The incident below happened in one of the residences in NUS. During dinner time, all the foreigners and Singaporeans would sit together and chat with each other among their own clique. In one of the conversation between two Singaporeans(Bryan and ERic), Eric accidentally pronounced "procrastination" as "procastination". Bryan told the others about his mispronunciation and they started to laugh at him. Instead of feeling embarrassed or angry, Eric put a smile on his face, apologize for the mispronunciation and continue chatting with others. On the same table, another Singaporean (Joyce) were talking to a Chinese(Wang Biao) who has just come to Singapore for less than half a year. She has no problem in understanding his English with strong Chinese accent. Meanwhile, Bryan overheard their conversation and tried to interrupt. As Wang Biao kept using "sen" in front of his each sentence, Bryan could not figure out what "sen" he was referring to until Joyce revealed that the word is "then". Bryan began to tell the rest on the table about it and some of them started giggling. Wang Biao felt embarrassed and offended so he talked less throughout the dinner time. He left the table immediately once he finished his food.
Evaluation:
In the example above, Eric does not seem to care much about his mispronunciation as it is just a minor mistake in his opinion. However, Wang Biao does not interpret it in the same way. In his culture, being polite, it is a must to listen and to respect to what other people are trying to say. He felt severely offended when the rest on the table showed disrespect to what he said. Bryan should not have made or had an assumption that everyone on the table would not get offended if he made fun of their pronunciation. By putting himself in someone else's shoes, he will definitely come to see others point of view and their feelings. Thus, empathy is vital in understanding people from different cultures. Besides, wisdom is of importance to effective intercultural communication as it teaches us how to interact with people with respect and knowledge. Through having background knowledge to intercultural differences, much of the communication problems could be avoided. In a nutshell, respect in all cultures in the world is a common language and by earning it through respecting other cultures and religions, the favor is returned.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Business Correspondence Critique
Below is a business correspondence letter requesting for payment (address is excluded):
Outstanding Invoice
Our records show that you have an outstanding balance dating back to January, 2008. Your January invoice was for $445.00 and we have yet to receive this payment. Please find a copy of the invoice enclosed.
If this amount has already been paid, please disregard this notice. Otherwise, please forward us the amount owed in full by March 1st, 2008. As our contract indicates, we begin charging 5% interest for any outstanding balances after 30 days.
Thank you in advance for your cooperation. We hope to continue doing business with you in the future.
Yours sincerely,
Maria McPhee
Maria McPhee
Accountant
Enclosure: Invoice #223
Some comments and critiques about the letter above:
The sender used the least number of words to express the key message of the letter in the subject line. However, they should indicate what the invoice is about. The customer might have quite a number of accounts overdue and overlooked this payment. Thus, it is quite important for the sender to make it clear at the subject line.
2. From the language used in the letter above, it is quite CORRECT, COHERENT and COHESIVE generally. In order to make the transition between the sentences smoother, transition words like "In addition" can be inserted in front of the sentence - "please find a copy of invoice enclosed."
3. In terms of COMPLETENESS, the sender only indicated the outstanding balance of $445.00 but the detail of the invoice was not mentioned at all. Even though the corresponding invoice was enclosed to this letter, it is still necessary for the sender to include adequate information about the invoice in the letter above.
4. CONCRETENESS: It is remarkable that the sender stated clearly about the exact amount and the date of the outstanding balance. This concrete information provides the receiver a clearer picture of how outstanding the invoice is. Furthermore, the due date of the current outstanding balance and the interest charge for the next outstanding balance were indicated as well.
5. CLARITY: On the whole, the key message of the letter can be comprehended to a large extend. Better clarity is illustrated as the sender avoided the usage of lengthy sentences and paragraph. Moreover, emphasis is utilized within this letter by applying bolding on the important figures.
6. COURTESY: You-attitude is fairly adopted in the letter above. The receiver will show more willingness to respond to this letter if positive wordings and friendly tone are applied. For instance, "please forward us the amount owed in full by March 1st, 2008" could be rephrased as " we hope that you can kindly forward us the complete amount owed by March 1st, 2008." In addition, the sentence, "As our contract indicates, we begin charging 5% interest for any outstanding balances after 30 days." will sound rather courteous and more friendly if it is written as "5% interest charge could be waived if the outstanding balance is cleared within 30 days according to our contract." This is an alternative way to inform the customer about the benefits of settling the outstanding balance instead of the disadvantages for the late payment. Courtesy is utmost important in writing a business correspondence letter as it helps to build a healthy business relationship between the companies or the company and their customers.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Resolving interpersonal conflict
Ryan was just defeated by his opponent in a badminton singles finals. Feeling frustrated, he put all the blame on his dad who has been promising that he will be there for Ryan's match if he got into the finals. Ryan had been training very hard in order to be qualified for finals. He felt very angry and upset as his dad did not keep his promise and thought that if his dad were there to support, it would be a morale boost for him and he could have played better and won the match eventually.
The moment he walked into the house, he saw his dad sitting on the sofa reading newspaper. Without further ado, he asked with an angry tone, "Where were you just now? Didn't you promise me that you're gonna watch my match if I got into finals?"
His dad tried to explain," I'm really sorry, Ryan. I couldn't leave my office just now because I had an appointment with my client and I had some work to do. If you have reminded me few days before your......."
Well, before his dad could finish his sentence, Ryan was really pissed off and exploded: "You don't give a damn about your son. You are such a liar! You never do what you say you're going to do..."
In return his dad got all fired up, called him a 'spoilt brat' and said that he can't think about anything but himself.
This situation is a good example of how poor communication can lead to conflict and bad feelings.
So what actually causes the miscommunication between Ryan and his dad?
Mind-reading
Ryan expected his dad to know what he was thinking and feeling, without clearly telling him. Until the time of the argument his dad had no idea how important his presence at Ryan's finals is to him. He assumed that Ryan would remind him about his finals few days before the actual match so that he could postpone the appointment with the client.
Mind-reading goes on in most relationships and people get upset because of misunderstandings. Often we expect people to know what we think - we believe that they should be able to understand where we are coming from, even though we haven't expressed it clearly. For example, we may expect someone to know they are doing something that annoys us, even though we haven't actually told them.
Therefore, an important aspect of good communication is to tell others what we think and want instead of assuming that they already know.
Another problem with the communication between Ryan and his dad is that they both criticised each other (e.g. 'You are a liar', 'You are a spoilt brat'). When they feel under attack, and usually their first reaction is to attack back (Just like Ryan's dad did).
This leads to heated arguments and conflict. It is all right to criticise someone's behaviour (e.g. 'I think what you did was inappropriate'), but labelling the whole person (e.g. 'You suck!') is unreasonable and creates bad feelings between people.
The moment he walked into the house, he saw his dad sitting on the sofa reading newspaper. Without further ado, he asked with an angry tone, "Where were you just now? Didn't you promise me that you're gonna watch my match if I got into finals?"
His dad tried to explain," I'm really sorry, Ryan. I couldn't leave my office just now because I had an appointment with my client and I had some work to do. If you have reminded me few days before your......."
Well, before his dad could finish his sentence, Ryan was really pissed off and exploded: "You don't give a damn about your son. You are such a liar! You never do what you say you're going to do..."
In return his dad got all fired up, called him a 'spoilt brat' and said that he can't think about anything but himself.
This situation is a good example of how poor communication can lead to conflict and bad feelings.
So what actually causes the miscommunication between Ryan and his dad?
Mind-reading
Ryan expected his dad to know what he was thinking and feeling, without clearly telling him. Until the time of the argument his dad had no idea how important his presence at Ryan's finals is to him. He assumed that Ryan would remind him about his finals few days before the actual match so that he could postpone the appointment with the client.
Mind-reading goes on in most relationships and people get upset because of misunderstandings. Often we expect people to know what we think - we believe that they should be able to understand where we are coming from, even though we haven't expressed it clearly. For example, we may expect someone to know they are doing something that annoys us, even though we haven't actually told them.
Therefore, an important aspect of good communication is to tell others what we think and want instead of assuming that they already know.
Another problem with the communication between Ryan and his dad is that they both criticised each other (e.g. 'You are a liar', 'You are a spoilt brat'). When they feel under attack, and usually their first reaction is to attack back (Just like Ryan's dad did).
This leads to heated arguments and conflict. It is all right to criticise someone's behaviour (e.g. 'I think what you did was inappropriate'), but labelling the whole person (e.g. 'You suck!') is unreasonable and creates bad feelings between people.
Effective Communication
Communication is an ability to share information with people and to understand what information and feelings are being conveyed by others. It is an essential life skill to connect and build rapport with other people. However, a poor communication has the power to destroy relationships by creating tension and bad feelings within relationships. Thus, effective communication is utmost important in order to succeed in life, in work, and in relationships.
Effective communication skills can help us to reduce misunderstandings, errors, frustration, and conflict on a daily basis. Nevertheless, not many people are born with effective communication skills. These skills should be actively developed from an early age. It is a learned skill, and can be learned and used at any age.
Communication can take on many forms such as nonverbal communication, in addition to speech and written communication. Nonverbal communication, conveyed through facial expressions, body language, pace, intensity and tone of voice gives us a powerful means for self expression. For instance, students often show disinterest in school by avoiding eye contact or sitting back in their chairs with their arms folded across their chests when they are asked to answer a question. Sometimes, when we talk to someone, he or she might show disinterest by keep looking at the watch or somewhere else. Conversely, a smiling, nodding face indicates that the listener is interested in what we are saying and encourages us to continue.
In university life, effective communication plays an important role when we have projectmates from foreign countries and have to work together as a team in order to come up with a great project. Through effective communication, we could convey any special interests, talents, or hobbies all of us might have which could be an asset to our project. Apart from that, we can also reach an understanding of different backgrounds, experiences, values, cultures, religions and other factors which might affect our working relationship throughout the project. Each of us has the responsibility to ask for clarification on tasks so that the assignment will not be misunderstood. As a team, regardless of nationality or race, we need to work together to build trust in the working relationship. In addition, the spirit of teamwork will definitely come in handy in the future working life or building business.
"To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others."
Anthony Robbins
Effective communication skills can help us to reduce misunderstandings, errors, frustration, and conflict on a daily basis. Nevertheless, not many people are born with effective communication skills. These skills should be actively developed from an early age. It is a learned skill, and can be learned and used at any age.
Communication can take on many forms such as nonverbal communication, in addition to speech and written communication. Nonverbal communication, conveyed through facial expressions, body language, pace, intensity and tone of voice gives us a powerful means for self expression. For instance, students often show disinterest in school by avoiding eye contact or sitting back in their chairs with their arms folded across their chests when they are asked to answer a question. Sometimes, when we talk to someone, he or she might show disinterest by keep looking at the watch or somewhere else. Conversely, a smiling, nodding face indicates that the listener is interested in what we are saying and encourages us to continue.
In university life, effective communication plays an important role when we have projectmates from foreign countries and have to work together as a team in order to come up with a great project. Through effective communication, we could convey any special interests, talents, or hobbies all of us might have which could be an asset to our project. Apart from that, we can also reach an understanding of different backgrounds, experiences, values, cultures, religions and other factors which might affect our working relationship throughout the project. Each of us has the responsibility to ask for clarification on tasks so that the assignment will not be misunderstood. As a team, regardless of nationality or race, we need to work together to build trust in the working relationship. In addition, the spirit of teamwork will definitely come in handy in the future working life or building business.
"To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others."
Anthony Robbins
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