Importance of Ongoing Professional Development

The report emphasizes that employees should possess proper knowledge and skills for running an organization. Ongoing professional development is required within staff to enhance and improve their skills, knowledge, and experiences. This provides benefits to all stakeholders in achieving organizational goals and objectives.

Professional Identity and
Practice

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1 Benefits of on-going professional development for different stakeholders...........................3
P2 Investigate professional employer expectations of skills and competencies.........................4
TASK 2...........................................................................................................................................5
P3 Assess own abilities, skills and competences for a specific job role.....................................5
P4 Review a range of learning theories and approaches used for personal and professional
development processes................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Professional identity is referred as professional self idea which is based on beliefs,
motives, attributes, experiences and values (Clarke and et. al., 2015). It is very important for
individual to have skills and knowledge in order to run their business and operations. The
organisation prefers highly skilled and capable employees for their firm to carry out work. The
report is divided into two parts which includes reflective essay and self assessment. Present
report is based on Marriott hotel which was founded in 1927 at US. This assignment covers
importance of on-going professional development and self directed to enhance career
opportunities and professional identity. It also highlights own skills, competences and learning
development approaches.
TASK 1
P1 Benefits of on-going professional development for different stakeholders
On-going professional development is also known as Continuing Professional
Development (CPD). It is the procedure for tracking as well as documenting knowledge, skills
and experience which has gained through formal and informal working and initial training
(Davey, 2013). It is type of record which explains learning and experience and then applied in
practical life. CPD is used as on-going process for maintaining, documenting and developing
own professional knowledge and skills (What is Continuing Professional Development (CPD),
2019). The skills is learned or gained from courses, training and from on job work. On-going
professional development is useful for directing career and keeping eyes on respective goals. It is
very important for employees of Marriott Hotel to have such training as it helps in improving and
enhancing their skills and knowledge for better performance. The role of on-going professional
development are as follows:
Accomplishment of goals and objectives- If staffs of Marriott Hotel can develop their
skills and knowledge with help of on-going professional development then they achieve goals
and objectives of business. This leads in better work performance and beneficial for organisation.
Become Good Employees- Through on-going professional development, employees can
build their skills and knowledge for work performance. This can lead them for incentives, bonus
and others.

Apart from this, there are various benefits of on-going professional development for
different stakeholders such as employee and employer. This can help them to become more
confident and capable for better work performance and increase productivity. The benefits which
are provided to employee and employer stakeholders from on-going professional development
are:
Benefits to Employee- This on-going professional development can help to build
credibility and confidence among employees. This can helps in building credibility due to
gaining skill, knowledge and certifications on continue basis. From their skills, employees get
job satisfaction and organisation can invest money for skill development of workforce. Thus, this
leads to reduce employee turnover that helps in motivation and satisfaction.
Benefits to Employers- The on-going professional development can provide benefits to
employers for working in Marriott Hotel. They focus on providing industrial and organisational
knowledge and skills which helps in improving their capability and ability. As employers
provide guideline to employee for work performance thus it is very important for them to have
sufficient knowledge for accomplishment of goal and objectives.
P2 Investigate professional employer expectations of skills and competencies
The firm and employer both have expectations of skills and competencies when an new
employee is hired for given profile. As the main aim of business is to accomplishment of goals
and objectives and earn maximum gains and profits (Hoeve, Jansen and Roodbol, 2014). In
context of hospitality industry, there is expectation of professional employer for skills and
competencies are described below:
Flexibility- As hospitality industry has to perform different task and flexible in nature so
it is very important for employer to hire those candidates who can work under such conditions.
When employee are working in such industry any unexpected situations arise in organisation and
they have to be ready for it. It is the expectation of Marriott Hotel employer to prefer such
candidates who can work under any circumstance when changes occurs due to dynamic nature of
environment.
Multitasking- There are multiple departments and tasks which need to be performed
under hospitality industry. The employer has high expectation to hire those candidates who can
perform multiple task at a time for achievement of goals and objectives (Johnson and et. al.,

2012). It includes work of handling guests, filling out paper work, looking after kitchen,
providing all facilities and other of arrival and departure guests.
Adaptability- There are various changes which took place in hospitality industry. It is
responsibility of employee to work working and achieve goals and objectives of business. It is
the expectation of employer to hire adaptable candidate who can easily adapt dynamic
environment for betterment of organisation. In Marriott Hotel changes are taking places which
need to be adopted by employees for fulfilling need and demand of consumers or guest.
Creating Connections- The hospitality industry mainly focus on providing services and
comfort to their consumers working under it such as Marriott Hotel. This can be gained if
employee have skills, knowledge, ability of creating and building connections with their
consumers, vendors, guests, staff and others (McNeil, Mitchell and Parker, 2013). It is the
expectation of employer to hire those candidate who have ability to build and create relationship
or connection with their stakeholders.
TASK 2
P3 Assess own abilities, skills and competences for a specific job role
In order to know about my abilities, skills and competence, personal audit is conducted
which helps in identifying strengths and weaknesses (Larson and et. al., 2013). The career
development can be developed with help of personal audit conducted by individuals. Here, I am
conducting my personal audit for Chef in Marriott Hotel and rating are given out of 10 which are
described below:
Skills Rating by me Rating by others Remarks
Flexibility Nature 8 9 Flexibility Nature is my
strength
Multitasking 9 7 Multitasking is my strength
Adaptability 7 5 Adaptability is my weakness
Creating Connection 9 9 Creating Connection is my
strength
Problem Solving Skills 6 4 Problem Solving Skills is my

weaknesses
Language Skills 5 6 Language Skills is my
weaknesses
Time Management Skills 7 9 Time Management Skills is
my weaknesses
After identification of strengths and weaknesses, it is significant for me to identify future
threats and opportunities. In order to determine all these requirements, I have conducted my
SWOT analysis which is strategic planning that can help individuals in identifying own skills
and knowledge. This is explained below:
Strength  My strength is flexible in nature as it is important for me while
working in Marriott Hotel because of dynamic environment as changes
took place frequently.
 I am multitasking as I can perform many task at a time which is very
much required in Marriott Hotel which can help to achieve their goals
and objectives.
 I can easily create connection with other stakeholder that leads to rise
in profitability and productivity of Marriott Hotel.
Weakness  Adaptability is my weakness as I cannot easily adopt the situation
which arise in Marriott Hotel.
 Problem solving is my big weaknesses as I cannot handle issues and
problems arise in respective organisation due to afraid of situations.
 Language skills is also my weakness as I lack multiple language for
hotel industry. People from different parts of world come to visit and
stay at hotel. I lack this skills while communicating with guests.
 My time management is very poor as I am unable to manage my time
for important and less important work.
Opportunities  Due to my flexibility nature I can easily handle all type of work which
is biggest career opportunity for me.
 As I can perform multi task at a time so I can easily start my own
business. Being a manager have to handle more work to achieve set

goals and objectives.
 It is great opportunity for me because of my building connection skills
as I can easily connect with people which is benefits for me while
starting my own business.
Threats  Adaptability and time management are major threats for me. In order
to work in hospitality industry these are required most to carry out
work in effective and efficient manner.
P4 Review a range of learning theories and approaches used for personal and professional
development processes
For personal and professional development process, there are various theories which can
be used by hospitality industry (Parker and Doel, 2013). Here, they have used Kolb's learning
theory which was developed in 1984 by David Kolb. It is regarded as renowned and used
learning theory. According to this model, learning style of people start because of life
experiences, genetic, need and demand of current environment (Kolb's Theory of Learning
Styles, 2019). They are described below:
Diverging- The individuals who are creative, brainstorming, emotional and coming with
new and updated thoughts, ideas and opinions. The person possessing diverging style is called
diverger who are artist, counsellors, musicians and people having interest in arts, humanities and
others.
Converging- The individuals having such learning style have capabilities in field of
active experimentation and abstract conceptualization. They are highly skilled having practical
implementation of ideas and opinions. They evaluate own competences, skills, development,
professional skills for particular job. These type of people never give up and give their best in
any situation arise in front of them (Pillen, Den Brok, and Beijaard, 2013).
Accommodating- These learning style people are strong in active experimentation and
concrete experience. The person learning accommodating style is called accommodator that is
opposite to assimilator style. They believe in performing experiments and carrying plan in
context to real life situations. It is the most risk taker style out of all. If any situation arise in

organisation then they have to use trail and error approach. Individuals who is technical and
action oriented jobs such as marketing and sales.
Assimilating- The person who are skilled in reflective observation and abstract
conceptualization. They possess theoretical models and understanding strengths for work
performance. People working in maths and basic science have such learning style in order to
achieve goals and objectives. This requires both research work and planning work to perform
any task.
This theory is best and suitable for Marriott Hotel for implementation of professional and
personal development skills of working force. It is very important to improve and enhance skills,
knowledge and experience of employees for better achievement of goals and objectives (Trede,
Macklin and Bridges, 2012).
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be summarised that for running organisation, employees
should possess proper knowledge and skills. Here, on-going professional development is
required within staff for enhancing and improving their skills, knowledge and experiences. This
provide benefits to all stakeholder for achievement of goals and objectives. When any candidate
is hiring then employer expect some competence so that work can be performed in better
manner. Personal skill audit can help to enhance strengths and improve weaknesses.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Clarke, C. and et. al., 2015. Sustaining professional identity in practice following role-emerging
placements: Opportunities and challenges for occupational therapists. British Journal of
Occupational Therapy. 78(1). pp.42-50.
Davey, R., 2013. The professional identity of teacher educators: Career on the cusp?.
Routledge.
Hoeve, Y. T., Jansen, G. and Roodbol, P., 2014. The nursing profession: public image, self‐
concept and professional identity. A discussion paper. Journal of Advanced Nursing.
70(2). pp.295-309.
Johnson, M. and et. al., 2012. Professional identity and nursing: contemporary theoretical
developments and future research challenges. International nursing review. 59(4).
pp.562-569.
Larson, J. and et. al., 2013. The formation of professional identity in nursing. Nursing education
perspectives. 34(2). p.138.
McNeil, K. A., Mitchell, R. J. and Parker, V., 2013. Interprofessional practice and professional
identity threat. Health Sociology Review. 22(3). pp.291-307.
Parker, J. and Doel, M. eds., 2013. Professional social work. Learning Matters.
Pillen, M. T., Den Brok, P. J. and Beijaard, D., 2013. Profiles and change in beginning teachers'
professional identity tensions. Teaching and Teacher Education. 34. pp.86-97.
Trede, F., Macklin, R. and Bridges, D., 2012. Professional identity development: a review of the
higher education literature. Studies in Higher Education. 37(3). pp.365-384.
Wenger-Trayner, E. and et. al., 2014. Learning in landscapes of practice: Boundaries, identity,
and knowledgeability in practice-based learning. Routledge.
Online
What is Continuing Professional Development (CPD). 2019. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.jobs.ac.uk/careers-advice/managing-your-career/1318/what-is-continuing-
professional-development-cpd>.
Kolb's Theory of Learning Styles. 2019. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.verywellmind.com/kolbs-learning-styles-2795155>