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 2nd 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.
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Hi Kairen,
ReplyDeleteI am thinking that I can learn more about writing when I see your post here. Yes you write well, and your entry is a little bit long but it is not bored at all. I found that you have introduced the issue, show your main idea to readers, and give such a clear example to persuade them.
You have chosen a great example here, the one in CG1108 lab that everyone in our group has attended, thus this make us much more easier to understand your situation. And I think all of us admit that to complete that lab, we all had to communicate well in team. And I remembered your CG1108 group was the last group performed, right?
However, I think you can improve your entry by giving deeper definition of interpersonal and intercultural communication. Anyway, I like reading your post!
Cheers.
Dear KaiRen,
ReplyDeleteI couldn't help but comment on your post. You have introduced an excellent point about inter-cultural communication being not only between two people from different nations or races, but between any two people who have different background. The example about an engineer and a marketing person fits perfectly well.
The only thing you could have improved was by explaining the example about interpersonal communication. I'm curious to know how you ensured that everyone feels that their thoughts are given due respect in such a situation.
Regards,
Anuj
Hi Kai Ren,
ReplyDeleteYour entry was rather interesting to read. Besides that, I like the example of foreign talent coming to Singapore. It shows how important it is to learn good communication skills.
I like your point on how people living in different work environment have different values. The example of engineers and people in business working together is good. It shows that we must practise good communication skills every single day. Good example on the CG1108 robot, it showed the need for teamwork and communication effectively.
Lastly, both examples you gave seem to be more of interpersonal communication rather than intercultural. Maybe you could add an example for intercultural communication?
Hi Kai Ren,
ReplyDeleteYour entry is really interesting even from the beginning. The way you first generalize about globalisation and then narrow to the importance of interpersonal and intercultural communication impressed me a lot.
Your examples are very great.
The first one is about the contrast between a typical businessman and an engineer, which results in the need of interpersonal communication in order for them to mutually work.
The second example is attractive because all of us have attended this lab. However, it seems that your description is too detailed, making your viewpoint about interpersonal communication less concise.
One more remark is that both examples are used for interpersonal communication. Can you add an example about intercultural communication so that your entry is more balanced?
Cheers
Hi Kairen,
ReplyDeleteI liked every bit of your post. It is interesting and accurate. I like your CG1108 Lab 2 example. I think it is an apt example interpersonal communication.
I like your idea of connecting the aspect of culture to ones environment and surroundings. It was well thought off. The example of and engineer and marketeer explains the above in a wider frame.
You have organised your points and examples well. The definition of interpersonal communication does not come too well. You could have written more on interpersonal communication but I think it was wise to stick to the word limit! Your post was clear, concise and a good read.
Geetika:)
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ReplyDelete