Critical Reflection

From what was taught in CPD2, the key takeaway personally for me was how to write effective emails. Yes to many emails are part and parcel of working life. However, writing an effective email could allow the recipient to better understand what we are communication due to the absence of non-verbal cues. 

I learnt that to write an effective email, the follow considerations have to be taken. Firstly being effective subject lines where clarity, descriptiveness and critical information can be underline or place in another font color to emphasize the importance of it. Secondly would be the email content. This includes including the appropriate person in the mail and when to use the BCC function. From this, I understood that we should always include personnel involved in the send section and those who should be informed but not required to reply in the CC section. 

Also from this I learnt that at times, it might actually be better to hold the conversation through the phone and send a confirmation email at the end to ensure a written confirmation. Last but not least is the salutations. I grasp the importance of writing it in a polite and respectful manner yet remaining professional at all times to ensure no unintentional offense (miscommunication) is created.

From this experience I changed by views on how a simple task of writing an email could make such a big difference to what we might actually be communicating. Hence proofreading and spellchecking is essential on it as emails are permanent and cannot be retracted. 

Project Synopsis

The sample video illustrates the potential solutions for the victims on how they can deal with workplace bullies. Firstly, the video will be shown in the context of a typical working environment in the hotel such as the housekeeping department. A clear definition of bullying versus demanding boss would be drawn emphasis the different between the two. This ensures that victims understand the difference and not report or confront their superior inaccurately causing unnecessary conflict. Next, the video will show how to accurately keep a detail record of the actual bullying situation which could be used as evidence should there is a need for the employee to seek help from higher authority to ensure objectivity and actual situation is brought forth without exaggeration.  

Following this, the video will also focus on some critical factor the victim have to take note when confronting bullies. Several examples includes teaching employees how to maintaining professional attitude and body language during confrontation. In addition, the video will also focus on some of the challenges the victims might face during the confrontation which may include provocative words or statement from the bullies. Positive ways of handling such situation will be demonstrated in the video. 

The benefit of the training video for the hospitality organisation is an in-depth understanding of what constitutes as bullying between supervisor and employee and in a multicultural setting. Instead of the traditional usage of workshops that explains what bullying is and why is it wrong to do so, this video showcases effective communication that encourages the victims to stand up for themselves with the right professional attitude. With the improvement of interpersonal skills, victims will be confident when dealing with such situations, hence reducing the number of unreported bullying cases. It is also recommended that employees should handle the situation themselves before escalating up to the next higher hierarchy structure so as to prevent the situation from escalating.   

Through the reduction of workplace bullying, not only does employee morale increases but the overall organizational productivity level improves with motivation and reduced turnover rates. Having a positive morale leads to higher service standard from the employee which may results in higher guest satisfaction. This too helps the organization to save cost and time in retraining their employees.

In conclusion, workplace bullying is a genuine problem that results in negative consequence in the hospitality industry which frequently faces labour shortage problem. The decrease in morale leads to a loss of business opportunities for the organisation as employees were not motivated to perform their best.

Submission 2: Reflection

Living in a society where interpersonal communication drives us, bonds can be form while relationships can be destroy just through words alone.   

Using the Gibbs model of reflection, the scenario occurred due to the aspect of communication breakdown. This began from a text message from my part time job supervisor where he texted me to report to work 30 minutes earlier than the stipulated schedule just one day before. However, I had prior appointment and am unable to do so. Hence I replied him that I was unable to do so and would report in as scheduled. He chose not to reply my notification but instead told me about job responsibility and what i signed on the contract. This was frustrating as instead of answering my question, he began talking about morale and agreement which was totally irrelevant. 

Evaluating the situation, it was an obvious communication breakdown whereby no parties were willing to take a step back and meet at a mutual understanding. Hence a dispute broke out making the situation even more complicated than it should be. Analyzing the incident, communication should always be two way and meet at an mutual understanding and not insisting on your own way just because you are off a higher position. 

I understood the fact that should both parties opened a listening ear on the reasons behind the change, the situation would not have escalated resulting in unhappiness. Additionally, having lost sight of the initial goal of working in harmony, these factor led to a one way communication which was ineffective and could be avoided from the start. 

Week 1 Assignment: Formal Email

Dear Ms Padma, 

This is an email with regards to my personal experiences consisting of both my strength and weaknesses of my communication skills. 

To start things off, a brief introduction of myself. Prior to my enrollment to SIT, I was in the army attached to 41 SAR (Singapore Amour Regiment). This served as an extremely important experience in my life as communication skills was greatly lacking there. As stated by Dan Oswald "Communication must be HOT. That's Honest, Open and Two-way."  Sadly that was not how the army work, it was always a one way communication and lower ranks opinions were never heard. This taught me the importance of two-way communication for communication to be effective. 

As for my educational background, I graduated with a diploma in business process and system engineering at Temasek Polytechnic. As stated by my diploma, I was in the engineering educational background with little to no knowledge in the hospitality industry. However, ever since my 'O' levels, I been with the events industry at PICO art where I assisted in events such as the Singapore Airshow 2010, CommunicAsia 2010 and the 5th Singapore International Parkinson's Disease & Movement Disorder Symposium.  Through this, it really sparked my interest in this industry. Hence, after diploma, I decided to pursue a degree in Hospitality Business with SIT as it provides me the opportunity to understand the events industry better. 

Unfortunately, my command of English is poor and I tend to repeat the same words in a conversation which at times can be quite misleading. Thankfully, the importance of active listening and empathy towards others have been embedded into me aiding my communication skills to engage others. 

Best Regards,

Galen