Fifth Week at Dubal Dubai Aluminium Company

In this week we had only three working days because of National Day vacation. When we were back I had to prepare a quiz sheet for the head of leadership management Ms. Claire another session on one of the Leadership programs. Apart from that, I was pleased to attend the Couching Forum where all of the heads of the department is attending. The forum was presented by Mr. Doug Lambert, Executive Couch who also couched the HOD’s on how to introduce couching culture into Dubal.  His advices were very beneficial to me also which I definitely will apply in my studies and future working life.

The other day, I was entitled to attend a meeting on the introduction of the Accelerated Celebration Event. Ms. Claire was talking about the event in detail and allocated few tasks to everyone attending the meeting. I am supposed to work on preparing quiz questions which I have already done. Other than that, I will have the responsibility of preparing the presentation format and teams’ split.

On Thursday, we started receiving End-of-year performance reviews from employees and I was entering the information we got into the system. After the entry they go over it again and check if there is any mistake made. The final stage is when bonuses are being paid according to the level of performance for each employee.  

Fourth Week at Dubal Dubai Aluminium Company

This week was a bit light comparing to the other weeks. I didn't have much work given to me despite my request. I was asked to organize files of scholarship applicants and prepare files of the executives for the interview panel.

The most exciting thing happened during this week was when I attended Management Development Program. This program is targeting department managers and I felt very special when the Training and development department allowed me to attend the program.  This program is held with the corporation of Hey Group. The aim of this program is to adjust the existing management practice and styles, in the context of the competencies and job demands, to bring about the desire improvement in the organization’s climate. To do that, participants receive feedback on all four of the factors that lead to organizational performance. In addition, participants gain the ability to use the Four-Cycle Model ( Four Key Factors Affecting Organizational Performance) as a diagnostic tool for looking at any organization.  

Attending this training session gave me an insight of how managers work to enhance the workplace and try to get the best of their employees on surface which will lead to an organizational growth.  

Third Week at DUBAL Dubai Aluminum Company

This week I had very busy days at the Training and Development Department at Dubal. On Sunday I was lucky to meet Ms. Najla one of the management trainers who gave me important information of the nature of their role at the department.  

Dubal has a very clear vision toward making the company one of the best Aluminum producers in the world.  To achieve this, the company should uplift its employees both potentials and incentives. Thus, the company is having employees who are satisfied with their salaries and also satisfied with the positions and willing to enhance their productivity and reach at higher job efficiency. Here, management trainers’ job is to evaluate employees’ progress at work and support that by giving them certain kind of trainings or workshops so that they are being more confident of their jobs and able to take it to the next step. They in return, support the company to stand by the top Aluminum producers in the world.  

Then I was moved to Ms. Leah who is in charge of all administrative work related to the management trainers. She prepares all document and handouts which are given to the trainers during trainers, sets the dates of the trainings and contact all trainers who have to attend... etc.  

After that I was told by her that the ILM Award Ceremony is taking place on the 20^th and it requires a lot of work and organization I’ll be helping them with stuff related to the ceremony. Institute of leadership management (ILM) is an international institute based in Britain and Dubai is cooperating with this institute to improve its employee’s potentials and work productivity. I was very excited for the work and see how will the ceremony be. I started helping Ms. leah in preparing all employees’ certificates and filing them properly. 

On the ceremony day, I was told that I’ll be on the stage handing in certificate to the person who is coming from ILM to greet the employees who have finished level one of the course. I was very happy and super excited. I also, helped leah in the registration of the attendees at the ceremony. The ceremony was over and I was very happy by being part of this huge event.

The other day, I was fortunate to attend a workshop called Factory finance simulation which was whole day workshop. I had a lot of fun with the new people I met in the workshop all of them were from different departments. This was an eye-opening experience for me and gave the chance of understanding how factories operate and the way it control finance. 

Second Week at DUBAL Dubai Aluminum Company

In my second week of Work-placement at DUBAL Dubai Aluminum Company I was directed to Human Resources Administration Department. This was not including my work plan. I spent four days of practical experience there. Once I arrived at the department I met Ms. Halima Al Qaz, head of HR Administration dept. who gave me a brief summary of the department and told me that I will be helping them with “Conflict of Interest” forms. Conflict of interest forms are distributed on all employees at the company which has to be on paper since there are a big number of employees who are not familiar with computers. This form is basically produced to check if the employees within the company have their own businesses that would have an influence on the performance of the employee in DUBAL or not. Employee’s declaration of having own business that would affect his performance in DUBAL can impact the compensation he/she’s getting. 

After explaining all of this, I was moved to Ms. Fatma Mohammad, pay roll controller who assisted with filtering forms which were ready to inter them in the system. I finished all forms were there for me to be done in less than 3 hours.

Then, I was sitting there free doing nothing. I was a bit annoyed by the sense of being ignored and having nothing to do although I had requested them to give me work several times, but, all what I get back from them is “this is all what we can give you and there is no other work!.I can understand that they are very busy and wanted someone who will help them with conflict of interest forms, but, I was totally annoyed about the fact that I am going to repeat the same work for four days long. I also understand that most of the work they do is confidential and cannot be handed to anyone who is not working for the company. Hence, I requested them to allow me to have an orientation with other functions of HR Administration. 

They really accepted my request and booked me with few people. First, Ms. Salwa one of the HR support employees who explained the role of HR support in the HR Administration area. It is the function which is responsible of Personal action forms (PAF) for all floor people in the company.  PAF is a sheet of a certain employees who will be upgraded issued from the head of any department explaining the Pay Grade which he/she is being upgraded to. The HR Support role here is mainly to check whether this employee is ready for upgrading and really deserve it. This can be checked by his performance, courses he/she been taking and his current Pay Grade.  They also follow up and receive employees’ and workers’ issues.

Second, I was pleased to meet Mr, Ernie who is Job Evaluation Controller. He was very welcoming and explained what is job evaluation is and what comes under job evaluation. Other things he handle are; Job Discription, Maintaining data, Insurance support and policy procedure. 

Although there was no actual work was delegated to me from Salwa and Ernie under the excuse of confidentiality. I was very happy as long as I have at least and idea of the other functions of the department that would help me in having a clearer vision of HR and support me in my future career.

 While doing my work regarding the conflict of interest forms with the help of Ms. Fatma. I was sitting with her at the pay roll reception. I have noticed the way she deals with people and the nature of request they come for. I was taking Fatma’s place when she goes to somewhere in the department that has added to my customer service skills. 

 I also suggested them to do the Conflict of interest form online for employees who are able to access the system and have some printed ones for those who don’t have access. Through this, the company will reduce the cost of papers, colors and electricity used for printing. And also, reduce cutting off trees!  

First Week of Work-placement at DUBAL Dubai Aluminum Company

On this semester I am entitled to a six weeks work placement experience at DUBAL Dubai Aluminum Company which started on the November 10, 2012 ending on December 13, 2012. The first day of my internship went very smooth at the Training and Development Department at DUBAL. 



My mentor at DUBAL Miss. Jamila Behzad was there to meet me and introduce me to all supervisors and normal employees in the department who were there welcoming me. We also looked at the work plan and went through it. And then, I was delighted to meet Miss. Reem Beljafleh manager of Scholarships and Performance Management. She described all what Scholarships and Performance Management are about.
I had very tiny knowledge about performance management but and I didn’t know how companies go through the process and what stages does it take. Scholarship opportunities are given to local high school graduates who are willing to work for DUBAL especially in the manufactory. She also gave me the time to have a look at all scholarship application forms and the rules of the company. I also had the chance to look and check applicants’ files and documents. And, contact them if there is a certain document missing or book them for the interview if they are applicable to the criteria of Scholarships at DUBAL. I had prior experience of handling phone calls at organizations and I was confident of my ability to handle this job. During this week I had to phone one applicant who is fully applicable to the rules of the company and I just had to book him for the interview. I called him and discovered that he has a problem in his back for which he has been rejected from different companies due to that problem. I felt so embraced and didn’t know how to reply to that applicant but then I controlled myself and booked him for a meeting telling him that he’ll get a confirmation call a day before the interview. Then I explained the situation to my mentor. She was happy for what I did and told me that she will get back to him later. 

I also faced few problems with data entering since I was not dealing with Microsoft Excel for a period. But, I was asking for my colleagues for help and they were very helpful. 

I am a very sociable person and shy at the same time. To overcome my shyness during the break I sit with other employees and have a little talk about different things. This is to break the boarders between us and be in exchangeable experiencing environment.
Skills that I have learnt are being on time which takes the first stage. DUBAL is very strict with timetable we have to be there at sharp 7:30 am and leave at 4:00pm. I am used to my late schedule at college and it was a bit challenging for me to wake up early in the morning. As days go by, it stared to be easy and I was getting used to it. 
During the rest of the work placement period, I am willing do my best the learnt all aspects of Human Resources and get the maximum experience I can have which will help me for my future career.