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Tips for Summer Project

As part of acquiring a management degree the summer internship helps you to apply some of your academic knowledge in a practical setting and also to get a first hand experience of the real working environment, organizational dynamics, day-to-day pressures of meeting deadlines, importance of interpersonal skills, working as a team and using leadership qualities. This is also an opportunity to improve your employability with industry. More often (though not always) your host company will be monitoring your activities with a view to consider you as a candidate for employment with them. It is therefore important for you to plan and do your work in such a way that demonstrates your general management knowledge, communication skills, dedication & self-driven, sincerity, integrity, and capability of doing sustained hard work. The tips contain general guidelines to be followed during the summer placements (projects) with industry and include, i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. vii. viii. ix. Orientation with the company Finalizing the title of the project Defining objectives Suggested activities Recommended record keeping Keeping in touch with the guides-both at the institute level and at the company level Developing a Road Map for the project Recommended project progress monitoring methodology Writing of the project report.

Any other points to be considered will be inserted as and when those become relevant to the group or the individuals. Summer Projects Guidelines for Students issued by the institute Read the guidelines for summer training provided by the institute carefully. In case of any queries, get these clarified from the institute before leaving for meeting the chosen company. Strictly follow the guidelines in the project to avoid unnecessary problems at a later stage. Meeting Company Guide & Familiarizing with the Company Note the correct address of the company, the executive you are to meet and the reporting time, advised by the contact person in the company for your summer internship. 1. Dress properly for the appointment clean shirt, trousers and proper shoes (not chappals). 2. Arrive at the company at least 10 minutes earlier than the appointed time. 3. On arrival at the reception ask for the contact person and wait for him patiently, if asked to do so. 4. Spend time with the contact person to familiarize yourself with a. Company timings and rules that will have to be followed by you during the internship. b. Name and designation of your company guide and area of operations he is responsible for.

-2c. Business of the company, revenue development for the last 3 years, major competitors, etc. 5. Meet your company guide and have open discussion with him about what he wants you to do during your summer internship with him. 6. Once the topic has been finalized, work on the title of the project and later, on developing the Road Map. Deciding on the Title of the Project 1. Title must convey what you have done during the project 2. It should indicate what was the objective for doing the project 3. It should convey to the reader what to expect in the report by way of activities carried out during the project and the conclusions Defining Objective 1. Determine what you want to accomplish in the project. What conclusions you want to draw/ arrive at after completion of in the project. 2. Establish a time frame 3. Prepare to be flexible with both your objective and the time frame Activities During Summer Internship Maintaining a Logbook Important to get a sufficiently thick notebook, preferably with hard cover as you may need to write in it holding it in your palm. This will be your logbook during the whole project. Leave first 4 pages and start writing from the fifth page onwards. Logbook will contain all that happens while you are doing your project including the work you have done, persons you have met, their designation/ position in the organization or relation with the company (customer/ dealer/ supplier, etc.), recorded in an hourly basis. One should try to write in simple English or else use any other language you are comfortable with. The logbook is for your own convenience. Do not leave writing of the logbook till after the day at night. The logbook will have to be written while you are working on an activity. It is important that you record the start time when you start working on the project every day and continue to record the End time when you leave an activity to start another. The Logbook will be your basic document containing all information in the raw state. 1. Left margin in the logbook is for writing dates and recording the Start and End times of each activity. 2. One can write a Summary of the days work at night within a text box for quick reference. One can also record in the summary that report one has sent to his Institute guide or has asked for guidance from him. 3. It is advisable to plan next days activities after completing your summary for the day in the logbook just after the summary box. While writing the next days summary one should check, a. How much of the daily plan you could meet b. Why was their a gap, if at all, and try to pin point if your planning was wrong

-3c. In case you have to depend on the company guide for the next days plan write that down also 4. Proposed layouts of the first four pages; a. First page will contain all relevant information related to the company such as i. Name and full address with website, e-mail of the company ii. Products/ Services offered iii. Sales revenue for the last 3 years iv. Important competitors v. Organizational structure of the company and the department where you are conducting the project vi. Important contact persons - your guide, HR personnel and any other important persons in the company who you think are relevant to your project including their cell nos. and e-mail ID b. Second page will contain the Road Map of the project, including all the changes/ modifications made subsequently. Write the dates when changes are made and the reasons for the change c. Third page will contain references of books, articles, websites and other source material used in conducting and concluding the project d. Fourth page will be left vacant initially. Later one can make it a contents page for easy search Developing a Road Map 1. Identify major phases & activities within the phases to complete the project. Examples: a. Identifying a problem/ issue phase. Company may give you an issue/ problem or ask you to find the problem through initial audit of an operational area. Activity includes: i. Meeting the company guide & introducing your self and informing him about your specialization. If enquired, one may even tell about any specific area of interest. ii. Once problem/ issue for commencing the project is identified ask for guidance as to where to start, whom to meet and whether he would like to tell you about any specific methodology he has already decided. iii. Write down the problem/ issue and the methodology he has told you. iv. Get it validated by the company guide and then the institute guide. v. If he wants you to decide on topic, methodology, etc. you have to follow point iii. and get it validated by institutional guide first and later get the approved version validated by the company guide b. Data collection phase i. Designing the right questionnaire and administering the same ii. Sampling techniques used in collecting data c. Data analyzing phase d. Arriving at conclusion phase e. Getting organized to write the project report phase f. Writing the project report phase

-4g. Preparing a PowerPoint Presentation of the project h. Submission of the report after making presentation to Company/ Institution 2. Identify the milestones in the project 3. Allocate time to each phase keeping in view the total time available from the time you reached the company till the time for submission of the hardbound project report to the Institute. 4. Get the road map validated by the institutional guide first and then the company guide, before starting the work. Keeping Track of the Progress of the Project 1. Monitor progress of the project comparing it with the road map, on a weekly basis till halfway through. 2. Subsequently the progress should be checked every alternate day till collecting data phase gets completed. 3. In the last part of the project the progress need to be checked every day till the day of project report submission. 4. Activities will have to expedited if the project gets delayed as reflected during monitoring of the project as mentioned in point 1. Behavioral Norms when with the Company When working with the company, never talk to any one asking about their problems or talking about your problems. You are there to be of help to them in finding possible solutions or improvements they have identified or would like you to identify for them. You must follow the following rules while working with the companys personnel, including their customers or suppliers: Treat everybody, with respect and as a potential source of valuable insights. Encourage people to suggest new ways of doing things. Enjoy your work and association with the company Speak with pride about your organization (Company has become your organization). Initiate/ suggest changes after getting your suggestion validated by both the company guide and the institutional guide. Be willing to seat late and take on responsibilities. Bring uncomfortable issues only after validation with your institute guide and then the company guide, in this order. Keep in Touch with Institute Guide It is very important to keep in regular touch with your institute guide even if there is no problem and the project is progressing as planned. A simple progress report should be sent to the institute guide through the latters e-mail on a fortnightly basis. Any problem/ issue that needs immediate solution should be e-mailed even earlier after informing the guide over the phone.

-5Suggested Road Map Format A. Start Project Milestone Date: April 15, 2009

Identifying problem/ issue Duration: 12 days Meeting company guide & familiarizing with the company a. Collecting reference material & details about the company, business, competition b. Deciding on the title of the project & defining objectives c. Get these approved by the institute guide & then the company guide B. Title & Objectives of Project frozen - Milestone Date: April 30, 2009

2. Preparing for data collection Duration: 7 days a. Develop/ Upgrade Questionnaire b. Get Questionnaire validated by guides c. Select customers/ clients to be approached and record their contact details d. Arrange visits taking appointments over phone 3. Data collection & analysis Duration: 28 days a. Collect data using the Questionnaire i. Modify Questionnaire in light of feedback received working in the field ii. Get Questionnaire revalidated by guides b. Finish collecting data from the sample group of customers c. Analyze collected data to identify trends d. Use the data to prepare relevant bar charts, pie charts and other graphical representation showing the identified trends 4. Arriving at Conclusions Duration: 5 days a. Draw conclusions from the analyzed data b. Conclusions must satisfy the objectives c. Get the conclusions approved by company guide & then the institute guide C. Summer Project Work Completion - Milestone Date: June 15, 2009

5. Writing the project report Duration: 13 days a. Getting organized to write the report i. Checking the Institute Guideline documents ii. Conducting literature review on the subject, research methodology, any other document required for writing the project report b. Writing the preliminary report along with the annexure and references c. Getting soft copy of draft report validated by the company guide & then the institute guide 6. Preparing hard copy of the final project report a. Getting hard copies of the pages printed in 3 copies b. Arranging pages as per institute guidelines Duration: 2 days

-6c. Collecting institute certificate after showing soft copy of the final draft report to the institute authority d. Getting the bound project report as per institute standards D. Submission of the Summer Project Report Milestone Date: June 30, 2009