Work Experience - Essay Example

? Work Experience Contents Introduction…………………………………………………………………4 2. Skills Obtained……………………………………………………………...4 2 Transferable Skills………………………………………………….4 2.2. Communication Skills……………………………………………....5 2.3. Time Management………………………………………………….5 2.4. Team Work………………………………………………………....6 2.5. Organizational Skills……………………………………………….7 3. Conclusion………………………………………………………………….7 4. References………………………………………………………………….8 5. Work Day Activity…………………………………………………………9 Acknowledgements 1. Introduction: The report is intended to portray my work experience and the improvements that I have accomplished over my performance and skills over the working period of time at Newlook. At this point I would like to provide the reader with an idea about the organization that I had been associated with and job profile that I had worked in. Newlook, being one of the popular fashion companies in the UK has its operations spread worldwide, since it had started its operations in 1969 (Overiew, 2011). The company has its focus on providing its customers with their in-house manufactured products that can offer value to the consumers for the price they pay for them (How We Work, 2011). I was placed in the retail department of the company and was responsible to look after the sales of the company’s products from the retail stores of the company meeting the demands of the customers. 2. Skills Obtained 2.1. Transferable Skills: Basic skills are highly important as these include the basic workplace literacy and the management and performance skills required for any kind of job that an organization may require fulfilling in order to accomplish its objectives. Such skills are developed while working within an organization (Rainbird, Fuller & Munro, 2004, p.102). These are transferable skills that can be used in different organizations and in different work profiles (Cameron, 1999). This is also necessary because people nowadays tend to change their jobs frequently that require him being competent in his work skills to be capable of adapting to the different job profiles. My work experience at Newlook gave me the opportunity to improve my management and interpersonal skills thus developing my personal abilities towards performing on the activities that were given to me as my responsibilities. Not only did I learn the art of looking after the sales of the products, at the same time, I learnt how to manage any unexpected circumstances or confrontations, and how to interact with different members and organize functions for workers who were subordinate to me, thus having an overall learning of management and personal development. 2.2. Communication Skills: Communication skills are one of the most important factors within any organization because it is only through communications that one’s ideas and thoughts can be shared and passed on to others. When a work has to be done by others, it needs to be communicated properly such that the work is implemented correctly. Also relationships are improved if communications between different members are satisfying (Cheema, 2009, p.61). My work experience at Newlook has also enabled me to improve my communication skills to a great extent. In the process of my working, I had the opportunity to observe my seniors performing their activities, interacting with their subordinates as well as the managers. This observation has helped me a lot to unlearn the manners of communicating different views to other organizational members. In my work profile, I had to continuously communicate to the workers as well as report to my seniors. Hence it improved mu understanding of the ways of communication that are more effective and now my communication skills have improved a lot. 2.3. Time Management: Time management is another critical factor necessary in organizational functions that enables utilizing the working hours optimally and effectively in achieving the business targets. Time management facilitates a proper organization and management of the work processes based on which the organizational members may operate their individual functions and responsibilities (Roberts, 1998, p.1; Treacy, 1998; Bird, 2009). Initially, I required more than sufficient time to learn how to manage the time which was quite a difficult task to be achieved since lot of work had to be completed within limited time. However, with the guidance of my seniors and other authorities of the company who suggested me with various techniques to manage time while performing all necessary activities, I was gradually able to learn the management techniques to utilize the time available for my work and now I have effectively grown the time management skills benefitting me in my work. 2.4. Team Work: Team work within organizations enables the efforts from different members to combine together that can improve the quality of the work and enhance the performance of the organization as a whole (West, 2004, p.1). At Newlook, teamwork is highly encouraged and I being a part of the organization got the opportunity to work in teams that included both my seniors as well as workers who were under my charge to perform different activities. The teams comprised of senior as well as junior organizational members that enabled both sides to share their views and ideas on different aspects of their activities. In the process the juniors had the opportunity to learn from their seniors the different techniques of management and working policies. Thus, teamwork at Newlook has greatly enhanced my learning process, at the same time making me capable of working in groups, and interacting with them. 2.5. Organizational Skills: Organizational skills involve the organizational members to be able to organize and manage their functions effectively. It also determines the behavior of the members since behavior of organizational members is greatly responsible for the achievement of organizational goals (Rollinson, 2005). At Newlook, my organizational skills also got improved and enhanced since I had to take initiatives in organizing and managing several activities at the same time following the organizational rules and policies and maintain all norms of the company. Also, I was trained and guided by my seniors and the authority to improve my skills by following different techniques that they provided me with. This eventually raised the level of my skills as well as my performance. 3. Conclusion: Although the time spent at Newlook might not be enough for me to learn every bit of organizational skills or other skills that are required in the performances of an organization’ activities. However, my work experience at Newlook has provided me one of the biggest opportunities to get an exposure to the real organizational world, work there among different groups, and get to learn different techniques and processes useful in the organizational performances. In the process my communication, time management, organizational skills have improved a lot and now I have also learnt to work effectively in teams with all my basic skills readily available. References 1) Bird, P. (2009), Time management London: Hodder & Stoughton 2) Cameron, S. (1999), Business Student’s Handbook – Developing Transferable Skills, London: Pitman Publishing 3) Cheema, D.S. (2009), Business Communications Skills, India: Laxmi Publications Ltd. 4) How We Work (2011), Newlookgroup, available at: http://www.newlookgroup.com/newlook/en/aboutus/howwework (accessed on October 7, 2011) 5) Overview (2011), Newlookgroup, available at: http://www.newlookgroup.com/newlook/en/aboutus/Whoweare (accessed on October 7, 2011) 6) Rainbird, H., Fuller, A & A. Munro (2004), Workplace learning in context, London: Routledge 7) Roberts, J. (1998), Time management, Crimson Publishing 8) Rollinson,D. (2005), Organisational Behaviour and analysis, 3rd Edition, India: Pearson Education Limited  9) Treacy, D. (1998), Successful Time Management in a week , 2nd Edition  10) West, M.A. (2004), Effective teamwork: practical lessons from organizational research, New Jersy: Wiley-Blackwell Work Day Activity: Date: Work Activities Skills Applied 9.30 a.m. Reach office on time and report to the senior manager, take down responsibilities for the day Time management and communication skills 10.30 a.m. Induction training and observation of work activities Transferable skills, Communication skills 11.30 a.m. Gathering important information Organizational skills, Transferable skills 12.30 p.m. Working in teams and looking after the sales of the company Teamwork, Organizational skills, Communication skills 1.30 p.m. Working in teams and looking after the sales of the company Teamwork, Organizational skills, Communication skills 2.30 p.m. Working in teams and looking after the sales of the company Teamwork, Organizational skills, Communication skills 3.30 p.m. Reporting to the senior manager Time management, Communication skills 4.30 p.m. Working in teams and looking after the sales of the company Teamwork, Organizational skills, Communication skills 5.30 p.m. Working in teams and looking after the sales of the company Teamwork, Organizational skills, Communication skills 6.00 p.m. Report back to the manager the whole day’s activities Communication skills Read More