1 Communication Sales internship

Summer Internship

HK Mechanical Inc.

Tyler Kwiatkowski

Winona State University

2 Communication Sales internship

I was given the opportunity to work at HK Mechanical Inc. from

years in the past working there and being a laborer. It is a family

owned company that is based out of Lake Zurich Illinois and I was more

than excited to be given the chance to work in the corporate offices

and get to be a part of new experiences. The impression that I wanted

to leave was very important to me. I wanted to show them that I would

make an immediate impact besides from being a hard working laborer.

I did not send over an email to this company inquiring about a position.

It is owned and operated mostly by my family members so one day

after working in the field I simply walked into the offices and asked my

dad and his partner if I could take an internship in the offices this

summer and they accepted with open arms.

Through out my time here at Winona State I have developed very good

communication skills. I have held many jobs here while I have been

here in Winona. I worked at Win craft Inc. first starting out working on

the floor and doing assembly. I was working very hard and giving

direction from the start and within a month I was promoted to a

machine operator and even then I was giving direction in that field of

work as well. I am also a part of the Winona State club baseball team

and I am looked at as the biggest leader on the field. I have had past

experience with playing NCAA baseball before I came to Winona State

3 Communication Sales internship

and I give direction to most of these players and coach them up and

make sure that they are playing the game the correct way.

I believe that my assets I bring from strong communication and

leadership I have experienced through various experiences in my life

has made suited me to fit well into the role that I was going to be

placed in at HK Mechanical Inc. When I first approached my dad about

interning at his company he was letting me know I was going to be

treated like any other employee at his company and I was very

accepting to that. My first day was filled with a lot of emotion and I did

not know what to expect. I did not even see any of my family members

there on the first day or even the first two days for that matter. I was

constantly running around and doing things that I was not familiar

with. One of my supervisors Tim Martin was fairly knew as well but he

had 28 years of experience in this field of work. During my first day he

was showing me everything and how things operated I was simply just

an observer and used my Listening Styles. When we had down time I

was asking lots of questions and he had questions for myself as well I

would tell them about how much I knew in the field and how much I

knew about this particular industry. This was called Social exchange

theory where we were both trying to find a common ground as to

where we can get started in the offices. It really settled in for me that I

was a part of the corporate team after we had our conversation. He

4 Communication Sales internship

thought that I was going to best be suited in the sales role as well as

project management and I thought was a great role for because of how

well I can get along with people and communicate with them. I learned

that the way I spoke with my supervisor Tim is the way I should present

myself with many of the people that I am going to be doing business

related activities with.

Before I go into my experiences that I have encountered

throughout my internship I will explain what it is that this company

does. At HK Mechanical Inc. we are a commercial based heating

ventilation air conditioning company that bases most of the work in the

Chicago land area. We have multiple high-end customers that vary

from Mattress Firm, Ross Dress for less, Vitamin Shop as well as high

rises in the city of Chicago. They also have a residential branch as well

but when HK Mechanical Inc. does residential homes they do custom

homes that are specifically designed from the owner or the architect

who is on the project.

My job description was labeled as project manager as well as

sales. What that means as far as a project manager is to go out to

various job sites and make sure things are going good not just within

our company but also with other trades as well. In this industry jobs

only go 100 percent smoothly if all of the parties on the project work
5 Communication Sales internship

hard and work together to get current project done. Each contracting

company is different so here at HK Mechanical Inc. the focus is to get a

team of trades together to do most jobs together on different sites and

throughout the Chicago land area. My second roll at HK Mechanical

Inc. was to be in sales. What they entitles is that I will either be on the

phone calling different major contractors and submitting bid proposals

to these contractors to try an get the lowest numbers so that they will

use our company for that specific project. I will also be going out to

various vendors throughout the area and try and get a better idea on

prices for product as well as sell some of the products that we

manufacture.

My first experience as a project manager was nerve wracking but

it was a great experience. My first day on the job was June 1st, 2016

and I traveled to Peoria Illinois, I met with all of the contractors of the

project that we were working on and went over a detailed plan and

schedule on what we were going to do as far as the build out. I spoke

with each individual contractor on where our material needed to be

placed in the building to meet building standards as well as city codes.

We worked together as team and came up with a solid plan to make

sure that each one of the trades wouldnt overlap with one another and

cause any sort of interference. The following day the labor guys came

onto the job site and began the construction project with no issues and
6 Communication Sales internship

the different trades began working together to build this soon to be

Mattress Firm store. I relate this work experience to the

Organizational theory in communications. Reason being is in this

theory it talks a lot about the physical appearance and how much it

means to other work forces. I personally went on the road and met

with all of the guys on the job to make sure that I would get the job

done. It also talks about credibility in the Organizational theory and I

think taking the time to go all the way and meet with each individual

trade gives me a big line of credit. It shows hard work and dedication

to my job and shows not only my boss but the other people in this line

of work that I am a go getter and will work to the fullest extent to get

the job finished on time and done the correct way. I think the lesson

that I can take away from this experience is too be more prepared for

what I was going into. Although I am quite familiar with the business I

had to frequently ask questions regarding the other trade speculations

and positioning of where their material is going to be put in. Also

meeting the general contractor who is in charge of the job was a

change of pace to me. He expects me to know the answer to all of the

issues that come up regarding our trade of Heating and Ventilation. For

the next time I will study the plan and review the blue prints more. This

is important for all of the interns because it shows that you need to be

prepared when talking to a higher up individual in your business.

7 Communication Sales internship

Aside from being in the offices for my internship I had other roles

that I could have implemented because I have 4 years of experience in

the field and on job sites with this industry and I let my supervisor

know that if we are ever short handed on a job dont hesitate to ask

me to go out and work with my hands. This happened a few times

throughout the course of my internship. We were shorthanded field

employees because a couple of our teams were down south on a

couple of jobs staying over night in a hotel. So I had to take out my tool

belt and strap on the boots and go to work out on a few jobs. I have

experience with this kind of work because I used to work in the same

line of work when I was in high school and also in my freshmen and

sophomore year of college. I was able to help get the rough

completion done before the first inspection was called for. This

experience will work with many different theories in communication. In

persuasion and advocacy the Impression management theory is

what best fits under. I choose to go out and work in the field because

we were short handed. I didnt have to do this but I choose to because I

wanted to help the company and make all of the certain adjustments

to make that happen. The impression it left on my boss but as the

company as a whole was good because it showed that I was a team

player and that goes a long way in this industry. One lesson to take

away from this is working in an industry like this one you can always be

changing and doing different things all the time. You need to get the
8 Communication Sales internship

job finished rather that be working in the office or out with the field

employees. There will always be some work available and in what way

you are willing to help out will separate you from an average employee

to someone who is a stand out and a leader in every category.

Another role that I was given throughout my time here at HK

Mechanical Inc. was to make sure the organization inside the

warehouse was better. The current system we had was losing the

company money because of guys would take material and wouldnt tell

the offices and then when they ordered more they would order more

than we needed to have in the shop for stock. So I came up with a

system of my own that has worked tremendously and the guys really

like new set up that I have come up with. My main focus was to go over

to our other shop just down the road and organize everything and take

a full inventory. This included all material parts and service parts. I

came up with a sign out sheet on each material. I put the sizes of all

the fittings in separate bins and then I would count up how much of

each one that I had. On the sign out sheet I had all of the material that

was in that bin and if you went over there and took something you had

to check off what you took. I created a spreadsheet of what we had in

each bin so at the end of the week I would go and replace all of the

items that were signed out by our employees. This particular

experience would relate to leadership member theory. This theory

9 Communication Sales internship

would apply to this experience because it showed that I took some

hard initiative. I created a system that works for the company and

improves it tremendously. I took a leadership role and stepped up even

as an intern. I have only been a member of this company for a short

time period but during that time I believe I have turned into a true

leader and am not afraid to step up when things need to get done to

improve the company. The following is what the sign out sheet looks

like.

HK Mechanical Inc. Material sign out sheet

Job Name

P.O. Number

Part Taken

Elbow
Fitting
Gas pipe
Gas pipe fittings
Adjustable Elbow
Thermostat
Spiral pipe
Round Pipe
Collar
Thermostat wire

Part Size
6
8
10
12
14
16
10 Communication Sales internship

Thermostat Wire
2 wire
4 wire
6 wire

Quantity amount taken

Employee Name

Date Taken

I think that the lesson learned here is that when our employees were to

take something they would be communicating to me not so much

verbally but it was a form of communication. It was a good way to

know how much stock we had in the shop and then how much of each

product we needed to buy to restock at the end of each week. This is a

good lesson for myself and the other interns because it will help as a

company become more organized and then if an employee is missing

something for that specific job they can contact me and I can call what

ever it is to a supply house and they can go and pick it up on their way

out to that job on the day that they take it from the shop.

At this point I am about half way through my internship and things are

really starting to take shape. I have gotten to the point where I am

comfortable around my other supervisors. I have had a few mistakes

along the way but my supervisors and employees understand and I

11 Communication Sales internship

have their full support. This is called Social Support because of all

the support and that my coworkers are behind me even when I make a

mistake. I was getting lots of different type of experience through out

the course of this internship and this next experience was the most

interesting yet. ; I was involved with letting an employee go. I didnt do

the firing but I was present in the meeting when it happened. An

employee was not showing up on time and was always complaining

about where he had to work. My boss wanted me to sit in and

experience what its like. The experience was very full of nerves but I

am glad that I got to experience what its like to see somebody have to

lose their job. When it comes to stuff like that I always feel bad and

dont want to let anybody down so to get the experience to know what

its like is good and I now know what to do. This was one of the hardest

days I have had here because of having to watch someone lose his or

her job. But thats how the work life is and he was not doing well so it

was time to let him go and look out for the company. This would fall in

the Interpersonal category. I picked the term conflict

management strategies because this would be a big conflict that

needed to be taken care of. Firing someone never is easy and this

being my first time a part of it was that much tougher. Another term

that I would use is message confirm and message directness. I needed

to be as straight forward as possible with the employee on what the

situation was and why he was losing his job. I needed to just get to the
12 Communication Sales internship

point and not beat around the bush we told him he was not doing

well and that it was time for him to go. I would also put politeness in

this because we were not mean or aggressive to him. You can tell in his

voice that he was angry he had an aggressive/Assertive voice and a

couple times he lashed out. This is called Language Intensity. We

were simply telling him the situation and were not mean in any way.

We were polite and to the point on what is going on. One lesson is to

be aware for everything out there. Letting and employee is one of the

hardest things to do because emotions will be running and you do not

know how the one person is going to act. He can take the news bad

and the entire meeting can go sour. One thing that I take away from

this is remembering in the end your job is to look out for the best

interest of the company and that firing people is simply part of the job.

This was easily the toughest situation I have been in since I started this

job and never would I have thought that I was going to be a part of

firing somebody from the job they have.

Working with my Supervisors Tim and Jeremy have been a true

learning experience and I am proud that they are teaching me all the

things I need to know about this industry. I was getting close to my last

days of work before I wrapped up and would head back to school. I

was finishing up the last projects that I was going to bid. I was given 3

different jobs that I would have to submit for bidding and needed it to
13 Communication Sales internship

match the numbers of one of our competitors who were also bidding

the job. I met the bidding lows for two out three for the week and the

3rd I would not be able to because we wouldnt be making nearly the

amount of profit we would need for it to be a good job. I would use

customer service for this experience because like is said in the

experience it self if I had met the numbers and got the last job we

would have lost money as a company as well as the customer. So we

were looking out for the better interest of the contractor that we were

bidding to so we didnt suffer as a company in profit margin. It would

have hurt the contractor we were bidding with even worse. It would

have been a long job and a job that we were not familiar with so there

was going to be change orders constantly and numbers change

dramatically once a change order is placed. So customer service is the

best tem to use in this experience. I think a good lesson to give is that

if you are going to fail at something dont look at it as it always being a

bad thing. In my case if I would have succeeded and met the numbers I

was suppose to then we would have lost money as a company and that

would look much worse than getting all three jobs. So what I would

take away from this is to not be afraid to fail. The Attitudes with my

dad and my supervisors was not anger at all they were actually okay

with the fact that didnt meet the numbers that I was supposed too.
14 Communication Sales internship

Looking back from where I began my internship for HK

Mechanical Inc. I am happy with the way that things turned out. I am

very proud of what has happened in my experience here and I have

acclimated well to the Group Culture here at HK Mechanical Inc. and

how things work with everyone. At the end I felt like I was working with

more of a family than anything and we all seemed to get close in the

office. There were times after work on Fridays where all of the

employees would meet for a pizza party and relax and just forget

about work for a while and enjoy our lives outside the work culture. It

made the Group Climate high within the company and the chemistry

made us gel together.

The following week was something different and something that I

had not done in a while or since I started working in the office. We were

shorthanded field employees because a couple of our teams were

down south on a couple of jobs staying over night in a hotel. So I had

to take out my tool belt and strap on the boots and go to work out on a

few jobs. I have experience with this kind of work because I used to

work in the same line of work when I was in high school and also in my

freshmen and sophomore year of college. I was able to help get the

rough completion done before the first inspection was called for. I

would think that this type of experience would fall into the Leadership

term for stepping up when no one else could and were shorthanded.
15 Communication Sales internship

This experience will work with many different theories in

communication. In persuasion and advocacy the Impression

management theory is what best fits under. I choose to go out and

work in the field because we were short handed. I didnt have to do

this but I choose to because I wanted to help the company and make

all of the certain adjustments to make that happen. The impression it

left on my boss but as the company as a whole was good because it

showed that I was a team player and that goes a long way in this

industry. One lesson to take away from this is working in an industry

like this one you can always be changing and doing different things all

the time. You need to get the job finished rather that be working in the

office or out with the field employees. There will always be some work

available and in what way you are willing to help out will separate you

from an average employee to someone who is a stand out and a leader

in every category. When there is a problem and you handle it like this

one was resolved it is called Conflict Management Strategies.

At the end of my internship I can clearly see that I had a grip on

things and I didnt need much help from any of the other workers

anymore. I was a team in a very good Work Place Culture and I could

see my self-working here in the coming years once I graduate from

Winona State. As I reflect back on when I first started here very

nervous and to my last day it is amazing to see how far I have come.
16 Communication Sales internship

The Politeness that I got to experience with everybody was a blessing

and was very happy to have that while I was working here. I do not

have any regrets while I was working here at HK Mechanical Inc. there

were many different experiences that I was a part of. Some were good

and some were bad but I am glad that I got to experience both ends of

the stick. While I was here I had to adjust and get used to the Norms

and as a company we got accustomed to new things and they were

Norm Emergences and we got used to those as the summer

progressed. This was a great step in the right direction for where I am

going to be in the future I know what its like to be in the real world and

in real world situations. I am excited to use this experience in the real

world and apply it to the real world. Now that I am done her with this

internship I am going to use all the different experiences that I have

encountered here and use them in the real world in upcoming years.
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18 Communication Sales internship