Finance Management Report

University Finance Management Report 

Introduction

            Currently within the University Finance Department I am working in payroll.  Right now there is a change being made since the manager is moving to another position or finishing her internship, a new manager is coming into that position.  I am a member of the department at this time.  The tasks that have been assigned are to verify FIT numbers and correct any that are incorrect.  This has been completed for University Consulting and University Finance Department for one pay period and also University Consulting for another pay period.  At the present time the tasks assigned have been completed.  An email has been sent to the incoming manager as a new task in needed. 

            A challenge that is being faced is that the tasks assigned are great, but it appears that when tasks are completed it takes a bit for a new task.  Also not all information was available as it should have been for a new intern entering the department which left confusion.  This has now been handled.  As for gaining new tasks, there may be opportunities available to move up in this department which is a great option to help stay busy.  That is something that will be looked into. 

Information Management, Planning and Controls

            Should an element of effective information management or assurance be removed it can have a detrimental effect on the other elements and render the information management and assurance practices of the organization ineffectual (MacLeod, 2015).  With this being stated it is an absolute must in any organization to pass along the information that is needed on behalf of the employees so they can do their part in making sure the work is completed.  Giving the documents needed a week later does no justice and impairs the employee of doing their job and having it completed in a timely manner.  When you know there is a new employee, it should be required that all documents needed are prepared and ready for this employee to being their job so there is little room for idle time.  Having an employee without work to do could mean a company is paying this person and they are receiving nothing in return.  This may work out for the employee but the company is losing out. 

Organizational Processes

            Today’s organizations change or redesign their business processes and/or organizational structures more frequently than ever before to innovate and adapt to the rapidly changing environment (Jinyoun, Sanghyun, Minseok, & Injun, 2015).  This is true when it comes to the organization that is involved.  People are changing positions within the internship and needing to learn quickly as to their role and tasks they are faced with.  You may have a manager that is quick with responses and gets back to you in a timely manner, then you may have a manager who waits 24 hours to return your emails.  This can make for a difficult situation to get tasks done as when you have time, they are unable to respond and you sit idle.  Being able to stay organized and knowing what needs completed is very helpful when dealing with a business process.  This will allow you to delegate tasks more quickly and efficiently. 

Communication

            This area is very important in any business structure that a person is a part of.  Being able to communicate effectively and efficiently.  Also knowing who you need to communicate to can be very helpful.  Communication is the process of transmitting information between two or more parties (Wienclaw, 2015).  For the experience within the Internship this involves clear communication through emails and if need be, by phone conversations to be able to have an understanding of exactly what is needed to be done.  A downfall of communication is how the person interprets your message.  That is why you must be precise as to the meaning of the message you are conveying.  If your message gets misinterpreted this could cause an issue within your organization that you are not wanting to occur. 

Conclusion

            It is very important to know what your job involves and who you need to go to when issues arise.  Also being able to have clear communication is a must in any organization.  Being in an organization that is constantly changing positions a person needs to realize what a new hire coming on board may need to complete their tasks at hand so they are not sitting idle while you are not able to respond to them.  It is key to do the best you can in keeping your department running smoothly and efficiently to get the tasks accomplished.

References

Jinyoun, L., Sanghyun, S., Minseok, S., & Injun, C. (2015). A BUSINESS PROCESS SIMULATION FRAMEWORK INCORPORATING THE EFFECTS OF ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE. International Journal of Industrial Engineering, 22(4), 454-466.

MacLeod, A. (2015). Effective information management and assurance for a modern organization during a crisis. Journal of Business Continuity & Emergency Planning, 9(1), 52-59.

Wienclaw, R. A. (2015). Communications in the Workplace. Research Starters: Business (Online Edition),

Week 1 of Internship Experience

Week 1 of Internship Experience

In the unit 1 seminar we talked about the unit 1 discussion and how we all are going to have fears and anxiety. The Professor talked about how this will be a unique experience for us and how it’s a scary class but it will be good for us. He talked about how they are taking away the right to tell us what to read, what to do, what to writ and etc. We talked about how you’re going to need to be a leader, deal with the organization whether it’s a manager or employee. There are special skills that are needed. You have to have a positive mind set to succeed in this course. we talked about how we need to make sure we know how to work the organization. We are in control of the position we are given by our leadership. We talked about how we are graded on the practical side. We are graded on what we are doing on the academic side. It’s a learning experience for us to figure out how to connect practice to theory. We talked about how it’s easy to do 40 hours a week for our organization buts lose track of the academic side of the process. We have to learn what we want to learn and experience in this organization. We also talked about the different outcomes we are going to cover. We need to figure out how what we have learned so far affects us in the real world. We need to do field research if it’s not our position but have questions. We need to talk to leadership, management or etc. if we have questions. For our own privacy how do the organization manage our W-9 forums and etc. What do they do with those forums?  We need to understand what the difference is between a process and a business. A process is related to a system and procedure is related to a policy. At the end of the course we have to identify one business process and one business procedure. Explain each one, fix anything that needs to fixed. Its experimental learning because in the real world no one tells you how to fix something within your business, they not show how to do anything. You learn as you go on and grow from what you are doing. Everyone is going to have different learning experiences based upon their job title. You want to observe and experience things within the organization and be able to write about them. You need to evaluate how your organization is employing ethics.

Internship Reflection Essay

Reflection Essay

 Introduction

            This week assignment involves applying the experience of the internship in an academic setting. Using the observations of the first week there will be an evaluation of professional competencies and business process. The course outcomes that will be evaluated.. These will be described in detail and improvements will be suggested.

Control Processes

Week one in the internship has shown that General Public University consulting seems to not have very many business controls. Organizational control comes from the goals and strategic plans of the organization of the company. ("The Control Process - Boundless Open Textbook", 2015) During week one the observation of General Public Consulting was that there was not clear plan. The leaders lacked direction and did not do a very good job of taking control of new interns. There was a meeting that was intended to make things easier for interns however the meeting did not give the interns any direction whatsoever. The basic message was that managers would reach out to managers and give the interns more direction. After week one the conversation from the manger was no better and the manager did not even know what job description that was assigned. There has not been any direction as far as job description and midweek there was an email assigning a new job and a different manager. The new manager is not much better and has not reached out to give the new job description.

Part of organization control is to implement new interns into the company. There should be a process put into place to not only welcome them but to orientate them into the company. The company should have already had the interns assigned a position and managers should be prepared in order to make sure the new interns were well oriented. The interns should have a clear idea what the company mission is and the objectives that need to be met. Knowing what the mission is will help develop the goals of the company. The managers will then be able to figure out how each department can contribute to those goals. The managers should not just assign people to a task but to do a better description of the job assigned. The top level managers did a good job of delegating the jobs down, and the interns feel more comfortable, but the mid-level managers did not do a good job with following up with the interns making them understand what the goals and mission of the job.

Professional Competencies and Control Process

The first week of working there seemed to be processes or controls in place.  There was new interns who were still confused as to what their position were. People had gotten promoted and did not seem to have a grasp on their new position. Business process management is a systematic approach to making an organization workflow more effective (Margaret Rouse , 2015).   General Public consulting did not seem to have this in place. However, after a few days of new interns being frustrated and confused, the new leaders started to take charge of their now positions and get the new interns situated. The process that needs the most improvement would be the smooth transition of new interns into the program. There was and orientation meeting and even though this was a good idea many people left more confused than when they signed up. The meeting had most of the leadership present and many of the interns were there as well. The recruiters were also present too. The recruiters had told the new recruits that their questions would be answered and that the program would be explained. That did not exactly happen. To improve upon this Business Process Management there should some changes.  The process should be an orientation to the new interns. This should be more organized and instead of it being a question answer session it should be more about the mission of the company and what the goals are. The business model should be presented and the interns should have a better description of what the job positions are. The recruiters should set up interviews instead of just placing people into positions. Once the person is hired then the department manager should reach out to the interns and give them a good description of their jobs and follow up with them to make sure they understand. Overall I think General Public consulting is a new company and has come a long way in a short period.  Small improvements in the process will make this a much better experience for the new interns. By adapting new and improved processes will improve the efficiency to the interns getting to work and less time worrying about the course itself.

Conclusion

            In conclusion, the real world setting of General Public Consulting there were two core competencies. The first was to evaluate the control process. Once an evaluation was made, the second was to evaluate the BPM. Week one exposed several weaknesses in the processes. The first week also showed the by having a BPM that the processes could be improved. There were improvements that were suggested and improvements can be made.

    

References

The Control Process - Boundless Open Textbook. (n.d.). Retrieved April 1, 2015, from https://www.boundless.com/management/concepts/the-control-process-0-7331/

What is business process management (BPM)? - Definition from WhatIs.com. (n.d.). Retrieved April 1, 2015, from http://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/business-process-management

Internship Management Report

Introduction to the Internship

As part of the experiential learning experience offered through General Public University, and provided for by General Public Consulting, there are myriad intricacies inherent which are able to be illustrated through reflective essay. As such, the aim is to discuss the first week's experience with General Public Consulting, LLC., with a focus on information management, planning, and control while applying the professional competencies of integrity and respect in a team setting environment, active participation and collaboration to obtain team goals, and the application of  conflict resolution and team building skills.

Information Management

By today's standards, virtual communities are becoming a norm in professional atmospheres. Similarly, General Public Consulting, LLC, seeks to do the same. With regard to information management, the goals this week, from a HR perspective, is to disperse, collect, and file I-9, W-4, and Employee Handbook paperwork and acknowledgment. Utilizing DOCHUB is daunting for those who have never used the software before. As such, although the intention is to introduce new platforms which are designed to create ease within the experiential learning course, DOCHUB is a nemesis to many participants. Thus, with the paperwork being time sensitive, it seems a more streamlined approach would be to use a more widely recognized platform to engage intern participants. As per Coakes and Clark (2006), time is of the essence in virtual team building; thus, information and knowledge management must be a smooth transition in order that participants develop a trust for the system and its management. In retrospect, while the platforms of DOCHUB and Podio were frustrating, it is clear that current management is well versed in both and are willing and able to offer assistance . Therefore, integrity and respect in a team setting was achieved, there was active participation in both establishing the use and understanding of both Podio and DOCHUB through team effort, and the overall environment of General Public, LLC. was enhanced through conflict resolution and team building through excellent communication and encouragement.

Planning

Organizational planning is essential to the overarching goals, processes, and stakeholders of a company. Thus, it appears that General Public Consulting, LLC. is built upon the framework of "reciprocal" planning. That is, as one set of interns matures, they offer help to those who are in the initial phases of planning and participation (Grodal, Nelson, & Siino, 2015). However, in hindsight, there seems to be a lack of planning with regard to on boarding new interns.  Many blanket emails were sent via several different sources regarding the same information. Additionally, there were several emails sent that referenced the wrong dates for meeting times, and there seemed to be a great deal of confusion as management was changing hands, and new interns were entering the program. Overall there seemed no clear set plan as to how to introduce new interns smoothly and without the confusion of several different people trying to accomplish the same task. According to Hillman (2010), in order to best onboard new employees, the first 30 days are the most critical to their longevity; as it relates to General Public Consulting and problems experienced with the onboarding process, Hillman suggests that new employees be provided "a sequence of training and development opportunities to make the job easier, and make sure that coaching is readily available (p. 2)." Considering this problems encountered this first week, it seems advantageous to employ both of these processes to the practicum. Lastly, as it relates to planning and or training, the initial phase of each should be established through direct contact to each new employee explaining roles, procedures, and establishing order within the new employee's team. While it is evident that the program is based on transitional leadership, other than just an employee handbook and a handshake, there should be order established in the beginning part of the program so that new employees are aware of where they can fit in or are capable of taking over.

Span of Control

Based on the first week of the externship, although seemingly based on transformational leadership, there seemed very little control in place. While it is impossible to say that there is none in place, at this early stage, other than emails there has been no distinction between "active or passive management." Being new to an organization that is transformational is a new experience. Normally, there are clear cut expectations, responsibilities, tasks, and accountability measures. However, perhaps because this is "new", there is still the great majority that will be revealed. Either through active management, senior members of General Public Consulting LLC., will consistently assess performance and anticipate performance issues before they arise, or as passive management, leaders will wait until a mistake has been made in order to follow up with an intern as to the standards and expectations (American Psychological Institute, 1993). While each approach to control has its place, neither has been applied as of yet. Again, this is not to discount the program, nor is it an attempt to dismiss leadership's ability; however, there only seems a few big fish and many, many little fish who are desperately learning to swim with very little direction as to which way the river is flowing. It is curious if one should become part of the school or a shark? 

References

American Psychological Association. (1993). Transformational leadership, transactional leadership, locus of control, and support for innovation: Key predictors of consolidated-business-unit performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78(6), 891-902. Retrieved from http://www.taranomco.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/184.pdf

Coakes, E., & Clark, S. (2006). Encyclopedia of communities of practice in information and knowledge management [EBSCO host version]. Retrieved from http://eds.b.ebscohost.com

Grodal, S., Nelson, A., & Siino, R. (2015). Help-seeking and help-giving as an organizational routine: Continual engagement in innovative work. Academy of Management Journal, 58(1), 136-168. Retrieved from DOI: 10.5465/amj.2012.0552

Hillman, J. (2010). Planning for employee onboarding: Finding ways to increase new employee success and long-term retention. Retrieved from Noel-Levitz, Inc website: https://www.noellevitz.com/documents/shared/Papers_and_Research/2010/OnboardingPaper.pdf