ASIA PACIFIC INSTITUTE OF INFORMATION

TECHNOLOGY

INCOURSE ASSIGNMENT

PROFESSIONAL AND ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT

INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT

Prepared By

A.N.Ahamed Nishadh (CB004081)

Module Code & Title

CE00315-2-PED

Cohort

HF11B1SE

Date of Submission

10th September 2012

Instructor

Ms. Zackiya Ashraf

Submitted in partial fulfillment for the degree of

Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Computing

i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Firstly I would like to thank our lecturer Ms. Zackiya Ashraf for all the help and

guidance given while doing this assignment.

Also there are many individuals who have helped me in numerous ways directly

and indirectly so that I was able to complete this assignment.

And last but not least my friends, parents and the well-wishers without whose

moral support and encouragement, I would not have been able to do a good job.

Finally, if there are any shortcomings in this project, then I request to excuse me

for all those and accept this documentation.

Ahamed Nishadh

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PART II – MARKING SCHEME

Criteria Marks

Allocated

Marks

Awarded

Two suitable vacancies –

The vacancy must be current and accompanied by a

short report which states what degree you are doing and

gives reasons why this vacancy is suitable for you.

20

A letter targeted at each vacancy – this must include:

a. An introductory paragraph saying why you are

writing

b. A paragraph stating why you are interested in this

particular vacancy with this particular company

c. A paragraph stating why you feel you are a strong

candidate for this vacancy

d. A closing paragraph/polite ending

e. It must also be correctly laid out

20

A CV targeted at each vacancy – this must:

a. be a maximum of 2 sides of A4

b. be clearly laid out, so sections are easy to identify

and follow

c. be correct, in terms of spelling and grammar

d. highlights skills, qualifications and experience

relevant to the vacancy and provides evidence of

these

20

Interview questions:

For a vacancy of your choice (choose only one) prepare

a list of relevant questions (not less than 10 questions)

you foresee will be asked during the interview. Include

20

iii

your answer to each question

Reflection of your understanding of what the

employer’s expectations are for the right person for the

job (based on the industry trends and not on the person’s

spec accompanying the vacancy).

20

Total marks available = 100 100

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PART III – MARKING SCHEME

Criteria Marks

Allocated

Marks

Awarded

A. Scope of issues and professional ethics involved.

Support each issue clearly explaining the context

and scope. Thoroughly lists references that are

relevant to the topic.

50

B. Research analysis, critical thinking and relativity to

the real world. 30

C. Demonstration of your personal understanding 20

TOTAL MARKS 100

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.0 – INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................... 1

2.0 – VACANCIES ...................................................................................................... 2

2.1 – VACANCY 1 – SOFTWARE ENGINEERING INTERNSHIP ................ 2

2.2 – VACANCY 2 – ASSOCIATE SOFTWARE ENGINEER ........................ 4

3.0 – COVER LETTERS ............................................................................................. 6

3.1 – VACANCY 1 – SOFTWARE ENGINEERING INTERNSHIP AT

MILLENIUM IT .................................................................................................. 6

3.2 – VACANCY 2 – ASSOCIATE SOFTWARE ENGINEER AT DUO

SOFTWARE ........................................................................................................ 8

4.0 – CURRICULUM VITAE ................................................................................... 10

5.0 – INTERVIEW QUESTIONS .............................................................................. 12

6.0 – EMPLOYER EXPECTATIONS IN THE INDUSTRY ................................... 15

7.0 – PROFESSIONAL ETHICS AND ISSUES FACED AT WORKPLACE ........ 17

8.0 – CONCLUSION ................................................................................................. 21

APPENDIX – I | Curriculum Vitae ............................................................................ 22

APPENDIX – II | Bibliography .................................................................................. 24

1

1.0 – INTRODUCTION

The individual professional portfolio folder is a report consisting of several

sections ranging from the type of jobs that I wish to take on in my career to what I

think are the requirements that I need to achieve in order to obtain a job in the

field of software development or computing in general.

The PED module has helped me in preparing myself to the world out there which

is filled with competition and I believe that I now am prepared to go out

confidently since I have a fair knowledge on how things work in the workplace

and in the market.

Furthermore, this report also contains a report on the professional ethics and

issues faced at workplace that has been compiled by me through research on

various issues that employees and employers face in the workplace along with the

solutions and my comments on those issues and remedies.

It is my belief that I have thoroughly applied what I have learned in class in this

report.

2

2.0 – VACANCIES

2.1 – VACANCY 1 – SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

INTERNSHIP

Out of the two vacancies that I have found that are suitable for me, the first

preferred job for me would be the job at Millennium IT for the post of Software

Engineering Internship.

The reason why I selected this vacancy and why it would be my first preference

out of the two available is that I, graduating from a reputable university with a

recognized degree in computing always dream of working in one of the “big shot”

companies in the country. Since the market is filled with competition, even a

graduate with a degree and no experience will find it difficult to get a job. In this

circumstances, an opening for an internship at a very reputable company while I

am reading for my degree would add strength to my qualification and CV.

3

Furthermore I understand that I fulfill the requirements of the vacancy. The

vacancy requires for a student who is currently following a course in IT and

requires experience in .Net technologies which is the career path that I intend to

take. Also I have good communication skills as well as can work in a team

environment and easily adapt to new situations within a very short time.

Furthermore, I believe working at a reputable company and being mentored by

some of the best out there would help me a lot personally in my own future

career.

For this reasons I believe I believe that this vacancy is suitable for me.

4

2.2 – VACANCY 2 – ASSOCIATE SOFTWARE ENGINEER

The second vacancy that I choose is for the post of Associate Software Engineer

at Duo Software.

The company may be little known publicly but seem to be a reputable company

when I went through their website and they also seem to be dealing with a pretty

decent client base.

The vacancy is for an Associate Software Engineer with experience in .Net and

Microsoft Technologies which as I’ve said before is my field of interest. The

vacancy announcement requires a person with one year of experience, but I

believe that with the experience that I have gained through working on

5

assignments and other side commercial projects that were done by me and friends

apart from the curriculum, I possess adequate experience to apply for the vacancy.

Furthermore with my experience in being a member and also the head of AREA

51 at APIIT, I believe that I have acquired the relevant experiences to apply for a

vacancy that requires one year experience since I have on a personal level worked

on several different projects while being a member of AREA 51.

And as said before, I have the relevant communication and networking skills as

well as previously worked in developing a billing system for a small time

organization which would give me added advantage.

Hence I believe im suitable for this vacancy once I graduate from APIIT with a

degree in my hand.

6

3.0 – COVER LETTERS

3.1 – VACANCY 1 – SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

INTERNSHIP AT MILLENIUM IT

Abdul Najeem Ahamed Nishadh

105 2/1, Hampden Lane,

Colombo 6,

Sri Lanka.

Manager – Human Resources,

Millennium Information Technologies (Private) Limited,

48, Marcus Fernando Mawatha,

Colombo 07,

Sri Lanka.

September 5, 2012

Dear Sir/Madam

APPLICATION FOR SOFTWARE ENGINEER INTERNSHIP

My name is Ahamed Nishadh and I am writing to you with regard to an

advertisement for the recruitment of a Software Engineer as posted on the official

website of Millennium Information Technologies (Pvt) Ltd. in the Careers section

on the 15th of September 2012.

I am an undergraduate from APIIT Lanka currently in the 3rd semester of my

2nd year of study in the course BSc in Computing (Specialized in Software

Engineering). At the end of my second year of study which will be at the end of

this month, I would like to do an internship in software engineering at your

institution to gain practical knowledge on the field I intend to pursue after the

completion of my studies later next year.

In the past two years of my study at APIIT, I have learned the requirements

needed to be a software engineer such as programming languages, theorems and

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other software engineering knowledge and my grades show the knowledge I have

gained.

Over time, I have specialized in the .Net platform and am very fluent in C# and

VB programming languages while also my passion towards web development has

led me to do independent study on web programming languages and am also

fluent on ASP.net, PHP and HTML with CSS.

My resume that is attached to this email has more details on my skills and

experiences that I have gained over the time.

I would be thankful if you would review my application and give me a suitable

internship opportunity at your organization for a period of 6 months.

I can be contacted anytime on email through ahamed.nishadh@gmail.com or

reach me at 0712696592.

Sincerely,

Ahamed Nishadh

8

3.2 – VACANCY 2 – ASSOCIATE SOFTWARE ENGINEER AT

DUO SOFTWARE

Abdul Najeem Ahamed Nishadh

105 2/1, Hampden Lane,

Colombo 6,

Sri Lanka.

Manager – Human Resources,

Duo Software (Pvt) Ltd,

403 1/1, Galle Road,

Colombo 03,

Sri Lanka

September 5, 2012

Dear Sir/Madam

APPLICATION FOR THE POST OF ASSOCIATE SOFTWARE

ENGINEER

My name is Ahamed Nishadh and I am writing to you with regard to an

advertisement for the recruitment of Associate Software Engineer as posted on the

www.topjobs.lk by your organization in the advertisement reference no.

0000149493 as of 5th September 2012.

I am an graduate from APIIT Lanka with a degree BSc in Computing (Specialized

in Software Engineering) with my final results still pending as I have completed

my course of study only a week ago and I expect to excel in my examinations and

obtain a decent result.

In the past three years of my study at APIIT, I have learned the requirements

needed to be a software engineer such as programming languages, theorems and

other software engineering knowledge and my grades show the knowledge I have

gained. I have also worked out of my curriculum by taking on projects for small

organizations in making order processing and various other office automation

systems along with my friends as a group.

9

Over time, I have specialized in the .Net platform and am very fluent in C# and

VB programming languages while also my passion towards web development has

led me to do independent study on web programming languages and am also

fluent on ASP.net, PHP and HTML with CSS.

I understand that you require at least one year experience for this vacancy but I

believe that my knowledge and experience gathered over the past several year,

would equal to the same.

My resume that is attached to this email has more details on my skills and

experiences that I have gained over the time.

I would be thankful if you would review my application for the vacancy.

I can be contacted anytime on email through ahamed.nishadh@gmail.com or

reach me at 0712696592.

Sincerely,

Ahamed Nishadh

10

4.0 – CURRICULUM VITAE

Since both the vacancies that I intend to apply for are of the same nature, I have

decided to submit the same CV to both the companies as they have all the

necessary information about me that is required for both the jobs. The following

the copy of the CV that I intend to attach with my cover letters.

11

Note: A full sized copy of this CV is attached in Appendix 1.

12

5.0 – INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

The following are some of the questions that I believe will be asked from me at

the interview I face for my job and the most probable answers that I will be giving

to them.

1. Ahamed, Tell us about yourself…

Well, my name is Ahamed Nishadh. I had my primary and secondary

education at S.Thomas’ College Mount Lavinia. Then I went on to study at

APIIT where I graduated with a BSc in Computing – Specialized in Software

Engineering with a <the result I expect to get>. Ive been a tech crazy person

since a little kid and got my first diploma in a computing subject at the age of

15. Ive continued from there and here I am with a degree and a passion

towards computers and programming.

2. What do you know about Millennium IT?

MIT as far as I know is one of the big software companies in Sri Lanka. The

first time I heard about the company was when the news about London Stock

Exchange purchasing MIT came public. After that, I have heard about the

company and its strengths and the quality of your work through various

articles and during my degree through visiting speakers and lecturers and

other seniors who have or are working here.

3. What is your salary expectation?

As a graduate who has just finished his degree, I would like to start small and

climb up the career ladder. To start with, I would be happy to have around

25000 – 30000 SLR.

4. Why are you applying for this internship? (Software Engineering -

Internship)

Well since this the market for software engineering jobs is set at a very high

level, gaining prior proper experience is seen as a must in today’s world.

Hence, an internship at a reputed company like yours would be a kick start for

my career as well as gain industry experience.

13

5. What is your biggest plus point u see in yourself?

The biggest plus point I have is that I can work long hours with little

distraction and always strive for perfection. When I am not satisfied with my

work, I consider that the work is still incomplete. Hence I will work as much

as it’s needed to get the work done perfectly which I think is the biggest plus

point I see in myself.

6. Why should we consider you over the other candidates?

Because I know that I got what you expect in the perfect candidate for the

vacancy. Being a software engineer is not something that popped into my

head a few days ago. It’s been nearly my dream for years and almost

everything I’ve done up to now academically has been towards achieving this

dream. So you could depend on me to do a good job.

7. What will you do after your internship?

The internship is for 6 months. After I complete the internship, I intend to

return to my studies to complete my final phase of my degree. After that, if

you were happy with me during my internship, you could still hire me

provided that I get a suitable job else I would go into searching for a suitable

job that I could get hold of as soon as possible since I hate just idling around

without doing anything.

8. What have you achieved so far?

In life, I have different goals set for the different characters of mine. Apart

from being a software engineer, I am also a volunteer worker and a part time

sports journalist. On a volunteer perspective, the biggest achievement I have

gained so far is that I was and still am part of a project that’s silently changing

the lives of many in this country. The genuine thankful smile I see on a

person’s face is the satisfaction I get through this. Apart from that, from a

software engineering perspective, I am proud that I was part of a team that

was one of the finalist in a very large competition held in Sri Lanka. Also I am

a Microsoft Student Ambassador which as a Microsoft Technology enthusiast,

I am very proud of it.

14

9. Talk us through some of the projects you have worked so far…

Till date, I have worked in a few major projects and quite a number of small

projects. On a personal basis, I am also a web developer and designer and

have designed nearly 20 websites for clients. On the other hand, I have

worked in many projects with friends as groups. I worked on a disaster

management system which was a mobile and web based system which was

modeled for the Disaster Management Center in Sri Lanka. Also I developed a

system for a hospital and their billing system. Those were the biggest systems

that I have made upto now.

10. Anything you want to ask us?

Yes. I would like to know, when I get selected where I will be posted, if in

Colombo or in Malabe. Also, would I be able to work part time after my

internship until I finish my studies?

15

6.0 – EMPLOYER EXPECTATIONS IN THE

INDUSTRY

In the current era in which we live in where there is an economic meltdown and

where performance matters in jobs, jobs are not easy to get for unemployed

people let alone people who already have a job and are trying to move on to

another job or get a promotion. In a situation like this, the market for Software

Engineers is no different. With companies cutting down budgets to gain profits,

performance and skill of an employee becomes first preference than anything else

when the employee reviews take place.

The trend in the current world is that software engineers have to work long hours,

have different skills, perform above the others, produce results and meet

deadlines. With thousands of software companies out there competing for clients,

large firms such as Virtusa or Millennium IT depend on the quality of their output

which helps then retain their customers. And for this to happen, employers seek

for employees who are virtually exceptional in their areas.

Employers employing software engineers and other types of employee’s in the

field of computing, look into the history of the person and the experiences. For a

fresh graduate, the work experience may be something he lacks, but to

compensate that, the employers look into their Final Year Project and how much

unique and innovative it was, other projects they have done while still studying

and for up to a certain amount on their grades. It is a known fact among top notch

employers that not all talented and skilful employees are good in studies and not

all nerds are talented and skilful.

Yet another aspect that is looked into by companies now-a-days is the

professional aspect of the employee. The way he talks, walks, dresses,

communicates, socializes is all taken into consideration. The process of

identifying a potential employee starts the moment the person walks through the

gate of the company to attend his/her first interview and even in some cases, their

behavior and conduct on social networks such as facebook is also looked into as a

background check by the HR department before a potential employee is given a

job.

16

In addition to all this, one rather new or side aspect that employers also look into

is the extracurricular interests of an employee. Almost all large companies have

their own sports teams and various other activities that they expect their

employees to be part of and at times some companies even take pride in

participating and winning tournaments as it adds value to their employee

satisfaction review.

Looking at all this, it can be summarized that employers look for professional,

talented, skilful, dedicated, hardworking, multi-talented individuals to take up

vacancies in their organizations. Else it is the company and the employee

themselves who will end up in a bad position over time.

17

7.0 – PROFESSIONAL ETHICS AND ISSUES FACED

AT WORKPLACE

Following professional ethics is a vital part of being an employee let alone being a

professional. One needs to know, as a professional or an employee, what they can

do, what they can’t do so that both he/she and the company have a win-win

situation. And to maintain this moral obligation in a legal manner, most

companies have various different policies and codes that are implemented and

that the employee has to sign and agree into before they can be employed in the

company. “Code of Conduct”, “Privacy Policy”, “Dress Codes”, “Data Protection

and Confidentiality Policy”, “Sexual Harassment Policy” and the list just goes on.

An employee may not read these documents at the time of signing since it is

normal procedure but it is vital for an employee to know and understand the

clauses in these various documents that they have signed to so as to protect him

from being accused of misconduct.

In workplaces, many issues happen. Especially in large organizations, issues are

not something that doesn’t happen. Out of these issues, over the recent years, an

issue that has risen significantly is the issue of passing on company secrets or

more commonly known as “Trade Secrets” by the employees of one company to

another rival company in return for financial or other benefits. This is more in the

production or innovation oriented industries where one company tries to come up

with something before their rival does and to do this, they “plant” employees in

the rival company or by bribing or “purchasing” the employee who then provides

them with vital information which helps this. Copyright infringement can also be

related to this type of issue since they both fall into the same category which is

dishonesty.

Trade Secrets are vital for the existence of a company. The biggest example that

can be cited for this is “Coca-Cola”. The global soft drink manufacturer has

survived for the past 126 years and is still the leader in the Cola flavor drink in the

world operating in over 200 countries because they have managed to keep their

trade secret, in their case the “secret recipe” for the drink safe since it was made

by the Pharmacist back in the year 1886. Although a few time, the secret was

18

about to be leaked into the public, appropriate actions have been taken by the

company against the employees and the issues have then been solved. In a

technological side of event, trade secrets can mean proprietary software that

companies make, algorithms that are developed to make processes work faster,

new devices that are made, innovations, creativity all included. These when

passed from one company to another in an illegal way, it considered a crime.

Employees need to refrain from doing so since the employees themselves if

caught and proved can serve time as well as be subject to massive amounts of

fines which would end up making the employee bankrupt. Also their loyalty

towards the company can be questioned and his/her reputation would hit rock

bottom where no company would want to offer a job for the fear of a repetition of

events by the employee. Internationally, there are many laws and organizations or

authorities who work towards the protection of trade secrets and to bring those

responsible to justice but on a personal knowledge, cases in Sri Lanka of such

issues are very rare or are settled out of court in a private manner.

Another issue that takes dominance in the work place issues category is the issue

of sexual harassment. This can be by colleagues, superiors, authorities or simply

any other employee in the company. This is a serious issue with regard to women

working in the office where sexual harassment can mentally and at times

physically bring down the female employee which may result in the lady

performing badly in her job which may result to other complications. Sexual

harassment can range from improper conduct with a fellow employee, especially

with a female employee to making a sensitive remark verbally.

One of the very famous cases in the world in relation to sexual harassment in

workplaces was the case between Mitsubishi Motors and female workers of the

company where a settlement of US$34 million was reached which was also the

largest in the world in terms of a sexual harassment lawsuit. The case was where

the female employees had made a complaint that their daily work routine

consisted of being harassed everyday by male workers including sensitive

remarks which was also known to the management but no action was taken. This

is a clear cut example on how much of an issue sexual harassment can be in

workplace. Strict laws and policies are needed within the company to curb these

kind of issues. Especially with campaigns like “Equal Rights”, “Women Rights”

19

being done to give equal opportunities to females in workplaces compared to a

century ago, women should also be treated in the way they should be treated

morally and culturally.

Just like employees request for a safer work environment free from sexual

harassment, it should be noted that it is also the responsibility of the management

that the work place is a suitable place. It is a widely known fact that many sexual

harassment issues in the world have been by the executive level employees

towards lower level employees and when complains are being lodged internally

by the employee, they are not taken seriously or are brushed under the carpet by

the management to protect the executives in which case employees resort to legal

action which although takes a long time to be solved can provide some form of

justice to the victim. Although, such cases are on the decline, it is no reason for

companies to take the issue easily and relax rule and regulations but to keep them

strict as always because it was the rule that brought the issue down.

Like the two issues stated above, there are many other ethical issues that happen

in the workplace. Another such issue that is encountered in the workplace is

employees being honest and working properly without faking their work. This is

vital for the company since inefficient work or inefficient workforce can bring

down the company and also their reputation.

In the current era, honesty is something that is required from the employee by

every employer. The clients place their trust on the company and give orders and

the company places their trust on the employees to complete the work properly.

The employee also has an obligation to be honest in his work towards the

company since the company pays for the work he does. In my personal opinion, I

believe that if an employee is not happy with the work or the workplace, he/she

needs to talk to the management and try to get the issues cleared out and continue

working else leave the company and find a job in which he/she can be happy.

Unhappy workers who are not happy with their workers pose yet another threat to

the company. Which is they end up being depressed and mentally unstable. A

good example for this kind of problem is the row of suicides by employees at

FoxConn which is one of the major electronics manufacturers in China. In the

period between 2010/2011 nearly 20 employees were reported to have jumped to

20

their death from the factory buildings after they were unhappy with their working

conditions which was later through a research by Chinese Universities named as a

“labour camp”. FoxConn which is a major supplier to world famous brands like

Apple, HP, Dell, Sony etc took a hit with customers threatening to pull out orders

if employee working conditions were not improved after which FoxConn

improved on the working conditions including giving a pay raise to the

employees. The employee suicides created a negative image on the company.

Employees not discussing their issues with the management and solving issues.

In this instance it should also be noted that just like the employers expect

employees to be honest and hardworking, the employees also expect certain

conditions from the employers. Like flexible working conditions and workable

working conditions as well as a good remuneration to support their lives. Some

companies pay below the proper market level for the services rendered which is

nearly equal to theft which should not be done by the employers.

All in all, a happy workplace with less issues is what an employee and an

employer always wishes for. There may be hundreds of policies, rules, regulations

codes and what not but if the person themselves is not good enough and ethical,

all these problems could occour. That is why it is important that when recruiting,

employers select the proper right people for the job so as to avoid a negative

impact on their reputation after such issues happen and become public.

21

8.0 – CONCLUSION

This assignment has made me understand how much prepared I was to step into

the corporate world and how I should have prepared myself. Thanks to the

assignment I am now confident that I am prepared enough and understand the

do’s and do not’s of the industry which I am pretty sure will help me very much

in my career and future.

22

APPENDIX – I | Curriculum Vitae

23

24

APPENDIX – II | Bibliography

CNN Money, 1998. Mitsubishi settles for $34M. [Online]

Available at: http://money.cnn.com/1998/06/11/companies/mitsubishi/

[Accessed 6 September 2012].

CNN Money, 2007. 2 sentenced in Coke trade secret case. [Online]

Available at: http://money.cnn.com/2007/05/23/news/newsmakers/coke/

[Accessed 6 September 2012].

Dessler, G. & Varkkey, B., 2011. Human Resource Management. 12th Edition ed.

s.l.:Dorling Kindersley (India) Pvt Ltd.

Jeff Blagdon , 2012. Foxconn suicide threat resolved, 45 workers resign. [Online]

Available at: http://www.theverge.com/2012/1/12/2701990/foxconn-150-suicide-

threat

[Accessed 6 September 2012].

Joel Johnson, 2011. 1 Million Workers. 90 Million iPhones. 17 Suicides. Who’s to

Blame?. [Online]

Available at: http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/02/ff_joelinchina/

[Accessed 6 September 2012].

MICHELLE FABIO, 2006. Five Biggest Sexual Harassment Cases. [Online]

Available at: http://www.legalzoom.com/legal-headlines/corporate-lawsuits/five-

biggest-sexual-harassment-cases

[Accessed 6 September 2012].

Millennium IT, 2012. Millennium IT Careers. [Online]

Available at:

https://careers.millenniumit.com/mit_site_2009/careers/index.php#login_frm

[Accessed 5 September 2012].

TopJobs.lk, 2012. TopJobs.lk. [Online]

Available at:

http://topjobs.lk/employer/advertismentpreview.jsp?jc=0000149493&rid=0&ac=0

000000159&ec=0000000191

[Accessed 5 September 2012].

www.noop.nl, 2009. 100 Interview Questions for Software Developers. [Online]

Available at: http://www.noop.nl/2009/01/100-interview-questions-for-software-

25

developers.html

[Accessed 6th September 2012].

www.salary.lk, 2012. Sexual Harassment in the Workplace. [Online]

Available at: http://www.salary.lk/home/labour-law/sexual-harassment

[Accessed 6 September 2012].