Industrial Attachment Report - Free Essay Example

Content: Chapter 1 1. 1Background 1. 2Objectives Chapter 2 2. 1Location and Brief history of establishment 2. 2Objectives and establishment 2. 3Organizational structure 2. 4The various departments/units in the establishment and their function Chapter 3 and 4 3. 1Reporting on the work actually carried out with clear statements on experiences gained Chapter 5 5. 1Summary of attachment activities 5. 2Problems encountered during the program 5. 3Suggestions for improvement CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1. Background Industrial Attachment is an industrial training giving to every student in Ghana Telecom University College in its third year in the four year course undertaking. This is normally undertaking in the long vacation which last for a period of three months. The industrial attachment considers the course taking in the tertiary. Students normally go to an institution related to their course of study. Industrial attachment involved both the private and public institution or government org anizations. Normally the institutions (Ghana Telecom University College) negotiate with the various institution or organization to attach some students to the Organization. Industrial attachment is an integral part of curriculum in Ghana Telecom University College, preparing students for dynamic, real-life IT employment situations, cultivating their professionalism, aptitude and attitude, adaptive, interpersonal and collaborative skills. They are placed in real-life situations working alongside with experience professionals in the IT industry, both local and overseas. The final-year students are able to put into practice the knowledge and skills acquired from their course, applying it to real-life working environment, gaining the required experience even before they graduate. This helps prepare the student for ready absorption into the workforce and various industries. The attachment also helps to forge, foster and support a close relationship between the Industry and the Ghan a Telecom University College . e. g. Relationship between Vodafone Ghana and Ghana Telecom University College. 1. Objectives The objectives include providing a structured attachment program with emphasis on applications, management and hands-on experience for the students to: (a) Apply knowledge learned (b) Acquire practical skills (c) Strengthen work values (d) Gain interpersonal skills CHAPTER TWO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF ECOBANK 2. 1 History of establishment of Ecobank and Location Ecobank, whose official name is Ecobank Transnational Inc. , is a pan-African banking group with a presence in more African countries than any other bank. It is the leading independent regional banking Group in West and Central Africa, serving wholesale and retail customers. ETI, a public limited liability company, was established as a bank holding company in 1985 under a private sector initiative spearheaded by the Federation of West African Chambers of Commerce and Industry with the support of ECOWAS. In the early 1980’s the banking industry in West Africa was dominated by foreign and state-owned banks. There were hardly any commercial banks in West Africa owned and managed by the African private sector. ETI was founded with the objective of filling this vacuum. Ecobank maintains a network of over 600 branches and service offices. The bank groups customer base is almost 2 million accounts in Ghana. The group employs in excess of 11,000 people. The shares of Ecobank Transnational Inc. , the parent company of Ecobank, are traded on three West African stock exchanges, namely: the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) and the BRVM stock exchange in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Ecobank Ghana has been instrumental in the financial affairs of Ghana. One notable development is the financing of Ghanas sole oil refinery at Tema, a city east of the capital city of Ghana. Ecobank Ghana is the third-biggest bank in Ghana. Barclays Bank is the countries biggest, f ollowed by Standard Chartered Bank. Ecobank Ghana has it head office at North Ridge Accra where I was attached to customer service quality department. 2. 2 Objective of establishment ? To project Ecobank as a responsible and caring corporate citizen ? To assist communities and certain underprivileged groups provide for themselves a brighter future. To encourage creativity and excellence among West Africans. ? To foster integration within the region Areas of Interest ? Entrepreneurial development (especially in rural-based ) ? Education ? Health ? Community development 2. 3 Organization structure Ecobank Ghana Limited 1. Strategic management Involves the Group that owns Ecobank West Africa and Managing directors of any Ecobank country in Africa. 2. Tactical management 3. Operational management 2. 4 The various department/Unit in Ecobank and their functions Human resource management department (HRM): The Human Resources Management (HRM) function includes a variety of activities, an d key among them is deciding what staffing needs you have and whether to use independent contractors or hire employees to fill these needs, recruiting and training the best employees, ensuring they are high performers, dealing with performance issues, and ensuring your personnel and management practices conform to various regulations. Customer service quality department Customer service is a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction that is, the feeling that a product or service has met the customer expectation. This department includes the tellers and front desks. ? Answering customer inquires. ? providing technical and other information ? letting customers track accounts or order status ? Allowing customers to customize and order online Procurement department Is Central support organization responsible for acquisition of goods and services, payment of vendors, reimbursements and development of vendor contracts. The procurement department receiv es and distributes materials and resources needed by the various departments. Marketing Department They used to identify the customer, to keep the customer, and to satisfy the customer. With the customer as the focus of its activities, it can be concluded that marketing management is one of the major components of management. The marketing department takes care of all marketing and advertising related tasks including, publishing and advertisement. I. T Department Information technology (IT) refers to the management and use of information using computer-based tools. The department creates data, stored company data and processed data on computers. In some cases the data must be input to computers by the teller or from any other department or operations using devices such as keyboards and scanners. In other cases the data might be created electronically and automatically stored in computers for by business continuity. The department supports organization transactions in terms of the communicating to their sister companies or branches in the Country or West Africa. The departments serve as the backbone for the company in all the various transactions performance by the company. CHAPTER THREE 3. 1 Report on work actually carried out. The work I actually carried out of at Ecobank Customer service quality department is in two forms, namely i. Mystery shopping ii. Branch performance Mystery shopping or mystery consumer is a tool used by market research companies to measure quality of retail service or gather specific information about products and services. Mystery shoppers posing as normal customers perform specific tasks such as purchasing a product, asking questions, registering complaints or behaving in a certain way and then provide detailed reports or feedback about their experiences. The customer service quality department of Ecobank also adapts the mythology of accessing the integrity of its employee. The process was carried out by me through out the s eventeen branches in Accra and five branches in Tema. After the survey I prepared a report which covers the following points for management decision making. †¢ number of employees in the store on entering †¢ how long it takes before the mystery shopper is greeted †¢ the name of the employee(s) †¢ whether or not the greeting is friendly, ideally according to objective measures †¢ The questions asked by the shopper (me) to find a suitable product. ? What amount charge on making money transfer from Ecobank to another bank or within Ecobank? ? What one need open an account in Ecobank? ? What are the products or package of Ecobank? What are the electronic cards of Ecobank and its requirement to get it? ? What it take hold for a customer to hold or get any of the various electronic cards of Ecobank. ? How much do Ecobank charge on money transfer? †¢ The types of products shown in the Ecobank environment. †¢ whether or how the employee attempted to clo se the sale †¢ whether the employee invited the shopper to come back to the store †¢ cleanliness of store and store associates †¢ speed of service( turn around time) †¢ compliance with company standards relating to service, store appearance, and grooming/presentation CHAPTER FOUR Branch performance To analyze the performance of the branch network, or to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the bank’s existing network of sites. I analyzed the demand potential for each branch location in relation to its actual performance. Results from this analysis helped identify underperforming branch locations and candidates for divestiture. To further aid in analyzing performance, a location ranking of existing branches was incorporated. With branch performance I need to interview various branch managers to see how they relate to their worker and to know how he or she manages the affairs of the company. I also monitor previous operation to date I visit that br anch in terms of how manage people opens an account a day, which type of account. I also monitor the time it takes for a customer request to be fulfill when he or she place a request for ATM, Visa and Master (Gold Card) cards. I also interview some of the workers especially the tellers but I went through the various department. Our interest is most in the front desk workers and their knowledge about packages of the Bank. To evaluate its current branch network and identify branch locations performing below the deposit potential Benefits Determine the trade area demand potential at each branch location ? Review the deposit volumes of all competitors in the region ? Identify the strengths and weaknesses of the branch network ? Provide a clear and concise strategy for each branch location ? Adhere to strict guidelines to ensure actionable results ? Ensure consistency in procedures and capture in-house expertise in a systematic, statistical tool Client Testimonial CHAPTER FIVE Summary, C onclusion and Recommendation 5. 1 Summary of attachment activities I was at the head office of Ecobank, Customer Service Quality Department. My responsibility is to visit the various branches in Accra as mystery shopper and later measure branch performance. As a Mystery Shopper I measure quality of retail service or gather specific information about products and services and worker or employee relation to customers. Branch performance analyzes the performance of the client’s branch network, or to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the bank’s existing network of sites. I analyzed the demand potential for each branch location in relation to its actual performance. Results from this analysis helped identify underperforming branch locations and candidates for divestiture. To further aid in analyzing performance, a location ranking of existing branches was also incorporated. 5. 2 Problem encountered during the program Customer are time as soon as they enter into the banking hall and the time he or she will walk out the banking hall as they perform any of the transactions in the hall. I encounter a lot of problem during the mystery shopping because most of the front desk especial the customer service desk don’t have patient for the customers. E. g. one of the workers in Tema Main Branch insults me just that I was asking a lot of questions. The workers some at time hide themselves from you when they get to know that you are coming from the Ecobank head office and you will be doing branch performance. 5. 3 Suggestion for improvement of the scheme This attachment programme or scheme can be improved by sending the students to a particular company monitored by the supervisor in the company. The report or the evaluation should come from the supervisor to the university in addition the report the each student will write on his or her own. Student should also be posted to a company that is related to his her field of study.