Developing Communication Skills for the Workplace

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As a new employee of the Global Compact Network Singapore (the Compact), you have been tasked by your Department Head to engage in research and generate a report on how to increase the companies’ engagement in social CSR in Singapore”. Using the newly generated interview database on CSR (The CSR Database), produce a report on the current social CSR situation, focussing on one of the areas indicated above* for your Department Head. In the discussion section, you should compare your findings with those from reliable secondary sources which might be relevant to your research. You should end with recommendations on how the Compact can encourage companies’ engagement in social CSR in Singapore.

Group Oral Presentation (GOP)

A lack of awareness about social CSR has meant poor CSR adoption in spite of seminars, training programmes, awards and other events promoting it to the business community. With only 420 business signed up as members out of 130,000 Singapore registered businesses, there is much room for improvement (http://singaporemagazine.sif.org.sg/csr-in-singapore) [pic 3]

As a group of concerned employees at the Compact, you and three of your colleagues have decided to form a taskforce to propose a campaign to the Compact for encouraging more companies to join the Compact and engage in more social CSR endeavours.

Your team of four has been given 16 minutes for your presentation, which you should divide equally, so that each team member will be given about four minutes to speak. Your presentation must be professional and formal, and you must clearly and appropriately persuade the audience, which will comprise Compact officials, interested ministers and industry professionals. Your attire should therefore be formal, with a jacket. You will need to provide the background, rationale and concrete suggestions for your strategy. There will be a 10- minute Q & A after your presentation.

Formal Individual Presentation & Discussion (FIPD)

This task is a final opportunity for you to display what you have learned about communication in a business context. Each individual will prepare and deliver a five-minute presentation which will be followed by a sixteen-minute small group discussion with three other presenters on the same topic. The presentation topic, which will involve making proposals or recommendations in an NUS environment, will be given to you one week before the presentation date. [pic 4]

As you present, your goal is to represent your point of view in an engaging and persuasive manner. In addition, you will have to listen to the other speakers’ presentations and then discuss the issue as a group. After the presentations, you will be given a prompt which will provide a clear goal for your discussion. You will be assessed on your ability to be politely assertive, argue for a position, give positive and critical feedback, negotiate and clarify meaning as well as reach a clear decision or come to a consensus on the issue.

Detailed information about each of the assignments will be made available nearer the assignment dates.

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Presentation Times:

- Short talk: 3 minutes per presenter

- GOP: 4 minutes per presenter

- FIPD:

a) 5 minutes per presenter for the OP

b) 4 minutes of exposure time per speaker for the discussion

Attire for all presentations will be formal. Jackets are to be worn where stated.

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Disclaimer:

The information provided here merely acts as a backdrop to provide a real-life context for the ES2002 module’s communication scenario. It in no way intends to represent the actual situation taking place at Global Compact Network Singapore.

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