Monday, January 5, 2009

Entry 2: Be a Manager



Entry 2: Be a Manager


Recently, i have attended a media event, which is an art exhibition held at the Singapore Arts Museum 8Q at 8 Queens Street.

The objective of this event to display the work of art of eight young contemporary Singaporean artists: Donna Ong, Tan Kai Syng, Jason Wee, :Phunk Studio, Jahan Loh, Grace Tan, Ahmad Abu Bakar and Chong Li-Chuan. This event is also held to attract more people to visit the Singapore Art Museum and to invite art into their lives.

Brieft Background of Event

The inaugural exhibition 8Q-Rate: School features eight young contemporary Singaporean artists: Donna Ong, Tan Kai Syng, Jason Wee, :Phunk Studio, Jahan Loh, Grace Tan, Ahmad Abu Bakar and Chong Li-Chuan. As the title implies, 8 curators worked with 8 artists, and they collectively explored on the theme of "school" in response to the site and location of 8Q which was once the Catholic High School. The artists each created exciting and sometimes unconventional new works for the exhibition including installations, new media, sound works, and street-inspired art. The event lasts from16 August 2008 to 9 January 2009 and is located at 8 Queen Street, next to the Singapore Art Museum.
The targeted audience of this event are ex-students of Catholic High School which was once located at 8Q, other contemporary artists, students who are interested in contemporary art as the theme “school” is relevant to them, tourists and lastly, people in general who are interested in graffiti art, new media, sound works and street-inspired art.
These targeted audiences get to know about the event through press release on The Straits Times, 8 Days magazine and on the Singapore Art Museum website itself under the ongoing exhibitions and events category.

The event was reported on The Straits Times on August 14, 2008 as well as in 8-days magazine under the events category. However, the event was not widely reported as the event was just written on a small corner of the 8-days magazine, not accompanied by any pictures and further description of the event. The short article in the magazine only states the name of the event, the artists, a short 3-sentence description of the event and other details such as time,location,dates of the event. The Straits Times article, on the other hand, is a detailed article on the event, which is a good print media coverage on their part.
However, I felt that the impact of the coverage was not great as the event did not attract its maximum number of visitors. Upon interviewing the receptionist at 8Q, he said that there were not many visitors who visits the exhibition after the opening day itself.

I feel that this event is not successful as a successful event would have a greater media coverage as well as popularity among the locals and tourists. Thus, if i were the manager overseeing this event, I would invite a Guest of Honour such as the Minister of Communication and the Arts to open the event. This would attract more media coverage as it is more newsworthy, and many newspapers and magazines would want to cover it. Other methods to attract visitors is to publicize the event to schools, on banners and posters at bus tops. Flyers of the events can also be sent to schools to give out to their students. I would also invite students such as Temesek Polytechnic Design School's students to attend the event. This would benefit both the event and the students.


Pictures of the event:






Scans of 8-days Magazine, The Straits Times article and Press Release on Singapore Arts Museum website.







































Thursday, November 27, 2008

Interview with a manager

Recently, I met up with one of my good friend's mother to get to know a little more about being a manager and the responsibility she has to face everyday at work. Being the HR Director at the Sentosa Leisure Group, Cynthia Lee, 49, manages not only the managers working the company, but also all employees working in human resource.


Her main job responsibilities are,


  • Achieve oragnisation’s vision by deploying manpower resources to achieve optimal output.

  • Facilitate the company being an employer of choice by engaging and cultivating its employees.

  • Achieve business objectives

  • Recruitment and selection of staff

  • Staff welfare

  • Learning and development

  • Talent management

  • Employee relations

  • Performance management

  • Payroll administration

After a moment of silence and deep thought, Cynthia said: “I take a very collaborative style of management towards my subordinates and employees while having the authority as the HR director. I also adopt a joint responsibility with the other line managers to manage manpower.”


Cynthia's management style is both classical and human relations. She believes that selecting the right people for the right job is very important for maximum effectiveness. Having equal importance to that, would be the setting of a set of standards and guild lines to achieve company’s visions. Cynthia emphasized strongly on practicing equality and fairness to all employees, and that favoritism should be avoided at all expense.


Cynthia also believes that motivation is an important factor for all employees. Needless to say that economic incentives are one of them, but it could also be in the form of small actions such as buying afternoon snacks or lunch treats to show care and concern for the employees' needs. This was one of the many incentives that Cynthia practices to motivate her employees. Furthermore, she believes that interpersonal relations between workers and managers must be stressed as employee’s participation is important to organisation’s growth. “After all the hard work put in by the staff, they truly deserve some sort of incentives to tell them to keep up the good work. That is why sometimes when I pass by a bakery shop during lunch, I would da-pao ( take away) a few mini cakes and croissants for the staff to snack on.” Said Cynthia.


When asked what were some of the difficulties she faces in her daily job, Cynthia said: “Getting staff and line managers’ understanding and buying in of company’s visions are one of the most difficult task I have to face. Especially during meetings, where disagreements might arise among the management.” Other difficulties faced by Cynthia are as followed. Creating a culture of trust, openness and fairness, and last but not least, having to automate routine processes with the limited budgets and resources.


To overcome all these difficulties and obstacles, Cynthia adopts a consultative and collaborative style of management, where she often consults and work together with the other line managers to solve crisis and difficulties faced. Before implementing processes, it is also good to identify critical areas, solicit managers’ opinions and input to ensure minimal disagreements. To overcome the difficulty of creating a culture of openness and fairness, Cynthia practices fair and progressive disciplinary approach when staffs do not meet performance requirements.


Last but not least, when asked for her opinion on what makes a good manager, Cynthia replies with utmost confidence: “A good manager is someone who has strong managerial competence, a good role model, and has the ability to lead others. Not forgetting to embrace and support one's company culture.” Other few characteristics are as followed,

  • Self leadership, motivation and initiative

  • Strong logical thinking and decision making skills

  • One with acts with a sense of urgency

  • As well as values; (STAR)
    - S ervice orientation
    T eamwork
    A cting with integrity
    R esults orientation

Cynthia Lee and her oldest son.