A Career in Business - Essay Example

?A career in Business My placement as an assistant manager has been essential in my career life, my ability to adapt to the changing world and my social skills. Being a bachelor of business administration with a bias in marketing, my theoretic skills were expanded by practical experience I obtained from my placement in Suzhou Aikefu Electronics Co., Ltd. The international trade that is essential for the growth of  Suzhou Aikefu Electronics Co., Ltd has assisted me in my capability to be tolerant to diverse cultures and understand the effect of different cultural backgrounds in business. Further, the placement has assisted me in developing a number of life skills that include communication skills, interaction skills, and information technology (IT) skills. By working in  Suzhou Aikefu Electronics Co., Ltd, I managed to get valuable experience that is essential for my future job searches and my experience in work places. Evaluation of negotiated learning agreement The organization that I served under placement was  Suzhou Aikefu Electronics Co., Ltd company. The organization is extremely busy serving an array of different categories of customers and so learning was somehow difficult especially in financial department, information systems department and marketing department. In order to get the much required skills in different business related subjects, I had to undertake a negotiated learning initiative. Negotiated learning can be defined as the process in which the instructor or the employer allows the student to propose a structure that fits him or her in all elements of the process of learning that involves instruction, content, evaluation and assessment. In some cases, it may involve logistics elements such as transportation. The outcome of my negotiated learning can be equated as excellent or I can grant it an academic grade of A. After understanding that the organization had much work and it would be difficult for me to study by myself, I negotiated with my employee on how I was to handle the placement especially on matter involving learning new practical skills. The areas that I emphasized during the negotiations are instruction while working, assessment and evaluation. As such, I was assigned to staff in each department to take me through a number of practical aspects in international trade. The major departments that I concentrated on are marketing, customer care, information technology and financial departments. The assigned staff was also responsible for my assessments. However, the placement time for instructions and assessment had to differ from the original fixed plan of one hour for each department to flexible time frame because of the busy schedule. For instance, there were cases where instruction took only 20 minutes especially during week days , but during weekends, the instruction would take 2 hours. Other changes that took place involved a shift from the original plan where assessment was to be conducted in form of writing to simple verbal assessment in order to evaluate the newly acquired skills (Wolff,1999,p.71). Although there were some reservations among workers who had been assigned to instruct and evaluate me, my good communication skills , my ability to engage in positive discussion and my willingness to obey orders even when performing the tasks that were not in my placement plan enabled me to create positive relationship with my co workers. As such, my co workers were willing to assist me in attaining my placement goals (Wolff,1999,p.79). Evaluation of work-Based learning My placement was based in an aluminum processing company,  Suzhou Aikefu Electronics Co., Ltd.  Suzhou Aikefu Electronics Co., Ltd is one of the largest aluminum processing companies in china. It employs hundreds of employees from different parts of the world.  Suzhou Aikefu Electronics Co., Ltd engages in precision machining, CNC lathes, die casting machines, Zeiss CMM, special equipment and supporting test equipment. The organization has a centralized managerial structure although it has several branches around the world. The headquarter of Suzhou Aikefu Electronics Co., Ltd is in shangai, China. The main department of  Suzhou Aikefu Electronics Co., Ltd are the administration department, marketing department, financial department, procurement and logistic , information and communication systems, and operational department. The administrative department is headed by the chief executive officer while other departments are headed by departmental heads. The departmental heads or managers coordinate and supervise the activities of each department and report to the administrative department. The CEO and the board of directors make and ratify major decisions in the company. Being an engineering based company, the key personnel are the engineers, marketers and financial staff (Scruggs & Mastropieri,2005,p. 92). The organization has an integrated information and communication system where the control and custody of information system is under information and communication systems department. The aim of integrated information system is to ensure that the flow of information is well controlled to avoid leakage of essential and sensitive information to third parties (Longson,p.88).  Suzhou Aikefu Electronics Co., Ltd Company has a global presence hence a large customer and market niche. Between 2007 and 2010, the global economy was undergoing numerous challenges as a result of financial crisis and so the general business and economic environment was hostile for aluminum casting industries and other businesses. However, the economy is under recovery phase and businesses have started to record good profits. The global economy is currently conducive for automobile and other aluminum based industries thus presenting  Suzhou Aikefu Electronics Co., Ltd with positive prospects for tremendous growth. Currently,  Suzhou Aikefu Electronics Co., Ltd is facing stiff competition from the numerous aluminum processing companies that have started to emerge. For example, there are several aluminum processing companies that are emerging from China whose products are cheap hence presenting Suzhou Aikefu Electronics Co., Ltd with stiff competition. Suzhou Aikefu Electronics Co., Ltd culture is to develop, sell and build the world’s excellent aliminium cast and precision instruments. The organization values agility, simplicity and its belief in action oriented processes. Every member of the team is required to be accountable and result oriented. Generally, the organization culture is mainly about creating excellence and it is the responsibility of the team members to ensure that they contribute to organizational success (Scruggs & Mastropieri,2005,p. 92). The future of General motor is hinged on its ability to achieve the set goals. The main goals are to take risk and move fast to attain sustainable success, be a leader in quality and advanced technologies in developing the world’s aluminum products, offer employees authority and responsibility thus making them accountable in their actions and decisions, and create a lasting and positive relationship with communities, dealers, customers, suppliers and union partners. By achieving its goals, the organization will have a future of developing hi-tech products (Harvard Business Review ,2010). Work based learning has been essential in my quest to gain practical skills and experience needed in real job market. During my placement, I worked as an assistant manager and marketer. As an administration assistant, I assisted the administration departments in a number of administrative duties that included human resource management, organization and clerical functions. As a marketer, I assisted in developing marketing plan, marketing research and in some cases, developing sales plan. While under the placement, I worked in conjunction with information and communication technology departments to develop solutions for marketing and administrative functions. While under work based learning, I understood that maintaining organization culture was an essential aspect in ensuring organization growth, strong hold of the market niche, penetrating new markets and ensuring that the goals of the organizations are upheld. Further, employer-employee relationship is a key element in ensuring personnel satisfaction and productivity. For any firm to grow, it should invest in people to ensure continuity in productivity and development of new products. One way of ensuring this is achieved is through work based learning. When new staff and interns join an organization, the administration should ensure apt plans and strategies that enhance instruction and assessment are adhered to .In my opinion, the work based learning from Suzhou Aikefu Electronics Co., Ltd was of high quality and was of great benefit to my goals of acquiring appropriate skills and experience to handle challenges in work places. Basing on the bridges model (from school-work place model), placement or work based learning is useful in developing learner’s career in order to face the challenges and reality of work place environment. Basing on this model, one can acquire appropriate skills by attending industrial attachment compared to one who seeks employment directly after completing his or her course. By developing a strong partnership between the student and the placement organization, a learner will easily learn several issues that are not taught in school and he or she can apply them in the outside world to enhance his or her chance of getting good employment opportunity. My placement assisted me to value my business career and came to appreciate that business administration and marketing are essential aspects of any organization no matter what type of activities it undertakes. In my personal opinion,  Suzhou Aikefu Electronics Co., Ltd offers the best placement opportunity because of its culture for continuous growth, its well coordinated information and communication system that is integrated in nature and tightly controlled by the information and communication system. Further and in line with the contemporary rise in the application of information and communication technology, I learned how to use information technology to develop marketing solutions for different marketing niche hence equipping me with appropriate skills to handle any job in my field of study. My performance under placement Although I faced several challenges in my placement, my work based learning was good. Before engaging in serious work, I had to create a good relationship with the workers who were instructing me in order to create a positive learning environment. As such, I managed to learn an array of issues that I was supposed to handle while at work place, what to avoid and how to embrace the ever changing work environment. Further, I managed to cope with the working environment by embracing team work in any work and remaining obedient to my superiors and instructors. During my placement I managed to identify my strengths and areas of weakness. My strength includes ability to participate in team work and provide ideas that I felt would be of great assistance to the team. Most of my inputs in team work were approved and in some cases praised as being objective and beneficial. I have good communication and socialization skills that enabled me to communicate well with my work mates without any conflicts, I was tolerant to different cultures given the fact that the organization has workers from different ethnic groups and cultural settings, and managed to communicate several issues that were well understood by customers during the sales process. My weaknesses entailed being easily intimidated because I was still a student and needed assistant from the superiors. As such, I conducted some duties that were outside the scope of my placement. For instances, I accepted to act as a messenger in cases where messengers were unavailable and kept quiet about it. Further, I used to fear making and implementing my work decisions and had to consult my superior first. This hampered my ability of being an independent minded worker. Although I am a first learner, it took me some time to master a number of information technology applications related to marketing, which clearly indicate that I need to emphasize on the application of information and communication technology in business and marketing practices (Lees, J. 2005,p.46). In my opinion, my association with other workers was positive. Being an understanding and tolerant person, I managed to work and associate with others no matter how different our values and attitudes were. Further, I am not easily annoyed and so I withstood several instances where some staff members tried to intimidate or annoy me. My association with others can be concluded to be excellent. There are several ethical dilemmas that I faced while under my placement. One of the ethical issues was how to relate and take instructions from those who were supervising me but were going against the value of the organization. One of the requirements of the organization is responsibility among members of the team but in some cases, some staff acted in an irresponsible manner and in some cases forced me to undertake their responsibilities. For example, I used to be assigned most of the work when developing marketing plans while some staff absconded their responsibility. This was an ethical challenge as I did not know whether to report the matter or leave it. Discrimination is also an ethical dilemma that I faced in the business as some supervisors were segregating workers in terms of ethnic background and gender affiliation. In most cases, women and minority ethnic groups were segregated in promotions and employment and were given low status jobs despite their qualification. Although this did not affect me directly, it affected my conscience as I felt that it was wrong and against the company’s values. There were few cases of corruption where some employees colluded with customers to sell some products without the approval of the company, resulting in loss of sales. I was in a dilemma to report this matter because one of my supervisors was engaging in the act. Career direction The placement has played a key role in shaping my career in business and marketing. Having a Bachelors degree in administration with a bias in marketing, my theoretical skills have been made valuable by the practical experience I obtained from Suzhou Aikefu Electronics Co., Ltd Company. Through placement, I have developed a positive attitude towards job seeking process as I am assured that there are high chances of one getting a job after undergoing industrial internship. Further, by associating with employees in  Suzhou Aikefu Electronics Co., Ltd, I have learned several ways of which one can search for jobs which include social networking and developing an objective resume. The placement has raised my self esteem because at the moment, I feel I have positive future in large organizations. The main occupation skills that I have gained while under placement in  Suzhou Aikefu Electronics Co., Ltd are sales skills, marketing skills, book keeping skills, administrative and computer skills. The marketing skills that I have acquired include preparing marketing plan in a highly competitive environment, developing marketing strategies in a cultural diverse environment, and using information technology to practically develop superb promotional tactics for products. Sales skills involve using soothing language when executing sales and being acquainted with enough information before selling any product. Book keeping skills involve recording of accounting information in the department that I am operating in. Administrative skills involve leadership and managerial skills in teams that I head. Computer skills involve use of industrial or workplace based software and application in executing the functions of the departments and the organization. The placement has assisted me in gaining several contacts both with the employees of Suzhou Aikefu Electronics Co., Ltd and its customers. This is essential as it will assist me when seeking for jobs. I believe that the social network that I have developed will be useful in my search for business job. From my experience and research,  Suzhou Aikefu Electronics Co., Ltd is a good employer. It values highly creative, skilled and experienced people during its recruitment. Further, its recruitment is fair and competitive thus highly qualified individuals get employed. In my opinion,I believe I will get employment if I applied for one in  Suzhou Aikefu Electronics Co., Ltd because I have worked with them and gained experienced with the company, have developed a positive relationship with both the management and the employees, I have the right qualification that is highly regarded by company especially the marketing department, and I am creative because I can make ideas that are beneficial to the organization ( Houghton, 2006,p.136). My performance in key skills Communication skills have been one of the skills that I have been seeking to uphold and improve. Through good communication skills, I managed to develop good relationship with my co workers and the managerial team. My good communication skills assisted me in negotiating the learning agreement. Further, my success in team work can be attributed to good communication skills that assisted me in avoiding conflicts with my fellow workers and being tolerant to people whose values and cultures are different from mine (Bolles,2007.p33).Before my placement with  Suzhou Aikefu Electronics Co., Ltd, I had problems with working in groups because of my shy personality, however team work in the company enabled me to master enough courage to face challenges in team work. My enhanced teamwork skills assisted me in making positive contributions in my team and in some cases offering leadership in situations where there was none. Further, I developed problem solving capabilities which assisted me in mastering and executing problem solving techniques such as mediation whenever there was a conflict. Being a fast learner, I managed to learn many workplace and business aspects that I can apply in real employment. I learnt the importance of information and communication technology in ensuring safety of information, coordinating different production and marketing activities and communicating with customer. Further, I learnt that through professionalism and responsibility, one can raise in employment status to the highest level. The number skills is essential in developing marketing plan as it is used to analyze the number of customers, percentage of increased or decreased sales and other statistical issues that are essential when developing marketing strategies. The key skills that I learned are number skills, teamwork skills and communication skills. The skills that I strengthened are team work skills and numeric skills. The teamwork skills improvement can be proven by my improved socialization capability and ability to participate actively in team work. Further, through teamwork skills, I mastered problem solving techniques and so it is easy for me to solve complicated problems through appropriate means. My numeric skills can be proved by my ability to practically use different statistical methods in analyzing markets and developing new marketing strategies (Hobb,2009.p 74). My placement in  Suzhou Aikefu Electronics Co., Ltd has been instrumental in my career development. It has provided me with relevant skills that are essential in job market. The most apt skills that I have improved are team work skills and numeric skills. Through communication skills, I managed to negotiate a learning agreement that was essential for my placement. The company that I secured an internship position was  Suzhou Aikefu Electronics Co., Ltd while the departments that I concentrated on when learning are marketing department, sales department, the administration, information and communication technology departments and financial departments. The key areas that I concentrated on were marketing, administrative functions and information and communication technology functions. Through my placement in  Suzhou Aikefu Electronics Co., Ltd, I learned that by adhering to the cultures and values of the company, one can easily rise in employment status. References Bolles, R.N. (2007). The 2008 what color is your parachute?Boston:McGraw Hills Publishers. Harvard Business Review (2010). Managing your career in Tough Times. Hobbs, P. (2009) Project Management.New Ypork: Dorling Kindersley. Houghton, A. (2006) Finding square holes: Discover who you really are and find the perfect career.Chicago:University of Chicago press. Lees, J. (2005). How to get a job you’ll love.New York:Routledge. Campbell, M. (2009) .Communication skills for Project Managers. Boston :Amacon Houston, K. (2009). You want to be what! 100 alternative career options. London:Oxford University Press. Longson, S. (2006). Life after-business and administrative studies: a practical guide to life after your degree.New York:Long Man. WOLFF, A. (1999). Automated label placement in theory and practice. Go?ttingen, Niedersa?chsische Staats- und Universita?tsbibliothek. http://deposit.ddb.de/cgi-bin/dokserv?idn=965606155. Suzhou Aikefu Electronics Co., Ltd.(2013). http://www.aikefu.com/english/index.asp SCRUGGS, T. E., & MASTROPIERI, M. A. (2005). Cognition and learning in diverse settings. Amsterdam, Elsevier JAI. http://site.ebrary.com/id/10139507 Read More