Nanyang Polytechnic Professional & Interpersonal Communication Skills Weekly Plan for 2011/2012 Semester 1 for Students Wk Note PH SDL F2F Tutorials Assignments [Setting & due dates] 1 PH: F U4 Corporate Culture* Corporate Culture* Set Assignment 1 [20%], due in Wk 4 2 U5 Organisational Structure* Organisational Structure* 3 PH: M U2 Resume and Cover Letter Writing Resume & Cover Letter Writing Set Assignment 2 [30%] – Job Application, due in Wk 6 4 U2 Resume and Cover Letter Writing Resume and Cover Letter Writing · Assignment 2 due 5 PH: Tu Team OP on Company Deliver Assignment 1: Company Research [In-class] 6 Team OP on Company Deliver Assignment 1: Company Research [In-class] 7 U3 Interview Skills* Interview Skills · Set Asst 3 [20%], due in Wks 8, 12 8 Mock Interview Assignment 3: Interview [In-class] 9, 10 STUDY BREAK 11 U3 Interview Skills NO TUTORIAL: COMMON TEST FOR OTHER MODULES 12 U1 Change Management* Mock Interview [continued] Assignment 3: Interview [In-class] 13 Mock Interview [continued] 14 e-assessment [on units with *] Change Management* · Complete Assignment 5: e-assessment [10%, on units with *] 15 U6 Business Correspondence Business Correspondence 16 Assignment 6: Business Letter · Complete Assignment 4: Business Letter [15%, In-class] · In-class Participation [5%] 17 PH: Tu COMMON TESTS FOR OTHER MODULES FROM WED ONWARDS * Denotes units for e-assessment

Unit 4 Corporate Culture 1. What is Corporate Culture? Corporate culture can be summed up as a complex set of assumptions, beliefs, perceptions, symbols and values that define how a company goes about doing business. Every organisation has its own unique culture or value set. Most organisations do not consciously try to create a certain culture. The culture of the organisation is typically created unconsciously, based on the values of the top management or the founders of an organisation. e-Learning Task 1 1. Before joining any company, what are the four things you need to know? a) _________________________________________________________________ b) _________________________________________________________________ c) _________________________________________________________________ d) _________________________________________________________________ 2. What kind of research should you do before accepting a job? a) _________________________________________________________________ b) _________________________________________________________________ c) _________________________________________________________________ 1.1 Identifying a Company’s Corporate Culture How things are said and done in a company reflect and shape its corporate culture. If you share the beliefs of a company, you have a higher chance of being satisfied with your job and a greater possibility of being committed to the organisation. A company’s corporate culture can be seen in the following ways: · Norms · Critical Incidents · Rituals · Significant Symbols NORMS · They are a set of unwritten rules and guidelines that are standards for appropriate behaviour. · To be accepted as a member of an organisation, each employee is expected to comply with these norms. This is called “fitting in.” · Example: It is Alan’s first day at Soapstone Electronics. He wants to make a good impression on his new colleagues so he dresses formally – long-sleeved shirt, tie and dress pants. However, he has a shock when he sees his colleagues wearing jeans, T-shirts and sneakers. The next day, he dresses like them. CRITICAL INCIDENTS · They are the events that occur in a company and the consequences which follow. · Examples: - John points out a mistake his boss has made and loses out on a pay increase. Conclusion: The company does not tolerate criticism. - Siew Eng tells her supervisor that she cannot work long hours as she needs to pick up her son from the childcare centre after work. Later, she is passed over during a promotion exercise. Conclusion: The company does not view family life as important. · Savvy employees will take note of these incidents so that they can learn how the company works, what the management wants, and what really counts to get along with others, to stay out of trouble and to get ahead. RITUALS · They are the company’s traditions and customs. e-Learning Task 2 What do the following rituals mean? 1. Celebrations: _____________________________________________________ 2. Time: ____________________________________________________________ 3. Breaks: __________________________________________________________ 4. Talk: ____________________________________________________________ 5. Meetings: ________________________________________________________ 6. Dress: ___________________________________________________________ 7. Artefacts: ________________________________________________________ 8. Touching: ________________________________________________________ 9. Recognition: ______________________________________________________ SIGNIFICANT SYMBOLS · How employees and customers describe the organisation. This means the language used reflects the beliefs that are an everyday part of life for the organisation. · They are an indication of what values the company holds important. · Examples: Staff at Walt Disney call themselves “cast members.” This gives the impression that everyone is on the same team and working toward a common goal. IBM used to be described by some people as a “dinosaur.” This gave the impression that it did not respond quickly to change. 2. When Change Happens Corporate culture is dynamic. Changes usually happen when the head of the organisation leaves and is replaced by someone else. More often than not, the new boss’ background, values and attitude will be different from the ex-boss and these influence how the company would be run. e-Learning Task 3 1. What can happen when CEOs change? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. Why is change important? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3. What can companies do to help their staff cope with change? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2.1 Tolerating Change As change is an ongoing element of every successful organisation, it is critical that people learn to tolerate it. Companies need to structure the change process and help the staff get through it. e-Learning Task 4 1. How can companies help their staff go through change? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. What should you consider before joining a company that has a fluid environment? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2.2 Surviving Change While change can be uncertain, you do not have to be stressed out by it. Here are some suggestions on how to cope, and eventually, survive the upheavals in any organisation. e-Learning Task 5 Six ways have been given to survive changes in an organisation. Provide a short explanation for each. 1. Find out more: _____________________________________________________ 2. Prepare yourself: ___________________________________________________ 3. Get into the act: ____________________________________________________ 4. Think out of the box: ________________________________________________ 5. Continually assess yourself: __________________________________________ 6. Be positive: ________________________________________________________ CORPORATE CULTURE EXERCISE At your e-learning session, you were asked to visit the web sites of the following companies which have been listed in Fortune Magazine as some of the “100 Best Companies To Work For.” Fill in the following table based on your research. To help you further, visit the companies’ Career pages to get a feel of what it is like to work there. You may also get to read interviews with the staff. News Web sites like www.cnet.com, www.cnn.com, business-times.asia1.com.sg and straitstimes.asia1.com.sg are good places to see what others say about these companies. Make sure you take notes as your findings will be discussed in your tutorial session. Company Values Evidence on Web page Agilent Technologies Microsoft Pfizer Four Seasons Hotel Corporate Culture Activity Worksheet In groups of three or four, answer the following questions.Based on the following excerpt, what can you say about the culture of the armed forces? Attention! The Culture of the Armed Forces The scene Captain Choo is seated at his office desk. Sergeant Peh seeks permission to enter. He enters and immediately stands to attention and salutes. Captain Choo gives permission to stand at ease. Both are in uniform. The conversation Cpt Choo: As you know, Sergeant Peh, the company will be travelling to Camp Bukom for a company exercise this weekend. Tell me what your platoon’s mission is and how you’ll accomplish it. Sgt Peh: Sir, my platoon will leave at 2130 hrs to conduct a mission near the south end of the island. The platoon will give several personnel a chance to perform in leadership positions, as well. Cpt Choo: Very good, Sergeant Peh. Did you shave this morning, Sergeant? Sgt Peh: Yes, sir. Cpt Choo: Then you must have missed a few spots. Why don’t you do some push-ups while I go over my notes. Sergeant Peh then completes 10 push-ups and returns to the position of attention in front of the desk. Cpt Choo: You’re doing a good job, Sergeant. Report back here tomorrow at 0900 hrs. Dismissed. Sergeant Peh then salutes, and Captain Choo returns a salute. Sergeant does an about-face and leaves. Questions for Discussion From the brief scenario above, what elements of culture were evident? Language ____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ Dress _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ Power _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ Time _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ Rituals ____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________

17 April 2011

OK. Secrets to save money.

1. Really believe you earn less than you do. If you don't earn too much, the pretend lost amount will not be too much. Say $1300, when you earn $2000. But, if you earn $10,000, it's not difficult to carry on life believing you only earn $3500. Be creative in living as well as you can on this pretend amount.

2. Live in clutter. If your home if already full of stuff, you really can't buy anymore. You'll have to be really careful about buying new stuff. Go get rubbish from friends or neighbours or the goodwill shop.

Actually these two rules will help you save money. Go try it for a year and see if I'm not right! Good luck.

Budgets Fri 15/5 to Tue 19/5

Boy! It's tough to write down what I spend on. I guess:

Friday 15/5: The ussual less than $10 on food and transport.

Sat 16/5: Didn't spend a cent as I spent the whole day at home.

Sun 17/5: Had to go to my niece's birthday celebration. Bought her painting stuff and a beautiful box of Sorini Chocolates, 300g spent about $25 in total. Quite a lot of transport costs. From Raffles City to Bedok, and then from Bedok to home. Must be at least $3. Lunch was at Rib-eye steak at Seah Street Deli. It was $12. Thank the good Lord for the feed at Raffles Card. Total: $40. Great. But, still less than $20 on myself. Furthermore, $10 out of the $25 payment was made with a Robinsons voucher. Total: $40

Mon 18/5: Last day of full-time work. Transport below $5. Lunch $3 Went for Korean Language class. Total: $8. Oh very bad.

Tue 19/5: No work today. But had to go look at apartment to be rented out. Brought quite a bit of rubbish. Housing Agent L, gave me a lift there. Later, went to Bedok and took Mum, niece and maid to Condo for a look, and a meal at condo restaurant. Taxi there: $7. Taxi back $4.80, using ECP. Dinner for 4: $19. Transport to Bedok and then back home: $2 Total: $33. Not bad!

Oh dear. Need to spend more!

Facsimile Food

I love making what I call facsimile food. This is food that looks like and sort of tastes like something famous or special. I don't really have the time or ability to make the real thing, but the verisimilitude is usually more than satisfying.

It's now the Rice Dumpling season in Singapore. And I had a sudden craving for these glutinous rice delights. Cost: About $1.50 for a rice dumpling filled with meat. I decided to make my own. I had most of the vital ingredients. Only had to buy a pack of glutinous rice. $3.35 for a 2.5kg pack, NTUC house bnand.

Ther are lots of variations. the ingredients I used:

300g glutinous rice
50g dried prawns or hay bee
20g dried scallops or conpoy
3 dried shitake mushrooms
1 piece BBQ pork

I had the last 4 ingredients at home. You can also add fresh prawns or pork, dried chestnuts, salted egg yolk, chicken, preserved melon, chinese sausages etc.

Method.

1. Wash rice, and then soak in water for 2 hours.

2. Steam the rice till cooked. 15 to 30 mins?

3. Wash and soak dried prawns, scallops and mushrooms. Cut mushroom into small pieces.

4. Cut BBQ pork into small bits.

5. Fry items 3 amd 4 in oil a bit. Add the soaking water and bring to a boil.

6. Mix steamed rice with item 5. Steam again for a few minutes. Ready to eat.

7. You can also put item 6 onto lotus, bamboo or pandan leaves to resteam in order to make the rice dumpling bundles. More fragrant and authentic. But more trouble too.

The ingredients are kind of salty already, but you might want to add extra seasoning: salt, sugar, sesame oil, soy sauce, rice wine? Experiment and surprise yourself and your guests!

Total cost: No more than $3.00 Yield: At least 8 Dumplings' worth.
Real yummy too. Enjoy.

14 May Budget Update+ Divert Mail Costs

Been a bit busy lately.

So, just a budget update:

Thu 14 May:

Usual transport costs: to work: $1.81
Lunch: $3.00
Took free bus to MRT station
so transport home: $1.62
Glutinous rice 2.5kg: $3.35
Fruit jiuce. 2 1-litre bottles: $2.00 Total: $11.78


Had gone to the post office to help a friend submit a 'Divert Mail' application. it used to be a free service some years ago, but now, it costs $96.30 to have mail diverted to another address for 3 months.

Japanese Tea/Lunch Special 50% off!

I'm doing a little better now. Managed to spend $18.35 on a tea-time lunch. Had to rush over to the East of Singapore to have a look at an apartment I'm having rented out. So, had no time for lunch. Spent $1.74+ 41 cents on MRT and bus fare there. That's $2.15. Then, had a nice tea with the estate agent.

We went to a Japanese place called EDOGAWA. They were having 50% off most things from 3pm to 6pm, weekdays. We had 2 free flow lemon teas, $2 each, 1 chicken yakitori $6.80, 1 cod fish teriyaki $12.80 and 1 California Maki-roll(6 pieces) $8.80. A bowl of rice, $1. Prices are before the discount. $18.35 includes service and tax. Not bad for rather good food, and a very pleasant and quiet environment. There was even a rather large goldfish pond to calm you down. We went to the EDOGAWA at Novena Square. There's also one at CENTRAL, and along River Valley Road.

Spending for 13/5: Transport to work: $1.81
Transport to apt: $2.15
Japanese tea: $18.35 Total $22.31

Fantastic! I've breached the $20 barrier. Only problem is that it was not spent entirely on myself. I cheated a bit. Oh well, I guess I'm just not a selfish person.