INTOSANA GmbH internship report - Essay Example

OF THE Internship Report INTOSANA GmbH TYPE Overview INTOSANA GmbH is a nursing care facility which provides home service care to the elderly. Located in Berlin, the company started its operation last November 2010 which makes it a relatively young business establishment. Its core mission is to provide full assistance, advice, and care to the needs of the elderly. With efficient services, it hopes to eventually excel and dominate in the care market. Having been a part of Intosana for two months, it was fulfilling to recollect the contributions I have made for the company; it being a newly established care facility in Berlin. During this year’s internship program, I was assigned to help in developing the marketing strategy of the company especially through online marketing promotion. In addition, I was tasked to perform a market analysis on a specific target group which turned out to be a vital source of information for the company. With these accomplishments, I did not only able to fulfill my duty as an intern but also contributed to the overall growth of the company. In fact, during the entire internship period, I was able to help them get 15 more clients through my work in marketing strategy. Having worked for eight hours a day in two months, I have fully performed my task and prepared to document my working journey. As such, the purpose of this paper is to primarily recount my internship experiences at Intosana GmbH – my role in the company, the contributions I have made, and the lessons learned from the internship experience. First, the description of the organization will reveal the company’s organizational structure and the role I played in the company. From this, an analysis of my experience will showcase my learnings in business and management. Lastly, I will present a personal evaluation of my experiences to showcase my insights about the entire experience. Company Description As a nursing care service facility, Intosana GmbH is a company that primarily provides home care service to the elderly. Having started its operation only in November 2010, the company envisions to expand and to improve its services in Berlin and eventually all over Germany. The company’s growth revolves around its mission which states that it aims to willingly provide assistance and advice to its clients. On its website, the company promotes its reliability by providing “all levels of care” and cooperating with doctors, pharmacists, medical suppliers, and other service providers to meet the needs of its clients. Moreover, the company prides itself in having a nursing team that is “qualified, reliable, friendly, and motivated” to assure the clients of round-the-clock service, attention, and care. Specifically, it provides basic care such as meal preparation, pulse checks, washing and catering service. It also provides domestic assistance such as cleaning the client’s residence and home visits by doctors and medical personnel. Aside from medical care, it also organizes services such as contact with support groups, newspaper services, emergency call service and physiotherapy. According to the company, the selection process for their staff involves an emphasis of both technical and interpersonal skills that will contribute to the company’s growth. Also, these qualities are expected to boost the teamwork within the staffs and groups in the company. Additionally, it believes that every employee has “an independent personality” which means that the company deals with its staff individually. The company further emphasized its staff being “courteous and friendly” to its clients. This is mainly attributed to Intosana GmbH’s belief that it treats an individual as a whole, and not as a sick person. My Work Description For two months, I worked eight hours a day at Intosana GmbH from March 1 up to April 30, 2012. My work task involves helping the company improve and develop its marketing strategy to attract more clients and expand its operation in Berlin. Specifically, my role involved using innovations in new media in order to reach out either elderly clients or their family. For instance, I provided relevant contents on the company’s website so that there will be useful information for future clients. Aside from this, I also applied internet marketing strategies in order for the company to promote its services online. This involved creating online advertisements to market the services offered by Intosana GmbH. Moreover, I enhanced the company’s connectivity through the use of social media in order to increase its accessibility to other potential clients from all over the world. These contributions in marketing strategy enabled me to achieve my goal of helping the company achieve its growth. As such, after two months of internship experience, I was able to attract 15 clients for the company. I considered that as one of my biggest achievements during the entire internship period because it proved that the marketing strategy I employed was effective for the company. Aside from this, another achievement for me was the creation meaningful bonds with my work mates at the company. I worked well with almost all people from the office. I was able to establish professional relationship with the company manager, nursing directors, nurses, and other personnel at Intosana GmbH. This is important because it goes to show that I am able to find communicate properly with other people. I believe that the bond that I made inside the organization enabled me to complete my task effectively. Company Analysis Out of my internship experience at Intosana GmbH, there were two broad learnings that left an imprint on my entire personhood. First, I learned about the importance of organizational communication and how it plays an important role in ensuring that the company is able to progress effectively. Second, I was able to recognize both external and internal environment within which the organization operates. Third, I began to see Gareth Morgan’s view about seeing an organization as flux and transformation. Organizational Communication Within the company, it is interesting to note how the communication dynamics happen between and among the members of the organization. In my two months internship, I realized the crucial role that communication plays in order to ensure the growth and progress of a company. At Intosana GmbH, the people who make up the nursing company ensure that the communication system is clear and reliable. As such, people who make up the company speak in German so that the conversation will be comprehensible for every personnel working in the company. The company itself relies on organizational communication to strengthen its relationship with its internal and external environment. Intosana GmbH’s internal environment is composed of all the company employees working within the different departments inside the organization. On the other hand, the company’s external environment is composed of all the stakeholders who are involved in transacting with Intosana GmbH. These stakeholders include the company’s clients, medical personnel, and other institutions providing specific type of care for the elderly which are then tapped by the company. Internal Organization Environment As observed within the company, the manager is the main decision maker when it comes to the implementation of services. He is the central figure who leads, guides, and assigns all the company staff with his or her own responsibilities. During meetings and program implementation, the manager establishes his authority and facilitates the discussion within the organization. On the other hand, the nursing directors were the ones next in line when it comes to the implementation of company policies. They act to direct the nurses on how to actualize the plans for the company’s client. They need to ensure that the manager’s directives are met. In order to do this, they will need to constantly communicate with the nurses that visit the client’s apartment. In this way, they are able to monitor and guarantee that the management’s goals for the company are fully implemented. Lastly, it is the nurses within the company who are responsible in actualizing the directives from the management. They are the ones who directly fulfill the obligations of visiting the client’s apartments and checking their overall well-being. Aside from this, they will also report to the management about the condition of their clients. This report will be the basis for other related services that the clients might need. External Organization Environment The type of communication exhibited by the company towards its external environment reflects its commitment in achieving its goals to increase its clients around Berlin. The company’s external environment specifically included its clients, medical personnel, and other institutions tapped to provide services for the elderly. For instance, when it comes to laundry services, the company taps a specific company that can provide an efficient service for the client. As observed, the company ensures that the communication between them and other stakeholders is clear and reliable. The company maintains a professional working relationship with all the stakeholders involved in its operations. For its clients, the marketing strategy department (where I belong) is mandated to give clients clear and reliable information about the services that the company offers. For instance, the accessibility of the company’s services is published online and posted in different advertising materials. Once chosen by the client, the directors of the company will directly communicate with them to know what types of services do the client prefers and what the company can provide. On the other hand, when it comes to the communication between the company and other service companies, Intosana GmbH maintains a professional relationship to their partner organization. The laundry, gardening, and catering services are carefully chosen by the company through its reliability and quality of service. For instance, the manager will personally meet with the high management of these companies in order to secure that the company will have reliable service to its clients. As such, the company benefits from the excellent services that their partner agencies give to its clients. Overall, the company believes that maintaining good relationship towards both internal and external environment will give them an edge to compete with other nursing care facilities around Germany. By upholding good internal communication, the company is able to maintain good relationship with all its employees, which then translates to the quality of work among its personnel. By keeping a professional working relationship with its external environment, the company is able to reach out to its clients and give them the quality service that they need. Organization as Transformation or Flux In his book, Images of Organization, Gareth Morgan quoted Heraclitus in his famous line: “Everything flows, and nothing abides; everything gives way and nothing stays fixed...” This quote provided the core concept on how organizations should adapt to changes going on in its external environment. It means that the only thing that is constant in the world is change and the same goes for companies operating in a particular society. Since its creation on November 2010, the company has handled challenges in its operation and management. One of the biggest challenges that it has to face is the competition between and among other care companies that provide services to the elderly. To compete in the care market, Intosana GmbH decided to expand its marketing online and reach out to many clients as possible. It was difficult for the company to compete knowing that there are more than 150 establishments that offer similar nursing care services. However, during my internship, it was brought up that the company should improve our marketing strategy in recruiting clients. This is very important because it was clear that Intosana GmbH needs to stand out from among its competitors if it wants to lead the nursing care market around Berlin. With this, the management thought of ways to adapt to the changes around the company’s external environment. One of the areas the company looked at is how the ever changing technology can contribute in reaching out to potential clients around Berlin. It was during this meeting that we were able to conceptualize the use of online marketing in promoting Intosana GmbH to a wider client base. As part of the marketing strategy department, I suggested that the company must have online advertisement in social networking sites and improve the contents of the main website as a way to reach out and communicate with the clients or their families. My Performance Evaluation One word to describe about my internship at Intosana GmbH is that it is productive. This means that, throughout my 2 month internship at the company, I believe that I have been able to fulfill my role as an intern responsible for the success of the company’s marketing strategy. To further evaluate my contributions to Intosana GmbH, I have conducted a personal SWOT analysis that will present my reflection about my work performance during the entire internship period. Personal SWOT Analysis Strengths Passionate about learning more about the company’s work Optimistic in accomplishing tasks Expertise in online marketing Calm and patient Can work under pressure Weaknesses Self – critical Careful and slow in judgment Perfectionist Opportunities The company is open to make changes in developing its marketing strategy Full support from the management about the potential of online marketing in getting new clients Thriving care industry around Germany Threats Competition in growing care industry around Germany Lack of aggressiveness in marketing campaigns for the company As presented above, my SWOT analysis reveals my learning during my internship period at Intosana GmbH. Aside from this, it also represents the products of my self-reflection which enabled me to get a clear understanding of myself and my work. It allowed me to examine my positive attributes as well as the negative characteristics that I have while working in the company. Moreover, it has allowed me to explore where to use my personal qualities by outlining the opportunities and threats I anticipated in reaching for my internship objectives. As explained below, I was able to transform some of my weaknesses into strengths and threats in the external environment became an opportunity for me to fulfill my role in the company. 1. Strengths In the diagram above, I classified the knowledge in marketing strategy as one of my strengths because it allowed me to showcase my knowledge in internet marketing so that the company will be able to recruit many clients for its care services. Marketing the company online is the newest trend nowadays to attract potential clients or relatives of the elderly. In this way, the company will be able to reach out to wider audiences and potential clients, and thus fulfilling its goal to become the leading care company in Berlin. Being a cost-effective strategy, my knowledge in online marketing has helped in recruiting 15 more clients for the company. As a person knowledgeable in how social marketing works, I applied all my knowledge about web page design and social networking page. In a way, it helped that I am fond of using the internet for marketing purposes. Aside from this, my values of being calm, patient, and optimistic are the positive qualities I hold to successfully meet the challenges in the care service industry. 2. Weaknesses On the other hand, being self-critical and being a perfectionist are one of my weaknesses that sometimes contribute my completion of a given task. For instance, I would repeatedly ensure that the words printed on the advertising materials are perfectly crafted. As a result, the publishing of advertising materials were slightly delayed. However, as much as possible I try to transform these negative characteristics into a positive one. For instance, I can use my being critical to develop the right marketing messages to put in the advertisement messages. Also, I consider my being self-critical as a slight hindrance to my work. Whenever I have accomplished my work, I tend to judge my work intensely. For instance, after formulating a marketing tagline, I would be overly critical about its “perfection”. Because of these negative traits, I am sometimes slow in deciding about the right marketing message for the company. However, I must say that these negative traits have also helped me to work harder and improve my work at the company. 3. Opportunities My strengths as an intern at Intosana GmbH are anchored on the fact that there are various opportunities that I can seize with the organizational environment. First, my role in the marketing strategy department became possible because the company is willing to adapt to new technology so that we can attract future clients. In short, the company was open in developing new ways of marketing strategy and it adopts the idea of an organization that adjusts to “flux and transformation”. Aside from this, it was an opportunity for me to showcase my skills in web-based promotion because the management itself is supportive on what I do. The manager, in particular, was very open to the potential of social media and other forms of internet marketing promotion as the new strategy to attract clients from various parts of Berlin. What is more interesting about the care industry is that it is a thriving market because of increase in Germany’s aging society. As such, there is a big potential that the company will eventually expand its operations around Germany. 4. Threats In a way, the threats that the company faces became one of the motivations for the management to work harder in achieving its goals. Because the competition for care industry within Germany is high, the management pushes its employees to put more effort in the work. As a result, the threat of competition is transformed into motivation so that the company will be able to reach its goals. Another threat that the company faces is their lack of aggressiveness when it comes to promotional campaigns. When I first entered the company, I realized that the company lacked presence in social media and the entire internet market. In today’s world where everyone is connected through the internet, the company must be adaptable to the changes in communication and technology. Fortunately, the company showed signs of adaptability and openness when it permitted me to promote the company through social media and internet marketing strategy. As such, my role in the company became crucial in the company’s growth and progress. The threat of having traditional modes of marketing campaign was mitigated because the company itself is adaptable to the changes in its external environment, particularly in the realm of the internet and social media. Internship Evaluation One of the ways to come up with a thorough evaluation of my internship is to list down all my personal goals for entering the company. By doing this, it will be easier for me to assess the learnings I have acquired and the contributions I have made for the two month internship stay at Intosana GmbH. As such, this internship evaluation will revolve around these personal goals as it will help me examine the value of the entire internship program. Internship Goals 1.) To earn a valuable experience of being in a workplace and examine the working environment. 2.) To gain sufficient knowledge and skills about how an organization operates and communicates its goals to its external and internal environment. 3.) To learn more about the organizational culture of a company and analyze my contribution to the organization’s growth. Reflection on Internship Goals It is sufficient to say that after my two month internship experience, I am now able to reflect on my goals and evaluate if I have personally been able to achieve them. The first goal about the value of internship experience was achieved the moment I realized how crucial my work is for the company. Having been assigned to the marketing department, the management has stressed the importance of my role in the company and enabled me to work harder in achieving my goals. As such, the experience itself is very valuable because the company itself is open to the changes happening around its external environment. On my second goal about learning more about organizational communication, I must say that I have successfully been able to understand the company culture after my internship experience. As what I have discussed on this paper, Intosana GmbH is an organization that is very adaptable to flux and transformation. As observed, the company values and observes the specific changes in its external environment and readily adapts to it. This is the reason why, in spite of being a young company, it has been progressing well because of the company’s ability to transform itself in accordance to the changes happening to its external environment. Lastly, the final internship goal about realizing my contribution to the company is perhaps one of the highlights of my experience at Intosana GmbH. Throughout my two month internship, I was able to help the company recruit 15 more clients through social media and internet marketing. It was a proud moment for me to realize that I was able to play an important role in the company. Positive Experiences One of the things I admire about the company is its ability to adapt to the changes around its external environment. I was appreciative because the company believes in the importance of online social media marketing in reaching out to wider clients all over Germany. As such, it was very encouraging for me to realize that I hold a crucial position even as an intern, to market the services that the company offers to potential clients. In a way it was both challenging and exciting for me to be given such a task that will help realize the company’s goals. Another positive reflection about the company is the people itself. The working environment at Intosana GmbH is very open and welcoming to new interns. As such, I was able to adjust well in the company because the management values the voice and opinion of all its workers. Most importantly, it does not undermine the capacity newcomers to contribute more for the company. Negative Experiences Inasmuch as I highly value my internship experience, I can also say that there were negative aspects that occurred during my work at the company. Although the management is very open about making changes on its marketing strategy, there was also a pressure to excel and meet their expectations. Since the pressure is high, the stress level of those working in the department is also high. In my view, the company should implement a rather relaxed policy so that it can take some pressure out of its employees. As an intern, I personally felt the exact pressure from the employees themselves, especially during busy days when there are various clients needing services from the company. As what I have observed, this work pressure that every employee feel translates into extreme seriousness in solely fulfilling their tasks. Recommendations Being a newly established company, it is understandable that the drive to excel is present. However, the management should also balance it out with lighter activities. For instance, the company should initiate a gathering where employees and interns could take a time off from their work and bond with each other. In this way, the company will be more productive because people inside the organization actually find enjoyment in their work. For internship programs, the company should perhaps organize a brainstorming with only the interns and the management. This is because sometimes, the interns could bring some fresh insight about how the company is operating and changes should be introduced in its operations. This idea can be relevant because sometimes a view from the outside can be crucial in seeing another perspective about the organization. If I were the organizer of Intosana GmbH’s internship program, I will compel the interns to write an essay about how they perceive the company at the end of their internship. The paper should include relevant observations about the operation of the company. Also, it should include suggestions and recommendations about its operations so that the organization will know about how it is being perceived by the interns. In this way, the company could improve on its ways in dealing with employees and making the necessary changes for achieving its goals. References Taylor, J. R. & Robichaud. “Finding the organization in the communication: discourse as action and sensemaking”. Organization. Thousand Oaks . London, CA & Delhi, 2004. 395- 413 Morgan, Gareth. “Images of Organization”. York University Press: Toronto, Canada. Updated Edition, 2006. Read More