Unit 28 Aspect of Work Based Experience Assignment

Unit 28 Aspect of Work Based Experience Assignment

Introduction

Unit 28 aspect of work based experience case study delves with the aspect of work based experience where there is a need for researching as well as evaluating different companies that could provide industry experience, then producing a work proposal and then negotiating it with the work that has been done as well as recognising the business constraints of the work experience that has been offered. In this regard the industry experience has been negotiated, understanding the particular needs of the placement, work experience has been undertaken and then monitoring and evaluation of individual performances has been done.

Task 1

1.1 Research and evaluate suitable organisations that could provide industry experience. You should research organisations to examine facts and information. Find organisations best suited to your skills or potential future career within travel and tourism.

The below mentioned companies that will be able to provide industry experience are mentioned as under,

• Company Name – Thomas Cook

1.     Department – Marketing
2.     Job Reference No. : 34567543
3.     Location: London
4.     Role: Marketing Intern

• Working Hours – 54 hours per week, 6 working days from 10 am to 6 pm with 30 minutes of    recess time.

1.     Stipend – £ 500
2.    Duration –   6 months
3.    Selection stage – Personal Interview
4.     Date of closing – 31.07.2016
5.     Advertisement link – www.monster.com

• Company Name – Cox & Kings

1.     Department – Marketing
2.     Job Reference No. – 24536543
3.     Location – London
4.     Role – Marketing Intern

• Working Hours – 54 hours per week, 6 working days from 9 am to 5 pm with 30 minutes of    recess time.

1.    Salary - £ 600
2.    Duration – Six months
3.    Selection Stage – Personal Interview
4.    Date of closing – 25.07.2016
5.    Advertisement link - www.monster.com

• Company Name – TUI Group

1.     Department – Marketing
2.     Job Reference No. – 34545432
3.     Location – London
4.    Role – Marketing Intern

• Working Hours –54 hours per week, 6 working days from 9 am to 5 pm with 1 hour of recess time.

1.   Salary - £ 600
2.   Duration – 6 months
3.   Selection Stage – Personal Interview
4.   Date of closing – 31.07.2016
5.   Advertisement link - www.monster.com

• Company Name – Kuoni

1.     Department – Marketing
2.     Job Reference No. – 25434798
3.     Location – London
4.     Role – Marketing Intern

• Working Hours –54 hours per week, 6 working days from 10 am to 6 pm with 1 hour of    recess time.

1.     Salary - £ 700
2.     Duration – Six months
3.     Selection Stage – Personal Interview
4.    Date of closing – 31.07.2016
5.   Advertisement link - www.monster.com

1.2 Negotiate with work and academic supervisors a proposal for the work experience. You should include your proposal in the appendix which will be used as the basis for negotiation.

After negotiating with work and academic supervisors, a proposal I would like to follow for the work experience as an intern at Thomas Cook,  is mentioned as under,

Building the proposal

• Creating my own proposal – When I will be directly approaching a company, I will expected for creating my own proposal in respect of the possible placement with the help of a cover letter. A company which do not host work placements in a routine manner will be more interested to my approach when I am producing a clear proposal outlining in what ways I will be contributing to the company’s mission. I will be discussing with my work and academic supervisors in what ways the enhancement of my planned development areas will occur by getting placed. (Bakker, 2011)
• Preparing a cover letter – This will be clearly expressing my interest in a work placement specific to the tour and travel company to which I am applying.
• Matching my intended learning outcomes to the placement – A very significant component of my proposal will be matching my intended learning outcomes to the placement. This will as a result assist in overarching structural aspect for my cover letter. I need to have the clarity regarding the duties I should be undertaking as well as in what ways the work will be contributing to my development and for the host company.
• Building a strong resume – I should be building a strong resume for attaching to my proposal. My resume is required to be modified for every company to which I will be applying, for it to have proper relevance to what the company is trying to find in an intern. (Bakker, 2011)
• Over commitment should not be done – I am required to be outlining the period of time taken in respect of placement. For doing this, I need to be careful that there should not be any over commitment from  my end in respect of time as well as my contribution to the company in the specified time period. It might help me in breaking down what is achievable by me into portions of time that might be on a daily or weekly basis.
• Options should be kept open – I should be prepared for applying to more than one position since there is a very strong chance that the first approach that I will take might not get success. As a result, I need to keep my options open by building three or more proposals that will assist me in reanalysing my options and for ensuring that I get the best work experience. (Bakker, 2011)
• Flexibility should be there - When the  tour and travel  company that I will choose recommend changes to my proposal then I should be prepared for having flexibility towards my job role.

1.3 Recognise the business constraints on the work experience offered. You should consider possible limitations to the business of the work experience offered.

The various business constraints that need to be recognised on the work experience that is offered are mentioned as under,

• Instructor availability – There might not be the availability of resources that are needed for offering the staff training programs on a daily basis. There is a lot of time and effort needed to develop and deliver quality training programs. Moreover, there are specific topics that need expert guidance which the managers and senior executives do not possess. In this respect, when there is  an absence of suitable people who are qualified in providing the appropriate training, there is a need for the employers in seeking a third party vendor for training in respect of providing this service to the organisation. (AccountingTools, 2016)
• Time Availability – Many organisations cannot afford for staffs from being away from their work for a longer period of time. This can be challenging when interns take time-off from completing compulsory courses that have been scheduled or arranged for them. For overcoming this constraint, technological advancements have been made possible for conducting certain possible options such as using web-based conferencing software as well as conducting distance learning options so that there can occur the scheduling of a single session in respect of all the interns whether they are present inside the office or outside. (AccountingTools, 2016)
• Budget Constraints – For training the interns in an effective way, there is a need to develop time as well as effort. For the development of training, these projects have the requirement for appropriate funds, skilled personnel and these specialized resources have the requirement for significant amount of money that might be a matter of constraint for the organisations.

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Task 2

2.1 Agree and prioritise the tasks and responsibilities involved in the work experience.

As a team leader of Thomas cooks it is my utmost responsibility to adhere to the entire important work schedule as planned. Being a renowned airline, I have to look into various prospects which mainly include:

• Providing the customers a new kind of experience and providing extraordinary service, this will ultimately help the passengers to get a better experience. (Pearce, 2012)
• Being the head of an airline company it is important to harness the technological power, which helps the consumers to get a better a faster way to book the flight tickets instantly, getting the exact information, allocating the journeys.
• It is important for me to ensure that there should exist a high quality standard, a proper hygienic factor, proper maintenance of the policies of the company.
• It is my responsibility to make sure that all the documentation in relation to any aircraft in case of layover is being properly maintained.
• It is very important that all my team members have the proper skills and knowledge so that they can properly proper work as per norms and look into the passengers’ safety and make them more comfortable.

 I should delegate all the tasks of my crew members according their skills and responsibilities. Thomas cook being one of the famous airline, it maintains the rules and abides by the code of conduct, discipline and a pleasant appearance. (Thomascookgroup, 2016)

2.2 Work experience plan production.

My experience at Thomas cook was an amalgamation of various things like delegating proper tasks to my staffs, understanding their nature of work, sharpening my own expertise in the area of work etc. During this time I have been assigned to attend certain important work sessions which helped me in imparting valuable knowledge and other things too. So I have divided by schedule as follows: (Thomascookgroup, 2016)

January2016 to February 2016: This is the time when I was appointed as a management trainee intern  at Thomas cook , This is the period when I was given certain training in relation to airline industry , the types of people involved , how to know the  consumers , how to handle the environment if any . so this phase of mine was a totally learning phase  where I was more involved in getting the proper understanding of the airline industry .I gained an insight into knowing the different perspectives involved in such airline industry . I got the opportunity to upgrade my skills, knowledge tentatively.

March 2016 to April 2016: After my first training schedule was over, during my 2^nd phase I was aligned with more responsibility at Thomas cook. Being able to grasp a lot of understanding of how to makes thinks work, I was transferred to the post of complaining department where I was appointed as a quality analyst trainee. I had to make sure that, if any kind of problem which aroused from any passengers related to tickets, booking, regarding improper service by any staff member, and other aspects are being looked after me. I have to properly investigate the matter thoroughly; being in such airline industry I have to take into account the importance of sentiments. In between I attended few workshops relaying to improving the soft skills, certain airline global sessions, which helped me to understand the mental pressure each passengers goes through. Thus I have learned a lot and it is still in the phase.( Bakker, 2011)

May 2016 to June 2016: During this period I was further promoted as a junior leader  of the entire management operations.  This was indeed the most challenging role I have ever came across, where I had to take into account various aspects of the airline operations , starting from ground level operation to in flight operations . I have to take into account the importance of staffs, it is important that I have to look into my staffs well – being, their priorities and many other things. For a deeper understanding, I took some training sessions under  training and development , which helped me to understand what, should be done in order to improve my staff’s morale and how can they work even more efficiently.  Alter this period I was awarded as the best manager award which embarked a well – noted achievement.( Evans, Campbell ,2012)

2.3 Analyse the benefits of the proposed activities to the business and the learner.

After my session as a trainee was over at Thomas cook, I was able to grasp a lot of knowledge skill which was a blend of various things. During my session I was able to understand many traits of mine which included both positive and negative traits. My journey in Thomas cook was pretty memorable one since I was able to experience the Real world with real life situations. (Smith, 2012.)

The benefits or learning which I have perceived are as follows:

• Firstly during my appointment as a first intern at Thomas cook, I was depicted with the responsibilities of chalking out the appropriate measure.
• Thomas cook was facing issues in handling the customers, so I have to take a deeper insight, which have helped me to look into the matter more significant manner. Such live industrial experience has helped me in getting a proper knowledge and skill of the airline industry. (Smith, 2012.)
• I have further worked with the corporateairline group andthis has helped in understanding how to make implementation , during my training period I have faced with certain issues , like while appointed as a quality analyst trainee in the complaining department I faced with such scenarios like one of the passenger was being ill treated by one of the air hostess , and so being at that point I had to look into both the prospective as to who was in fault , so I had to apologise to the concerned passenger , but further I had to take into account my staffs point of view so that the morale is not effected . (Smith, 2012. )
• Further this will help me in my future projects wherever I will be working and in my career development as well.

From the corporate point of view:

• From the corporate point of view, internship gives an opportunity to the person who is all set to dig into corporate world, so internship gives him the opportunity to get a total live experience.
• The authority , of Thomas cookarea always looking for fresh talent but sometimes they are doubtful about how the person is going to perform for these reason an initial internship is being providing to look into fact that if the fresh intern can proper cope up with all the situations as given. (Smith, 2012. )
• Further, in this airline industry, there should be constant innovation of new ideas, so it is expected by the newly hired intern, that by through his new creative ideas he can readily come up with new kind of solutions regarding online booking in a much faster way, online handling of the luggage, online feedback from the passengers, ready availability of assistance whenever required.
• Further, Thomas cook tends to experiment with the different departments of an intern in order to see whether that person is able to handle the situation in a better manner. Further if the intern can readily solve the problems, the management of Thomas can readily hire the person, from intern to a permanent staff.

Task 3

3.1 Fulfil specified requirements of placement conforming to all related codes of practice

The establishments which are being provided at the work placement identify certain perquisite and certain behavioural codes which have to pursue by the individual learners. These mainly include the industrial benchmark which tends to verify as to how one behaves and what re the factors which should not have followed.

Thomas Cook has also certain practices which are being followed:

• Working hours: At Thomas cook, the amount of time for working is being determined as per the UK system which clearly mentions that the students will be permitted to work not for more than 8 hours as per the working hour regulations. This done mainly to preserve the punctuality of time and with only a maximum grace period of 15 minutes.
• Compensation provided: in such respect, the work placement is just a mere division of the education of the learner and which usually doesn’t applies for any kind of payment to the candidates who are being placed. However, being working at Thomas cook , I was offered some advantages like free meals , allowances related to travelling , free lunch hours etc .
• Providing equal opportunity to all: Thomas cook being United kingdom airlines doesn’t distinguish between employees and provides just opportunities to all irrespective to race , religion , cast creed etc .
• Maintaining confidentiality: As a positioned employee and a learner, I had the right to entry to lots of confidential information’s of various passengers including the internal staff as well such as the passenger’s bank details, business facts. So Thomas cook makes it sure to make the student sign a certain report of confidentiality which gives an instruction that no information’s of the company should be discussed outside.

3.2 Produce systematic records of work undertaken

It is required by the placement cell at work to maintain a organised documentation of the daily tasks which are being undertaken, which tends to act as a proof for the actually planning done. The organised work records are usually kept by a maintaining a proper work schedule, a detailed log book where the day to day activities of Thomas cook in this case can be reviewed.

Work schedule: this schedule mainly depicts the tasks which are being allotted to different employees by their employers. In case of Thomas cook it tends to set a daily agenda where each staffs including ground level operations and in flight operations are given and divided s per their task and responsibilities. (Thomascookgroup, 2016).

Log book: it is document which encloses all the information’s of the particular person like the name of the placed student , the emergency contact details, the name of the company working , the contact number of the employer  , the detail regarding his school ,. The job allotted, the task depicted etc

 A record for my first 4 weeks Placement with Thomas Cook:

Name of the Student:

Contact Number:

Contact number (In Emergency) 1

Contact number (In Emergency) 2

School Name: Steiner Academy

Employer name: Thomas Cook.

Placement Dates: worked with a renowned Airline company Thomas Cook as an Intern for 6 months starting from January 2016 to June 2016.

Working Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Designation: Management trainee intern.

Records as weekly:

January:

• Understanding the airline operations
• Receiving adequate training how to handle critical situations
• Putting training into action.

February:

• After receiving training on the job , look after the complaints as per the scenarios
• Receiving the guests and their difficulties

March:

• Critically scrutinizing each ground operations
• Looking after the health and safety factor
• Revering the feedback forms.

April:

• Looking after the in – flight operation
• Taking into account the staffs way of handling the passengers
• Identifying the gaps
• Giving ultimate solutions.

May:

• Handling backend operations
• Assisting on regular administration

June: 

• Submitting group presentation and report on all learning sessions
• Undertaking qualifying test and getting certification.

3.3 Revise the initial plan as required.

The plan which was originally depicted should be reviewed and updated as per the changes which are being depicted and the rules and regulation on certain situations. This mainly engages replacing the old plan with the new and revised one.

• The initial plan pertaining to my work placement of work was being updated by engrossing me as a management trainee and taking certain training programs and knowing about the airport operations. (Smith, 2012)
• Thereafter , I was given the responsibility to look after the ground operations first under the supervision of a senior mentor
• During this time, my work was being exceeded and has to work for some extra hours more than the normal 8 hours of work. This is because Thomas cook was undergoing its peak season, and had undertaken a multi million project and I along with my mentor were managing for more than 700 people. This helped me to be more responsible and help the passengers in catering to their needs.
• After which in December , due to lots of people are travelling at that time , there was a total rush and it depicted much more responsibilities and with responsibilities there was pressure in handling all such passengers queries and more challenges was being handled by me .
• After my internship was over, at Thomas cook, made my voyage and did all the arrangements associated.

Therefore these modifications which were being done to my original placement of work helped me in providing a wide range of opportunities and helped me to adapt in better organisation situations.

3.4 Make suggestions for improvement and review these with appropriate supervisor.

Being hired as a management trainee intern, I have seen certain aspects which I think is necessary for Thomas cook to implement certain suggestions as perceived by me:

• Proper facilities of ticketing: Sometimes I have seen that the passengers who are booking online, faces certain issues in regards to baggage sizes, the problem of networks. (Thomascookgroup, 2016)
• Scheduling of flights: Sometimes what I have seen that too many flights coming at the same time, a total chaos happens. There are problems regarding delaying flights and which causes passengers to sometimes cancel their flights. Sometimes proper accommodation is not given provided by Thomas cook after sudden cancellation of a flight.
• Improving Customer service: This is one of the major drawbacks of Thomas cook.  The customer service needs to be trained properly, since they don’t handle all queries of all the customers properly, some are totally ignorant, some are busy doing something else, and some are just carefree. It is the responsibility of the customer, of Thomas Cook being a reputed airline to make the passengers comfortable.
• Problems relating to in – flight operations : While dealing with in flight operations , I have came across  certain issues relating to the width of the seat , it is not comfortable enough , there are difficulties in leaning and it might cause problem to person sitting behind . Thomas cook, should adhere to policy in limited the number of carryon bags. Secondly, there are certain defects in the wireless0020services, it is not fluent.( Smith,2012)

Therefore it can be said that if these suggestions are being properly implemented Thomas cook being a valuable airline company it will be of tremendous help.

Task 4

4.1 Monitor progress against original proposal produced in Task 1.2

By building the proposal for the work experience, I landed up with an internship work at Thomas Cook.  For monitoring the progress of the proposal, the following attributes are to be followed,

• On my very first day as an intern, I am being in constant touch with Thomas Cook that is helping me in demonstrating my enthusiasm for the job role as well as for giving me the opportunity for clarifying any understanding that I am not sure about.
• I am familiarising myself with the compulsions as an intern at Thomas Cook that includes certain rules, policies as well as procedures. By appropriately conducting myself I will be creating a better impression on Thomas Cook.
• I have started creating a to-do list for undertaking my various tasks at my place of work. I have been making this list for the high-level tasks as well as for the daily activities that will assist me in achieving my general objectives. I am also using this list for maintaining a track of my achievements as well as developments that are assisting me with my internship work.
• I am constantly staying in touch with my work supervisors for getting benefitted from academic mentoring, feedback as well as continuous reassessment of improvement. I am doing this especially because even if I am not getting absorbed by Thomas Cook for a full time position after the brief stint of internship with the company, I will be gathering a network of referees as well as industry insiders that hugely assist me in actualisation of my career goals.

4.2 Evaluate the quality of own performance. You need to judge the quality of your own performance. Did you meet industry standards? What was the comments/testimony from supervisors about your performance?

In my role as an intern at Thomas Cook, the major target of mine was to broaden the capacity of my knowledge in respect of interpreting the various activities that are to be undertaken at the workplace, that takes into consideration the attributes of customer handling, getting feedbacks from the seniors, and also doing the different administrative works that were assigned to me. In respect of evaluating my own performance at Thomas Cook I can say that I have become more skilful that has benefitted my team, I have started analysing the various current business scenario in respect of Thomas Cook, I have developed my abilities for interaction, I have developed my capabilities for handling crisis as well as my interpersonal and investigative abilities and last but not the least I have developed various core strengths for handling customer issues.

In respect of meeting the standards of the industry I can say that yes, to a very large extent I have been successful in meeting the industry standards. I was supposed to fulfil certain targets that were assigned to me by the organisation and I was successful in meeting all of them. For instance, I was successful in competing each and every task that the company had assigned me with the stipulated time period. Then, I was successful in the attainment towards increasing the number of customers by 20% in relation to the prior strength of customers. I have been successful in developing my problem solving skills, assessment skills, as well as reasoning skills while I commenced with my internship at Thomas Cook. Regarding my performance, my supervisor commented that I was an outstanding intern giving very little scope for criticism which really gave me a lot of encouragement. Also, I had maintained proper discipline while working as an intern at Thomas Cook. In short, all the while I was working at Thomas Cook; I was in the good books of supervisor both in terms of work performance as well as my behaviour.

4.3 Analyse the learning which has taken place during the work experience using suitable reflections.

In my brief stint while working at Thomas Cook as an intern, I have learned certain aspects that included interacting with the customers, doing administrative work as well as conducting marketing research work for Thomas Cook.

In respect of interacting with the customers, I was everyday given a target of calling 100 random numbers over the phone and asking them whether they have any plan for travelling within the next three months or not. If they answered in affirmative then I had to note down their details so that the sales representatives can visit them and discuss with them about their tour plans. In addition to this, I was again calling the individuals who were highly interested or partially interested, telling them about the various promotional offers that were available. I also did face to face interactions with the customers who used to come to the office of Thomas Cook with certain queries. I used to initiate the discussion with them by listening to their queries, jotting them down, and telling them about the various tour plans as well as promotional offers that were available. I used to inculcate an interest in them until my seniors used to initiate a more in-depth discussion regarding the tour plans. All these helped me in developing my interpersonal skills as well as communication skills. I also started to perceive the behavioural skill of various individuals. Apart from this, I also used to do the various kinds of administrative works that were assigned to me since there was a lot of paper works involved. I had to do proper filing of all the documents, then prepare proper excels where I recorded all the details of the customers whom I have called and kept their details. This helped in strengthening my administrative skills as well as planning skills.

Last but not the least, I also conducted market research by visiting various corporate houses and asking them certain questions that helped me in filling up questionnaires for understanding what was the present choice of tour operator for the corporate houses and what improvements they will be recommending for Thomas Cook.

4.4 Make recommendations on how the experience could have been enhanced.

Although, I gave my utmost in my work as an intern at Thomas Cook, there is still the possibility for improvement in respect of the work that I did. At Thomas Cook, I did the work that included interacting with the customers, doing administrative work as well as conducting marketing research work for Thomas Cook.

If I consider the first aspect of interacting with customers, I can say that at times I was unable to answer the queries of the customers over the phone and instead of jotting their queries in my note book and clarifying them from my seniors, at times I used to bypass them. I did not even note down the details of those individuals so that I could call them later, because if all of their queries could have been satisfactorily met then they could have been a possibility of these individuals becoming potential clients of Thomas Cook in a later period. I also should have given more mock calls in front of my seniors for improving my communication skills as well as interpersonal skills. Then, if I consider the aspect of doing the administrative work, there were certain silly mistakes that I used to do in respect of filling the forms of the customers, filing of the documents as well as noting down the details of the customers in the excels. In this respect, I should have been more attentive and sincere in my work which could have assisted me in not committing the flaws.

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Conclusion

In this assignment I have learnt about how one can improve oneself by  decision making  proper plans about their own way of work, prioritising their work schedules and depicting responsibilities. I have further taken a scenario where I was assigned as an intern at Thomas cook, and depicting the tasks and responsibilities I have been assigned to, further I have also learned about the different tasks and the different assignments during my internship period, moreover I have also learned how I will be able to handle pressure when given such live industrial experience at work.

References

Accounting Tools. (2016). Types of Constraints. [Available online at]: http://www.accountingtools.com/types-of-constraints. Accessed on (28/6/16)
Bakker, A.B., (2011). An evidence-based model of work engagement. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 20(4), pp.265-269.
Evans, N., Stonehouse, G. and Campbell, D., (2012). Strategic management for travel and tourism. Taylor & Francis.
Pearce, B., (2012). The state of air transport markets and the airline industry after the great recession. Journal of Air Transport Management, 21, pp.3-9.
Smith, V.L. ed., (2012). Hosts and guests: The anthropology of tourism. University of Pennsylvania Press.
homascookgroup, (2016). Role profiles. [Available online at]: https://www.thomascookgroup.com/role-profiles/ . Accessed on (28/6/16).
Thomascookgroup, (2016). Sustainability is at our heart. [Available online at]: https://www.thomascookgroup.com/sustainability/ . Accessed on (28/6/16)