May 8, 2013, by khyx2lyn
Life of an Intern – Organisational Psychology
Over the summer, I had the chance to work in the field of organisational psychology, when I applied for an internship in MSIG Insurance (Malaysia) Berhad. I worked on the 23rd floor of Menara Weld in Jalan Raja Chulan.
During my three months there, I worked as an assistant at the KL Agency Department. This department is one of the best to learn all the skills and knowledge required, especially for beginners, because it involves almost every stage related to insurance, from meeting with customers, to preparing the checklists, etc. So, to me this department was the perfect fit. My job included preparing checklists, letters, accounts, and any other tasks requested by my supervisor and her team members. Most of my tasks were based on the P400 system which is a general software used by the company.
Moreover, all of my duties were related to insurance. The exposure to the different types of insurance, such as fire insurance, marine insurance, motor insurance, etc. allowed me to learn more about the terms and conditions involved in the types of insurance. On certain days, my supervisor would request me to send documents to the other floors and departments which had given me the opportunities to explore and learn more about them. This in turn made me understood more about the structure of the organisation, the importance of communication among team members and their supervisors, and how to work efficiently amongst everyone and the departments.
Working in MSIG Insurance – KL Agency Department is a great experience, although the paperwork could get slightly hectic. This internship gave me the exposure to an area which I never had a chance to study or learn from my university courses. My colleagues were friendly, and they were always ready to help me whenever needed. So, as an intern, I had guidance from supervisors and team members which enabled me to learn and cope with challenging tasks. One of the main things that I learned from this experience was the importance of being patient with people and the handling paperwork. These three months was truly a rewarding experience.
Tan Xue Er
(Year 3 Student in BSc (Hons) Psychology, UNMC)
But did you actually carry out anything to do with organizational psychology or was your work there mostly admin-like?
Working in a company like MSIG Insurance (Malaysia) Berhad, both organizational psychology and administration tasks have to be carried out, either as an individual or as a part of a team. This is because teamwork is usually one of the core values in a company.
I worked as an Assistant at the KL Agency Department. This is a department that emphasize on marketing and sales. Thus, surveys are done in order to ensure that the customers’ requirements are met; the qualities of their insurance are maintained or up-to-date according to the customers’ preferences and the market value; and many others.
As a beginner in this company, I would have to learn everything from the beginning. In other words, I have to deal with lots of administration task before advancing into organizational task. This is to ensure that I have good foundation in using a variety of software packages before given a harder task to accomplish. However, my managers did teach me and let me know the vehicles’ market values etc. So that when I were preparing checklists for insurance policies (an example for this case is vehicle insurance), I did know the market value for a particular vehicle. Other than that, I did help my managers to analyse their sales and insurance data using statistical methods and software weekly and monthly. By preparing these analysis, the amount of sales can be known and the managers would know how much marketing should be done or how to improve the marketing skills in order to increase the amount of sales.
In a conclusion, working in MSIG Insurance (Malaysia) Berhad, organizational psychology and administration tasks are required. Of course, as a beginner that only worked for 3 months, all the tasks that are done were required by the managers. Hence, more administration tasks were required to be done compared to organizational psychology task.