CHARPTER TWO

ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN
2.0 Introduction
This chapter includes the duties and responsibilities that the internee was involved in. it
also covers the other activities that the internee accomplished and engaged in both within
the premises and at the field.

2.1 Activities Undertaken

Induction training
This is the process by which a new employee is introduced to co- workers and given
information such as working hours, place of work, performance standards, benefits and
facilities and names of immediate and other officers (Merriam-webster 2015). It can also
be referred to as induction. The internee was introduced to various staff members,
different offices, given an overview of what contracts management office deals with such
as managing contracts, monitoring and ensuring service delivery is done in the right
procedures and quality work is presented, among others. This activity was to equip the
intern with the necessary organizational knowledge for perfect execution of duties and
responsibilities. This enabled the internee put into practice the theory learnt in Business
Communication skills on communication, behavior, tolerance among others

Attending the evaluation committee meeting

While in the field work attachment the internee was given an opportunity of attending the
bid opening which was in the procurement and disposal unit. The bids were opened at
11:30am and all interested bidders had to be present during bid opening to witness their
bids being opened however, for this bid opening, the restricted bidding method was used
so, it was not a must for bidders to be present during bid opening therefore the university
carried out the activity with the internee’s and the interested bidders who wanted to be
present.

Recording of the submissions to the contracts committee

The internee was also involved in the recording of the submission list to the contract
committee. The Contract committee had the right to either approve or reject the
submissions made requesting it to allow procure for the organization the required
equipment, stationary, cars, and spare parts, among others. Commented [U1]: So what,you can conclude like this made the
internee get to know how record of submission look like and the
different details it contains
Prepared Local Purchase Orders (LPO’S)
The local purchase orders were prepared after a requisition form was prepared and
approved for purchase of listed items. All goods and services were ordered by means of
the local purchase order which was prepared in triplicates and signed by the head of
department. The original and the duplicate were sent to the supplier and the triplicate
remained in the book. It was later taken to the auditors to wait for their authorization in
order to draft the payment voucher. This helped the organization to have proper
accountability of its funds through proper documentation of its expenses. Commented [U2]: Relate to the course unit covered in class

Photocopying the different decisions that were made by the contracts committee
The internee while in the field attachment was given an assignment of Photocopying
different documents (decisions). The decisions included rejections and approvals of the
submissions made to the Contract committee, they were always first stamped and signed
by the secretary Contract committee, recorded in the outgoing book, photocopied and
distributed to the various officers so that they got to know where the procurement process
had reached and why their submissions were rejected. Hence the decisions made by the
CC helped to inform the different officials where the procurement process had reached. Commented [U3]: Show how you benefited may be like
understanding how such documents look like and the different
formats etc
Prepared cheques
A cheque is a document that acts as a means through which a given payment is done or
settled. The university had all its payments in banks, and it used cash accounting system. Commented [U4]: Indicate the citation

The cheque consisted of the payee to whom payment was to be made, the payer, the
organization or person that had to make the payment to the payee. It also consisted of the
amount to be paid and the signature of different signatories. However the internee had
theory knowledge about cheques as it was taught under accounting one in first year which
also helped the internee in preparing cheques. This enabled the intern put into practice the
theory learnt in financial accounting one under cheques into practice.

Verification of documents
During the stay at Makerere Business School. The internee was involved in verification
of documents. These included the store receipts, vouchers, delivery notes of suppliers and
other documents. The aim of the verification of documents was to ascertain whether the
profoma invoices matched with the delivery notes, tax invoice as payments were to be
made. Commented [U5]: Link to the course unit taught and conclude

Filing Documents
The internee was involved in filling a number of documents in their respective files, for
example the files for the last financial years they were put in the store where the old
documents are kept, paid vouchers and invoices also they had their own file in which they
were kept. There was also a file that used to keep documents concerning the university
expenses and other files related to the department. The office had a shelf in which these
files were kept for proper record keeping. This filing helped in auditing as it would be
required by the internal and external auditor for proper accountability. On the other hand,
this filing would help in avoiding misplacement of documents like vouchers, work plans,
receipts of which they were important documents in the accounting cycle of the public
sector. This enabled the internee put into practice the theory learnt in financial accounting
one, while at the university.

Attended meetings
The internee attended various meetings organized by the contracts management office
which was chaired by the contracts manager Mrs. Hamidah Babirye Nsereko. The various
issues raised in this meeting were; evidence of payments should be presented, time
management, emphasis on team work, following up on pending activities and among
others hence a lesson to the intern Commented [U6]: How did you learn

Updating the different procurement files so as to know their status

The internee was given a task of updating the different procurement files. This involved
reading through those files and checking for what was missing from the files and filing
them so as to make the procurement process complete. This activity involved filing
decisions made by the Contract committee, submissions to contract committed, award
letters, acceptance letters so as to form the procurement process after all the necessary
documents have been filed. This enables all the stake holders to know where the
procurement process has reached. Commented [U7]: Link to the course unit which you were
taught in class and conclude

Receiving bids and bid opening.

How to open up new procurement files.
Evaluation of bidders
The internee also participated in the evaluation of bidders while at MUBS this helped him Commented [U8]: Use internee and link to the course unit
covered
to know what happens while bids are being evaluated and the evaluation methodology
that suits a given procurement this include fixed cost, quality based, cost and quality
based among others. The internee came to know contents of the evaluation report. The
head of contract committee at MUBS said that the evaluation method used should be in
the bidding document.

Calling contractors to attend the pre-bid meeting

The pre-bid meeting is carried out before bid opening takes place and the bidders have a
right to ask anything they didn’t understand in the bidding document, so that they don’t
claim not to have understood the terms and conditions stated. The internee was instructed
by the head of contract committee to call the bidders who had brought the bidding
documents for the supply of some university items in order to remind them of the pre bid
meeting.

Recording of the submissions to the contracts committee Commented [U9]: Remove this is repetition

The internee was also involved in the recording of the submission list to the contract
committee. The Contract committee had the right to either approve or reject the
submissions made requesting it to allow procure for the organization the required
equipment, stationary, cars, and building, among others. The internee witnessed that the
CC could reject the procurement method stated in the submission form to CC that is to
say, if the users want to use direct procurement and they don’t give enough reasons as to
why they want to use that method then the CC has the right to reject such a submission.

Reading through bid evaluations Commented [U10]: But that is still bid evaluation combine it
with the former
After bid opening, the bidders were then evaluated and in the Reliable Personnel Consult
it’s the PDU which nominated the Evaluation Committee members after which the CC
approves the evaluation committee members who then go ahead to evaluate the different
bidders basing on three stages that is to say, the Preliminary, Technical and Financial
stages. The ones who win the Preliminary stage continue to the Technical stage and then
to the final stage which is the financial stage. The contractor who succeeds in all the three
stages is then awarded after the evaluation report has been made, then he writes the
acceptance letter that he has accepted to do the contract on the stated terms and
conditions as per the bidding document.

Updating the different contractor’s files so as to know their status Commented [U11]: Repetition combine as one

The internee was given a task of updating the different procurement files. This involved
reading through those files and checking for what was missing from the files and filing
them so as to make the procurement process complete. This activity involved filing
decisions made by the procurement committee, submissions to procurement committee,
award letters, acceptance letters so as to form the procurement process after all the
necessary documents have been filed

Writing reports
During the training, the internee was assigned to prepare weekly reports on collected
information and ensure it’s readily available by Friday before Monday to be presented in
the meeting. The reports written contained information such as performance of teams,
pending activities of the office, evidence of payments made, among others. Therefore an Commented [U12]: Show how you were able to know the
different formats of report writing and link it to business
experience gained. communication skills

Attended awarding sessions of contacts and sites

During the training at MUBS, the internee was authorized to attend awarding sessions
organized by the contracts management office. Here the internee witnessed the handing
over of the site for the construction of the Business Computing Faculty which took place
between 3:00pm to 4:00pm between the main library and WTO block. This exposed the
internee to personal and real life’s ideas that she personally liked. Commented [U13]: Are you a she or a he this is a sign of
copying and pasting some ones work

Receiving phone calls from the various contractors

This activity was carried out on a daily basis as many contractors would call in to inquire
about different issues like; when would the pre-bid meeting be held, when bid openings
would take place for the particular procurements they were involved in, whether the
LPO’s were issued out, whether the award letters were issued out, among other issues. Commented [U14]: Show how you helped them and what you
gained as internee

Making accountabilities to the department

The internee made recognition of all vouchers without accountabilities. For example
those vouchers which had no receipts, a pay slip from the bank, a payee’s signature.
Internee ensured that those vouchers had to be recorded and typed so that those who had
not accounted for their payment vouchers had to do so. Internee also ensured that some
vouchers had reports on, as well as the beneficially lists that is to say, people who are to
benefit from expenses made. This showed the value of money each beneficially had to
receive (the multi-purpose sheet). The reasons why accountabilities are made are to keep
proper accounting records that certain expenditure had been accounted for.

Organizing office and arrangement of files and folders

During the field attachment the internee was also involved in organizing files and
arranging files according to the purpose, months and dates (which was most useful for
small files with a short life span) folder title, according to codes and folder numbers,
vouchers, receipts and this taught the intern the importance of record Keeping in
relationship with accounts and accountability. This also helped the internee get exposed
to the best ways of filling and record keeping and as well as knowing and appreciating
the aspect of record keeping and maintaining better standards of the organization.

Entering data in the computer using excel

It involved creating an excel data base which helps to find out how much each
department spends in a given period of time say each financial year. The data base
contains the financial year, the type of procurement made say procurement of a new
printer, the date of the procurements, hence you just fill in the name of the department to
see how much it spends or spent.

Reading the Public contract Act

This book was given to the entire internee in their first week of training. It is the act that
governs Public Procurement and Disposal of company assets in Uganda. It contains
details like the procurement process, rules and regulations, methods of procurement like
micro procurement, selective bidding, among others. This helped the internee acquire
more information about public procurement

Minutes recording
Still in the department the internee was involved in recording minutes during various
meetings of MUBS. The internee recorded minutes of the general staff meetings,
departmental meetings and sometimes site meetings for constructions. The internee
recorded minutes in a chronological order, posting the minute number and the financial
year for the particular minute.

Communication to staff and clients

While at the placement, the internee used to pass on information to the staff via phone
and mails and other forms of written communication through letters and notices. Some
information was to remind them to come and pick their confirmation letters, submit their
performance management tools (PM forms). The internee also communicated to the
clients like; casual workers, lecturers, administrators among other staff members

Distribution of documents to the responsible offices

This was another activity the internee carried out while at Makerere University Business
School where the internee distributed different documents to responsible offices like the
head of security, accounts office, human resource office among others. Documents such
as cheques, application letters, pay slips among others were distributed to respective
offices.

Preparing the monthly report

This activity was done by entering all the procurements performed within the previous
months in the report to make sure that the auditors were contented hence reducing
investigations on those procurements.
 CHAPTER THREE

LESSONS, EXPERIENCES AND SKILLS

3.0 Introduction
This chapter explains lessons learnt, experiences gained and skills attained, during the
field attachment at Makerere university business school.

3.1 Lessons learnt during the internship

Time management
The internee learnt that, time management is the key to effective work performance. It
was the university rule that the reporting time for all the workers had to be 8:00am as it
helped the student and other workers to accomplish work in time and relax their minds
for refreshment. However, if one reported for work late, there would be work overload
which would cause tiredness and lead to poor performance.

The importance of filing documents

The internee learnt filling different documents like invoices, vouchers, procurement files,
contractor’s records among others. This filling helped the intern file a number of
documents in their respective files, for example the files for the last financial years they
were put in the store where the old documents are kept, paid vouchers and invoices also
they had their own file in which they were kept. There was also a file that used to keep
documents concerning the university expenses and other files related to the department.
The office had a shelf in which these files were kept for proper record keeping. This
filing helped in auditing as it would be required by the internal and external auditor for
proper accountability. On the other hand, this filing would help in avoiding misplacement
of documents like vouchers, work plans, receipts of which they were important
documents in the accounting cycle of the public sector.

How to Draft/Writing letters

The internee learnt how to draft letters of all type concerning the department. This was
through drafting different letters for various activities while in the training at MUBS.
These letters included; contracts letters reminding contractors about the poor quality
windows of the library, list of all universities in East Africa, letters of bid acceptance to
the shortlisted bidder for construction work that was ongoing.

The importance of updating files of different years

This was through reading those files and checking for what was missing from the files
and filing them so as to make the procurement process complete. This activity involved
filing decisions made by the Contract committee, submissions to contract committed,
award letters, acceptance letters so as to form the procurement process after all the
necessary documents have been filed. This enables all the stake holders to know where
the procurement process has reached.

How to use a photocopier

The internee learnt how to use a photocopier in case the internee wants to photocopy.
This was through a number of assignments given to the internee to Photocopy different
documents for example invoices, and receipts among others. The work also included
rejections and approvals of the submissions made to the CC, they were always first
stamped and signed by the secretary CC, recorded in the outgoing book, photocopied and
distributed to the various officers so that they got to know where the procurement process
had reached and why their submissions were rejected. Hence the decisions made by the
CC helped to inform the different officials where the procurement process had reached.

Confidentiality
During my field attachment in the procurement department, the internee learnt that
confidentiality was very important in a way that, not every information was supposed to
be issued out. For example he learnt that organization’s weaknesses were not supposed to
be issued to any outsider due to fear of competitors to use them and out compete them,
and also information concerning salaries of workers was not supposed to be known by
other individuals other than themselves.

Organizing an Office
The internee learnt, before the day’s work could start, the office had to be well organized
with all the files in their shelves. This helped the supervisor and the internee get space
where work would be performed from with ease. It also helped to trace for documents
whenever they were needed by different officials including the Accountant for
accountability.

Receiving bids and bid opening.

The internee learnt the procedures to be followed during bid opening for example signing
the record of receipts record of bid opening for the purpose of evidence and reference.
The internee learnt all these through attending the bid submission of cleaning services.

How to open up new procurement files.

The internee learnt about the procedure to be followed while opening up new
procurement files, for example knowing the type of procurement, the file number and the
reference number for that particular procurement.

Team work
Most of the work was done in teams as one of the core values at the university. However
given that we were meeting other internees for the first time it was difficult to cope with
each other and sometimes other members would be lazy and fail to contribute to
accomplishment of the tasks. For example during the bid opening some members were
not around and yet there was a lot of work to do for example cross checking of bid
documents of each bidder this could take a lot of time and it needed team work. But all it
required was team play and understanding the team dynamic to achieve the assigned
tasks and responsibilities.

Hard work and productivity

The internee learnt in today’s management, emphasis is put on the competence and the
delivery one is showing in terms of accomplishing tasks and responsibilities. Productivity
was emphasized more in all the department meetings that the internee attended, as result,
the internee concentrated more on organizational values like team work, respect, integrity
that all encouraged productivity that made the student accomplish all the activities that
were assigned to her.

How to make reports to the department

 The internee learnt how to write reports. This was through writing periodical reports as
part of the internee routine duties and responsibilities. It was done on the weekly basis.
On completion, the reports required the tasks and responsibilities one accomplished, the
challenges met and how management would solve them basing on the recommendations
given. These were at times given by management to internees to investigate given
situations in the place of work and the position of the law about the situations

3.2 Experience Gained

These are the areas of knowledge accumulated in the field on the theory taught in class
that led the internee to integrate class knowledge into work practice and include.

Handling client’s experience

During field attachment, the internee was able to gain experience in handling clients.
Clients in the organizations included administration staff who worked hand in hand with
procurement department, the bidders and other workers who on several occasions made
request for funds and help from contract department. The internee acquired experience of
treating all of them with customer care

Using a photocopier
The internee gained experience in using a photocopier in case he wants to photocopy.
This was through a number of assignments given to the internee to Photocopy different
documents for example invoices, vouchers, receipts among others. The work also
included rejections and approvals of the submissions made to the CC, they were always
first stamped and signed by the secretary CC, recorded in the outgoing book, photocopied
and distributed to the various officers so that they got to know where the procurement
process had reached and why their submissions were rejected. Hence the decisions made
by the CC helped to inform the different officials where the procurement process had
reached

Typing work
The internee during the field attachment gained experience in typing work and printing it
out. This was through typing mainly weekly reports, daily reports and monthly reports.
The work included notice for the assistant director Contacts Management, short listed
bidders in the computer. These details of short listed bidders included the name of the
company, telephone number, location, E-mail address, VAT, among others.

Filing documents
The intern gained experience in filling a number of documents. This was through filing a
number of documents in their respective files, for example the files for the last financial
years they were put in the store where the old documents are kept, paid vouchers and
invoices also they had their own file in which they were kept. There was also a file that
used to keep documents concerning the university expenses and other files related to the
department. The office had a shelf in which these files were kept for proper record
keeping. This filing helped in auditing as it would be required by the internal and external
auditor for proper accountability. On the other hand, this filing would help in avoiding
misplacement of documents like vouchers, work plans, receipts of which they were
important documents in the accounting cycle of the public sector.

How to Draft/Writing letters

The internee gained experience in drafiting and writing different procurement letters.
This was through drafting different letters for various activities while in the department.
These letters included; contracts letters reminding contractors about the poor quality
windows of the library, list of all universities in East Africa, letters of bid acceptance to
the shortlisted bidder for construction work that was ongoing.

Organizing an Office
The internee also got experience in organizing office at any work place, this was through
organizing the office before the day’s work could start, the office had to be well
organized with all the files in their shelves. This helped the supervisor and the internee
get space where work would be performed from with ease. It also helped to trace for
documents whenever they were needed by different officials including the Accountant for
accountability.

Writing vouchers
 The internee gained experience in writing a number of vouchers as this activity was done
almost every day. This helped the internee avoid any unnecessary mistakes on the
voucher as at first when the training had just started.

Experience in communicating
During field attachment, the internee gain experience in communication. This was mainly
during various departmental meetings and general staff meetings. During meetings, the
trainee would learn from staff how to make presentations both power point presentation
and verbal presentation. For example there were a series of meetings in the organization
that required all members to introduce themselves and then give a report of what had
taken place in their respective departments.

Customer care
The internee got experience in handling customers and answering their questions
regarding what they wanted. He was instructed by immediate supervisors to carry out this
and he did this for about two months. This was done outside the procurement department
while at receptionist desk.

Preparing cheques
A cheque is a document that acts as a means through which a given payment is done or
settled. The university had all its payments in banks, and it used cash accounting system.
The cheque consisted of the payee to whom payment was to be made, the payer, the
organization or person that had to make the payment to the payee. It also consisted of the
amount to be paid and the signature of different signatories.

Keeping confidential information

The internee gained experience in keeping confidential information. The ethical code of
conduct in the department was heavily observed. Additionally, confidential information
regarding the various procurements like fixed assets was also observed for the few
members in the organization. The internee was not allowed to sneak out information
relating to evaluation of various suppliers if the evaluation process was not complete.

3.3 Skills attained

Minute writing skill
The internee attained skills of writing minutes during meetings; the head of contract
committee department. Would request the internee to record minutes and the internee
were able to record them successfully. Meetings common were departmental meetings
where normally after two weeks we met, to review our performance and challenges if
there was any. The senior management meetings would be held per month where internee
supervisors would request the internee to attend and take minutes during these meetings;
it was through these meetings the internee attained the skills of minute writing.

Typing skills
During the field attachment at MUBS, the internee was assigned various tasks which
involved a lot of typing like data entering of accounting information and typing other
information on various documents. for example the internee was involved in typing data
output based budgeting tool, documenting minutes in a series of meetings, and typing
other documents. This increased the internee speed and now the internee can ably type
various documents. And this was of importance later during work.

Photocopying skills
The internee attained photocopying skills during the field attachment. This though
photocopying many documents for the staff in the company and she got to know how to
operate the photocopying machines. The fact that, he learnt to operate one, was enough to
carry out this of which he did not wait for the photocopying technicians to assist her. The
internee therefore believes that this skill was of great importance later at the work place.

Leadership skills
During the training, the organization had about five intern students and thus supervising
them in different values like time management would not be easy and the internee was
elected as the time keeper for all the internee students in the organization. This enabled
internee to come for work as early as possible in order to be an example to other students
from different universities. The internee had to advise the entire internee to be coming for
work as early as possible for work.
Negotiation skills
The internee attained various skills in negotiation. Negotiation involved combining
divergent views from different parties so as to come to a common agreement. These
negotiations are brought about by differences in the ideas provided by the different
members in the PDU. For example due to failure to agree on which procurement method
to use during emergence procurements so, each officer is allowed to give their own views
and reasons as to why the internee chose that method which are later used during the
negotiations in order to come to a common ground.

Purchasing skills
The internee also acquired skills in purchasing during the stay in the organization. The
internee was able to attain skills in procurement and the internee realized that
procurement started with initiation then pp form 20. It was preceded by bidding, where
different companies were invited and restricted bidding all pre-qualified companies for a
particular procurement were invited and evaluation was carried out, contracting and then
contract implementation and management.

Minute writing skill

The internee attained skills of writing minutes during meetings; the head of procurement
(my supervisors) would request the internee to record minutes and the internee was able
to record them successfully. Meetings common were departmental meetings where
normally after two weeks the internee met, to review our performance and challenges if
there was any. The senior management meetings would be held per month where his
supervisors would request the internee to attend and take minutes during these meetings;
it was through these meetings that the intern attained the skills of minute writing.

Interpersonal skills
On inter personnel skills; the internee was also assigned a duty to observe how field
workers communicated to the clients especially during the assessment and appraising
period. These were attained by the intern through interacting with the different people
during the field attachment like the contractors and the staff members on particular
occasions. For example the intern used to answer the contractor’s questions about certain
procurements or even the bidding documents.
Listening skills
The internee gained skills in listening to his subordinates and the field supervisor
whenever work or activity was assigned to him provided it was necessary during her
training period. This helped him keep in peace with all the workers and the supervisor as
she was a student who could listen and do whatever was assigned to her in time.

Communication skills Commented [U15]: Adjust accordingly with the former

During the field attachment, the internee attained skills in communication. This was
mainly during various departmental meetings and general staff meetings. Everybody in
the meeting would be required to present various opinions on an issue under discussion.
During meetings, the internee would learn from the other speakers how to arrange my
communication and speeches. This helped the internee to improve his communication
skills.

Typing and printing work Commented [U16]: This is computer skils

The internee also got a skill in typing and printing work on the computer. This was
mainly in Microsoft excel and work. The work included the vouchers, receipts; suppliers
record the Procurement records for the previous cycle and the preferred insurance
providers for medical services for the employees. At regular basis, the internee typed
confirmation letters, notices and periodical staff list of for example, lecturers, University
clear and other University works

Managerial skills
This was as a result of the trust the student’s supervisor had in the internee student for
example, the supervisor would at times leave him in office alone and delegate to him
office work like stamping of documents for clients, filing of documents. This enabled the
internee to manage the procurement office and all the equipments in office even when the
supervisor was not present. Through that, the internee was able to gain managerial skills
in any office delegated to him to perform work.

Team work skills

The internee also attained team work skill. This was because Most of the work was done
in teams as one of the core values of the University. However given that we were meeting
other internees for the first time it was difficult to cope with each other and sometimes
other members would be lazy and fail to contribute to accomplishment of the tasks. But
all it required was team play and understanding the team dynamic to achieve the assigned
tasks and responsibilities.

Computer skills Commented [U17]: Adjust accordingly

This was as a result of the use of very different computer programs in the Contracts
Management Office at Makerere University Business School for example, Microsoft
word, Microsoft excel that the intern used in drafting different documents as well as
letters and reports. Commented [U18]: Also talk about analytical skills that was
used when preparing cheques etc
 CHAPTER FOUR

CHALLENGES AND LIMITATIONS, ENJOYMENTS AND DISAPPOINTMENTS

4.0 Introduction
This chapter contains the challenges and limitations, enjoyments and disappointments
faced in the field during the attachment. The challenges are described in terms of work
related, organizational and student related as per the analysis below;

4.1 Challenges
4.1.1 Personal challenges
Mixing up of files Commented [U19]: Is it not work related

This was as a result of files not being placed in their respective shelves. The practice
caused difficulties in looking for different files in search of different documents and also
a problem to the internal auditor as most of the files were misplaced and thus not easy to
access any document required for documentation. This made the internee to always listen
to his field supervisor properly in order to avoid the same mistaken happen again. Commented [U20]: Remove his

Missing transaction documents Commented [U21]: Is it not work related not personal
challenge
In most cases, transaction documents were found missing but entered into the cash book
for example vouchers. This always brought in assumptions that they were either stolen or
misplaced and this was a challenge to the student since in the end the auditor could ask
for such documents for accuracy.

Work overload Commented [U22]: Work related challenges not personal

challenge
As work accumulated day after day, the end resulted into work over load which made the
internee fail to complete work in time. This exposed him to inefficiency at the work
place; it also caused tiredness to him and thus leading to errors in the books of accounts.
The internee was able to overcome the challenge by coming early for work such that the
assigned work for the previous day would be completed very early in the morning. This
helped the internee to be ready for the day’s work after completing the other days work
before serious working hours.
Long distance to the work place
The distance to the work place was too far from the internee’s residence. This caused the
internee report for work a bit late as he had to walk a long distance daily. It also caused
tiredness before reaching the work place and thus another factor that could cause errors at
work place like mixing of fills. However the internee had to overcome the challenges by Commented [U23]: Avoid showing words like this was over
come but you can explain in a better way
waking up very early in the morning to avoid jam in order to reach in time.

Lack of information from the company Commented [U24]: Work related challenge

Sometimes, the information from the company was never revealed of which it was
necessary for report writing. This information included that concerning with the salaries
of lecturers, the activities of the company, this kept the internee in misery thinking he
was in a wrong organization and this reduced on his performance. This made the internee
to be friendly to everyone in order to get some necessary information from each and
every one from the department.

Lack of practical skills Commented [U25]: Industry challenge

The internee had more theoretical knowledge than practical; this indeed affected his
adoptability to the practice of the management processes. For example, the internee
expected the implementation of the real theory the internee had studied in class to see it
being implemented yet in real practice, many things change like the procurement
procedures in the company are a bit different from what is studied in class. This made the
internee to practice on laptop computer at home.

Uncooperative staff Commented [U26]: Work related or teamwork related

challenge so address
Some staff members in the organization were also not willing to give a helping hand to
the internee and always turned a deaf ear each time the internee inquired something from
them especially on those occasions when the field supervisor was away. This made it
hard for the internee to execute some tasks mostly those where internee had limited
experience.

Financial challenges/ constraints

 Since the work done resulted to no payment, there was a big challenge in meeting
facilitation both out and at the work place, For example, getting transport, lunch,
breakfast and many others proved a great challenge during the period. Such inadequacy
in finance could make the trainee reach a bit late at the work place, and the internee could
forego some meals. The financial challenge however was withstood by persistency,
determination to do field attachment and assistance from the parents. Commented [U27]: Add more personal challenges

4.1.2 Organizational Challenges

Inadequate funding Commented [U28]: Industry challenge

The university was facing a challenge of inadequate funding from the central government
and revenue collection schemes. This caused the university fail to meet its priorities as its
revenue targets were not met as proposed in the budget.

Power break down Commented [U29]: Industry challenge

This was a serious challenge. Persistent and consistent load shading of electricity for
various reasons like maintenance and deliberate switch off power by UMEME especially
at the university was a great challenge. This is because much of the work that was done
was being done by use of computers. So, lack of power on several occasions created
idleness and limited activities during such periods. In addition, such power shutdown
could lead to loss of information and data, machine breakdown and delayed meeting of
the deadlines. Though there was a generator, by the time it could start supplying power,
work was already affected.

Unreliable internet
The organization had a challenge of unstable internet which was always on and off and at
times could be very slow. This affected the learning process of the intern yet as a
business computing student needed to explore more in her programme.

Inadequate materials
Lack of enough materials during the field attachment period much the work was mostly
done on paper. This means that there were very few office supplies like printing papers,
 basket for trash/rubbish for the office. This resulted into idleness sometimes because this
inadequacy in the room during the training.

Poor sanitation
During the period of field attachment, the intern noticed a challenge that organization was
facing of poor sanitation in that toilets were not cleaned to standard and its walls were
also dirty. This put the life of staff members and students at stake.

Poor machines
The organization faced a challenge of poor machines like printers and computers which
were mostly unpredictable to work on a given day because it was very slow and could at
times stop. This made forced the intern to move and carryout printing from other offices
in the main building thus causing a delay in service delivery of the department.

Low motivation
During the period, there was low motivation as far as work place is concerned. This was
caused by such factors like repetitive work that created boredom and monotony at work,
inadequate welfare facilities like lunch, and no allowances like transport and lunch
allowances among others. Commented [U30]: Also talk about the community challenges,
work related ,team work and industry challenges follow the
guideline please
4.2 Limitation
Limited welfare
During the field attachment, the internee was not provided with food which was a policy
to the organization not to. This forced the internee to work while hungry most of the time
during the training, a fact that led to some inefficiency in his work for example, not
working up to the last day which showed un seriousness hence poor reputation to the top
management.

Limited time
 The training that the internee underwent was good for his professional growth but the
duration was less compared to the benefits that the internee enjoyed from the place of
placement, despite the fact that the university gives the internee two months, but this was
not enough for him since he had adapted to the organization.

Limited access to information

The internee was not allowed to freely access the information because all computers were
restricted by use of passwords that were unknown to the internee. This therefore limited
his operations since he was not equipped with the full information about the tasks
assigned.

Strike at work place

It was really unfortunate that during the internees training, the organization was
experiencing a sit down strike of administrators. The last week of the internship the
internee came and was stopped at the gate not to enter because of the strike and therefore
this hindered/limited her from participating on that day.

Bureaucracy in the organization

In the organization, there was high level of hierarchy observation and clear following of the
organizational procedures. In the same way, there was huge red tape for example toner/ ink
could get over from the printer but it could almost take two weeks to provide new toner
because of the lengthy procedures to be followed. On several occasions, this delayed work
for example, in printing of letters and generation of reports.

Limited access to information

The internee was not allowed to freely access the information because all computers were
restricted by use of passwords that were unknown to the student. This therefore limited
internees operations since the internee was not equipped with the full information about
the tasks assigned.

4.3 Enjoyments
During field attachment training, the internee was able to enjoy several activities which
included socialization and warm welcome by the immediate supervisors and staff
members of the organization. The internee was able to socialize with different workers in
different departments like administration, community development, finance and works
among others. This helped the internee to have a fruitful relationship with the
organization. This was especially during the orientation of the internee.

Access to the internet

The internee was allowed access to the internet especially after the normal working
hours. This made the internee revitalized after the work of the day, and helped the
internee reduce the stress that the work had posed to the internee all the day. Still, the
social Medias that the internee accessed the internet enabled the internee to get new
updates, keep in touch with the fellow intern, view the assignments, and contact the
supervisor.

Attending meetings
The internee enjoyed attending meetings at the departmental level through these
meetings, the internee acquired skills in organizing, witting and constructive idea
generation. Apart from the allowances, the internee enjoyed the experiences that the
participants shared that made the internee acquire skills and then how to handle technical
issues.

Duties and responsibilities

During field attachment training in the contract department, the internee was able to
enjoy a lot of duties and responsibilities that were assigned to the internee. This exposed
the internee to more learning for example bringing into agreement of the cash book and
the bank statement which was related to the work that was studied in class and was able
to put it into practice.

Acquisition of new knowledge and skills

While in MUBS, the internee was able to acquire new knowledge and skills such as the
practical application of the various books of accounts, the use and storage of source
documents and management of cash among others. The internee enjoyed this because it
proved to be a stand stone for the internee in case he wants to run personal business after
campus.
 Working with elders
Working with elders meant a lot of guidance and advice from them on how to behave
more especially when one is in public. The internee enjoyed this since it helped the
internee improve his on moral conduct and behavior.

Net working
The internee was able to expand his network in public during field attachment training
since the internee was able to meet students from various universities such as Nkumba
University, UCU-Mukono and Kyambogo among others. More networks were built with
the employees that were already employed with the organization. This network was
mostly enjoyed because it could give him company which eased the exercise of field
attachment training.

Meeting new people

The internee enjoyed meeting new people like lecturers, administrators, casual workers
from different backgrounds, making new friends and their different cultures, opinions and
behaviors were an intriguing experience.

Discovering new things

The internee was a person with a curios mind and being able to meet new people and
software especially Management Information system and Procurement Performance
Measurement system. This was exciting to learn how to manage companies, make
transactions, and reconcile physical and soft information on documents.

4.4 Disappointments
Limited time
The internee was still enjoying the professional life and experience from the place of
attachment but the time that is to say; two month was not enough for the internee to
explore more in the procurement function, he had hoped to explore the procurement
policy formulation process but he did not just because it required staying at the
organization for more time.

Repetitive work
During the period, much of the work on the internee’s job description was repetitive for
example; much of the work was around data entry, processing and dissemination. Such
repetitive work created boredom and monotony at the work place. In addition, such
repetitive work greatly affected the internee’s creativity, innovativeness and exposure to
many activities as the repeated work had only more or less one impact as related to the
development of knowledge and skills. Such repetitive work was also a basis for
demotivation.
Poor sanitation
During the period of field attachment, the internee was disappointed by poor sanitation
around the University for Example toilets were not cleaned to standard and its walls were
also dirty. This put the life of staff members and students at stake.

No allowances.
This was another great disappointment which the student met since it was quite hard to
carry out the training without money to cater for some personal expenses like transport,
lunch and stationary among others.
 CHAPTER FIVE

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 Introduction
This chapter contains conclusions and recommendations for policy makers, the
organization where the internee attached, the University and the department where the
intern spent a lot of time plus other departments in organization.

5.1 Conclusion
Generally the internship experience was so rewarding. The internee was able to
understand the practical side of what was taught in class and what employers will always
expect of employees. Internee was able to understand how organizational policies work.
He learnt many lessons and acquired many skills that would not be taught in the lecture
hall. It is therefore imperative to say that the Makerere University Business School staff
and management did a great work in enhancing the professional work of the student,
choosing to train with them has been among the decisions the student will live to
remember. The internee would also like to credit the University for planning such
rewarding activities. Finally the internee thanks the almighty Allah for the success of the
whole internship period because it helped the internee relating the work practice with the
theory taught in class and getting solutions to the various problems which are
encountered while at the work place

5.2 Recommendations
5.2.1 To Makerere University Business School
The university council should introduce computerized accounting as a course unit. This
will help accounting students to gain knowledge of the course unit so as to meet the
market demands.

The university should ensure that, some special rewards are given to internship students
to motivate them in their performance. This will induce them work hard, report for work
early, accomplish the required tasks in time as they will be assured of the reward either in
kind or cash.
 The organization has to ensure that, the available few computers are well updated with
new programmes as required by the International Accounting Standards, IAS. The new
soft wares to be installed may include Quick books, Tally which may ease the accounting
work in the ministry. Also more computers should be purchased for easy work
performance in different offices.

In the university, it was realized that, workers were motivated by money whereby the
internee found out that, workers with less salary were not motivated to perform as
required whereas workers who were highly salaried were fully motivated to perform
better. Therefore, the company was recommended to use other motivating factors other
than money as according to Maslow where employees are not motivated by money
(Robbins, 2005).

It is clearly stated in Pina and Joel (2002) that, collaboration and team work are so
important in any given organization in order to achieve its set goals and objectives.
Therefore, the internee recommends Makerere University Business School to
continuously emphasize team work as its one of the ways through which the organization
can achieve its objectives.

The university should ensure that, some special rewards are given to the internees’ to
motivate them in their performance. This will induce them work hard, report for work
early, accomplish the required tasks in time as they will be assured of the reward either in
kind or cash.

5.1.2 To Makere University Commented [U31]: Which university MUBS or MUK

The university should train, orient and brief students on how to conduct themselves
during the training, emphasise the essential aspects of the internship training like;
submissiveness and eagerness to learn. By briefing the trainees are reminded that the
benefits are intangible and thus motivated to work hard despite the fact that they are not
rewarded monetarily.
 The university should introduce two sessions of supervision through facilitating the
supervisors. This is because the one supervision session does not monitor the progress of
the students, some students have on several occasions attend their places of placement on
the days next to the supervision times, this leaves the students with less time and
involvement into the organisational activities.

University authorities should through meetings, and seminars invite and talk to the
corporate world about the position of internship, the employees in the organisations
should not look at the internee’s as a threat to their jobs but as people who seek
professional training in their organisations. To that effect, the corporate community
should provide more vacancies to the students as this is part of their corporate social
responsibility.

The management field attachments should ensure frequent consultations with the
strategic partners. And also invite them to speak to students about the benefits of field
attachment.

The management filed attachment should ensure that supervision of students devote for
the whole day to see at the site and not offices of the department where that student was
attached but performing activities in another subsection.

5.2.3 To The policy makers

The government should allocate more funds to the Ministry and the university through
Ministry of finance to facilitate its activities and projects for example improve on the
infrastructure and build internship capacity.

The government should also pass out a law to organizations on industrial training where
organizations should have provision for training university students and also allocate
funds for industrial training activities like transport, lunch and others.
5.2.3 To the students
They should change the negative- attitude they have about internship that it’s where
someone works for free. They should have attitude that they are trying to gain experience
and paying them at that point is not an essential

While at work they should conduct themselves in such a way that their behaviors are
good and reflect a person who has gone to school not any ‘other person. Students should
be advised to behave very well while at work and should be able to respect the other
workers in the organization.

Students should be told of the right, dress code while at work. To some students dress
code is not so important so they end up not dressing up well for work thus not giving
respect to the work they are doing.
Some students tend to absent themselves from work because they are students. The intern
therefore recommends to the students to always go to work as and when they are required
and carry out their work with due care.
 REFERENCES
Robbins, S.P. (2005). Organization Theory, 3rd Ed.Prentice Hall of India New Delphi

Pina, T, Joel. (2002), “Employee team work and social interdependence, a formula for successful
business, Team performance management Vol.8
Orpen, C. (1994) “The effect of time management training on employee attitude and behavior; a
field experience. The Journal of Psychology vol.125, page 393-6.
www.mubs.ac.ug
 APPENDICES
i. Photocopy of LPOS

Accepta