I have started my Industry Placement with Suntel (Pvt) Ltd. on the 15th November 2009. It is the first step of my future career and hence become one of the most precious experiences in my student life.
Partial List of Industry Experience
Aerospace &Defence
Banking
Business Services
Construction
General Contractors
Consumer Products Manufacturers
Consumer Services
Customer Relationship Management
Education
Energy & Utilities
Financial Services
Government Contracting
Insurance
Leisure
Logistics
Marketing, Public Relations, Graphic Design
Metals
Real Estate
Remediation Services
Renewable Energy
Retail
Staffing Services
Telecommunications
Transportation
Travel & Hospitality
Information Technology
Job Tasks for: "Telephone Operator"
Interrupt busy lines if an emergency warrants.
Keep records of calls placed and received, and of related toll charges.
Listen to customer requests, referring to alphabetical or geographical directories to answer questions and provide telephone information.
Monitor automated systems for placing collect calls and intervene for a callers needing assistance.
Observe signal lights on switchboards, and dial or press buttons to make connections.
Offer special assistance to persons such as those who are unable to dial or who are in emergency situations.
Operate telephone switchboards and systems to advance and complete connections, including those for local, long distance, pay telephone, mobile, person-to-person, and emergency calls.
Provide relay service for hearing-impaired users.
Set up conference calls in different locations and time zones.
Suggest and check alternate spellings, locations, and/or listing formats to customers lacking details or complete information.
Calculate and quote charges for services such as long-distance connections.
Consult charts to determine charges for pay-telephone calls, requesting coin deposits for calls as necessary.
Operate paging systems or other systems of bells or buzzers to notify recipients of incoming calls.
Promote company products, services, and savings plans when appropriate.
Provide assistance for customers with special billing requests.
Record messages to be used on telephone systems.
Update directory information.
Insert tickets in calculagraphs (time-stamping devices) to record times of toll calls.
Perform clerical duties such as typing, proofreading, and sorting mail.
1.2 How the industrial experience would contribute to the management report
Industrial experience describes the outcomes (positive or negative) of evaluating different technologies, ideas or methods in an industrial setting, as well as the lessons learned. The main emphasis of this should be a setting, challenges, events and lessons learned. The aim of management report will be to define how the marketing services are incorporated thorough the internal and external environment. In most of the marketing firms the basic concept is associated with the experience and success of the organization. An analysis of the internal environment as well as an understanding of how the firms are building relationships to clients through the service sector will contribute to the overall report. Suntel Octane Additives business is the world's only producer of tetra ethyl lead (TEL) which is one of the three distinct business areas of the Suntel. Suntel offered this placement for the purpose of seeking assistance and support from students to achieve environmental and production performance improvement. The major works and studies of the placement were carried out as part of Octane Additive team. This placement provides benefits for both suntel Octane Additives and me and both parties achieved satisfaction. All my performances have brought benefits to Octane Additives. My efforts and contributions were always recognized and appreciated. Meanwhile, through this placement I have gained invaluable work experiences. The placement has provided me an opportunity to demonstrate the ability to plan ahead and keep to deadlines. The knowledge, skills and experiences that I have acquired enabled me to be one step closer to meet the requirements of the training and experience standard, which would eventually lead me to obtain a chartered status and Corporate Membership of IChemE.
Therefore Industrial placement is valuable way to gain experience and enhance employability. The placement has brought a great opportunity for me to develop my technical skills in various aspects that I can use within my studies. Such as computer literacy knowledge and skills including Microsoft office 2007, Visual Basic and Java and communication skills. It also gains a better understanding of the theory what I have been taught and an opportunity to apply the knowledge I have gained. It improved my team spirit and my attitudes. Even now they are very useful in my day-to-day life.
Section 2
2.1 Aims, objectives and targets of the management report
The aims of management report are to define how the marketing services are incorporated through the firms.
The objectives of management report are,
To organize the internal environment to assist with change management.
The ability of internal environment to provide consistency in services.
To interact customers and improve the relationships with the marketing industry.
The target of the management report is to define a deeper understanding of how the organization is able to create a deeper association in the internal and external environment. Reponses from the customers are very useful to set the targets. Obviously surviving in industry isn't all about gaining good technical knowledge, as I indicated the continuous development of personal skills have also appeared to be vital for me to progress in the competitive work environment. Such as team spirit, communication skills and attitudes.
• Communication skills
Communication skills do not refer only for the way in which people communicate with each other, it includes many other things. Working in industry has provided a great opportunity for improving my communication skills with different people who work in different departments including Engineering, Environment, Accounts, and Planning. The placement work and projects have involved a number f business sectors which have enabled me to build an insight into how the company operates as well as improving communication skills. The communication skills gained throughout the placement at Suntel Octane Additives will be useful for my future career because good communication skills help to develop relationship along good lines and disagreements are kept to a minimum.
A more regular contact was maintained between me and the Suntel Octane Additives Engineering Department where personnel include the roles listed as following, Process Engineers, Plant Engineers, Process Technician, Operators, Day Co-operators, Shift Team Leader, Logistics Co-operator and Instrument Specialists. It was great opportunity for me to communicate with staff from different academic backgrounds, the ability to adapt to their working environment and to identify the roles that were being communicated. Most of the time it helps to find instant solutions for problems. For example an operator will not understand the engineering side of a problem but may be able to give the reason why a problem is occurring without any calculations but with their common sense and many years of experience. This not only made work more efficient but was also very important in understanding the full picture of the company operations and it is required in each and every aspect of my life.
2.2 Benefits of the aims, objectives and targets to the organization and for me as a learner.
The aims, objectives and targets of the management report for an organization helps me to get a good understanding of how the different organizations are building their success because aims define how the marketing services are incorporated through the top firms; the objectives define how the internal environment organized and back ground of the customers which will affect to the marketing industry and the target define how the organization is able to create good association in the internal and external environment. An effective communication gives a huge advantage in today's world. Through experience I learnt the effective and efficient ways to communicate with people. Such as holding meetings, Short message system, e-mail, fax, video conference and telephone discussion.
In an organization time is very important therefore there should be a communication process which dose not wastes time. The heart of the organization is decision making for that meetings are very effective communication tool. Trying to solve problems face to face allows more chance of the problem being discussed deeply and a solution found. The next best method of communication is telephone calls. Fax also enables to communicate much faster but it is not effective tool in communication but it is useful when communicate externally. It saves money and time. E-mails would be the least reliable way of communication as they are not always replied punctually and are sometimes forgotten after reading. However E-mails can be very effective at sharing information as it can be directly saved to the company drives for further use.
Video conferencing is very effective communication because it allows transmitting pictures as well as voices. When discussing major problems and progression a meeting is considered to be the best form of communication. This allows all the people who are involved in the problem solving process to have an organized discussion and decide on a progression path. Meetings are good for sharing information that needs input from other people.
Section 3
3.1 Monitoring and evaluating progress in achieving aims, objectives and targets
To monitor and evaluate progress in achieving aims, objectives and targets a progression of results from different sources will be needed. First of all it has to identify the business model which is used in the internal environment and the way it affect to the organization. The model of the organization is associated with the structure and the culture of the organization. Then by looking at the history and the progression of the organization the positive elements can be defined and some other activities can be taken to evaluate and monitor the development of the organization. The internal environment can be monitored by evaluating the external environment, consumers and responses.
To monitor and evaluate the progress of the business, a technique such as SWOT analysis can be used. This technique can use to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the organization and it helps to analyze both internal and external environment. Evaluation of the progression also can be done by monitoring the overall growth of the company through yearly profit and loss, revenue and the demand of the consumer.
• Organization
Working in industry has given me an excellent opportunity to become more organized and punctual. It makes my life easier. Before working in industry, tasks were always tended to be left until the last minute because there was no good schedule. In the industry I have trained how to work systematically which enables me to bring particular task skills into play at the appropriate time in the process.
In order to survive in an industry first it has learn to organize myself to different tasks and priorities. It is an essential ability. If the task which has been working on comes to a halt it would be immediately noticed and ways of solving it would be sought by all means. Keeping a work diary on Microsoft Outlook of all the tasks and jobs that needed to be completed has become a habit throughout the placement year. For example I would write down which people I would need to see for information and what information needed to be collected. This helped me to become more proficient in my job. I also kept a word document of mini projects that I had been working on and this helped me to schedule future jobs and to know what had been done. A small task done a while ago is easily lost in a folder and forgotten about so a note of the findings is very important for quick reference.
As well as organizing my own work I learnt to organize other people. During my placement I organized numerous meetings ranging from with colleagues to the meetings with my academic tutor. Careful preparation was given to these meetings to make sure all the goals had been met.
• Team Work
Normally in working as a team is very difficult task but Suntel Octane Additives trained me to develop my team spirit. Team members react to given task on different levels but to achieve one goal. Everybody has his or her own ideas of where to go because people differ widely in the time scales they operate with. Therefore it is helpful to have a systematic approach because one task is being done by more than one individual with different skills. My work within the team needed active and direct involvement with other people. In Suntel Octane Additives I worked with a staff from different specialised fields. Whenever problems arose, the team acted promptly as a whole to troubleshoot the problems. Through effective and harmonic team work is always beneficial for organization because it increases flexibility and speed of the work.
Time Management
Time management refers to a range of skills, tools and techniques used to manage time when accomplishing specific task and goal.Time management was a key skill that underwent major development throughout the whole duration of the internship. I had to manage plant work as well as office work. The distance learning module that I had to take has interacted with my working time to a great extent. The improved time management skills ensured that I constantly met the standards set by the School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science. The year was mainly focused on balancing the university work and prioritisation of the Octane Additives work.
3.2 Evaluating progress against original aims, objectives and targets
The progress with the original aims and objectives has to be achieved throughout different models. This placement offered by Suntel Octane Additives served as an effective application of the knowledge and skills I studied and I gained a vast knowledge of my job task and related areas. The placement was a test and challenge of my ability to survive in the competitive industry firms and it helps me to consider career prospects and areas of interest.
Conclusion
During my placement I gained a good knowledge on how to manage my day to day activities. As a part of day today life I learnt how to make correct decisions at correct time because it can change our life. The success or failure of any event depends on that.
The evaluation activity is concerned with transforming the information gathered during the monitoring activity from raw information into a set of assessments of the extent to which the programme has met its objectives. This activity is undertaken not only to see if the project has worked after it has finished, but also to provide ongoing feedback throughout the implementation process in order to improve the quality of the programmed as it proceeds.
Evaluation may be a highly technical process for which expert help may be needed, but in its simplest form it involves comparing information that has been collected about the performance of the programme against the original aims, objectives and targets of the programme.
For a simple evaluation, you will need the aims and objectives for each of the activities that have been undertaken as part of the MHP programme. These should have been expressed as in terms that can be measured. You will also need to take account of any specific targets that have been set as part of the programme. These should then be compared to the monitoring data that has been collected. Some limited data analysis may be required (e.g. the calculations of frequencies and percentages), but no special skills are required for this level of analysis. This form of evaluation generally answers questions about the numbers taking part in the programme, their level of satisfaction with it and how the programme might be improved.
For a more complex evaluation, expert assistance may be needed, especially if it is intended to publish the evaluation as a scientific study. Generally, such evaluations aim to answer questions concerning the causation of effects or the efficiency of the interventions made. Complex statistical analysis is needed to adequately address these questions.
REFFRENCE
Manchester Latin American students, Industrial development and labour, (1981), Manchester university press.
K.V.Joseph, culture and industrial development, (2004), Anmol publications PVT.LTD
B.Joseph pine ll, James H, The experience economy (1999).
