Blog Post#2: Resolving Interpersonal conflict

The most unforgettable experience in my army days 

During my national service, I was appointed as an acting assistant chief clerk in the manpower branch whose role was to assist my chief clerk in overseeing the administrative work.

A month before the annual human resource audit, my admin support assistants and I would stay late to check the leave record cards, interview booklets and update personal particulars for all the servicemen in our battalion. As the serviceman’s latest leave record card and personal particulars were to be printed from the army intranet and I had limited rights (i.e. to apply leave for myself only), my chief clerk simply granted me the additional access rights for his convenience which were not supposed to. During that month, my chief clerk also recommended me for rank promotion in view of my excellent performance where my commanding officer (CO) had to approve.

The problem arose during the audit check when one of the external auditors found that I had additional access rights which I was not supposed to. This affected our audit result as the auditors deemed this as a serious matter. My CO knew about it and questioned me. As my working relationship with my chief clerk was good, I did not want to get him involved as it would affect his performance bonus due to his negligence. So, I admitted my fault.

Few weeks later, I was told that my CO rejected my promotion. He also did not talk to me unlike in the past he would.

What should I do?

(250 words)

Blog Post#1: Why effective communication skills are important for you?

Courteousy of http://www.personal-development-secrets.net/effective-communication.html

So, why are effective communication skills important for me? This is because by communicating effectively, message signals can be brought across to the receiver by the sender without any loss during the transmission or even in the case of signal lost during the transmission, a negative feedback system is introduced. This will result in the message being sent clearly without causing or minimizing any unnecessary confusion which can lead to undesirable outcomes.

By equipping with effective communication skills, I will be able to become a good communicator and enjoy the fruits of labour. Firstly, I will be able to seek for jobs without much difficulty. This is because employers nowadays are not just employing for employees who have strong knowledge and/or technical skill in that particular industry but also the X factor, i.e. Is the employee a good communicator? This is also evident in the Sunday Times news article, which reports “Employers are demanding more… looking for good communication skills in a candidate”. This is so especially in the field of engineering where there are many team projects, thus team members have to grasp effective communication skills in order to build teamwork and succeed.

Another is that I can resolve problems more effectively and place myself in the person's position whom I am talking to, through the use of appropriate choice of channel (for instance, email is a richer media while instant messaging is a leaner media), appropriate analysis of content (for example, when I am writing an email to a lecturer, the email should not just be in perfect grammar but also follow the social context between the student and teacher) and more. One incident that I encountered was when I feedback to my Town Council about the fault lighting at my block by email, the Town Council replied that they have rectified the problem the next following day. However, the fault lighting still exists. Thus, I telephoned the Town Council to clarify the problem and realized that they replaced another coincident faulty lighting instead of the one that I reported. So if I have called them directly instead, the problem would have been fast resolved.

Lastly, it is the essentials of public speaking skills which will aid in widening my network through making new friends and building and/or establishing strong ties with existing friends. In short, the saying goes "If you just communicate you can get by. But if you skillfully communicate, you can work miracles." – Jim Rohn

Why ES2007S?

Before I start writing my first blog post assignment, I have analysis some of my strengths and weaknesses when communicating after reflecting on my daily communication. Some of my strengths include: most people understand what I am saying when I am talking to them and when I talk to someone, I will usually place myself in that person’s position; while some of my weaknesses include: I will try to divert or end the conversations that do not arouse my interests and when I get so engrossed in what I have to say, often I am unaware of my listeners.

Therefore, one of the key reasons why I choose this module is not because that this module does not have a final examination but instead it provides me with the ample opportunity to learn more about the principles and practice of professional communication which comprises of effective communication skills so that I can improve on my weakness and eventually become a good communicator.