Final Reflection on Learning

As I rewind back to the first session of this module, I recalled how uncomfortable I felt on speaking out. It is not in my nature to be vocal and expressive of my thoughts and opinions as I always felt that someone is going to be hurt out of this exercise. Then, as we went along, I started to realize that communication can take many forms. It is important for you to package your thoughts and organize your words in a way that it minimizes any ill-feelings and to maximize the impact of your intent out of the process. This is especially important for presentations as you know who your audience are and what you intend to convey out of the presentation.

Lessons and feedback from Peer Teaching session were personally very useful in my group’s preparation for the oral presentation. Over the course of this module, I’ve learnt through our class sessions, numerous articles and videos on presentation skills and its techniques. It is not possible to apply all of them but after the Peer Teaching session, I realized that an effective and good presentation can be achieved on the condition of these few preparations which I will hopefully hold on to. They are:

1.      To master your materials.

2.      To have very focused slides with minimal words but with more visual representation.  

3.      Most importantly, to rehearse. Rehearsal will synchronize your words and your slides, get the train of thoughts correct to minimize reliance on script and finally, to overcome a fair bit of nervousness during presentation.

With this in mind, I tried my best to work on my oral presentation. My initial reliance on script during the rehearsal suddenly could be done away with except at key junctures during the presentation. I surprised myself as the flow of ideas eased my speech and it was even better as it sounded more natural.

With regards to the non-verbal aspect of my presentation, I think I still felt a little stiff. I guess it will come naturally with more practice through proper use of gestures during my conversations. It will take time and effort as it will require me to be continuously conscious of my hands and facial expressions while speaking.

To conclude, I am personally satisfied with my personal development over the course of this module, in particular with regards to my presentation skills. While there are definitely rooms for improvement, this module have provided the stepping stone for me to be aware and conscious on the way I speak and deliver material in the best way possible.

Reflection on Oral Presentation

Just the thought of having to do a presentation is enough to bring down my spirits as I am not a natural public speaker. Nevertheless, I had to remind myself that this is the exact reason as to why I took up this module and if I’m going to at least overcome this weakness, it might as well be now.

Fortunately, I had a wonderful group who complemented each other very well. Abdurrahiem was there to polish up the softer side of our presentation while Sudarsan was there to beef up on our content coverage. We worked hard on our report; hence the content aspect of our presentation was in a way quite comfortable as we knew our scope of coverage rather well and I believed, that is our main strength during the oral presentation. From the peer teaching session, Abdurrahiem always pushed us to have more pictures and I thought that was a wonderful and effective way to relay your ideas. Thus, it was left to us to rehearse as a group to work on our speech and a seamless transition between speakers. This was done by practicing in a classroom to simulate our presentation. Our efforts paid off with a presentation that was smooth-sailing in general. Nonetheless, on an individual level, we could have done better with our speeches. This has partly got to do with our rather delayed preparation of slides and consequently limited time to work on our speeches.  

While we faced an onslaught of questions from the class, it was more of a clarification of the rather complex system proposed although a few do have their share of skepticism. However, we managed to give them a satisfying answer with the substantial information we have gathered.

In conclusion, I believed our oral presentation fulfilled the criteria for the effective communication of our proposal and that boils down a lot to our tireless work as a group in both content and mental preparation. It has taught us to prepare the presentation with the audience in mind and definitely imparted the fact that preparation can be done well with thorough preparatory work.  

Evaluating Intercultural Behavior

I was at Saudi Arabia during June 2011 for Umrah or minor pilgrimage to Mecca. It is obligatory for able-bodied Muslims to perform Hajj or major pilgrimage at least once in their life but the Umrah is just highly encouraged as a precursor to the major pilgrimage. Nonetheless, be it minor or major, the tests for pilgrims are still evident throughout the whole journey while performing the rituals, mixing with people from all corners of the Earth. In fact, the tests carried on up to my last moments in the country at the customs checkpoint.

My family arrived at the airport very early due to some logistical issues but was hopeful to get some air-conditioning in the airport after the long and dry car ride from Mecca to Jeddah. To our dismay, we found out that we cannot check-in as we were too early and had to wait outside since there is not waiting area indoors. It didn't help that all the shops were closed as it was on a Friday and they were closed for Friday prayers and probably for the rest of the day too since Thursday and Friday is their weekend. The airport was functioning at its bare minimum for operations.

Once we checked-in and completed baggage screening, we were dumbfounded to see a row of empty immigration checkpoint counters! We looked around for assistance but couldn't find any and thought we could just go through the counters. We were about to do just that until someone came out of the blue to stop us. With an annoyed looked, speaking in a rough mixture of Arabic and English gesturing at us to take a seat. We enquired on what was going on and vaguely, we figured out form his words that the officers were out for their afternoon break! All at the same time!

The guy we spoke to was neither apologetic nor ashamed to reveal that, basically because, we are on their land and we live by their rules. It is their culture to have the mid-afternoon break usually for tea. In fact, in the Sacred Mosque Al-Haram, you will find Arabs bringing around tea in thermos flask with plastic cups to selflessly offer it to people in the mosque. Tea is an important part of their lives, and there is no way they are going to allow anyone stop them from having it.

Then there is the issue of productivity. It is neither something that they pride on, nor something that they see as important. This has partly got to do with the problems out of Saudi Arabia’s welfare state system. Unemployment and low productivity are the main by-products and even Britain faced the problems. The oil boom in the mid-20^th century brought huge amounts of riches to the country and generous welfare benefits to the country. Unfortunately, it eroded much of the grit, hard work and discipline which the earlier generations had in bringing up the desert lands to flood in the petrodollars.

There is no point in getting worked up over their attitude or the poor service. Knowledge on a particular people’s background is vital before you interact with them to prevent any miscommunication and animosity. Now that I am aware of some of the reasons behind their behavior, I learn to appreciate this diversity among people. Not everyone can be up to Singapore’s infrastructural and service standards but doesn't that makes things more interesting?

Application Letter

The Energy Market Authority (EMA) internship is a great avenue for outstanding students to get a glimpse into a unique organization, dealing not just with the operations and security of energy distribution in Singapore but also the regulation and development of the entire energy industry.

As an intern at EMA, you will be assigned real work dealing with challenging issues and guided by experienced EMA officers. We offer projects in many functional areas, ranging from market regulation and operations to energy development and corporate support.

Through this internship of four to eight weeks, you will gain a better understanding of not just EMA but also the whole energy sector. You will build valuable work experience, skills and knowledge, and gain a head start in your preparation for a future career. Who knows, your work here might just change the future of the energy landscape in Singapore.

If you have a strong interest in pursuing a career in the energy sector and are keen to take up the challenge, seize this opportunity to have a taste of what it’s like to work with us. Send in your CV with detailed transcripts and educational certificates to ema_hr@ema.gov.sg, stating “Internship” in the subject line.

To whom it may concern:

I hope you will consider me for the internship position that is offered by Energy Market Authority (EMA) as advertised on its website.

I am particularly excited at the opportunity to work with EMA as it enables me to be in the thick of the action in Singapore’s pursuit to meet the huge energy demands in the country. I am very passionate about sustainable energy and I am really keen to be part of EMA’s mission to continuously improve upon our present energy systems and work towards the ideal “smart energy” model. I actually did a project researching on alternative sources of energy and my group concluded that tapping the Sun’s energy through satellites and laser transmission is actually possible. However, it will be very interesting to find out for myself its feasibility in practical situations with EMA.

I managed to delve further into my interest in sustainable energy through an eye-opening internship with Renewable Energy Corporation. They produce solar panels and I got an insight into some of the problems they face which enlightened me as to how the local energy infrastructure has exciting challenges ahead!

I also managed to hone some of my soft skills during my internship such as effective inter-personal skills having to liaise and negotiate with external vendors to change the lighting infrastructure for a part of the factory. I also picked up some very valuable analytical and systemic way of thinking as I worked with engineers trying to solve the day-to-day problems. The rigours of my coursework at NUS in Electrical Engineering have also instilled in me healthy time-management habits and together, I believe I have the skill sets to thrive in a competitive working environment and facilitate my learning process anywhere I go. I consider the possibility of doing an internship at EMA as an excellent opportunity to develop my management skills and pursue our common interest for a greener and sustainable Singapore.

Please find my CV enclosed. If you would like to talk to me or schedule an interview, please contact me at 9******* or email me at abcd@nus.com. I am looking forward to hear a positive response from you. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Nasiruddin.

Resolving an Interpersonal Conflict

Siva and Bala are cousins. They joined the same company together when it just started operations. Unlike Bala, Siva joined without a diploma and was sent to the production line while Bala was sent to maintenance department. Siva, who was a meticulous and diligent worker, got himself promoted to be in the maintenance department with Bala as his reporting officer.

The conflict came about when Siva’s promotion coincided with the premature birth of his first child. The child had many medical complications which required frequent visits to the doctor. Having Bala as his superior, he took advantage of the situation and took many unofficial leave with the excuse that the child’s condition is improving. Bala was understanding and knew Siva was not lying, and did his best to cover up for him while advising him of his responsibilities at work. However, he cannot cover up the mouths of the other workers who have started to bad-mouth him. Bala started to advise Siva with a firmer tone, this time asserting his authority which triggered an emotional retaliation from Siva. Siva reminded Bala of their blood ties and emphasized that he completes his work before leaving early, and it is not as if he was leaving for an illegitimate reason.

Bala was stumped and stuck between family relations and professional responsibilities. How could he have handled the matter better?

Why effective communication skills are important for you?

Communication, as I have been briefly exposed to over the past two weeks is actually a system. It comprises of not only the source and the receiver, but also the intermediary stages which is the encoding of message, its channel and the decoding of the message by the receiver. In my humble opinion, encoding and decoding of the message by both parties are the most vital parts for an effective communication.

I believe that mastering the art of encoding and decoding of messages, will empower me with the ability to manoeuvre along the varying demands of most (if not all) relationships, convey my ideas across accurately and also to gain wisdom. This is due to the fact that both encoding and decoding, requires you to study the other party which will determine how you encode and decode the messages for an effective communication.

Effective communication skills will enable me to express my feelings accurately and display my emotions vividly through our more dominant nature of non-verbal communication. In my daily life, my relationships as a son, brother, uncle, student, employee and in the future, husband and father, will require me to effectively convey this emotions correctly to show our gratitude, disappointment, anger and joy. They say a picture tells a thousand words, what more a whole setting of facial expressions and body language which is much more profound for the individual.

Conveying ideas are very important in many instances in our life. At our workplaces, pitching ideas to investors or maybe just to convince your friend to eat at the restaurant you like. This is when and where you would want to be able to hit the ‘sweet spot’ so that your idea is transmitted not only correctly, but also effectively convinces the other party that your idea is the real deal.

Gaining wisdom here primarily refers to your interactions with knowledgeable people from diverse backgrounds. Effective communication will allow you to adopt the right etiquette, to promote exchange and flow of information. Through active listening and the right questions or prompt, you can direct the conversation so that you are able to gain knowledge and at the same time build new or strengthen beneficial relationships.

These are some of my views on why effective communication is important for me. Do share your views, alright?