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Posts tagged mindset
It is closed
Apr 15th
Staying at a mainland hotel can be quite interesting. Here are two episodes I experienced recently:
1. Coffee Cup
After lunch at the hotel’s (rather empty) western restaurant, I ordered a coffee. It was served in 5 minutes but the coffee cup was stained (as in not cleaned properly) along the rim of the cup as well as the sides.
So, I signalled the waitress and informed her of the situation and asked for the cup to be replaced.
Another 5 minutes later, the waitress came back to me with what I thought was a replaced cup of coffee. Much to my amazement, the cup was still stained and didn’t look like anything was changed.
Puzzled, I looked at the cup for a moment and then, thought to myself, “Hmm.. which part of my description of the problem and which part of my request that they change the cup did they not understand?”
So, in order that I can get to drink my coffee sooner, I brought the cup with its content to the restaurant drinks counter where they prepared the coffee. I pointed out, in Putonghua and I am native to Putoghua, that I would like the cup changed as it was dirty.
The response I received was this:
The waiter went to the stack of cups on the shelf, looked at every cup there, and mumbled to himself, “They are all like that…”
An onlooking waitress suggested to him, “Why don’t get the cup from the sanitising machine?”
The waiter did so, poured my coffee into the “clean” cup and placed it in front of me.
I looked at the cup. And I think the cup looked at me. It is still as dirty as before. I returned to my table, took out a piece of tissue paper and wiped off the stain myself.
It took more than 20 minutes to have this little problem resolved. I should have just cleaned the cup myself in the first place.
2. Fitness Centre
I had some time after work one day and had wanted to go to the hotel fitness centre to get some exercise. I changed into my exercise gear, put on my shoes, grabbed my towel and headed for where the fitness centre was supposedly located (as indicated in the hotel directory and keycard envelope).
When I got there, I found myself in a billiard room filled with people and shrouded in smoke. I didn’t see anyone exercising except for some who were “exercising” their arms with the billiard cue. I asked around and no one knew where the fitness centre was located.
So, I strutted to the hotel front office reception and asked for directions. The receptionist gave me the directions and I promptly thanked her for her help and off I went to get myself an exercise.
When I arrived where the fitness centre was supposed to be, it was locked and it complete darkness. I thought it strange because the hotel directory stated that it closed only at 11pm and the time then was only 9pm.
So, I walked back to the hotel reception, walked up to the same receptionist who gave me the directions, and asked if someone could open up the fitness centre as I would like to use it.
She replied, “Oh, it is already closed for the day. It is not operated by the hotel but it is outsourced to a private company to run.”
At that moment, many thoughts raced through my mind, many of which are not flattering.
Why did she not tell me in the first instance that the fitness centre was already closed? Why did she have to direct me to the centre just so that I will find it closed and then waste the time coming back to her just for her to tell me that it is closed?? I doubt I will find satisfactory answers to these questions anytime soon.
Saving face
Feb 15th
“Saving face” is important for many people, especially in the Asian context. While some of our behaviour are motivated by our need to look good in the eyes of others, it is helpful to understand that such a need stems from our self-esteem (or the lack of it).
Many students are not accustomed to asking questions in the classroom because they want to avoid asking,”stupid questions” or “questions that will waste everybody’s time.” But who is the judge of the “quality” of those questions?
If we consider the word “self-esteem,” it actually means the way we judge ourselves to be good or bad at something. In other words, self-esteem is our opinion of ourselves, or so it should be. However, the problem is that too many of us judge ourselves by how we think others judge us. For example, if my boss said that I did an excellent job, I feel good about myself and my self-esteem goes up; If I am kicked out of school because of poor results my teachers said that I will not accomplish anything in life, my self-esteem may go down and I may think that I am good for nothing.
And guess what? Whatever you choose to accept, it becomes true for you.
Simply put, if you often feel a need to “save face,” the opinion of others has become more important than your own opinion of yourself. And you are responsible to yourself for this.
Think about this: If you walked into a room to give speech to an audience of 100 people, you can be quite sure that there will be 100 different opinions of you at the end of your presentation. So, which one will affect your self-esteem? Which one should you choose?
The answer is simple and profound: Your own. The fact is that you can never please everyone. Yet, you should always treat the 100 opinions as feedback for doing better next time.
If you have done courses in business, psychology or organizational theory, you would have been introduced to the theory “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.” According to Maslow, the highest human need is to be self-actualized. He went on to say that a fully self-actualized person is one who is independent of the good opinions of others.
So, the next time you feel a need to “save face,” think about why that is necessary. Choose the course of action through which you will learn and become a better person in your own opinion instead of one that will save you face but does not help you at all.
Remember: If you are not getting better, you are getting worse.
China: Putting an end to cheating
Jan 22nd
An interesting news I read yesterday on a Singapore newspaper TODAY. While measures can be put in place to control the cheating in such public examinations, mindsets must be changed with foremost priority. Indeed, very good questions were asked by the media in China:
“if those aspiring to be civil servants do not even possess basic integrity, how can they hope to be leading examples of the community, let alone ensure social harmony and national development?”
“Many of these candidates will assume leadership positions … Will they abuse their powers for personal gain? Will they be corrupt?”
At this moment, the answer is a resounding “Yes!”
The integrity of a person is not he/she does when everybody is watching but what he/she chooses to do when NOBODY is watching.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this issue.
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PUTTING AN END TO CHEATING
Wednesday January 21, 2009
Methods may have changed, but not the desire to get ahead
MARIA SIOW
East asia bureau chief
TODAY
IN THE past, candidates for the Chinese imperial examinations would cheat by slipping tiny bits of paper with answers written on them into the examination venue.
Last November, some candidates sitting for the annual civil service examinations resorted to using neatly disguised wireless transmitters. Some wore micro ear plugs to receive radio broadcasts during the nationwide examinations. Others found proxies to take the tests.
The highly-competitive nature of examinations is hardly in doubt. Over 775,000 vied for 13,500 civil service jobs – or 59 contenders for every position.
Three hundred candidates were caught in the examination halls, while over 700 have “shared much conformity” in their examination scripts, said the State Administration for Civil Service, adding that cheating was done through a distinct “division of labour”.
A group would scan the answers using discreet devices such as “high-tech buttons and pens”. Another group would compile the answers, while others would transmit them. The administration said some of the cheating devices, such as surgically implanted ear plugs, were impossible to detect.
The offenders, mainly from Beijing and Liaoning, were disqualified and barred from local and central civil service examinations for five years.
While the methods of cheating may have changed, the desire to get ahead hasn’t.
In ancient times, it was the promise of prestige and higher social status for the successful candidate and his family. Now, even though a job with the government is not the sort of iron rice bowl it once was under Maoist China, it is still seen as a relatively stable one.
But unlike the old days, the response to last week’s cheatings can only be described as explosive.
A Xinhua news agency commentary noted that “if those aspiring to be civil servants do not even possess basic integrity, how can they hope to be leading examples of the community, let alone ensure social harmony and national development?”
A Guangzhou Daily editorial questioned: “Many of these candidates will assume leadership positions … Will they abuse their powers for personal gain? Will they be corrupt?”
Some candidates found guilty of cheating claimed they were wrongly accused. Over 20 candidates from eight provinces hired lawyers to look into their cases. But the authorities argued that the results of cheating were “rigorously and scientifically assessed”.
So, why the uproar given that cheating is common in a country where pressure to pass competitive college entrance examinations is intense?
Part of the anger has to do with the record number of offenders. The more than 1,000 found guilty was a five-fold increase from 2005 where 360,000 candidates sat for the examinations. But the main reason for the uproar stems from growing public scrutiny on the quality of public officials and governance.
The current Chinese leadership has often stressed on the importance of being people-centred by improving public service performance, and institutionalising management and accountability structures.
The leadership has also popularised an expression which it said public officials should be mindful of: “Listen to public opinion, think of the public’s distress, worry about the public’s worries, think about what the public is thinking, help the public when they are in need, and solve the public’s difficulties.”
Which is why efforts have been made to do just that, whether it is in encouraging the public to call up their public officials, such as in Kunming, or inviting the public to evaluate public servants’ performance, such as in Changsha.
Clearly, in a country where there are no avenues for the ordinary citizen to put public officials in and out of office, a quick and transparent response to a major public outcry is crucial to maintaining social harmony.
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