Post #6 : Reflection on Teamwork and Communication Process

This semester, half of my modules require teamwork and communication. At first, I was grouped with many students from other nationalities and none of them I had known before. Now, after working with them for many events, I realize both my strengths and weaknesses in teamwork and communication.

The module CG1413 teaches me the essence of teamwork and communication. Throughout this module, I have learned and had many chances to put some communication skills into practice. Never before had I known that to conduct a successful meeting is of such a difficulty until the first meeting. The first oral presentation was a success thanks to the visual aids that we had put time and efforts onto, but the reflection was not that good. After the second meeting and the second presentation, I found some improvements in my own performances and in my teammates’ too. The other two reflections on the meeting two and on the CG1102 were bad. The season was again my poor writing skills and we only noticed the last reflection 2 days before the deadline. The oral defense was not so bad, although we did not prepare much for it. My answers might not be very clear, but they were honest and concise.

After this series of events, I realize that one of my strengths is power point skills, as my teammates pointed out. In addition, I can manage time quite well. Overall, I was not the one who contributed the most to the projects but my participation was fair enough for a team member since I finished all the tasks on time and sometime helped my teammates with their works.

However, I must confess that my weaknesses outweigh my strengths. The first and also the biggest one is my English. It usually causes miscommunications. The second weakness is my shyness. Many thanks to Geetika who always makes me sit in front of the camera, I now gain some self-confidences. Last but not least, my presentation skills need a lot more practicing. I must change my tone to attract the audience’s interest and make my jokes funnier. Moreover, my gestures and eye contacts are sometimes not very appropriate.

In order to overcome my weaknesses and become a good communicator, I will have to practice more and more. CG1413 cannot teach me anything about teamwork and communication but that module did help me a lot in the very first steps in self-exploring.

Post #5: Reflection on Oral Presentation 2

Our team was the first to team to present the Oral Presentation 2 and also was the only team to present on Monday, 22nd March 2010. Although I feel rather satisfied with our performances, I know that we could have done much better if there had been more time for preparations.

Our team’s project deals with freshmen and their problems. The topic is very close to us as we all experienced some of those problems. All five of us performed well during the presentation. The transitions between speakers were good, our jokes and animations worked. In addition, I found myself did considerable improvements in comparison with Oral Presentation 1 which was the first time I presented. I did feel a bit nervous but when my turn came, I felt relaxed and full of confidences. Moreover, I did not memory my script word by word so I did not relied much on it.

However, our presentation was too close to the CG1102 midterm so we had no choice but to meet early to finish the slides on that morning , which was normally the time for relaxing. Other teams have 3 more days than us and they could also avoid some mistakes, such as the one with Problem Statement. I agreed that our Problem Statement did not match well with our proposed solutions. However, those solutions are chosen because of the survey’s results, so I think that we should have thought more carefully when we selected solutions before printing the surveys. And because of the time cap for the presentation, I decided to cut out two demonstrations from my secondary research to spare more time for my teammates. I also realize that my contribution in the questions and answer section was not so much. Although the questions were not focus on the research which I was responsible for, I should have helped my teammates more.

To end my post, I want to tell my teammates that I like working with them. They are all smart, funny and friendly.

Post#4:reflection on meeting 1

Our group meeting was planned to be at 6:00 pm, Wednesday, February 10th 20010 and Prince Geogre Park Residences was chosen as the place. Jeisern had been appointed as team leader and he would chair the meeting while Geetika would be the secretary and would take down the minute.

Before the meeting, Jeisern wrote the agenda and emailed it to the others two members and the teacher. Be mindful and responsible as Jeisern is, he sent us messages via mobile as a gentle reminder. He also prepared a camera.

The meeting was conducted at the meeting room 3A which was unused and air-conned as well. It would have been better if we had had a pen to use the broad in the room. We were very grateful to my friend, Le Vi Thanh, for being our last-minute cameraman. He did quite well but the sound seemed to be not as good as when we first tested it. We should have been more careful when preparing for this meeting.

During the meeting, everyone had chances to talk freely but constructively to the project. Everyone agreed with Jeisern’s design and discussed more about it. After that, we began assigning tasks. Although being the team leader, Jeisern asked me and Geetika first for our preferred tasks in the project and decided to take care of the last. The report is Geetika’s task while mine is the UI (user interface) and Jeisern’s is the API ( application programming interface). We also set the deadline for them to be Monday the following week (Feb 15th 2010) because we wanted the second meeting to be held on Friday that week.

My contribution in the meeting was not as good as I supposed. The camera often distracted me and made me feel uncomfortable. However, I think the meeting was successful since it is the first them our team gathered. After that meeting, I understand out teammates better. I feel so lucky to be in a team with two talented and friendly people.

Post#3: Resolving Interpersonal Conflicts

Conflict arises from differences which are inevitable. When conflicts cannot be managed, they can lead to resentment and harm your relationships. However, conflicts are not all bad since after they are solved, mutual understanding will grow stronger. On one hand, we need to avoid unnecessary and negative conflicts; on the other hand, we need to learn how to deal with conflicts in a healthy way.

A and B work in a project team. In a team meeting, A presents his design which seems to be a good solution. However, B thinks that the design, though good, is hard to put into practice since it costs lots of resources. Dispute arises as both A and B does not want to listen but to defense their idea. Both lost temper and A says that B is stupid, and in return, B say that only an idiot can think of such an impractical solution. Other members war unable to stop them and as a result, the meeting ends in a big quarrel. In that project, the best score is given for another team with the design quite similar to that of A but with some modifications.

When it comes to conflict resolving, it is curial to manage stress and remain calm. You can never solve any conflict without controlling your own emotions, which is also the first step in conflict resolving. In this step, EQ plays a vital role. In the above example of A and B, if they stay calm, they can accurately analysis the problem, discuss freely but positively instead of quarreling. Once they fully understand the pros can cons of A’s design, they can come up with the best solution and gain better result.

Humor is also important in conflict resolving. Sometime, it happens that your opponent cannot control his emotions, thus, whatever you say is useless. It is also possible that even though you have carefully handed with the dispute, it still comes out of your control. In those cases, a joke may wide away or at least reduce tension and anger. But you should keep in mind that humor does not mean to make fund of your opponent, it only give negative respond.

I want to end my post with a quote of William James (1842-1910), an America Philosopher and Psychologist: “Whenever you're in conflict with someone, there is one factor that can make the difference between damaging your relationship and deepening it. That factor is attitude.”