INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING CONSTRUCTION AND

CITY DEVELOPMENT

Name: Henock Nigatu

ID No.: TCR/1556/01

Department: Construction Technology and Management

Company name: SNNPRS Design & Construction Supervision Authority

 Emnete Endeshaw General Contractor

Duration of the internship: 14/03/11-25/06/11

Date: 28/06/11
 Declaration of the student and the approval of the mentor
and the supervisor

Name of the intern: Henock Nigatu

Signature _____________

Date: 28/06/2011

Company supervisor name: Sebsibie

Signature______________

Date: 28/06/2011

Mentor name: Abebaw

Signature____________

Date: 28/06/2011

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 Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge:

O Engineer Sebsibie, my site supervisor, for he has helped me to learn so

many things on the site and at the office.
O Ato Marchedis at the SNNPRS Design and Construction Supervision
Authority, for he helped me to choose the best site for me to work at.
O Engineer Bemenet, for he helped me get all the information about Emnete
Endeshaw General Contractor.
O All the workers at the site, for they had been helpful in all aspects during
my stay.
O My parents, for they provided me with all the things I asked for my
internship program.

An executive summary

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 An internship program is the main part of the teaching-learning process
which helps the students gain knowledge from the practical world. For this reason
I have spent the last four months working on my internship program and this
report is the reflection of it.

The report has four sections all divided into more sub-sections to clarify
them as much as possible. The four sections of this report are:

1) The company profile

2) My overall internship experience
3) Benefits gained from the internship
4) Conclusion and recommendations for the company

Table of content

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 Item Page No.
1. Company profile…………………………………………………………………………………… 6
1.1. The company’s brief history………………………………………………………….. 6
1.2. The company’s main products or services……………………………………… 8
1.3. The main customers or end users of the
Company’s products or services……………………………………………………... 11
1.4. The company’s overall organization & work flow……………………………. 12
2. My overall internship experience…………………………………………………………… 14
2.1. How I get into the company…………………………………………………………… 14
2.2. In which section of the company I have been working in……………….. 15
2.3. The work flow in the section…………………………………………………………... 16
2.4. The work piece or work tasks I have been executing………………………. 21
2.5. What procedures I have been using while performing
my work tasks…………………………………………………………………………………. 22
2.6. How good I have been in performing my work tasks………………………. 23
2.7. What challenges I have been facing while performing
my work tasks…………………………………………………………………………………. 23
2.8. What measures I have taken in order to overcome
these challenges……………………………………………………………………………… 25
3. Overall benefits I gained from the internship………………………………………… 29
3.1. In terms of improving my practical skills…………………………………………. 29
3.2. In terms of upgrading my theoretical knowledge …………………………… 30
3.3. In terms of improving my interpersonal communication skills………… 30
3.4. In terms of improving my team playing skills………………………………….. 30
3.5. In terms of improving my leadership skills……………………………………… 31
3.6. In terms of understanding about work ethics related issues…………… 32
3.7. In terms of entrepreneurship skills…………………………………………………. 33
4. Conclusion and recommendation…………………………………………………………. 34
4.1. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………… 34
4.2. Recommendations for the company………………………………………………. 35
1. Company profile

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 1.1The company’s brief history

Even though I had signed an agreement paper for the internship with the
South Nations Nationalities and People’s Regional State Design and Construction
Supervision Authority, I was directed to Emnete Endeshaw General Contractor
because it was found to be the perfect place for me to work on my internship
program. So, in this section of my report I will be discussing about the brief
history of Emnete Endeshaw General Contractor.

Therefore, I have outlined the following points which I hope will clearly
state the history of Emnete Endeshaw General Contractor.

O Established in the 1980’s Ethiopian calendar by the owner and the general
manager Ato Emnete Endeshaw.
O Since establishment, the company has been engaged in different types of
investment works such as

 Hotel business
 Construction
 Office and household furniture production
 Cements products factory
 Metal workshop

O Regarding the construction sector (my main area of concern), the company
has grown into a level-I general contractor through the years.

O The company has a market plan of participating in bids for levels I, II and III
even though the company is registered as a level-I general contractor.

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 O The company has two main branches in Ethiopia:

 Addis Ababa branch and

 Awassa branch

O Both branches are involved in and responsible for different types of the
company’s project work tasks.
O By the time the company was licensed as a level-I general contractor, it had
a capital of 40 million ETB.
O At this time, however, the company is undertaking different projects in
different areas of the country with an estimated working capital of 750
million ETB.
O Since the day of establishment the company has been growing into
different dimensions in a vast way. To accomplish this, the company has
purchased different types of construction locomotives and other heavy
duty cars. Some these are:

 Grader
 Dozer
 Loader, etc.

O The company has also its own garage to make sure that the cars it owns
perform the task they are intended to in their full efficiency by maintaining
them properly.
1.2The company’s main products or services

As I have tried to state in the previous section, section 1.1, the company,
Emnete Endeshaw General Contractor, has been engaged in different types of
investment areas which will be listed and discussed in brief in this section.

The products or services provided by the company are:

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a) Hotel business service

 The company is engaged in a hotel business with two hotels currently

giving service and three being under construction.
 The one’s providing service are located in

 Arbaminch and
 Shashemene

While those under construction are located in

 Addis Ababa and

 Awassa
b) Construction service

 This service is the main income provider of the company.

 Since the company is a level-I contractor, it is engaged in many
construction projects.
 It is currently undertaking different projects. To mention some:

1. AAU project
 A project of building a staff apartment
 Being carried out with a capital of 30 million ETB.
2. Haromaya University project
 A project of building a staff apartment
 Being carried out with a capital of 150 million ETB.

3. Omo Micro-Finance project

 An office building project for Omo Micro-Finance
 Being carried out with a capital of 25 million ETB.

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 4. Nyala Motors project
 An office and workshop building project for Nyala Motors Sc.
 Being carried out with a capital of 20 million ETB.

5. Arbaminch cultural hall project

 A cultural hall project in Arbaminch
 Being carried out with a capital of 80 million ETB.

6. Wolayta finance and economic bureau project

 An office building project for Wolayta Finance and Economic
Bureau
 Being carried out with a capital of 40 million ETB.

7. Halaba TVET College project

 Classrooms and office building projct for Halaba TVET College
 Being carried out with a capital of 30 million ETB.

8. Hotel projects
1) SEM Plc project
 Hotel project of SEM Plc
 Being carried out with a capital of 85 million ETB.
2) Hotel project in Wollo Sefer area
 Being carried out with a capital of 120 million ETB.
3) Hotel project in paisa area
 Being carried out with a capital of 150 million ETB.
c) Office and household furniture service

 Has been one of the main investment areas since the establishment
of the company and is still working in its full capacity to serve its
customers with the best quality furniture.
 Due to its high quality furniture products, the company is getting
orders (for production) from almost all around the country and the
company is doing its best to satisfy their needs.
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 d) Cement product service

 This is one part of the company engaged in producing end products

which use cement as the main input.
Example: the production of blocks

e) Metal workshop service

 In this part of the company, the services provided are the production
of:
 Doors
 Windows
 Any type of metal work related to construction, etc

f) Garage service

 This is the service of the company where different cars are serviced
whenever needed.
 Used entirely for the use of the company itself.

1.3The main customers or the end users of the company’s products

or services

Since the company, Emnete Endeshaw General Contractor, is engaged in

giving different kinds of services, the end users of its services are too many in
number which makes it difficult to mention all of them.

To avoid this problem, I have categorized them into three distinct groups
which are listed below.

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 a) The citizens of the country
b) Governmental offices
c) The private sector

Now, let us see why each of them is stated as the end users of the company’s
service or product.

a) The citizens of the country

 Whenever any office building, hotel buildings or any other buildings

are built, they are built to give services to the citizens of the country
one way or the other.
 The citizens also get services from the company by purchasing the
end products from the furniture and cement product factory sectors
of the company.
Example: sofas, tables, blocks, etc.

b) Governmental offices

 This includes all types of government offices, universities, colleges,

hospitals, etc.
 Mentioned as end users because they
 Get their projects constructed by the company
 Purchase furniture and cement products from the company
c) The private sector

 This includes the non-governmental organizations, the Diasporas, the

wealth owners, etc.
 The private sector are mentioned as one of the customers of the
company’s service because they

 Get their office buildings constructed by the company

 Get their hotel and other investment buildings constructed by
the company
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  Purchase different types of end products/ services of the
company, etc.
1.4 The company’s overall organization and work flow
O The company has two branch offices; the head office in Awassa and a
branch office in Addis Ababa.
O Since I have been the Awassa branch, I will focus on the organizational flow
of the Awassa head office.
O The general manager is the main power holder of the company with the
deputy general manager sitting just next to him.
O The general manager actively participates in controlling almost every
activities of the company (both branches of the company).
O The Awassa head office has four different work sections falling under
supervision. These are:
a) The Engineering office
b) Cement product factory
c) Office and household furniture
d) Metal and garage workshop
All these sectors have their own managerial and finance system.
O The Addis Ababa branch is responsible for different projects which are
under construction as shown clearly in the chart below.

General Manager

Deputy General
Manager

Addis Ababa Awassa Head

Branch Office

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Haromaya AAU staff Cement Product Office & Metal &
University Apartment Factory Household Garage
staff Apt. Furniture Workshop

Hotel Project in SEM Plc Hotel Engineering

Wollo Sefer Project Office

Wolayta Halaba TVET Hotel Nyala Omo Micro- Arbaminch

Finance College Project in Motors Finance cultural hall
Building Building Project Awassa Office Building project
Project Building project
Project

Diagram 1: Work flow of Emnete Endeshaw General Contractor

2. My overall internship experience

2.1 How I get into the company

Moving to my first topic of this section, which is how I got into my

internship hosting company, I need to say that the internship program has been
one of the best experiences I have faced in my entire life. For this to happen I, like
all the other students, had to find a company which was suitable to work with and
willing to accept interns. I can assure you that it was not an easy task at all.

After looking for a company in Addis Ababa for two weeks, I came to a
decision that I should look for one in my hometown Awassa. There were two
reasons for this decision. These are:
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 1. The internship only lasts for four months maximum, which is a small time
taking into consideration the fact that buildings in Ethiopia do not progress
as planned. So, going back to Awassa would even give me two months of
the summer time to experience more new things concerned with the
project. This was the major reason which led to my decision.
2. There is no place like home.

After this decision I went back to Awassa and looked for companies
suitable for my field of study and at last I chose the South Nations Nationalities
and People’s Regional State Design and Construction Supervision Authority. After
this I went to the office of the company, talked with the manager and got
accepted by the office. Then I was told to come soon to see which site I was going
to be working during my internship period. After choosing among different sites,
they suggested that I should be assigned to the Omo Micro-Finance project which
is run by Emnete Endeshaw General Contractor. Then, I took the contract
agreement paper and a letter of request which asks for the cooperation of the
Emnete Endeshaw General Contractor to accept me as intern student; which was
enough for me to be accepted by the project manager.

I’ve started my internship on the 14/03/11 because we, the students, were not
provided with the pocket money on time.

2.2 In which section of the company I have been working in

To start from the general concept of a certain construction project, it

involves three parties who take part in the achievement of the stated task on the
agreement. These three parties are:

1. The contractor

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 2. The client
3. The consultant

In my case, the contractor is Emnete Endeshaw General Contractor,

which I have been working in for the last three and a half months, the client is
Omo Micro-Finance and the consultant is the South Nations Nationalities and
People’s Regional State Design and Construction Supervision Authority, where I
was first accepted before being directed to the contractor of the project.

As I have stated it above, I have been working on the contractor’s side

that is responsible for the daily activities undertaken at the site, takes full
responsibility of the task being undertaken, etc. In taking care of these
responsibilities the contractor has a team of workers consisting of

O Project Manager
O Site Engineer
O Office Engineer
O Project administrator
O General Foreman
O Store keeper
O Data collector
O Gang leaders
O Daily laborers
O Skilled manpower
O Guards

Coming back to my main point of discussion, which is the section of the

company I have been working in, I would have to say that I had no fixed work part
I executed. My main part of the work was as a site engineer, preparing weekly
and monthly reports and controlling any other thing being executed on the site.
But, I have also worked on the other sections of the company whenever needed.

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 2.3 The work flow in the section
For a certain particular work to be effectively executed a certain
organized way of work flow has to be planned, the parties involved in it must
perform their tasks correctly and answer to respective superiors as stated on the
specific work flow diagram related to the task.

In the company I have been working with, Emnete Endeshaw General

Contractor, there are different types of tasks carried out by different individuals
according to their field of expertise. Before going straight forward into the work
flow of the company (by company I am referring to one of the sites of the Emnete
General Contractor which I have been working in, the Omo Micro-Finance site) I
find it appropriate to discuss about the work executed by each of the working
class on the site.

a. Project Manager

 Responsible for the entire project

 The number one ranking person on the site on the decision making
hierarchy
 Manages the overall activities both on and off the site
 Acts as a contact person between the site and the head office of the
company
 Goes through and approves the reports provided to him by the office
and the site engineers concerning the project
 Makes agreements with the client representing the contractor, etc.

b. Site and Office Engineer( had to discuss them together because they are
executed by one person on the site)

 Responsible for an engineering related activities on the site

 Collects daily, weekly and monthly reports
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  Submits these reports to the project manager
 Schedules all the weekly and monthly works to be done
 Prepares takeoff sheets
 Makes decision on firing and hiring skilled and unskilled manpower
and passes it on to the general manager for an approval, etc.

c. General Foreman

 Controls and assigns the gang leaders

 Checks whether the work is progressing according to the plan or not
 Reports to the site and office engineer on matters concerned with
material request for the construction
 Passes on orders from the site/office engineer to those workers
working on the site, etc.

d. Gang leaders

 Responsible for assigning and controlling a group of daily laborers in

a specific activity for a specific period of time
 Makes sure that the orders received from the general foreman are
carried out correctly
 Goes to (consults) the general foreman whenever a difficulty on the
site comes up, etc.

e. Skilled manpower

 Manpower with a certain skills

Example: mixer operator

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f. Daily laborers

 Manpower with no skills

 Perform tasks they are assigned to

g. Store keeper

 Keeps record of all construction materials going in and out of the

store
 Manages the materials in the store properly
 Prepares a report showing the numbers and quantities of the
materials going in and out of the store
 Acts as a time keeper by checking the working times of the workers
and keeping record of it
 Responsible for the attendance of the workers and makes monthly
reports based on the attendance paper which will aid for the monthly
payment of the workers, etc.

h. Data collector

 Collects daily data of the work on the site

 Prepares a daily report to be submitted to the site and office
engineer, etc.

i. Guards

 Responsible for the safe working environment by protecting the site

from any kinds of thieves, etc.

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 j. Project administrator

 Responsible for administering non-engineering activities taking place

on the site
 Prepares salary payment
 Settles any disagreements among laborers on the site

With the above points in mind, let me move to the main point of my
discussion. The work flow at the site, the Omo Micro-Finance site, starts with the
project manager making the major and then comes the site and office engineer
who in turn is followed by the general foreman on one side and the project
administrator on the other side. The foreman is followed by the data collector,
gang leader, skilled manpower and daily laborers; while the project administrator
is followed by the store keeper and the guards. This whole work flow is clearly
shown in the work flow chart below.

Project Manager

Site and Office Engineer

General Foreman Project Administrator

Data collector Gang leader Guards Store keeper

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 Skilled
Daily laborers
manpower

Diagram 2: Work flow on the site

2.4 The work piece or work tasks I have been executing

As I have already mentioned it earlier (in section 2.2) I have been

working mostly on the site, but this does not mean that it was my only task. I have
also done office works. While working in the company, I have done anything I was
asked to as long as it is not beyond my capacity. In other words, I had no fixed
work piece or work task. So, the work piece or work tasks I have been executing
are the following:

O Preparing weekly and monthly reports based on the data I collected from
each day work progress and also from the data which is provided to me
by the data collector in case I was not on the site because of office works
in the office.
O Collecting data which helps me to make the weekly and monthly reports
and to know what is exactly happening on the site.
O Preparing takeoff sheet for formwork, concrete work superstructure
(mainly the column) and the substructure, and also takeoff sheet for other
activities done for the substructure works like backfill, trench excavation,
etc.
O Controlling and carefully checking whether the reinforcement bars are
prepared according to the bar schedule or not. If it is okay, then it is used
for the construction; but if not, then I report this to the site engineer for
correction to take place.

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 O Checking that the reinforcement bars are reinforced in the correct way for
before concrete works.
O Making sure, by measuring, that the formworks for concrete works are
constructed with the correct dimension position.
O Whenever delivery of materials is delayed, participating in the
rescheduling process of the work tasks to be executed by sharing some
ideas.
O Motivate the daily laborers by the famous method of ‘leading by example’
so that the work task is executed according to the plan, etc.

2.5 What procedures I have been using while performing my work

tasks

A certain work task has to be performed with some certain procedures

which are related to the work task in hand because trying to accomplish a work
task without a procedure is fruitless; it is like trying to clap with one hand. In
short, a procedure is very vital for the accomplishment of a certain work task
according to the plan.

In my case, I have been using some procedures to accomplish my tasks. I

have been using the theoretical procedures which I had learned for the past two
and a half years in the classroom and also other procedures that I have learned at
the site. Those procedures from the classroom are:

O Always follow the Bill of Quantity (BOQ)

O Use the specified material just as it is
O Test materials before using them
O Make sure the plan on the paper is correctly transferred to the ground and
look for specific information on the working drawing, etc.

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While those procedures I have gained and adopted from the site are:

O Gather every information I can get from the site

O Try to work peacefully with others
O Take full responsibility for one’s own action, etc

2.6 How good I have been in performing my work tasks

Self-judgment might be a bit biased but I will try to be as fair as I can. At

first, when I got into the company, everything seemed a bit difficult to adapt with
because all I knew about construction was on paper. Soon after, I was able to
adapt myself to the new environment and that was when I started to perform
better on my work tasks. So, since then everything seemed easy and as my
supervisor told me I have started to perform better.

2.7 What challenges I have been facing while performing my work

tasks

While performing a task, it is obvious that challenges are there to be

faced. In my case, I have faced different types of challenges while performing my
work tasks. These challenges were:

O I had problem with understanding the language (words) that was spoken on
the site for the first few periods of my internship time.
O There is no electricity on the site and for this reason the office works had to
be done by hand which made it tedious and gave me no chance of
practicing how to use the computer for office works.

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O I had a problem with adapting to the practical aspect of the construction
industry because I had no experience prior to this except for the theoretical
knowledge form the classroom.
O During the first week of my internship period I had a problem with
interacting with the non-professional workers because they thought I was
there to assess them.
O For the above mentioned reason (no usage of the computer), the files at
the office are not computerized. This makes the files easily affected by
repeated usage and water from drinking and rain.
O The site office is not properly built. In other words, it is below the standard
of an office. When it rains, the roof of the office lets some droplets inside
which is not good for the files stored there and the persons working inside
the office.
O No enough space for more than four persons to work in the office at the
same time due to its small size.
O Failure of the head office to provide the site with construction materials,
mainly cement. This is mainly because of the shortage in cement
production and availability in our country.
O Shortage of fuel sometimes affected the work negatively by forcing us to
mix concrete by hand which is tiresome, delays the construction and needs
additional labor.
O For the first month of my work on the site there was no vibrator used while
performing concrete works and for this reason the daily laborers had to use
a big round wood as a vibrator. This also delays the construction and needs
additional labor.
O For the most part of the soil compaction work, the daily laborers were using
a material made at the site to compact the soil manually; delaying the
construction and consuming additional labor.
O The store room is not big enough to store every construction that has to be
stored, only cement is stored in the store. This makes the reinforcement
bars to be stored outside where the weather change (from sun to rain)
cannot be prevented. It is known that a reinforcement bar corrodes when it

23
 is in contact with water (the one from rain is not even clean making it even
worse) for too long.
O Carelessness of the daily laborers to perform their work tasks effectively
and on time. In relation to this is, the carelessness of the gang leaders and
the foreman to avoid this problem.
O At times, I have seen some poor human resource management taking place
on the site.
O Small number of daily laborers at times when they were supposed to be
there in numbers.
For example, while performing a concrete work having many daily laborers
helps to fasten the work by delivering the concrete at a faster rate. But this
was not the case for most part of my work stay in the company.
O Too many women daily laborers which opens the door for spending much
time by talking and also they get tired faster as compared to the men daily
laborers.

2.8 What measures I have taken in order to overcome these

challenges

Measures are corrective actions taken to overcome the challenges faced. For the
challenges I have faced, which are stated in the previous section, I have taken the
following measures.

O Since the chance of having electricity until the completion of the project is
zero, I decided to ask an engineer from my neighborhood to show me how
to use the computer application for an office work tasks.
O For the problem related to the rain entering the office, I have suggested to
the project manager that they should use file cabinets as a short term
measure and try to build a new office for the long run.

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O To avoid the shortage of space in the office, the above mentioned measure:
building a new office, is the main solution.
O For the shortage of cement, we have decided on purchasing a large amount
of cement whenever it is available in the market and storing it so that it can
be used even when there is no available cement to be sold in the market
itself.
O The same measure, purchasing and storing, works for the problem with the
shortage of fuel.

O The problem with the absence of the vibrator was removed by bringing a
vibrator from the head office store.
O Since the problem with the reinforcement bars is somewhat related to the
problem with the office, it is necessary to build a new store room together
with the new office (which has not been done until the last day of my
internship period).

O For the problem with the lack of motivation prevailing among the daily
laborers, trying to motivate them by any means legal and also selecting out
those laborers that are causing the problem and firing them or warning
them to refrain from their act.

O For the problem related with the human resource management, applying
the proper human resource management system is the appropriate
solution.
O To avoid the shortage of the daily laborers working on the site, more daily
laborers were hired and the work was carried out much faster than when it
was smaller number of them.

O For the problem with the number of women laborers being too many men
laborers were encouraged to work but it was not fruitful because there
were not enough men laborers on the market.

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O For my communication problems I had for the first couple of weeks, I tried
to solve it by:

 Asking what every new word meant and

 Guessing what it meant

By doing these two things I finally got rid of my communication

problems on the site and now I can easily communicate with anyone
working on the site.

O For the problem I had with the workers (they thinking I was there to
assess them), I told them that I was just an intern trying to learn even
from them. The minute they knew I was an intern, they stopped giving me
a hard time and in fact they made my stay at the site one of a kind.

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 3. Overall benefits I gained from the internship

It is a fact that for every task performed there is an outcome which is

either beneficiary or non beneficiary. During my internship period I have
performed different types of tasks and benefited from each task. The benefits I
have gained are stated and discussed briefly below.

3.1 In terms of improving my practical skills

Since everything performed on the site is practical, I have gained a lot in terms of
improving my practical skills. These include:

O How to perform different tests for different construction materials on the

site.
Example: slump test
O How to mix concrete according to the mix proportion

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 O How to vibrate a concrete mix
O How to prepare a takeoff sheet
O How to prepare a daily, weekly and monthly report of the work progress
O How a formwork is erected
O How reinforcement bars are reinforced
O How reinforcement bars are cut and bent into the desired shape
O How a concrete mixer is operated, etc
3.2 In terms of upgrading my theoretical knowledge

Before I started my internship program I had difficulties with clearly

understanding what I have learned theoretically in the classroom. For example,
when I was learning about how to prepare a takeoff sheet for substructure of a
building I had difficulties in remembering the construction steps performed. Right
now, after having seen every step of the substructure work on the site, this
ambiguity with the takeoff sheet has been cleared and sent to bed. I have also
benefited with theoretical aspects of planning, scheduling, report writing, etc.

3.3 In terms of improving my interpersonal communication skills

For a given football team to succeed in its competition its team members
need to work together for their goal. Just like a football team, a construction work
is a teamwork consisting of different individuals with different educational
background. For the construction workers to achieve their goal, completing the
project on time with all the requirements fulfilled, they need to communicate
with each other in a smooth way and make the work environment as inviting as it
could be.

My communication skills for the first week were not good because it
was a new environment for me and I did not know anyone who works there. As
the week passed by I started to communicate with the workers on the site about

28
the work and other issues very comfortably which helped me for a better
cooperation on the work.

3.4 In terms of improving my team playing skills

As I have mentioned it on the previous section of my report,

construction is a team work consisting of different individual. This difference in
individuality together with the difference in the educational and life background
makes it a bit difficult for the workers to cooperate easily with one another.
However, this issue can be prevented by the willingness of the workers to
cooperate with each other which in other words is ‘team playing’. So, if everyone
involved in a given project is a team player, then that project will succeed in
achieving its goals.

As for me, I have had my team playing skills starting from my childhood
though the degree differs from current team playing skills. Living in the society
gave me my first team playing skill lesson. Then, joining the university campus and
starting to live in the dormitory gave me the chance to even gain more skills
because I had to cooperate with different students to make our dormitory a
peaceful place to live in.

Moving on to the team playing skills I have gained from my internship

program, I have to admit that I have gained a lot in improving my skills. This is
because I had to work hand in hand with everyone on the site to gain all the
knowledge I could get and also to do my own share of work for the success of the
project. So, from my internship program, I have had a good experience in
improving my team playing skills.

3.5 In terms of improving my leadership skills

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Leadership is a function that includes

O Motivating employees
O Directing others
O Selecting the most effective communication channels
O Resolving conflicts
O Developing organizational change

In short, leadership is the act of inspiring people to work hard to achieve high
performance.

During my work stay on the site I have had the chance to develop the
above mentioned aspects of leadership at a lower level of management because I
was not allowed to practice the top level managerial aspects by myself. On the
site I was responsible for leading some work tasks and I have learned a lot from
leading those work tasks. I have learned that in order to lead in a good way I need
the following three ideas.

1) Plan what is to be done

2) Organize the plan
3) Good know-how of the work to be done

3.6 In terms of understanding about work ethics related issues

Ethics is a code of morality in which a system of moral principles governs

the appropriate conduct for a person or group. There are two types of moral
codes; the first being the general moral code which is applied to every work task
at any time, while the second one being the work related moral code which is
specifically designed for a given work. Some of the moral codes are:

O Respect for the profession

O Punctuality
O Taking responsibility for one’s own action

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 O Performing the work task as agreed up on
O No stealing from the work place
O No illegal use of work position power, etc.

Work ethics has been one of the major problems our country, Ethiopia,
struggled with in the past years. Though there is some improvement in this area,
there is still a big gap to be filled in educating and making the citizens believe that
work ethics is necessary for our development.

In the construction industry it is almost seen as a habit not to obey the

work ethics. Everyone involved in the industry wants to satisfy his/her own needs
by getting money through different illegal strategies like deducting reinforcement
bars, omitting some tasks, etc., which will have an effect on the project on the
long run. While working I have tried to be as ethical I could be by doing the
following:

O Not being absent

O Being punctual
O Taking responsibility for my own actions
O Reporting any ethical act to the project manager, etc.

3.7 In terms of entrepreneurship skills

An entrepreneur is a risk-taking person who initiates or finances new

commercial enterprises. So, an entrepreneurship is the commitment the
entrepreneur makes to start a new business of his/her own. Since Emnete
Endeshaw General Contractor is an entrepreneurship company, I have gained a
lot of skills. I have learned that I need to start from scratch, face difficulties and
use every legal opportunity to start and develop my own business.

4. Conclusion and Recommendation

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 4.1 Conclusion

The construction industry in Ethiopia is growing more than it had before.

As a result, our government is changing its teaching strategy by allocating seventy
percent (70%) of the students joining universities to study natural science, which
has engineering as its main field. To satisfy the needs of the industry, students
need to have a good theoretical and practical skill of their field of study before
graduating. The main way of gaining practical skills for students is by carefully and
responsibly executing the internship program provided to them by their
respective universities.

As part of my five years program I have spent my internship program

working at the Omo Micro-Finance site which is being constructed by my
employer company, Emnete Endeshaw General Contractor. During my work stay
in the company I have acquired new technical and theoretical skills and also
developed my already existing skills.

In general my internship program

O Helped me acquire different skills

O Helped me develop my skills
O Helped me understand that the construction world is nothing but the direct
copy of what I have learned in the classroom
O Helped me to get to know new people in the construction industry
O Helped me like my field of study even more than before

O Helped me get all the benefits I have mentioned in the earlier section of
this report.

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As a conclusion, my internship program has been one of a kind and I have
acquired so many important skills and knowledge from it.

4.2 Recommendations for the company

During my work stay with Emnete Endeshaw General Contractor, I

have seen so many encouraging things and also I have seen some things which
need some improvements for the future. For these, my recommendation is
stated as follows:

O Build a new office which

 Has enough working space for office employees

 Has enough storage space
 Has a water proof roofing

O Hire an office engineer because the site engineer is currently executing

both works.
O Try and make the office work at the site computerized because it makes
life at the office much easier.
O Resolve the material delivery delay issue that is arising from the head
office. In other words, materials need to be delivered to the site on
time.
O The project management strategies need to be improved.
O The rate of the work progress, which is not satisfying for me, need to
increased because if it goes on like this, the project might not be
finished according to the time stated on the agreement.
O At last, I want to tell everyone at the site to keep up the good work.

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