Professional Development and Identity

This report discusses the importance of ongoing professional development, determining employer expectations, conducting a Personal Skill Audit, and structuring a development plan for effective career growth. It highlights the benefits of these approaches in improving organisational success.

PROFESSIONAL
IDENTITY AND
PRACTICE

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1. Examination of key benefits of on-going professional development...............................1
P2. Investigation of professional employer expectations of skills and competencies............2
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
P3. Assessment of own abilities, skills and competencies.....................................................3
P4. Range of learning theories and approaches used for personal and professional
development processes...........................................................................................................4
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................6
P5. Construction of Development Plan..................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Professional Identity refers to a self-concept which is completely based on various
beliefs, attributes, values as well as professional experiences. Through effective professional
practice and conduct, each individual working in organisation of any sort is required to develop
their professional identity to ensure a long-term success within their workplace (Wald, 2015).
The following report is based on The Ritz London, which is one of the prestigious hotels in the
city and in the United Kingdom. It covers importance of ongoing professional development and
self directed learning and assessment of own skills, competencies and different learning and
development approaches. The report also covers creation of a professional development plan and
range of service industry and transferable skills for a job application.
TASK 1
P1. Examination of key benefits of on-going professional development
Within an organisation, it is crucial that employees engage in an ongoing practice of
ensuring professional development within their job roles which would provide immense benefits
to them personally as well as professionally. Moreover, this would also ensure appropriate
benefits to organisation as well. The Ritz London was established in 1906, and since then, it
provides outstanding accommodation and dining services to its customers in the country as well
as those who come from global ends (The Ritz London, 2019). With such a prestigious stature, it
is crucial for customers to engage in ongoing development practices which would provide
benefits to the as well as other stakeholders associated with the firm. The various benefits for
ongoing professional development is mentioned below:
 Enhanced Efficiencies:
Ongoing professional development allows employees to witness their strengths and
weaknesses while working within an organisation. Thus, employees would engage themselves in
tasks which enhances their performance within the company. Such aspects would ultimately
result in employees at Ritz providing quality services to its customers.
 Employee Engagement:
Employees are one of the most crucial stakeholders of Ritz and ongoing professional
development of each member of its workforce would aid the hotel in engaging them for long-
term and encourage a sense of commitment within them.
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 Competitive Edge:
It is a crucial element of ongoing professional development to manage and provide
services in ways which provides a competitive edge to the company within the market.
Moreover, having such an edge would provide benefits to investors and shareholders as they
would be getting effective returns on their investments (Tan, Van der Molen and Schmidt, 2017).
Thus, ongoing professional development would create ample benefits to stakeholders of
Ritz and for the firm itself. Moreover, on a personal front, this would provide a sense of
importance and belongingness within employees that is essential for them to develop and
enhance their career prospects.
P2. Investigation of professional employer expectations of skills and competencies
Each professional employer has various expectations of different competencies and skills
that are a must haves within the workforce consisting of diverse individuals. These expectations
influences the kind of staff which the employer hires to support the company. Within Ritz, there
are specific job roles for which there are varied expectation of employers regarding their skills
and competencies. These factors are mentioned below:
JOB ROLES SKILLS/COMPETENCIES
Hotel Manager
As one of the most important job role in Ritz, there are various
skills and competencies which is expected of a Hotel Manager.
Individual working at this post must have effective
management and leadership skills. In addition, hotel manager
must be competent enough to handle organisational issues and
must possess problem-solving skills would help them in
dealing with various complex organisational situations
effectively.
Chef Chef of Ritz must have meticulous skills that is crucial to
handle diverse dishes. Moreover, they must be creative to
create food items as per different customers belonging to
different cultures appropriately (Robinson, Solnet and
Breakey, 2014). Multitasking is another skill which is
expected a chef to have that allows them to manage and
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monitor operations of their team along with managing their
own work.
Front Desk
These individuals are required to deal with customers
throughout their job and it is of vital importance that they
possess appropriate communication skills which would allow
them to listen, concern and address diverse customer demands
spontaneously. In addition, these employees are also expected
to have interpersonal skills which would aid them in providing
after sales services to customers and maintain healthy customer
relationships.
Accounting Manager
This entity within Ritz is entitled to maintain and manage all
the accounting activities within the firm and it is expected that
this individual possess appropriate analytical and calculative
skills as these are necessary to maintain effective accounting
records. Furthermore, these must have adequate time
management skills to complete each accounting formality on
time and successfully.
TASK 2
P3. Assessment of own abilities, skills and competencies
A vital activity within employment requires an individual to appropriately assess their
own competence, skills and abilities to analyse aspects which are present to carry out duties
effectively and those which requires insight to be more appropriate (Stierand and Zizka, 2015).
As for the job role of manager within Ritz, assessment of own skills and capabilities would help
analysing personal performance and unfavourable shortcomings. A Personal Skill Audit model
is being used to identify the gap between required and actual competence regarding a particular
skill:
SKILLS RATING FROM
OTHERS SELF-RATING GAP
IDENTIFICATION
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Communication Skills 5 7 2
Teamwork 6 4 -2
Management Skills 8 9 1
Below is a detailed assessment of my personal skills: Communication Skills: According to the audit, I received 5 from others, where as I rate
myself at 7, due to weaker public speaking skills, which might jeopardise my success as a
manager. However, a lower rating from other individuals showcase the need for an
immediate action required to enhance this skill. While I am quite effective in written
communication, but I hesitate in addressing multiple individuals at once, which might
result in ineffectiveness in my role as a manager Teamwork: in this skill, I perceived myself weaker than what others consider me. I tend
to be quite effective in managing the team and working well with others. However, I still
lack in conflict management. However, I am working on enhancing the same through
creating mock scenarios for myself.
 Management Skills: These skills within me are quite effective, as per my consideration
and review of others. However, my planning skills are yet to be furnished, due to which,
others have rated me lower than I considered myself to be. Thus, this part of the skill is
required to be enhanced effectively.
As per this audit, it is determined that I am quite effective where teamwork is concerned,
however, my communication as well as management skills still need some work to enhance the
same as per the required standards of Ritz.
Another model that could serve as to determine the competence and skills is Rating Scale
Model. Under this methods, skills would be rated on the basis of standard competence to
determine the ones which are yet to be developed in a desired manner. This scale is mentioned
below:
SKILLS Rating #1 Rating #2 Rating #3 Rating #4
Listening Skills X
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Time Management Skills X
Problem-solving Skills X
Decision-making Skills X
Rating #4: High level of competence
Rating #3: Moderate level of competence
Rating #2: Average level of competence
Rating #1: Low level of competence
 Listening Skills: My listening skills are quite effective as I tend to listen very carefully to
the information provided to me and process it using written notes, which help me to
retaining the information for a longer time. Time Management Skills: I tend to manage time effectively and essentially and allow
myself to appropriately enhance the scope of success in each task I perform. Problem-solving Skills: As assessed above, I fail miserably at solving conflicts, which
again is a problem I might face as a manager. Moreover, I hesitate a lot in working under
pressure or at times of crisis, which requires immediate attention and working for
improvisation.
 Decision Making Skills: Almost all my decisions are taken appropriately and with
utmost good faith. However, during times of pressure, I tend to take hastened decisions,
consequences of which are quite negative. Thus, this skills is required to be improvised
by me in the future.
Rating scale model provides a wide scope of identifying areas more deeply and giving a
more detailed outlook on the competencies possessed (Murphy, 2017). This model effectively
helped me in analysing more hard and soft skills, which resulted in showing that there is an
immense need to develop my problem-solving skills as it is most crucial for my role as a
manager in The Ritz London.
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P4. Range of learning theories and approaches used for personal and professional development
processes
After self assessment, it is of vital importance that various learning theories as well as
development approaches are highlighted to determine the best alternative which could lead to
personal and professional development. It is a crucial practice to ensure sustainable and long-
term growth of an individual in an organisation.
Various learning theories are effectively discussed below:
 Behaviourism:
This theory functions as per stimulus-response principle. According to this theory, a
certain behaviour is the result of different conditions as well as external factors. Behaviour under
this is is shaped through reinforcements which could be either positive or negative. Within Ritz,
positive reinforcements could be appropriate reward systems, whereas, negative reinforcements
could be either pay cuts or termination, depending on the result.
 Cognitivism:
Under this theory, the human mind is compared with a ”black box” which is explored
through various mental processes like memory, thinking, problem-solving, etc. Various methods
such as reading effective journals or hearing to specific instructions could be used as appropriate
aspects under this theory which could help in learning.
 Constructivism:
This theory governs the principle that people are self responsible to develop their
personal understanding of various different processes. In addition to this, there is a specified link
between various experiences where each new experience brings in new information which is
further constructed as a new meaning.
All these theories help employees as well as other individuals in The Ritz London to
learn various aspects and skills which are crucial for their effective growth and professional
development. Out of these three theories, the most appropriate theory to develop my skills would
be constructivism as it would help me learn from my own experience and would create a wider
scope for improvement.
However, there are different professional development approaches which could be
utilised as to ensure sustainable and timely future growth. These approaches are discussed below:
 Workshops:
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There are various aspects for which workshops or presentations are being held. The
agenda behind these events is to help enhance a particular skill within an individual. This is quite
an effective aspect where employees of Ritz could develop the skills they lack in through
appropriate mock trials and sessions.
 Feedback:
Another appropriate approach for employees to enhance their skill is through collecting
feedbacks. It could be gathered from seniors, customers or even colleagues who regularly
witness the performance. They are very helpful as all the associated members guide employees
related to their progress and what better alternative could they possibly attain to achieve the
desired outcome (Oliver, 2013).
 Research:
It is considered quite internal and one of the best professional development approaches
which requires an employee to reflect their daily practices and keep evaluating them overtime to
properly develop the same. In this method, they also analyse and research ways through which
improvement could be achieved.
TASK 3
P5. Construction of Development Plan
A professional development plan provides a framework for individuals in systematically
develop their skills and competencies as per the required standards of an organisation (Bradford
and Cullen, 2014). The Ritz London needs employees that perform at par with these standards
and effectively achieve their organisational goals by indulging themselves into professional
development.
Various skills such as problem-solving, management and communication skills are
essential for me to develop as it would enhance scope for improvement and appropriate
professional growth. For these skills, an appropriate development plan is mentioned below:
SKILLS
CURRENT
PROFICIEN
CY
TARGETED
PROFICIEN
CY
OPPORTUNI
TIES TIME EVIDENCE
Problem-
Solving
4 10 To enhance
this skill, I
2 Months The
effectiveness
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would be
undertaking
workshops
which would
enable me to
learn how to
handle
pressure and
various
situations
where problem
solving is
essential.
of
development
of this skill
would be
effectively
judged by
senior
managers who
would be
providing me
with effective
feedbacks
regarding my
shortcomings.
Communicati
on
6 10 Feedback is
one of the
most
appropriate
approach for
developing
this skill.
These
feedbacks
would in turn
help me in
analysing all
the various
aspects which
are required to
be developed
in terms of
1 month Progress in
this skill will
be judged by
my colleagues,
the staff
members and
seniors on the
basis of
instructions
provided by
me as well as
information
presented to
members of
the hotel.
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active
listening,
active
speaking, etc.
Management 5 10
Effective
research could
help me in
developing
this skill as I
could learn
different
elements
through
journals and
listening to
past managers
of how best to
manage a
hotel.
3 Months
Superior
managers
would be
judging
enhancement
of this skill
through
monitoring my
work and
effectively
marking areas
where there is
a scope for
improvement.
CONCLUSION
Thus, it is concluded from the above report that professional identity and practice are
crucial concepts related to professional development. Ongoing professional development
provides immense benefits to organisations and its employees. It is essential to determine
employer expectations which could help in hiring candidates that contribute effectively to
organisational success. Personal Skill Audit allows to gain an insight on required and actual
skills and competencies required for a job role. Lastly, development approaches helps in
structuring a development plan which aids to appropriate professional growth.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bradford, S. and Cullen, F., 2014. Positive for youth work? Contested terrains of professional
youth work in austerity England. International journal of adolescence and youth.
19(sup1). pp.93-106.
Murphy, B., 2017. Professional competence and continuing professional development in
accounting: professional practice vs. non-practice. Accounting Education. 26(5-6).
pp.482-500.
Oliver, C., 2013. Social workers as boundary spanners: Reframing our professional identity for
interprofessional practice. Social Work Education. 32(6). pp.773-784.
Robinson, R.N., Solnet, D.J. and Breakey, N., 2014. A phenomenological approach to hospitality
management research: Chefs’ occupational commitment. International Journal of
Hospitality Management. 43. pp.65-75.
Stierand, M. and Zizka, L., 2015. Reflecting on hospitality management education through a
practice lens. Quality Assurance in Education. 23(4). pp.353-363.
Tan, C.P., Van der Molen, H.T. and Schmidt, H.G., 2017. A measure of professional identity
development for professional education. Studies in Higher Education. 42(8). pp.1504-
1519.
Wald, H.S., 2015. Professional identity (trans) formation in medical education: reflection,
relationship, resilience. Academic Medicine. 90(6). pp.701-706.
Online
The Ritz London. 2019. [Online] Available Through: <https://www.lhw.com/hotel/The-Ritz-
London-London-England>
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