Introduction of Final Student Internship Progress Report

            In this final internship report, the overall experience, expectations and learning obtained from my internship at Directorate General of Civil Aviation will be discussed in detail. I would like to present my overall experience that what I have to do during this internship, and what I was able to achieve. The further discussion will elaborate that what is the description of organization and how things work there. Then I will share my thoughts that when I came for this internship, what expectations I had in mind, and what I was able to accomplish as per my expectations. It is a fact that every new internship experience is a great one for the internee in so many ways because it helps them to grow, learn and move forward in right professional direction. I was there in Directorate General of Civil Aviation as an internee, but still I would like to share my humble and honest opinion about the organization and department as well that how things were being managed, and what else could be done or improved in this regard. In the end I will share my thoughts on overall organizational environment and what lessons and experience I was able to gain through this great internship opportunity at Directorate General of Civil Aviation.

II.  Description of the Organization of civil aviation authority

                    It is important to mention here that every country has a civil aviation authority, which manages civil aviation related matters in the country like managing its airports, airplane industry and companies. So, this is the actual role of Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Kuwait that they are involved in various kinds of responsibilities. The DGCA has the role to manage all relevant activities of civil aviation authority like managing the international airport and its different terminals that how flight operations will continue, and what kind of rules and regulations will be followed. I would like to mention here that I was working in Administrative Affairs Department of DGCA, which has its own roles and responsibilities. The major task of Administrative Affairs Department is to assist DGCA and support them in handling every activity. It is important to mention here that organization is considered to be a public sector organization, because it is handled by the government of Kuwait. So, there is no point of talking about private sector. The main office building is situated in Kuwait city and structure of this organization starts from Civil Aviation President. The DGCA authority works under the President. The General Manager of the organizations also works under the supervision of DGCA. It was mentioned above that organization is a public sector organization, which is managed by the government, so there are no competitors as it does not belong to any private sector, where there are various kinds of competitors.

III. Internship Expectations civil aviation authority

            It is important to mention here that when people go for work at any place, they certainly have few expectations in their mind. This is what my situation was, when I went for my internship at DGCA’s Administrative Affairs Department. I had expectations in mind that I will be doing a lot of routine work in the Administrative Affairs Department and I will be able to explore practical and professional knowledge of my relevant field. I had no professional experience earlier, so my expectations were that I will learn that how to move in a professional environment. I was expecting to learn that how things are practically done by following certainly rules and procedures in the organization. I was also expecting that with my honest efforts and hard work, I will be able to put my positive energy in the department, and encourage myself to do well in every regard.

IV. Structure of the Department related to your Major civil aviation authority

            I have already mentioned that I was doing my internship at Administrative Affairs Department. The department has various administrative roles to perform, but its major function was to provide essential support and assistance to DGCA organization in handling various administrative tasks like major task was related to human resource management. The department has the responsibility to manage that how hiring and recruiting process will be managed. The other major task of the department was to manage that how employees training and development routine will be handled, as it was told that more than 1388 employees are working in DGCA. I believe that training and career development are two important functions for any organization as it allows employees to remain skilled and updated, and perform well for their organization. So, the department was handling all of these crucial tasks with its administrative structure.

V. Duties Discussion of Civil Aviation to Administration Affairs Department

            In any administrative department, the all relevant affairs are of administrative kind. There can be departments, where more specific tasks are handled like in a finance department, but this department was dealing with administrative tasks, and this is what my duty was too. In early part of my internship, I was given the duty of follow up all letters and orders come from Directorate General of Civil Aviation to Administration Affairs Department. There were various types of letters, which used to come on routine basis. Then other major task assigned to me was to filling system and re-order all documents into its original file using Zerox machine for all incoming and out-going documents, participating in team word doing statics of the amount of correspondence between each department. The other major portion of my responsibilities at internship was to overlook and review the decisions and letters coming from DGCA, and then send them to Administrative Affairs Department, once they are properly reviewed for any errors etc. I would like to mention here that sometimes administrative tasks look simple in nature but they are critical too as there may be any other specialized tasks. I also thought that my role may not be too critical in nature like reviewing letters and then handling them properly. But my duties also had their own importance, because letters and decisions floating from one department to the other are crucial in so many ways. If one letter has important information like asking administrative department to hire few employees on immediate basis for any new project, and letter is not communicated properly in time, then hiring of those employees will be late, and project will be stopped until employees are hired. So, I realized that my daily tasks are crucial too and I was able to do them well. My role was simple but it had its own criticality to liaise between two departments, keep things in order in every professional matter.

VI. Organization Assessment and Recommendation for Improvement

            I must admit that I was an internee and totally an alien in this department of the DGCA, but still I would like to share my humble and honest opinion about the organization by assessing its various routines. The fact of the matter is that there is always some strength and weaknesses of an organization and organizations have to be aware of those so that they can improve their work processes in the future. I must say that overall work processes and things were quite professional in the organization, and a good order was maintained in all departments. The departments had good communication system between them. The most important strength of the organization was its friendly work environment. I was amazed to see that how people were so friendly and supportive in nature. They always share a smile with each other and help each other in daily tasks. It is a great gesture that when someone needs help, and it is provided to them; I experienced this thing on daily basis in this organization.

            The overall work procedures in the organization looked professional and efficient up to international standards. The organization had good work processes and every process was well streamlined; that’s why every department and employee knew their routine tasks and responsibilities. But organization had few weaknesses as well, which I would like to share. When I talked to various senior employees, I was told that they deserve a promotion, but they are not being promoted in time. I believe that employees’ promotion is important to keep them motivated for work, but late promotions can discourage employees to remain loyal to the organization. Moreover, the employees are the most crucial asset for any organization because they are the ones, who help companies to achieve their set objectives and goals. But when they are not being promoted or rewarded in time, then skilled and professional employee may think to switch the organization, which is a huge loss for any organization in my opinion.

I would like to give few recommendations to the organization as well. I observed that most of the work was done through paper, whereas I would recommend them to handle their work electronically. I would also suggest that organization should work on doing online integration between the departments for fast delivery of operations and fast communication. When departments are integrated online, they can communicate on immediate basis, whereas manual process can take longer period of time like one letter from one department to the other may take several minutes when done manually, but it can reach in seconds, if it is sent online. However, I must say again that overall organization was efficient, professional and well managed, and they can work on their weak areas to look things more professional.

VII. Work Environment of Civil Aviation to Administration Affairs Department

            I have mentioned above that work environment of the organization was wonderful, because it was friendly in nature. I have heard about organizations, where stiff rules are followed all the time, and employees are not given an opportunity to talk well between each other, and just focus on the job. In such stiff environment, every employee is concerned with his/her task to be completed successfully. But when work environment is bit open and friendly, it develops great relations between employees. One employee can get help from his/her colleagues, if he/she is in trouble to do any task. When work environment is flexible and allows employees to integrate, it is great for the organization, as collective efforts with positive energy are always better than anything else. The friendly work environment eased my nerves as an internee as everyone was so cooperative and supportive. They knew that I was new to the job, and they assisted me in every task that how I can make it perfect to enhance my personal and professional knowledge.

VIII. Lessons Learned of Civil Aviation to Administration Affairs Department

            I was there to learn lessons as much as I could, and I am happy that I was able to learn so many useful lessons from this work experience. I never worked in such large organization before, so it was great experience for me to mingle with people and communicate well on daily basis. I was able to learn that how one should act and communicate in a professional environment. I was always shy in interacting with people, but this internship experience mitigated my hesitation, and I was good communicator before ending my internship. The internship provided great lesson for my future professional career. I was able to learn that how one can set small goals on daily basis, and achieve them to move forward in right direction. I also one more great thing and that was time management I always had problems in managing time, but this internship opportunity helped me to learn that how one can manage his/her time effectively. I also faced few challenges as well, which also enhanced my learning experience. I was never good in meeting deadlines, but I learn to do that during this internship. Moreover, I also never knew that how one should work as a team member so that a team can meet its goals. I learned that how one can manage his/her routine tasks individually, and then integrate with the team to achieve team’s goals. I was certainly able to improve my analytical as well as professional skills. I was able to meet my expectations and learn so many fruitful things, which certainly would help me in future career.