Professional Communication

The above is an example of conflict between a couple which took place at their home. The guy had been busy watching his favourite basketball match on television that he did not wash the dishes. He even messed up the living room by leaving his things around. When he heard his wife open the door, he tried to tidy up the living room. However it was too late, as his wife had already caught him in action. Looking at the mess he had created, she was extremely furious. Without hesitation, she started throwing the remote control against the wall and cutting up her husband’s jersey. Her husband then cut up her newly bought top in return. They started destroying each other’s favourite things. In the end, the husband gave in and started clearing up the mess.

The main problem between the couple is that no communication was present between them. The lady could not control her emotions well and did not know how to express her anger in an appropriate manner rather than resorting to violent means. Her husband made the matter worse by taking his revenge on her by following suit, instead of trying to explain himself or pacifying her. During the conflict, the lady must have felt angry and bitter. On the other hand, her husband felt revengeful on seeing her destroy his favourite things.

If the both of them had better interpersonal communication skills, all of the tragedies could have been avoided. What do you think they could have done in the above situation?

The following is a link to a short video clip on what to do when conflict happens:
http://www.crmlearning.com/what-to-do-when-conflict-happens
It presents a four step approach to help us resolve conflicts in the most productive way.

Developing effective communication skills is important for everyone. This is because Man is not a solitary creature; we are interacting with one another all the time. As a science student, I am often required to work in teams during laboratory classes and project works. Developing effective communication skills helps me to be a good team player by building good relationship with team members. This can be achieved through having good communication with them. Therefore it is essential for me to learn more about interpersonal communication in order to communicate well with my teammates. It is important to be able to work in teams because it allows exchange of ideas and generally increases work efficiency. Therefore it is always a more preferred choice in the real world. For example, many Nobel Prize scientists work in teams to successfully come up with new scientific theories.

On the other hand, conflicts are also common when working in a team because everybody is different. By developing communication techniques, I can resolve conflicts tactfully. Working in a joyful environment can also help to improve work efficiency. Being culture sensitive is another useful skill for me in today’s cosmopolitan society. It allows me to avoid intercultural conflicts and handle intercultural conferences competently.

Besides the above skills, active listening is also extremely important for me especially when I am working in a science laboratory. Instructions given by demonstrators have to be strictly adhered to. This is because any little mistakes made might lead to serious consequences like explosion. Listening actively allows me to avoid making mistakes to achieve accurate experimental results and at the same time ensure the safety of others and myself in the laboratory.

The above are just some more prominent examples as to why I need to develop effective communication skills. Most importantly, being equipped with such skills facilitates my interaction with people everyday.

I am a year 3 Life science major student. The reason why I chose to major in Life sciences is because I like Biology and Chemistry the best out of all subjects. I love the outdoors and playing all sorts of sport games. I particularly like those sport games that require team work. This allows me to interact and forge stronger bonds with my friends. I used to play basketball with my junior college friends after school frequently. However as time does not permit nowadays, we have since stopped doing so. Occasionally, we would still gather to do some outdoor activities like kayaking. Besides outdoor activities and sports, I like learning new languages. I learnt elementary French when I was in secondary school and elementary Korean last year during my summer programme there. I think languages are interesting because they are part of the culture of another country. I like learning about the culture of other countries. Having lived in Korea for about 2 months facilitates my understanding of their culture. It was a great and enriching experience for me. Although I like learning about the culture of other countries, I do not adopt them completely. I am very much still a traditional Chinese girl who embraces our own roots and customs. Personally I feel that all Chinese should be able to at least speak their own dialect. Dialects are important because they are part of our Chinese culture. In my opinion, we should promote speaking dialects especially to the younger generation as they are becoming more influenced by Western, Japanese and Korean cultures. I am not against people adopting these cultures. However we should not be influenced to an extent that we totally forsake our Chinese roots. Talking about Chinese culture, I am already looking forward to the mid-autumn festival that is approaching soon. My friends and I have planned a mini celebration at the park. :)