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INDUSTRIAL PLACEMENT PORTFOLIO St Martins Youth Arts Centre 21st June-18th July

By Qingqi Xu (Alice) Student ID: 26288230 Unit: BEX3006 Winter 2018

Executive summary This industrial placement portfolio is based on the 20 days long internship program that I had engaged in St Martins Youth Arts Centre, a not for profit organization that focuses primarily on creating arts by and with children for adult audiences. While there, my key role is to develop a comprehensive policy bank that set structural guidance for all aspects of St Martins’ administration to follow. The internship has reinforced the theoretical framework that I’ve learned from Monash by offering me a platform to apply them practically with consideration of this specific organization. It has also inspired me academically and professionally. The merits and demerits that I found about myself will facilitate me to advance myself and better my chance in the next employment.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Self evaluation Host Evaluation Presentation Slides Reflective Essay Diary Journal Key Tasks !

SELF EVALUATION

Email address

[email protected]

Select your unit code

BEX3006/BEX3106

Organisation

St Martins Youth Arts Centre

Industry supervisor

Narda Shanley

Student first name

QINGQI

Student surname

XU

Student ID number

26288230

Student Monash email address

[email protected]

Student's interest and energy Approaches assigned tasks with enthusiasm

5

Understands the work of the business unit to which he/she is attached

5

Can relate the work of his /her business unit to the goals of the overall organisation

5

Seeks opportunities to broaden his/her knowledge and skill base

5

Comments

St Martins Youth Arts Centre is committed to facilitate and encourage child and young people to discover their own potentials and use their unlimited creativity to fulfil their own dream. It's a great opportunity for me in terms of that this form of organisation where young people's own opinions can be heard and valued is currently lacking in China my home country, if I can be the influencer and advocate this form of business to China, lots of young people can benefit from it. So, I'm more than honoured to be able to participate in that process and use my knowledge and skills to help the organisation better itself during which I can also familiarise with the mechanism through my tasks which is updating existing policies and developing new policies. The challenging aspect of the task is that the organisation's existing policies are quite out-dated and some policies requires legal knowledge which is out of my existing knowledge base. After realise that the legal knowledge is a

necessity, I immediately acquaint myself to that. This can be of my benefit in the future, since now that I'm aware of some of the legal requirement of business, especially in the HR aspect. Student's dependability and work output Takes ownership of assigned tasks

5

Meets agreed work targets

5

Anticipates and manage risks

5

Looks for additional responsibilities

4

Comments

My responsibility at St Martins is to first perform gap analysis between the organisation's existing policies and procedures and a comprehensive policy and procedure set. My supervisor has given me the autonomy to set the daily target. So, I divide my work into four phases, organise and familiarise with existing policy, renew outdated policies, developing deficit policies, and check the completeness of the policies and procedures structure. I think that I can improve on taking additional responsibilities more voluntarily. The organisation will be more efficient and effective if all employees can treat organisational goal as part of their personal goal or find the resonation between the two set of goals.

Student's organisation and planning Is well organised

5

Manages work commitments effectively

5

Provides regular, clear, accurate status reports

4

Prioritises tasks and allocates time accordingly

5

I set weekly and daily goal for myself prior commencing to work and adjust the sequence and prioritisation of policy development or workload according to my supervisor's needs. St Martins held weekly work in progress (WIP) for both employees and directors to discuss their weekly progress, so that employees can clarify if any misunderstanding exists, and directors can manage the organisation more efficiently. I can further myself in reporting my work to supervisor, especially in shared document. I colour coded the spreadsheet where I listed all the policies and

Comments

procedure and their status, which is effective when I review the work, but when I share and report the same document with my supervisor with very brief explanation of the meaning of each colour, confusion emerged. The purpose of communication is to deliver information and to ensure that others can understand that message. In future times, I'll be more cautious with sharing and communicating information with others in terms of ensuring the message is delivered in an efficient manner.

Student's oral communication skills Thinks carefully before contributing to the debate

4

Expresses ideas clearly and succinctly

3

Makes well- argued contributions to the topics under discussion

4

Communicates effectively and perceptively to the audience

3

Comments

As international student, one of my biggest diffident is my language skills. When I first came to Melbourne, I'm afraid of speaking in public and sharing my perspective to others in English, because I think that if I speak poorly no one would understand me and I'll be embarrassed. Shortly after that, I recognised the importance of being confident and to voice out my opinion, no one would understand me only if I don't contribute to the conversation and state myself. After realise that, I consciously join the conversation and contribute my ideas. I understand that my language skills still needs advancement, but I'm genuinely glad that I've made my best effort during my time in St Martins.

Student's written communications skills Checks facts before putting ideas in writing

5

Pays attention to details including layout, spelling, and punctuation

4

Writes clearly and concisely

4

Crafts well considered and effective emails

5

Comments

Since my tasks and responsibilities at St Martins are to update and develop policies and procedure, which require refined written skills. I'm satisfied with the improvement I made compared to my past in terms of generalise ideas in a concise and structured manner. Areas that I can improve on is the consistency of formatting. For instance, the font, size, spacing and alignment for the same type of document. The formatting can be seen as part of the report and is can represent my professionalism. Especially when the report is presented to the supervisor, a consistent styled document made it easier for supervisors to understand.

Student's listening skills Follows the train of argument

5

Identifies and records key ideas and concepts

5

Captures deep insights

4

Responds appropriately to directions

4

Comments

Working environment and leadership style in Australia is significantly different from what I’ve experienced in China. In China, the manager would give specific task with detailed criteria and instructions for employees to following, as in here, supervisor would give employees autonomy to decide and contribute. That difference has been challenging for me to conquer at first, but I adapted promptly as I actively listen to others. I pay attention to every conversation to not only “hear” what is being said but also listen to the whole message. Whenever that I felt like that I can’t fully understand, I’ll repeat points back in my own understanding and seek clarification.

Student's presentation skills Engages with the audience

5

Makes good use of available time, technology, and presentation aids

5

Expresses ideas effectively

5

Presents a compelling

argument that demands a response

Comments

5

During the weekly WIP where all employees present their work progress in five minutes, I’d prepare my content beforehand. During the presentation, I’d actively use and maintain eye contact to ensure that my message has been delivered and others understand me. Also I’d engage colleagues that might be affected by policies that I’ve updated and developed so that they can advise me in their specialised area.

Student's team work skills Aligns personal efforts to achievement of team goals

5

Is able to switch seamlessly between roles in a team

5

Supports other team members without waiting to be asked

5

Identifies barriers to effective team work and actively works to remove them

5

Comments

Teamwork skill is fundamental for organisation to survive in the competitive business environment. When I develop policies and procedures that might affect daily operations of other coordinators, I would seek their advice in advance and take their suggestion into consideration. All employees and contractors of St Martins are warmly welcoming and supportive. In future job I would be more active and energetic in terms taking more team responsibilities voluntarily.

Student's critical thinking and problem solving Learns from past experience

5

Applies theory to practice

5

Evaluates evidence, considers alternatives and provides wellreasoned and innovative solutions to problems

5

Anticipates and manages risks

5

Comments

During my time in St Martins, I tried to be as supportive as I possibly can while think critically in a positive and constructive manner. Part of St Martins’ goal concurrently is to find a systematic mechanism of operation while give employees and workshop contractors the greatest extent of freedom. My task as developing policies and procedures is to establish a framework within the organisation that set structural requirement for all staff in St Martins to follow, besides which employees will not be constraint to utilise their abilities to better St Martins. I utilised my human resource management knowledge that I learnt in the University of Hong Kong and the management skill that I've learnt in Monash. The two set of knowledge also offers my different view point. In China, organisational change like newly developed policies is considered as a circulus process while the western viewed change as discrete and separate. I integrated both review when writing the policies and procedures.

Student's personal development Has identified areas that need improvement

5

Has sought advice/guidance on how to improve performance

5

Has actively sought out opportunities for personal development

5

Comments

There are three places that I think I can improve upon after carefully considered my supervisor’s advice. First of all is to stop multitasking ability. In the process of developing policies, I realised that there are some policies that are closely related and could be developed simultaneously so that it will be more efficient. However, I found the quality of the work has been compromised. The quality of the work should always be prioritised and not sacrificed for mere pursue of efficiency. Secondly, I could improve on looking at the bigger picture and viewing tasks from supervisor’s perspective. When I started to develop the policies, I unconsciously took the employees’ perspective, while the policies should be a tool for management to administer the organisation. Lastly, I could improve on the consistency of formatting in reports generated.

Academic learning objective 1 - Being critical and creative Produces innovative solutions to problems Applies research skills

4

to business challenges

5

Communicates insights effectively and perceptively

4

Comments

I have used online resources, legal documents and other forms of resource to develop policies and procedures. But I could improve on deliver my insight more effectively.

Academic learning objective 2 - Global and ethical awareness Engages in an internationalised world

5

Exhibits cross cultural competence

5

Demonstrates ethical values

5

Comments

St Martins has welcomed me and accepted me instantly, and I couldn't express my appreciation enough. The organisation is open minded and I personally developed the anti-discrimination policy to demonstrate that St Martins (and myself) is aware of the importance of diversity and the importance of internationalisation.

Faculty learning objective - Discipline knowledge Has comprehensive understanding of their discipline

5

Can provide discipline based solutions relevant to the business, professional and public communities served

5

Comments

I majored in management and minored in economy and statistic, which gives a comprehensive skill tools to strategically analyse and develop suitable policies and procedures for the organisation.

Degree programme learning objective - Integrated business knowledge Can integrate and synthesise knowledge from across disciplines to create innovative applications in

4

organisational settings Has a well- developed understanding of multidisciplinary decision making in organisations

5

Can construct conceptual frameworks and use these to analyse complex issues in the corporate sector, government and the professions

5

Comments

It is inevitable to come across areas that I'm not familiar when developing the policies and procedures. I tend to consult with coordinators who is in charge of that area of operation and to understand their insight first, after that, I would do sufficient research and equip myself with that expertise. Then I would use that to develop policies and procedures and having that coordinator to approve my development at last.

General comments from the student In general, the student is

5

Comments

I'm grateful for the opportunity Monash and St Martins Youth Centre have given me. It is a great chance for me to understand and familiarise with the working environment of Australia. I appreciate that opportunity fully and has endeavour to achieve and challenge myself in that process. I’m now more confident to step into workplace in Australia.

HOST EVALUATION

INDUSTRIAL PLACEMENT PRESENTATION SLIDES

Monash Industrial Placement St Martins Youth Arts Centre Qingqi Xu (Alice) 26288230

Art By Children For Adult Audiences

St Martins Youth Arts Centre § History § Nature & Size § Mission § Inclusion § Inspiration

Staff Members

v Familiarize

Roles, Tasks and Key Date

v Develop

v Organize

v Create

v Identify

Gap analysis •

Values

•

Governance

•

Communication

•

Human Resource

ne 21st

vEstablished

June 2 d

v Renew

v Review

v Update

v Examine

comprehensive

procedure bank

Successes and Skills Developed

July 1 h

J e 26th

ØResearching &Analyzing ØReading and writing

policy

and

vFamiliarized and adapted to the working environment and different leadership style

Successes And Skills Developed

Ø Adaptivity Ø Confidence

vWorked independently and collaboratively

Ø Time management Ø Collaboration

vAmbiguous orders in the transitional stage

Obstacles and Areas to Improve

ØProactive ØClarification

vCommunication ØClear ØPrecise

vOral communication -WIP (Work in Progress)

Obstacles

ØInterpersonal relationship

and Areas to vWritten communication

Improve

ØConsistency of formatting ØProfessionalism

Currently Choice

Prospective

of

Academic

Major: Management

Master degree---Finance

Minor: Statistic and economy

The importance of financial literacy

Development

Idealistic

Choice of Career Development Pragmatic

Things That I Learnt About Myself vAdaptive vEfficient and effective vIntrovert vHalf empty

vOrganization

Legacy and Valued Contribution

ØComprehensive policy bank vPersonal ØConfidence

Q&A Thank you!

REFLECTIVE ESSAY

INTRODUCTION

During my 20 days of interning at St Martins Youth Arts Centre (St Martins), I’ve been challenged, inspired and grown. I have constantly challenged myself to acquire new knowledge and achieve new goals. During this journey, every staff member that I encountered is like a mirror to me, the virtue of theirs has enabled me to reflect on my character and to discover a more positive and brave self. In thinking back, this experience has been an excellence preview of my future employment and I’m now more confident in taking the next step. During my internship at St Martins, I was fortunate enough to have been appointed to work independently to establish a comprehensive policy bank.

REFLECT ON SPHERE OF EMPLOYMENT

Thinking back to my first day at St Martins, which is also the first day of working in Australia, it is one of the most memorable and nervous day in my life. After being introduced and warmly welcomed, I immediately felt comfortable by being accepted as member of the organization. I was assigned with full autonomy to examine the organization’s existing policies and procedure, analyze the gap between existing policy and ideally comprehensive policy, and construct policy bank.

St Martins’ existing policies and procedures are not only incomprehensive but also outdated which merely met the legal requirement. The daily operation mostly relies upon experience. Throughout developing policies for St Martins, a not for profit origination, I took the Stakeholder View learnt from Corporate Social Responsibility and Business Ethics to treat all stakeholders’ welfare equally instead of prioritize profit under all circumstances. I divided the

policies into four sections, values, governance, communication and human resource policies. Then detailed polices are developed under each branch.

The difficulty occurred w...