At Cafe de Coral, she assists the human resources manager in handling remuneration schemes, welfare and recreation plans for 7,000 employees.

She was recently awarded certificates for completing two sections by the prestigious University of Oxford Delegacy of Local Examinations.

Cafe de Coral is reviewing her achievement to see how other managers can benefit from Oxford.

Ms Mak was the first to be selected by the company to participate in the programme offered jointly by the Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC) and Oxford.

She was also one of two Hong Kong managers certified by Oxford.

Peggy Lee, associate consultant of the quality and management consultancy division at HKPC, was Ms Mak's adviser in the programme.

Managing director Michael Y. K. Chan said: 'My idea is to eventually have some of our staff in the in-house programme enrol in the Oxford management programme to get the accreditation and acquire management standards.' He said the human resources department selected Ms Mak because her participation could be easily monitored by the human resources manager.

Ms Mak completed unit eight of the programme which evaluates competency in managing information. It is one of four key management roles in which programme participants have to demonstrate competency. The other key roles are managing operations, finance and people.

According to the Oxford management standards, in unit eight, candidates are required to show how efficiently they can 'seek, evaluate and organise information'.

'I was impressed by the way the programme is structured. It covers all the important areas of management.

'The unit that Diana selected is the most straightforward one but the challenge for her will be when she progresses to other key areas like managing operations and managing people,' Mr Chan said.

Ms Mak used an annual Christmas sale organised for staff at the head office to demonstrate competency in managing information.

Ms Lee said: 'The reason she chose the Christmas sale was that we did not want her to move away from her day-to-day work.' Ms Mak said: 'I invited suppliers to provide items for sale, including ties, pendants and watches . . . Swatch watches as well. So I contacted different suppliers and gathered information. Then we selected the most suitable suppliers and products.

'I wrote a proposal and submitted it to the senior management. When it was approved, our department arranged the Christmas sale.

'As a follow up to the project, I set up a new system to record the information I gathered.' Mr Chan said the experience that Ms Mak gained from the project would be a good 'reference point for colleagues and even her superior', taking into account how reliable and relevant information was gathered, recorded and stored using accepted formats and procedures.

'Diana collated the data and built up a library of information which could be used by anyone,' Mr Chan said.

He said the idea of joining the programme came from HKPC. 'I went to a seminar presented by HKPC and I was interested in the way the programme was structured,' Mr Chan said.

'Later, I briefed the human resources manager about the programme and suggested that we select some middle management staff to enrol.' Mr Chan hopes managers who are participating in the in-house management programme will also participate in the Oxford programme.

They will then be able to use the skills and on-job experience and apply it to the academic approach and knowledge gained from the company's in-house programme.

He said the Cafe de Coral management programme aimed to build a strong middle management team.

'We have had this programme for the past eight to 10 years. It is an academic programme which includes talks and courses and the like.'