Reflective Essay My initial impression of this course was that is was similar to Managing work and People.

To my surprise this course was not all theory as expected, and I learnt a lot from the guest lecturers that I could use in my everyday life. The group work was structured not around case studies but real organisations, this along with critical thinking allowed my to apply theory to the practical. The content also consisted on information about how to market yourself to employers, your online presents and how to negotiate conflict. I am currently looking for new work prospects and was not completely aware of how my online presents and how can it affect my chances of finding a job. After the presentation from Julian, I was educated on goggling myself, and seeing how can I improve my online presents. Julian helped me understand that organisations are looking for positive people and my resume and online presents needs to be consistent with a positive attitude. This was also evident in the interviews conducted with the CEO for the case study. He always put a positive spin on everything he said, and down played negative aspects. I have rewritten me resume to include my core values that are constant with a positive and trustworthy person. (Argyris 1991) article on Teaching Smart People How to Learn, allowed me to understand how important it is for positive open communication. Negative interactions can cause Defensive routines that can hinder growth. Fillip Hron guest speaker talked about negotiation and team conflict. It changed my understanding of how negotiation works. Everything in life is a negotiation from when you get up to work. Previous my knowledge, as Filip(2013 p16) put the 4 games of negotiation, was only game one Division this provided a frame work of win and lose. This is not effective and there are inherent problems is this approach that I was not aware of. He added 3 more negotiation games to my tools set. The most important point was understanding the other persons needs, this helped me understand that if you know what the other person needs then you can speed up the process and have a more

productive communication and reach a better outcome for both parties. This will be a skill I will use in everything I do. Coming from an engineering background essay writing and structure was not somewhat overlooked. I came into this course feeling a little bit overwhelmed. My essay writing needed a lot of work. Understanding Mind mapping techniques and how to structure an essay, helped not only for this course but future courses, although I am not at a high distinction level I do believe this course has given me a structure and toolset to improve my essay writing skills, i.e. using mind maps to structure my essays and thoughts. Also writing critical essays, help me understand that there are different types of sources and not all sources are equal value. Intercultural communications is a critical skill in the field of telecommunications, were parts of the organization are now being outsources. Most of the time communication is via email, and rarely phone. The communication between my organization and the outsourced department is actually very inefficient these language barriers cause a lot of interpretation problems and miscommunication. Intercultural problems in the workplace with foreign companies in Thailand related to a number of issues, including concepts of accountability, approaches to tasks, time management, language and personal/work relationships (Crossman, J., Bordia, S. & Mills, C. 2011 p58). This sums up a number of key areas that problems can arise form intercultural teams. This has helped me to understand what is taking place i.e. is there a cultural difference that may be affecting or distort communication. Once identified, the course has given me the framework to better communicate taking into culture and language differences. Verbal communication is important however the importance of nonverbal communication affects how information is perceived. 90% of the message is presented in non- verbal body language. Culture also affects how non-verbal cues are interpreted. For example if a person is upset, some cultures dictate that

the person should not lash out but just deal with the problem or disappointment, others are the opposite. In conclusion this course had a major impact in my life. Things that I didnt think were significant in the beginning, turned out to be important by the end of the course. I learnt how communication plays a direct role in how people perceive you and how culture can affect the information that is transferred. Being positive has a flow on effect, and body language conveys more than 90% of the communication. These are just some of the information I have taken from this course. But most importantly when assessing my own performance, to be critical in understanding on how my actions helped or hindered a communication or experience.

references Argyris, C 1991, 'Teaching Smart People How to Learn', Harvard Business Review, 69, 3, pp. 99-109, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 1 September 2013. Crossman, J., Bordia, S. & Mills, C. 2011 Business Communication: for the Global Age, McGraw-Hill, North Ryde, N.S.W FILIP ,H. 2013 Negotiation Evolved FILIP,H e-book