Intercultural Conflict

Personally, I have not encountered or experience any intercultural conflict. Perhaps there was an incident during my junior college days, which might have came close to it.

A was an Indian-Chinese who understands and speaks fluent Mandarin. One day in the LT, A was sitting on the row in front of me and clique. One of my friends said in Mandarin that A was big size and that Indians are usually so big size. And he went on laughing and joking about it with my other friends, unknowing that A could understand every word of it. Thereafter, A turned around, stood up and scolded my friend in Mandarin. My friend’s face turned pale as he was shocked that A could understand and speak Mandarin. Knowing that this argument would lead to nowhere, I immediately appeased both of them before anything bad happens. I remembered this incident happened quite early during my first year in JC.

Strangely, A eventually became ostracized by the class. I had a clique in class, composing of several Chinese and Malays. We were close friends and always sat together in class, away from A. The class was small, comprising only about 13 people. There were a few cliques in my class while A belonged to none. The cliques naturally sat together, thus leaving A sitting alone most of the time.

Apparently that incident made my clique felt uneasy being around A. While other classmates told me that they were just uncomfortable being around an Indian-Chinese. So I felt bad for A but there was nothing much I could do. At least no one in class did anything bad to her. That was the only relief I felt for A.

Personally, I had nothing against A but I would rather sit together with my clique. Coincidentally A was in the same CCA as me and I would talk to A sometimes. There were even instances that my clique asked why I was talking to her. I felt the class was being too unfair to A.

Being caught between my clique and A, what could I do? The best I could do was to do nothing. This tension between the class and A then lasted till the end of my JC days.

Application Letter Critique

Sim Hon Meng
Block XXX
Hougang Ave. X
#0X-XXXX
Singapore 5XXXXX

03 February 2010

Mr. Charles Tan
Human Resource Manager
Achema Pte Ltd
#03-03 45 Jalan Pemimpin
Foo Wah Ind Bldg
Singapore 577197

Dear Mr. Tan,

I am a fresh graduate from the National University of Singapore. I am writing to apply for the Product Specialist position in your company. Based on my research of Achema Pte Ltd, the company specializes in aliasing with various research and educational institutes, as well as pharmaceutical and chemical industries. The company distributes many research equipment and other materials to these customers. I believe I possess the qualities that will help expand the company’s operation in Asia.

As I have worked in the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board as customer services officer, I have the experience and skills which make me proficient in customer relations and communication. Therefore, I am able to market the company’s products. Furthermore, I have attended classes and have taken modules in the University which has equipped me with excellent presentation skills. This then further improves my ability to market and sell the company’s products. Also, I have very good problem solving skills. This is evident as I helped many customers with their various problems during my time in the CPF Board. This is important as I can help solve any problem the customers will have on the company products. Lastly, I am an excellent team player too. During my secondary and junior college days, I was in choir, in which team work and cooperation are very important. Thus, I would be comfortable to work in teams and together we can bring the company’s operation to greater heights!

As you have seen, those are just a few of my qualities and abilities which I can bring to the company. I hope that the company will give me the chance to allow me to demonstrate my qualities fully. I will be contactable at 91803873 or email me at simhm25@yahoo.com. I look forward to hearing from you soon. Thank you very much for your time!

Yours sincerely,

Sim Hon Meng

Interpersonal Conflict - The World is not a Utopia...

Utopia is an ideal world where everything is perfect, especially in its social, political, and moral aspects. Of course in this world, there is no conflict at all. But sadly in this world that we live in, there are all kinds of conflict, specifically 5 kinds - person versus person, self, environment, technology and society. However, I would like to discuss about person versus person - interpersonal conflict. In this scenario which I am sharing happened in one of our most familiar and favorite places - the lecture theater.

Professor A was giving a lecture in a rather soft tone. Ironically, seats were only occupied from the fourth row to the last. Halfway during the lecture, Student B yelled out from the last row, "Can you speak louder? I cannot hear what you are saying!". The professor was stunned for a brief moment and finally replied, "Since the first few rows are not occupied, come down to the first row now so you can hear me better.". Student B yelled back without any hesitation, "No thanks, I am comfortable where I am sitting now.". The professor warned the student not to be rude or he will chase him out of the class. The student then kept quiet and the professor continued the lecture from where he was interrupted.

I was sitting at the fifth row, luckily the professor was audible. However, I found that what happened then was rather amusing. Basically I thought that Student B has absolutely no idea how to be diplomatic and polite. Definitely one who has the lowest emotional intelligence I have ever seen! Pardon me for saying that if you found it ironic. If Student B wanted to get what he wants then he should be more polite and humble instead of being aggressive and rude. Or perhaps he could have just moved down to the first row.

As for Professor A, I felt that he has said and done the right thing. And I felt that he should deserve the students' respect and we should try to be polite when communicating with them.

Like what Albert Einstein said, "Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.". If Professor A and Student B understand each other's intention, would this incident happen? What would you do if you were Professor A or Student B?

1st Blog Post - Why ES2007S

Hello everyone, since this is the first blog post, let me share with you why I have chosen to undertake this module and some feelings which I have towards this module thus far.

This module teaches us how to become a more effective communicator in various social settings, especially within the workplace. What I like about this module is that it takes a holistic approach. The whole package teaches us how to do presentations, effective job search skills like resume writing and interview skills, improving our listening and speaking skills and also our team work ability.

Having attended the first few lessons, it has occurred to me that communication is not as easy as I thought it would be and certainly does not come naturally to everyone. Some may be very adept in communication, while others are simply terrible at it. Well, I believe that I am in the middle of these two extremes. Moreover, why make mistakes in the future as an employee while I can afford to make some mistakes now as a student? Thus, I feel that I should learn from my mistakes now and improve my communication skills as it would certainly benefit me in the future.

Besides, employers today not only look at the qualifications and experience but also if one possesses those invaluable transferable or ‘soft’ skills. Communication skill is one of those transferable skills. The ability of presentations, written and spoken skills to drive messages across effectively and accurately. Only then, your audience will be able to interpret those messages correctly and act upon it accordingly. Hence, I would certainly want to increase my chances of getting employed.

The first few lessons were really fun and were able to effectively drive home certain messages. I have enjoyed the lessons and will continue to be. Let us all become an effective communicator at the end of this course!