Organisation Study - Guidelines

ORGANISATION STUDY -     GUIDELINES

A.     OBJECTIVE OF THE ORGANISATION STUDY

The education of any future manager will be incomplete without exposure to working in an organization. The project, a study of an industrial, business or service organization, is therefore made an essential academic requirement for the first year students of the MBA programme. The students spend one month, working in and learning from an organization.

 The assignment provides the student with opportunities to:

·         Have a first hand exposure on the concepts and skills to real life management situations.

·         Relate class room learning of concepts and skills of real life management situations.

    PERIOD OF THE STUDY

 The student is required to work full-time for a minimum of 30 consecutive calendar days on the rolls of the organizations (including Sundays and holidays). Actual working days, therefore will not be 30 but less by the number of Sundays and Holidays. During the training, the participant is not eligible for any leave except under unavoidable circumstances. The Study is also to be planned during the months of June-July and the students have to submit their Study report to the department within 30 days of commencement of the 3^rd semester course.

   CONFIDENTIALITY & CONDUCT

a)      When discussing the project with superior, ascertain which elements of the work are confidential.

b)     Treat the project as confidential unless a formal written indication to the contrary is given. Do not discuss the project with the friends and even with executives in the organization unless the supervisor has expressly favoured such discussion.

c)      The student has to adhere to the rules and regulations applicable to the trainees of the organization and should not misuse facilities (such as subsidized lunch and transportation). If they intent to make use of any facility (computer, stationery, etc.) they have to get prior approval from the concerned authorities of the organization.

d)     Note that they will be required to make good and fully indemnify the organization for any loss or damage suffered or sustained by it by their misbehavior or improper conduct and neither the college or university will have any responsibility or accountability in such matters.

e)      Comply with the prescribed dress code, if there is one.

f)       The student has to ensure that he does not do anything that will bring disrepute to his own the B school or the university’s name. If there is any report of such misconduct from the organization concerned appropriate action may be taken by the B School / University.

D.     EVALUATION OF THE STUDY

1.       The Study report carries 100 marks and is fully internal in nature. Of these 60 marks for the Study report to be given by the internal guide and 40 marks on the basis of a viva conducted on the Study. The viva will be evaluated by a committee comprising of faculty members other than internal guide.

2.       To ensure the seriousness of the Study and to have a feedback from the industry, a Three-stage Reporting system is being practiced. On joining the organization for the Study, the student is to send a Joining Report to the B School. Then the student is to send a Progress Report countersigned by the Supervisor in each week during the period of study. An Evaluation Report should be obtained from the supervisor of the organization at the end of the study. The Evaluation Report is to be filled in by the supervisor and handed over in a sealed envelope, and sent to the B School on completion of the project through the student. The format of the Joining Report, Progress Report and Evaluation Report will be given to each student from the B School.

3.       If the Study is not satisfactory and the student does not get the required pass marks he has to do a remedial Study along with the next batch of students.

E.      HOW TO GO ABOUT THE WORK

1.       Have an organization Supervisor in the organization. Visit the organization and have a walk through and to identify and acquaint themselves with the different departments.

2.       Make the organization chart for the organization and try to understand the functions of the managers/officers and supervisors in the different departments. Also collect all information relating to the General Management as given in the Report Format. Record these observations of yours and clarify with your supervisor to check if the same is correct.

3.       Identify the key functions of each department and try to understand how it is carried out (the process). Collect all relevant information regarding the procedures and activities relating to various departments as given in the Fourth chapter of the Report Format given below. You have to make a record of how the various activities are done in the different departments of the organization.

4.       Try and interact with personnel and customers (both external & internal) users, to find if there are problems with the processes. Make record of your findings.

5.       Make a SWOT analysis of the organization in consultation with the supervisor.

 F.   GUIDELINES FOR PREPARING THE ORGANISATION STUDY REPORT.(FORMAT OF    REPORT)

While preparing the Study Report the following have to be kept in mind:

1.       The cover page will have the title of the project, name of the participant, guide as well as the name of the B School, and University.

2.       The next few pages after the cover page will be as follows:

a.    Certificate from the organization where the study was done duly signed.

b.    Certificate from the Director of the B School signed by both the Director and the internal guide.

c.    Declaration of the authenticity of the Study duly signed by the student.

3.       Subsequent pages will be :

a.    List of contents

b.    List of tables/charts.

 There will be six chapters as follows:

4.       The first chapter will be the introduction and will contain such items as Executive Summary, background (need) of the study, objectives and scope of the study, the methodology of the study and limitations of the study.

5.       The second chapter gives industry profile, the group profile (if company is part of a group), the company profile (history, people behind it, present status-market share, competition etc.) and the product profile. The full organization structure also found a part of this chapter.

6.       The third chapter gives the detailed observations of the General Management of the organisation.

The following are a list of indicative areas that could be covered for the study in this chapter:

a.    The Planning process

b.    The Decision-making process

c.    Information systems

d.    Communication systems

e.    General Strategies

f.     Control systems

g.    Organisation Manual

h.    Duties and responsibilities of the Top Level Managers

7.       The Fourth chapter gives the functional activities in each department. Find how the following are done in each department. The actual procedures of each item is briefly explained. This chapter may be conveniently divided into sections, each section being given to each department.

a.   Human Resource or Personnel Department

1)     Human Resource Planning

a)      Job Analysis

b)     Job Description & Job Specification

c)      Job Design

2)     Recruitment and Selection

3)     Placement & Selection

4)     Training & Development

5)     Transfer, Promotions & Separations

6)     Wage & Salary Administration

a)      Job Evaluation

b)     Constituents of Salary

c)      Incentives & benefits

7)     Performance Appraisal

8)     Health & Safety

9)     Welfare  measures

10) Worker’s participation

11) Employee Grievance

12) Trade Unions & Labour Relations

13) Personnel Records & Audits

b.  Marketing and Sales Department

1)     Analysis of environment

2)     Market Intelligence & Market Research

3)     Marketing Information System(MIS)

4)     Segmenting, Targeting & Positioning

5)     Distribution strategy

a)      Retailing, wholesaling channel

b)     Sales force strategy

6)     Pricing strategy

7)     Promotional activities

8)     Product strategy

9)     New product strategy

10) International marketing

11) Marketing Control & Audit

c.   Production Department

1)     Product Capacity

2)     Process Flow & Plant Layout

3)     Operations Planning & scheduling

4)     Inventory management & control

5)     Supply chain management

a)      Logistics – inbound & outbound

b)     Warehousing

6)     Use of computer in process – ERP system

7)     Control measures

8)     Quality management

a)      TQM/TPM

b)     ISO and other certifications

9)     Workers participation – quality circles.

d.  Accounting and Finance Department

1)     Capital Structure

2)     Financial Statement Analysis

a)      P&L Statement

b)     Balance Sheet

c)      Ratio analysis

3)     Revenues

a)      Sales

b)     Break up product/unit wise

4)     Expense

a)      Major Raw Materials

b)     Sales & distribution

c)      Overheads

5)     Working capital

a)      Accounts receivable & Accounts payable

b)     Inventory

c)      Working capital cycle & funding

6)     Budgeting / Break Even Point

7)     Control measures / Audit

 e.   Any other Departments

                              

                               If there are departments other than the above mentioned departments in the organization, such departments may be merged with the above departments if possible or may be shown under separate section.

8.       The Fifth chapter presents a SWOT Analysis which shows the strength, weakness, opportunity and threats of the organization. The Report is to be concluded with a summary of important observations noticed about the organisation.