Final Reflection on Learning (Post #4)

After 12 weeks of ES2007S lesson, we have come to the end of the semester. I believed that what many of us have learnt from this module will prove to be useful for our remaining time in NUS as well as when we join the workforce in the near future.

Effective communication is a skill that is applicable for all situations. In fact, I had employed quite a number of the skills taught in my recent internship applications- cover letter writing, resume writing etc. For one of the interviews that I went, I was asked to make a presentation as part of the interview process. That was when I began to appreciate the lessons taught in class and put them into practice.  Regardless of the results of the interviews (which will be revealed at the end of this week), I am now more confident of myself and definitely not that nervous when preparing for an interview or presentation.

In addition, I learnt that the most important component of effective communication is not just about expressing our ideas clearly but also ensuring that we are able to correctly interpret the intentions of the people we are conversing with. Essentially, effective communication does not just deal with the concept of speaking but also understanding. With that, I have learnt to understand people not just from their words (verbally) but also to observe the non-verbal cues. Using the example of the interview I went to, I may have come prepared with a presentation but when the interviewer started to show signs of disinterest such as glancing elsewhere, I must adapt to the circumstance- i.e. abandon the script and mention something interesting on the spot so as to catch the interviewer’s attention.

It is also good to learn that an effective communicator is never due to his/her innate talent but that practice is the determining factor. That should provide encouragement to some of us here who are not very confident of our communication skills. The series of activities- peer teaching, cover letter writing, mock interviews and eventually a proposal presentation allowed me to be exposed to some of the basic elements of effective communication which I am very grateful to. 

Thank you Mdm Fazilah and my classmates for the wonderful experience! 

Reflection on Team-based Research Project Proposal (Post #3)

I am glad that I was able to work with very wonderful team mates and at the end of the day, all of us were very proud of our Happisnap solution. Here are some of the takeaways I have gained from the project:

1.       

      1. Everyone was too cordial with each other

In the first meeting, which was a brainstorming session, many ideas surfaced. However, the team was rather indecisive in filtering the topics. This may be because no one really voiced out what they liked or disliked about a particular plan. With everyone saying that they were flexible with any topic, it made it hard to proceed with the project at the initial stage. Fortunately, this situation did not last for long as everyone began to know each other better and was more willing to raise their concerns

This is actually a common situation that many of us will face in the workplace. At times, colleagues may be reticent about voicing any problems lest it incur the wrath of the counterparty. When conversing with superiors, we may also be hesitant in pointing out any errors or inadequacies. However, the most appropriate course of action is actually to be frank to each other. This will help to build trust and minimise occurrences of misunderstanding. To mitigate the possibility of coming across as too blunt, we could try to phrase our concerns in a more tactful manner. With better understanding of each other, work progress will be more efficient and productivity can be raised.

2.     2. Team members have different commitments

There were instances when some people may not have the same level of commitments throughout the duration of the project.

Our team was able to manage this very well as everyone was comfortable with the idea of everyone contributing different amount throughout the process.  This is a very useful approach in the workplace but it would also depend on the circumstances. Some companies may have very conservative corporate work culture that do not allow their employees to adjust their level of commitments flexibly.

Nonetheless, it is still ideal if one can deliver sustained performance throughout the process. Having unpredictable performance may give the wrong impression that you are not that reliable and consistent in your work.

3.     3. The need to constantly reviewing project progress

Initially, the team had selected the solution of promoting work-life balance amongst other initiatives to help promote happiness. It was only much later that the team realised that the solution was too banal and that the focus group (everyone from young to old) was actually too huge to tackle. The main reason why all of us overlooked this problem was due to the lack of constantly reviewing the project progress and checking whether it fulfilled our intention which was to target the secondary school age group.

This is frequently observed in the work environment too. At times, some of us may be too engrossed in our project that we often forgot the real intention of what the project aims to solve. For instance, when designing a phone for the elderly, some of us may be too pre-occupied with the idea of adding many features to the phone. The correct approach would be to understand what the elderly needs and how the product fulfils the requirements, which in most cases should be issues of readability and volume control. 

Evaluating Intercultural Behavior (Post #2)

Dining habits vary widely across different cultures and even among different subgroups of the same ethnicity. For instance, the Chinese Hakka and Hokkien have their unique ways of serving the "Bak-Kut-Teh" (a Chinese soup that consists of meaty pork ribs simmered in a complex broth of herbs and spices). While it is great to be able to delight our palates with these diverse dishes, there are times when some people fail to appreciate this diversity and this may lead to intercultural miscommunication and misunderstandings.

As a prelude to my personal experience, let me first share with everyone about a local curry cooking dispute that happened a few years back. Here's a short summary of the incident:

One Chinese family that arrived from the mainland could not tolerate the smell of curry cooked by their Indian neighbours. The Chinese family protested against the neighbour's act of cooking curry and lodged a complaint to the Singapore's Community Mediation Centre. Eventually, a compromise was reached when the Indian family agreed to only cook curry when the Chinese family was not at home. In return, the Chinese family promised to try the dish.

The incident caused a huge uproar in Singapore as many (including myself) felt that the act of depriving the Indian family of the right to cook this dish seemed too far-fetched. After all, curry is regarded as one of our national dishes and is well-loved by the local Malay, Indian and Chinese communities.  Nonetheless, it was a mutual settlement agreed by the involved parties.
My personal experience with intercultural differences happened about seven years ago. It took place during a three-week science forum held at London. Even before going to London, I already did not have a good impression of British cuisines, possibly influenced by the stereotype opinion of the faxlore, "Hell is where....the chefs British".

At the welcome dinner of the forum, we were served lamb chomp. “Not bad", I thought to myself. As I sunk my teeth into the meat, the smell did not seem right. There was something else besides the lamb and the sauce. I took a close look and realised that mayonnaise was stuffed as "fillings" in the meat. Though the smell was a bit overwhelming given the amount of mayonnaise in the meat, I thought to myself "Well, at least I'd never tasted this before. It's exotic."

However, I definitely did not expect what was to happen over the next few days. Lunch was egg mayonnaise sandwich and dinner was mayonnaise too, albeit a slight variation in how the meat was prepared (grilled, roasted etc.). This repeated for days and I started to wonder how I was going to survive this for the remaining weeks. In fact, some of the other Asian participants had similar thoughts too. Having mayonnaise was fine but certainly not for prolonged periods. Fortunately, it was not long before the facilitators of the forum realised that we are taking decreasing portions of food servings and decided to approach us for feedback. Subsequent meals served were changed to cater for international students.

From the peer teaching session as well as the relation of this personal experience, I managed to gain a few learning points:

1. Many at times we often tell ourselves that we are very open-minded and will accept any change readily. However, when faced with the scenario, we may not be that tolerant as we had expected. In this case, I had always thought that I am a very easy-going person who would just be fine with any diet but I was apparently proven wrong. That is why we should never be overly-confident of our adaptability.

2. We should be mindful of the various habits and cultures. This is especially so when the world is getting more and more interconnected and there are bound to be constant interactions with people of different geographical and cultural background. Being sensitive to their habits and cultures will allow us to gain respect from them and they would most likely reciprocate our kind intentions. We should strike a balance between accommodating to their cultures as well as introducing our cultures to them. Friendly exchanges will help others know our cultures and beliefs too and make it easier for them to understand us.

3. We should always learn to be observant and proactive. The facilitators demonstrated their ability to observe the participants' expressions and took initiatives to solicit feedback from them. By taking an active step in learning about others and listening to them, people will be more forthcoming in providing feedback. This will allow improvements to be made and bring about mutual benefit. Clarification will also help to reduce occurrences of misunderstandings. More importantly, the effort to listen to others demonstrates one's sincerity in trying to achieve effective communication.

Resolving Interpersonal Conflict (Post #1)

Conflicts permeate all levels of interaction – between colleagues at workplace, among friends in schools or even within family members.

Here, I would like to share about a hypothetical interpersonal conflict situation that some healthcare workers might be able to relate to: conflict between healthcare professionals (doctors, nurses) and patients.

In any public hospital’s Accident and Emergency (A&E) department, long waiting queues for consultations are a common sight.

For a patient that seeks effective and swift treatment for his illness, the waits can be particularly unbearable. Consequently, the patient may feel frustrated and be easily agitated.

Similarly, long waiting queues also take a toll on the healthcare professionals’ service standards as they struggle to provide comprehensive treatment to patients within a short period of time. They may try to attend to many patients simultaneously and may not be that responsive to patients’ queries.

Let us now consider a patient who decided to seek medical help at the A&E for benign abdominal pain. He had waited for two hours before it was his turn. For the past 2 hours, he had been making incessant knocks on the doctor’s room to ask when the doctor will see him. Upon entering the consultation room, the doctor quickly pointed him to a seat and hurriedly asked about his symptoms, penning them down on a memo. All this while, the doctor did not lift up his head to look at the patient. The patient queried worriedly whether the pain could be a harbinger of any serious illness, to which the doctor replied indifferently “I can’t say for sure”. Convinced that the doctor did not provide him with the service he deserved, the patient confronted the doctor over the perceived poor service. The doctor strongly denied the complaints and accused the patient of being unreasonable. This led to a conflict between both parties.  

In this described situation, both protagonists could have exercised restraint and prevent the episode from escalating.

The patient may not have realised that there were many other patients waiting to seek treatment, some of whom required immediate medical attention. The patient may have been affected by his own ailments and become overly concerned about his own needs relative to others. Therefore, the patient should have been more understanding and refrained from persistently asking when his turn will arrive.

In addition, the patient might also overlooked the fact that the doctor had a tiring day. The doctor might just be trying to attend to patients’ needs as swift as possible, albeit the uncompassionate tone.

Even though it was not wrong of the doctor to say that he cannot make any diagnosis without any confirmatory tests (i.e. blood test, x-ray or CT scans), he could have adopted a more caring tone to assuage the patients’ anxious feelings, as compared to a "I can't say for sure" suspense message.

A successful doctor not just have to possess the relevant medical expertise but also the compassion to make patients feel comfortable and reassured. The doctor needs to demonstrate that he understands the worries of the patient and will put in his best efforts to assist the patient in any way.

So, what else do you think both parties could have done so that people will not misconstrue their actions as aggressive and impolite?