traffic flow and refrain from my highly tempted attempt to press the honk.

Unique cultural differences exist in almost every community, down to the simplest behavior. Therefore, it is absolutely crucial for us to be mindful and respectful to the culture of others whenever we enter theirs. What may seem fine in our culture may not be necessary fine for the others. It is always good to be alert and appreciative to other culture to prevent any unnecessary unhappiness and conflict.

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I will end off this blog entry with a hilarious video featuring how different culture intrepret gesture.

Enjoy, Cheers!

 

 

 

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Resolving Interpersonal Conflict

 A Generation vs Generation Approach

 

Interpersonal conflict between people is a fact of life. In almost any aspect of our life, there is bound to be a situation where we develop negative relationship toward a certain individual due to different perspective. Interpersonal conflict is complicated, there is no hard and fast recipe as in how we should prevent or handle it. Often, the conflict arises when two parties is unable to come to a state of understanding towards the other individual’s point of view.

 

Let me take you through a case of interpersonal conflict that I was involved in that occur mainly due to the different work ethics between two individual of a different generation.

This incident took place in an annual collaborated event with one of Singapore’s most prominent magazine that I was involved in.

This event is held annually to commemorate the magazine’s achievement as well as a gathering for the loyal readers of the magazine.  A series of activity were lined-up for all those who participate. Honorably, we are the representing studio for the event providing complimentary photo-shoot which might entitle the participant to have chance to be the next cover model for the magazine. This event attracted huge amount of clients and thus the efficiency of the staff is crucial. You may have seen such event being held in shopping mall when you are doing your shopping spree.

 

 

Now, let me briefly introduce the “players” of this conflict

Uncle B, a 55 year old, full-time veteran photographer who is in the line of photography over 30 years. Though there is an age difference between us, we shared a really good relationship. He is like a mentor to me who is ever willing to impart his valuable photography skill to me. I truly appreciate and am honored to have him in my organization. Uncle B is usually stationed at the studio to do indoor shoot. However this time round, I requested for him to assist in this outdoor event.

Partner A, a 27 year old, ad-hoc and regular event helper who have been assisting me in many road-shows for the past one year. She has been a good assistant to me and I have to say she is indeed proficient in managing outdoor event and is always quick on her feet when a problem arises.

Together with a group of part-timers with Uncle B and Partner A, I conducted the usual event briefing and off we go to “rock” the event!

 

Things seem perfect isn’t it?  

With the assistance from these two reliable helpers, how can the event not be a success?

 

 

But I was wrong…

 

 

On the first day of the event, all the set-up went smoothly and everyone seem to be working well together. It was indeed pleasing to see everyone working well together in achieving the same goal. By the way, Uncle B was the first photographer doing the shoot for the event, while Partner A assisted in the running of the booth.

As the event begun, clients started streaming to the booth and before we know, the mall was full of clients wanting to do their photo-shoot. Our booth was running smoothly and all clients were delighted and excited to receive their individual photo (what we known as portfolio-shot). I have to say everyone was doing a splendid job.

After ensuring everything was running in order, I linked up with the magazine organizer to attend a meeting.

During my meeting, I received numerous calls from Partner A. As I was unable to answer her call, I received a text from her:

Not expecting the problem to be so serious, I made my way slowly back to the booth. 

 

This is how it goes…

 

Upon reaching the crowded booth, Partner A immediately dragged me to a corner while Uncle B was still diligently doing his job. Partner A exclaimed to me in unhappiness and advised me to instruct Uncle B that his method of photographing is hogging up the entire event. She explained to me that a lot of clients are actually unhappy about having to wait so long as Uncle B was taking a fairly long time to do the shoot for each and every customer. She informed me that she has voiced the concern to Uncle B but was being ignored.

 

At that point of time, I was actually quite concerned about the unhappiness between them as I could literally feel the fire in Partner A. Having working with her for so long, that was the first time I saw her flared up.

 

Indeed the queue was getting longer and I do understand the concern from the perspective of Partner A. I calmed her down and ask her to proceed with her job.

After which, I returned to the photo-booth area and viewed the actual situation.

True enough, Uncle B might be taking a longer time than it should be to complete an individual shoot. However, I must admit that the quality of the photo was awesome and can be comparable to a studio shoot.

Unfortunately, due to the high volume of client at the event, it might not be too ideal to do this unlike when the shoot is being done in the studio.

 

Trying to be as natural as I can be, I jokingly instructed my other photographer to take over the photography job temporarily so that Uncle B could take a break since he have been shooting continuously for a few hours.

As usual, I jocularly asked Uncle B if he was tired and invited him to have a coffee with me in hoping to cease his tension from the hectic job.

He agreed.

At our coffee session…

Apparently, I felt that Uncle B already knew that Partner A had informed me about her concern and he is feeling really unhappy about it.

 

This is what he say, “Those young people, they just do things the way they feel it is supposed to be! What do they know about photography? Does one simply become a photographer when they hold a camera? So unprofessional, how will they even succeed in life? Disrespectful and arrogant bunch of people! And they expect me to listen to them?”

Uncle B continued to tell me how he felt about the inappropriate quality of service Partner A delivered to our clients as well as how rude she was when she spoke to him.

 

As I try to calm him down, I also took the opportunity to explain to him the different working style Partner A adopts as well as letting him know why I always emphasized that studio and event shoot are different. At the same time, I also let him know that I personally do not agree with Partner A being rude to him and will speak to her about it, hoping that he can understand that Partner A did not did it on purpose.

 

At that particular moment, I know both of them are no longer on talking terms and having them to work together is as good as making things worst and destroying the event.

Knowing the good relationship I have with Uncle B, I casually suggested to him if he is willing to return to the studio to assist while I will take care of the issue here. I understand that by doing so, I may actually hurt his pride but this might be the best alternative after all at that moment.

 

He agreed and left the event after our coffee.

The event continues to run and ended smoothly.

My thoughts…

I felt that the main cause of this conflict is largely due to the different perspective from the two different generations of people. Uncle B being the “baby boomer generation” takes pride in his work, wanting to deliver high quality products to the client regardless of the hassle. On the other hand, Partner A being in the generation Y has her own style of working and want things to be accomplished efficiently in the fast phase setting.

 

Well, the fault really doesn’t lies solely on any one party.

 

From my perspective, I do agree that Partner A is managing the event as per how it is supposed to be. However, especially in our Asian context, being respectful is a very important aspect in the society especially being respectful towards an elder. It may be difficult to convey the message across to an elder especially if you are trying to critique his working style. However, I believe that if we being the younger generation are able to take a step back and think how we should approach them sensitively, things may not be so undesirable after all.

 

The two generation has grown up in a very different world and this affects our expectations and approaches to interpersonal conflict.

 

Many a time, we are not able to choose who we want to work with and often we will have to work with people who have a completely different perspective from us. The rise of conflict is almost unavoidable if no party is willing to compromise. I believe good communication skill is essential in term of preventing and resolving the conflict. The type of communication skills we choose to adapt plays an important part in the final consequence of the conflict.

Even though the event went on smoothly, Uncle B is unwilling to attend the post-party celebration of the event since Partner A will be around.
Did I handle the situation inappropriately by suggesting Uncle B to return to the studio that might actually hurt his pride? How will you handle this situation if you were me at that moment of time when you really needed to place a high priority in ensuring that the event continues to run successfully?

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An insightful video on how to resolve a interpersonal conflict... Useful tips... Enjoy...



 

 

Signing off...