I am a final year MBA student. I, along with my 5 friends, are doing our final year project at one of the leading retail companies. The problem is that they are treating us like laborers. They give us all sorts of work such as pasting posters around the city, distributing notices, standing in the road, loading and unloading, packaging, stacking, etc. They are asking us to work nearly 12-14 hours/day and even requesting night shifts. They are not allowing us to complete our project and keep dumping their work on us. When we ask about it, they threaten us by saying they won't provide a project completion certificate at the end. They are not even allowing us to go to college to attend the reviews. We are facing a lot of mental stress because of it. What should we do? Please give some suggestions and help us.
From India, Bangalore
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From India, Bangalore
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Don't take this as an annoying experience. I am also currently undergoing an internship in a manufacturing company, a reputed one in its field. I have distributed office notices, CVs from one desk to another, and attended company fairs. I have pasted posters, slogans, and made a few posters, only for them to be unwound again. I have carried files and was made a carriage boy for four continuous days. I also worked on correcting two sentences in nearly 100 papers, and loaded names of 250 people in the muster sheet for a few days. All of these experiences have been great. Every time, every second, I enjoyed. Yes, it's quite painful and hectic, but I went there to do exactly these tasks; this is a part of my project. If I don't understand how these small things happen in my company, how will I prepare my mind to work there in the future? I hardly have time for my PMS model, but that's my challenge. It shows how focused you are amidst different barriers. Take it as a good experience, learn from it. That's all I can say, mate.
From India, Calcutta
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113From India, Calcutta
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Thank you for your response. It seems like you are engaged in various office-related tasks. We have also been involved in a variety of tasks such as data entry, printing documents, and selling footwear. I am not complaining about these responsibilities. However, take a moment to consider the physical demands of tasks like carrying posters and affixing them to walls throughout the city, as well as loading and unloading 25 kg boxes. Additionally, applying barcodes to thousands of products, cross-referencing them with lists, repackaging, and working night shifts from 10 pm to 10 am can be quite challenging.
We have made the decision not to continue working for this company in the future as they have clearly stated that there are no job openings available. Our project is set to conclude in another 20 days, yet there seems to be a lack of concern or support for us. How are we expected to submit our project report? We initially went there with a specific purpose in mind, but it seems that our responsibilities have shifted elsewhere.
From India, Bangalore
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We have made the decision not to continue working for this company in the future as they have clearly stated that there are no job openings available. Our project is set to conclude in another 20 days, yet there seems to be a lack of concern or support for us. How are we expected to submit our project report? We initially went there with a specific purpose in mind, but it seems that our responsibilities have shifted elsewhere.
From India, Bangalore
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Greetings,
I see two different issues here, one is a set of deliverables which are considered lowly, and the other is the absence of learning.
To add to the experience sharing, beyond the internship, I have managed roles such as managing HR for an entire Business Unit. Yet, I had to carry around files and manage campaigns such as health week, so I precisely stick posters if required. Even if I had helping hands, office boys remained few compared to the tasks to be delivered. Waiting for them to finish up the entire workload would have cost me time. In fact, even employees from other verticals carried out similar tasks when required.
My consolation was that I had a huge designation, which did not weigh upon me when I had to deliver on these manual tasks. I knew I was adding far bigger value. We belong to an era where we have open offices and a seamless working culture to ensure a faster workflow.
My point remains, you are not the only one who has been singled out for such tasks. We are all cogs to the same wheel.
Stay focused on the value that you are adding and the learning that you gain about the bigger system while delivering on such tasks. Take my words, years from now, you will master the operations just because you are aware of every nut and bolt of the system. This learning is invaluable and won't come to you from any degree.
Please take pride in your work and connect with the seniors to draw your understanding about the system. You may or may not find everyone readily sharing information. I am sure you have mastered the art of learning from people even when they remain tight-lipped, or soon to be so.
Wish you all the best!
From India, Mumbai
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I see two different issues here, one is a set of deliverables which are considered lowly, and the other is the absence of learning.
To add to the experience sharing, beyond the internship, I have managed roles such as managing HR for an entire Business Unit. Yet, I had to carry around files and manage campaigns such as health week, so I precisely stick posters if required. Even if I had helping hands, office boys remained few compared to the tasks to be delivered. Waiting for them to finish up the entire workload would have cost me time. In fact, even employees from other verticals carried out similar tasks when required.
My consolation was that I had a huge designation, which did not weigh upon me when I had to deliver on these manual tasks. I knew I was adding far bigger value. We belong to an era where we have open offices and a seamless working culture to ensure a faster workflow.
My point remains, you are not the only one who has been singled out for such tasks. We are all cogs to the same wheel.
Stay focused on the value that you are adding and the learning that you gain about the bigger system while delivering on such tasks. Take my words, years from now, you will master the operations just because you are aware of every nut and bolt of the system. This learning is invaluable and won't come to you from any degree.
Please take pride in your work and connect with the seniors to draw your understanding about the system. You may or may not find everyone readily sharing information. I am sure you have mastered the art of learning from people even when they remain tight-lipped, or soon to be so.
Wish you all the best!
From India, Mumbai
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Dear Ram,
I hope your specialization is in Marketing. In the Marketing field, giving wide publicity to retail outlets is also a part and parcel of the job. If you start doing all these at this age, in the future, you can even have an idea about how to give wide publicity, and you can do more innovation in this field. Furthermore, you can teach others how to and how not to go about Marketing Techniques.
As mentioned by Soumik and Ms. (Cite Contribution), please take all the happenings in a positive and healthy way. Whatever you do, do it with enjoyment and try to find something new in that. At the end of the day, when you reach home, before going to bed, reflect on what you have done today, what the correct practices were, what the wrong practices you have adopted were, and what corrective actions are required to rectify the wrong practices. List them out clearly.
Upon completion of your internship program, compile the work and fit it into the required format of your project report.
Wishing you all the best.
From India, Kumbakonam
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I hope your specialization is in Marketing. In the Marketing field, giving wide publicity to retail outlets is also a part and parcel of the job. If you start doing all these at this age, in the future, you can even have an idea about how to give wide publicity, and you can do more innovation in this field. Furthermore, you can teach others how to and how not to go about Marketing Techniques.
As mentioned by Soumik and Ms. (Cite Contribution), please take all the happenings in a positive and healthy way. Whatever you do, do it with enjoyment and try to find something new in that. At the end of the day, when you reach home, before going to bed, reflect on what you have done today, what the correct practices were, what the wrong practices you have adopted were, and what corrective actions are required to rectify the wrong practices. List them out clearly.
Upon completion of your internship program, compile the work and fit it into the required format of your project report.
Wishing you all the best.
From India, Kumbakonam
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Dear Ram,
Already, a few senior members have expressed their views. Let me add two cents from my side.
When you do a particular job, only then do you understand the intricacies of that job. Have you conducted any time and motion studies? How many posters are you able to paste in one hour? Where should the posters be placed to be eye-catching? What is the use if a poster is in a remote location where nobody will see it?
All of these experiences will help you grow. When you become a senior marketing manager tomorrow, you will not have the wild idea of posting 10,000 posters in a day! Therefore, like others, let me also advise you to take this experience positively.
Ok...
DVD
From India, Bangalore
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Already, a few senior members have expressed their views. Let me add two cents from my side.
When you do a particular job, only then do you understand the intricacies of that job. Have you conducted any time and motion studies? How many posters are you able to paste in one hour? Where should the posters be placed to be eye-catching? What is the use if a poster is in a remote location where nobody will see it?
All of these experiences will help you grow. When you become a senior marketing manager tomorrow, you will not have the wild idea of posting 10,000 posters in a day! Therefore, like others, let me also advise you to take this experience positively.
Ok...
DVD
From India, Bangalore
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Dear 1979, boss2966, Dinesh Divakar,
I thank you from the bottom of my heart for being kind enough and for giving some suggestions, spending your valuable time. I do agree that whatever things we do, there will definitely be some learning, and we shouldn't stop that learning. Before starting the project, I had high hopes that I would have some excellent learning experiences, but I wasn't exposed to any high-level work and was only involved in these kinds of tasks. That's why I am disappointed. I need to collect data from customers to complete my project, but I was not allowed to do so. Instead, I was stuck doing the same routine work for nearly 12-14 hours a day, which left me feeling frustrated.
Anyways, I will take all your suggestions and view everything in a positive light. Once again, I thank each and every one of you for your valuable insights.
Sincerely, [Your Name]
From India, Bangalore
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I thank you from the bottom of my heart for being kind enough and for giving some suggestions, spending your valuable time. I do agree that whatever things we do, there will definitely be some learning, and we shouldn't stop that learning. Before starting the project, I had high hopes that I would have some excellent learning experiences, but I wasn't exposed to any high-level work and was only involved in these kinds of tasks. That's why I am disappointed. I need to collect data from customers to complete my project, but I was not allowed to do so. Instead, I was stuck doing the same routine work for nearly 12-14 hours a day, which left me feeling frustrated.
Anyways, I will take all your suggestions and view everything in a positive light. Once again, I thank each and every one of you for your valuable insights.
Sincerely, [Your Name]
From India, Bangalore
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Dear Ram007,
Others have given you sound advice on accepting the situation. As a retired academic who has taught and supervised MBA projects, let me raise some questions. Could you kindly state the aims and objectives of your projects? Have you conducted literature surveys on your topics? Have you decided on the methodology?
Are you being paid by the company for the time you spend there? Is this for your final project report or for your internship report? Was your project proposal approved by the organization? If so, who approved it? Do you have a mentor at the workplace? Who is threatening you when you complain? Have you raised your complaint about the lack of opportunity to work on the project (and not about the workload) with the manager, along with a copy to your academic tutor? Is your place of study an autonomous institution?
The more information you can provide, the better my suggestions will be to help you complete your project.
Finally, please maintain a log of all your activities, any correspondence, and your reflections on your work and how it relates to your studies in general, etc.
From United Kingdom
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Others have given you sound advice on accepting the situation. As a retired academic who has taught and supervised MBA projects, let me raise some questions. Could you kindly state the aims and objectives of your projects? Have you conducted literature surveys on your topics? Have you decided on the methodology?
Are you being paid by the company for the time you spend there? Is this for your final project report or for your internship report? Was your project proposal approved by the organization? If so, who approved it? Do you have a mentor at the workplace? Who is threatening you when you complain? Have you raised your complaint about the lack of opportunity to work on the project (and not about the workload) with the manager, along with a copy to your academic tutor? Is your place of study an autonomous institution?
The more information you can provide, the better my suggestions will be to help you complete your project.
Finally, please maintain a log of all your activities, any correspondence, and your reflections on your work and how it relates to your studies in general, etc.
From United Kingdom
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Dear Nashbramhall,
I am doing a project and not an internship. When I approached that company for the project, the manager who is supposed to be my mentor asked me to come up with some titles. I went with 15 titles, and he approved one topic from that list. I have prepared the questionnaire, received approval from him as well as from my faculty guide at the college within a week. I have also decided upon the statistical tests along with 10 literature reviews. Up until that point, everything was fine, but suddenly they (not my mentor, but other managers) started to overload us with lots of work. When I contacted my mentor, he remained tight-lipped and simply said to try to balance the situation, to do both the project work and organizational tasks. They are not compensating us. They are implying that these projects are of no use, and that only this kind of work will provide any valuable learning experience. There should be some benefits for us since we have been permitted to do our project. What's the benefit for them if I only focus on my project work?
I raised this issue with the HR manager, who stated that it is my duty to accomplish all the tasks during the project. If I take leave in between due to work or fail to complete tasks, they won't provide a project completion certificate. I have not yet brought this issue up with my college as I don't want to complicate matters. My college is under a university and not autonomous.
(Sorry, I am unable to provide details about my project in a public forum because people from the company may also view this forum. If they discover the details, they could easily identify me, leading to further issues.)
From India, Bangalore
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I am doing a project and not an internship. When I approached that company for the project, the manager who is supposed to be my mentor asked me to come up with some titles. I went with 15 titles, and he approved one topic from that list. I have prepared the questionnaire, received approval from him as well as from my faculty guide at the college within a week. I have also decided upon the statistical tests along with 10 literature reviews. Up until that point, everything was fine, but suddenly they (not my mentor, but other managers) started to overload us with lots of work. When I contacted my mentor, he remained tight-lipped and simply said to try to balance the situation, to do both the project work and organizational tasks. They are not compensating us. They are implying that these projects are of no use, and that only this kind of work will provide any valuable learning experience. There should be some benefits for us since we have been permitted to do our project. What's the benefit for them if I only focus on my project work?
I raised this issue with the HR manager, who stated that it is my duty to accomplish all the tasks during the project. If I take leave in between due to work or fail to complete tasks, they won't provide a project completion certificate. I have not yet brought this issue up with my college as I don't want to complicate matters. My college is under a university and not autonomous.
(Sorry, I am unable to provide details about my project in a public forum because people from the company may also view this forum. If they discover the details, they could easily identify me, leading to further issues.)
From India, Bangalore
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Greetings, Thankyou Simhan for the guidance you have provided Ram. I missed out on it. Brainstorming on the project would make it most productive for him.
From India, Mumbai
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From India, Mumbai
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Dear Ram,
You are receiving guidance from the mentor who has been guiding many of us through projects and research. In addition to the directions you are receiving from him on your project, I suggest you consider this opportunity to build your employability.
During a job interview, you need to present your employability, which will come from the readiness to deliver within the scope of the role you are applying for. Work for it right now within this organization. Identify the jobs within this company for which you might get shortlisted during your campus interview and observe every deliverable and responsibility to be managed in that role. Follow the method for handling escalations, if any, in that role. List the competencies required to deliver it and map out what you need to learn. If possible, map them to tasks. Internal training provided by the company to deliver in such a role may not be available to you; however, other broader areas might remain workable. The tasks you are managing will reflect in the discussion, so remain prudent about it.
Your readiness to deliver will ensure hiring for you. Wish you all the best.
From India, Mumbai
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You are receiving guidance from the mentor who has been guiding many of us through projects and research. In addition to the directions you are receiving from him on your project, I suggest you consider this opportunity to build your employability.
During a job interview, you need to present your employability, which will come from the readiness to deliver within the scope of the role you are applying for. Work for it right now within this organization. Identify the jobs within this company for which you might get shortlisted during your campus interview and observe every deliverable and responsibility to be managed in that role. Follow the method for handling escalations, if any, in that role. List the competencies required to deliver it and map out what you need to learn. If possible, map them to tasks. Internal training provided by the company to deliver in such a role may not be available to you; however, other broader areas might remain workable. The tasks you are managing will reflect in the discussion, so remain prudent about it.
Your readiness to deliver will ensure hiring for you. Wish you all the best.
From India, Mumbai
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Hi all,
I am uploading a PowerPoint presentation on Internship and Research Methodology, which I had prepared and delivered in some institutions in India. I hope you find it useful. Please feel free to use it with due acknowledgement. If you have any comments on the content and/or presentation, you can make them in this forum. I will not be offended.
From United Kingdom
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I am uploading a PowerPoint presentation on Internship and Research Methodology, which I had prepared and delivered in some institutions in India. I hope you find it useful. Please feel free to use it with due acknowledgement. If you have any comments on the content and/or presentation, you can make them in this forum. I will not be offended.
From United Kingdom
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Gentleman,
Prima facie, your case appears to be an exploitation of labor by the company staff. If you are working with people who do not respect your project agenda, it is clear they have no interest in your project. The second issue is the lack of remuneration; working for free means the company you have chosen practices no ethical or moral values.
In short, you are trapped in an opportunist-educated mafia that knows how to exploit your weaknesses. It would be better to change your company and spend time on your project with good people and a reasonable company.
Mutlaq
From United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi
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Prima facie, your case appears to be an exploitation of labor by the company staff. If you are working with people who do not respect your project agenda, it is clear they have no interest in your project. The second issue is the lack of remuneration; working for free means the company you have chosen practices no ethical or moral values.
In short, you are trapped in an opportunist-educated mafia that knows how to exploit your weaknesses. It would be better to change your company and spend time on your project with good people and a reasonable company.
Mutlaq
From United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi
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Dear Mr. Simhan,
We have not thought in the way you have advised for Ram to tackle the situation. If the tolerance level crosses, then only the way you have advised will be useful. Normally, whoever started their career from the grassroots level will grow and reach the top position. These people can understand the difficulties and mindset of the lower-level employees. That's the reason I have advised him to think in that direction.
Thank you for your guidance to Ram on the correct direction in case the tolerance level crosses its limit. Please accept my sincere appreciation for sharing such useful presentations with us all and keep on enlightening us with your enormous knowledge.
From India, Kumbakonam
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We have not thought in the way you have advised for Ram to tackle the situation. If the tolerance level crosses, then only the way you have advised will be useful. Normally, whoever started their career from the grassroots level will grow and reach the top position. These people can understand the difficulties and mindset of the lower-level employees. That's the reason I have advised him to think in that direction.
Thank you for your guidance to Ram on the correct direction in case the tolerance level crosses its limit. Please accept my sincere appreciation for sharing such useful presentations with us all and keep on enlightening us with your enormous knowledge.
From India, Kumbakonam
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Though I am digressing, please view Portrait of a Balanced Manager - YouTube about a Balanced Manager.
Please keep a log of all the activities done. As some have suggested, the activities that you do will make you a better person/manager when the time arrives. However, it does not help you with the immediate concern of finishing the project successfully on time. Hence, kindly go back to your tutor guide and brief him/her. Otherwise, (s)he will not appreciate the situation.
As it is not an autonomous institution, you are at a disadvantage; the flexibility to extend the time/view the project report with sympathy may not be there.
You have to go back to your Mentor at work and impress upon the need to give you and others the facility to conduct your surveys in time to finish off the reports.
From United Kingdom
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Please keep a log of all the activities done. As some have suggested, the activities that you do will make you a better person/manager when the time arrives. However, it does not help you with the immediate concern of finishing the project successfully on time. Hence, kindly go back to your tutor guide and brief him/her. Otherwise, (s)he will not appreciate the situation.
As it is not an autonomous institution, you are at a disadvantage; the flexibility to extend the time/view the project report with sympathy may not be there.
You have to go back to your Mentor at work and impress upon the need to give you and others the facility to conduct your surveys in time to finish off the reports.
From United Kingdom
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