Refletive Journal 1

1. What are your general thoughts on the elective so far (good and bad) after hearing the opening address from Ms Yeo and Mr Corr and having particpated in one seminar so far.

I personally feel that this elective is refreshing as it expects us to go in depth when exploring the different cultures of the East and the West and hence, compare and contrast the styles and ideas in the East and West societies from different cultural viewpoints. It is interesting to note that this elective is taught by two teachers (1 from the East and 1 from the West). Perhaps this way of teaching might aid us in understanding the concerns and way of thinking of the East and West by providing us personal insights that are only known to people with first-hand experiences. The presence of these two teachers can also help to point out and explain the cause of the very real and exisitng sterotypes more easily.

I think the elective is going to be very enriching as it helps develop our young minds and give us a different perception of both East and West as we look beyond mere superficialities to see the reality, but I feel that we might lack some first hand experience of what students from the West think about the East and I could see that most personal opinions of what we think the West is thinking of the East are generally derived from perhaps rumuors or even controversies? Although Mr. Corr is already sharing with us his personal opinions but I think they would still be insufficient enough for us to interpret the true meanings of some ideas of the West at times but since this is only the start and more await me, I shall observe first before making a conclusion.

2. What are your feelings about life in the Google office? What would be the positives and negatives of working in such an environemnt?

Having read about the life in the Google office, I feel that the working life it provides for its workers is very effective in its own way, especially if in the Western societies. Why so?

In the Google office, one would perceive it as a 'paradise' from the variety of food to the facilities it provide. In addition to this, there is 2 main unqiue policies of its own: 1. The 20 percent plicy 2.Peer reviews. The image Google projects is that it is a place of freedom for innovation where transperency is a key aspect of the company with the belief that having more space and freedom will welcome innovations. This can also be related to our school's win-win situation where both sides benefit: Google providing incentives such as a environment compared to a paradies and the 2o per cent policy while expecting workers to produce high-quality innovations.

However, I have yet to address these words, "especially if in the Western societies". I personally feel that in the Western culture, people are more open and they love to given the freedom to research and innovate themselves. This probably can explain why Western companies can be seen proudly calling many products their own unique innovations such as microsoft. From my perspective, this can be boiled down to the style of education in Western countries. Western education emphasizes more on self-study, independent learning and researching, thus Western people are generally more used to having the freedom to do their own research.

In Eastern countries such as China, students are more used to taking down the exploding load of information being thrown at them and memorising them. They do not seem to have the desire to call something their own innovation and are not as open as Western people which also explains the censorship imposed on the people by China government, hence shutting out the freedom of speech which are generally the root of a great innovation. Hence, Google, an innovation machine, does not suit the style of the Eastern culture, which may explain the recent conflict between China and Google.

In conclusion, Google can have its own unique style of management but it might not suit all. Even though it emerges one of the leading giants of technology in today's world, it still cannot fit in nicely in China, a rapidly growing market, who is on its way to become one of the world's most influential countries.