1.0 Introduction

1.1 Organization Background

Figure 1: Institut Terjemahan & Buku Malaysia Homepage

Institut Terjemahan & Buku Malaysia, formerly known as Institut Terjemahan Negara

Malaysia was established on 14th September 1993. It is a corporate organization and owned by

Ministry of Finance and administered by Ministy of Education. In 16 December 2011, with the

mandate from Prime Minister, Institut Terjemahan Negara Malaysia has changed its name into

Institut Terjemahan & Buku Malaysia. In line with country’s Vision 2020, Institut Terjemahan &

Buku Malaysia (ITBM) provides translation service and publication of books in Malaysia

industry. ITBM has over 100 employers and it is located at Wangsa Maju, Kuala Lumpur. ITBM

motto is “Your choice for quality Translation & Books”.1

1.2 ITBM Structure of Organization

ITBM organizational structure is divided into 5 departments under the managing

director.At the top of the stucture is the chairman of ITBM which is Y.B. Datuk Sharuddin Md

Salleh and ITBM managing director Mohd Khair Ngadiron. (Please refer to Appendix 1)

1.3 Functions of Organization

ITBM core business is to engage in translation of documents and books, publication of

original books, court interpreter, simultaneous interpreters, provides training in editing and

translating, and subtitling. ITBM aims in elevating Malaysia translation business both national

and international. Thus, it is to develop the publication of local writers work in order to enhance

national publishing industry.

ITBM mission is to become the intermediary between languages as a medium through

translation in the field of culture, science, and technology. ITBM main objective is to:

1. Provides translation services, interpreting, and convert the information on the

stages of the country as well as internationally.

2. Translation of knowledge materials, particularly in the major works of the Malay

language.

3. Translating the main works of local writers into another language.

4. To provide training and guidance in language field.

1.4 Management and Human Resource Division

The division main objective is to manage and supervising plans that matters related to the

management and development of human resources and operations in order to improve unit

performance in line with the objectives of ITBM.

2

The division is responsible for:

1. Plan and update guidelines on human resource pension system from time to time.

2. Recruiting new staff as a whole which includes advertisment, interview,

induction, job description and performance evaluation, confirmation of position,

increments, and promotion.

3. Preparing monthly remuneration as a whole including deductions and payments to

the Institution.

4. Managing claims based on qualification in ITBM Terms and Conditions.

5. Monitoring insurans and medical matters.

6. Managing staff training program.

7. Supervise on staff discipline as a whole and disciplinary process.

8. Ensure staff personal information constantly updated.

9. Updating forms that are related to Human Resource Unit.

10. To take care of welfare and organize program that can strenghen the ties between

staffs.

11. Preparing reports on Human Resource and any related paperwork.

12. Manage and supervise matters related by counseling to problemated staff.

13. Manage cases that are related to employment and legislative act in relation to

Malaysian Employers Federation and Department of Industrial Relations.

The other task is that the divison always has to cooperate with other staff. The division

also needs to ensure that every record is always keep on updated. Helping other staff when

3

needed and respond to calls immedietly even when the other staff is not in his place. The division

also needs to carry out orders from managing director and get involve in ITBM social activities.

1.5 Management and Human Resource Division Organizational Chart

Figure 2: Management and Human Resource Division Organizational Chart

4

2.0 Task Description

2.0.1 Office task

Check on staff attendance

My first very task when I was in the department was to check on staff attendance record

for the month of May. If there is any absence in the record, I need to check if there is any forms

that they have filled in if there is such as leave form, emergency leave form, and medical leave

form. (Please refer to Appendix 2)

If there is no form filled by the staff, I need to call them as to ask them where did go or

what did they do since they were considered absent in the attendance system. I also need to

inform them that they need to fill in forms so that there is a reason to show why they are absent

from work. The staff will be given 1 week to submit the form.

However, if there are still any staff that are not submitting any forms to show any

reasoning for their absence and email will be delivered to them.

Figure 3: Email that is sent to a staff

5

When I need to email the staff, I need to inform them about their absence on a particular

day in which they must any supporting documents or forms to indicate the reason for their

absence. When this email reaches to the staff, the staff needs to give response or submitting any

supporting documents within one week period of time.

Photocopy, Printing, Scan, and Arrange Documents

I was thought how to use the photocopy machine which its function was more than just a

photocopying. The machine itself is complicated in which it does a lot of functions other than

just photocopy with many buttons as it is need to be carefully use by anyone.

The machine itself also has a wireless function in which it can directly print documents

from computer. I had to do most of the photocopy and printing documents in which it later to be

delivered to a staff for verification about their information in filled documents. Scanning files

with the machine where it will directly put it inside the computer as it is save as in Pdf. Format.

With most the documents especially insurance claims from staff was printed and

photocopied, I have to arrange it into the insurance folder. However, some documents need to be

arranging according to alphabet of staff name and some need to be arrange in numerical form in

which I must be according to latest dates received.

With it to be arrange like that, it is to ease the management and human resource

department to search for future reference.

Data entry

Every data that is needed to be inserting must be accurate as in concerns with numbers as

to show the company development in the period of given years. I need to calculate it carefully

and quick as the task need to be done in the nick of time. Any error would not be acceptable as it

is all about the organization development and performance in recent years.

6

The reason why it need to be as it required is because so that the organization could plan

carefully their task and objectives for the next upcoming years according to the data given. Since

the data is private and confidential, it is meant to be kept without other staffs from other

department know about it.

Calculating Allowance Claims and Overtime

Most practical student and part time staff must send their allowance claims in the end of

the month so that the claim can be calculated and inserted into their bank account immediately. If

they did not, their claim would be delay as they themselves delay to claim it. In the department

where I work, I was told by my supervisor that must do the same and so I was told to remind at

least one week before the submission of allowance claim to practical student and part time staff.

The amount of the allowance is different by group. I was also thought by my supervisor

that the calculations are based on how many allowance u can get per day. This is to show that

you can only get your allowance when you come to work as if you do not, you would not be able

to get your allowance.

For working overtime calculation is different from allowance claim calculation. It is

based on hours the staff works on after office hour. I only have to calculate claims for support

and executive group but both have different method and terms to claim it. For support group,

they can claim their overtime at minimum of an hour after office hour. For executive group

however, they need to have at four hours to have their overtime calculated.

Check on Staff Movement Analysis

This task is always an everyday task for me as some staff would like to know the time

they thumb in and thumb out of the office. In order to check it, I need to use an application in

computer that is redirected to the thumb print system to look for the staff record.

7

Figure 4: Application used to check staffs thumb in and out

The application has many purposes as it not just to check staff thumb in and out from the

office, it also can verify the attendance of the staff and also help staff for their overtime claims.

This application need to be always updated regularly as I always did it at least one or twice a

week in order to keep it updated.

The reason is to assist staff in their performance record since the organization relies a lot

on this application system. It is also the reason why this application needs to be open everyday as

it needs to keep everyday records of staffs coming in and out from their office. At the end of the

month, all staff records will be check as to verify their attendance.

8

Editing KWSP form

I have to recheck and recalculated if the KWSP is filled in with corrent information. If

the calculation and information is wrong, the form need to be fill up again for correct

information. After recheking and recalculation, I have to submit it to my supervisor as it needs to

be submitted to KWSP firm for clarification.

Help on answering incoming calls in the office

I have to help my supervisor answers incoming calls in the office as it could be from

staffs or from any organization firms. It is a policy to answer incoming calls for other staffs even

if he is not at his desk. If the calls need to be redirected to another staffs, I have to call the

extension number of the redirected staff.

If there is any message that is need to be sent to the staff who is absent from his desk, I

must note the message and pass it over to the redirected staff as soon as he is back to his desk.

At certain times, there is a call which is not meant to be noted as it is confidential only to the

redirected staff. When this happens, communication skills is very important as it would rate the

ethical aspect of how the staff response to incoming calls.

2.0.2 Invitation to “The Launch of new Baha Zain Book”

Editing and Fax Invitation Card for “The Launch of new Baha Zain Book”

Editing invitation card is not as easy as it seems as I need to make it perfect because

invited guest are among local writes and management board from a particular organization. After

editing process is done, I need to fax it to the invited guest and call them to confirm if they have

received the invitation through fax. If the invitation is not received, I will have to fax it back or

use another alternative by email or postage. (Please refer to Appendix 3)

9

2.0.3 ITBM Family Day

Survey and ask quotation on “Family Package” from Hotels for Company Family Day

I was told by my supervisor that the company wanted to have a Family Day on the month

of the October. My task was to search and call the hotel company to ask for references and

quotation. This is because the company has set a certain budget followed by number of people

and a ballroom that need to be use on the night of the Family Day event. (Please refer to

Appendix 4)

When I ask the head of the department, she said to find any hotel as long as it is in

Malaysia. I have to search it on the internet and make a contact with the hotel as I request them

to send the “Family Day” package quotation by fax or by mail. However, this is depends on

ITBM budget as they have fix a certain budget on the Family day event.

Most of the hotels that I search are three and four stars hotels as it fits into the company

budget. I made a contact with the hotels by email and phone calls to request for quotation on

“Family Day” package. The real deal is to ask the hotel if they have a ballroom to occupy 250

persons so that it will be easier for me to choose and list out some hotel that can be taken into my

supervisor consideration. However, not all of the hotel could occupy a total of 250 persons in a

ballroom and most of them do not have a ballroom especially some of the three starts hotels. The

other problems are that some “Family Day” package given by the hotel did not meet the interest

my supervisor which is also the interest of the organization.

I have to inform to the hotel that ITBM would like to rent a ballroom on the day of the

event. A total number of persons which is 250 persons include children and spouses so that I

could request types of rooms in the hotel. Minimum occupancy would for two persons and

maximum would be four or five persons per room as if ITBM staff would want to bring their

10

family with them. I also need to request if the hotel could provide a VIP room or Superior room

for ITBM top management board.

Verify hotel for sent email and answer calls from hotel for confirmation and questions.

I need to verify the hotel as I have sent the email for the information about the family

day. I also need to answer calls from hotels as they might need to ask some more additional

question about organization Family Day event as some hotel would like to give their best offers

to the organization. Other than that, I was also asked by the hotel representatives if they would

come to ITBM and present about their hotel or have a discussion if the company would like to

make some changes as according to the interest of the company.

I also have made an oppointment with some hotel as they wanted to discuss further on the

company Family Day.

Calculating Total cost of Hotel Budget for ITBM Family Day

Since the budget can be adjusted as my supervisor said, I just have to calculate a total

budget from each hotel that I have found. Total cost for some hotel is below and cheaper than

expected budget given by ITBM and some are cost little bit expensive. However, it does not

matter for the time being as it is need to be taken into the meeting to be discussed by the

management team of ITBM.

Appointment with Hotel Sales Manger and Sales Executive

As promised, I have an appointment with hotel sales manager and sales executive from

respective hotels. This is to discuss about ITBM Family Day event as they would like to know in

what kind of settings the company wants do.

They also have offered to ITBM that they are giving better deals with cheaper price and

better service. I have come to agree with the offers given by them as I told them that the offers

11

will be kept for future reference and the organization will contact them once decision has been

made in the meeting either to choose or not to choose the respective hotels.

I have met 6 respective hotels:

1. Swiss Garden Golf Resort & Spa Damai Laut.

2. Avillion Legacy Melaka.

3. Equatorial Cameron Highlands.

4. Teluk Dalam Resot Pangkor Malaysia.

5. Hotel Grand Continental Kuala Terengganu

6. Hotel Grand Crystal Kedah

Recalculate Total Cost of Hotel Budget

The reason why I have to recalculate it is because after the appointment with the hotel

sales manager and sales executive bring other deals to the organization. They have given cheaper

deals and offers such as better events and services.

This has caused me to recalculate the organization budget on Family Day event as some

components is need to be edited. In addition, I also have to add the cost of transportation for

chartered bus to each designated hotels. The chartered bus cost help to finalize the total cost of

the Hotel Budget.

3.0 Relevance of Sociological Knowledge to the Organization

As a development studies student, the most relevant knowledge of sociolgy to the

organization is to learn how to deal with other groups of society in which the organization has

divided its staff into groups. The groups are seen to be stratified as I learn that there is a level

between staffs in the organization. The support group is the lowest in the organization which

consist of clerk and senior cleck. Executive is considered the lower middle class group which

12

consists of junior executive, executive, and senior executive. The upper middle class is the

Professional Management group which consists of assistant manager, manager, and senior

manager. At top of the group is the Managing Director of the organization. Even they were

divided into groups, all of them have their own important role to play in order to keep the

organization running. I also saw that all of the staff can blend together even though they were in

different groups and division.

It is defined by Kendell (2007) that role is a set of behavioral expectations associated with

a given status. I have seen a variety of role played by each staff in the organization which makes

me realize that it is important to have a collective means in order to achieve the same common

goal. This is because if one does not play his role well, it may disturb the development of the

organization. This has taught me that when I enter this organization, I have met and make some

new connections with the staff in the organization as I understand how each staff has their own

role to play. This also make me realize how important is sociology subject especially Social

Stratification and Sociology of Development in which both were taught by Dr. Mumin Abdullai.

4.0 Sociological Analysis

According to Richard Swedberg and Ola Agevall (2005) “Weber's ideal bureaucracy is

characterized by hierarchical organization, delineated lines of authority in a fixed area of

activity, action taken on the basis of and recorded in written rules, bureaucratic officials need

expert training, rules are implemented by neutral officials, career advancement depends on

technical qualifications judged by organization, not individuals”.

The organization is using bereaucracy as said by Max Weber, it must be proceed

according to each level of the hierarchy and each staff in the organization has a fix role to play in

which each action will be recorded. However, it is seen that ITBM bereaucracy system is rather

13

unique to me as I see it as a simplified bereaucracy system. This is because it does not require a

lot of level in order to get an approval from the top management. I also have come to understand

how the system works in the organization even it requires me a lot of time to understand it as my

understanding is different from what I have learn.

The reason might be that the organization is a corporate or a government link company

(GLC) in which it is not a fully own by the government. For example, in order to approve staff

claims, it will be checked and calculated by the Management and Human Resources Department

first before proceed to Finance and Procurement Department for payment process. However, the

payment process must be first to be approve by the Managing Director of ITBM.

5.0 Contribution to the organization

Ever since I entered ITBM for internship, I have seen myself contribute in assisting office

work such as administrative task. Daily task such as arranging files, deliver documents to staff,

answer incoming calls, and other work given by other department. Being able to work in

Management and Human Resource Department is to let myself contribute in ensuring staffs to

follow the policy of the company as I did in my work by checking on staff attendance.

Reminding the staff to response about their absence by have need of relevant documents in

accordance to the organization policy. The staff reputation could affect both parties if one of

them does not mix well together. This means staff performance could effect the organization

reputation.

I also have made myself contribute to the organization by finishing my task accordingly.

I did do some mistakes but then I will have to do the work back from the beginning as errors

could bring trouble to my supervisor in which contributes problems to the organization. Some

14

task that I need to do is need to be kept private and confidential as it is be biggest contribution to

the company in order to improve in becoming better organization in the future.

Another contribution that I do is to help the organization to find a good place and offers

to relax and enjoy themselves. This refer to my work on when I need to survey and ask for

quotation on Family Day events and package by searching hotels from the internet.

6.0 Challenges and Solutions

It is a big challenge for me as a sociology student who does not know anything about

management and human resource task as I need to do my practicum at the department. As a

corporate setting organization, it is a challenge that I am not very familiar with real life working

environment and especially how to use a complex photocopy machine.

As a sociology student, I need to be curious with my surroundings as I force myself to be

useful to the organization. One of the solutions is not to be shy, this is because I did ask a lot to

my supervisor and staff inside the organization about kind of task that I need to deal or

accomplish.

It is also a challenge when you need to finish your task in the nick of time in which my

task needs to be done quickly within short given period. The most challenging part is to key in

accurate information as I must carefully do my task in order to avoid inserting wrong

information.

It is a must for a sociology student to adapt accoding to the situation that you need to

face. Consider it as a solution, I make myself calm and understand that I need to adapt into this

side of working environment as it eventually works even it requires some time for me to adapt

into it.

15

7.0 Lesson and Experience Learn from ITBM

I have learnt that real life working experience is not as easy as expected especially when

you are just a student in addition with no working experience. I also learn how to manage my

time in finishing my task accordingly. This is because there are times where you will be given a

lot of task that need to be done in a particular same day. Therefore, I have learned how to work

under pressure in real like work setting.

I have also learned on how to communicate with other types of people. This is because

there are many different people with different background that comes with different position. It

is a key that staying calm in any situation does help to finish my work perfectly. When there is a

hesitation, do not afraid to ask in which you must not let yourself like you know everything. The

reason is that I could a lot of relation between sociology and management and human resource.

In addition, I have learned a lot of new knowledge which is beyond my thinking and my

reach. It is knowledge where you can only get while you are there and it is a chance for you to

grab it. The organization has helped me to learn a lot of new things especially on how to work in

real working environment. The most important part is, I have learn about management and

human resources as it is like a new subject for me to learn.

8.0 Suggestion and Recommendations

The only suggestion is the only hope for me that it would be better if ITBM is a bigger

organization in such, the organization could provide a bigger building so that more new staff can

be absorb into service. Since the company has less than 150 staff which excludes part timers and

practical students, this is because I believe with more staff recruitment in ITBM could boost its

business to a higher level.

16

I can say that it is a recommended for a practical student in many fields to have their

practical here at ITBM. This is because the organization provides effective learning process

thourghtout my practicum here. It is not just about the knowledge, it is also about how to work

efficiently and productively as the organization has its business focused on translating since

1993.

In ITBM, students can get a lot of experience and learn the history of ITBM on how the

organization progress through the years of producing good quality translation in Malaysia

history. Furthermore, ITBM ensures that the student will gain knowledge by having practical at

the organization as practical student is also consider as own of the staff that is working for the

organization as well.

9.0 Conclusion

To conclude, doing interships can help teach students with real work experiences and

develop skills of the student in the future. It is also to develop critical thinking skills as students

do not have any experience to work with an organization. Example can be learn from how

students manage their time in order to finish task given by organization and how students

manage to work in stressful condition. In addition, students can establish new relationship such

as creating new friends in the organization they intern with so that they can learn more from

experience workers on how to deal with real life work setting.

This can open the eyes of a student where some might be thinking that working is not as

easy as it seems. This is because every organization has set up an objective where success can be

achieved with the help of their employers in which intern students must also help to achieve the

organization goals. Therefore, students can simply learn a lot by having practical studies.

17