I vividly remember an incident that occurred during my junior college days when I was in ODAC (Outdoor Activities Club). We were required to pack our camping bags and bring them to school for the teachers-in-charge to check if we had all our items ready for the camp at Pulau Ubin the next day. We were given before hand a packing list and we were warned that any missing or wrong items brought will lead to a punishment of 20 push ups per item.
It was during that fateful day when my friend Shawn did the stupidest thing in his life. Since we were using the school’s mass tins to cook our food during the camp, we were only allowed to bring food that was Halal. However, Shawn brought cans of 'spicy pork cubes' without realizing that it wasn’t Halal. When everyone found out what he brought, we burst out into laughter. Shawn was also laughing at his stupidity and his moment of folly.
However, our malay teacher-in-charge, Mr. Ismail didn’t think it was a joking matter at all. He was furious at Shawn and was even more furious at the way we reacted. All of us had to do 200 push ups as a result. While we were half-way through clearing our punishment, my friend, Jason shouted, ‘What’s the big deal about bringing non-Halal food anyway! It’s not as if we will die eating pork!’. This comment infuriated Mr. Ismail who cancelled our camping trip in a feat of anger.
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This incident serves as a strong reminder to be sensitive to all races and cultures. A small gesture that is acceptable in some cultures can be very insulting to others.
Malays only eat food which are Halal. Halal means permissible. An animal or poultry has to be slaughtered in a ritual known as Zibah to be considered Halal. Pork is definitely not Halal. It was no surprise that Mr. Ismail was infuriated. Even though Shawn might have been unclear of what the word “Halal” meant, he should have consulted his friends or teachers to avoid the situation that day. Moreover, I think he should have apologized on the spot instead of laughing his head off and he could have explained that he was unaware of what ‘Halal” meant and that he didn’t do it on purpose. The rest of us shouldn’t have laughed along with him too as it might have been seen as disrespectful to Mr. Ismail and our fellow Malay CCA mates.
Moreover, although Jason might have been feeling overly exhausted and frustrated due to the countless push-ups, he should have controlled his emotions and his words which were clearly disrespectful and rude.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Saturday, February 14, 2009
#3 Business Correspondence Critique
From: Lau Pei Rong (scilpr@nus.edu.sg)
NUS Science Dean's Office
Sent: 20 July 2007 03: 46AM
Subject: Application for 2nd major in Management
We are pleased to inform that your application for the 2nd major in Management offered by the School of Business is successful.
To help you start off your second major in Management in Semester 1 AY0708, School of Business would like to assign one module (out of the list of four as enclosed) to you. As such, please indicate to us your preference of module by putting a number ranking (‘1’ being the most preferred and ‘4’ being the least preferred) beside the list of modules offered in the enclosed file. Please also indicate your preference of lecture group by ranking them accordingly for each module.
The timetable for these modules is also provided in the attached for your reference. If you require more information on modules offered in the coming Semester 1 of AY0708 to plan your timetable, you may refer to the ‘Modules Information’ available at the Centralised Online Registration website: http://www.cors.nus.edu.sg/.
We would appreciate your reply on your modules preference for this 2nd major latest by 24th July 2007, 12 pm to Ms Yuslinda at sciyy@nus.edu.sg.
Thank you.
Best Regards,
Pei Rong
Administrative Officer
Undergraduate Programmes
NUS Science Dean's Office
DID: 6516 8849
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According to the principles of writing a business correspondence, this letter has fulfilled almost all of the requirements namely,the date, the subject line, complimentary close, the sender's name and designation. However, the salution is absent. The sender should have addressed me personally at the start of the letter.
Other than that, the opening was courteous and polite and the tone used was formal and informative. Overall, there were no spelling errors, grammer mistakes and incorrect punctuation in this letter.
All that was mentioned in the letter was clear and concise. I was fully aware and clear of what I had to do. It was also good that they included extra information to aid in my module information search that was required before I could perform the ranking of the business modules offered.
The letter was also written in a cohesive and coherent manner in terms of sentence structure and organization of paragraphs. However, I feel that the letter would have been more complete if it also included the date which they would inform me of my allocated business module so as to facilitate the planning of my other modules.
NUS Science Dean's Office
Sent: 20 July 2007 03: 46AM
Subject: Application for 2nd major in Management
We are pleased to inform that your application for the 2nd major in Management offered by the School of Business is successful.
To help you start off your second major in Management in Semester 1 AY0708, School of Business would like to assign one module (out of the list of four as enclosed) to you. As such, please indicate to us your preference of module by putting a number ranking (‘1’ being the most preferred and ‘4’ being the least preferred) beside the list of modules offered in the enclosed file. Please also indicate your preference of lecture group by ranking them accordingly for each module.
The timetable for these modules is also provided in the attached for your reference. If you require more information on modules offered in the coming Semester 1 of AY0708 to plan your timetable, you may refer to the ‘Modules Information’ available at the Centralised Online Registration website: http://www.cors.nus.edu.sg/.
We would appreciate your reply on your modules preference for this 2nd major latest by 24th July 2007, 12 pm to Ms Yuslinda at sciyy@nus.edu.sg.
Thank you.
Best Regards,
Pei Rong
Administrative Officer
Undergraduate Programmes
NUS Science Dean's Office
DID: 6516 8849
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
According to the principles of writing a business correspondence, this letter has fulfilled almost all of the requirements namely,the date, the subject line, complimentary close, the sender's name and designation. However, the salution is absent. The sender should have addressed me personally at the start of the letter.
Other than that, the opening was courteous and polite and the tone used was formal and informative. Overall, there were no spelling errors, grammer mistakes and incorrect punctuation in this letter.
All that was mentioned in the letter was clear and concise. I was fully aware and clear of what I had to do. It was also good that they included extra information to aid in my module information search that was required before I could perform the ranking of the business modules offered.
The letter was also written in a cohesive and coherent manner in terms of sentence structure and organization of paragraphs. However, I feel that the letter would have been more complete if it also included the date which they would inform me of my allocated business module so as to facilitate the planning of my other modules.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
#2 Resolving Interpersonal Conflict
Just recently, a close friend of mine, Christine, complained to me about how she had a heated argument with her mother. It started out as a small issue that got blown out of proportion.
Everyone was gathered at the kitchen table having dinner when suddenly Christine realised that her grandmother was sitting alone at the dining table outside having her own dinner.
Christine then confronted her mother, “Mum, why is grandma eating dinner alone outside? Why didn’t you ask her to join us?”
Her mother replied, ”There’s no space at the kitchen table already. So I just let her eat outside by herself lah!”
Christine retorted,” You already know that I rarely come home and eat dinner with grandma! All the more you shouldn’t leave her alone outside for dinner!”
Her mother shouted,” I already told you that there’s no space here! And this is one of the very few times I let her sit outside alone for dinner! Why are you making such a fuss?!”
Christine exclaimed in disbelief,” What you did was wrong! How would you feel when you grow old, we also leave you alone for dinner all by yourself?”
Her mother said furiously,” I don’t need you to take care of me when I’m old. I will move to the old folk’s home.”
Christine replied curtly,” Fine. That’s great.”
And the cold war between them begun.
In my opinion, this issue aroused from serious misunderstandings and heated emotions that overtook their rationalities such that neither any of them were willing to listen to each other’s explanations.
What can be done to salvage the situation?
Signing out
Cassandra
Everyone was gathered at the kitchen table having dinner when suddenly Christine realised that her grandmother was sitting alone at the dining table outside having her own dinner.
Christine then confronted her mother, “Mum, why is grandma eating dinner alone outside? Why didn’t you ask her to join us?”
Her mother replied, ”There’s no space at the kitchen table already. So I just let her eat outside by herself lah!”
Christine retorted,” You already know that I rarely come home and eat dinner with grandma! All the more you shouldn’t leave her alone outside for dinner!”
Her mother shouted,” I already told you that there’s no space here! And this is one of the very few times I let her sit outside alone for dinner! Why are you making such a fuss?!”
Christine exclaimed in disbelief,” What you did was wrong! How would you feel when you grow old, we also leave you alone for dinner all by yourself?”
Her mother said furiously,” I don’t need you to take care of me when I’m old. I will move to the old folk’s home.”
Christine replied curtly,” Fine. That’s great.”
And the cold war between them begun.
In my opinion, this issue aroused from serious misunderstandings and heated emotions that overtook their rationalities such that neither any of them were willing to listen to each other’s explanations.
What can be done to salvage the situation?
Signing out
Cassandra
Friday, January 23, 2009
#1 Effective Communication
Communication and relationships are closely intertwined. Developing effective communication skills is paramount in order to foster and maintain healthy relationships with our families, friends and colleagues. By establishing good relationships, we are exposing ourselves to more opportunities, either socially or professionally. Socially, by having good relationships with friends, they would be more than happy to introduce you to his/her friends. This enables us to widen our circle of friends and networks. The same goes for our professional relationships. Having such relationships allows you to have more opportunities to employment and it also opens up a lot of business possibilities.
Communication also involves the way in which we express our thoughts, feelings and ideas to people. No matter what we actually say to other people in words, we send out other kinds of information such as what we think of them, what we think of ourselves, and whether we are being sincere and genuine in what we say. It is our nonverbal communication, our gestures, body language, facial expressions and attitude, which speak volumes about us. This directly shapes how other people experience us and how they communicate in return.
Moreover, another crucial aspect of effective communication is active listening. By being a good listener, we will be able to evaluate and examine the messages that are conveyed. It also allows us to sieve out important information and ideas from the speaker’s speech. Effective communication, thus really takes two hands to clap.
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