Project Hope

I am sure that everyone has known about the numerous recent natural disasters that have been going around South East Asia. Therefore, recently MediaCorp, Singapore’s leading media company is leveraging on its multimedia platforms to raise funds to help victims of the recent disasters inflicted by the south tropical storms and earthquake in the region.

On the 19^th October 2009, MediaCorp telecasted live the ‘Project Hope’ charity show on every channel network such as channel 5, Suria, channel 8, TV mobile and even the outdoor screen outside Orchard Central. The two-hour event -featured local and international stars. More than S$1,200,000 has been raised so far during the televised fund-raising event “Project Hope”

 These bring me to talk about the Agenda setting function MediaCorp is trying to instill into the public. Agenda setting function refers to the media’s ability, through repeated news coverage, to raise the importance of an issue in the public’s mind. As for this case, MediaCorp exposed us to the Project Hope through various mass media outlets such as TV channels, Radio broadcasting, Advertisements, newspapers and magazines which bombard and alter our minds to be a kind soul and donate to help the needy. Furthermore as Singapore being part of South East Asia, problems around the region becomes an obtrusive issues which tend to have a bigger impact on us which therefore encourages Singaporeans to donate more willingly.  

 As we know, before the Project Hope, Cultivation Theory has already unknowingly and slowly influences our mind on the magnitude of the disasters through continuous reporting on the news, radios and newspapers of the disaster hit areas for a certain period of time. Therefore, all these influences contribute and raise the importance of the donations.

 As all donations will be channelled to the Singapore Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity and Mercy Relief which has launched public appeals for donations to help survivors of Typhoon Ketsana in Indochina and the Padang earthquake in Indonesia. Media Hegemony takes place as Singapore Red Cross and Mercy Relief are large prominent charity organizations which have a certain persuading power in persuading people from all walks of life for their generous donations.

 In conclusion, I am very impressed with the way MediaCorp and the corresponding companies had done in trying to garner as much donations as possible to assist the disaster hit countries. They use the effect of mass media to great extent by slowly cultivating Singaporean mindset of lending a hand to people in need. Take for example the Singapore Kindness Act and many other charity events. I am very sure that if we use mass media for a good cause, the world would definitely be a better place.

The balloon boy

The full story can be found here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091015/ap_on_re_us/us_boy_in_balloon

Recently in Colorado, there is a runaway balloon saga which Falcon Heene, a 6-year-old Colorado boy, floats away in a balloon made by his father!

The boy climbed into a homemade hot air balloon, floated away and reached to about 10,000 feet. The balloon travelled for more than two hours.

Boy in a balloon have caused a national scramble in America. As everyone hold their breath and prayed for the safety of the 6 year old boy, it have left everyone puzzled and worried on the whereabout of the balloon boy. (he was not in the balloon when it landed)

The helium balloon in the shape of a flying saucer drifted away from a home in Fort Collins, Colorado. After two hours of floating over miles of terrain, the balloon finally landed in a field and the boy is not in it.

The latest news is the boy is hiding at home and was never in the balloon. A theory that it is a hoax quickly emerges. Some say it is a publicity stunt made by the boy’s parents who was a participant in US wife swap reality TV show. Falcon, 6, is the son of Richard and Mayumi Heene of Ft. Collins, CO. Richard Heene is a storm chaser and scientist. He often takes his family on storm chases with him. They apparently sleep in their clothes so they can leap from bed and chase a storm. Falcon has two older brothers, Bradford and Ryo.

Here’s a video clip on the landing of the fly saucer balloon from Associated Press:

So let me try to interpret this news using the intercultural communication between the nation and the Heene family.  As stated by Edward T. Hall (1983), culture is an invisible control mechanism operating in our thoughts which kicks in only when we are severely challenged. Culture influences as well as interprets behaviour.

As said earlier, culture influences and interprets ones behaviour. It is quite a widely known fact that Americans have a culture of producing large scale and numerous hoaxes throughout the time, be it sighting of UFO, aliens or even sighting of the dead Michael Jackson. Therefore whenever strange or bizarre incident happens, hoax culture that is programmed in their mind allows them to think in that direction. The saga is further fuelled after the boy; Falcon Heene said during a CNN interview that he had not come out of his hiding place during the drama because “you guys said that we did this for the show.”

They way the American society view them is also due to the cultural barriers to communication towards the Heene family. Stereotypes occur because when the Heene family is not chasing storms, they devote their time to scientific experiments that include looking for extraterrestrials and building a research-gathering flying saucer to send into the eye of the storm. Therefore the society stereotypes the family as weird as such activities and interest is not a social norm. Thus when their out of the ordinary balloon drama occurs, people tend to have doubts on the incident. 

Another barrier which is the prejudices on the Heene family as the parents once took part in a reality show thus people are having bias view on them that all the commotion made by them is purely for publicity stunts to gain fame.

So what do you think? Is this a hoax or not? I guess only the family knows best!

Bad services in restaurants

 

How many times have u been to a restaurant and have been disgusted by the services provided? I have definitely experienced that for quite a few times. Many a times it will be down to the bad services from the crew. Recently, I and my family were driving around looking for a nice place for dinner when we saw this Teochew Restaurant. I shall not name the restaurant and just say that it is situated along Bendemeer Road. It was quite packed at that time with tables situated outside the restaurant as well so we assume that there should be some standard in theirs quality of food and/or services.

1st turn off: We were at the entrance waiting to be served but to our astonishment, no one seems to take notice of our presence. It is as if we are invisible! We waited for around 5 minutes when my mum decided to approach one of the waitresses for seats. The waitress then rudely nod her head without saying anything and continue with her job after passing on the enquire to another waitress and she passed on to another AGAIN! Where is the group cohesiveness the staffs have? They were definitely not lending support to each other by helping to take over one work while he/she attends to another customer needs.

Ok fine, as the place is packed we know the staff must be very busy. After passing the enquire for our seats like a baton for around 10 minutes, my dad being impatient, decided to walk straight into the restaurant to look for the supervisor or boss demanding our seats. It is then we were managed to be usher to a table situated outside the restaurant.

2nd turn off: We were issued the menus and after deciding on our choices of food, we raised our hand and waited for someone to make eye contact with us to take our order. Again, we were made to think we are invisible as no one seems to take notice of us, whom is not being served yet. Finally, after only calling out loud for attention did one of the waitresses came to take our order. From here we can see the lack of interaction between the staffs. It is impossible that not a single staff saw our raised hand. There should be an information seeker and giver among the staff so that they will be able to relay any attention or help needed by customers to the rest of the staffs effectively and immediately.

3rd turn off: What kind of service do you expect from any food chains/ restaurant? At least the basic courtesy and friendliness no matter how slow your service is right? Even if the food sucks, everyone expect friendliness from the staffs but the waitress who is taking our order had a ‘black’ face with no smile at all and seem very impatient as she kept trying to push us for the set meals. Throughout the ordering process, she also does not seem to know the menu and dishes well. Have you ever visited a restaurant where you asked for recommendations, and the waiter/waitress simply pointed to the food items on the menu that are highlighted with the little chef’s recommendation icon (as if you didn’t already know)?

4th turn off: Finally, our food arrived. We were amused as the combination cold dish was lacking one of the combinations, the octopus. Instead they replaced it by spamming the century egg! When we consulted the waitress that took our order, she actually has the cheek to say that the octopus was sold out. Why didn’t she say so in the first place? Other than that the rest of the dishes were only so-so. This will definitely be our first and the last time eating at this restaurant.

One thing I notice is that the supervisor or the boss is like doing nothing except occasionally bringing bills to customers. When your staffs are busy and slow, what should the boss do? Help around! It’s ok for a boss to help. It’s your business anyway! I am sure you hate receiving complains from customers! A supervisor role is like a task and maintenance role in a group where he will be a coordinator by allocating and directing staff to areas that need their attention immediately. Furthermore, he should be an encourager by encouraging his staffs at performing up to expectations.

A boss can be a customer too. Everyone of us is a customer. Always put yourself in customer’s position. I am sure you wouldn’t want such service from someone else right?

Have you experienced any good or bad customer service lately? Do share what you’ve experienced.

A little entertainment for you people that bad customer service might not always be down to the restaurant itself. It might also be down to the customers themselves!!

Interpersonal relationship and communication

For this week in the Communication module, I learnt on the formation, development and the dissolution of relationship. Coincidentally or should I say unfortunately, my friend recently experienced the process of dissolution of his relationship which ended few days back. Therefore, I decided to make use of this real life case study as a reference.

Due to confidentiality, I will not reveal both parties’ real name. I will instead name my friend as J and the girl as M. I will break down the story into the 10 stages involves in the formation, development and the dissolution.

 

This is how the story goes. Back in 2008, during J’s polytechnic open house, his friend brought a group of friends where M is one of them, over for lunch. Being a sociable guy, J decides to take the effort to bring them around the campus. Initially, J did not really take notice of M physical appearance as he finds her average looking. Instead, he took notice of the secondary shirt she is wearing which is similar to J secondary school. Thus, allowing J to strike a conversation with M.

At stage 1, INITIATING, J started to select and filter M out from the group after starting to feel comfortable communicating with her. J then decided he wants to know her better. J goes into the stage 2, EXPERIMENTING. He started to have more constant in-depth conversation through phone calls, MSN and SMSes with M. Talks on personal and social issues allows J to know more about M’s character and her views. They both then start to find out that they have common views and interests on many issues. Conversation becomes at ease with one another thus both decide to make it a point to chat with each other by any means everyday.

Slowly, it leads to stage 3, INTENSIFYING. J and M started to meet up frequently for meals, shopping and practically just chilling and enjoying each other’s company. After going out for a number of dates, J decided to confess his feelings to M. But M does not have the same level of attraction for J yet. However, she is willing to give it a try. They continue to go out on numerous dates where physical contact increases such as holding of hands and hugging.

At stage 4, INTEGRATING. The time comes when J and M decide to reaffirm their status as a couple by telling friends and declaring on social networking sites such as Facebook.

 Stage 5, BONDING. Both decide on meeting each other at least once a week and celebrating of special occasions together such as anniversary.

However, at stage 6, DIFFERENTIATING, J and M started to have differences in certain aspect of communication that they have missed out earlier such as difference in expectation of love from each other where J feels M does not loves him enough. M also started to feel pressurizes at reciprocating the love J expect from her and keeping up to the relationship which she feels is progressing too quickly as J started to talk about long term relationship plans he had in mind.

Stage 7, CIRCUMSCRIBING. M started to show signs of unhappiness about the situation despite continuous encouragement and persuasions from J at maintaining the relationship. M started to call and meet up J less often.

Stage 8, STAGNATION. M’s interest and excitement in the relationship start to die down. Going out on date with J starts to be like a responsibility that she has to follow as a girlfriend. J knew about her struggles in the relationship. However he is persistent at maintaining the relationship. Thinking he can salvage the relationship.

Stage 9, AVOIDING. M starts to either avoid J’s calls and message or reply to him at a lesser frequency. M also tries to avoid physical contact with J by keeping herself from the hugs and kisses. M also drop hints to J that she thinks the relationship will ends nowhere.

Finally the Stage 10, TERMINATING. J and M decides to come to a painful decision to put an end to this relationship.

 

To me, relationship is like a rollercoaster. There will be people who will be afraid of the scary ride thus not wanting to go on and give it a try. Therefore timing is a very important aspect where u got to wait in line patiently for ‘the one’ to persuade you to go on the ride and be there beside you to not only overcome the fear and also to share the joy and excitement of the ride. There will be times you will be high and times you will be low. If the character of one party is weak, he or she may feels that after the scary and sad downhill, he/she will want to end the ride. Don’t let initial fear hinder the progress of the relationship. By facing it bravely and going through the ups and downs many times, this relationship ride will be a breeze as fear and uncertainty will be cast aside.

After hearing the story, what do you people think? Any thoughts on any stages that you think J and M should have done more?

Retirement/comeback

What does retirement means? It is a withdrawal from one’s occupation, business, or office. Recently, those that have followed the tennis world closely will know that retired tennis star Justine Henin is making a come back from tennis!

It was reported that on Tuesday, 22 September 2009, Henin formally announce her return to competitive tennis after 15 months of retirement. Her intention is to play competitively at least through the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Henin will make her return during the Australian summer, which may include an appearance in the 2010 Australian Open.

 For those that might not know who she is, Justine Henin (born 1 June 1982), formerly known as Justine Henin-Hardenne 2002–2007, is a professional Belgian tennis player. Tennis experts cite her mental toughness, the completeness and variety of her game, her foot speed and footwork, and her one-handed backhand as the principal reasons for her success. Henin won 41 WTA singles titles and more than US$19 million in prize money. Seven of those titles were Grand Slam singles titles, including four French Open titles, one Australian Open title, and two US Open titles. 

 

Since I studied on the nonverbal communication this week, I will analyse the nonverbal communication in the video that I have uploaded. This is the link to the video http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-sg&vid=05fd8520-c444-45a1-ad50-334fcda47c82. The video shows her in an interview on her come back from retirement. In the earlier part of the video, Henin announce that one of the reasons for her return to tennis is due to the lack of a dominant female competitor. We can see that she kept shrugging her shoulder and shaking her head which from the kinesics nonverbal communication(Study of body language), show that she is trying to make her point clear by showing that she do not understand and is disappointed by the dropping standard in the female tennis. In the later part of the video, she also states the reason for her comeback is due her desire to win a grand slam title that had eluded her, The Wimbledon Title. Upon talking on her desire to challenge for more honors, we can see that kinesics communication takes place again through her smile which shows that she is happy to be back playing tennis and be in contention for more titles. Lastly at the end of the video, we can see Henin hugging a couple of people which show the Haptics(study of touch) and proxemics(study of space and distance) of nonverbal communication as the hug with the pat on the back plus a kiss on the cheeks shows the support and loves the people have for her. Allowing people to get into such intimate distance shows the close relationship Henin have with the press and its supporters.  

On her comeback from retirement does not really goes well for me as retiring from a sport means you are bidding good bye to the sports and leaving the fans with good lasting impression of a champion. Furthermore, she had only retired for like how long? 15 months? Is that even called a retirement? In addition, when she announced her retirement on 14 May 2008, she said she felt no sadness about her retirement because she believed it was a release from a game she had focused on for twenty years. She also said that in the future, she will be concentrating on charity and her tennis school. So what ignited the flames of competiveness in her again?

Personally I feel that most sportsmen or women that came back from retirement, the reasons can only be from either financial hardship or not being able to adjust to a new lifestyle.

Well, after being out for quite some time I hope that her come back will not tarnish her impressive records. We will see in the Australian Open then!

Hotel Mama

It is known that Singapore’s declining marriage and fertility rates are serious national problems. It is believe that those trends will have negative consequences for economic growth and Singapore’s overall quality of life in the future as Singapore faces a “greying population”. Lacking in natural resources, Singapore’s strength is its hardworking, adaptable and resilient population. Recently, in The Straits Times forum page, a post by a reader http://www.straitstimes.com/ST+Forum/Story/STIStory_427188.html discussed on the issue of low fertility rate in Singapore and the reason behind it catches my eyes. The writer interestingly states that the reason behind the trend is due to the conservative mindset that Singapore have compared to people in the west where westerners in their early 20s are able to enjoy their freedom, live their own lives and have their own houses whereas in Singapore, people are conditioned to follow the rules, to live for their schools or jobs, to listen to their parents and to be an obedient citizens thus they live with their parents till theirs 30s and enjoy Hotel Mama, which is comfortable and saves them some money. This is due to the social constructive perception that our society have portray and instilled in us from young, a culture that one must abide or else one will be deem as not being filial. Furthermore, in the pragmatic perspective, it has becomes a pattern that one can only be allows or be ‘legal’ to cohabit with their partners and have their own housing after they get married. All these is due to our traditional Chinese culture which relates us to the cultural studies perspective where our Asian culture traditionally places strong emphasis on moral values, education and career development. Thus, it creates an effect that forces us to think twice before settling down with our partners and much less have a child, unlike our western counterparts. Therefore, the writer of this post assumes that it’s the traditional culture of the society that affects the mindset of Singaporeans which leads to the low fertility rate.

However, personally I have my different view on this. I feel that the reason behind the low fertility rate is Singapore is not the culture of the society that affects the mindset of Singaporeans. Instead it is the economic development, and the process of globalization. 

There is the possibility that an economic reason is behind it, as younger Singaporeans feel that contemporary Singapore’s cost of living is very high, and therefore it is uneconomical to have more than two children per family or even intentionally do not want to get married or to have children. Furthermore, with economical growth, more women are entering the labour force, with increasing education and qualifications and the emergence of feminist movements, gender roles will have to change and adapt to the new economic structure. Thus, social trends like late marriage, late parenthood, smaller family unit syndrome and increase in divorce rates are becoming more common nowadays which form a cognitive framework script where people visualisation of a perfect lifestyle is by placing priorities first on a stable careers, earning money and other life goals before going into the topic of marriage and children.

The process of globalization has seen a gradual shift in traditional attitudes towards relationships, marriage and family by exposing youths and adults to the western culture of liberal views towards sexual intimacy, marriage commitment, Childbearing, etc. This causes a shift in the perspective process where Singaporeans are selecting option to remaining single, delaying marriage and having fewer children. Younger Singaporeans have also seems to now accept alternative institutions to marriage, such as cohabitation (without marriage) and singlehood.

In conclusion, birth rates in Singapore have dropped tremendously over the past decade. Singapore’s birth rate will continue in this negative pattern in future decades, unless the Government comes up with pragmatic and effective measures to make the workplace environment and work culture more flexible, and change people’s mindsets.  Efforts must also be done to foster positive attitudes and strengthen our social institutions by emphasising on family values to encourage Singaporeans in forming their own family.

Credit Card Fraud

I am sure at least 80% of Singaporean adults own at least one credit card. Credit cards are no longer merely an alternative form of cash in a cashless society. They also reflect the cost perception, consumption and self-image culture of a society. However, recently on the newspaper, the topic on who is to blame when a credit card fraud takes place is being hotly debated. The article can be found here, http://www.tnp.sg/printfriendly/0,4139,209732,00.html. Credit card fraud occurs when consumers lost or had their cards stolen without then even knowing until they were informed of the unauthorised transactions which they will be held responsible even if they were the victims. This circumstance causes card holders to be very unhappy as they felt that the banks and/or retailers should also bear some of the responsibility.

Personally, I feel that the retailers should also bear part of the responsibility due to their lack of vigilant when salesmen and women do not bother to verify the card to the holder. From this article, http://www.tnp.sg/printfriendly/0,4139,209324,00.html, where two females news reporters went on an experiment using a credit card that bear a man name to go to different shops to make payment. Astonishingly, the sales person did not check the mismatch in the name and the customer and also fail to see if the buyer matched the credentials of the cardholder e.g. the odd or difference in signature. So why should we allows such care less retailers scot-free? What do you people think about this?

On the other hand, KUDOS to the Association of Banks in Singapore for changing a longstanding policy which made cardholders liable for all charges incurred on lost or stolen cards before they were reported missing. From Nov 1, cardholders’ liability will be capped at $100, provided they are not negligent or fraudulent, and notify the banks as soon as they discover the loss. However, by capping the liability at $100, I am afraid that it will lower cardholders’ guard as they might now think that if they lost their cards, they will have to only pay $100 regardless of the number of unauthorised transaction made. So do u people think this is a good idea? Personally, I feel that banks should also impose a ban on issuing cardholder a replacement card for a period of time.

In addition, credit card companies are stepping on the security measures to prevent credit card fraud. From here, http://tnp.sg/news/story/0,4136,213103,00.html, we can see that the implementation of a one-time password for internet transaction, use of EMV chip on cards and a new chip-and-PIN system where card holders authenticate the transaction by using a PIN, like for ATM cards are some of the solutions that will be used to prevent credit card fraud in the future. One solution I think of is to have a photo identity on the credit card so as to allow easier identification for retailers.

In conclusion, I feel that it is important for all parties to do their part in preventing and stopping credit card fraud. For the cardholders, it’s important to frequently check that all their cards are intact and keep them at home or in a safe place when such cards are not required. Also, cardholders must not allow their cards to be used by others. But even with the above measures, it is still essential for retailers to be vigilant and alert by investing in some time to check the cards. Retailers should not hesitate to check for identification. When credit card fraud happens, all parties have to be held responsible. All parties have a role to play in preventing and stopping such frauds and crimes.

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