Identity and Practices of Professionals

The alignment of an individual's roles, responsibilities, values, and ethical standards to be congruent with procedures accepted by their specific profession constitutes professional identity.

NELSON COLLEGE LONDON
Higher Nationals in:
Hospitality Management
Unit 3: Professional Identity and Practice
Student Name:
Student ID:
1

Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
LO1............................................................................................................................................4
P1 Determining the key elements and advantages of on-going professional development
for different stakeholders within the Clayton Hotel City of London.....................................5
LO2............................................................................................................................................9
P3: Evaluating an individual operation manager’s skills and competencies for his job role.9
LO3..........................................................................................................................................15
P5: Development plan to enhance chosen skills and competencies within the Clayton Hotel
..............................................................................................................................................15
LO4..........................................................................................................................................17
P6: Providing a job interview for an operation manager in Clayton hotel London.............17
P7: Determining the strengths and weaknesses of an applied interview session.................18
Conclusion................................................................................................................................20
References................................................................................................................................21
Appendix..................................................................................................................................23
CV........................................................................................................................................23
Cover later............................................................................................................................25
2

Introduction
Ongoing professional development is the process or the system by which individual person
can track their skills and knowledge along with gathering experiences that help to gain
actively and both inactively from any kind of training and work experience. The ongoing
professional development process is the record by which an individual person can identify his
learning and understanding from any interactive session or training program. Inhospitality
business industry the need for personal and professional development plans help to identify
and determine the skills which need attention to develop. A business industry like- hospitality
industry needs more skills and competences to handle customers and provide proper services
to them.
3

LO1
Clayton Hotel Overview
In the city of London, the hotel Clayton is considered as one of the most stylish and modern
interior based hotel to serve their customers. This hotel is situated near the financial hub of
London. The Clayton Hotel City of London is a 10-minute walk away from Liverpool Street
station. From Clayton hotel, the London city airport is very close which approximately takes
21 minutes to drive by the car (The flexibility of Charvet One works well for Clayton Hotel
City of London - Charvet - Premier Ranges, 2020). Clayton Hotel's infrastructure is inspired
by the Victorian textile warehouse. This hotel in London is a 4-star luxury hotel with 212
bedrooms with a London skyline view.
Figure 01: Clayton Hotel City of London entrance (The flexibility of Charvet One works well
for Clayton Hotel City of London - Charvet - Premier Ranges, 2020).
In this luxury hotel, modern rooms and spas are offered with 24/7 Wi-Fi and room services,
onsite gym. Clayton hotel is located near some famous modern music and event venues so
that the customers can enjoy their quality time (Cottrell, 2015). Clayton hotel of London
serves its customers by Vitality breakfast menu, Grill restaurants, provides Private dining,
Globe bar, Afternoon tea along with snacks, and Red Bean Roastery.
P1 Determining the key elements and advantages of on-going professional development
for different stakeholders within the Clayton Hotel City of London.
The ongoing development process is the system of tracking or documenting the development
process of the individual as a professional way of development. For any employee ongoing
4

professional development helps to manage their development process on a daily basis (What's
Your Learning Style? - Aspire Training Team, 2020). It contains the document or record of
each individual's work review, learning reflects, and development process.
There are some elements to be an effective ongoing development process like- it needs to be
documented, self-driven, reflect individual learning process, helps to develop self-directed
goals and objectives, and lastly will need to be both active and interactive learning (Cottrell,
2015). In any organization like this chosen hotel Clayton Hotel in London city, there is a need
for ongoing professional development for the stakeholders for example- employees.
Determining the key benefit of ongoing professional development for the key stakeholder of
Clayton hotel is provided below:
Figure 02: Key advantages of on-going professional development for different stakeholders
within Clayton Hotel City of London.
Increasing the productivity rate
Employees of Clayton hotel can be benefited from this ongoing professional development as
it measures the productiveness of any individual employee (Langbridge, 2014). Employees
can measure and find out the lacking which is causing their lack of productivity in the
hospitality business. Organizations like Clayton loves to be benefited from highly productive
employees.
Adds values to CV's for future job search
Employees always search for better opportunities for their future. Every employee wants to
be more successful than the previous job. Increasing learning and knowledge to add values to
find a better job in the future ongoing development process is needed. It helps to define the
employee by building employees' qualifications day by day to prepare him for a future job by
5
Increasing
the
productivi
ty rate
Adds
values to
CV's for
future job
search
Gaining
skills
increase
competitiv
e edge
Provides
new
career
opportunit
ies for the
future
Re-
energizing
creativity

adding more to his CV so that he can stand out from the crowd with confidence and
knowledge.
Gaining skills increase the competitive edge
In professional life employers find those employees attractive who ease up their skills and
increases their knowledge. One employee with proper knowledge and skill in the
organization like Clayton is highly appreciated than a useless employee (OLSON, 2020).
Ongoing professional development helps to gather knowledge and increase employee’s skills
through learning and training programs.
New career opportunities for the future
Ongoing professional development helps employees of Clayton hotel to increase their
satisfaction level by measuring their learning and knowledge of the job. If one employee can
increase their knowledge and skills according to the job requirement it is easy for him to get
any related job in the near future (Langbridge, 2014). It can ensure a better quality of life for
the future. Ongoing professional development helps to raise up knowledge and skills of an
individual employee by measuring them.
Re-energizing creativity
Sometimes there are many cases where employees switch their job to other sectors by finding
a passion for another sector. Many stakeholder find ongoing professional development
processes helpful because it helps to increase employee's knowledge and it helps to increase
creativity by opening many doors of knowledge and skills in front of the employees.
P2: Investigating professional employer expectations of skills and competencies within
Clayton hotel.
In Clayton hotel, there are many employees and their skills and knowledge is related to their
job description. If the skills don't match with the employee's jobs then the business will be
operated by a totally useless man (OLSON, 2020). So in terms of job recruitment employers
expect some key essential roles in any candidate. For operation manager in the hospitality
business industry, there are some key skills and knowledge which is expected to be in the
employee such as- decision-making skills, interpersonal skill, team player, well
communication skill along with problem-solving skills and knowledge. In Clayton hotel in
6

London, the employer expects those skills and knowledge in an employee to get the job done
from them.
Figure 03: Skills and knowledge for the operation manager.
Communication skill
In Clayton, hotel communication plays a crucial part in the day to daily basis operations.
Form entry-level to top-level there is one thing common which is the communication is there
so for any operation manager the need for well communication skills is a must (O'Brien and
Jones, 2014). In terms of recruiting the employer always go for communication skill as the
operation manager needs to make a link between top levels to entry-level employees.
Interpersonal skill
In a hospitality business like Clayton, the need for working together is must need as
employees of the human resource department needs to work with each other. If the operation
manager can't interact with people then it causes issues in the hotel (Sansbury, 2016). Again,
the operation manager ensures a link between different departments so interpersonal skills
and competence are very much needed in Clayton hotel in London.
Adaptability
In the hospitality business organization like Clayton needs managers who can adapt to any
kind of situation in the hotel. An operation manager needs to behave the ability to adapt
things and act according to the situation. In many organizations employer uses many training
and development programs to increase the adaptability of an operation manager. For
operation manager being able to adapt things are one of the many important skills which are
required.
7
Communication skill
Interpersonal skill
Adaptibility
Team oriented
Problem solving skill

Team oriented
Employers always search for those who are comfortable with working in a team rather than
working alone. Being able to work with the team is one of the vital skills which is required
for the operation manager (Sansbury, 2016). An operation manager needs to work with
employees who work in organizations so he needs to be a team player rather than an
individual player.
Problem-solving skill
In Clayton hotel, there can be many issues that can cause an issue in the organization. So
being an operation manager problem-solving skill is needed so that certain problems can be
solved. Having difficulty in managing employees in handling customers effectively problem-
solving skill is required in the hospitality business (O'Brien and Jones, 2014). Employers
search these skills and competencies in the operation manager.
8

LO2
P3: Evaluating an individual operation manager’s skills and competencies for his job role.
In Clayton, an operation manager manages the day to daily activities and monitor each
department's connection in the hotel. If I want to join Clayton as an operation manager I need
to be highly skilled and competent for the job. In that case to evaluate my skills and
competencies skill audit and SWOT analysis is provided below:
Audit of skills and competencies
Skills and
Competencies
Present skills Skills in process Need training
Adaptability
In terms of adapting to a
new environment, I am
very much skilled in
adapting easily. In the
hotel, I can easily adapt
to any difficult
situation.
Problem-solving
skill
I think I need
training in terms of
operating a hotel. I
am not aware of
each and every
department's daily
operations. I need to
understand and
increase my
knowledge through
training and
observing more.
9

Communication
skill
In the hotel, I feel I am
skilled to talk and
communicate with other
people. People feel
comfortable to
communicate with me.
As an operation
manager, I need to
communicate with other
people a lot. And my
both verbal and written
communication skill
helps to connect me
with other people.
Operational skills Clayton's operating
manager needs to
operate the daily
activities of the
organization. I think I
am moderate in
operating employees. I
have witness progress
in operating employees
as many employees are
now willing to
cooperate with me than
before which indicates
a process in my skill.
Decision-making
skill
I think as an
operation manager I
need to take proper
10

decisions on the
basis of the
activities. In this
skill, I think I have
to lack. So I need
more training and
knowledge to make
decisions based on
the situation.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
 In Clayton, I am very good at
communicating with other employees.
 I am a very good listener which helps me
to connect with people more and average
people.
 Motivational skills are present while I
work with cooperators.
 The ability to adapt to every difficult
situation is present in me.
Weaknesses
 The extra shift of work
demotivated me.
 Lack of knowledge.
 Solving problems in a difficult
situation is one of the
weaknesses.
Opportunities
 Willing to shape my skills according to the
need.
 Motivation increases the willingness of
doing work.
 Quick learner.
Threats
 Lack of knowledge and
limitation in the workplace.
 Breaking policies of the
organization like- Clayton
hotel.
11

P4 Review a range of learning theories and approaches used for personal and professional
development processes.
In terms of the personal and professional development process, many scholars are defined as
many learning theories to help individual people in their workplace. In Clayton, hotel
employees use personal and professional development plans to learn (Scales, 2011). There
are many learning techniques by which individual operation managers can learn and increase
their skills and competences. Some of the best learning approaches are provided below for
the professional and personal development process.
Figure 04: learning theories and approaches (Ahmad and profile, 2020).
Behaviorism
In the learning theories and approaches the behaviorism approach acts as a box that can
absorb skills and knowledge by observing the near environment and people. Many
organizations like- Clayton can use which type of techniques as it is considered as one of the
easy ways to learn (Scales, 2011). Employees observe other employees' work or behavior to
understand and learn effectively and efficiently.
Cognitive:
In cognitive learning theory of the process consists of the learner closely observing and
understanding the work (Ahmad and profile, 2020). In this type of process, the learner tries to
observe and related those observable things to the real case (SUN and OGI, 2018). By
understanding cognitive learning individual people can solve problems in Clayton hotel.
12

Constructivism
On the other hand constructivism, theory plays part in the related field. In Clayton hotel, the
opportunities to understand and practice constructivism are there and an operational manager
can impose the knowledge and theories according to the related field.
Social Learning Theory
The next theory of learning concentrates on observing other people and try to learn from their
actions by observing them. Social learning theory was developed by one of psychologist
Albert Bandura who mainly uses classical and operant conditioning in this theory (SUN and
OGI, 2018). In social learning theory, the environment plays an important role to play as the
learner can learn by observing the environment.
Learner first observes people and used those models in related fields. In Albert Bandura's
learning theory firstly part comes when the learner learns from others by observing them (Yu,
2016). Secondly, in the learning process having a sound mind in very much needed. And
lastly, in this social learning theory, it doesn't need a change in behavior.
VARK model of learning
Every learner has his own different ways to learn from one another. VAK model describes
the different ways by which an individual person can use a different approach to learn and
gather knowledge from one another (Vuk, 2010). VAK model is mainly described by Walter
Burke Barbe. In this model there are mainly three learning styles to describe the process of an
individual to learn and those are described below:
Figure 05: VAK model (What’s Your Learning Style? - Aspire Training Team, 2020).
13

Visualizing: in this part, the learner sees and try to learn by watching and observing others. It
is called visually learning and gather knowledge. Example- shapes, graphs, pictures,
sculptures, and so on.
Auditory: in the VAK model's auditory part learners learn by listening and speaking with
others (Yu, 2016). Listening and speaking are some of the ways to learn easily in the VAK
model. Example- audio, rhythms, tones,
Kinesthetic: in this part learners actually learn by observing and by doing it is a necessary
field. Learners try to impose those learning on the related area. Example- the movement of
body, gesture, and posture, positioning.
14

LO3
P5: Development plan to enhance chosen skills and competencies within the Clayton Hotel
In any professional life assessing own skills in terms of developing a career personal
development plan is considered as an action plan (Zhao, 2019). The development plan helps
to understand and manage skills and competencies in the SMART approach in the quickest
time frame. To identify and assess my own skills to development myself the personal
development plan is as follows:
Personal Development Plan
Current Skills
and
Competencies
Personal goals with
professional
development
Specification of my
skills in process with
developing theories
Estimation of the
helpfulness of my
own personal
development plan
Problem-
solving skill
In 3 months my goal
is to learn how to
solve cases in a
different situation.
To keep the progress I
found new cases of
Clayton hotel to
analyses the situations
with ending with
solutions.
By solving new cases
it helped to increase
my knowledge and
trained me as a
skillful employee.
Decision-
making skill
In terms of achieving
good decision-
making skills, I need
to take part in
different conferences
and cases in the hotel
in 6 months.
In this progress, I tried
to cope up with daily
cases and meeting so
that I can learn how to
effectively analyses and
make decisions out of
any situation.
The purpose of this to
be able to think
outside the box to
make effective
decisions.
Operational
skill
As an operation
manager, the goal is
to be efficient in
operating the hotel
For operational skills, I
took other online
courses and dug deep
into the operational
By taking other
courses I found many
ways to know about
the hotel management
15

business in 1 year. process. process that helped
me to gain more
knowledge.
Training and Learning courses portfolio
Course Year Location Developed skills
Hospitality
management
21 June
2019
The Ned Hotel
27 Poultry, London EC2R 8AJ,
United Kingdom
 Hospitality
management
policies.
 Booking
management.
 Customer service
management.
 Departmental
policies.
Hotel
operational
management
10 October
2019
Udemy (Website)
Online course
(Online Courses - Learn
Anything, On Your Schedule |
Udemy, 2020)
 Management
policies.
 Decision-making
policies.
 Managing online
booking.
 Online software
management.
16

LO4
P6: Providing a job interview for an operation manager in Clayton hotel London.
An interview for the operation manager in Clayton is provided below:
Interviewee: Hello. May I come in?
Interviewer: Hello. Yes come in and take a seat.
Interviewee: Thank you, sir.
Interviewer: Mr. Ross Copper it is right?
Interviewee: Yes Sir.
Interviewer: So Mr. Ross why you are interested to work in Clayton hotel? There are many
other hotels to work with. Why Clayton?
Interviewee: Actually I did some research before coming for this interview and luckily I
found myself interested in Clayton hotel because of the hotel's organizational culture,
environment, and management.
Interviewer: So you said this hotel’s management interested you. How come you came to
know about the hotel management of Clayton?
Interviewee: In London, this hotel is one of the well-managed hotels I know. I got
information's some people who already stayed here and some information's from your hotel
websites.
Interviewer: Mr. Ross it's impressive that you did your research. Come to the next question,
have you ever worked in any hospitality business?
Interviewee: Yes I have actually. I have experience as an event organizer at The Brook Green
Hotel, London. In this hotel, I used to organize events according to the hotel budget, people,
and occasion.
Interviewer: As you applied for the operation manager post. Do you know what kind of
activities you need to perform?
Interviewee: Yes, I do have more sort of knowledge about the operation manager's duty. I
need to plan strategies, control food production, oversee maintenances of the hotel, analyze
17

customers, monitor employees' work, maintain customer requirements, and develop quality
and services, and so on.
Interviewer: Mr. Ross in this position you need to go to other countries for training and
development purposes. Are you comfortable with that?
Interviewee: Of course. I am willing to travel abroad and it will provide me to increase my
knowledge and skills more for my future career.
Interviewer: Okay. So it was very nice to meet you MR. Ross. We will soon contact you
about the interview result via email. You will get any information about this interview result
within a week. Thank you for your time and I wish you good luck, Mr. Ross.
Interviewee: It was present to meet you too and thank you, Sir.
P7: Determining the strengths and weaknesses of an applied interview session.
In the above interview session, there are some strength and weakness as well and those
strengths and weakness are provided below:
Strengths: Weakness
 In the interview session, there was
no discrimination in the question.
The interviewer asked questions
based on the position requirement
and didn't discriminate against the
question for males or females.
 The interviewer was prepared before
asking questions to the interviewee
and all of the questions were
relevant in terms of the job
description.
 The whole interview session was
recorded so that the organization
Clayton hotel can go through and
hire the best employee for the
 The interviewer gave less time to
react and think for a proper answer
and asked questions regarding the
job.
 The interview time frame was short
and it could have been longer to
justify the interviewee's answers.
 In the interview, the interviewer
asked about the interviewee's
experiences in the hospitality
business in a past job which was
already mentioned in the CV of the
interviewee.
 The interviewee's career plans and
interesting areas of work were
missing in the questions.
18

organization.
 The interviewer went for open-ended
questions rather than a set of
questions which clearly shows the
interviewee's thinking ability.
19

Conclusion
In Clayton hotel, the employees are highly skilled and competent for their job role. But
sometimes skilled workers can effectively fill up the need for their job. Time to time job
requirement changes and in the Clayton hotel the need for developing and polishing each
operation manager's skills is much needed. Many employers feel that employees must
undergo personal development plans so that they can do better in their near future and helps
to gain their competitive advantages. By undergoing development plan employees can find
the needs of identifying the skills and competencies which increase their knowledge.
20

References
1. Ahmad, A., and profile, V., 2020. 3 Major Learning Theories:Behaviorism,
Cognitivism, And Constructivism. [online] Someone's White Star. Available at:
<https://hamizahmohdisa.blogspot.com/2019/10/3-major-learning-theories-
behaviorism.html?m=0> [Accessed 26 June 2020].
2. Aspire Training Team. 2020. What’S Your Learning Style? - Aspire Training Team.
[online] Available at: <https://www.aspiretrainingteam.co.uk/learning-style/>
[Accessed 27 June 2020].
3. Charvet - Premier Ranges. 2020. The Flexibility Of Charvet One Works Well For the
Clayton Hotel City Of London - Charvet - Premier Ranges. [online] Available at:
<https://charvet.co.uk/index.php/the-flexibility-of-charvet-one-works-well-for-
clayton-hotel-city-of-london/#> [Accessed 25 June 2020].
4. Udemy. 2020. Online Courses - Learn Anything, On Your Schedule | Udemy. [online]
Available at: <https://www.udemy.com/?
utm_source=adwords&utm_medium=udemyads&utm_campaign=Generic-
BMM_la.EN_cc.ROW&utm_content=deal4584&utm_term=_._ag_86841141336_._a
d_405920124145_._kw_%2Bonline%20%2Bcourse_._de_c_._dm__._pl__._ti_kwd-
18773314205_._li_9069450_._pd__._&matchtype=b&gclid=Cj0KCQjw3Nv3BRC8
ARIsAPh8hgJCq859ui4OjC073WKME86eIBZ6kD8RMfBtOSukWheuzEMxselFpFI
aAu64EALw_wcB> [Accessed 27 June 2020].
5. Cottrell, S., 2015. Skills For Success. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
6. Langbridge, J., 2014. Professional Embedded Arm Development. Hoboken, N.J.: John
Wiley & Sons.
7. O'Brien, J., and Jones, K., 2014. Professional learning or professional development?
Or continuing professional learning and development? Changing terminology, policy,
and practice. Professional Development in Education, 40(5), pp.683-687.
8. OLSON, M., 2020. INTRODUCTION TO THEORIES OF LEARNING. [Place of
publication not identified]: CRC Press.
9. Sansbury, J., 2016. Service Level Manager. Swindon: BCS Learning & Development
Limited.
21

10. Scales, P., 2011. Continuing Professional Development In The Lifelong Learning
Sector. Maidenhead: Open University Press/McGraw-Hill Education.
11. SUN, J. and OGI, T., 2018. Development of Wireless HMD for Personal Smart
Device. The Proceedings of Design & Systems Conference, 2018.28(0), p.2507.
12. Vuk, T., 2010. Skills and tasks of quality manager at a blood establishment. ISBT
Science Series, 5(n1), pp.179-183.
13. Yu, L., 2016. The International Hospitality Business. New York: Routledge.
14. Zhao, J., 2019. Industry leader interview: Jerry Montgomery. International
Hospitality Review, 33(1), pp.3-4.
15.
22

Appendix
CV
Personal profile
Name: Mr. Ross Copper
Email: [e-mail]
Phone Number: [phone]
Address: 10 Downing Street, London.
Personal statement
I am very much friendly in nature and can cope up with any difficult situation. In terms of
communicating with others I can easily communicate with other peoples. I also am very good
at motivating and encouraging people.
Education
August 2009
Nelson College London
June 2018
Brunel University London
23

Extra-curricular activities
I was in the sports club at Nelson College London and also was in debate club at the Brunel
University London. I won some prizes while playing the sports team and travel countries
while I was in the debating club for the university.
Experience
I worked as an event organizer at The Brook Green Hotel, London. In the past 1 year, I
worked in the hotel and organized the hotel's events.
Skills and competencies
- Easily adapt to different situations.
- Team player.
- Good communication skills.
- Motivated to work in pressure.
References
Will be provided for further needs.
24

Cover later
HR manager
Clayton hotel city of London.
10 New Drum St, Whitechapel, London E1 7AT, United Kingdom.
Dear HR Manager,
I am writing to express my interest in the position of operation manager in Clayton
hotel, London. I learned about your company by visiting your company's website.
I feel your company places prominence in a similar area as I want to do in my career
and it will be the privilege of serving as an operation manager in your company. It
will increase my opportunity to learn and give me the exposure I need in my career.
In professional life, I am very much open about changes and I have great
communication skills along with working under pressure. I am also a team-oriented
person in terms of working in a hotel like your hotel. I am always keen to learn and
like to experience new things which can help me to increase my skills for my career.
I worked in a hotel before for one year as an event organizer in The Brook Green
Hotel, London. In the hotel, I used to organize events according to the hotel's need
and I have great experience in how hotel management works and I feel it will help me
to serve your hotel as an operation manager.
If you feel like I am the right candidate for this operation manager position. You can
call me on [phone] or by email at [e-mail] me anytime.
I will look forward to hearing from you and serve your company.
Sincerely
Ross Copper.
25