Basically, in this effective communication module, I managed to learn the importance of communication skills both written and orally. Initially, I have always thought that communication only refers to the conversation between two persons. However, through this module, I realised that they are a lot of forms of communication, for example, non-verbal cues which often cause people to have misunderstandings due to the wrong signals sent.
In addition, I also realised the importance of communication in the writing of letters and reports. This is because different context requires different use of languages and format. This is especially important in working life as I believe fatal mistakes such as a wrong tone used is not appropriate and this can actually cause you to lose potential customers. Hence, the importance of effective communication was indeed highlighted in this module.
Furthermore, I realised having effective communication skills will impress others as you will speak more confidently. It is only when we speak confidently and clearly during a job interview or presentation; we will be able to bring our ideas clearly across to the other party.
Therefore, through this module, I feel that I am indeed more confident about communicating with other people. I am also more aware of the appropriate tone to use in different situations. For example, it is important to be humble yet confident during a job interview. Next, through this module, I realised the importance of communication in a group as disagreement may occur during the project. From the group project, I was given the chance to communicate more effectively with my group members.
Moreover, I feel that the skills learnt in this module will allow me to improve my relationships with others as I will become more sensitive to the tone and body language of others. Being more sensitive will cause less misunderstanding to occur. Hopefully, with these skills, it will improve my relationships and build stronger bonds between family and friends.
Lastly, thank you Ms Happy for all your guidance and everyone in this class who made this module fun and interesting.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
#6 Bio data
Soh Li Yun is currently an undergraduate in the Faculty of Science majoring in chemistry. She graduated from Ngee Ann Secondary School and Meridian Junior College previously. She has a passion for chemistry especially in environmental chemistry and she hopes that with the knowledge taught in school; she will be able to help think of solutions to reduce environmental problems such as global warming and air pollution.
Furthermore, she has a strong passion in geography as she finds geography modules very interesting. In particular, Li Yun took 3 geography modules from the faculty of arts. Inspired by the importance of geography in today’s world, she is considering taking geography as a minor.
In addition, Li Yun has had many experiences of being a leader when she was given the chance to lead during both her secondary school and junior college days. She was the sectional leader for the concert band and an ambassador of her JC in an immersion program. Through these experiences, she realized the importance of working as a team and the difficulties of being a leader.
Moreover, Li Yun is willing to learn and is interested in learning new things as she feels that there is a learning point in everything. She is taking up tennis now from a private coach as an extracurricular activity. She also emphasizes on humility and has a good attitude when working with others. She takes pride in her work and believes in a commitment to excellence and taking full responsibility of my work. Furthermore, Li Yun values family ties and friendship and she aspires to work in HSA as a scientist.
Furthermore, she has a strong passion in geography as she finds geography modules very interesting. In particular, Li Yun took 3 geography modules from the faculty of arts. Inspired by the importance of geography in today’s world, she is considering taking geography as a minor.
In addition, Li Yun has had many experiences of being a leader when she was given the chance to lead during both her secondary school and junior college days. She was the sectional leader for the concert band and an ambassador of her JC in an immersion program. Through these experiences, she realized the importance of working as a team and the difficulties of being a leader.
Moreover, Li Yun is willing to learn and is interested in learning new things as she feels that there is a learning point in everything. She is taking up tennis now from a private coach as an extracurricular activity. She also emphasizes on humility and has a good attitude when working with others. She takes pride in her work and believes in a commitment to excellence and taking full responsibility of my work. Furthermore, Li Yun values family ties and friendship and she aspires to work in HSA as a scientist.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
#5 open topic - Non verbal communication in relationship
What is non verbal communication?
According to HELP GUIDE.ORG, nonverbal communication, conveyed through facial expressions, body language, pace, intensity and tone of voice gives you a powerful means for self expression. Nonverbal communication is the Pulley that attracts and holds the attention of others.
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Personally I feel that non verbal communication is an art, it is not something that you can actually understand in a day or so. In addition, non verbal communication also speaks louder than words especially in close relationships. For a close relationship to be built up, it often takes more than just merely words as we do often send signals that we do not intend to send which may actually cause misunderstandings.
It was interesting to know that researchers have actually discovered the most important non verbal cues that will show the other party whether you are interested, excited or confused etc.
These most important non verbal cues are eye contact, facial expression, tone of voice, posture, touch, intensity, timing and pace and sound that convey understanding. Such important non verbal cues tend to be overlooked by some people when they communicate. For example, when having body contact, tight finger pressure, grip and hugs may feel good to you but not necessarily to the other party. Hence it is important to know the differences between what you like and what other people like. Holding someone’s hand too tightly may hurt the other party and causes him or her to feel uncomfortable. Sounds like “ahh, ummm,ohh” can show that you are interested, understand and have compassion which can be encouraging to the other party.
Hence, the awareness of non verbal communication and emotional awareness will allow you to be more sensitive to other people. Effective communication can only be achieved when we can accurately pick up emotional cues others send and respond back with the correct non verbal cues. Therefore, I feel that it is actually important for us to improve our non verbal communication skills to avoid misunderstanding and conflicts. What do you guys think about non verbal cues?
According to HELP GUIDE.ORG, nonverbal communication, conveyed through facial expressions, body language, pace, intensity and tone of voice gives you a powerful means for self expression. Nonverbal communication is the Pulley that attracts and holds the attention of others.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Personally I feel that non verbal communication is an art, it is not something that you can actually understand in a day or so. In addition, non verbal communication also speaks louder than words especially in close relationships. For a close relationship to be built up, it often takes more than just merely words as we do often send signals that we do not intend to send which may actually cause misunderstandings.
It was interesting to know that researchers have actually discovered the most important non verbal cues that will show the other party whether you are interested, excited or confused etc.
These most important non verbal cues are eye contact, facial expression, tone of voice, posture, touch, intensity, timing and pace and sound that convey understanding. Such important non verbal cues tend to be overlooked by some people when they communicate. For example, when having body contact, tight finger pressure, grip and hugs may feel good to you but not necessarily to the other party. Hence it is important to know the differences between what you like and what other people like. Holding someone’s hand too tightly may hurt the other party and causes him or her to feel uncomfortable. Sounds like “ahh, ummm,ohh” can show that you are interested, understand and have compassion which can be encouraging to the other party.
Hence, the awareness of non verbal communication and emotional awareness will allow you to be more sensitive to other people. Effective communication can only be achieved when we can accurately pick up emotional cues others send and respond back with the correct non verbal cues. Therefore, I feel that it is actually important for us to improve our non verbal communication skills to avoid misunderstanding and conflicts. What do you guys think about non verbal cues?
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
intercultural situation
Culture is the full range of learned human behaviour patterns. Culture is also the systems of values, beliefs and traditions which distinguish a specific society. It is unavoidable to have cultural conflicts between people when they are brought up in different cultures.
Last year, I had some bad encounters during my holiday in Beijing. I was queuing up for some local snacks with my group of friends when we had a bad encounter with one china lady. There was a long queue in front and we queued for about 15minutes. Just as when we were about to reach the first in line, a china lady squeezed her way through the crowd and queued in front of us. My friend Janice was very angry by her actions and said,” China people just don’t know what is queuing up!” To our surprise, the china lady actually turned back and replied Janice’s comment. She said, “Yes! We china people just don’t know what is queuing up!” We were all shocked by her replied and kept quiet.
I was actually very shocked by what she said as this was my first time travelling there with my friends. Although we are all Chinese, being brought up in different environments will cause our culture to differ. Being one of the world most populated countries, china people actually compete with one another since they were young. They compete for university places, jobs and even train tickets to go back home during New Year. It is a “dog-eat-dog” world for them so they have to behave like this in order to survive in their society. If they do not behave in such a manner, they will actually lose out to the rest of the people in their country. This results in a lack of graciousness in their society and some people possessing self-centred natures in china.
Last year, I had some bad encounters during my holiday in Beijing. I was queuing up for some local snacks with my group of friends when we had a bad encounter with one china lady. There was a long queue in front and we queued for about 15minutes. Just as when we were about to reach the first in line, a china lady squeezed her way through the crowd and queued in front of us. My friend Janice was very angry by her actions and said,” China people just don’t know what is queuing up!” To our surprise, the china lady actually turned back and replied Janice’s comment. She said, “Yes! We china people just don’t know what is queuing up!” We were all shocked by her replied and kept quiet.
I was actually very shocked by what she said as this was my first time travelling there with my friends. Although we are all Chinese, being brought up in different environments will cause our culture to differ. Being one of the world most populated countries, china people actually compete with one another since they were young. They compete for university places, jobs and even train tickets to go back home during New Year. It is a “dog-eat-dog” world for them so they have to behave like this in order to survive in their society. If they do not behave in such a manner, they will actually lose out to the rest of the people in their country. This results in a lack of graciousness in their society and some people possessing self-centred natures in china.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
#3 : Critique of the Business Letter
Below is a letter I received from TIME magazine informing me that their company practises an automatic renewal program for subscribers. They will automatically renew my subscription without my consent and I have to unsubscribe if I do not want to continue.
MS LI-YUN SOH
12 JALAN PAPAYA
SINGAPORE 123456
Dear Ms. Soh,
Your Customer Number: 12345678
Your subscription renewal time is approaching and I want to take a moment to thank you for continuing your subscription to TIME Magazine.
This letter is your official Savings Report. It verifies unconditionally the low rates you are entitled to receive under the TIME Automatic Renewal Plan. To be specific:
1) This year you will enjoy a full 64% savings off the cover price of TIME. This rate is even less than the already low rate for a regular one year renewal.
2)Your current TIME subscription expires on 12/05/09. There’s no need to do anything now. We will extend your subscription automatically and continue to send you TIME so you don’t miss a single issue.
3) We will debit your VISA card for $153.90 6-8 weeks before your expiry to keep TIME coming for another year without interruption.
4) You will receive a thank you gift once your new subscription starts as a small token of our appreciation.
Of course, you may cancel at any time and receive a full refund for all unmailed issues.
For queries or assistance, please contact our Customer Services Representative at TEL: 6823 2121 or email us at enquiries@timeasia.com.
Once again, thank you for enrolling into TIME Automatic Renewal Plan and for your loyalty to TIME Magazine.
Sincerely,
SIGNATURE
Regina Ng
Senior Vice President, Consumer Marketing and Operations
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This letter is more of a persuasive letter and it’s trying to persuade me to continue subscribing time magazine by showing me their efficient services.
This is a relatively good persuasive letter as Regina Ng expressed her enthusiasm and sincerity in persuading me to continue subscription. She also demonstrated subscribers’ concern about renewal and provided excellent services by doing an automatic renewal. This is also their selling point. She mentioned my benefits such as I will receive the lowest subscription fee and a gift. She also included due dates and contacts if I have queries. However, operation hours of the customer services were not mentioned.
In terms of the 7Cs in writing, Regina uses block format and formal language which is needed in a business letter. The letter is also concise and clear as it was written in a very short and precise form. Parallel structure was used and sentences were easy to understand even for those who are in a rush. However, information such as how much subscribers can save up and specific information such as if you want to cancel what should you do were not mentioned in the letter. Hence, this letter is more beneficial to customers who want to renew and not to customers who wish to terminate the subscriptions. The letter could be written in paragraphs to be even more formal and the language used could be more polite such as saying, we are pleased to inform …., and please be reminded that your subscription expires on 12/05/09 instead.
MS LI-YUN SOH
12 JALAN PAPAYA
SINGAPORE 123456
Dear Ms. Soh,
Your Customer Number: 12345678
Your subscription renewal time is approaching and I want to take a moment to thank you for continuing your subscription to TIME Magazine.
This letter is your official Savings Report. It verifies unconditionally the low rates you are entitled to receive under the TIME Automatic Renewal Plan. To be specific:
1) This year you will enjoy a full 64% savings off the cover price of TIME. This rate is even less than the already low rate for a regular one year renewal.
2)Your current TIME subscription expires on 12/05/09. There’s no need to do anything now. We will extend your subscription automatically and continue to send you TIME so you don’t miss a single issue.
3) We will debit your VISA card for $153.90 6-8 weeks before your expiry to keep TIME coming for another year without interruption.
4) You will receive a thank you gift once your new subscription starts as a small token of our appreciation.
Of course, you may cancel at any time and receive a full refund for all unmailed issues.
For queries or assistance, please contact our Customer Services Representative at TEL: 6823 2121 or email us at enquiries@timeasia.com.
Once again, thank you for enrolling into TIME Automatic Renewal Plan and for your loyalty to TIME Magazine.
Sincerely,
SIGNATURE
Regina Ng
Senior Vice President, Consumer Marketing and Operations
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This letter is more of a persuasive letter and it’s trying to persuade me to continue subscribing time magazine by showing me their efficient services.
This is a relatively good persuasive letter as Regina Ng expressed her enthusiasm and sincerity in persuading me to continue subscription. She also demonstrated subscribers’ concern about renewal and provided excellent services by doing an automatic renewal. This is also their selling point. She mentioned my benefits such as I will receive the lowest subscription fee and a gift. She also included due dates and contacts if I have queries. However, operation hours of the customer services were not mentioned.
In terms of the 7Cs in writing, Regina uses block format and formal language which is needed in a business letter. The letter is also concise and clear as it was written in a very short and precise form. Parallel structure was used and sentences were easy to understand even for those who are in a rush. However, information such as how much subscribers can save up and specific information such as if you want to cancel what should you do were not mentioned in the letter. Hence, this letter is more beneficial to customers who want to renew and not to customers who wish to terminate the subscriptions. The letter could be written in paragraphs to be even more formal and the language used could be more polite such as saying, we are pleased to inform …., and please be reminded that your subscription expires on 12/05/09 instead.
Friday, January 30, 2009
2. Resolving interpersonal conflict
During my schooling life in National University of Singapore, I joined the Business Club. As programme head of the Business Club, I am responsible for all the activities organised by my club. Recently, I was put in-charge of the Valentine’s Day sale whereby my club would be selling gifts to students. My president, Fiona and treasurer, Ryan were the consultants for this project.
Fiona being the president always takes pride in her work and performs consistently. However, when she is very stressed up, she may vent her anger on her subordinates. Ryan who is also captain of the tennis team is trying very hard to cope with both the work from the club and his team.
Two days ago, we had a meeting to discuss details for the Valentine’s Day sale. An argument broke out between Fiona and Ryan as Fiona insisted on selling more than one item during the sale so that consumers would have more choices, while Ryan insisted that we do not have the time and manpower to cope with a sale consisting of more than one item. A serious verbal conflict occurred as both of them were not willing to give way to each other. Fiona believed that Ryan did not prioritise his work and only focused on tennis. On the other hand, Ryan was upset by Fiona’s criticism and wants to leave the project group. This made the meeting an unpleasant one, leaving me with the dilemma of who to side with.
What should I do as the details for the sale must be finalised by next week? Who should I side with as I feel both of them are valid in their own way?
Fiona being the president always takes pride in her work and performs consistently. However, when she is very stressed up, she may vent her anger on her subordinates. Ryan who is also captain of the tennis team is trying very hard to cope with both the work from the club and his team.
Two days ago, we had a meeting to discuss details for the Valentine’s Day sale. An argument broke out between Fiona and Ryan as Fiona insisted on selling more than one item during the sale so that consumers would have more choices, while Ryan insisted that we do not have the time and manpower to cope with a sale consisting of more than one item. A serious verbal conflict occurred as both of them were not willing to give way to each other. Fiona believed that Ryan did not prioritise his work and only focused on tennis. On the other hand, Ryan was upset by Fiona’s criticism and wants to leave the project group. This made the meeting an unpleasant one, leaving me with the dilemma of who to side with.
What should I do as the details for the sale must be finalised by next week? Who should I side with as I feel both of them are valid in their own way?
Friday, January 23, 2009
Why developing effective communication skills are important for me?
Communication is needed for our everyday life. We need to communicate to let others know how we feel, what are we thinking about and what we want. Without effective communication, misunderstandings may occur every now and then which results in unnecessary arguments and misunderstandings which could have been rightly prevented.
Firstly, effective communication skills are important for me as they will allow me to better understand the intention of others. Effective communication will reduce misunderstandings which are usually caused by the different interpretations of a single message. For example, there were many times where my friends actually misunderstood one another due to text messages used in SMS or MSN as they could not differentiate the tone used in the message. In fact, they may not have been angry at all but because of such non-verbal tools, misunderstandings may occur.
Furthermore, being able to communicate effectively will allow me to speak more confidently in job interviews and meetings. When we are self-confident, we will be able to perform better and impress everyone. This is very important especially at work as we will meet different people every day. As simple body language tells a lot about what you are thinking, being sensitive and conscious when interacting with people will prevent any unhappiness during work
Lastly, effective communication skills are lifelong skills that one can master. These skills can even allow us to improve relationships and build stronger bonds between family, friends and colleagues. Hence, developing effective communication skills are important to me as I want to be more confident of myself and improve my relationships with others.
Firstly, effective communication skills are important for me as they will allow me to better understand the intention of others. Effective communication will reduce misunderstandings which are usually caused by the different interpretations of a single message. For example, there were many times where my friends actually misunderstood one another due to text messages used in SMS or MSN as they could not differentiate the tone used in the message. In fact, they may not have been angry at all but because of such non-verbal tools, misunderstandings may occur.
Furthermore, being able to communicate effectively will allow me to speak more confidently in job interviews and meetings. When we are self-confident, we will be able to perform better and impress everyone. This is very important especially at work as we will meet different people every day. As simple body language tells a lot about what you are thinking, being sensitive and conscious when interacting with people will prevent any unhappiness during work
Lastly, effective communication skills are lifelong skills that one can master. These skills can even allow us to improve relationships and build stronger bonds between family, friends and colleagues. Hence, developing effective communication skills are important to me as I want to be more confident of myself and improve my relationships with others.
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