Emotional Intelligence (By Thierry)

This blog post is written with regards to the articles 'Emotional Intelligence Trumps Technical Know How' and 'Emotional Intelligence a new hiring criterion'. The articles explain the new trend occurring on the hiring criterion, which is the importance of possessing emotional intelligence or 'soft skills'.

I agree with recruiters that emotional intelligence is very important in this day and age. While technical know-how is also extremely important, recruiters now prefer to hire those with both as opposed to those who just have technical knowledge, as finding job seekers with a good set of emotional intelligence skills is very difficult. Employees now a days need to know how to build, repair and maintain healthy relationships, be it with the customers, or within the workplace itself.

With the widespread growth of educational institutes, hiring employees with technical knowledge is not that difficult. It is good that companies are starting to hire based on emotional intelligence, so that job seekers will understand that having the technical know how is no longer sufficient to land a good job, and thus upgrade themselves and acquire more emotional intelligence skills to make themselves relevant to the needs of today's companies.

Customers stand to gain with this new hiring criterion. It goes to show that companies obviously care about their customers, as they are hiring people which are able to understand the customer's needs and build relationships with them.

The English Language (Thierry)

I write this blog post with regards to the articles 'Global English Strengthening U.S. Supremacy' and 'Beijing Steps up English-Language drive'. The articles talk about the expansion of English usage around the world, and the impact which will result from widespread usage of English, with the article 'Global English Strengthening U.S Supremacy' asserting that global efforts to expand the use of English will help bolster the U.S domination, and the article 'Beijing Steps up English-Language Drive' talking about the widespread implementation of English in the Chinese workplace in an effort to turn the Chinese capital in to a global city.

I believe that this combined global effort to expand the usage of the 'international' language, English, will present many benefits in the future. With everyone speaking English, it will be easier for people of different cultures to communicate and understand each other, as the language barrier will be no more. Furthermore, many conflicts are caused by miscommunication; with everyone speaking English, the people will be able to communicate for effectively and minimize conflicts caused by miscommunication.

The widespread usage of English will also help present many economical benefits. Companies of different origins can now easily communicate with each other across the seas without having to worry about language. Many new ties and partnerships between organisations will form across the border, companies now being able to communicate and work with each other easily due to their shared knowledge of the English language.

While the article 'Global English Strengthening US Supremacy' suggests that the widespread use of English would cause US domination, this may not be true. English is a language which originated from England, yet the widespread usage of English has not significantly help increase England's dominance around the globe.

The World Cup and Office Productivity (Thierry)

I write this blog post with regards to the articles 'Lower productivity, more sick leave expected during the World Cup: HR experts' on channelnewsasia.com and 'Some employers fear world up' on People's daily online. The articles are addresses fears of lower office productivity during the Soccer World Cup season, as a large number of people are die hard soccer fans, who may sacrifice their sleep time just to watch the world cup, or even skip work just to watch matches.

Although many are panicking due to the possible deterioration of office productivity cause by the World Cup fever, I believe that this should not be much cause for concern. While it is now a crucial period for many companies, especially those which were greatly affected by the recent financial crisis, this is should be the time for bosses to embrace the spirit of sport, and increase their employees morale through celebration and team work. Perhaps companies could treat this one in every 4 years event just like any other festive season.

There is no point resisting the world cup fever, as employees who are die hard fans would probably find it hard to concentrate at work with soccer in their minds anyway. Bosses should embrace this season and just wait for it to pass, as it is impossible for them to totally control what their employees do, especially when they are staying up till the unholy hours of the morning just to watch soccer matches.

It is clear that employees are very serious when it comes to the world cup season. Zhang Huiqian, an editor of a Wuhan-based sports website, demonstrated his passion for the sport by holding up a sign that reads 'I will quit my job to watch the world cup.' Furthermore, a survery conducted by zhaopin.com has shown that 66 per cent of employees polled said they will stay up nights to watch the matches, while 20 per cent said they will watch the game no matter how late at night. Clearly a decrease in office productivity is inevitable, so it would be unwise for companies to try to resist the world cup fever.

Cyber Wellness (Thierry)

This blog post is written with regards to the article on www.asiaone.com.sg titled Singaporean Youths Still Lacking In Cyber Awareness. The article is about a research done by a community service which shows that most Singaporean youths are ignorant when it comes to the issue of cyber awareness. The research shows that Singaporean youths are nonchalant when it comes to responsible, respectful and rational use of the internet, are not alert about the huge plethora of internet scams and spend an average of a whopping 17.2 hours on the internet each week .

I am shocked by the data shown by the research, as it clearly shows that inadequate knowledge cyber awareness is a serious issue among youths in Singapore. As youths spend much of their time on the internet, it is imperative that they understand the growing amount of dangers present on the internet, such as internet scams and pornography, and that they should use the internet with great caution.

Education plays an important factor in cyber awareness. As the Internet is still considered a fairly new invention, not many people are sufficiently educated on the responsible usage of the internet, and the dangers that are ever so present on the internet. All schools should implement a cyber awareness program for students so that they are duly educated on the proper usage of the internet, and how to protect oneself from the dangers on the internet.

Most importantly, parents should get involved in cyber awareness. The Norton Online Family Report, conducted by the security firm Symantec, has shown that 6 in 10 parents do not always know what their child looks at online. Parents should show an interest in their children by getting involved in their online activities and asking what they do on the internet. Futhermore, parents should also spend more time with their children, as more family time inevitably means less time on the internet.

Workplace Productivity

For many people worldwide , 2010 is the year that they have been waiting for. This year , the 19th World Cup , a prestigious mens football tournament held every 4 years would be hosted by an african country , South Africa for the very first time in World Cup's history .

Most people have a country in their minds that they think will be favourites to lift the trophy that many footballers would die for . Will Spain continue their dominant streak in international football after winning the European Championships in 2008 ? Will the samba boys, Brazil dance away with the cup for the 6th time?

Due to different time zones , people around the world are watching the matches simultaneously at different time of the day depending on your country . In Singapore , matches does not start until 10pm and the second match starts only at 2.30am . The timings of the match makes it difficult to decide whether to watch it as many have to wake up early either to work or go to school . Even if they manage to wake up , they would find it very hard to concentrate on work as they have not had enough sleep to replenish their energy . For people on the other side of the globe , the telecasts may be in the afternoon where they are in the office working thus they have to decide between watching the match or to be absent for work .

This will affect the company's productivity as work has been assigned and if the person is absent , it may be complicated if another colleague takes over because of different working styles . When this problem arises , the worker has to prioritize whether watching the match is more important or work . The boss would not be happy if the worker is often absent from work because of the world cup . Some bosses may share the joy of watching it together in the office but some are not that kind . they may feel that they are paying your wages for you to make profit for the company but there you are slowing down its operations because of the world cup.

My final thoughts on the last 14 weeks of Blogging Experience

After going through the last 14 weeks of Blogging Experience, i got to blog about various interesting topics, whether it is in Singapore, International countries or even the whole society as a whole. Through this blogging exercise, it totally changed my perception about blogging and societal issues as before this exercise, i rarely blogged nor kept myself constantly up-to-date with the latest happenings or issues in the society. Therefore this exercise taught me to be more updated with the latest issues happening in the country and i may even be tempted to continue blogging after this because this exercise has taught me so much.

While all the topics blogged about have certain impact on me, but the topic that stands out most and i feel is the most interesting is the topic about the damage done on the environment. This is because compared to topics such as "English language", "Cyberwellness" or even "Plagiarism" which i had some background knowledge on, i did not know the devastation done to the environment was so severe until i read the article. As such, the statistics talked about in the article is a cause for alarm for us to step up, take notice of what we have done to our Mother Earth, and quickly come up with solutions to stop and rectify the issue.

In conclusion, this blogging exercise is very fruitful and rewarding for me as besides learning about the various societal issues, it also improved my blogging and writing skills through this exercise and it also brought out some personal thoughts of mine on the various topics and i managed to express myself fully in this blog. On a personal level, blogging about all these issues have indeed made me a much more mature person.

Last but not least, i would also like to thank Mr Chris pang for giving me this blogging exercise and all that read my blog posts. But this is not the end yet as i hope we would all from this exercise, constantly update ourselves with the latest happenings in the country and the society, as well as continue yearning for knowledge in our lives. Thanks again for everything!!

WEI JIE

Thoughts on Emotional Intelligence

After reading both articles provided on the Topic: Emotional intelligence(EI), it shows how important Emotional intelligence is, especially in working life. It is because with Emotional intelligence, people tend to communicate better with business clients as such, it is proving to be a big advantage for those people who have a higher EI to find a job compared to those who have a lower EI.

Emotional intelligence describes the ability, capacity, skill or, in the case of the trait EI model, a self-perceived grand ability to identify, assess, manage and control the emotion of one's self, of others, and of groups. Therefore it is important to have a strong EI as besides work life, it can help you in a lot of ways in your life. In the world of business, besides being a strong criteria in hiring new staff, it is also essential for the current staff of the companies to have a strong EI. This can be seen in cases where emotional intelligence involves being sensitive to and perceptive of other people's emotions, and having the ability allows the staff to perform in work better with this knowledge. This is because the modern workplace is characterized by open communication, team work, and a mutual respect among employees and their supervisors. Thus, possessing emotional intelligence allows managers to better understand and motivate the people they supervise. As such, if anyone wants to succeed in the business world now and in the future, it's important that they understand the role of emotional intelligence in business today.

In addition, besides utilizing EI in the business world, it is also effective in solving day to day problems in our lives, which is why having a high EI is vital. For example, we might be in a really bad mood one day and if we cant control our emotions, we would end up being demotivated and emotional, which would in turn affect various aspects of our lives, such as studies. That happens a lot in family and relationship problems where they can create huge disagreements on un significant things. Thereby, with emotional intelligence(EI) we would avoid those situations and maybe even solve them in a effective and amicable way.

Some ways to improve our Emotional intelligence level includes ways such as rapidly reducing stress, connecting to our emotions, resolving conflicts positively and using humour to play and deal with challenges.

Some examples of these are as follows:

Reducing stress- Quickly calm yourself down when you’re feeling overwhelmed. Being able to manage stress in the moment is the key to resilience. This emotional intelligence skill helps you stay balanced, focused, and in control–no matter what challenges you face.

Connecting to our emotions- In order to be emotionally healthy and emotionally intelligent, we must reconnect to our core emotions and understand our inner and personal thoughts and emotions and that if they are the factors in the way we make our decisions in life.

Using humour to play and deal with challenges- Humor, laughter, and play are natural antidotes to life’s difficulties. They lighten our burdens and help us keep things in perspective. A good hearty laugh reduces stress, elevates mood, and brings our nervous system back into balance.

Resolve conflicts positively- Successfully resolving differences is important because once we know how to manage stress, stay emotionally present and aware and use humor and play, we’ll be better equipped to handle emotionally-charged situations and catch and solve many issues before they come up.

Therefore, in conclusion, all the items written about above says all that is needed to say about Emotional Intelligence, which is that it is extremely important and plays a big role in our lives. If we can follow the ways written about above to improve our EI, i am sure that we can smooth over differences and become more creative, we can solve our problems, whether personal or work-related, more effectively and efficiently in our daily lives.

WEI JIE

Views on the Topic: English Language

After reading through the articles, "Beijing steps up English-language drive" and " Global English Strengthening U.S. Supremacy", i feel that all that is written in the articles further emphasised the importance of the English Language to the extent that everyone is learning it and how it would affect us. As such, we should take this language seriously.

This is because in the world we live in now, the need to know the English Language is essential and vital as the English language has become the language of international communication. Many people living in the European Union speak English as a foreign language and use English to communicate with people from all over the world. This is especially so in the Business world as for example, If you are an German doing business with a Chinese customer or supplier, it's more likely that the two of you can speak together in basic English than that either of you will know the other's language. By speaking the English language, it creates a common platform of communication among people and thus, enabling work and deals to be done more quickly, efficiently and effectively.

However there are also some disadvantages of learning the English Language. This can be seen in cases where it would likely discourage native speakers of English from learning different languages. Most would then view the idea of learning a new language as pointless as so many people already speak English. Another disadvantage is that for non-native users, they spend more time in acquiring English and thus spend less time on their own language so the proficiency in the native language weakens because of the learning of English. One example is a Chinese spending lesser time on his/her Mother Tongue Language to focus on the English Language(as commonly seen in schools now). As such, because they spend lesser time on their Mother Tongue languages, their results would also gradually drop and the overall standard of Mother Tongue language in the society would follow suit too and over time, the Mother Tongue language might even die out as it is slowly being replaced by English as the main communication tool.

In Conclusion, while there are disadvantages of focusing too much on learning the English Language. But overall, i think that the advantages, economically and socially, would outweigh the disadvantages created and it is also very encouraging to see countries emphasizing the importance of the English Language. This is further supported by the education system in Singapore where the English language is taught straight from the Primary School level so that the students have a good foundation to work on. In addition, the language is also a required subject to be calculated into the results of the PSLE and more importantly,the GCE examinations(L1R4/L1R5 system) where the L1 refers to the English Language. Therefore, all of the above shows the importance of the English Language and that we should all take it seriously as we would need to count on it in almost everything we do.

WEI JIE

My thoughts on self reflection (By Thierry)

I refer to the article 'Self-reflection may lead independently to creativity, depression' by Z. Stambor, which highlights a possible link between self-reflection and depression, which parallels the well known link between self-reflection and creativity.

The information that the study on the relation between self-reflection and depression has gathered is very useful, as it can help experts in psychology identify those at risk of depression more easily. Also, as the study suggests, with this information, experts can now invent new ways for people to cope with depression, perhaps using simple mental techniques to reduce one's self-reflective tendencies can help one cope with depression.

In our fast paced society, some individuals may be unable to adapt with the mental stress and demands of everyday life. It is no stunner that depression is prevalent in Singapore. I hope that this new piece of information will help experts in Singapore source and aid those suffering from depression.

My thoughts on plagiarism (By Thierry)

I write this post with reference to the article titled 'Tokyo University to crack down on plagiarism in thesis' on www.asiaone.com.sg. The article reports the Tokyo University increasing its efforts to clamp down on plagiarism after discovering that an assistant professor at the Graduate School of Engineering plagiarised around 40% of his thesis. This is certainly a shocking exposé, and I cannot help but wonder if there were others just like that assistant professor, who breezed through their university examinations plagiarising others.

Plagiarism stems creativity and innovation. If plagiarism is allowed to go unchecked within academic institutions such as the Tokyo University, one of the most prestigious universities in Asia, the meaning of education would be lost, with universities turning into degree factories for frauds and liars, also cheating those who truly want to learn and make something of themselves with their education.

Plagiarism is no stranger to Singapore's academic institutions, every school has encountered a fair share of plagiarism in its time. I believe the root cause of plagiarism in Singapore is the lack of information about it. Students probably do not know that they are plagiarising when they do their research on the internet, wantonly copying and pasting bits and pieces from here and there, because they do not know that the information on the internet has copyrights as well, believing that the information on the internet is simply for public use. Perhaps institution should lecture students at an early age about the importance of creating original work, and to cite appropriately when borrowing information from sources.