Getting the best out of an internship

For the completion of the degree program that I am currently following  at NIBM/NSBM [National Institute of Business Management / National School of Business Management] which is affiliated to University College of Dublin, Ireland there is an independent study to be made in completion of Advanced Diploma in Business Management (ADBM) and a business project and industrial training for Higher Diploma in Business Management (HDBM).

To complete the business project and an industrial training I was able to participate in a six month [June 2015 - December 2015] internship at a leading licensed commercial bank which is Sampath Bank PLC, Sri Lanka.

I was assigned to the Development Banking Unit of Sampath Bank PLC. It was located in the heart of the city of Colombo, Sri Lanka.

It was a great learning experience and as my first professional working experience, I was able to gather many skills that helped me to improve myself as a person and a professional and also things that I can use to the future.

In summary, those are,

(01) Professional Skepticism
(02) Research skills
(03) Business ethics and practice
(04) Basic Functional role of a credit officer in a Licensed Commercial Bank and the basic banking functions

During the six month internship, I was able to analyze and study microfinance documentation - creditor personal information & credit papers, use of financial spreads or statements, study project financing through the preparation of credit papers & reviews and conducting an industrial training on par with academic life.

As a special note, I should say the support from the department I worked was extremely helpful in understanding my limitations and educational backgrounds.

From manufacturing companies, power plants[Renewable energy plants, wind power plants and solar power plants], hotels and many small and medium enterprise [SME] level companies were studied, and relevant background research was conducted for risk management purposes, project feasibility analysis, credit papers & reviews based on fund disbursement to the debtor were conducted during the six months which was one of my major tasks during the internship with the guide of my senior supervisors at the bank.

There is special risk management (RM) Information system used by Sampath Bank PLC, which is 'Kalypto' (Brand name of the Risk Management System).

This RMIS allows the bank to make the relevant risk assessment of the client based on the audited financial statement (AFS) for the relevant financial period and accordingly continuos credit disbursement is conducted to the client. Other external factors are also taken into consideration based on the guidelines of the Relationship Manager.

And also during the six (06) months I was able to analyse and study an environmental management system (EMS) proposed to credit departments who finance projects that have a significant relevance to the nature and environment, and with special reference to the environmental management (EM) module from the HDBM I was able to provide suggestions for the EMS which is prepared according to the guidelines provided by Asian Development Bank (ADB) affiliated with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) in order to empower licensed commercial banks of Sri Lanka to achieve sustainable development in the country. 

I also conducted an analysis of customer orientation of licensed commercial banks of Sri Lanka with special reference to the Licensed Commercial Bank I worked [Sampath Bank PLC] was conducted as an additional project.

The following analysis of the customer orientation and customer services of licensed commercial banks in Sri Lanka was conducted through theoretical knowledge of marketing management and by doing a field study of visiting the relevant organizations to identify customer service, its effectiveness, and efficiency (productivity) to the customers and by that adopt proper measures to avoid customer dissatisfaction.

The internship I did in the banking sector was in the development banking department which every bank has as a credit unit. It provides financing for business start-ups and other different projects as I mentioned above, I was under the sub-division of microfinance and project finance.

Under that, I was also able to go through a training project organized and sponsored for managers of Sampath Bank PLC conducted for competency development on entrepreneurship and SME project financing. This training was conducted by CEFE Net: Sri Lanka [CEFE - Enterprise Education for Success], a member of CEFE international.

And also for the partial fulfillment of the HDBM, a study to identify the reasons for low market share for - Microfinance Loans of Sampath Bank PLC, a research was conducted with special reference to northern and eastern provinces of Sri Lanka.

This was management research covering the subject matter of microfinance theories, human resource management, and marketing.

And overall I was able to participate in financial clients management as well. Many of the banking terminologies were able to be learned during the study of  6 months allowing me to understand the industry norms and its functions and how it affects the business of LCB's.

The skills and knowledge gained were not done simply. I had to use some tactics to get the maximum out of the internship.


(01) I showed eagerness to learn. I was new to the banking industry and I was able to establish myself among the others and also to maintain a good rapport among superiors.

(02) I did extra work. I was able to execute some of the external personal skills development.

(03) I was able to maintain a personal learning journal to refer to when there is a need to study them.

(04) I worked late. Come early.

(05) I was patient and was able to learn my skills development without ego for myself.


These are very common traits and I'm not saying I did a perfect internship.


These are the feedback to improvement from my seniors after an internship on my last day.

- Boss / Head of the department [Mr. Asantha Punchihewa] ->

Very impatient and careless. If you work on impatience you will be able to increase your accuracy and productivity.

And also try to manage personal relations with all management tiers equally.

- SME: Senior Relationship Manager [Mr. Ranjith Abeykoon] ->

Your 24 years old. While the degree is completed try to get another qualification and work experience because you're gonna need a good job by '30s.

- Project Finance: Senior relationship manager [Mrs. Nelum Fonseka]  -> Learn to prioritize thing that matters most. Especially for education.

- Project Finance : Executive [Mrs. Dhananjie Disanayake] ->

(01) Concentration and memory
(02) Discipline (Respect the seniority)

Overall as a summary, these are the personal learnings.

(01) Don't go by the book.
(02) Study well and balance work.
(03) Concentration.

References

Images

·        

      - Title: Internship (2017). Format: (Jpg.). Available at: https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/internship-benefits-businesseducation-conceptual-416331709?src=PvIeSCMMfY9jhOCypTpidQ-1-0    (Accessed date: 4/10/2017)

Project management : Practical implementation of learnings made in business school

I am a student who joined a degree program at the age of 23, which is quite above in age comparing to others.

So basically I was the oldest student at the institution, I studied business management.

It's a bachelor's degree in business management from University College of Dublin, Ireland affiliated with the semi-governmental institute NIBM (National Institute of Business Management) and NSBM (National School of Business Management) of Sri Lanka.

In the third year, I was exposed to an interesting module during the study where many of its learnings were used in practical life at a career in the workplace in 2016 [KPMG: Sri Lanka]. 

This module was "Project management: The managerial process".

Now why project management became a special reference as a learning tool in the career for me?

In the year 2016 there were many goal attainment objectives (personal, academic and professional) and to achieve them step by step I used and required a methodical guideline.

For this, several simple project management theories were helpful for me during my studies at work.

The definition of a "Project" is as follows,

A project is complex by time, budget, resources and performance specifications designed to meet customer needs.

The definition of a "Program" is as follows,

A program is a series of coordinated, related, multiple projects that continue over an extended time and are intended to achieve a goal.

Now as an external auditor a series of many sub-function are involved in completing a financial statement audit. (FSA)

And project management came along just fine in the future as my auditing career progresses.

It is because of the following characteristics,

There is a specific period to finalize an audit and therefore as a business management student use of project management in the relevant auditing functions is highly required. But since I'm in the trainee level, my level of audit planning work is extremely low and therefore only thing I was supposed to do was to complete my assigned audit procedures and relevant workings before the deadline as per the instructions of the supervisor.

But I used project management in achieving the strategy. Strategy linked to projects. These projects are my academic and personal life. 

Many of my academic life achievements like in the degree program and banking was made through planning facing the exams systematically through studying and preparing.

As I discussed above the definition of a project can be used to imply in the scenario of project management, this provides people with a powerful set of tools that improves their ability to plan, implement, and manage activities to accomplish specific organizational objectives.

But project management is more than just a set of tools, it is a results-oriented management style that places a premium on building a collaborative relationship among a diverse cast of characters.

Though doing some exams alone without colleagues like CIMA and IBSL: IABF. Doing the degree program was a collective effort. These required a high level of basic project management. It was mostly based on experience rather than theoretical practice.

Now one of my previous articles with the abbreviation BMYM ( Link -> https://businessstudentbs.blogspot.com/2017/01/business-management-your-mind-bmym.html) discussed aspects like implementing business management theories in exam preparation.

But concepts in project management can be also discussed in these aspects with reference to exam preparation in a more deeper sense with more application and user-friendly nature with an elaborated guideline.

To understand this the definition of the project life cycle and its steps are given.

The project life cycle is one aspect where we can pre-plan our goals and objectives of project achievements.

01. Defining  
02. Planning 
03. Executing 
04. Closure

Now every time I worked in projects, I role-played a project manager in repetitive activities I was assigned and frequently acts independently and study my growth against the previous audits.

Project Management as a subject is a diverse area and many of its metrics and other aspects should not be considered in this analysis due to the primary level of application.

I'm also hoping to do my industry level research of my current audit firm and is planning to use project management as my core study area in order to establish a deeper study into theory and practical implementation.

And personally, I was able to learn many team building skills during audits through studying concepts like Management By Wandering Around (MBWA).

So overall the purpose of this simple article is to establish the importance of theoretical subjects like project management in Business management in order to expand into better quality work and results in academic, professional and personal life.

References

Images

·         Project Management (2017). Title: (Jpg.). Available at : https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/project-management-ideas-development-graph-concept-380671153?src=C9nSBmCDYRJy4Xci-903nQ-1-6 (Accessed date : 2017/02/26)

Pdf

·         Humphreys, P. (2016). Title: Project Management (BMGT2003L) – Study guide. Publisher: University College of Dublin – External courses, Pages: 50 pages. Available at : https://elearning.ucd.ie/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_558037_1&content_id=_924051_1&mode=reset (Accessed date : 2017/02/26)

Presentations

·         McGraw-Hill/Irvine (2011). Title: Project Management – The Managerial Process

Misguided Business Student

My year of 2016 at the age of 25 as an entry level accounting/auditing professional at KPMG: Sri Lanka was havoc.

As an undergraduate who follows two professional courses, one in "accounting" and other in "banking" who happens to have an addiction to excessive entertainment and tendency to get depressed like I said going to Colombo was high-risk decision making.

And it happened as always the way we expected it to happen.

Many of my "academic and professional life goals" were achieved with marginal success rates.

Academically and professionally combined my priority as education should be passing and getting to touch with CIMA: Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.

But since I used self-study techniques and also my mistake of over-prioritizing banking and the degree negatively impacted on me.

So basically I failed CIMA which should be the foundation to my accounting and auditing career.

And my career was also extremely volatile.

It did not respond as positively as I hoped it would. It was my fault.

Like I said Lack of knowledge in MS Excel, Sri Lanka Accounting Standards (LKAS) and Sri Lanka Auditing Standards (SLAuS) negatively impacted on me.

And then again I myself as a professional did showed a lack of interest at work due to a variable lifestyle in the year 2016.

The established skill set from 2015 during the Internship at Sampath Bank PLC (June 2015 to December 2015) and from NIBM (National Institute of Business Management) was uprooted in a year due to misguided personal behavior by me.

I also had to follow a strict social media guideline of our entity. I did not break any legal areas but there were many ethical concerns in my opinion.

My degree in business management was a degree specialized in business administration. It helped me out to build on the overall professional life, but my prioritizing on three academic courses was a failure in the sense of grasping core subject matter.

And in conclusion, the final ending for this article is simple. This is like a simple walkthrough of a year of an accounting/auditing professional and accordingly identifying his or her problems to be a better business student and a professional in future which is highly required and this is the guideline through 1-year experience by me.

This is more like a self - evaluation. So others can learn from my mistakes.

References

Image: Chalkboard with question marks (2017). Format : (jpg) Available at http://www.freepik.com/free-photo/chalkboard-with-question-marks-and-a-hand-with-a-chalk_1030091.htm#term=confused&page=1&position=4 (Accessed date: 2017/01/28) 

Business Management Your Mind (BMYM)

Now, this article on "managing your mind" may look like covering aspects like "business psychology", "strategic human resource management" and "marketing".

But basically it’s a simple depiction of the use of "fundamental management principles" in day to day activities, and especially referring it to "studying" for a six month intermediary level accountancy subject specializing in the "banking sector" of Sri Lanka, which I sat for and studied for in "two weeks" and passing the exam with "an acceptable result".

Now let’s lay down the principles of theoretical tools used in this practical scenario of "the project" of passing the business accounting module in the "Intermediary of Applied Banking and Finance (IABF)".

Basically "basic 4 steps of management" as per the knowledge gained from "the bachelor’s degree in business management" is used, which is laid down below,

      (01) Planning and decision making   

      (02) Organizing

      (03) Leading

      (04) Controlling

Now, these "four steps" are the basics of decision making in any organization’s management function.

Now BMYM or “Business Management Your Mind” is an "abbreviation" use to reflect on the implementation of "four steps in management principles" to achieve an exam based objective attainment which is related to "professional" and "academic" life.

Now basically the "first step" as per the above situation is,

 

      (01) Planning and decision making

First of all the study guide issued by the Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka (IBSL) was used to extract basic guidelines for the exam.

(i)                  The results categories and it’s variety are,

A – Distinction – 85 < xxxx

B – 75 – 84

C – 65 – 74

S – 45 – 64

F – 45 < xxxx [Fail]

(ii)                Business accounting syllabus "objectives" and "contents"

Now that the targets, goals, and objectives are clear, a "plan" on how to achieve these in two weeks was established.

And also "syllabus areas of the subject" was also studied and the "relevant study material" was gathered.

                            

From IBSL class notes, external study material related to business accounting (Chartered Accountancy study material and Chartered Institute of Management Accountancy [CIMA] study material) and past papers for IABF from IBSL were collected to prepare for the exam.

And also an external tutor from newspapers was found to gain study support. His name was Mr. Chandana Prasad. He was contacted and the relevant objectives attainment plan was established.

      (02) Organizing

Now since with work at "the external audit firm", "studies at the bachelor’s degree program", "self-studies of Chartered Institute of Management Accountancy (CIMA) : UK" and "self studies for Banking" is a lot of functions at once, it is required to "organize" the relevant work properly.

Therefore prior to the exam before two (02) weeks sequentially the following functions were established and checked off from the list in "(03) Leading" and "(04) Controlling" which are the next two functions in the basic objectives.

The "list of functions" to be achieved is basically…….

(i)                  Four (04) classes of 2 hours were put on the "last weekends" prior to the exam contacting the tutor "Mr. Chandana".

(ii)                Since prior to the exam requires "study leave" it was applied with the discussion of the supervisor at the firm not clashing with professional life.

(iii)               A study schedule was established to work on the exam according to the different study areas categorizing them for the 14 days in 2 weeks prior to the exam. This was based on past paper references.

(iv)              Getting approved the exam admission.

      (03) Leading

Leading a personal, singular and individual objective should be based on personal discipline.

The study was personally followed up with the "daily diary" and "problem areas" were studied accordingly.

The "admission" was approved and all the above "checklist" was followed up accordingly.

      (04) Controlling

   

      To avoid deviation of work performance entertainment and additional activities were reduced to achieve examination, objectives, and goals. 

      

      The examination was passed with a “Result of an S” which is satisfactory considering the time period and the workload.                                                                                                                                   
   
      But since it is marginal, the "effectiveness" of the relevant function is questionable. "Efficiency" was there since the objective of passing the exam is existent. Basically, the management function is half done.                                                                                                                                                   
   
      Productivity (Efficiency + Effectiveness) is not there.

      

      Now the purpose of this article is to provide a guideline to personal goal attainment using business management principles.

      This function is related to professional and academic life goal attainment.

Hope it helped.

Thanks.


References

Presentations and lectures

•               Ranawaka. K. (2013), Principles of management.

Websites

·        Chapman. A. (2016), Time management techniques and systems, Businessballs.com. Available at: http://www.businessballs.com/timemanagement.htm (Accessed date: 25^th December, 2016 / Time: 11:23 PM)

·       CollegeBoard.com (2016), Principles of Management, Available at: https://clep.collegeboard.org/business/principles-of-management.html (Accessed date: 25^th December, 2016 / Time: 11:30 PM)

Images

·       Bellier, F (2014), Clear Mind Factory (Image : Jpg), Available at : http://clearmindfactory.com/ (Accessed date : 25^th December, 2016 / Time: 11:42 PM)

 

QM and Origin of Sin

As per the "book of genesis" of "The Hebrew Bible", chapters one through five, reflects the origin of sin which was done by "Adam and Eve". They ate "the forbidden fruit of good and evil" at the "Garden of Eden" with the influence of "Lucifer" and so humanity began.

This is also a symbolical reflection on "the moral factor" in humanity. Simply indulgence in immoral pleasures is punishable is the metaphorical message of this story.

Basically, mankind itself is a sin.

This biblical reference or allusion is added to my article to give a good start to this "paper".

Now yesterday with the release of a new television series “Westworld” which is based on a "Michael Crichton" science fiction novel and an English film from the 1970s, which is titled with taglines of various themes like,

Where life begins. (Season 1)

Every hero has a code. (Season 1)

Some places make you feel alive. (Season 1)

Find your purpose. (Season 1)

These violent delights have violent ends. (Season 1)

Chaos takes control. (Season 2)

I was so provoked, I applied to my personal life.

The image below is from West World: 2016 television drama.

As a Buddhist according to basic philosophy, it is the mind and the physical indulgence to satisfy needs and wants that establishes the foundation for sin and the act made as per the sinful thoughts completes the sin. 

Sin is something that would create a harm or pain physically or mentally due to the act of the sinner.

Accordingly, as per the philosophy in Buddhism, nature will punish him or her for it through the cycle of life and karma.

This will come in this life or the next in the endless samsara.

This is also called cause and effect.

Therefore simply avoiding sin is better.

For this in "Buddhism", there is a basic five – rule concept / "Pansil Padha" / The five precepts to follow, which is what the majority of religions in the world offer for the followers.

Now Buddhism gives a solution for this endless samsara and sin.

It is not always to be punished and dwell on an act by nature, but to deeply identify why it happened and never to let that kind of thing happen again through analysis.

There is a four-step approach to this in Buddhism.

It is called "the four noble truths doctrine".

The truths are (01) dukkha, (02) the arising of dukkha, (03) the cessation of dukkha, and (04) the path leading to the cessation of dukkha.

In summary, you find the reason for your sadness and accordingly find peace with it by internal or external means through detachment or forgiveness.

This aspect of nature taking the stance of god and punishing the sinner is also there in Physics.

In the fundamental physics, I learned in General Certificate of Examination (G.C.E.) Ordinary Level (O/L) in 2007, Newton’s third law says the same thing.

Newton’s Third Law: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

So basically science approves of this.

Following is an image on Newton’s third law in a practical sense.

Now as a business management student I was impacted by the word “Cause and effect”. Because this same concept came up in “Quality Management” in my second year of the bachelor’s degree. It reflected upon using a “Cause and effect” diagram to find solutions to quality related matters came through external or internal shocks in a business entity. This is also called a “Fishbone” diagram. It was structured by a Japanese management philosopher Kaoru Ishikawa (1968) where he may get the idea through Buddhism since Japanese culture have some essence of Mahayana Buddhism. In this concept which is used as a Kaizen Tool analyses a collective contribution to a single effect of quality reduction. Kaizen is a TQM (Total Quality Management) technique.

A line is drawn and as the inception is the “issue” is established and the reasons for the issue as splinters vertically drawn in the diagram.

This gives a better perspective on the problem in a graphical and a summarized manner.

The following is a model diagram.

Anyway from "The Bible", "global entertainment", "Buddhism", "Physics" to "quality management" finally I would like to say Basics of “cause and effect” diagram can give solutions for many personal, academic and professional problems in life.