Management Internship Final Report

Management Internship Final Report

Abstract

Internships are a common and valuable way to learn and, add value to a student’s skill set and experience(s). Although a business degree provides historical information that is useful to recognize patterns and, what course of action to take in mitigating issues in the areas of operating and managing a business. Internships provide personal experience and, something more tangible than a book can illustrate. Every student’s experience is singular and, the experience is subjective based on the student’s perspective.  This paper is an attempt to document my internship experience which began as a total failure with the first company, and The latter, was a success.  I will discuss the nature of the business, the work environment,  my assignments, skills learned, strengths, and developmental needs. In addition, will also discuss developmental opportunities for managers and, the company.

Structure and Functions of the Organization

U RAWK ENERGY INC, located near Jackson Memorial Hospital in the business district of the “dominican republic neighborhood” at 1402 NW 23RD ST MIAMI, FL 33142. Isabel Gallego is the owner and,  struck me as an honest, hardworking, authentic person that had much to teach me. Throughout the course of the internship, I realized that she is talented at being deceitful with her aims, and limitations. Her product is organic raw and, paleo diet energy bars. Her bars are handmade by two-underpaid-immigrant-women who don’t speak English well but are nonetheless, hardworking and Isabel is preying on  this vulnerable demographic for profit. Ironically, the company donates money to the ASPCA to help animals. The ASPCA is a organization with noble causes like fighting animal abuse, and finding homes for unwanted pets. In the forefront, the company is marketed as a “healthy” and “we are good people and treat others well” product. In reality, they just sell a good product. In this internship, I mainly learned through observations from my direct supervisor, Yudi whom was the office manager after suddenly, quitting to accept a full time job offer with The Standard Hotel.  During Yudi’s service, I learned how to use quickbooks, filing, updating emails in mailchimp, shipping and receiving, email etiquette when communicating with clients, vendors, and partners. She also taught me what an effective leader does, her traits displayed matched what the course in leadership discussed.  I noticed that Yudi is an effective Leader and Manager. However, the owner of the Company, Isabel is a good business person but she lacks qualities that make for a good leader in supervising others. For instance, Yudi’s relationship with her subordinates extend outside of work, but at work she is both personal, funny and, productive and, her subordinates respond very well to this method of supervision myself included.

An area where this company can improve upon is the production process. For instance, instead of using human capital to create the bulk of the bars it should be on an automated-machine system. However, two people should remain on payroll as quality control. Since machines don’t always perform to our expectations, people must be employed to inspect quality of a final product. Due to her recent health issues, the owner, Isabel should also hire sales representatives to acquire new clients, there is so much that one person is able to accomplish. She should also, provide healthcare to workers that work more than two years within her company, she barely pays her staff a living wage.

On a positive note, I have learned what a business that is losing money looks like and, what a desperate owner does to keep it afloat even if it’s unethical. For instance, she exploits her workers by paying these women, who have been there for three years or more 10 dollars per hours, with no benefits and two days a week of work. This is not a living wage. The owner, was very upfront about her money problems she was doing airbnb and, she even suggested that I do the same for extra income since I told her that I was also having financial challenges just like herself. She never even gave me money for lunch, not that I expected it but I realized that no one is generally out there to help you. The business environment is more about exploiting human capital, talent, time and respect for financial rewards. When Yudi quit, I was not really learning anything and doing routine manual and clerical labor. The quality and relevance of this internship declined and, I  had to find a new internship that met the requirements of the course.

The second internship, Caraballo Locksmith is at 6791 SW 8 ST, Miami, FL 33144. The “the universe” found this internship for me, when I locked my keys inside my vehicle. The owner Antonio (Tony) and, office manager Rick Pizzi both had something valuable to teach me. Tony, a young owner, had a lot to teach me through observation his relationship with his employees is good and the work environment is healthy unlike the other internship that I had. I learned to draft and assemble material for training new hires, draft forms to reduce liability for the company, research for price, service and competitive edge in the market. I also did expected routine boring tasks like using quickbooks, answer emails, phone calls, inventory of items, and receive merchandise and, call staff to send them to customers. However, not all tasks were painful. For example, I loved learning through observation in creating web pages, and learning to pay sales taxes for the company. I also, enjoyed both researching and company meetings. I like being around people and learning, in these meetings everyone contributed their opinion or asked a question that sparked the whole group to change the direction of the initial goal. It truly felt like a team environment like a family. I really enjoyed working here, surprisingly despite the organization managed by men.

Developmental opportunities

At Urawk Internship,  I learned that several key points about myself. I refuse to work with high level of pressure for little reward.I can’t work in a highly ambiguous environment,  under unrealistic timelines for projects that often conflict with other projects within the same company. Also, I don’t take a company serious if their company culture is not strong something that is important and, discussed in the organizational behavior course. For instance, the children of the two workers in production are very distracting they would talk to me simultaneously, while I was working on specific projects. Also, the A/C was set high by the leaseholder to reduce the FPL bill but, I was working in a hot environment and this affects morale and productivity.  I don’t respond well in any environment where my time is not respected. I expect supervisors that work at large corporations and government type of environments to lie. However, I did not expect a small business owner to lie about their aims or lack of preparation in taking in an intern. Isabel made me believe that she had a lot to teach me, so I took my internship less serious and, she reported that I was not good at time management. In any case, I have a lot of commitment but sometimes you have to quit now. I should have resigned  the same day that my direct supervisor, Yudi had quit. In my next job or internship, I will take more proactive action in turning down environments that are not good for my professional development.

Also, I prefer routine at work, familiar, a healthy amount of boring, and prefer to work with a high level of autonomy and structure with little supervision. This probably explains why, I have worked for local government for the past fourteen years. Government work environments offer routine and, repeated tasks that don’t require much judgement unless in special circumstances.

Reflection on the internships

Learning Goals

The working conditions of Private Sector vs. Public environment

After many years working for public sector, I have forgotten what it’s like to work in the private sector. These two internships took place in private sector, small business environments both in different stages one where the business is failing (URAWK) and, the most recent where the business is growing and very profitable (Caraballo locksmith). In government, you have clearly defined roles, routine work, and authority does not care for your feedback at all. However, in a business environment your work is not so clearly defined more ambiguous because your employer wants to exploit you, your responsibilities are not routine, and your boss appreciates some feedback as long as it is relevant and, saves him or her money.

Enhance communication skills.

In the business field, communication changes depending on the audience receiving your message. You must play the role of an actor where you change your message depending on who is listening, and always try to look professional. In government fields, however, you stick to the facts and, although it may sound very emotionally detached, it’s the form of communication that is standard for government type of environments.

Take action now!

Sometimes the time is right now to take action. I learned that acting from a place of urgency causes one to be more effective with their time. I was so concerned with finding “the perfect government internship” that I failed to look for other internships that could teach me more, and also risked getting an F on this course. I will be more proactive in my next goals whether educational or employment.

Research methodologies.

In both internships, I had invested much time on research to improve business systems, methods, reduce time spent on projects, save the company money in a specific area, or compare how aggressive we are serving the market compared to other companies. The websites and resources that I have encountered and, the way that I compared data has been more effective, and faster than when I was doing it in school for a grade. It was actually something that I enjoy doing in the real world, and feels fun when it has a practical application.

My next step in my career goals are to continue going to school to pursue my master’s degree due to the high level of competition for jobs in desirable locations. I also intend to continue  working for the government until I am finished with school, and try to find a management type of role within my department. Furthermore, I am considering other options maybe specialized manager in a specific field of a technical nature such as finance, accounting, etc or moving to another state or country to find better opportunities, higher pay and quality of life.

References

David, F. R. (2013). Strategic management concepts: A competitive advantage approach. Boston: Pearson.

Gomez-Mejia, L. R., Balkin, D. B., & Cardy, R. L. (2012). Managing human resources. Boston: Pearson.

Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. (2015). Organizational behavior. Boston: Pearson.