Small Group Communication & Problem Solving

Small groups are a small number of people, usually engaged in face to face interactions, actively working together toward a common goal. To me, nothing fits this statement like my futsal team. There only 5 of us on the court working side by side actively towards winning a game. I know that sports and organizations are different the situation and circumstances might be the same. Besides, we have work together to be other teams. Individual skills and creativity is important but it's useless if you can't work with your teammates. Imagine, we have to solve problems on the spot. If we attack, how are we gonna do it? If we defend, what's the plan? We are constantly working together and to work together, we need to have fast communication skills in order for our strategies and tactics to work.

We do have problems similar to group-think where we think we are unanimous on a decision but later during the course of the game, all of us ending up doing things that are completely different that we have discussed. To avoid this from happening, our captain will shout at us over and over again about what our plan is and to stick to it. As for managing cultural diversity, we do players from different cultures but we respect each other based on our skills on the ball and not our races. We always give opinions and feedback about each other's plays and we adjust our playing style to other in order to bring the team closer and gain a better team chemistry.

My futsal team does fit the category of a small group and we do work hard towards our goals and achieving them.

Socialization of New Members in Organizations

Being the new guy is never easy. It's not just in organizations like corporate companies where you work in. Think about how tough life was being the new kid in school. Your family just moved to a new town with a new environment where you don't the people in the neighborhood and then there's school to face. You basically start as a loner because you have no friends and nobody knows who you are and the only way to break out of a shell is to make an impact that everyone will take notice. Do something that will people turn their heads instantly and watch as their jaws dropped in awe at the sight of you. When have an impact, you'll notice people suddenly wanna be your friend because you're popular. That's one way of telling a story. The good story. The story of a zero turning into a hero. A story that everyone loves. But exactly what it is, a story. We live in reality.

During my time as a high school student, I had three different schools that I attended and I had three different reasons why I transfered a lot. My first school was just a normal government school and I didn't know much about high school because I was just a freshman. I didn't know there were rules to follow. Unwritten ones. I hated that school. I had turned myself into the person I never thought I would become, a real delinquent. Not because I wanted to, I had to. Seniors would bully me and when I'm the type of guy when I get pushed, I push back. And fought until I dropped. Fighting was normal in that school and that went on for a year. After that year went by, I caught a break. Because I was good at sports and a "moderate" academic record, another school offered me to attend there with a place in the football squad.

My new school was sports school so I had more time with the ball than the books which, for a 14 year old, was pretty cool. I enjoyed my new life here but still had to prove myself. Always had to prove myself. Kids from my school were good at what they do. It was a competition to be noticed and you had to fight for it. It was new kind of fight for me and I enjoyed this fight because the reward was clear and I just had to reach for it. Being the new kid, as usual, no one will show you the ropes and you have learn everything on your own. At least the environment here was better than my old school. Making friends became easier as all of my teammates were my friends and we always hangout all which brought us even closer and we learned a lot from each other. I was happy because I had friends who had my back.

I attended that school for 3 years and I had to leave due to injury and my football squad did not need an injured player who will just sit on the bench for a year. So, I left that school and went to my old school. To me, the nightmare was back but I knew my old seniors were gone and I was gonna be a senior at that school. Using my previous experiences, I quickly made friends and I had pretty normal high school life. The same experiences I had then, I still applied today at my college and my workplace where do part times.

In conclusion, as the new guy, you do thing yourself and ask around for information. Keeping things to yourself will get you nowhere and utterly end up you in trouble with wrong crowd. Every organization has their food chain and having friends in different places might keep you safe. Take it from me. I've been in many crowds but it's always the same. Like the old saying "the players change but the rules of the game stay the same".

Overcoming Obstacles to Communications in Organizations

Working in any organization will have their own obstacles in many different ways. Communication is one of them. Communicating in an organization is really tough especially when speaking in a presentation. Most people get nervous during a presentation which causes them to communicate poorly due to anxiety and fear. When a presenter get nervous, it becomes difficult for them to fully express their ideas and the listeners might not take them seriously. The best way overcome this problem is be prepared. Basics of presentation are that the presenter must come prepared and ready for the presentation in order to for the ideas to reach the listeners.

As to overcome anxiety, the best way is to think positive. There are two types of anxiety.

1. Situational anxiety- anxiety caused by factors present in a specific speaking situation. The problems are like that the presenter is nervous because he or she is not prepared for his/her speech and has not yet practiced. Another possibility is that the audience is filled with people superior to the speaker. To conquer this fear, the presenter must be prepared and practice their speech before hand. Focus on the key points of the presentation so that audience will get the main points and purpose of the speech.
2. Trait anxiety -internal anxiety an individual brings to the speaking situation. This can be caused by genetics meaning that the individual gets nervous easily due to the gens. Also, previous experiences that were horrific could travel back into the mind of the speaker during a presentation that would cause the individual to be nervous. To defeat this problem, the best into imagine positive images of one's self and keeping that way all the way through the presentation.

Another main problem in communication are instructions. Bosses sometimes give very confusing orders on how things should be dealt with. Without clear cut instructions, employees have hard times completing their task due to confusion and uncertainty. To surmount this problem, supervisors, managers, and bosses need to:-

1. use few words - using lesser words can make orders clear and direct which therefore allows the employee to receive orders effectively.
2. make words specific & easy to understand - using general words and big words can confuse many employees which may cause them misinterpret the orders
3. use visual aids - using numbers, pictures or graphs allows the employees to understand the full picture
4. simple comparisons - when comparing, give direct orders to employees on which area to focus on
5. repeat, repeat & repeat - repeating the main points of the orders will eventually leave the idea stuck in the employee's head
6. use good delivery techniques -when giving out the orders, speak gently and use words that will motivate the employees on their tasks

These are only some of the problems that most organizations face. It is never easy to communicate with others but the effort must come from us in order to achieve good communications within the organization.

Persuasive Presentation

Persuasive presentations have different meanings to different people. We all have our own opinion on what persuasion means. Some people mistake persuasion with coercion or deception which is not true as persuasion means that the audience may choose to listen to the presentation and then they have the right to choose whether they wish to believe in the presentation. The presenters are not forcing the audience to buy their products but rather the presenters may only want the audience to agree with them or for the audience to take action. What this all means is the audiences are given options and they, on their own free will, may choose to initiate whatever they want to take.

Persuading people is never easy especially when we are selling a product or a service to people. It's hard enough to get people to listen to you and it's tougher to get the audience to initiate an act or buy the product or service because people tend to get difficult when it comes to taking out money from their pockets to buy a product or service no matter what the price is but the higher the price the tougher it gets to obtain potential buyers. However, the famous phrase that every problem has a solution is true and it does apply to persuasive presentation. It's just the matter of delivery and evidence of the presentation.

To support that statement, I will use Aristotle's theory (Griffin, 2005) that persuasion is based on three kinds of proof.

1. Logos - this means evidence and logic of the message. Evidence comes a general truth which concludes with a specific notion for example, all humans are equal therefore slavery should be banished. According to this statement, the fact that humans were created by God and created equally which therefore concludes that all humans should serve God and not serve another human. Hence, slavery should be banned from the world. By adding evidence and logic to the presentation, the audience will have a sense of trust in the presenter as there are facts to support the statement.
2. Ethos - this focuses on the credibility of the speaker or presenter. The speaker's credibility is determined by his/her ethics and morals. Basically, if the background of the speaker is great, the audience would be more interested in what the presenter and develops a bigger sense of trust towards the presenter.
3. Pathos - this concentrates more on touching the feelings of the audience and gaining an emotional tie with them. To appeal to the emotions of the speaker, the presenter has to find common ground with the audience such as parenting, financial struggles, social networking and anything the presenter has in common with the audience.

Based on these three factors, presenters can develop a new sense on the right to influence the audience using persuasion. Having facts, credibility and using emotional appeals are the few ways of gaining the trust of the audience. The key to any good presentation is to know the audience before , what you want them to do and understand how to appeal to them using what type of angle, style or method.

Basic Information on All Types of Interviews

When it comes to interviews, what is the first think that comes to our minds? I'm sure everyone has their own answer however, for me, the number one thing that comes to my mine is job interview. I have the hardest time when it comes to a job interview since i have to prepare my resume, references, background and making everything organized(and that's just the paper work). On my first ever job interview, I did not have any idea on what I was supposed to do. Basically zero knowledge on what to expect out of this interview. After the interview (surprisingly, I got the job by the way), I knew interviews had specific information and knowledge that I need to inquire before going for the interview. I had to background checks on the company or organization that is employing me so that can answer the question with confidence and poise.

In today's world, there are all kinds of interviews that mainly are connected to a job or occupation that we are committed to, for example, job performance interview, exit interview, employment interview, counseling interview and etc. In all of these interviews, we have to be prepared for it. Without preparation, we will be dumbfounded by the bombardment of questions that might make no sense to us and the anxiety of what the interviewer perceives of us. When this occurs, it might be too late. You have to do your homework before going in for an interview and understand the purpose of the interview to obtain your final goal.

Non Verbal Communication in the Organization

Non verbal communications are body movements that send out messages whether sender notices it or not. Therefore, skilled communicators know how to exploit these movements in order to work it to their own advantages. Examples of non verbal messages are hand gestures, eye contact, and facial expressions. We are aware of these types of non verbal messages because they are clear and most of them are right in front of us. But what those that are more subliminal which we are not aware of such our clothing, environment and distance.

Not many of us realize that our every move sends out a signal or a message to everyone around us. The way we walk, the way we talk, what we wear, what we do is actually a statement which represents our identities. The body language always tells the truth about what we feel inside even if we deny the truth using our tongues.

Without non verbal communication, conversations would be dry and boring. Imagine talking to someone using the same tone of voice without eye contact or facial expressions. Can you imagine a situation like that? Cause I can't. If I'm talking, my eyes would be locked on to other person and my hands would move around. .....Ok, somehow that sounded slightly wrong but you get the picture, right? We are unable to control certain parts of our body when are talking someone and people can tell if we are happy, sad, interested, exited, depressed or angry based on our facial expression and body movements.

There are certain types of body movements. These are some examples of those movements:-

• Emblems - these are movements from our body that we sent out intentionally which carries an exact meaning such as the middle finger(I had no other example...sorry)
• Illustrators - these are body movements that add or clarify the verbal meaning for example if someone says "stay away" while putting her hand up with her palm open means that person really does not want you around and she expresses it a verbal message and a non verbal message
• Regulators - movements that control the flow of a conversation. For example, facial expressions changes during conversations. We show more interest with topics we like and our facial expression shows that we are interested.
• Adaptors - certain movements that we make are habitual and we sometimes we don't realize it and we just do it because it's a habit such as tapping the table when we're waiting or our eyes tend to zone out around when we thinking.

These are some of the examples of non verbal communications. In this video, it's shows a World Cup match and if you concentrate on the reactions of people when a goal goes in or a foul is given, you will notice that the body movements and facial expressions changes over the course of the game. There're smiles, cheers, swearing, cursing and shouting that goes on throughout the game. Check it out. Enjoy.

Effective Listening

Listening. Is it something that comes naturally or something we as human beings control? Well, based on my experience, I believe deeply that it is something we control. Hearing stuff does come naturally but listening has to be trained. Maybe that’s where experts get the idea of listening skills. Well, I think people need to have at least good listening skills to pass in this world.

The basics of listening should be learned by everyone so that we all can communicate better. Why? So that we literally listen to what the other person is saying. The problem is, no one actually listens. Here’s a good example. Telemarketing is important to all corporations because all customer complaints and problem are heard through that department. Telemarketers need to have high level listening skills to understand what the customer wants especially if it foods. Hungry people get angry faster. Once when I was ordering McDonald’s, I already what I wanted which was the Big Mac large set and the guy on the line was pushing me to try a new promotion set which I was not interested in. I had to say “no” 15 times before the guy gave up and I was really hungry at the moment!!! Customers are always right. I just wanted a Big Mac set. Was that too much to ask for? Back to the issue at hand, listening skills need to be trained so that you get what the other person wants.

My video post up should shed some more light on the matter and a personal funny video of one of my favorite movies. ENJOY.

Improving Interpersonal Communication

Interpersonal relationships are so important to all human being. Even loners have friends and family in this world. The question is whether how we maintain those relationships. Losing people who are close to us is tragic but what makes it more dreadful is when we ourselves are the cause of failing our relationships. It is even worse when fail to reconcile with our friends or family due to conflicts that we were unsolved.

When it comes to interpersonal relationships in an organization, the phrase “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer” really comes true. What I mean is that communicating with everyone in the office can tell who your friends are and who aren’t. Knowing who likes you and who hates could give you an idea over how you need to deal with them. Plus, it never hurts to be nice to someone. That isn’t the only reason to maintain a happy relationship with everyone in the office. When it comes to your bosses, keep them really happy cause these people are the ones paying you and keeping your reputation clean. In an instant, they fire you, demote you or suspend you if they don’t like. It may sound political but that the way life is in the working world.

I believe the main reason for maintaining a harmonies relationship with people in your work place is so that everyone recognizes each other as friends as well as coworkers. If you don’t have any friends in the work place, good luck getting by because no way anyone’s gonna care for you when you’re in a pinch. Therefore, as friends, every conflict should be worked delicately and always think about the other person when making decisions. If there is a disagreement, work things out fast because keeping things to yourself could explode later on. When that happens, it’s never pretty. Just like the players in the video.

I had always considered football clubs to be an organization because you have owners, shareholders, managers and staffs. Imagine the players as employees in a company. Each player has their role to play. They need communicate with each other for their tactics and strategy to work. If they don’t communicate, they will lose the game. Same goes for a corporate company, coworkers need to talk and discuss in a group about projects, goals strategy. If they don’t do it, nothing will get done and they all will be in trouble in the end.

In this video, for those who don’t watch football, this is basically a brief explanation about what is occurring in the video. Two players from the same team are fighting. There could several reasons why they are fighting such as stress because their team is 3 goals down and their losing, their teamwork and plays are not working, the coach is shouting at them. No matter what the reason, because they didn’t resolve their personal conflicts, these two players blamed each other and started getting physical. In football, whenever there’s a fight, the players will be shown a red card and sent off. In the end, both players were sent off and they lost the game badly. Like I said, when things explode, it’s never pretty.

Organizational Communication

Bosses, coworkers, supervisors, and subordinates are people that are gonna fill your work life with happiness and harmony or make it a "hell on earth". It all depends on how you communicate with them in the office. Speaking of communicating, does everyone in the office communicate like you do? Well, of course not. Every single individual has their own communicating styles and everyone has to adapt everyone else's communicating style. Therefore, each individual has to make an effort to communicate with one another.

When I was working at Starbucks at KLCC, my manager was a freaking nut job. She would give one order and when I have completed the task, she tells me that I was not supposed to do that and scolds me right in front of everyone. Everyone meaning the customers, coworkers and anyone that was passing through the cafe. Every single day I had to deal with this crap and I just had to take it because she's the boss. My friends and coworkers would remind me to keep calm and that she is that type of person and to deal with her gently. After awhile, I was just immune to her meaning whatever she tells me, I just do it and shut up and if she screams at me in the end, which she will and does, I just walk away. At first it was ok but after that she gave a letter stating that I was being fired for insubordination. I was confused but at the same time, I was delighted cause I don’t have to her face anymore. Still, I inquired about what she means by insubordination. She said that I never did anything right and always disrespected her by walking away while she was talking (actually shouting at me) and she felt disheartened by my actions. I thought I wanted to let out everything at her but I just asked her why does she tell me one thing and shout at me later for doing it later. She said she never told me to do those stuffs and her response completely enraged me. I told her that she gave me those orders and then scolded me for doing the job. She asked me why I never talked to her about it or other stuff. I just answered that she would shut me down before I can say anything and of course she denied it. I just told her that she does not let anyone talk back to her and she hates listening to her subordinates complain, suggestions or ideas. I admit that she’s a good manager in many aspects but as a leader, she’s a control freak. In the end, the conversation didn’t end well and I just took my salary and left Starbucks and took a job at Chili’s.

The morale of the story is that I was at fault for not trying to talk to her and walking away every time she scolded me. I believe as a subordinate, you have to please the upper heads in every way but in this case, those at the top also need to be considerate of the feelings of their employees because communications goes both ways and respect is the key in this case. When both parties don’t respect the other, miscommunication happens and fights break out which causes bonds to be damaged. Communicating in an organization is tough but we all have to make an effort to ensure that harmony is maintained in the organization and that only can be done by talking to each other and working problems out like professionals.

Self Introduction

The name's Mohd Azmaine Bin Mohd Amin but my family calls me Mike based on my previous Christian name which is Sean Miguel Carvalho. I'm currently a student in SEGi University College, Kota Damansara. Since this is a self introduction title, I'm just going to inform you guys about myself which is mainly going to contain about my life, my hobbies, my ambitions and my opinions on certain matters. So basic stuff about me is I'm currently a college student and I'm in my final year of college. I love football, music, movies and cars.

I'm currently playing futsal in local team and we have won several cups over the years. I have just joined the team for about 9 months and still adapting to the playing style of the team but I'm getting there. I'm a big Chelsea fan and I really, really wish I could visit Chelsea's stadium, Stamford Bridge in London. That would really complete my life. I have been a football ever since I could remember. My football idol has to David Beckham and Frank Lampard.

Music wise I have to say I listen to pop, trance and rap. More towards pop cause I grew up with mainly pop music. As for movies, really dig action - comedy movies. It's good to laugh but I always need action like fight scenes and gun slinging mayhem. A little romance on the side, though. I have always been into cars such as racing and auto shows. Japan GT is my favorite racing event where all Japanese automobile companies compete for the title of Japan's Racing Champion. My favorite cars have to be the Nissan Skyline GT-R series and Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution series.

I think that's all about me so far. I'm kinda secretive so don't expect much information about me from my blog. Hope you enjoy.