This module allowed me to achieve my goals of successfully improving my communication skills and helped in overcoming my flaws. I learnt that my conversations were curt and by folding my arms and not smiling, I appeared unapproachable. Hence, I now use the techniques learnt such as using positive words, smiling and keeping my shoulders open to appear inviting and friendly. This allowed me to gain confidence as I realised I could interact with strangers better in my everyday life.

Through this module, I have learnt many life skills and now think critically. The skill of active listening has been implemented in my daily life, which helped me to better understand the viewpoints of others and respond empathetically. With the lesson on experiencing and expressing emotions, I learnt how to better manage my emotions, especially anger and sadness. This has taught me how to communicate without hurting others and how to communicate when others feel emotional.

I also enjoyed the lesson on learning more about myself as I could better understand my strengths and work on my flaws. It also allowed me to gain deeper insights into the character of my team members and resulted in better communication and a pleasant group work experience.

I believe this module has been beneficial for my development, and after learning about verbal and non-verbal communication, I realised the importance of my tone, choice of words used and body language in conveying a message. I will work on having more eye contact when conversing and will identify the issue, listen actively and work together to resolve any conflict should it arise.

In conclusion, this module helped with my personal development. Going forward, I will focus on effective communication by being clear and concise, yet polite and positive.

Word Count: 293

I once worked at a fine dining restaurant at Dempsey Hill as a waitress.

One quiet afternoon, my manager motioned for me to come near the kitchen. It was during the lull period. He started sharing about his life experiences in bed and on clubbing. He then asked me if I was a virgin. I felt very uncomfortable and noticed two other waiters nearby. I gestured for them to come over in hopes that the conversation would end. Another reason was due to wanting evidence of his sexual harassment. 

He continued his speech on how women should perform sexual acts and I was horrified. Being one of the two female waitresses, I was worried for my safety. I happened to meet the other female waitress during a shift days later and asked if the manager said anything inappropriate. She nodded and I asked her why she did not tell anyone. She confided in me that she wanted to but was fearful of losing her job. 

In this context, the stakeholders are the restaurant owners, management and employees. The ethical principles the manager lacked include respect for employees, leadership and integrity. To take action, I would need to lodge a complaint to the upper management. If I do so, it would cause problems when working under that manager in future. Furthermore, I would get the other female employee involved against her wishes. However, if I do not, other female employees under him would get sexually harassed.

After much deliberation, I decided to leave the job. I informed the other female manager that I quit due to sexual harassment. I also stated that the other female waitress underwent the same experience as me. This was a call for action to deal with the manager’s inappropriate behavior.

Word Count: 294

A miscommunication occurred during my work in Kidzania Singapore last year. I started a role play activity with a group of six and instructed them to wear a vest. When I was helping the younger children, I felt a forceful slap on my back. I was shocked. It turned out that a Japanese-American seven-year-old boy was the perpetrator.

I immediately stopped what I was doing and asked him if he hit me. He nodded and I observed that his mother was waiting outside the establishment. I then approached his mother. After telling her what occured, she looked perplexed and told her son off. He then turned and stormed out of the establishment without apologising. She followed him and there was nothing I could do besides continuing on with the current activity.

During my break, my supervisor asked to see me. She told me I received a complaint from a Japanese mother for upsetting her son. I told her what happened truthfully and she said she was surprised as this was the first complaint I received at work. She empathised with me and told me to find the duty manager in future if I encounter a difficult situation.

I felt indignant about this incident and started wondering how I could have better handled it. Maybe I should have asked the boy to explain why he slapped me. Or maybe he was just not aware that his actions were socially unacceptable. How would you have reacted in this situation?

From this experience, I realized that my body language and emotions affected my communication with the child negatively. Being in a child-oriented industry, I should have stooped down to his level before asking him to apologize. I could have managed the situation better by calming myself down and applying active listening to solve the problem. This occurred as I was busy with facilitating the activity and acted before thinking. Thus, a better solution would be to obtain the help of the duty manager as I did not have the time to handle such a situation.

Word Count: 342

To: Ms Brenda Tan
From: Ang Leck Mien (Audrey)
Date: January 24, 2020
Subject: Audrey’s self-introduction

I am thankful for this opportunity to introduce myself via email. My name is Audrey Ang Leck Mien, a hospitality business student in my penultimate year from Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT). I studied Business Administration, majoring in Marketing in Singapore Polytechnic.

I realised my passion for interacting with guests and bringing joy to them after working in the hospitality industry as a supervisor at Kidzania Singapore. Having worked in an array of customer-facing jobs including being a Sales Associate at Metro Departmental Store and SPELL Retail Store, as well as being a waitress in Portico Prime helped me to develop my interpersonal and communication skills. Professional internships at 40Tasks and Aventis School of Management also allowed me to gain insights on how the corporate world functions and the importance of effective communication.

My strength includes socializing and interacting with people. It gives me great satisfaction to see people smile. Since young, I have enjoyed working with people and love to make the lives of others easier. Hence, I intend to work in the service line. However, my weakness is that even though I enjoy communicating with guests, I tend to get carried away and would be glad to have the opportunity to improve my communication skills and learn to speak professionally at work. Furthermore, even though I try to understand my group members, I realised I sound harsh at times when delivering my message across.

Thus, I look forward to developing and improving my communication skills, especially by overcoming my flaws such as being insensitive and coming across as rude in certain situations. Thank you and have a pleasant day ahead.

Best regards,
Audrey Ang Leck Mien
Hospitality Business
Singapore Institute of Technology

Word Count: 286