Post #2: Observation of team behavior: intercultural and interpersonal communication

Although all three are watermelons, there are differences between them, where the square and round represents different culture (external) and red, yellow signifies personality (internal).

This represents the existence of intercultural, interpersonal between people, which can be observed in many situations.

Intercultural is the interaction among people of unlike culture (e.g. different countries).

Once, my uncle went to Greece for a holiday, he decided to buy souvenirs for us but because he cannot speak Greek, he had to point to what he wanted and the shopkeeper would bring out the item that he requested. As the correct item was taken out, my uncle nodded his head to show it was correct. However, the shopkeeper put the item back and my uncle was bewildered. Only then he realizes in Greece this gesture means no.

His incident taught me that even though the Greeks and Singaporeans are both human, the differences in culture could result in miscommunication.

Interpersonal communication is interaction between two persons.

In the past, I was grouped with a classmate, whom I perceive him as a bad-mannered and impatient boy, for a project. It was because he ever banged into me and run off without apologizing. However after the project, my impression of him changed as during the project, we had to communicate with each other and that was when we managed to clear the misunderstanding we had. He was actually rushing to the hospital as his grandmother fell and injured her leg.

This indicates that people ought to avoid stereotyping others so that better relationships can be constructed and conflicts should be resolved immediately.

From these experiences, it is highly recommended that we employ effective communication skills in order to minimize conflicts, misunderstandings, and embarrassing moments.

Reflections on Comments about Post #1

Hi everyone,
To begin , a few of you have pointed out the imbalance emphasis in the post. I realised that after I posted it on the blog. This error was due to my poor distribution of the word count to the two ideas to be considered. I will take precautions so as to not make the same mistake in my future posts.
Secondly, I chose to write communication and teamwork separately instead of linking them together as I had intended to disscuss them separately first before showing how they are interdependent (this was not done because of the word limit). Perhaps, would it be better that in my conclusion , I mention the two are related to imply the link between them?
Lastly, thank you all for making the effort to think of constructive comments for my post #1 and I will remember not to make those mistakes again.
Happy reading for the rest of my post.
Jonathan

• Post #1: Communication and teamwork: why they are important for me?

Communication is the interchange of thoughts, opinions or information through various medium. For example, the medium can be in the form of speech, written and actions.

Communication is important to me because as a human being, we often interact with others for various reasons, which ranges from official to informal like meeting a very important person (VIP) to hanging out with friends and colleague. The fact that we socialise with people means we need to communicate to express our feelings to minimise conflicts. This lets people of different culture and backgrounds become friends. In addition, communication provides a channel of learning to other people's belief, culture and perception of similar things. Moreover, communication enables people to grow and become wiser, especially when others provide constructive feedback about the opinions, thoughts and experience that you shared. Furthermore, by interacting with people of diverse backgrounds, you can learn to develop social skills like respecting other's culture, accommodating their shortcomings and providing a helping hand when it is required. On top of that, you are able to build up self-esteem as you have to be confident of what you wish to say before you are brave enough to do a presentation.

Teamwork is the cooperation between members in a team.

Teamwork is significant to me as studies have shown that the chances of finding a human that can survive independently from others, that is to not have any form of connection with others, is very low. In other words, almost everyone depend on others for their well-being and survival, including you and me. In addition, by working in a team and executing teamwork, one is able to complete a task more efficiently through the collective efforts of the team members.

In conclusion, as the benefits clearly outnumber the disadvantages of communication and teamwork, it implies that the two points are important to me. It is because they will assist me to become a better person with the ability to co-exist peacefully with others.

Hello everyone, this will be my blog for the CG 1413 module.