Internship Report

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AL FAWA DAIRY FARM

Internship Report
Business Internship Programme
(Reflective Work Practice)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction.......................................................................... 2
2. Brief Organisation Profile.......................................................2
2.1 Organisational Objectives & structure................................................2
2.2 Organisational culture........................................................................3
2.3 Internal Environmental Analysis.........................................................3
2.4 External Environmental Analysis........................................................4
3. Self-critical Analysis..............................................................5
3.1 Career SWOT Analysis........................................................................5
3.2 Reflecting upon Learning Log.............................................................6
4. Post Employment Strategy.....................................................8
4.1 Opportunity Awareness......................................................................8
Option 1: Further study.........................................................................9
Option 2: Graduate Scheme................................................................10
Option 3: Voluntary work....................................................................11
4.2 Decision making...............................................................................12
5. Conclusion..........................................................................12
References.............................................................................13
Appendices.............................................................................15
Appendix A.............................................................................................15
Appendix B.............................................................................................19
Appendix C.............................................................................................21
Appendix D.............................................................................................23

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1. INTRODUCTION
This report is about an internship that the author did in Al Fawo Dairy
Farm which is the newly established business in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. As
name implies that it is a dairy farm which provides dairy products to all
over Riyadh. During the internship, the author maintained a personal
learning log which demonstrates the progress and skills which were
developed during the internship. The learning log is available in Appendix
A.
The body of this internship report is divided into three main parts such as
organisational profile, self-critical analysis, and post graduate employment
strategy. In the first section, the organisational structure, organisational
culture, internal and external analyses through SWOT and PEST tools are
conducted to provide insights of the internship firm. In self-critical section,
a critical analysis of personal skills and progress throughout the internship
period is demonstrated. Finally, the last section is based on the evaluation
of different choices available to the author after completing the
graduation. The report concludes with the main points highlighted in the
conclusion section.

2. BRIEF ORGANISATION PROFILE

The Al Fawo Dairy Farm is spread within the 30 acres area with 15 milking
cows. The farm operations include raw milk production, cow breeding and
other supporting tasks. In fact, establishing a farm within the dessert in
Saudi Arabia is not easy (Pendleton, 2013). However, Al Fawo Dairy Farm
is achieving success during the initial stages of business because of
experience gained from the family business. Currently, the farm has no
website but the business is planning to adopt some strategies to expand
its business using ICT (Information and Communication Technology)
facilities.

2.1 ORGANISATIONAL OBJECTIVES &

STRUCTURE

Aquinas (2009) believes that any new business should have strong
objective of ranking the employees at the various levels. Currently, the
organisational structure of Al Fawo (see Appendix B) is very simple and
straightforward due to its newly established business. However by bearing
in mind the vision and mission statement of the farm, one can easily say
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that the farm has the revelation of expanding its business in the near
future and therefore the organisational structure will become more sound.
The vision and mission statement of the business are presented as follows
which demonstrate companys clear objectives of protecting people and
environment in providing excellent products and services to people living
in Riyadh.
Vision: A 2020 vision is to become a vibrant dairy in Riyadh which enables
business, people, and environment to thrive.
Mission statement: To use our GOD given talents and abilities to provide
quality dairy products and excellent service to customers to achieve
customer satisfaction and a considerable growth in sales each year

2.2 ORGANISATIONAL

CULTURE

Hofstede Greet defined organisation culture as the collective

programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one
organisation from others (Fox, 2007, p. 83). Hofstedes research has
revealed that cultural variations between different organisations within
the same country are found due to level of practices which has great
connection with values and belief of the employees and other
stakeholders. And these values and norms are normally transformed from
generation to generation.
Culture is influenced by four characteristics such as power, individualism,
masculinity, and uncertainty avoidance. These characteristics are
extremely important to consider when the case of Saudi Arabia is
discussed. As shown in figure B2 (Appendix B), Saudi Arabia scores high in
power distance, masculine, and uncertainty avoidance (Hofstede Center,
n.d.). This means that people within the organisation follow hierarchical
orders and power is more centralised and bosses expect their
subordinates to follow commands quickly and effectively. Secondly, high
score in uncertainty avoidance shows that that high uncertainty avoidance
is maintained through inflexible behaviors and beliefs. People work hard to
follow orders and time is given more importance in order to achieve
objectives. The high score i.e. 60 on masculine dimension shows that
people live in order to work and managers are influential and forceful.
Finally a relatively low score of 25 of individualism shows that Saudi

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Arabia is a collectivist society where employee-employer relationship is

given importance rather than working alone on a project or task.
These cultural dimensions from organisational point of view go into the
favor of Al Fawa Dairy Farm where it is extremely necessary for the top
management to establish strong relationship with employees and external
stakeholders in order to increase the productivity of the farm.
Simultaneously, the management can have effective control over the
activities of organisational members.

2.3 INTERNAL ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS

The SWOT analysis tool is used for evaluating strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats associated with any business in terms of its
internal environment (Henry, 2011). The SWOT analysis of dairy farm
sector in Saudi Arabia provides interesting insights as follows.
Saudi dairy industry is considered as the largest sector in the Gulf (Saudi
Gazette, 2013). Therefore, it is a attractive regional point for investors to
invest in the dairy sector for a long-term growth. Similar to the
neighboring countries, Saudi Arabia also welcomes foreigners to work in
the dairy industry and thus this sector experiences a variety of skills of
processing food items effectively and efficiently. There are certain
opportunities available in Saudi Arabia to export farm goods due to its
membership with Gulf Cooperation Council (Business Monitor
International, 2012). The unrest and political instability in neighboring
countries made Saudi Arabia more secure and attractive in terms of
investment in the region.
The major weakness of Saudi consumers is that they are more price
conscious as compared to other Arab countries such as Qatar, Kuwait, and
UAE (Oxford Business Group, 2013). In addition, the dairy sector of Saudi
Arabia is relatively saturated and has slight room for foreign investors. Too
much reliance on expat labour in both public and private sectors is a
trouble for potential investors as well.
Demand of dairy products is increasing due to increase in population in
Saudi Arabia and also because of changing tastes and lifestyles quickly
(Albawaba, 2014). Therefore, long-term prospects exist across all
segments of dairy food sector. Furthermore, growing awareness of health
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consciousness is another potential factor which made the dairy sector

more attractive for the investors.
Saudi Arabia is not the only country in Gulf which is producing milk. The
UAE is the major threat for the country in this regard (Shadbolt, 2013).
Additionally, imports of dairy products from other countries is major the
threat for the industry. Also, the poverty level in non-oil based community
is the upcoming threat for the dairy industry in Saudi Arabia.

2.4 EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS

The PEST (Political, Economic, Social and Technological) tool for external
analysis demonstrates the model which embraces macro-environmental
factors in order to scan the external environmental of any particular
organisation or industry (Henry, 2011). The PEST analysis of Saudi dairy
sector recognises problems which have adverse impact on sectors
performance through the prism of current and future prospects.
The political situation in Saudi Arabia is stable as compared to other Arab
countries and therefore, it has the potential for the investors to invest in
dairy sector as this sector is the biggest in the region. Due to no political
parties in Saudi Arabia, the existing government has well control over all
the sectors and also successful in providing facilities to general public.
During the past decade, the government has motivated the dairy sector
(Alqaisi et al. 2010). The governments policies in dairy sector are
encouraging in terms of providing the facilities of cheap land, livestock,
animals and importing and exporting relevant products.
Economically, Saudi Arabia is very stable and a rich country. It has
established base for supporting other sectors using the revenue
generated from the oil sector. Despite of the prominent growth in oil and
gas sector, farming sector still has an imperative role in Saudi Arabia. In
the Middle Eastern countries, the rural population consists of at least
44.2% (Shadbolt, 2013) and thus the social welfare and livelihood are the
biggest segments which deeply influence the dairy farming. In this regard,
this sector requires a higher sustainable growth in relation to boost the
economy.
Saudi Arabia is dominated by the Shariah Islamic Law and culturally it is a
collectivist country with higher power distance, masculinity, and
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uncertainty avoidance (Hofstede Centre, n.d.). The consumption of dairy

products in Saudi Arabia is increasing rapidly due to many factors such as
increase in population, changing lifestyles, increased awareness of health
etc. However, the biggest social problem in Saudi Arabia with reference to
dairy sector is the lack of water resources and this problem is hindering
the success of various sectors including dairy farming (Shadbolt, 2013).
Saudi Arabia is advanced in terms of technology and government support
made it more sound for its application on other industries like dairy
farming. The governments attention to other sectors apart from oil is
encouraging from the growth point of view of dairy sector. The
governments attention towards dairy sector is vital because of the
temperatures in the region which is higher as 50 degree Celsius most of
the time in summer. This can affect the milk production and can cause to
produce different types of bacteria which can be harmful for the humans.

3. SELF-CRITICAL ANALYSIS
3.1 CAREER SWOT ANALYSIS
The personal career based SWOT analysis is the first step towards self
appraisal. According to Bhuyan (2002) analysing strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats of a persons abilities is a prerequisite for
properly appraising the career selection in order to become successful. It
highlights the facts about present working abilities and disabilities of an
individual. The author has conducted his career SWOT analysis which is
available in table C1 in Appendix C.
It is evident in table C1 that the author is enthusiastic and expressive and
has the ability to learn and act quickly. The important strengths that can
be extracted from the career SWOT are: team working skills,
communication skills, problem solving skills, interpersonal skills and
enterprise skills, transferable skills, and ability to plan and organise
resources. However, the author requires improvement in three areas of
weaknesses that can affect his career to some extent. They are: lack of
quick decision making skills, technological skills, and ability to control
short-temper. The author can avail several opportunities such as graduate
job but he needs to face fierce competition in the local and international
markets.
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3.2 REFLECTING

UPON

LEARNING LOG

During the internship in Al Fawo Dairy, the author maintained a journal

which highlights his skills and knowledge in 8 different aspects. Moon
(2006) asserts that the personal learning log is inherent in order to
conduct the self-critical analysis. In this section of the report, a selfcritical analysis is conducted based on these aspects. For further critical
analysis, Gibbs (1998) reflection model is taken into account. Gibbs model
consists of 6 stages such as description, feelings, evaluation, analysis,
conclusion, action plan, as shown in figure B3 in Appendix B. The author
has used this model to reflect upon 8 areas that are highlighted in the
learning log.
Ferreira et al. (2010) highlight the importance of planning and organising
activities in a start-up business. They strongly recommended the
significance of identifying and tackling difficult tasks at the initial stages.
In planning and organising organisational resources, timeliness is an
important factor which needs to be keeping in mind all the times. The
author has proved his planning and organising skills while working as an
intern in Al Fawa Dairy Farm. The SWOT analysis is inherent for a start-up
company to analyse the internal and external environment. The author
has conducted the SWOT analysis of the farm which is available in table
C2 (Appendix C). Apart from that the author explored the strategic plans
of the UK and Australian based dairy farms to improve vision and mission
statements of Al Fawa. The altered vision and mission statements of the
farm are stated in section 2.1.
Communication is not a one-way process. It requires timely response.
Effective communication in organisations refers to shortened noise and
clearly and correctly transmitting message to the receiver (Fielding,
2006). In Saudi Arabia, communication is given less importance especially
in the agriculture and farming sector. But in the authors opinion
communication is the life-blood of any organisation and in case of a startup farming business it is extremely important to communicate effectively
with the government and other stakeholders. By keeping this in mind the
author communicated with government bodies that are concerned with
water, environment and dairy sectors. The communication was done
through telephone, written letters, and face-to-face meetings. In addition,
the intern had the chance to communicate with the workers and CEO as
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well. The author believes that he had a great time while communicating
formally with the government bodies and other farming stakeholders, but
further improvement is obviously required to effectively communicate on
international level.
Teamwork is always given importance by all the experts and management
specialists. Without working in teams, no organisation can achieve
success. However, it is important to appraise the abilities and roles of
team players in the team (Parker, 2011). Teamwork discussion cannot be
completed without discussing Belbins team roles theory. The author has
filled the Belbin test questionnaire to identify the capacity of role within
the team. It is evident in Appendix D that the author as an implementer is
likely to be valued for practical outcomes rather than original ideas, so
look for evidence of achievement, loyalty and consistency.
Forsyth (2013) indicates the importance of time management in the
context of a start-up business in his book successful time management.
The author mentioned that by managing time effectively, the
management would be able to constantly monitor the performance and
progress of the business. Also, it can be assessed whether the deadlines
are met or not. Before joining Al Fawa, the intern had idea about the
importance of time management in terms of increasing personal as well
as organisational performance. During internships the author has
suggested existing management to reschedule their stakeholders meeting
plans to get familiar with issues they are facing. In addition, it was very
difficult for the intern to wake up early in the morning and reach office on
time but he successfully managed to do it in order to perform assigned
tasks in short time.
The major problem for the start-up companies is to make viable decisions
on time in order to solve particular problems and also to make fully
functional strategic plans. According to Adair (2013), decision making and
problem solving are the two important factors that contribute to business
success or failure, and these factors are largely interrelated with each
other as well. There are several problem solving models exists such as Six
Sigma DMAIC - Define, Measure, Analyse, Implement and Confirm (Carroll,
2013), PDCA cycle - Plan, Do, Check, Act (Okes, 2009), 7-step problem
solving cycle - Identify, Explore, Set goals, Alternatives, Select, Implement,
and Evaluate (Andler, 2012). By summarising all of them, the overall, the
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stages of problem solving can be categorised into four phases such as

input, processing, output and feedback. During input phase, the problem
is identified and next at processing stage various solutions of the problem
are devised and evaluated. Output stage deals with planning and
implementation of the chosen problem solution while at feedback stage
the output is reviewed to assess whether the chosen solution addresses
the problem or not.
Initially, the author was unaware of the dairy farm operations, procedures
and terminology. In order to resolve this problem, the author considered
the problem solving steps stated in previous paragraph. The author
consulted with the management and quickly developed some basic
understanding through internet as well.
Networking in the business context refers to the ability of creating,
organisation and utilising personal and professional contacts to promote
business and to resolve problems (Agin, 2008). Establishing professional
links can offer countless prospects for someone in terms of job hunting as
well as professional growth from organisational point of view. Whilst
working as an intern in Al Fawa, the author has developed many links in
both public and private sectors especially water, environment and dairy
farm sectors. The author used his interpersonal and communication skills
to develop links. This helped him to understand the needs of different
stakeholders associated with the dairy farm business. It is believed that
this professional network will be useful for the author in case if he will try
to search full-time jobs in home country.
Administering tasks in a start-up company is little risky especially if
someone is not 100% familiar with the business operations and activities.
Throughout my internship the author dealt with internal and external
stakeholders and also I kept engaged in key activities such as scheduling
tasks, organising and managing tasks, monitoring and controlling. It is
believed that within a short period of time, the author has developed
enormous experience of managing things in a start-up business. The key
drivers for the success were culture awareness, management support and
trust on authors abilities, foreign education exposure, and different
courses case studies and other lesson learned throughout the university
life in the UK.

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4. POST EMPLOYMENT STRATEGY

4.1 OPPORTUNITY AWARENESS
The author is at the start of his career and need to focus on long-term
career by exploring opportunities in the market and evaluating them. The
major goal of the author is to achieve long-standing goals gradually by
concentrating on short-term goals as ladders towards the destination. The
authors ultimate goal is to secure an executive position in a reputable
multinational organisation to address organisational as well as personal
goals. If the graduation is near or someone has already graduated then it
could be difficult to thinking about the next step. There are several
options that can be considered after completing graduation from
Wolverhampton University. The 3 most prominent options are further
study, graduate employment, and voluntary work. In this section, these
options are critically evaluated by explaining their benefits and limitations.
OPTION 1: FURTHER

STUDY

Master and Doctoral studies are often considered as someone is investing

in his future by obtaining additional qualification to secure future.
However, taking a decision of further education is always a difficult one in
terms of answering the questions such as how, where and what to study. If
someone is interested in business management then further study can be
beneficial in terms of doing specialisation in any subject or topic areas
because at the graduation level, students are introduced to several
business management subjects/topics. Therefore, studying any particular
subject in depth can support a student to secure job in a particular area of
subject.
Unlike other subjects particularly science and engineering, business
management study usually consists of two stages: one year Master
followed by three year Doctoral study. The purpose of these two stages is
different. For instance, Master course is mainly one or two year degree
which normally taught to apply various tools and theories on case
studies. But the thing that really makes difference is the cost. Finally, the
master degree ends with dissertation. On the other hand, Doctoral study
provides clear insights about a topic by going into the depth through
empirically or mathematically proving something. Unlike Master degree,
Doctoral study rarely contains long essays aside from the part of thesis.
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Studying further can be beneficial for the author in some ways such as
signalling, consumption, and human capital (Teixeira, 2007). Signalling
refers to the opportunities that a student can avail after doing higher
studies from a reputed university. This is even the case when someone
wishes a job which will not involve any topic or subject that he studied
during the Master. However, this is less true in case of Doctoral study of
three or more years which is a quite long time to spend on obtaining a
signal. Consumption indicates the situation when someone enjoys study
and wish to secure jobs which require human capital. Here the term
human capital refers to certain jobs that need at least Master degree
(Teixeira, 2007).
In the authors opinion, it is generally an inadequate decision to take
admission in further study after graduation without having a clear idea of
what to do. Also, there are some other factors which hinder the author to
go for higher studies. These factors include: fee and wages foregone
(Chapman and Austin, 2002). Fee can vary to a large extent based on the
type, course length, and university. Typically a master course fee in the UK
for international students is around 15,000 to 18,000 per year. This is
quite expensive comparatively to the undergraduate level especially for
those who have no support from the government. Similarly, the fee for
Doctoral study is also much higher. On the other hand, wages forgone
refers to the living costs without loan or wages. It is extremely difficult or
almost impossible to bear daily living costs for someone has no source of
earning. However, some students are fortunate to obtain funding from
their governments or employers to cover living costs.
OPTION 2: GRADUATE SCHEME
Searching a post-graduate job can also be challenging due to fierce
competition and other factors. However, several options allow graduates
to search freelance or fixed-term jobs in start-up or established
companies. But it can be difficult to decide the right career path. In fact,
graduate jobs are available through graduate schemes which are often
accessible through University portals and suitable candidates are chosen
as per companys needs. In this section, the author critically evaluates the
graduate schemes to decide if this option is feasible for him to choose the
right path.

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The graduate schemes are beneficial in several ways such as employment

stability, financial security, focusing on training and development, and
keeping away from post-university pessimisms (Rook, 2013). Generally,
through the graduate job the author can earn higher as compared to odd
jobs or non-specialised roles. Likewise, through graduate schemes, the
author can establish links within the industry which will help him to secure
full-time permanent job in the near future. Financial security is another
benefit of obtaining job through graduate schemes. This is the key reason
that the author is motivated to look for graduate job so that he can earn
some money and save it to pay the university fee for higher studies in the
long-run.
The authors ambition is to reach at the top of the business world and in
this regard the graduate job is relevant because it provides various
training and development opportunities to route the dream. According to
Rook (2013), graduate schemes offer a unique platform to enhance
professional knowledge and skills which is valuable for the future roles.
Furthermore, the organisation providing graduate job can hire the
candidate if it found him a valuable asset in the future.
In fact, there is no certainty in post graduate job; however securing job
through graduate scheme can provide a secured future. Many business
graduates often secure permanent full-time jobs through graduate
schemes and most of them jump from one job to another in the search of
finding their dream job. Therefore, it can be said that through graduate
schemes the author can get the opportunity for a stable career path which
often avoids uncertainty.
Apart from its benefits, the graduate schemes are exposed to some
weaknesses such as fierce competition and hierarchical environmental
(Kumar, 2009). Fierce competition comes in case of multinational
organisations offering graduates jobs. The competition is not only
between the current graduates but also ex-unemployed university
students are also applying for these jobs. In addition, a lengthy process is
also disheartened for the fresh students.
It is identified by Kumar (2009) that graduate schemes normally fail to
meet the expectations of business graduates. Many youngsters are
enthusiastic at the initial stages of their career and they often want to
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achieve success rapidly and move forward in the organisation hierarchy.

The graduate schemes are unsuitable for such candidates especially if
they are over-ambitious, individualistic, or impatient.
OPTION 3: VOLUNTARY

WORK

Voluntary job is the perfect way to test the knowledge and skills
developed while studying in the university. Also, it provides the prospect
of developing new professional skills which help to shape career. By doing
a volunteer job, the author will get the opportunity to get recognition in
the community which will help him to expand his relationship base.
Voluntary job gives inner satisfaction of at least doing something rather
than sitting idle. In addition, some voluntary jobs offer some financial
rewards as well.
Time commitment and personality conflicts are major issues in
volunteerism. By giving time and putting efforts, a candidate may not be
able to focus on doing other things which are the requirements of his
career and family. Similarly, personality conflict is the common issue. This
refers to dealing with different people within and outside the organisation.
Some people are amusing while other can be strange. But dealing with
different types of people can increase the experience of the author in
terms of managing and organising human resources.

4.2 DECISION

MAKING

The author is more interested in doing graduate job after graduation. This
decision is taken based on the comparison between graduate job and
voluntary work.
There are certain similarities between graduate job and voluntary work.
For example, both are beneficial in terms of experience and skill
development. This means that the author will be able to obtain experience
and test his knowledge and skills while working in an organisation
(Roberts, 2006). The internship experience in Al Fawa Dairy Farm will also
help the author to understand and carry out tasks in future. Additionally,
while working as a volunteer or fresh graduate will give personal
satisfaction to the author.
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On the other hand, both options have large differences. For example as
compared to voluntary works, graduate job is not time consuming due to
fixed working hours. Also, it offers handsome packages with greater future
prospects. The trust, loyalty and responsibility levels are high in graduate
jobs and relationship with employers becomes stronger which may result
in permanent job offer. In contrast, voluntary work is normally done in
nonprofit or charitable organisations that are often reluctant to offer jobs
after the completion of contract time (Morris, 2003).

5. CONCLUSION
The author during the internship has developed countless abilities and
skills and gathered enormous knowledge. The skills that are developed
during internships include: planning and organising skills, communication
skills, team management skills, time management skills, selfmanagement, risk management skills, problem solving skills, networking
skills, and administration skills. It is believed that all these factors will
significantly contribute to the personal progress in the future.
Furthermore, the author experienced a different learning approach by
critically appraising self-abilities through SWOT analysis and reflection
upon learning log. Through this, the author identified major weaknesses
and threats to his career. The author also identified that searching
graduate jobs through graduate schemes is appropriate for him. This
decision is based on critical comparison between graduate jobs and
voluntary works. Overall this internship and finally this report have greatly
improved the communication, analytical and reflective writing skills of the
author. It is assured that this experience will greatly contribute to the
career success of the author.

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Alqaisi, O., Ndambi, O.A., Mohi-Uddin, M. and Hemme, T. (2010). Current
situation and the development of the dairy industryin Jordan, Saudi
Arabia, and Syria. Tropical Animal Health Production, DOI 10.1007/s11250010-9553-y
Andler, N. (2012). Tools for Project Management, Workshops and
Consulting: A Must-Have Compendium of Essential Tools and Techniques.
2nd edition, John Wiley & Sons
Aquinas (2009). Organization Structure & Design: Applications and
Challenges. Excel Books India
Albawaba (2014). Saudi Arabia gets a move on transforming its dairy
sector to meet rising demand. Albawaba News, 16 March 2014
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Company Ltd
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[Accessed: 30 April 2014]
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APPENDICES
APPENDIX A
Organisation: Al Fawo Dairy Farm
I have done internship in above stated start-up dairy farm in Saudi Arabia
where the management was looking for a candidate with international
study exposure who can help them in performing and organising initial
business activities. Whilst working as an intern, I learned new knowledge
and developed many salient skills that will surely help me in my career.
The skills I developed are described in this learning log.
1. Planning and organising
Planning and organising are always difficult tasks especially in case of new
business at initial stages. At this stage, my background study helped me a
lot. I studied the importance of vision and mission of the organisation and
conducting organisational SWOT analysis and determined the key success
factors. So, I had a chance to experience them in Al Fawo Dairy Farm. I
experienced some problems in making some changes in a long-term
strategic plan of Al Fawo dairy and then I explored the strategic plans of
top dairy farms in the UK and Australia. Based on this investigation, I
rectified the vision and mission statements of Al Fawa by keeping in mind
the initial resources and their abilities. The vision and mission statements
of Al Fawo dairy are as follows.

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Vision: A 2020 vision is to become a vibrant dairy in Riyadh which enables

business, people, and environment to thrive.
Mission statement: To use our GOD given talents and abilities to provide
quality dairy products and excellent service to customers to achieve
customer satisfaction and a considerable growth in sales each year.
Apart from vision and mission statement, a rough SWOT analysis was
conducted by underpinning the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and
threats for Al Fawo dairy farm. The major strengths are the financial
availability, forefather dairy farm business, and wide area of land whereas
the major weaknesses are lack of water resources and climate. Moving to
small cities like Jubail and export opportunities are the excellent
prospects. The existing giant companies in Riyadh is the real threat for Al
Fawa. In fact, planning and organising were very critical steps and I am
satisfied with my abilities that I performed critical work in short time.

2. Communication
Initially some staff was hired for running dairy farm. The team was
reluctant to communicate very well with the prospective clients and other
stakeholders especially government departments. They misunderstood
the queries through email and lost notes as well. This was the major issue
to communicate the prospective client effectively. I made an excel file as
clients directory to keep record of their names, contact numbers, and
concerned person. Also, I managed the email box of the company and
added some folders with the name of key clients and set priorities of
emails so that no email can be overlooked by mistake.
Also, properly communicating with government was very important and
oral and written skills were required to convince government officials for
taking approvals on certain dairy procedures. In fact, I was not expert of
communicating with government departments but due to international
exposure I knew little more than the local staff. Therefore, I wrote some
letters in English to the authorities and got permission on certain tasks. I
also visited some major dairy farms such as Al-Safi and Al-Marari and met
managers to have some idea and the processes.

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During all this I developed enormous communication skills. Especially,

communicating (both verbally and written) with senior managers in public
and private institutions helped me a lot to improve my language skills and
abilities. Although, I faced some difficulties in the beginning, for example, I
asked some irrelevant questions and wasted some time but this inability
was improved in the next meetings. I am quite sure this experience will
help me in my future jobs in balancing talking and listening and writing
and speaking accurately and purposefully. Also, I learned how I can
involve others in honest and open discussion in order to keep them
informed.
3. Team management
By keeping in mind Belbins teamwork theory, I assigned the roles and
responsibilities to the staff and then they were aware of about their tasks
to be done on daily basis. I advised them to maintain a daily log with two
sections: things to do today and things to do tomorrow. In this way,
they can organise and perform their tasks efficiently and effectively. In
managing the organising teams, I realised that I was playing multiple roles
in the team. For example, as an implementer, I was trying to turn ideas
into action and organising works that needs to be done to overcome
obstacles that come in the beginning of the dairy farm business. Similarly,
as a specialist I was dedicated and self-starting in helping the team
members to utilise their full potential of work for getting maximum
outcome.
However, while playing three roles at the same time, I felt very confident
and I am confident that this experience gave me courage to work as a
management personnel in a small or medium size company to pursue my
professional career.
4. Time management
While working as an implementer for Al Fawa dairy farm, I suggested team
to meet customers and key stakeholders holders once in a month. This
idea was appreciated because then the farm management will be aware of
the issues and strengths of the organisation. One of my major weaknesses
is to wake up early in the morning and get ready for university or job. But
it was necessary to organise myself before advising other team members
to come on time in office. It was extremely hard due to the month of
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Ramadan when everyone was fasting, but I managed to attend the office
on time and advised the staff to come on time.
I was having short time because my new semester was starting and I had
only few days to deliver maximum performance. So the time was limited
but more tasks were required to be done. In fact, I was also pressurised in
the beginning and thought how I will perform all assigned duties in a short
time period. But planning and scheduling of tasks and dividing the work in
days and weeks helped me a lot. I learned how maximum work can be
done in short-period especially prioritising the important tasks. I believe
that this experience has contributed extensively in improving my time
management skills.
5. Risk management
There are several risks attached with the dairy farming business and I was
unaware of them before working with Al Fawa Dairy Farm. But it was
necessary to have an idea about them before starting the actual
operations. So, some critical risks related to animal health, cash flow and
viability, compliance, feed supply, weather, environment, flooding,
drought, falling payouts and financial were identified.
While working with Al Fawa, I perceived crucial risks associated with dairy
business and then I came to know a general risk management process
which is often used by the companies to minimise or eliminate critical
risks. This risk management process consists of identifying, analysing,
evaluating, and treating risks using suitable tools at different phases of a
risk management process. So this was the new knowledge I obtained.

6. Problem solving
Most of the problems on dairy farms can be resolved by taking the help of
specialists on animal management. But management related issues are
required to be managed by the managers or owner of the company.
During the business initiation process, I faced some problems when I was
stuck and seek the advice of the management. For example, I was
unaware of the insights of operations and procedures of dairy farms. Also
the biggest problem I faced that I was unaware of the particular
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terminology of the dairy farm business and it was very necessary for
understanding and responding the queries of stakeholders while
communicating with them. In order to solve this problem, I utilised the
power of internet in quickly understanding some typical words which are
often used in dairy sector. Some popular websites such as Wikihow and
Wikipedia helped me a lot in understanding the basic terminology.
7. Networking
I also developed some interpersonal skill while expanding my network and
meeting the professionals in public and private sectors. I met government
officials and managers of some dairy farming companies which improved
my networking. This helped me to understand the needs of different
stakeholders. This skill is important for future jobs particularly in the
marketing and management jobs when a person should be able to identify
the needs of the customers. Therefore, I learned the importance of
networking which can be developed by being friendly using interpersonal
skills rather than just standing around with a glass of drink and showing
off.
8. Administration
Throughout the period of my commitment with Al Fawa Dairy Farm, I was
responsible of complying with company policies all the times, dealing with
internal and external stakeholders, scheduling tasks, organising and
managing tasks, monitoring and controlling, and performing my own
duties show my administrative skills that I developed in a short time
period.

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APPENDIX B
Figure B1: Organisational structure of Al Fawa Dairy Farm

FO
G
ew
nen
ede
ri r
an/
lgC
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M
aeO
nr
adad
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Figure B2: Hofstede cultural dimensions

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Source: http://geert-hofstede.com/saudi-arabia.html

Figure B3: Gibbs reflection model

Source: Gibbs (1988)

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APPENDIX C
Table C1 Career SWOT Analysis

Strengths
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o

Weaknesses

Enthusiastic and expressive

Team working skills
Ability to learn quickly and adopting quickly
Realistic and deep thinker with international
study exposure and Saudi-based practical
experience
Fluent in national (Arabic) and international
(English) languages
Habit to learn from the experience of others
Love to be systematic and organised
Focus mind and logical thinking
Problem solving skills not aggressively but
by looking for possible solutions before
taking action
Helping nature and like to guide people
around me
Welcoming and like to support innovative
ideas
Easy going, flexible and broad minded
Enjoy challenging tasks
Transferable skills
Friendly behaviour
Opportunities

o Lack of future focus sometimes and

prefer existing realities
o Not good in operating technology-based
products
o Demanding in drawing the attention of
people around me
o Short-temper
o Lack of quick decision making skills
o Casual personality
o Fear from taking responsibility
o Lack of knowledge and skills for
applying full-time permanent jobs

Graduate schemes in UK and homeland

Future job prospects in home country
Self-employment
Postgraduate study

o Fierce competition in graduate schemes

and job markets in UK and home country
o High fees for postgraduate study

Threats

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Table C2 Al Fawa SWOT Analysis

Strengths

Weaknesses

o Large area of land

o Financial strengths

o Lack of water resources

o Hot weather

o Family business

o Fluctuation in milk prices

o Wide range of market with full of

o Lack of training and development

opportunities

prospects at government level

o Availability of cheap labour

o Lack of guidance available

o Available of skilled labour

o Availability of material resources

o Latest technological equipments
o High level of production facilities
Opportunities

Threats

o Export opportunities
o Moving to small cities like Jubail

o Tight local and international rivalry

o Environmental laws and legislations

o Government support

o Threat of new entrants

o Dedicated supply chains

o Risk of animal diseases due to hot

o Growth in population and consumption of

dairy products

climate
o Nutritional concerns

o Import of new technological equipments

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APPENDIX D

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