FINAL CRITICAL REFLECTION

First, I need to declare that CPDII is more interesting than CPDI. I guess the differences is because of the lecturer we had. Thank you Brad for making CPDII fun in many ways instead of just sitting down and listening to the lecturer.

I have took back many tips from CPDII:

1. Interpersonal Communication Skills
Honestly speaking, I felt that my presentation skill has improved tremendously and I have gained more confident to speak up. Last time, whenever I present to a group of people, I would only dare to eye contact with just my "bestfriend" that is on the floor but now, I dare to look across the whole audiences and even smile at them. This is really an improvement for me especially after I have so many mini presentation in CPD2. Apart from eye contact, last time I would rush through my presentation slides to end off my presentation AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. But now, I love to drag my presentation in term of asking the floor on questions that are related to my presentation. HAHA, I do find this point very useful at the same time, catch the attention of the audiences.

2. Be the Right Employee/Employer
CPDII not only have taught me about writing an essay or class-assignment, it has also taught me to be a right or best employee and employer in the future career! For example my final project, my topic was "HOW DO YOU INITIATE TO SPEAK UP EVEN WHEN YOU DONT ANY AUTTHORITY?" So this is a project that can applies to my life and my future career. In addition, lecturer always love to say, what you learned in class, you have to apply it at work in the future. So now I seriously get the meaning of this sentence.

3. A Good Leader
Okay this point is writing for you, Brad. As our lecturer/leader, you have shown me how you managed our class and how you made each of our lesson unique and different - arrange ourselves in accordance to height, distance from home to school and age. Although we have to keep standing up every lesson to find our buddy, I would prefer this way than just sitting down the whole lessons which makes me feel like sleeping. Not only that, I like the way you compliment us after our mini presentation. This action motivates us to strive harder, at the same time, felt appreciated. You are really a role model to me and I will definitely act or teach like you if I ever have the chance to be a lecturer. 

Thank you so much Brad. CPDII was great!

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Final Synopsis

1. Introduction

The current context marked by globalization, and the increasing recognition of interrelations has imposed new rules of conduct: the prosperity of nations is based on the competitiveness of international markets, and that of enterprises, on the integration in the worldwide value chains (Ioncica, Tala, Brindusoiu, & Ioncica, 2007)

Due to the wave of growth in the hospitality industry, business travel has reached almost $1.2 trillion around the world in 2015 and is projected to continue through 2017. This portrays a tough competition with the rise of new brands and new hospitality concepts emerging. (Harkey, 2017) Therefore, working in a hospitality such as hotel is becoming intense and competitive.
Due to such stiff competition in the industry, it is important for hoteliers to retain their employees. Thus, this report explores how different individuals, specifically in the context of The Ritz Carlton Millennia Singapore, can create a better working environment through taking initiatives, and leading outside their scope of their authority (Manion, J. 2012).

2. Problem Identification

In every organisation, program or setting, things such as, “Our director only gives lip service to diversity”, “I have responsibilities but no real power”, or even “I have great ideas but they do not devote the funding” are often heard (Crossbear, Goode, McCullough, Wiler, & Graybill, 2016).
In the Ritz Carlton, likewise in many other hotel organization, not all leaders who have authority make the right decisions all the time and in fact, those with great ideas might not even be the leaders. This raises opportunities for different individuals to lead without a leadership role. Therefore, this study aims to explore how employees should bring forth themselves when voicing out to an authority.
In every workplace, there is bound to be some form of seniority, or a hierarchy. As such, people tend to avoid contributing or initiating during times when not given a leadership role, some to the extent of just doing what is told.

3. Objective of Study

According to Jose (2015), hotels face high turnover rates, possibly due to the unhealthy work environment. However, they may not have the courage to approach their manager because they lack the authority and may feel inferior during such circumstances.
Through exploring this topic, it would allow associates to understand what some of the dos and don’ts when they wish to speak to someone of higher authority. Additionally, it aims to bring out the confidence in each associate, allowing them to initiate and speak up to their superiors (Cohen, A. R., & Bradford, D. L. 2005).

4. Potential Solutions

Through this study, several potential solutions were explored to address the issue of employees who are unable to express their opinions. In addition, the solution will also address the issue on how an associate can get their point across to a higher authority without appearing too rude or trying to steal the limelight (Weaver, P., & Guandique, R. 2012).
To better illustrate the solution, one must first understand the problem statement. Following which, listing out certain dos & don’ts on how to approach the issue of employees not being initiative to express their opinion due to lack of authority. The following table would illustrate the different Do’s and Don’ts for the situation:

5. Research Methods

To further understand the communication problem, primary and secondary research has been conducted to comprehend the problem better.
For the primary research, an interview was conducted at The Ritz Carlton Millennia Singapore. The objective of this research aimed to collect opinions from Ritz Carlton’s staff to understand the problem better.
The interviewees were:

• Mr Gangatheran Kunjiraman, Manager on Duty at the Ritz Carlton Millennia Singapore. Mr Gangatheran have been in The Ritz Carlton for over 20 years, and was promoted to the Manager on Duty since January 2010.
• Ms Felicia Ho, front desk officer at The Ritz Carlton Millennia Singapore. Ms Felicia is a young polytechnic graduate who had just joined the company last year.

Getting someone with vast experience would provide better understanding of the situation in different scenarios. On the contrary, interviewing someone from the millennial generation would provide a different perspective. Both interviewees gave very insightful information regarding their views of the issue.
For the secondary research, the research was based on the context of a hotel, about how an associate should portray themselves when they are about to approach and speak to their management. Journal articles, research articles and educational websites were explored as well amid the secondary research.

6. Benefits
7. 6.1. Initiative to speak

The objective of this topic is to encourage and allow people to voice out their opinion or suggestion in their workplace, even when they do not have authority or a leadership position. In any organization, it would be beneficial for them to be able to gather feedback and ideas from any associate regardless of their standing within the company.  Thus, it is important for people to speak out without fearing judgement and criticism.
6.2. Sense of Community
By taking initiative to speak up to anyone in the company regardless of authority or position, this would help increase the communication between frontline employees and the management. In addition, associates would feel inclusive within the company, narrowing the gap between the associates and the management. Thus, allowing associate to have a sense of belonging, as they would feel that they are part of the changes within the hotel.
6.3. Lower Turnover Rate
With employee involvement in hotel changes or development, employees tend to experience job satisfaction in the organization. Therefore, greater job satisfaction would lead to lower employee turnover rate, which greatly benefits the hotel.

7. Concluding Thoughts

A good employer should listen to employees’ advice, and employees should not be afraid to speak up if they have a better idea or solution. Having an agreement would prevent any dissatisfaction, and thus, enhancing the relationship. In conclusion, every staff in the hotel plays an equally crucial role in maintaining hotel standards and meeting its mission and vision.

      8. References

Cohen, A. R., & Bradford, D. L. (2005). Influence without authority. The Leadership Quarterly, (Vol. 2).
Goode, T. D., Crossbear, S., Mccullough, M., Wiler, N., & Graybill, E. (2016). Understanding Your Role with and Without Formal Authority, 1–15.
Harkey. (2017, March 03). Great Expectations: How Changing Consumer Expectations Are Impacting the Hospitality Industry.
Ioncica, M., Tala, M., Brindusoiu, C., & Ioncica, D. (2007). The Factors of Competitiveness in the Hospitality Industry and The Competitive Strategy of Firms, (6), 213–218.
Jose, V. (2015). Hospitality Industry with focus on Hotel in the state of Kerala. [online] pp.11 12.
Manion, J. (2012). Building a Healthy Workplace? Start with the Foundation of. Med-Surge Matters, 21(2), 4–6.
Weaver, P., & Guandique, R. (2012). Leadership without authority. PM Network, 26(3), 20–22.

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Project Synopsis Draft 2

1.   Introduction

The current context marked by globalization, and the increasing recognition of interrelations has imposed new rules of conduct: the prosperity of nations is based on the competitiveness of international markets, and that of enterprises, on the integration in the worldwide value chains (Maria, I., Madalina, T., Catalina, B., & Diana, I., 2007).

Climbing up the ladders within the tourism industry, one of the most competitive industry to work in today, this is an industry in which the structure of supple is extremely volatile, and the solid and consistent part is the demand.

Relating it to the hotel sector, specifically The Ritz Carlton Millennia Singapore, we explore how different individuals can lead outside their authority. Being confident and speaking from a place of strength will go a long way in convincing others to follow you, whether you have direct authority over them.

2.   Problem Identification

In every organisation, program or setting, we often hear things such as, “Our director only gives lip service to diversity”, “I have responsibilities but no real power”, or even “I have great ideas but they do not devote the funding” (Goode, T. D., Crossbear, S., McCullough, M., Wiler, N., & Graybill, E. 2016).

Not all leaders who have authority make the right decisions and in fact, those with great ideas might not even be the leader. This comes to a point where different individuals should lead without a leadership role. In every workplace, there is bound to be some form of seniority, or a hierarchy. As such, people tend to avoid contributing or initiating during times when not given a leadership role, some to the extent of just doing what is told.

Thus, problem identified is, should every employee have the freedom of speech to suggest and initiate their ideas in front of their superior or higher management.

3.   Objective of Study

Hotels face high turnover rates, possibly because most of the associates leave the company as they are usually unhappy working there. However, they may not have the courage to speak up about their unhappiness to their manager because they may feel that they do not hold any authority and they may feel inferior when trying to talk to someone of higher authority.

Through exploring such a topic, it would allow associates to understand what some of the dos and don’ts are when they wish to speak to someone of higher authority. Additionally, it aims to bring out the confidence in each associate, and allow them to initiate and speak up to someone of higher authority (Cohen, A. R., & Bradford, D. L. 2005).

4.   Potential Solutions

Through this project, potential solutions will be explored to tackle the interpersonal communication problem. The solution will address the issue on how an associate can get their point across to a higher authority, without appearing too rude or trying to steal the limelight (Weaver, P., & Guandique, R. 2012). To better illustrate the solution to an associate, an educational video would be created.

Solutions would include the problem statement, as well as a list of dos & don’ts on how to approach this interpersonal communication problem. Some example of dos, would include things such as “being specific and concise”, or “watch your body language”. On the other hand, some don’ts include “do not beat around the bush”, “do not get overly emotional”. By creating this video, it should educate an associate who would face this problem.

5.   Proposed Research Methods

To further understand the communication problem, primary and secondary research will be conducted to comprehend the problem better.

For the primary research, an interview will be conducted at The Ritz Carlton Millennia Singapore. The objective of this research aims to collect opinions from Ritz Carlton’s staff to understand the problem better. Through the interviews, the different point of view – from an associate, as well as the management – could be gathered. Interviews will be conducted with a young front desk officer who is a recent graduate, and an experienced manager on duty who holds authority in front desk operations.

The interviewees are as proposed:

Mr Gangatheran Kunjiraman, Manager on Duty at the Ritz Carlton Millennia Singapore.

Mr Gangatheran have been in The Ritz Carlton for over 20 years, and was promoted to the Manager on Duty since January 2010.

Ms Felicia Ho, front desk officer at The Ritz Carlton Millennia Singapore.

Ms Felicia is a young polytechnic graduate who had just joined the company last year.

Getting someone with vast experience would provide understanding of the situation in different scenarios. On the contrary, interviewing someone from the millennial generation would provide another different view, in terms of generation of ideas.

For the secondary research, the research would be based on the context of a hotel, about how an associate should portray themselves when they are about to approach and speak to their management. Journal articles, research articles and educational websites will be explored as well amid the secondary research.

6.   Benefits

6.1. Initiative to speak

The main aim of this topic is to encourage and allow people to voice out their opinion or suggestion in their workplace, even when they do not have authority or a leadership position. Not all leaders give brilliant ideas, and good ideas might come from someone who is not a leader. Thus, it is important for people to speak out without having fear of judgement and criticism.

6.2. Sense of Community

By practicing freedom of speech by anyone in the company in regardless to authority or position, they would help to increase the communication between frontline employees and the management. This would allow the associate to feel more inclusive within the company, narrowing the gap between the associates and the management. This would allow each associate to have a sense of belonging, as they would feel that they are part of the changes within the hotel.

6.3. Lower Turnover Rate

With employee involvement in hotel changes or development, employees tend to experience job satisfaction in the organization. Therefore, greater job satisfaction would lead to lower employee turnover rate, which greatly benefits the hotel.

7.   Concluding Thoughts

A good employer should listen to employees’ advice, and employees should not be afraid to speak out if they have a better idea or solution. Having an agreement would prevent any dissatisfaction, and thus, enhances the relationship. In conclusion, every staff in the hotel plays an equally crucial role in maintaining hotel standards and meeting its mission and vision.

8. References

Cohen, A. R., & Bradford, D. L. (2005). Influence Without Authority. The Leadership Quarterly, (Vol. 2).

Goode, T. D., Crossbear, S., Mccullough, M., Wiler, N., & Graybill, E. (2016). Understanding Your Role with and Without Formal Authority, 1–15.

Maria, I., Madalina, T., Catalina, B., & Diana, I. (2007). The Factors of Competitiveness in the Hospitality Industry and The Competitive Strategy of Firms, (6), 213–218.

Weaver, P., & Guandique, R. (2012). Leadership Without Authority. PM Network, 26(3), 20–22.

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Project Synopsis Draft 1

1.   Introduction

The current context marked by globalization and the increasing recognition of interrelations has imposed new rules of conduct: the prosperity of nations is based on competitiveness on international markets, and that of enterprises, on the integration in the worldwide value chains (Maria, I., Madalina, T., Catalina, B., & Diana, I., 2007).
Climbing up the ladders as one of the most competitive industry to work in nowadays, tourism is a sector in which the structure of supple is extremely volatile and the solid and consistent part is the demand.
Regarding the hotel organisation, specifically The Ritz Carlton Millennia Singapore, we explore how different individuals can lead outside their authority. Being confident and speaking from a place of strength will go a long way in convincing others to follow you, whether you have direct authority over them.

2.   Problem Identification

In every organisation, program or setting, we often hear things like “Our director only gives lip service to diversity”, “I have responsibilities but no real power”, or even “I have great ideas but they don’t devote the funding”.
Not all leaders who have authority make the right decisions and in fact, those with great ideas might not even be the leader. This comes to a point where different individuals should lead without a leadership role. In every workplace, there is bound to be seniority, a hierarchy. People tend to avoid contributing or initiating during times when not given a leadership role, some to the extent of just doing what is told.

3.   Objective of Study

Hotel faces high turnover rates and most of the associates leave the company as they are usually unhappy working there. However, they may not have the courage to speak up about their unhappiness to their manager because they may feel that they do not hold any authorities and they might feel inferior when trying to talk to someone of a higher authority.
By exploring such study, it would allow associates to understand what some of the dos and don’ts are when they would want to speak up to someone with a higher authority. Additionally, bringing out the confidence in each associate and allow them to initiate and speak up to someone of a higher authority.
By doing so, they would help to increase the communication between frontline employees as well as the management and it would allow the associate to feel more inclusive within the company, narrowing the gap between the associates and the management. This would allow each associate to have a sense of belonging as they would feel that they are being part of the changes within the hotel.
Furthermore, making the associates feels more comfortable would then potentially increase the satisfactory level of the associates in the hotel. With greater work satisfaction, there would be higher chance that the employee will not quit their job easily. Thus, lowering the turnover rate in hotels.

4.   Potential Solutions

Through this project, potential solutions will be explored to tackle the interpersonal communication problem. The solution will address the issue on how to get can an associate get their point across to an authority without appearing too rude or trying to steal the limelight.  To create an easier visibility to an associate of the solution, an educational video would be created.
In the content of the video, it would include the problem statement as well as a list of Do & Don’t on how to approach this interpersonal communication problem. Some example of Do’s, would include things like “being specific and concise” or “watch your body language”. While some Don’ts like “Do not beat around the bush”, “Do not get overly emotional”. By creation video, it should educate an associate who face this problem.

5.   Proposed Research Methods

To further understand the communication problem, primary and secondary research will be conducted to comprehend the problem better.
For primary research, an interview will be conducted at The Ritz Carlton Millennia Singapore. The objective of this research aims to collect opinions from Ritz Carlton staff to understand the problem better. Through the interview, the different point of view as an associate as well as a management’s point of view could be gathered. Interview will be conducted with a young front desk officer who just graduated and an experience manager on duty who has the authority in the Front desk operations.
The interviewees are as proposed:
Mr Gangatheran Kunjiraman, Manager on Duty at the Ritz Carlton Millennia Singapore. Mr Gangatheran have been in The Ritz Carlton for over 20 years and was promoted to the Manager on Duty since January 2010.
Ms Felicia Ho, Front desk officer at The Ritz Carlton Millennia Singapore. Ms Felicia is a young polytechnic graduate who just join the company last year.
Getting someone with vast experience would understand the situation in different scenario. On the contrary, interviewing someone in the millennial generation would be able to provide another different view in terms of generation of ideas.
Whereas for the secondary research, the focus on the research would be in a hotel context on how an associate should portray themselves when they are about to approach and speak to their management. Journal articles, research articles and educational websites will be explored as well amid the secondary research.

6.   Benefits

6.1. Initiative to speak

The key benefit of this topic is to encourage and allow people to voice out their opinion or suggestion in their workplace even when they do not have authority or leadership position. Not all leaders give brilliant ideas and good ideas might come from someone who is not a leader. Thus, it is important for people to speak out without having fear of judgement and criticism.

6.2. Sense of Community

In a healthy organization, everyone is free to speak out their suggestions or giving individual feedback to their employer or leader. By doing so, employees would feel satisfied to be in the organization as they experienced a sense of belonging. Hence, both employee and employer would share the same goals and strive towards it.

6.3. Lower Turnover Rate

With employee involvement in the hotel changes or development, employees tend to feel job satisfaction in the organization. Therefore, greater job satisfaction would lead to lower employee turnover rate which greatly benefits the hotel.

7.   Concluding Thoughts

A good employer should listen to employees’ advices and employees should not be afraid to speak out if they have a better idea or solution. Having an agreement would prevent any dissatisfaction thus, enhance relationship. In conclusion, every staff in the hotel is equally crucial to ensure hotel standard and meeting its mission and vision.

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Service Recovery Letter

Dear Mr Man,
We are sincerely apologetic regarding the inconvenience caused towards you and your family during your stay here with us. It was saddening to hear about the miscommunication on both parties which caused the trouble you encountered.
Do allow us to look into the matter with Agoda Corporation in regards to your reservation details. We will provide a detailed response back to you within three working days. Should there be a discrepancy in the breakfast payment, a full refund will be provided back to you immediately.
We are sorry to hear about the experience you had with our front office staff. As an organization who honours the experience of our guests above all, it is deeply concerning to hear the negative experience you had with our staff in the front office line. It would help if you could provide us with some information regarding the staff who served you, we will personally look into the matter and resolve it appropriately.
Regarding the issue on our access key card, please be ensured that this is uncommon and we will surely investigate the cause of the failure. We assure you that this will not happen again.
Please accept our sincerest apology for the trouble or inconvenience we have caused you. As a form of apology of our failure in achieving the best experience for you and your family during your stay here, we would like to provide a complimentary dinner for your family of five in our award winning Rise restaurant, located in Tower 1 of the building. The complimentary voucher is attached as such.
Again, we highly appreciate your feedback as it will assist us in becoming better. As a business like ours, you are our greatest asset. We value your feedback and we hope to serve you again.
Thank you.
Sheena Kevin
Guest Services Manager
Marina Bay Sands Corporation

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Reflection on Interpersonal Communication Problem

Have you ever come across a situation where a simple food order can turn into a frustrating experience? 

On the 9^th of February, I visited McDonald’s restaurant located close to my house for takeaways. To my surprise, there was a queue despite it being 1AM in the morning. When it was finally my turn to order, I noticed that the cashier, a middle-aged woman, named Wendy was acting rather confused, trying to figure out what to key in her POS device. That day, I had three different orders and each came with special requests. For instance, I do not like lettuce for my burger and would like to request for additional cheese. Wendy spent almost three minutes trying to find the “special request” option on the device and when she found it, she had forgotten what my request was. Hence, causing me to repeat my orders again. Five minutes later, Wendy managed to key in all the orders but when she repeated herself, it was all wrong.

I felt angry at that point of time and even wanted to cancel my order. Concurrently, Wendy felt annoyed and started being hostile. I repeated my order the third time and after she key in, she asked in an uninterested tone: “What else you want?”. My blood was boiling and I threw the money without saying any words.

While I was walking home, I felt guilty that I threw the money at Wendy.

How could I have done it better instead?

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Personal Branding

Personal branding refers to how a person markets themselves and their careers as brands. Each individual has their own unique personal branding which can be evaulated through areas such as verbal communication, non-verbal communication and self appearance.

Personally, I feel that I am extrovert who can communicate to any people, friends or even strangers in regard to any topics. I guess, I have picked up this verbal and interactive skills through events and camps that I have attended in my tertiary terms. In addition, I feel that networking or widening my social circle is very crucial especially when it comes to job seeking or work partnership.

Besides verbal communication, non-verbal communication is equally important. Non-verbal communication can be body language, gesture, posture and facial expression. Whenever I am presenting in class, my only posture is keep still with minimum body language. Moreover, having eye contact with your audiences is necessary and critical. This would give the audience a sense of professionalism and comfortable.

Lastly, self appearance is greatly connected to personal branding as well. How you groom yourself for interview or even meeting your partner's parents will give them an impression of you. Always reminding myself that first impression is last impression. You never have a second chance to make a first impression.

In conclusion, these three areas can evaluate an individual's personal branding positively or negatively and it is up to you to decide which impression you would want other to view you.

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