Guidelines for Summer Project (HR)

1. PURPOSE
The objective of the project work is:

 To provide the students an opportunity for gaining insight into the business
scenario and to understand the real problems faced by the organizations.

 To widen the student's perspective by providing an exposure to real life

organisational and environmental situations.

 Enable the students to explore an industry/organisation, build a relationship

with a prospective employer, or simply hone their skills in a familiar field.

The fundamentals that you had been learning so far in the first year of the curriculum
need to be tested in the harsh waters of the market. The need to do the project as a
part of the academic programme is:

1. To apply your conceptual knowledge of the subject. A project is the practical

application of the concepts and theories, which you study as a part of academics.

2. To widen your horizons. It helps to build a bridge between your textbook

knowledge and the practicality of the business.

The final project topic should be selected keeping in mind the discipline in which you
are doing your specialization.

2. SELECTION OF PROJECT
The first step in the project work is selection of an organization and a suitable
problem for research. The problem/topic should be such that considerable
information or data could be obtained for analysis and study. There should also
be scope for applying some management concepts and managerial tools of
analysis in decision making. The students are advised to collect review of
literature for the academic research projects, before deciding a topic for study.

 Some ideal topics for projects can be:

 Training and Development / Performance appraisal / Organisational Culture /

Staff Succession / Change Management / Employee satisfaction / Work
environment / Incentive Schemes / Performance Appraisal / P M S/ H R I S /
Recruitment / Selection Methods / Attrition / Retention Techniques / Discipline
in industry/ C S R & its impact / Impact of HR Policies on Employees
Satisfaction / Emotional intelligence and its pros and cons for HR / HR
Outsourcing - a boon or bane / HR challenges- In mergers and acquisition
Competency Mapping / HR Audit / Quality of work life / Employee Welfare
Measure / Stress Management / Factors determining Job Satisfaction of
Employees / Conflict Management / Talent Acquisition / Organizational
Culture and Climate / Challenges of Employee Retention / Employee
Ergonomics / Employee Motivation and Empowerment / Work-Life Balance/
talent identification and management / individual development planning /

Guidelines for Summer Project 1

 Cross-functional teams / organizational culture / Labor relations / Labor law/
Arbitration / Sexual harassment / team building / Team management
 Conduct/Discipline:

1. The students are required to abide by the rules of the organization where they are
undergoing their training.

2. The corporate organization will be taking a strong view of the punctuality and
behavior of the student during the training and therefore the student is required to
be on his/her best behavior and inculcate the good norms of the organization.

3. In case a student has to take leave of absence, he/she has to take necessary
permission from the organization and the faculty guide before he/she proceeds on
leave.

4. In case the student is to take up project based work at the instance of the
company he/she should conduct it to his/her best capabilities under the guidance of
the faculty/corporate guide.

5. No student should try to copy or use information in such a way that will project
false and baseless for the company. All students are required to maintain strict
confidentiality of any information they come across in the organizations in course of
their training. The student involved in any malpractice shall be duly penalized.

3. AT THE ORGANISATION
 Take your identity card with you.
 Maintain a Logbook and record all the information gathered and work
done daily.
 Faculty may visit your organization at any time to assess the progress of
your work.
 Follow the dress code of the company; preferably be at your formal best
PROJECT REPORTING FORM
Name of the student :
USN No. :
Date of Reporting :
Reporting Department :

and Person
External guide name :
Address :

Telephone :
Fax No. :

Guidelines for Summer Project 2

Email :
Student Contact Address :

Telephone/ Mobile Phone :

Email :
Topic :
Area of Research :

Signature of the External Guide with date Signature of the Candidate with date

RESEARCH DESIGN – REPORT FORM

Name of the student :
USN No. :
Need for the study :
Scope of the study :
Research Design :
i. Primary/Secondary :

Data

ii. Type of data collection :

iii. Sources of data :

iv. Population :

v. Sampling frame :

vi. Sample size :

vii. Type of sampling :

Signature of the External Guide with date Signature of the Candidate with date

Guidelines for Summer Project 3

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER
SL.NO REPORT DATE
1. Project Commencement 05/07/2010
2. Registration of the name of the Organisation 12/07/2010
3. Project approval from the guideResearch 25/07/2010

Design, Research Problem & Topic

4 Review with Faculty Guide Regularly on

mutual

convenience
5 Last day of the project 28/08/2010

The students are expected to keep in touch with the faculty guide at least once a
week during his/her project period.

The project will be carrying 8 credits. The internal guide’s assessment will be on
the following aspects:

i) Introduction: Clear understanding of the topic/subject; understanding of the

Organisation/unit//field.

ii) Literature Review: Published studies, review of similar studies

iii) Details about the study: Objectives, formulation of the problem, scope, and
rationale of the study.

iv) Methods/methodology adopted for the study: Analytical, Survey, Field Work
or any other method with appropriate justification and reasoning.

v) Analysis and conclusions: The logic of analysis, source of data, whether the
conclusions are in line with the objectives, etc.

vi) Contribution and learning from the project: Details of the contribution of the
study, the benefits to the organisation, the learning from the study for the student,
etc.

vii) Acknowledgements: References/Citations and Bibliography and help, if any,

received from other individuals/organisations.

viii) Presentation of the report, format of the report, flow of the report,
style, language, etc.

ix) Presentation of the report to the examiners: Substance and treatment of

the topic, style of presentation, and performance in the question answer session,
time management, language, etc.

x) Overall impression.

General Guidelines for Project Work

Guidelines for Summer Project 4

1) Students should generally undertake the project work in their intended area of
specialization only.
2) The project topic should be finalized in consultation with the internal project guide
allocated to you.
3) No two students should do their project on the same topic in the same
organization, in the same city/branch.
4) The students should inform the confirmation of their project work and submit a
copy of the confirmation letter to the placement cell.
5) The students should submit the progress report of their project work every week to
the internal guide so as to enrich the quality of their work.
6) The last date of submitting the draft copy of the project report will be announced
at a later date in the III semester
7) As per the syllabus the external viva will be held at the end of semester – III.

Guidelines for Project Report Preparation & Submission

Besides the department’s guidelines below instructions have to be strictly followed:

1) The students should submit copies of their project report in the same format as
instructed by the department.
2) No headers and footers should be used.
5) The matter should be printed in black ink only. Color ink for graphs and charts can
be used, provided it does not hamper the readability.
6) The report should be printed on plain white paper. No company stationery should
be used. Logo, brands of the company etc should not be displayed in the report.
7) Each chapter should be numbered and should begin on a new page.
8) The pages should be numbered at the right hand side bottom of the page.
9) The index should contain the number of the chapter, name of the chapter and the
page number.
10) Projects not adhering to the guidelines will not be accepted.
11) The title of the project report must agree with the company and institute
certificate and must also reflect the work carried out by you.

Chapter Scheme for Project Report  As instructed in the SUMMER PROJECT

GUIDELINES (2009-11 BATCH) However, the following care has to be taken when
writing the final project:

Index

Sr.No. Chapter No. and Name Page No.

A: Executive Summary (PAGE NUMBERING STARTS HERE FROM SR.NO. 1

Onwards)
(It is the most important part of the project. It is a snapshot of the project. It should
be limited to 2-3 pages, A-4 size. It helps the readers to know what the project is all
about.)

B: Company Profile
4-6 pages about the history of the organization, its founders, promoters, vision,
mission, quality policy, products, competitors, important financial /statistical data
(sales, turnover, market share etc), organization chart, Departments, new projects,
awards won etc

C: Objectives of the study

Guidelines for Summer Project 5

2-3 pages outlining need for the study, background, primary objectives and
secondary objectives, significance of the project work.

D: Research Methodology
The research framework, details about the research design, the scope of the study,
sources of data, secondary data and primary used for the study, sample size,
sampling technique used, tools of data collection, surveys, questionnaire, interviews,
etc. Statistical Tools used for analysis of data.

E.: Data Analysis

Presentation of the data collected in tabular and graphical form, its analysis using
various statistical techniques/tools and the interpretation of the data, please provide
question – data table- graph-interpretation on a single page, one question & its
analysis per page.
The sequence of presentation has to be –
a) As per questions in the questionnaire or
b) Neatly categorized into logical sections based on the objectives.

F.: Findings:
It is the heart of the project. They may be organized as per the objectives of the
study.

G.: Suggestions & Conclusions

Suggestions and conclusions drawn should be practical and related to the topic of the
project. Avoid general suggestions and opinions. Suggestions should be based on the
analysis of the data.

H. Learning experience
If at all you have developed some significant insights as part of your project work and
the same cannot be put in the framework of your questionnaire you may mention
them in a separate section as ‘Qualitative comments / learning experience.’ It goes
without saying that the comments must be logical, relevant and not ordinary.

I.: Limitations
Outline the limitations of your work – think in terms of things you wanted to do but
could not due to various constraints

J.: Bibliography
Should contain the list of references THAT YOU HAVE USED for the study, such as
books, journals, magazines, newspapers, internet sites, company reports, intranet,
manuals, Government publications, industry publications etc.

BE PREPARED TO PINPOINT EXACT PAGE NUMBERS THAT YOU REFERRED IN EVERY

REFERENCE

Referencing scheme:
a) Books
Name of the author; Title of paper/article; Name of the journal/magazine; No. & Vol of
Publication; period of publication, page no. referred.
E.g. Sharma J.S; HR in IT Industry in India: An empirical study; Indian Journal of
Industrial Relations, No.2 Vol. 23 July-October 2006; pp21-35
b) Journals /Magazines
Name of the author; Title of paper/article; Name of the journal/magazine; No. & Vol of
Publication; period of publication, page no. referred.

Guidelines for Summer Project 6

E.g. Sharma J.S; HR in IT Industry in India: An empirical study; Indian Journal of
Industrial Relations, No.2 Vol. 23 July-October 2006; pp21-35
c) Internet sites
Students should provide the complete link (in < >) of the website referred and along
with the date and time when assessed. Do not just mention the address of the search
engine.
e.g. <http://money.howstuffworks.com/customer-service.htm> assessed on Monday
7th August 2009, 6:30p.m

Appendices:
Should contain various formats and forms related to the study. It should also contain
a copy of the blank and filled in questionnaire and other relevant documents such as
– any internal documents of the company (used with permission) any product etc.,
technical details of any special methods applied, etc.

NOTE: There has to be a co-relation between the objectives, research

methodology, analysis and suggestions in the report.

A. First Step (Make sure you have……)

1. Confirmed your choice of specialization.
2. Email id / contact number of internal project guide you are assigned to. You have
contacted the guide before joining the company. (And you need to be in regular
touch with the internal guide right thru the project)
3. Read & understood the Project guidelines as suggested by the College.
4. Prepared at least three or four probable topics and discussed it with your internal
guide.
5. Decided on and contacted prospective company to intern. (If possible two or three)
6. Devoted some time to review past projects, got tips from the faculty members and
seniors.

B.Second step
1. Understand that the company bosses will have their own way of getting things
done, so always be cooperative, getting good experience, is your requirement.
2. Do not get dejected if the topic of your interest is not accepted. You will be getting
better topics which are more relevant to the company you are working. Company
puts lot of thoughts before giving you particular topic.
3. There is also a good chance that you may get academically / work rewarding
project.
4. Adaptive, cooperative, positive, polite and enthusiastic approach will improve your
chances of getting good project, satisfaction in internship and if lucky, Post Project
Opportunity (PPO).
5. Work on getting as much information as you can. Have non intrusive approach
with the company employees and their superiors. Always respect sub-staff of the
company, whenever required do not hesitate to ask questions, clarify your doubts.
Your inquisitiveness will be appreciated.
6. Give feedback at regular intervals to internal and external guides. If required fix a
schedule of feedback mode and intervals. This prearranged reporting will be helping
in building trust which may lead to, you getting extra assistance.
7. Respect privacy policy of the company and obtain all necessary permissions to
acquire project or published data.
8. Take prior permissions for utilizing hard/soft facilities available at the company.
Strictly follow all protocol / procedures of the organization you are working in.
Whenever you are contacting others outside the institute, always remember that you
are the ambassador of that organization and that is of course your Institute.

Guidelines for Summer Project 7

9. In case of roadblocks, refer back to your internal guide for clarification / guidance
by emails. Appreciate guide's time and seek clarifications only after considerable
efforts from your side, as you are doing the project and are at point of information
source. It is expected that you know the issue best and solution should come from
you. Guides will help you in choosing the best solutions.
10. You can prepare the basic frame work of the project starting from objectives and
inform progress to the internal guide from time to time. If necessary guide will give
directions and will approve the proceedings.
11. Produce your work and submit it to the company as per the format required /
prescribed by them. Later you can reshape the information/look as per the
department Project guidelines.
12. Take care that no student from same college, same specialization do same
project in same organization. If it happens you will face serious problems in external
project viva... sometimes failure. Even if student from other college is doing the same
project with you try and give something different in your project.

C. Topic Selection
1. You must choose an appropriate topic, which is clearly linked / related to your
specialization.
2. Company you will be working with may or may not agree to the topic & force you
to accept topic as per their requirements. In few cases company will agree to give
you certificate as required by the university but ask you to work in the internship
period on a task which may or may not be in line with your research project topic.
3. What so ever the case may be, you must start taking interest in the project you
are working on & start gathering necessary data / information and work towards
completion of the project draft.
4. Understand that organizations are interested in their business and their concern
for you and your project may try your patience. Bear with it; it will give you results at
the end.

D. Title
1. Select a title which will clearly describe the project you have done.
2. Use simple words like, A Study of…, An analytical study of…... Comparative study
of……. Etc.
3. Do not write titles like. 'Performance Management', 'Work-Life Balance', be very
specific and clear. … Remember title generates the interest of the reader, as such
meaningful and apt title is of prime importance.

E. Objectives
1. Objectives should be in congruence with the title (& vice versa)
2. There can be one or more objectives. It is not necessary to have many objectives
for window dressing … that may land you in trouble
3. Objectives may be divided in Primary and secondary objectives as per the need/
importance / flow of the project.
4. Be brief and number your objectives (this facilitates giving references whenever
necessary).
5. (Writing many objectives to impress or give the page good look is unwarranted)
Restrict yourself to those objectives for which you can achieve/ get some information
6. In the course of project internship you may work on many processes / functions …
all will not be the objectives of the research project & need not to be included in the
project report which you submit to the department.

F. Research Methodology

Guidelines for Summer Project 8

1. Get your fundamentals cleared, take help of good RM book, carry a book on
fundamentals in HRM & also Principles of Management (can even purchase) and keep
one copy with you as a ready reckoner.
2. Choose right research tools; get help from internal guide and experts from the
company.
3. Remember that research methodology is of vital importance in your project and
carries significant weight age in project viva. Hence take it studiously.
4. Literature review is very vital & you need to assign considerable time to visit
library & websites. Keep the visits and information records updated, they are
necessary for giving references. (Strictly avoid copying verbatim from books)

G. Data Collection & Analysis

1. For each objective there has to be a supportive data collected, from either primary
or secondary or in some cases from both the sources.
2. List out such probable sources for each of the project objective and keep collecting
and sorting data.
3. Ref. point B 6
4. Represent the data / analysis clearly and easily understandable language / format.
Use correct legends (titles) for graphs and charts as applicable
5. Number all tables and graphs. Prepare index and have it in initial pages as
prescribed in the institute’s guidelines.
6. Start collecting data as early as possible as doing it in haste at the end will be
difficult.

H. Findings
1. Write findings chronologically in line with the objectives. Give references to
primary and secondary data for each finding.

I. Suggestions
1. Write suggestions, if any, again give reference for each suggestion. Ensure that
you are not suggesting anything which is not studied in the course of project. Ensure
your suggestions are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Agreed, Realistic, and Time-
bound).

J. Conclusion
1. Conclude the project in simple words and talk of the study in short

K. Bibliography
1. Refer guidelines on page No 07 under Referencing scheme in this file, and start
compiling bibliography as you move on with the project study. (There will be
unjustified inclusion or exclusion if you prepare it for the sake of formality)
2. Take extra care for the spellings of the author and publisher (all proper nouns)
3. Strictly follow the referencing norms as prescribed in Institute’s guidelines.

L. Proofing
1. Read the completed project at least three times. Get it checked for grammar and
spellings. Check for the formatting as per the guidelines.
2. Prepare a chart as shown in chart sheet. Reconfirm congruence from objectives to
conclusion. Check that you have given all the references correctly.
3. When you finish project work, get it checked from the internal guide, prepare
executive summary of the project, present it to your friends / peers, clear their
doubts regarding your project material do changes as necessary
4. Simplify. Rectify & clarify the project as applicable

Guidelines for Summer Project 9

5. Ensure you do not print any logo of the company you have worked; it will be only
on the certificate given by the company.
6. After final approval of the draft get the completion certificate from external guide
and get the project printed and bounded, well in advance. Take extra care to proof
read your copy and embossed title page 10 times …. History shows there are some
funny mistakes happening at this stage.
7. Present the recorded progress report to internal guide
8. Get guide's signatures, put your signature where ever necessary and submit the
project copies to designated authorities at least five days before the deadline
9. No headers/footers are permitted except page numbers.

M. Lastly
1. Re read the project regularly so that your memory remains fresh and you won't be
getting surprises at the time of external viva.
2. Prepare a power point presentation of your project.
3. Attend mutually agreed peer presentations on the projects and with the help of
faculty members, contribute in improvement process. (May develop an interest by
organizing mini competition)
N. Facing Viva:
1. Remember you know your project best. Examiner will take your project in hand for
only ten to fifteen minutes; examiner will rely on you to get more information on the
project.
2. Your preparation and attitude will decide how they will understand and appreciate
your project.

O. Library
1. Compile all the project report in one single file in ms-word format and submit the
same along with specified number of copies of the project.
2. The name of the soft copy will be: 'Project Title' 'Batch' Individual Name e.g. Study
of FMCG consumption in Rural Area MBA 2009 - 2011 Vivek G S (through Email / CD /
Pen drive)

Prepare this chart after your project is complete; ensure there is congruence in all the major
chapters. This will also help you in ironing out any anomalies & you can present the work
meaningfully.
Objectives Data Sources Analysis Findings Suggestions

Objectives Data Sources Analysis Findings Suggestions

1 Write primary and Know and Mention findings Suggestions are

secondary sources understand the from given only if they
you got info from statistical tool you the analysis from are necessary &
used for data the available applicable
interpretation data
2 Write it for each Understand exact Write references It is preferred
objective research tools, as to from each source that give
why you choose and the concrete
those objectives suggestions

Guidelines for Summer Project 10

3 keep reasons Ensure there is Avoid suggesting
ready as why you no finding good
used those sources coming from no sounding useless
where! solutions

or Also know what Ensure the You should be

tools did you use finding is in tune able to back
for getting the with the track from
data and why intended study suggestions to
findings to
objectives to
title and vice
versa
Primary Findings over
above project
objectives but
relevant to the
topic may be
included in the
report, with right
reasoning

Guidelines for Summer Project 11