On 23rd August of this year which is just a week ago, a tourist bus was hijacked by a former Philippine officer with 15 Hong Kong tourists as hostages. Philippine police started their rescue plan after being reported of this crime. During the process, the police made unforgivable mistakes in communicating with the hijacker which led to a catastrophic result of eight casualties of the hostages in a coup led by the SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) force. The whole world was stunned and the public of Hong Kong and mainland of China were furious about the daft decision made by Philippine police during the rescuing. After the incident, experts commented on the communication mistakes made by the police. One of the points is the lack of you attitude of the Philippine police like refusing of the hijacker’s request in the first place which leaves no room for further negotiation. This miserable tragedy highlights the importance of effective communication with a cost of eight lives.
Maybe we are far away from any tragedy like that, but it does not depreciate the significance of communication in our daily life. From my personal understanding, effective communication delivers two messages as how the phrase is composed. Communication functions as the channels and methods for people to obtain information and convey ideas to surrounding people. If we put the exchange of information at the base level of the communication pyramid, the enhancing of interpersonal relationship comes to a higher hierarchy which includes building of friendship and partnership, enhancing neutral trust and expressing personal emotions. This is sometimes regarded as the leaping step for human beings to evolve from our ancestral apes. The second messages will focus on the ‘effective’ part. Only knowing the importance of communication is not enough to conduct a successful one. With the facilitation of relevant skills and following guidelines, people are able to achieve the desired effect and respond from their communication. The skills guarantee the messages and information will be delivered to the targeting audience clearly and concisely. Furthermore, it enlarges the possibility for persuading the clients and ensures their acceptance of the messages. Last but not least, the friendly and professional impression will be marked on the audiences by effective communication. Your words represent you.
Taking myself as example, the effective communication provides numerous benefits in my dealing with peer classmates, professors, school office staffs, and also friends home and abroad. It saves a lot of trouble and avoids any misunderstanding due to my poor communication. It also aids to resolve personal conflicts especially with my parents. The generation gap and different contexts between Singapore and China builds up the obstacle for mutual understanding and effective communication. What is the conflict about and how does it pop up? How will affect my relation with my family and how will it be resolved? If you love to dig it up, please keep your eyes on my update for next blog entry.
Thank you, Neil for this finely detailed, well developed first post. You start out with an extreme yet clear example of how a communication breakdown can result in a catastrophe. You then provide a very intelligent discussion of communication in general and your needs in specific. There are some minor issues here but for the most part your ideas are clearly presented.
ReplyDeleteWell done! I look forward to your future posts. (I snuck a look at your next one. It seems very relevant, and heart-felt. Now I want to see your peers' feedback.)
p.s. Don't hesitate to ask some of your blogging group members, or project group members, to give you some feedback on this post. You were a bit late in uploading it, but now that it's here, see if you can courteously generate some interest in it.
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