The University of Surrey and the OPCW Associate Programme

Figure 1. Management Structure, HESS Chemicals, Associate Programme OPCW

The overall aim of the Surrey segment of the Associate Programme is to familiarise the associates with many aspects of good practice employed by the developed world's chemical industries and to provide them with the opportunity to employ this good practice in a simulated environment in preparation for their industrial internship. To achieve this, the associates undertake training related to personal, professional and technical skills development, as well as engaging in extensive technical briefing sessions and ultimately running a small chemical business for four days.

Skills Training

The acquisition and development of so-called transferable skills has long been identified as a high priority for professional engineers and scientists. In many ways, the successful application of skills such as teamworking and communication fundamentally underpin the day-to-day operation of all organisations in the industrial and commercial sectors. It is also apparent that by the very nature of the activities carried out by the OPCW, such skills are also vital for members of inspection teams and for the people who provide support for them. It is in recognition of this that three days of the Surrey segment are dedicated solely to skills training. Furthermore, the experiential nature of the entire course ensures that skills development continues throughout the three weeks of the Surrey segment and during the latter stages of the Associate Programme.

The dedicated skills training elements of the course are based extensively on the award-winning[1] integrated Personal and Professional Skills Development Programme created by the University of Surrey, and have been developed in collaboration with skills training experts from LEADTEAM Ltd. A number of aspects of this skills training programme have been specifically designed for the Associate Programme. The focus of the skills training is on effective communication, leadership, problem solving and teamwork, and a key feature of the approach adopted is the focus placed on delegate-centred learning.

Effective communication is essential in all facets of professional life. During the skills development phase, associates are given the opportunity to practice and develop effective communication skills in a variety of environments — from informal presentations to planned meetings. Associates are encouraged to think about the communication process in terms of preparation, transmission and confirmation; a strong emphasis is also placed on listening. A particular focus is placed on an associate's formal presentation skills. Presentational skills training is provided on the first day of the Surrey segment, and associates have numerous opportunities to practice these skills throughout the rest of the programme.

Along with effective communication, teamwork is a fundamental skill in the modern professional environment. In the majority of the activities in which the associates participate during the skills development phase they work in teams. They also have the opportunity to consider issues relating to how teams are built and how they function, in addition to identifying the characteristics of “high-performance” teams.

Professional engineers and chemists encounter problems that often require creative solutions on a daily basis. Such problems may be technical, managerial, functional, people-focused or, more commonly, a combination of all of the above. The problem solving components of the skills development phase allow associates to consider both the generation and successful application of ideas. Exercises are conducted to develop associates “brainstorming” and “spring-boarding” abilities, allowing for a more creative approach to idea generation. Methods for evaluating and focusing on the most useful ideas, together with ways in which such ideas can be applied to the solution of problems, are also explored. Associates are then actively encouraged to apply what they have learnt during various activities.

Ultimately, the success of any organisation will be determined by the quality of the leadership it employs. Associates are given the opportunity to explore different approaches to leadership, although a strong emphasis is placed on the development of action-centred or functional leadership as expounded by John Adair. Other issues which directly impact upon the nature of leadership are also explored, including the Maslow needs hierarchy, Herzberg’s motivators, and hygiene factors and leadership styles.

Technical Briefings

The technical briefings are the foundation of the Surrey segment of the Associate Programme. It is through these briefings that the associates are exposed to the key elements of good practice employed by the developed world’s chemical industries. A number of the technical briefing sessions are in the form of half-day industrial workshops and case studies delivered by practising engineers and scientists. We have been grateful for the support of Air Products, BP, Brewing Research International, Orga Suisse and UOP for their contributions to this programme over the last two years. These workshops and case studies cover specific topics, and draw on real experiences in areas such as health and safety management, good manufacturing practice, environmental auditing, business strategy and planning and process operations.

Other technical briefings provide the associates with an opportunity to explore similar topics in a more generic context, and then to consider their specific application in the context of the HESS Chemicals business — their simulated company — with the ultimate aim of experiencing the actual impact of these issues in practice during the business simulation. As with the technical briefings presented by industry, these sessions are workshop-based, and are typically presented in a problem solving format. A summary of the topics covered is presented in Table 1.

Process Training

In the HESS process itself, sodium chloride contaminated with calcium chloride is purified to produce various grades of pure saline solution. This is done through reaction, separation and purification. In order to be able to successfully undertake the HESS process, the associate had to undertake training specifically related to the pilot-scale production plant. During the first week of the Surrey segment, associates are made familiar with the plant, and are given the opportunity to practice start-up and standard operating instructions, in addition to undertaking maintenance training. In the second week, the associates are divided into groups of three, and have the opportunity to start-up the process from stand-by, and to familiarise themselves with the documentation.

The Chemical Business Simulation

The culmination of the Surrey segment is the four-day business simulation. Associates are required to run a small chemical business giving them the opportunity to discover how the good practice to which they have been exposed is implemented in a “real” situation. In addition, the simulation provides an ideal opportunity for associates to develop further their technical and transferable skills.

The management structure employed within the simulation is outlined below in figure 1. Associates take on all of the roles outlined in figure 1, with the exception of those of the Plant Manager, who is a staff member from the university, and of the ChlorChem[2] Adviser, who is an external adviser from industry — in 2001 this role was played by Mr Peter Eyles formerly of ICI and Dupont. The associates appointed to senior management positions play this role for an entire day, but then hand over to one of their colleagues. The other associates work on a four-shift per day pattern of three hours per shift.

A suite of offices is created for the senior management team and the business team. A pre-arranged diary of internal and external meetings is produced for the role play, together with memos and documents relating to ongoing projects on which the associates have been briefed. In the research and development facility, associates “pick-up” ongoing projects related to technical aspects of the HESS process, including the development of an internal quality assurance system. On the production side, associates operate the pilot-scale HESS process for twelve hours a day throughout the four days of the simulation. They follow a three-hour shift pattern, and operate the process as a team of three — two shift-hands and one shift leader. One of the associates also takes on the role of a maintenance technician who is “on-call” for the entire shift.

Within this structure, the associates then have to interact with various external factors that simulate “real-world” drivers. These include: i) external inspections from organisations related to health and safety, the environment or even from the OPCW; ii) suppliers, existing and new customers; iii) new staff or training students; iv) non-governmental pressure groups; and v) the press.

The Surrey segment of the OPCW Associate programme goes a long way towards providing participants with the necessary theoretical and practical technical skills in the areas of chemicals and chemical engineering.

[1] 1994 ESSO-Partnership award for Innovation in Teaching of Transferable Skills in Engineering

[2] In the simulation ChlorChem is parent company of HESS Chemicals

Categories: Associate Programme