During my internship back in Cityneon, we were tasked in the planning and set-up of the Singapore Paralympics 2016. I was placed under the production team alongside my fellow intern with two other full timers. As there were many different venues for the event, the venues were categorised into four different clusters based on its location. Each of us were delegated to be in charge of one cluster which consisted of about five to six venues. There was this specific venue, the OCBC arena, which had to be shared between my fellow intern and I due to its size. We decided to split up the workload and I was tasked to be in charge of the carpets and flooring while she was in charge of all the furniture.
Closer to the event, things were starting to get hectic and we initially planned for the flooring to be done on 15 February before the furniture could be brought in on 17 February. However, due to some scheduling issue, my fellow intern had to push forward the date for the furniture to be brought in. She notified me by sending a text message asking me to reschedule the flooring to be done earlier. However, I was really busy at that time and missed the message. She assumed that I got the message and failed to clarify with me in person even though I did not acknowledge the text message. We only found out on the day itself when the furniture arrived and the flooring was not done which caused major inconveniences for our contractors. I feel that it is both our fault but what could have been done better?
Ivan's Blog 
I believe that the message should be communicated through a call instead of a text as it was quite important. Furthermore, she should not have assume that you have gotten the message. She should have dropped you another text or even call you to make sure that you have gotten the message.
I believe that this problem could be solved if you guys have used the main group chat for the event or even talk to each other face to face.
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Hello Ivan!
In my opinion, I personally feel that it is both parties’ fault. I feel that that the intern should send another text for acknowledgment despite having no replies from you. She should also clarify with you if you have received her text instead of having her own assumptions that you have already read the texts on the reschedule.
However, you should take this as a learning experience as it also your responsibility to handle these. In the future, if such similar situations were to happen, do remember to constantly check your phone and emails despite your busy schedules.
I hope the feedback helps!
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Hi Ivan,
I feel that your fellow intern should have communicated such an important message to you through a call instead, or at least confirm that you have received her message before going through with her plan.
This situation could have probably been avoided if both of you communicated and planned well prior to the incident.
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Dear Ryan
The conflict is contextualized clearly and presented well. The clear communication concept at stake here is effective verbal communication. Secondly, your colleague also assumed that you would have seen the message. A call would have, as your peers say, done the trick. It is not mentioned whether you both were in constant touch about the event especially because your responsibilities had to be well coordinated. Could there have been a sort of negligence on your part? that is, were you keeping each other updated on the shared work space?
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