Al Jazeera Training Centre Management - Essay Example

Management Number The organisation that I work for is the Al Jazeera Training Centre. The origins of the Al Jazeera Training Centre can be traced back to 2004. Contrary to popular opinion, from this time of its inception, the Al Jazeera Training Centre has been heretofore supported by the Thompson Foundation; and not simply the larger the Al Jazeera News outfit. In this light, the Thompson Foundation has provided this centre with consultancy services, training of staff and procurement, especially when it comes to the procurement of necessary equipment. The main objective of the Al Jazeera Training Centre is to accord experts and trainers with the opportunities and competence to work with journalists globally. The Al Jazeera Training Centre (AJTC) attempts to achieve this feat by working with and remaining under the Thompson Foundation. During the internship, my job title was the assistant public relations officer at the AJTC. As such, the roles, duties and responsibilities that were due to the portfolio I held were trifurcated into: administration, IT functions and communication. As touching matters administration, I: organised and put personal schedule into priority; arranged (for) meetings with senior management; implemented new reporting procedures; improved and re-organised department filing system; liaised with department heads regarding day-to-day issues; observed strict deadlines. As touching matters communication, I: prepared publicity material for department’s Open Day; reported annual survey findings to senior management; introduced and developed new client-centered team approach; mediated over conflicts between staff and faculty with an impressive degree of success; managed a team of three; facilitated staff planning meetings; promoted individual high level of personal achievement; evaluated and analysed individual work performance and advised on career development; presided over managerial and interpersonal affairs of the AJTC; and successfully served as part of a team to design new office procedures. The fact that I handled matters touching AJTC’s IT department also underscores the wider scope of my jurisdiction as an intern. As the assistant public relations officer at the AJTC, I: edited and compiled comprehensive monthly activity reports; customised database to suit unique departmental needs; interacted with AJTC’s databases as a daily user; used Microsoft Office applications such as word, excel, access and power point to extend AJTC’s objectives and vision; and interacted with Dreamweaver web package to also perpetuate the interests of the AJTC. There are several lessons that I accrued from the internship. One of the things that I learnt is the art and importance of speech writing and presentation. This is because I had to participate in AJTC’s official conference as an officer representing the AJTC as a foundation. Because of this, I had to go through several books, reports and expert advices so as to make a more comprehensive speech presentation. As someone who was new to the official conference, I first encountered obstacles. However, because of my engagement in AJTC’s official conference, I was able to learn about the value and power of consultation, and continued practice as the keys to success, not only in the art of speech presentation, but in all important matters that pertain to organisational management. I also came to learn that the line between speech presentation and organisational management is very thin, if at all it exists. This is because competent organisational management encompasses the use of communication which speech presentation will be part of. Secondly, it is also through speech presentation that organisational strategies, goals, vision and values can be deliberated upon and evaluated. The inextricably close nexus between speech presentation and organisational management informs the reason that compelled me to learn about the fundamentals of organisational administration and management. It is the need to make a concise speech presentation that forced me to visit AJTC’s fundamentals of organisational presentation. I also learnt that it is through the observation of the fundamentals of organisational administration that AJTC or any other organisation is able to expend its synergies for the attainment of performance target. Again, while serving as the intern holding the assistant public relations office at the AJTC, I came to appreciate the importance of confidence. I learnt that while at the workplace, taking equipoise such as confidence was very important. I learnt that this mien had to be tampered with humility so as to ward off chances for conceit, bigotry and misunderstanding. The need to tinker confidence with humility is also further strengthened by the wide traveling that accompanies the respective portfolio. This is because many countries have cultural standpoints on confidence and social intercourse. This is the case since engaging in organisational travels exposes an employee or an organisational representative to different cultural environments. In the same token, it came to my attention that it is important for organizations to incorporate study tours and recreational travels for its personnel. Just by attending some of the travels that AJTC organised, I was able to see how AJTC was able to harness its synergy, culture and public relations with the quest for organisational globalism. The professional skills, competence and cultural competence gleaned from these travels inform the importance of these travels. I have also come to appreciate the importance of teamwork as being very important in the attainment of organisational goals. I experienced the importance firsthand when as an intern, I had to consult with reports, books and professional counsel. Preparing publicity material for department’s Open Day, reporting annual survey findings to senior management, introducing and developing new client-centered team approach, mediating over conflicts between staff and faculty with an impressive degree of success, managing a team of three, facilitating staff planning meetings, promoting individual high level of personal achievement, evaluating and analysing individual work performance and advised on career development, presiding over managerial and interpersonal affairs of the AJTC and successfully serving as part of a team to design new office procedures are some of the duties that I needed to discharge yet heavily relied on teamwork. In turn, teamwork made me appreciate the importance of interpersonal skills and competence in communication. It is also noteworthy that the training served my expectations. This is because, in my intent to enroll for internship with the AJTC, my objectives were to: acquire relevant technical skills in the field of management; strengthen my communication and interpersonal skills; establish the relevance of teamwork in the corporate sector; gain work experience which would be instrumental in boosting my chances for securing employment; and actualise my knowledge of computer applications in running organisational programmes. All these aims and objectives were fulfilled as I discharged my roles as an assistant public relations office as an intern. It is for this same reason that I qualify the training as a success. Definitely, it is true that just as I assisted with the organisation’s performance, so can I help the organisation actualise its temporary and long-term objectives, values and goals. The roles that I discharged such as editing and compiling comprehensive monthly activity reports; customising database to suit unique departmental needs; interacting with AJTC’s databases as a daily user; using Microsoft Office applications such as word, excel, access and power point to extend AJTC’s objectives and vision; and interacting with Dreamweaver web package to also perpetuate the interests of the AJTC are some of the few ways in which I helped actualise the goals of the organisation. Definitely, it helps to reiterate my unreserved willingness to assist in furthering ATJC’s goals and objectives by serving in any capacity it may deem fit, provided that the portfolio and duties proceeding from it are in line with my academic and professional training. This is because, even after serving as an intern in AJTC’s assistant public relations office, the decision to recruit me for this same purpose remains AJTC’s prerogative. My performance and internship experience at the AJTC can be described as being very good. My inability to rank it as excellent is only informed by modesty as it is unseemly for an individual to examine himself and pass himself as having performed excellently. Some of the indicators that underscore my performance as very impressive may be divided into three categories. As touching the duties that I dispensed at the AJTC’s IT department, all the reports of monthly activities that I edited and compiled were passed as excellent and acceptable by the communications department. Secondly, my interaction with the AJTC’s databases as a daily user also helped me systematically update the organisation’s soft files for easier retrieval. This also helped me get rid of several gigabytes of unneeded information. This had never been done before since the outfit was founded in 2004. My interaction with Dreamweaver web package to also perpetuate the interests of the AJTC was outstanding in that through it, I deigned newer and more interesting outlooks. All these developments were/ are unprecedented in AJTC’s IT history. While serving matters that relate to communication and communication department, I successfully prepared publicity material for department’s Open Day. During my tenure at the AJTC as the assistant public relations officer, there was regular, punctual and consistent attendance of staff meeting because of the publicity material for the organisation’s Open Day. My development of the new client-centered team approach also underscores my impeccable performance at the AJTC. This is because, the new client-centered team approach that I had set-up in place was instrumental in ensuring a greater number of student enrolment because of programmes design and more favourable public relations practices. Personally, I consider my mediation over conflicts between staff and faculty with an impressive degree of success as my most outstanding achievement. This is because, with the dispensation of this role, I was able to forge a more conducive atmosphere for learning, working and tending towards the attainment of AJTC’s goals, objectives and vision. Without the attainment of a more conducive and peaceful atmosphere for learning and working, there can be no realisation of any organisational goals since no organisational functions can be discharged outside of effective communication, cooperation and the expending of sound interpersonal skills. The crux of the matter herein is that without my mediatory roles, neither I nor AJTC could have realised its goals. That I performed ably, all these and many other roles without pay is a matter that underscores my commitment to both the goals of AJTC and my internship. Above all, while performing the functions above, I ensured that I maintained AJTC’s and general professional work ethics. In this light, I reported to work early before time, observed professional conduct while respecting all members of (the executive, junior and auxiliary) the staff, maintaining professional dress code, neatness and professional etiquette, participated in all AJTC programmes (such as educational tours and office parties) that were not related to work directly and went an extra mile to ensure that AJTC’s programmes were running according to plan. In respect to the foregoing, seeing that I had discharged my roles very effectively, I do not surmise that there are actions that I should have added or subtracted during my internship programme. This standpoint should not be misconstrued as meaning that my tenure as the assistant public relations officer as an intern was perfect. It is only a restatement of my reflection on the term in which I believe I discharged all the basic roles that were due to the office I occupied, if not more. Seeing that the internship was to help me actualise the professional knowledge and skills that I had gleaned from education, it is most certain that the stint I had at the AJTC will help me put the same skills and knowledge to good use. This will be for the benefit of the organisation and my career development. I intend to use these interpersonal, academic and professional skills for the organisation that I will work with in future, in order to also help make positive changes to the society. Personally, it is also true that I will have to improve my performance so that I can perform better than the acknowledgements that have been extended to me in the AJTC’s letter of recommendation. In this respect, it is true that my stint with AJTC as an intern has set a performance threshold which I must always strive to outdo, in future. • How has the college prepared you for this internship? • What are some additional things you learned during the internship experience beyond your college courses? What can you do for an organization today that you could not have done well before your training? • Do you feel your internship was useful? • What conclusions have you reached about your workplace? • What would you advise other students do to before accepting an internship? Read More