My group project reflection

"Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success." ~Henry Ford

The above statement is a classic exemplar of today's working environment and especially in the science and technology field, where working with other people for a particular task, project or assignment is becoming a norm and an indispensible part of many people's career. This can be truly be reflected on many individuals' course of study (includes mine in NUS) which many modules/courses demand students to participate and hand up assignments based on a group effort. Working together might sound easy but being able to integrate each other's work into a single piece of complete work requires tremendous effort and dedication from every individual group members.

The group project in particular is a proposal for the Urban Redevelopment Authority(URA)' s 2011 masterplan. I am very fortunate to be able to work with three wonderful individuals (Bernadette, Caleb and Jacinth) for my ES2007s group proposal. They are responsible, diligent and commited to complete their individual task well. Besides that, all of us had the experience of having need to complete gargantuan assignments in a ridiculously short time-frame. That somehow contributed to a certain level of paranoia regarding deadlines in us. It was such a common notion among us that drove us in completing our parts on time.

One of the criterion for this group project requires the use of the NUS wiki, which in my opinion was not very user-friendy and i found it quite irksome sometimes. This was such an irony that these online platforms are supposed to aid the progress of our project and facilitate documentations of our findings. Nonetheless, our group endeavored and found a way to overcome this small impediment.

The chance to work with a group which have members who are selfless and dedicated are hard to come by. I really enjoyed my time working with them and i appreciate every amount of effort they had put in for this proposal.

My oral presentation reflections

Oral presentations have always been a "love to hate" activity for many undergraduates and even for some working professionals. We have to admit the fact that many of us are not born with the gift for public-speaking or equipped with the necessary skills to make a proper one.

The finale for our group proposal was to give a 20 minute presentation to our fellow classmates. I enjojed my time working with my fellow groupmates; Caleb, Bernedette and Jacinth and they were diligent and amazing people to work with.

The practise run went on very well and i was quite encouraged by the comments made by Dr Radhika and my fellow classmates. Even though i found it quite amusing to watch myself giving presentations from the video recordings, they served a efficacious purpose in allowing me to identify and correct my flaws.

I felt that my performance during the actual presentation was a little disappointing than my practise one. I attributed to the fact that i had decided to try something new and different from my usual style of humourous and lighted-hearted. Personally, i felt that i was a little let down to my fellow groupmates as they did a fantastic job during the presentation. Nonetheless, i am very grateful to this module and my fellow group mates for giving me a chance to try out different ways to present and improve my presentation skills.

Evaluating intercultural communications

The success of every relationship depends on how effective one can communicate with another person. This is more evident in Singapore today where people from different parts of the world come together to live, work and interact with one another. This phenomenon puts a test on a person's sensitivity of other cultures and his/her ability to communicate effectively beyond the scope of his/her own culture. Intercultural communications emerges as a skill which allows people from different cultural backgrounds communicate in similar and/or different ways among themselves and how they endeavor to enrich the communication process.

Living in Singapore allows me to interact with people from different cultural backgrounds where i have unwittingly developed some form of cultural sensitivity and intercultural communication skills. Furthermore, my national service days had also strengthen my views on how important intercultural skills can be.

During December last year, i went for an overseas community program in Kalimantan, Indonesia. That was the first overseas community program that i have participated, it was a totally different experience from going for an holiday trip. That program trip really broaden my horizons because i got to live and interact with the locals. That really gave me the first-hand experience of how people from other places actually live and communicate.

Even though i had only stayed there for around 3 weeks, i had learnt to appreciate how different their cultures are compared to mine. The differing lifestyles and values further shaped my opinion on why such a contrast exist.

Coupled by the poor command of local language, Bahadsa Indonesia. I have to rely on facial expressions and body language to roughly make out what the locals are trying to tell me and i realised that the locals are extremely friendly people whom do not display any sort of displeasure on their faces. Furthermore, they are so hospitable that people like me who hail from urban places would sometimes be overwhelmed by their generosity.

Nonetheless, i realised that despite the differences of our cultures, the gap between communicating across a different culture can be overcome by being more sensitive to what others might think and say, being more aware of different meanings regarding certain matters and what i feel as the most important of all, developing a open mind when communicating with others.

Application Letter draft 2

The application letter is one of the first things which perspective employers will read even before they offer an interview. I am really glad that ES2007s offers me the chance to practise writing one. Please feel to comment on any mistakes and give suggestions on how i can improve on it.
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Lim Chia Yong, Johnny
Block 123 Yishun Avenue 1
#08-168
Singapore 760123
Mobile: 88381808

Residence: 67560888

Email: johnnylimcy@hotmail.com

Human Resource Manager
Shimizu Corporation
78 Shenton Way
#11-01
Singapore 079120

Dear Sir/Madam,

Application for the Civil Engineer position

I am writing in response to the opening of the post of civil engineer in Shimizu Corporation, as advertised on the website of the National University of Singapore career centre. I have always dreamt of becoming a civil engineer and it will be my honor to join one of the top construction companies in world like Shimizu Corporation.

I have recently completed my course in Civil Engineering from the National University of Singapore where I have graduated with 2nd lower honors. You specify that you are looking for someone who is independent, dedicated, hardworking and able to work under stress. Last year, I was given the opportunity to participate in a competition organized by the HDB. I was part of the team which was involved in the design of I-beams. I made use of the knowledge that I had acquired from the classrooms and also through consultations with my professors and mentors to help me in my design work. As a result, I was able to play an active role within the group and helped them to come up a final design which bagged us fourth out of 16 other teams. This process involved using the quantitative and analytical skills that I acquired through actively participating in coursework for my Engineering course in the National University of Singapore. My ability to work well as part of team also related to my success within this group. These attributes, combined with my zeal to learn, were essential to my contributions and success during this project.

I was also a member of my university’s civil engineering club and I was part of an overseas community involvement program in Kalimantan, Indonesia. As one of the project leader for the program, I had to design and plan the building of a pavement system within the school. That was a brand new experience for me as I had no prior experience and I had to struggle between my school work and my involvement with this project. The actual building process was not smooth sailing either, the progress was bogged down by the rainy weather and I had to make several last minute adjustments on site. Nonetheless, I overcame those adversities and was able to complete the construction within my stay in the boarding school.

I believe that I can apply the same skills which I possess to the position within your company. I look forward to discussing the position with you in more detail. Thank you for your consideration.

Yours Faithfully,

Lim Chia Yong Johnny

Resolving interpersonal conflict

Many interpersonal conflicts arises because different people have different motive and beliefs regarding a certain matter. Furthermore, the lack of proper communication and good understanding of each party's stand regarding that matter further complicates the matter.

The story:

Bob is the only child in the family and his father takes extra care in ensuring Bob is not in harm's way. He will demands Bob to reach home by 10pm whenever he goes out with his friends. Besides that, he is also very critical of whom Bob is hanging out with. However Bob feels that his father have no right to interfere on what time he needs to reach home as he has grown up already. He also feels that his father is making him look bad in front of his friends as their parents do not have a curfew on them. They have quarreled many times regarding this matter and Bob has stopped talking to his father ever since.

Question:

If you are Bob, what can you do to resolve this problem besides launching this "cold war" with your father?

Why effective communication matters

Communication is a necessary and inevitable part of daily life. The advent of modern communication tools like emails, sms and the internet has made communication more convenient but it has not make it more effective. There are times when i encountered difficulties in getting my message across and also to understand other people messages. This prompted me to seek for means to refine my communication skills.

Es2007s cover topics and skills which i find useful and relevant to what i feel is essential to better prepare me for the future. This module allows students like me to learn the necessary stuffs to become a more effective communicator in different social settings. Furthermore, this module is geared towards equipping students with the essential communication skills which will be useful in the workplace.

I find the topics and assignments covered in this module very relevant as they cover the different aspects and fundamentals which are essential for communication and particularly in the working environment.

Communication is certainly not just about being able to write or speak. It is being able to carry one's message across to his desired audiences effectively and accurately. The idea of being an effective communicator allows me to have my ideas being known in the best possible way. This is particularly useful when i need to write formal documents or speak in an important occasion. Many people find it daunting to speak to a large number of audiences and they also do not possess the necessary skills to give a proper presentation. This modules also provides a platform for me to practice and learn public speaking techniques. I find the resume writing assignment interesting and useful because i will have to write one in the future. Although being able to write myself a good piece of resume does not necessary get me a job, it certainly puts me in a better position than those who cannot even write a proper one.