ALGAENERGY-Reflections on proposal

ALGAENERGY: aimed at improving the energy situation in Singapore, through bio-fuels extracted from micro-algae, fueling a part of the energy requirement.

It was a blur idea when we started. Each of us had different views and goals in mind. However a series of discussions and desktop research helped us finalize the team’s stand and mission statement.

Although plenty of resource was available online, we still had to research about the possible benefits that this technology can bring in order to overcome the expensive extraction cost barrier, which prevented the implementation of this technology in various parts of the world. 

Our research involved surveying students with prior knowledge, reading scholarly articles/online resources and face to face interviews with Professors and Research assistants to confirm the positive impacts this technology can make in Singapore. The team successfully managed to do enough research. Each of us complemented our own strengths to compensate for other's weaknesses that helped us boost our overall performance.

Being busy with submissions and unable to find common timings, we had to split work and discuss online. However there was an excellent chemistry that helped us streamline all our efforts together efficiently, towards the end.

By working with people from different cultural backgrounds and varied fields of interests, I learnt a lot more than just academics. Through the course of the project we learnt to be professional and applied our critical thinking skills.

Importance was given to every minute detail on the proposal. Proofreading the report numerous times helped us analyse the proposal from different angles, thoroughly evaluating its strengths.

Moreover, research was done on the requirements posed by National research foundation (NRF) to meet the requirements posed by NRF for funding a research.      

I thanks my team mates Jieyang-for the brilliant organisation of ideas, Haikal-for keeping the team's spirit up, Michelle-for the magical slides and Terence-for being the foundation and guiding us through with this topic.     

CHANGING THE WORD: Reflections on learning

You can change your world by changing your words...

                                                                    Joel Osteen

This reminds me of ES2007S. Those four months of early morning classes, challenged my ‘late to bed’ habits. Moreover the highly interactive teaching style and the tough competition posed by the outspoken peers demanded a lot from a reserved person like me. But now, looking at the positive changes this module has brought in me, I feel it was totally worth every effort.

I often hear from my dad that a positive attitude beats all odds and self-confidence, distinguishes one’s life.There are many such positive people with extraordinary talents. But only a few of them successfully mark a legacy, the ones who are able to create a strong impression. Such impressions they leave in us, are mostly a result of their effective communication combined with achievements.

[For instance, Obama’s ability to speak to the large groups of people gave him an edge over his competitors. Despite of lacking initial support, he successfully employed his words to his advantage to win the masses. The youtube link below briefly describes the reasons for his style being effective.]

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFPwDe22CoY)

Communication, briefly, is an art of imparting or exchanging information. It is often perceived that people proficient in a language are good at communicating. However the truth is that communication does not necessarily need a great vocabulary. Effective communication requires sincere attention, critical thinking and the right choice of words (even though simple). Essentially listening, questioning and expressing.          

Strong communication skill and emotional intelligence have become the major requisites the current generation of employers, expect from their staffs to survive the highly stress inducing work environment. With flow of ideas and technologies over countries, intercultural communication has become very important. Moreover working in teams demand coordination skills and ability to resolve interpersonal conflicts over ideas/opinions. Use of the 7Cs of effective communication (Courtesy, Correctness, Conciseness, Clarity, Coherence/Cohesion, Concreteness, Completeness) helps construct and convey messages convincingly, suitable for the audience and meeting the purpose. This when supported by strong non-verbal communications like expressions and posture gives an additional chance to create an impression about ourselves.

Through Peer teaching and oral presentations I got an opportunity to test my communication skills alongside the proposal that required professional writing skills. These four months of interesting lectures from Mdm Fazila & Co and the experience I gained working in teams, definitely rose my confidence to communicate in a professional environment.    

Fostering Inter-cultural communication

In the midst of a breezy Sunday evening walk, my sight got struck at Kishan sitting alone at the YIH plaza. He seemed exasperate. The unusual frown in his eyes gave away that something was wrong. His quivering voice raised curiosity in me to know what was bothering him. Hence I decided to be an empathetic listener like ES2007s had taught me.

He was regretting the bad experience while working in a CCA. Although he had been working sincerely for more than a year, he was still not able to get along with the members from other nationalities which had resulted in not getting a fair share of votes in the election. From his perspective, it was the cultural difference that did not allow him to break the odds.

Culture is a simple shared pattern of behaviour observed amongst a group of people that is acquired through interactions. Its mind boggling to even think that such cultural practices over a period of time has led to the rise of various civilizations.

Cross cultural communication would therefore require knowledge about other cultural practices and a strong understanding about the parties involved.  

This is one of the most common issues encountered with professionals working in MNCs. Working in such multi-cultural environment would require more intercultural communication skills. Moreover studies reveal that international students from Asia encounter these issues especially in countries like Canada where the cultural divide is very high.

Such problems arise when people tend to stick to their own cultural identities and refuse to adapt in a new cultural setting. Retaining cultural identity is imperative. However being open towards learning other cultural practices through interactions with people from different nationalities would help widen our horizons.

A good start will be appreciating different cuisines or watching international movies.

   

Resolving Inter-personal Conflicts

Kishan punched Karthik’s face and pushed him hard. The boisterous crowd suddenly turned tongue-tied. A drop of sweat trickled down Kishan’s glaring eyes. And then, he walked out of the ground hastily. I was shocked at the sight of two good friends fighting. Seated at the corner of the SRC ground I looked back at what happened a few minutes back, the ES2007S way.

It was just a friendly game of cricket. But, Kishan was serious about winning it. Although his team did not perform well, he was braving strained muscles and single-handedly keeping the hopes of his team alive. However he controlled the pressure well until wrongly adjudicated out by the referee Karthik.

He was shocked at the decision and walked straight to Karthik, contesting the decision with a frustrated tone, and categorically questioned Karthik’s credentials as a referee. Soon rest of the players surrounded them and were voicing their opinions on the decision. Although Karthik realised that his decision was wrong, his ego was insulted by Kishan’s comment which led him to shout back, further escalating the issue. Unable to control his emotions, Kishan physically confronted Karthik.

From Kishan’s perspective, his efforts were wasted by a wrong decision. However the issue wouldn’t have blown out of proportion if he had appealed politely to karthik and explained his point of view. This would have prevented Karthik from being pushed into his ego zone and would have made him feel more comfortable to reconsider his decision.  

Issue based conflict are more representative of calm negotiations while people focussed conflicts are based on emotions and tend to get personal. These interpersonal conflicts generally arise due to personal differences, Information deficiencies, role incompatibility or environmentally induced stress. In this scenario, there is an issue (wrong decision) which is the root of the conflict. However, it manifested into a personal conflict due to pressure from teammates (environmental stress).

From Karthik’s point of view his reputation was under stake. Kishan’s comment questioned Karthik’s abilities. Karthik’s ego prevented him from reconsidering his decision. This was a direct personal attack that provoked karthik’s emotions and led to him disagreeing with and confronting Kishan. Karthik could have handled this better by gently asking kishan to explain his case, placing his arms on Kishan’s shoulders, easing Kishan of his stress. This would have calmed down a furious Kishan and perhaps made him reflect on his harsh comments, resulting in a win-win.

The whole incident itself transpired within a few minutes but this could very well be the beginning of a strained relationship between two good friends. My take on this issue is that both of them were equally to be blamed and both of them had a chance to prevent the situation from escalating into an ugly fight.

How do you think this scenario could have been better handled from either perspective?