Importance of Professional Development and Self-Directed Learning

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Coursework
Unit 3 Professional Identity and Practice

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INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................................3
LO1 Explore the importance of on-going professional development and self-directed learning to
enhance professional identity and career opportunities...................................................................4
LO2 Assess own skills, competences and the different learning and development approaches...12
LO3 Design a professional development plan..................................................................................13
LO4 Demonstrate a range of service industry and transferable skills for a job application.......15
CONCLUSION..................................................................................................................................19

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INTRODUCTION
Most people working in different industries normally have problems identifying
themselves with their actual professions. It is likely to find an individual mentioning the
company he/she works in without specifying their professions, which has become a
dominating problem. In some of the recent studies, people were found to have poor
understanding of their professional identity. In a study by Neary (2014), career practitioners
were asked to describe their professional identity. Many of them found this question to be a
bit challenging as they did not have a clear term to define their professions. As per the study
findings, most of the participants gave answers into three categories: the answer would be
hard to find because I undertake numerous roles that fall under many professions; emphatic
answer – I am a career adviser; and the answer depends on the person asking the question.
Such confusing answers are a clear indication that there is no specific definition of the
professional identity and the practices involved in it. However, Fagermoen (1997) define
professional identity as the concept that indicates how people describe themselves within
their occupational context and how they tend to communicate such to other people around
them. It therefore depends on individual’s understanding of their roles and practices in a
given occupation. For instance, if you work in a hospitality industry and your work is to
prepare food then you fit a professional identity of a chef.
For my Professional Identity and Practices (PIP) project, I will refer to Cosmos Tours.
Cosmos Tours is a UK-based tour operator offering a range of package holidays within the
UK market. Cosmos is currently linked to another giant globally-based tour company, Globus
Travel Group, which has been in operation since its establishment in 1928 (Huxley 2017).
Cosmos Tours Ltd operates under two major brands namely Avalon and Cosmos Waterways.
The company’s headquarters are located at Bromley South rail station, which is among the

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busiest locations in Southeast London (Huxley 2017). The company’s choice of the location
was based on the increasing demand of hospitality and tour services in the region.
Cosmos is an award-winning brand, which has focused on creating marvelous holiday
experiences to the customers since its establishment in the year 1961. The company offers a
range of services and products through its two brands, with over 200 tours in more than 80
countries across the globe, making it the largest tour company in Europe and North America
(Huxley 2017). The company also offers 5-star river cruises through its Avalon Waterways.
The company has around 200 employees who work directly for the company thus ensuring
that it offers high quality services.
As an effort of evaluating my skills and expertise that will help me ascend to the
junior manager level within my organization, this paper highlights some of the most
significant benefits of a continuing professional development (CPD). The exercise also
evaluates some of the challenges that one might face when trying to achieve an ongoing
development of their profession. It involves highlighting what most employers expect when
they hire employees in terms of their job inputs and what the employees look forward to gain
from the employers. With the primary aim being to understand the benefits of a continuing
professional development, the paper begins with a definition of CPD, whereby, a clear picture
of the activities involved is developed. Then, the importance of the CPD in the light of
Cosmos Tours Ltd is described with an aim of illustration how I, as one of the company’s
employees, expect to benefit from the exercise. Considering a number of the theoretical
explanations, the benefits of CPD are discussed. The professional standards that I am
supposed to adhere to are also highlighted as well as the skills that I need to acquire to
competitively undertake the roles of a junior manager in a big and successful organization
like Cosmos Tours.

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LO1 Explore the importance of on-going professional development and
self-directed learning to enhance professional identity and career
opportunities
Definition of CPD - With the drastic changes within the modern business world,
especially based on the emerging technological developments and the transformations of the
market trends, people working in different professions are encouraged to keep on updating
their knowledge and expertise on their areas to ensure that they are able to not only
understand the new changes but also address some of the severe challenges that are
associated with such transformations. Recent studies have emphasized on the need for
continuous learning processes of the employees working in different departments within an
organization as a core competence within the highly competitive market (Trorey and
Cullingford 2017). Most of the successful global brands have adopted a culture of continuous
growth and development among their employees as an effort of acquiring an innovative
organizational culture capable of mobilizing the human capital in addressing challenges and
ensuring a sustainable business growth. While there are many ways through which
organizations and their stakeholders can acquire such a continuous learning and development,
CPD has proved to be an effective planning strategy that allows not only employees to
improve their skills and knowledge on the emerging issues but also the organizations acquire
sustainable growth through innovation. According to Bush et al. (2018), CPD is the process
through which different professionals continually upgrade their skills and acquire new
knowledge on the changes within the areas of their profession. For instance, for an individual
working in the tourism industry, a CPD may involve regular reviewing of the professional
skills and knowledge to ensure that they are up-to-date and relevant based on the new trends
within the industry.
The importance of carrying CPD in my chosen organization

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Hospitality and tourism sector is among the drastically changing industries, with the
changes of the consumer behaviors and tastes calling for regular reviewing of the business
trends and offerings among the key players. With the primary focus of Cosmos Tours, which
is a key player in the UK tourism sector, being to offer up-to-date and satisfactory services to
all the customers, it has become increasing important for management to continually improve
the quality of the offerings. Such an effort is enabled through continuing professional
development among the employees and other stakeholders in the sector. As per the argument
by Mitreva et al. (2018) CPD is an essential component of the contemporary business
strategy. When applied in a dynamic industry, like tourism and hospitality, it helps in
nurturing employees through knowledge development, which then helps in creating feelings
of satisfaction at work thus improving the overall workforce productivity. When employees
improve their knowledge and skills, they are able to handle the emerging challenges with
confidence and at ease thus minimizing work-related stress, which not only affect their
productivity but also the performance of the organization within the sector of operation.
Cosmos Tour has invested heavily on the HR management strategies that promote continuous
employees development. The management has created learning programs for the employees
to equip them with the right skills and expertise, especially to face and address the emerging
challenges in the industry and utilize the opportunities emerging. One can argue that through
such initiatives, the company has managed to improve the quality of its offerings thus
acquiring competitive advantage.
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2018) focused on
exploring some of the benefits of CPD for the company growth and employees’ satisfaction.
The study noted that when working in a company that offers little or no chances of learning
and development, it becomes somewhat demotivating and discouraging and in most cases can
lead to most potential employees looking elsewhere for better opportunities of career