Group assignment

For the panel discussion, I was given a opportunity to be in same group with Jasmine Tan, Fatin Nadia and Ang Jun Yik. Everyone of us were different roles and 2 minutes each to prepare and present our speech on our question. My role was an Outlet Manager and the task was to prepare ways to improve the facelift of the restaurant. I was very nervous because I was the first to present my points, the time was not enough for me to prepare my points so basically I think I got the lowest marks among my group mate. This experience made me realise how important time management is in this competitive world.

From the involvement with DIB, I have gained more knowledge about how this DIB business works and the bond between me and my group mate has grown stronger. Through this panel discussion, I discovered that it is not easy to maintain a special business like this. It requires not only a lot of money but also passion and love towards deaf people, they have to train deaf people patiently without expecting returns. I discovered that not everyone would sacrifice their time and energy to help people with disabilities, if it was not love for human and nature, they would not be able to make it. We should learn from them.

If I was given a chance to go through the panel discussion again, I would utilise every seconds given to present my points. I was to nervous to present the other day so I wish I could calm myself down before I present again.

In my opinion, every human should be treated the same way because we are all God’s children, we should never discriminate people because of their disabilities, we are lucky enough to be born without any disabilities so we should help and support them. Lastly, I would like to thank Mr. Eddren for giving me such an opportunity to do this panel discussion, it was an unforgettable experience.

My group was the last group for panel discussions, we were behind the time as the groups before us was delayed due to some reason. Despite of that, we are still able to continue our panel discussion as usual. My group members are Melissa Low, Mun Phang Yew and I. We are given a topic to talk about the “Solution of turnovers of employees”. Melissa and I are playing the role as a General Manager while Phang Yew is playing the role as a Human Resource Manager. We are given two minutes to talk about our points. In the panel discussion, Melissa has strongly emphasized that the interviews are important to a company. Thus, we should always ask things more detail such as checking out their social network. For example, are they acting rudely on social network that might affect the company's image. Besides that,Melissa have stated that the workers at the current company should always give good review of the company when they talk about it because their reviews are crucial as it might influence how the potential workers look at our company. On top of that, Phang Yew has mentioned about delegating the work among workers which i strongly agree. This is because one should always do their job on their own instead of passing it to others so that others wouldn't feel that stressful. This can solve the turnover problem of employees too. As a general manager, i have suggested that workers should never work overtime as they will be tired and they won't be as productive after a long day. In the end of the panel discussion, we have come to a conclusion that Melissa's point is the best way to solve the problem of turnovers.

Through this panel discussion I had discovered that DIB faces many challenges to sustain their business. Even though DIB is a successful business for short term but for long term it consume a lot of money to run their business as in they have to train their staff professionally. DIB has to hire professional people in order to teach and train their workers so that they are able to perform their daily task without encountering any problems.

Besides that, I had discovered that not everyone would take risk or invest money to run a business by hiring deaf and hearing disorder people as their employee. It takes time to train them. Furthermore, it takes time for employer to learn sign languages and communicate well with them.

On the other hand, this project has given a chance for me to interact with my teammates and acknowledge myself with new things. They have helped me at times when I was not able to complete my task and guide me throughout this project. DIB was actually a term for me and i have no idea what is it about until we have carried out our research regarding this business. DIB has taught me that to be independent and knowledge can be gain at any age, at anywhere or as in daily life too.

This research have made me to realize and changed my perception on deaf and disability people. I have learn that they able to perform and work like us too if they are trained and given a chance to prove their selves. Every human being has their own talent and unique in their own way. Therefore, we should never underestimate anyone’s ability and encourage them.

I wish could improve myself and well prepared if there is a chance given to go through the panel discussion again. I would state more points and discuss further this topic. Even though I was well prepared the other day but i felt nervous as I start to talk.

As in conclusion, I think everyone has their own talent and unique in their own way. We should never discriminate anyone because of their disability but encourage and support them. Therefore, if we could accept the person in this society without discriminating them, then we could change this world which is full of inequality and differences.

From this experience, the first thing that comes into my head when I think of what I have gained throughout this course of involvement with DIB is that I have become closer, in a sense, with my group members. I have gathered memories from the journey to the restaurant from campus, finding the cafe, observing the environment of the cafe to putting down in words our findings. Being put in a group with three other individuals from different culture backgrounds has definitely been an experience of a lifetime for myself, in particular. I feel that a bond has been formed between my group members and I as we had a lot of time spent together throughout the course of this assignment.

The next thing that I feel that I have gained from this experience and has definitely changed me is my eyes have now been opened to the deaf community. Growing up, I have always been made aware of the existence of this community and other communities of the disable. Yet, I was still in the shadows of how important it is that we, the society, should start taking initiatives to welcome the members of the deaf community with open arms. It is our duty to ensure that the needs of the members of this community is known and met at all times. After reading up about Dr. Allen Teh, I have a new found respect for the man and all his efforts in making the society aware of the needs of the deaf community. This man has single handed-ly taken all the needed initiative to ensure that the deaf community does not go unheard by the society. In my opinion, I believe that starting up a cafe that hires the members of the deaf community is a brilliant idea. It is not only innovative but he is carrying out his social responsibility that benefits not only himself, but everyone else.

During the panel discussion on factors which may boost the motivation of employees in DIB, I was assigned to be in a group with two other course-mates which I rarely had the opportunity to interact with, Sally and Halimi. Our roles were allocated by Mr. Eddren and we were given 2 minutes to prepare and present our point of views. As an outlet manager, my task was to highlight the introduction of badges as a form of recognition to employees and include monetary rewards as a method to induce employee's motivation. The constraint in time had affect the concretization of my points, however this experience have made me discovered the importance of time management under stressful situations.

Brushing the disappointment with a façade of calmness, I eagerly opened my ears to Sally and Halimi's presentation. Sally was the general manager who emphasized on team activities and weekend trips as a motivation boosting scheme. Halimi, the head server, stressed the importance of job rotation and weekly meetings. The diversification of views have led to an eventful debate which was truly remarkable to me. However, we finally agreed upon daily meetings instead of weekly meetings due to several drawbacks. This experience have made me realize the importance teamwork due to differing perspective from others. I am glad to be able to work with my team as we are able to analyse and interpret the points and conclude on the best outcome in a short duration of time. Taylor’s Business School had given me the opportunity to experience the real business world to me in future, I am truly grateful.

I have learnt that good interpersonal skills is important in business. After all, business is all about networking and communicating with others. I have learnt to negotiate and compromise with others to prevent the destruction of relationship between peers. I am glad that Mr Eddren had assigned us to a different group of members instead of cluttering in own respective groups. Living in Malaysia, clustering in our own groups of friends is considered as a culture; acting as a force-field which suppress the feeling of welcome from others. I wish to express my gratitude towards Mr Eddren for providing me the opportunity to bond between my peers. It was an unforgettable and fun practice which I hope to experience in the future.

English Reflective Report (Jia Yee)

English Reflective Report (Ivy Then)

English Reflective Report (Kokila Wani)

English Reflective Report (Melissa Low)

English Reflective Report (Yu Qing)