Unit of Business and Government Internship - Essay Example

Reflective Diary (Name) (Institution Affiliation) (Date) Reflective Diary Introduction As the global economy continues to grow, the competition for great jobs continues to burgeon as well. Notably, being more qualified than a fellow interviewee is not enough; one needs to prove that he or she has a practical experience of the job being in order to be considered for the job. Getting a university education is a critical step, but one can greatly enhance his or her classroom learning through gaining real corporate experience by taking part in the annual college student internships. In effect, this reflective journal aims at highlighting the four weeks I worked at Sushi Sushi Restaurant in 2014 as an intern. I often worked for three days in a week that is Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Sushi Sushi Restaurant is located in Canberra and is typically engaged in preparing Japanese and Chinese food. The restaurant’s name originated from the traditional Chinese rice dish called “sushi,” which has been seasoned with salt, sugar and vinegar. The preparation of sushi can be dated back to the 2nd century A.D in China, and since then, many Asian countries and a few European restaurants learned how to prepare the meal. First diary: 2nd June-6th June The first day of my internship at Sushi Sushi restaurant involved orientation. Thus, after attending my morning classes on Monday, I reported at the restaurant at 2pm, where I found the supervisor, Mr. Yang waiting for me in the human resource office. As a new intern, who is also considered as an employee by the restaurant, I was required to sign in and go through the admission procedures. While in the office, I could not fail to notice the professional manner in which the human resource manager handled his employees. The manager treated them as colleagues; in fact an outsider would have difficulties in differentiating the manager from the employees. Notably, the restaurant management has adopted the Soft HRM model, which involves allowing the employees to participate in most of the decision-making processes associated with the running of the business. Later, my supervisor Mr. Yang was asked to take me through the restaurant’s procedures as well as the departments. To begin with, Mr. Yang introduced me to the chefs and the assistants and later I was introduced to the customer service attendant, the waiters as well as the cashier. Throughout the introduction I realized that the employees were accommodating and receptive as all of them wanted to know much more about me as well as explain what their job entaileds. This indicated that the employees had been trained about the importance of good customer relations as it creates a good impression about the organization as well as enhances customer loyalty. Subsequently, Mr. Yang took me to the purchasing officer who was interested in knowing more about my capabilities and experiences. Having been my first day in the restaurant, I was not expected to start engaging in any activity apart from being shown around as part of the orientation. As scheduled in my diary, Wednesday was my second day of the internship and as my supervisor had indicated I was supposed to undergo an in-house training. Accordingly, I reported to my supervisor’s desk and he later joined me, having reported to work thirty minutes late. However, this was uncharacteristic of how a senior staff should behave as he should be earlier than his or her employees in order to be emulated by his juniors. This was risky for the organization’s performance as employees who are prone to close supervision might take advantage and underperform. After exchanging pleasantries, the supervisor excused himself and went to see how the employees were going about their work. After he had made sure that everything was running smoothly, he came to the office with two other employees: I later learned that they been in the organization for only one week. Together with the three new workers, we were taken to a well-organized board room and waited for the facilitator to come in. The facilitator soon came and after the ice breakers, we were trained on different aspects associated with organizational objectives, performance and customer relations. From the training, I realized that the organization regards customers as the most important asset of the organization thus their priority comes before any other stakeholder. In addition, through the training I learned that organizational culture is crucial to any organization as it dictates the way in which employees relate, work as well as how the organization relates with the public. Eventually, I got a strong impression that the restaurant believes in teamwork as the supervisor as well as the facilitator stressed on our obligation to embrace team work. The second visit of the first week was on a Friday and thus I was expected to begin the actual work. As scheduled by the supervisor, my first station would be the customer service department or desk. Since I was already acquainted with the employees, the supervisor saw no need to introduce me to the customer care representative, Miss Lillian, for the second time. From 8.30 to 1.00pm, my duty was to observe and learn how the job was done and as such, while the receptionist went about her routine, I took note of every detail. In the afternoon, Lillian allowed me to run her department while she watched and corrected me where I had not gotten it right. Accordingly, I spent the whole afternoon greeting patrons warmly as well as address their concerns. In addition, I assisted them with placing orders thus making it easy for the waiters to assist them. More importantly, I received calls from customers who wanted to order their food and as such arranged for the doorstep deliveries. From my observation, I learned that customer satisfaction is often the best indicator that the customer will come back to the restaurant in future. Thus, the restaurant had one weakness in this area: the customer care representative did not care about knowing if the customers had been served to their expectations. The customer care division should be engaged in a customer care evaluation, whereby once in a while they ask the patrons to rate their satisfaction on a scale of 1-10 in order to know the restaurant’s performance. Having attended to customers the whole afternoon and engaging in other activities, I signed off and was allowed to go and rest as I waited for the next visit, which was scheduled for Monday, the subsequent week. Second Diary: 9th June-13th June In my second week of my internship, I was moved to the waiters section and was assigned to work under Mr. David, a professional and experienced waiter, who taught me how the job is done. To begin with, Mr. David took a menu and explained to me about all the type of meals and beverages Sushi Sushi offered. The restaurant offers Boxes and Packs, which include, Sushi Deluxe Pack, Crunchy Cooked Tuna Pack and Bento Pack. Sushi Sushi also offers Gluten Free Hand Rolls, which according to Mr. Davis is the most ordered meal in the restaurant. Moreover, Platters, Salads, Inari, Hand Rolls Brown Rice and Hand Rolls White Rice are other favorite dishes that are offered in the Hotel. From what I learned, a waiter should be an outgoing person with good communication skills, efficient, quick and friendly. Moreover, I learned that the first thing the waiter needed to do is greet and introduce himself to the customer within two minutes of his or her arrival. Thereafter, the waiter is supposed to establish a rapport and then take the customer’s order, deliver the food and beverages, check back and lastly sell the return. After learning the basics, I started the actual service on Wednesday, the second week. I remember messing up with the first order that Wednesday morning whereby the customer had requested Hand Rolls Brown Rice, salads and platters. Instead of writing down the order, I literally tried to memorize it and in turn came with a completely wrong order of Hand Rolls White Rice and Inari. The customer was livid as I had wasted his time, but I was lucky as Mr. David came to my rescue and explained that I was an intern and apologized for the mistake. The customer sympathized with me and even apologized for not taking time to understand the reason behind the whole mess. From that experience I learned that the organization had capitalized on the theory of customer relations, which involves making the customer feel appreciated at all times. This approach is one of the restaurant’s biggest strengths as an apology always restores the previous relationship the organization had with the customer before he or she felt aggrieved. I also learned that in reality apologizing to a customer makes him or she get over their anger. One weakness I observed with the Sushi Sushi’s waiters is that they do not stand by the customers’ table after they have finished serving their meals. This is important as it helps the waiters to answer any question that the customers may have as well as make sure that the customers enjoy their meals. Evidently, once a waiter had taken an order and served the clients, he or she would attend to other tables. From my analysis, this deficiency was a result of having few waiters; the restaurant had only four waiters compared to the sixteen tables which needed their service. I remember one night some customers had to leave as they had not been served, thirty minutes since they arrived. Apart from that bad experience, I enjoyed the rest of the practice. I remember being acknowledged by the human resource manager for being diligent and a quick learner and consequently, I was given $13 as my bus fare. This reflected that the restaurant practiced the theory of motivation, which involved rewarding the employees with intrinsic and extrinsic rewarding system in order to motivate them thus increasing their performance. Though there are various challenges in the waiters’ department, the restaurant was well organized and more so, the waiters worked in shifts thus getting enough time rest. Third diary: 16th June-20th The third of my week was the most exciting of all as I was involved in the Sushi Sushi’s outdoor promotion program. On 16th of June, Mr. Yang came with three ladies and two gentlemen, who he introduced as an outsourced team of marketers from Top-level PR Consultants. The team from Top-level was supposed to liaise with two of our team members in carrying out an outdoor promotional campaign. As such, we were given red t-shirts and white caps that were branded with the name Sushi Sushi, which we wore throughout the outdoor promotion campaign. We put up a tent and later prepared a set of fast food products such as kebabs, Maki Pack, California Roll Pack, Bento Box and beverages. During this period, potential customers were given free vouchers for dinner as well as discounted meals. Throughout the promotion, I learned that outdoor promotions play a significant role in business marketing strategy, as it appeals to the local potential customers. Restaurants can benefit greatly from this aspect as eighty percent of its target customers are locals. The program ran for the whole week, and from Sushi Sushi’s record sales, the restaurant made incredible sales that week and the same was expected the subsequent weeks. Though the promotion program was successful, Sushi Sushi depended so much on the Top-level team members, which was precarious as the restaurant’s future marketing programs would depend on outsiders. Sushi would have used Top-level to train its employees thus cut down future costs associated with marketing. The money could be used in rewarding its employees thus increasing their performances. However, the promotion campaign indicated that the organization understood the value of marketing. Fourth dairy: 23rd June-24TH June In order to understand practical world of human resource management, I spent the whole of the fourth week, which was also the last part of my internship, in HRM department. Here, I had to change my dressing code from casual to official as the office was visited by investors, suppliers, potential employees and even customers. The HR manager did not hesitate to assign me duties. First, I was told to check in the in-tray and sort out the papers accordingly. Consequently, I arranged the letters according to their orientation: employees, customers, suppliers and others. Later, I was told to confirm if all employees expected on that shift had reported. The rest of the week involved arranging the files as well as scheduling the managers’ daily diary as far as his meetings was concerned. At some point, I was allowed to answer phone calls and often referred some callers to the manager whenever the issue to be addressed needed more expertise. In addition, I learned the criteria of selecting, recruiting, retaining an employee. From my scrutiny, I learned that the restaurant had various remuneration schemes. For instance, a junior employee’s salary depended with the number of years he had worked in the restaurant; the more the years the more the salary percentage. In addition, supervisors and other managerial positions attracted a higher pay. Within the remuneration package, there was the annual bonus scheme whereby employees were rewarded depending on the restaurant’s performance. This HR practice was effective for the restaurant as it encourages and motivates employees to work more hard thus meeting Sushi Sushi’s business objectives. On 24th of June, I was taken out for a social dinner party by the HRM manager and later was surprised to meet the other employees at the venue. This indicated that the restaurant believes in having a good relationship with the employees and making them part of the organization’s family. Conclusion To sum up, though I met various challenges during my internship such as not satisfying the customers, taking time to solve customers’ grievances and being inefficient. I learned through my mistakes as well as the supervisor’s guidance. More so, I learned to be patient with every customer as they behave differently. In addition, I learned to accept my mistake and correct on the same, unlike before when I used to believe that all my opinions must be respected. I realized that every department in an organization is significant and that they must all work in harmony for the organization to be successful. I now believe that for an organization to be successful, the management must create a good relationship with the employees and use the soft HRM practice. This involves allowing the workers to participate in the organizations’ decision-making process. Thus, by working in Sushi Sushi my objectives were met as I received more experience that would enable me to deal with different organizational aspects. Read More