THE DETERMINANTS OF PRACTICE EFFECTIVENESS A PERCEPTION OF UNIVERSITY GRADUATES. was submitted to the College of Management, Mahidol University for the degree of Master of Management. I also remain grateful to Ms. Warawan Prachyapinunt, College of Management, Mahidol University for helping me with the various support, from the preparation of the presentation to verifying the formats to the final printing and making other administrative arrangements with the University's requirements. Many studies pointed out that one of the main reasons for youth unemployment is not the lack of jobs in the country, but the mismatch between academic qualifications, skills and available jobs.
The first national symptom of unemployment started at the beginning of 2000 and since then it was increasing and today it has become one of the urgent economic and social issues. In the event of such rising unemployment, the Ministry of Labor and Human Resources was mandated to facilitate gainful and productive employment for the nation's youth and also guide the nation through relevant policies and strategies to intervene in solving unemployment problems. These STWP programs are mainly provided to the new entrants in the transition through short-term skills training, so that job seekers are able to acquire the necessary skills needed by the industry or gain the necessary experience at work, thereby meeting the labor market requirements .
The second type of internship is offered as a transitional arrangement from school to work, especially for job seekers who are new to the labor market and have no work experience. The main objective of the program is to productively engage young jobseekers in working life by providing them with necessary work experience.
Problem Statement
Since the beginning of 2015, the school's colleges and universities supply over 4,000 students to the job market each year. When young people are either unemployed or unemployed, it increases the social and economic burden on the state. As citizens, they have very limited resources to spend or invest as savers and often their voices and vulnerability remain unheard in society.
The continuous vertical expansion of youth unemployment rate will have very negative impact on social development. The prolonged youth unemployment will lead to a lot of psychological damage and increase vulnerability to negative activities such as drugs, disease and crime. From the economic point of view, for the small nation like Bhutan with a very small population size, not being able to utilize this category of most productive economic resource is a huge economic loss and will lead to increased poverty in the country.
Objective of the Study
This uncertainty can have detrimental effects on individuals, their families, communities, the economy and society at large. Economically, for a small nation like Bhutan with a very small population, the inability to exploit this category of the most productive economic resource is a huge economic loss and would lead to greater poverty in the country. in providing relevant work experience and skills for better employment opportunities. Many literatures emphasize that there are at least seven determinants; Academic readiness, positive attitude, self-initiative, task clarity, job challenge, supervision and compensation) to internship effectiveness.
So, the author intends to find out the effect of these determinants on practice effectiveness. The author also intends to find out if the internship has any impact on employability. This study will also evaluate the degree of benefits and effects of the internship program.
For the purposes of this study, the focus of the internship will be on the internship provided by the Ministry of Human Rights and Human Rights as a school-to-work transition program, and the study will only cover aspects of the university internship program.
LITERATURE REVIEW
- Theory and Theoretical Framework of Internship
- The Concept and Definition of Internship
- Determinant of Internship Effectiveness
- Academic Preparedness
- Positive Attitude
- Self Initiative
- Challenge to Job
- Task Clarity
- Effectiveness on Supervision
- Compensation
- Benefits of Internship
According to Bourland-Davis, Graham and Fulmer (1997), trainees must possess professional knowledge and key concepts for the subjects to be carried out in practice. The student's courses at the schools can determine the degree of interest in the internship course. Those interns who maintain realistic positive expectations from their internship are more likely to achieve success and high satisfaction.
The interns' positive attitude towards the internship can prove to be a detrimental factor for the success of the internship (Feldman & Weitz, 1990; Beard, 1997; Beard & Morton, 1998). While engaging in internships, interns should behave like a regular employee and should make sure to show positive attitude towards the job they performed at their workplace. They must learn from constructive feedback and also demonstrate to the organization they work in (Basow & Beard 1992).
Positive attitude and own initiative contribute to the individual factors that determine the level of internship satisfaction. Some studies suggest that challenging work should be offered to the trainee during the program (Coco, 2000). Other literature recommends having rationale behind work assignment to the interns (Coco; Tackett et al., 2001), developing job description (Crumbley & Sumners, 1998).
A supervisor must express their deep interest in the trainees and the organization must value their work to build on their commitment (Dixon et al., 2005). Compensation is a strong indicator of support for the interns and enhances the internship experiences as best as possible (Berger, 1992). For Hamilton (1992), compensation, even if its minimum wage, serves as a reminder that interns are in the real world, where they supposedly think and feel like regular employees.
They meaningfully engage with real issues to create lasting impact not only on themselves but on the lives of others. According to the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU; 2015), interns remain inseparable from industry to develop their job knowledge and skills. Santariano and Roger (1979) interns desire internships to acquire skills needed for future employment, and the employer views it as a great opportunity to identify and retain talented interns seeking full-time employment after the internship period.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
- Qualitative Method
- Data Collection Approach
- Data Sampling Method
- Data Analysis Method
The study population consists of 10 university-graduated jobseekers who benefited from the internship program. Such was considered mainly to get an accurate insight into the various factors of the practice's effectiveness. The author has requested the help of the relevant agency to identify and find the participants to take part in the survey.
The author has designed at least three questions to test each of the determinants. Question detailed in the attachment file). The second part of the questions concerns the testing of six predictors of the field of development of different employability skills that the author has considered for this study purpose. The author has also created some questions to discover the benefits of the internship program to determine the benefits and satisfaction of the internship program.
RESEARCH FINDINGS
- The Respondents Profile
- The Preference Determinants to Internship Effectiveness
- Academic Preparedness and Internship Effectiveness
- Positive Attitude and Internship Effectiveness
- Self-Initiative and Internship Effectiveness
- Challenge Job and Internship Effectiveness
- Task Clarity and Internship Effectiveness
- Effective Supervision and Internship Effectiveness
- Compensation and Internship Effectiveness
- Internship Effectiveness and Employee Skill Development
- Benefits Level of Internship Program
- Satisfaction Level on Internship Program
The author has designed three questions to study the impact and relevance of academic preparedness to internship success. They all agreed that academic competence is very important and relevant for the internship course. The research result says that academic preparedness is the most important preference in the order of internship effectiveness.
As the author understands from the research results, at least eight candidates were offered the internship by the organization based on their academic ability. The author has created three questions to determine how the positive attitude affects or affects the effectiveness of the internship. According to the findings, a positive attitude is the third most important factor in the ranking that has a significant impact on the effectiveness of the internship.
The author designed three questions to investigate this determinant in relation to internship effectiveness. The author asked three questions to test the challenge and success factor of the internship. According to the findings, candidates ranked the challenge of the job as the fifth most important determinant in the order of effectiveness of the internship.
The result indicated that the clarity of the task as fourth determinants in the order of the ranking to determine the practice effectiveness. The author designed two questions to study the effects of supervision on internship effectiveness. The research result says that effective supervision is also one of the strong predictors of internship effectiveness.
The author has set only two questions to study its impact on the effectiveness of the practice. On the other hand, practice without compensation would decrease their motivation and interest in practice. If they think that way, then the whole purpose of the practice will be lost.
Benefit can also be demonstrated in the achievement of practice effectiveness determinants. In order to prove the effectiveness of the internship, the author also tested the satisfaction level of the internship offered by MMDNJ.
CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATION
Conclusion
The study found sufficient evidence that the internship gave them to gain and demonstrate employability skills. This also suggests that the practice prepared them the best opportunity in developing soft skills. The study found that interns provided the best learning environment to practice the skills of creativity, analytical reasoning, communication, teamwork, etc.
Recommendations
- Future Research
Links between work experiences and organizational commitment during the first year of employment: A longitudinal analysis. 4th National HRD Advisory Series 2017”: An Assessment of School-to-Work Transition Program; Thimphu, Royal Government of Bhutan. Understanding the Dynamics of Labor Market and Youth Unemployment in Bhutan: A Study for Policy and Strategic Responses.
APPENDICES
APPENDIX A: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
Based on your internship experiences, briefly tell how positive attitude during internship is relevant or not. Do you think positive attitude was important to prepare you better job seekers in the job markets.
