Blog 4.Evaluating Intercultural Behavior

Well, today I want tell a true story about an bad interaction that I had with my roommate during my SEP time in America.

I spend a semester in University of Washington last year. I lived there with 9 american girls. We share the rest room and living room together and each 2 girls share one bedroom. 

My roommate got a new boyfriend and he actually lives on the same floor with us. He always come to our house and we are very familiar with each other after one week. 

I remember that was a tuesday night. I finished my homeworks and was going to take a shower. It was actually nearly 3am already so I thought nobody will in the living room as I really didn't hear any voice. I thought my roommates was still outside with her boyfriends. Therefore I changed my sleeping suit and going to take a shower. 

I need to pass our living room if I want go to the restroom. When I was passing the living room, I suddenly notice that my roommate is actually lying on the floor with her boyfriend. Her boyfriend was holding her in his arms and they were kisses... 

Since they didn't open the light, I am actully been scared so I screamed out... They noticed me and said hi to me.

I was actually hope they can move to another place or maybe the boy can back to his room because it was really late. But I tried to use a mild tone.  So finally I said: "Wow, why u guys stay here, the floor must be really uncomfortable." They looked at each other and then smile to me. However, when I finished my shower and back to my bedroom, they changed from floor to her bed.... They said good night to me happyly and I really don't know how to response... Finally I had a bad night with a guy in our bedroom :(

Well. there got big difference between Western & Asian's cultures. Western people are more open and love to express their opinion directly. However, most of asian people just like me like to couch criticisms in tactful language... This difference always cause a lot of misunderstanding through communication....

Thank you very much for reading my Blog 4. 

Welcome to make any comments. :)

Blog 3.Application Letter Critique

Job Description:

Emp Ref No: SGP01687 SGP01687 JobsDB Ref: JSG400003000336222 Bank of America Corporation and Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. have officially joined forces, creating a leading banking and wealth management franchise and premier corporate and investment banking and capital markets businesses. Our corporate cultures share a strong emphasis on making clients our first priority. Our global company, with a deep and diverse array of businesses, is uniquely positioned to offer a much broader choice of leading solutions, products and services to companies, individuals, institutions and governments around the world. Derivatives Client Services Officer Post Date: 10 Feb 11 Job Description In close communication with the GWM Marketers and Products team, GMI Trade Support desks, technology, corporate actions & documentations teams, the primary responsibility of the DCS team is to act as an intermediary between the GWM private clients and the GMI Trading and support desks for all OTC FX Equity and structured products. Responsibilities Reporting to Manager of APR Collateral Monitoring Team & Derivatives Client Services Team, the successful candidate will be responsible for the following: To perform Trade Monitoring, Exceptions management & Affirmations and all related queries for all trades on a daily basis such that any trade discrepancies and/or system related issues are rectified urgently and all issues resolved before EOD. Life Cycle events management for all OTC and structured trades and analysis of root causes of trade failures for monthly reporting and escalation. Manage the process of third party structured products from product creation, data enhancement to distribution and settlement. This involve liaison with the external counterparty (issuers), front office traders, clearing banks as well as internal corporate action teams. Administers the execution of ISDA confirmations for OTC FX and Equity trades post reconciliation with trade capture system and termsheet, while ensuring 30Day Fed targets are met along with producing weekly aging reports on outstanding confirmations. End of Day MIS reporting on volumes and issues. Requirements The candidate needs to be process-minded, as they will be expected to participate in designing, analyzing and improving processes during the day-to-day activities in order to mitigate risk and improve efficiency. The ideal candidate should be self-driven and proactive, suitably aggressive in order to chase up on open ended issues with both management and front office traders.  The following attributes are necessary: Strong verbal communication skills as there is a frequent need to engage with the business on various issues as well as use influencing skills to manage expectations of various parties. The following attributes are preferred: Knowledge of ISDA documentation. Knowledge of some OTC FX and Equity products. Qualification: University degree with a minimum of 2 years’ relevant experience. Proficiency in Excel.

Cover Letter:

Zhang Yanjing,

4-G, Blk 22,

35 Prince George’s Park,

Hp:97583365

jingjing88510@hotmail.com

Date: 11th Feb 2011.

Bank of America, Merrill Lynch
Millenia Tower #28-00,

1 Temasek Avenue (S)039192
.

Dear Sir/Madam,
Application for Derivatives Client Services Officer
I am currently a final year student of National University of Singapore(NUS), pursuing a Bachelor’s honor degree of statistics (specialized in Finance). I am responding to your advertisement on the JobsDB (Ref: JSG400003000336222) and applying for the position of a Derivatives Client Services Officer for Bank of American, Merrill Lynch. 

I am currently a Statistics major specializing in finance with a strong interest in the banking industry. I took modules related to finance that will help me in banking industry such like economics, accounting and financial mathematics etc. I am good in statistic programs like SAS,SPSS and R which are very useful for risk analysis. I have also learned Java and C++ programming skills during my undergraduate study.

Through much leadership during my university life, I have gain strong leadership skills while possessing a great team spirit. As president of BINGO China-Affair Sub-Committee, I successful organize international conference with Shenzhen University. Our conference raise fund for selected 50 students in NUS, sending them to Shenzhen in China had a 4-days trip. You could look into my resume if you are interest in my other activities.

I also have four years of internship experience. My most recent internship at Bank of China, Hunan Branch has allowed me to further develop and strengthen my technical skills. I have also worked part time in NUS Science Faculty Dean’s office which has honed my skills on using Microsoft Office, especially Microsoft Excel and Word. My internship in CareerAlbum. Inc as a quality assurance engineer which entails me to support and market website platform has also strengthen my ability to work well both independently and in a team. I believe that I can make a significant and valuable contribution to Bank of American, Merrill Lynch through the position as a Derivatives Client Services Officer. 

I am looking forward to speaking with you. Thank you for your time and consideration. 

Yours faithfully

ZHANG YANJING

Enclosures:
1. Resume
2. Certificate of internship


--Thank you for reading my application letter, please help me to improve it. 
(^.^)// Have a nice day!

Blog 2.Interpersonal conflict.

Anne is the only child of George Wallet. George had a small construction firm and hoped that someday Anne would help him with the business. Anne enrolled at the local university and pursued a degree in civil engineering. After she graduated, Anne decided to work for a large construction firm. She felt that this would broaden her perspectives of how a business might be run. She was quite successful in the company, but at the age of 35 was convinced by her father to join him. Since her father would retire in 5 or 6 years, she felt that she had the confidence and experience to take over the family business.

She joined her father's firm and spent the first few months trying to understand the inner workings of the company. Soon she felt comfortable with the situation and started to suggest changes to her father.

His response was that "Hey, you learned a lot while working for that big contractor, but this is a small company and we do things different here. Besides, why change things? We have always done things this way." Anne made several suggestions to her father that she felt would be helpful to the firm. She invariably got the same response. :(

Conflict was certain under these circumstances. George continued to address Anne as the daughter he had raised. Anne thought she should be addressed as the adult she had become.  Furthermore, She felt that her father, where business matters were concerned, should not address her as a father but as another adult.

This is a story I heard about interpersonal conflict. My dear readers, could you find a good way to solve the communication problem for Anne and her farther?

PS: Thank you for read my blog and welcome to give comments.

Blog 1. Effective communication

The purpose of communication is to get your message across to others clearly and unambiguously. Communication is only successful when both the sender and the receiver understand the same information as a result of the communication. 

The biggest problem for me is I always could not successfully communicate with others when I feel nervous. I don’t like fight it out at all whenever others disagree with me. However, it is not appropriate for my future. Take care about other’s feeling is important, but express my own feeling is also important. I am always prepared to make concessions when there exists disagreement just because I am afraid I may hurt others feelings when I telling the truth. 

I believe there are a lot of factors could affect the quality of communication: facial expression, body language, use of words, suitable eye contact and etc. I want learn how to successfully interact and exchange opinion with others without hurting others feeling in this module. My dear teacher and classmates, hope you could help me. :)

What’s more, I believe it is quite important for us to made communication not only right but also effective. In my opinion, effective means use lesser words and obtain a greater impact. This is quite important for us especially when we go to work. Hope I could gain enough knowledge and skills from this communication course at the end of semester. 

Practice makes perfect! I believe I could improve a lot by the help of my friendly classmates and nice teacher. (^.^)//