observation and team behavior, of teamwork in class, intercultural and interpersonal communication

As the world moves towards globalization, businesses and companies span across many different countries. As such, companies and their employees have to work with people of different cultures and backgrounds. In such a cosmopolitan setting, good intercultural and interpersonal skill is a vital skill.

Locally, foreign talents have become an important part of our economy and foreign co-workers are a common phenomenon. Even educational institutes play host to students from around the globe of which NUS has exemplified.

As mentioned, due to the influx of foreign talents in our society, intercultural communication is of vital importance. However, the definition of intercultural interaction is not limited to those who hail from different countries and backgrounds but include people who live in different environments. For example, working in marketing requires preparations to be completed early as many of their projects are sequences of interrelated events that require good ground work early on. However, engineers may face a situation where projects often have last minute request or alterations that result in last minute work. When these two cultures meet or collaborate, good intercultural communication is essential to avoid conflicts and aid in the completion of mutual goals.

While working on the 2^nd CG1108 lab with 2 other students, I found that interpersonal skills as well as intercultural communications were applicable even in the most mundane situations. Tasked to build a line tracking robot with a LEGO Mindstorm kit, the 3 of us quickly divided the workload so as to maximise efficiency.

However halfway through, we were informed that the instructional manual was incomplete and that we had to follow another set that was made available. This occurred yet another time and since we had progress pretty far in the first, each setback was had major consequences. The result of these inconveniences was that we lack both the time and parts to complete the required robot.

It is interesting to note here that there were 2 different opinions on how to proceed. One, that we restart the build, using the manual that was provided or two, improvise to obtain the desired result.

While I must admit, there was a little tension as time was running short, no one in the group reacted negatively by raising their voice or insisting on which method to employ. The pros and cons of the two methods were analyzed and discussed, we then decided no improvisation. With a little bit of improvisation and a lot of luck, we were able to finish the build and complete the task.

Through this experience, I learned that both intercultural and interpersonal skills are applicable at all levels of society. And while I have yet to work with truly different cultures, I believe the skills taught in this course will aid me in connecting with people of various cultures.

Be Veg . Go Green . Save the Planet .

For more information regarding climate change please visit:

http://suprememastertelevision.com/SOS/

Communication and Teamwork - what it means to me

Communication is an undeniable part of our lives. Be it a simple greeting or important presentations, we continuously communicate with those around us. Teamwork, like communication is another important aspect of our lives. We often find that the tasks we do require the aid or expertise of others, hence understanding the dynamics of teamwork can greatly aid our ability to complete any task. Therefore being fluent in communication and having a good grasp of teamwork will certainly enable us to be proficient in our work while maintaining good relations with those around us.

Communication can have a very real impact on our lives. It can affect our ability to understand a situation or to accomplish a task. We often convey our thoughts and intentions through both verbal and non-verbal means. Hence, it is important to be aware of the intentional and unintentional messages we send to avoid miscommunication and more importantly, to be effective communicators.

Being a part of a CCA group, I have found that communicating one’s thoughts or ideas is actually alot harder than it seems. Besides being an integral part of teamwork, being able to properly communicate one’s intention will allow us to make requests and suggest ideas without coming across as being overbearing or arrogant.

This is especially important in teamwork as maintaining a good relationship with one’s peers helps motivate the group to accomplish a goal. It also encourages feedback, which is an important component in any project as it allows for improvement on the current idea.

Lastly, good communication allows us to present criticism in a manner that is acceptable by the person being critiqued. We often find ourselves overly defensive when receiving criticism and overly aggressive when giving critique. There are many methods of giving criticism; most are covered by the various courses in communication available. However, the intent of these methods is the same: to allow one to receive valuable feedback through criticism and to deliver good criticism that is taken is taken seriously.

In conclusion, teamwork and communication is an integral part of our lives and to improve ourselves in either will aid us greatly in our future endeavours.

Be Veg . Go Green . Save the Planet .

For more information regarding climate change please visit:

http://suprememastertelevision.com/SOS/