Potential Career Paths - Research Paper Example

Running Header: Research Paper on Potential Career Paths Student’s Name: Name of Institution: Instructor’s Name: Course Code: Date of Submission: Background Information (Size and Number of Employees) STC aims to ensure that it controls and employs honesty, commitment, respect, initiative and integrity to attain all its set objectives. It aims to identify customer needs to pave the way for customer satisfaction. This continuously ensures that it has provided for the expectations of the company. This is in relation to many of the products and services that are on offer. Saudi Telecom Company ensures that it works as effectively as it can to provide telecommunication services to all its customers. In a region that is governed by Arab states and ways of life, it has created a niche for itself in the telecommunications industry. It enjoys the creation of diverse products and services. They enjoy good quality phones, internet provision coupled with VOIP, IP VPN, various internet broadband services amongst many other products and services (Newman, Barabási & Watts, 2006). STC has grown in leaps and bounds and it is not only represented in Saudi Arabia. It has grown and penetrated the international market. It is now represented in Turkey, South Africa, Malaysia, Kuwait, India, Indonesia and Bahrain (Saudi Telecom 2010). All these countries contribute to the overall size and revenue that is collected by the company. They work together to ensure that the company’s annual GDP grows annually. This is as they struggle to ensure that they provide the best quality products and services. Employees who work for STC are efficient and competent in their work in the telecommunications industry. They influence the trends that are incorporated in the way that the company conducts itself. In a company that has over 142 million subscribers, the number of employees highlights the importance of quality customer service. They are spread out in all the countries that the STC has its branches. Research Plan My name is Sandra. I am greatly interested in network analysis. This is in respect to the STC Company and what it does in the telecommunications industry. I am interested in the company and all its objectives. This is with the overall aim of ensuring that I understand what the company does and what it should do in future. This is with the overall aim of ensuring the company’s overall objectives are met. I have the intention of interviewing the CEO, director and three employees. They include two employees from the general area and the company’s network analyst. The interview will take four days. This will be are representation of the time taken to identify certain company issues and the general process of follow ups. This will ensure that I have increased my hands on approach in the business. Interview Questions What is the size of the organization? What led to its creation and what does it aim to achieve in all its activities? How can the internal structure of the organization be identified to be like? How does the internal structure compliment the overall organizational culture? What is the organizations plan in ensuring that they stay afloat in the ever growing telecommunications industry? What is the position of the network analyst in the organization and what are his or her daily activities? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the each and every person’s duties and responsibilities Company Duties The company is a representation of what the telecommunication industry is all about. Communication is a very powerful and essential tool. Having realised this, STC aims to ensure that it has incorporated all aspects of modernity into the communication industry. It offers phone and internet connectivity at a very affordable cost. They offer many diverse products in the telephone sector. They have phones that cater for each and every need of their actual and potential customers. This includes customers who want basic handsets to those who want complex ones. They are customers who want hand sets with Short Message Service capabilities and voice calls only. STC realises that this and they have a wide array of this phones. They are others that are interested in phones that have various adaptations and specifications. They do not only want voice calls and messaging. They want phones with the ability to browse the internet with defined speed. They want phones with clear picture clarity. This is represented by the number of mega pixels that they contain (Saudi Telecom 2010). STC understands the needs of all the people in the communication industry. They create the handsets according to people and their diverse needs. It ensures that its mobile network is strong in all the areas that it has set up STC mobile connectivity boosters. This ensures that their clients get the clearest and most defined voice clarity when calling. This also ensures that it is easy to surf the internet at great speeds. They ensure that they have introduced all types of bundles that can be bought according to ones financial strengths. The bundles are either bought via the pre paid or post paid system. Both systems were selected in relation to their appeal to customers who wanted diverse things out of the industry. They have also invested heavily in the landline services. This is brought about by the fact that people are communicating in many forms. The landline services are very popular especially in the upmarket areas. These areas represent many of the businesses and offices that prefer the landline network because of its features. They ensure that there is no congestion in their network. This ensures that their customers are content with the voice and clarity solutions that are offered by their networks. Their diverse internet services also ensure that they have come up with varying internet speeds. This means that they have created internet speeds that are unmatched. This satisfies their consumers who either surf using their handsets or by connecting modems to their laptops. The internet sticks ensure that a client has the choice and the flexibility of going online at their own pleasure. This reduces the need to be at one point using the desktop that is hooked to network cables. Currently, this is what the industry is about. Mobility and comfort have become needs in the ever changing telecommunications industry. People want to communicate at any given point from any place. STC ensures that they have the ability to do so. This is with their diverse products and services. Internal Organization Every successful organization is made up of essential components that enable it to be what it is. After it was founded in 1998, it realised the need for a strong internal organizational culture. This was built on the cannons of its overall goals and objectives. It has a Chairman who is the head of the board. The board ensures that they effectively make decisions that will impact the company positively. He is followed down the hierarchy by Chief Executive Officer. They form the overall top management board. They are responsible for the managerial decisions that have to be made in the company. Their duty is to ensure that they communicate the companies overall goals and objectives. They chair meetings with other directors to ensure that everything is conducted the way that it is supposed to. Each and every branch whether regional or international has directors. The directors ensure that they work as effectively as they can to represent their offices. This is because they form the link between the head office and the regional office (Saudi Telecom 2010). They ensure that the strategic information that is needed can be employed strategically in a decision making situation. Every regional office has set targets in relation to the mother company aims and objectives. Under the directors, there are sectional heads. The heads ensure that each section that is represented in the company has the ability to bring in as much profit as they can. The phone section in the company is represented by a manager. He or she is selected based on predetermined choices. They cater for either the mobile telephony or the landline services. The internet services section is also manned by a representative. He or she has the duty of communicating to the head office. The person also has the overall duty of ensuring that their internet connectivity is as per the set expectations. He or she is answerable to the head of the internet services in the main offices. The same criterion is applied in relation to other areas of the organization. There are individuals who are tasked with the leadership of many other areas in the organization. They include the heads of the public relations, human resource, operations, advertising, marketing and communication sections amongst many others. They ensure that they compliment the decision making system. This is by ensuring that all the transactions that are in place run as smoothly as they are supposed to in the organization. Under all this leaders, there are others that work under them. They ensure that the stipulated activities that are required in the organization are carried as they ought to be. There are employees who work routinely to ensure that everything is set. They are regularly circulated in the different sections in the organization. This is one of the features that has enabled the organization to grow tremendously. This is because each and every employee that works for the organization is trained to work in any section of that organization. This ensures that they is deep segregation of duties. This creates a situation where it is very possible to maintain the dignity and integrity of every section in the organization. This is because at no one point are there people who have worked permanently at one section. The overall internal structure at STC may be a complex one. It is governed by ideologies that ensure that it continues to grow by meeting the goals and objectives set by the company. Organizational Culture STC is governed by an organizational culture that ensures that they have ready market for their produced goods and services. This is by ensuring that they come up with goods and services that cater for their diverse client needs. They also ensure that the goods and services that they have come up with are placed strategically ready for consumption. This is through vigorous and timely advertising. They have an active website that is regularly updated. They ensure that any new information that they may have is put up for all to see. They conduct massive campaigns through the media, billboards and print adverts. All these ensure that they have notified all those in need of the availability of products and services of their specifications. The use of bright colours in their adverts is also one of their trademark logos. This ensures that it has attracted as much attention as they can. This works in their favour as many people come in looking for the advertised goods and services. Position of the Job in Overall Organizational Structure Network analysis is essential in every network system. This is because it ensures that everything within the prescribed network is running as is expected. In every network, there is the smooth flow of certain aspects to ensure overall network productivity. Each network in the telecommunication industry is set to ensure that data flow is as effective as it ought to be. This ensures that there is optimisation in the said networks. This is as they struggle to meet the expectations of the consumers. At STC, the task of a network analyst includes identifying and analysing the interconnected elements in the system. This is with the overall aim of ensuring swift data flow from one set terminal to the next. This job is strategically placed under the operations section in the organization. This is because it adequately represents what goes on in the organization each and every day. Network analysis involves the manipulation and application of various operations to ensure that the phone and internet networks are at per with the expectations of the clients (Saudi Telecom 2010). Daily Tasks Daily, the network analyst is tasked with the duty of understanding what the current network situation is like in many parts of the STC network base. This is with the help of strategically placed engineers who monitor the boosters that enable the swift flow of data currency from one area to the next. They then identify what needs to be done in respect to the various network functions. They identify the flow of the network and what they can do to make it better. After they have dealt with this issue, they have the duty of identifying what is the shortest network path that can be employed in any situation. This is with the aim of cutting down of costs for both the organization and the client. In summary, the duty of the network analyst involves the in depth analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the network. This is with the aim of ensuring network compatibility and capability. This is especially in line with customer expectations (Newman, Barabási & Watts, 2006). Strengths and Weaknesses Every job has strengths and weaknesses. The major strength of this job lies on the ability to determine network problems and adequately deal with them. This ensures the smooth flow of currents in the communications chain. The weaknesses of this job are represented by the inability of the network analyst to identify possible future hitches in the system. This brings in potential system crashes and low points. This is something that greatly tampers with the flow of data and communication. It is causes telecommunications glitch that is rarely understood by the clients. Future Career Prospects In conclusion, I learnt that the future is very bright for the telecommunication industry. This is because communications is the most expansive industry worldwide. This means that there is need to come up with effective strategies that ensure the ultimate growth of the industry and all its components. The telecommunications industry cannot carry out its mandate without systems and network analysts. This creates room for me to learn more in the area of network analysis. This will pave way for the creation of stronger networks. This will ensure continued reliance on available and newly created networks. I have a vision of ensuring that I design and maintain a network that contributes to the overall organizational growth of any company or organization positively. References Newman, M., Barabási, A. L., and Watts, D. J. 2006. The Structure and Dynamics of Networks. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. Saudi Telecom. 2010. STC Online. http://www.stc.com.sa/cws/portal/en/individual?favouritLang=en Appendix Appendix 1-Interview Questions What is the size of the organization? What led to its creation and what does it aim to achieve in all its activities? How can the internal structure of the organization be identified to be like? How does the internal structure compliment the overall organizational culture? What is the organizations plan in ensuring that they stay afloat in the ever growing telecommunications industry? What is the position of the network analyst in the organization and what are his or her daily activities? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the each and every person’s duties and responsibilities? Appendix 2-Time Table of Initial Contact Time Day Activity CEO 9.00 am Monday General introduction. The introduction of the activities and the objectives of the organization. Introduction of what the CEO does in the company and collection of what the company’s future plans are. Director 9.00 am Tuesday Introduction to the various sections of the organization and what they do. Employee One 9.00 am Wednesday Interview on what they think of the organization. Quick explanation of what they do in their different sections. Employee Two 9.00 am Thursday Interview on what they think of the organization. Quick explanation of what they do in their different sections. Network Analyst 9.00 am Friday Visit to the network analysts’ job. Quick explanation of what the job entails and its overall objective in the organization. Appendix 3-Time Table of Interview Follow Ups Time Day Activity CEO 2.00 pm Monday Confirmation of all previously collected information. Director 2.00 pm Tuesday Career development talk in respect to what is expected of me in my professional choice. Employee 1 4.00 pm Wednesday Collection of information in the employees’ area of expertise. Field visits Employee 2 4.00 Thursday Collection of information in the employees’ area of expertise. Field visits Network Analyst 1.00 pm Friday Visit to the network analysis centre. Understanding of the various processes that are employed in the network analysis centre in the organization. Read More