Professional Identity and Practice - Assignment

Professional Identity
and Practice

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Key benefits of ongoing professional development for different stakeholders within the
organisation..................................................................................................................................1
P2 Investigation of professional employer expectations of skills and competencies within the
organisation..................................................................................................................................2
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
P3 Assessment of own skills, abilities and competencies for a specific job role........................3
P4 Reviewing a range of learning theories and approaches which are used for personal and
professional development............................................................................................................4
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................6
P5 Construction of development plan in order to enhance chosen skills and competencies.......6
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................7
P6 Undertaking a job interview for a suitable service industry role............................................7
P7 Reviewing key strengths and weaknesses of an applied interview process.........................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFRENCES.................................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Professional identity can be described as the way in which individuals perceive their
career goals and attain growth. In order to achieve success it is very important for them to
acquire specific skills and characteristics so that all the tasks allotted at work place can be
accomplished (Baxter and Haycock, 2014). Main aim of this assignment is to build
understanding regarding requirements of professional identity for an individuals. The
organisation which is selected for this report is Casamia Restaurant which is mainly established
in Bristol, United Kingdom. It was founded by Mario Grimaldi in year 1967. This project covers
various topics such as importance of ongoing professional development, self directed learning,
assessment of own skills and competences. Along with this, formulation of professional
development plan within a specific work context is also covered under this report.
TASK 1
P1 Key benefits of ongoing professional development for different stakeholders within the
organisation
Overview of organisation: Casamia Restaurant was founded in year 1967 by Mario
Grimaldi which is mainly established in Bristol, United Kingdom. Currently it is operating its
business there successfully. All the dishes that are served in the restaurant are inspires by all 5
senses which are served in restaurants with seasonally changing decoration.
Ongoing professional development: It can be defined as an continuous process which
helps individuals to enhance their skills and characteristics. With the help of it top level
executives of Casamia restaurant can help staff members to work effectively and enhance their
ability to work appropriately. There are various benefits of ongoing professional development for
different stakeholders such as employees and employers (Dollarhide and Oliver, 2014). All the
benefits of it to them are described below:
Benefits to employees: There are various benefits of professional development for
employees as it guide them to achieve all their career goals. All of them are as follows:
 Increased employability: When employees in Casamia restaurant get chance of
professional development then it helps them to increase their skills which will result in
enhanced employability. With the help of it their worth within the organisation will be
increased and they can get higher compensation.
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 Future employment: On going professional development helps employees to get good
opportunities of employment in future. With the help of it staff members of Casamia
Restaurant can attain their career goals by increasing chances of getting better future
employment.
Benefits to employers: When employees get developed then employers may get benefited
due to this because it help to enhance skills of them. List of their benefits is as follows:
 Organisational brand image: When employees in Casamia Restaurant will get chance
of ongoing professional development then it will increase their engagement level in
organisational tasks which will result in good brand image. With the help of it higher
profits can be generated by employers in Casamia (Farrell, Payne and Heye, 2015).
 Skilled workforce: It is one of the major benefit of on going professional development
for employers of Casamia Restaurant as it results in enhanced skills of workforce. Highly
qualitative employees helps organisations to attain all their long as well as short term
goals.
Ongoing professional development helps to enhance skills of employees which beneficial
for them as well as their employers to attain all the business goals.
P2 Investigation of professional employer expectations of skills and competencies within the
organisation
In all the organisations employers expect some competencies and skills form their
employees and also set some standards for them which is required to be followed by staff
members in order to meet expectations of employers. Some of them are as follows:
Standards set by employers: All the standards which are set by employers in Casamia
from the workers are as follows:
 Appropriateness of appearance in specific contexts: In Casamia Restaurant employers
set standards for employees to be in appropriate appearance in specific contexts such as
an event or party conducted in the restaurant. It helps to establish good image of the
organisation in mind of clients. It is very important for all staff members to comply with
this standard in order to satisfy employers (Floyd and Morrison, 2014).
 Working responsibly and ethically: Employers of Casamia Restaurant also set standard
for workers to work ethically and responsibly so that they can accomplish all the allotted
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tasks successfully. With the help of it they will be able to establish good relation with
employers.
Skills expected by employers: In all the organisations employer expect various skills
from the employees. In Casamia they also have some expectations regarding qualities of workers
working in the restaurant. Some of them are described below:
 Hard Skills: It includes different qualities such as accounting, maths, use of technology,
cooking, statistics etc. All these skills vary according to job role and employees expect
them from the staff members working on specific job profile. With the help of such types
of characteristics employees can complete all the tasks effectively.
 Soft Skills: Such types of skills are basic qualities which are expected by employers in
Casamia Restaurant from all the employees as they will not be able to execute business
operations without them. These are self confidence, networking, communication,
delegation, creative thinking and initiative etc. With the helps of such characteristics they
can work effectively (Goodyear, Casey and Kirk, 2014).
TASK 2
P3 Assessment of own skills, abilities and competencies for a specific job role
Assessment of own skills is very important for all the individuals as it can help to
determine all the strengths and weaknesses. I am working as General manager in Casamia
Restaurants. For this purpose, two different types of models for self assessment are going to be
used by me to evaluate my own skills. Both of them are as follows:
Technical and self skills audit: It is a medium of assessing own skills which helps
individuals to analyse their own skills. It will also be used by me to evaluate my own capabilities
to work as a general manager in Casamia Restaurant. The audit is as follows:
Skills Good Average Bad
Self confidence ✔
Innovative thinking ✔
Decision making ✔
Problem solving ✔
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Coordination skills ✔
Communication skills ✔
Management abilities ✔
Personal SWOT: It is also a model of which is used for the purpose of self assessment in
which own strengths and weaknesses are assessed by individuals. As a general manager of
Casamia Restaurant I am required to analyse my own strong and weak points (Hall and
McGinity, 2015). All of them are as follows:
Strengths Weaknesses
 I am able to think innovatively which
helps me to find best ways to execute
business operations at Casamia
Restaurant.
 I am good in communication which is
beneficial for me to interact with all the
staff members effectively.
 As a general manager my management
abilities are weak which creates hurdles
for me to manage effectively.
 Weak decision making and problem
solving skills are weakness for me
because it affects my abilities form best
suitable decisions.
Opportunities Threats
 I am currently taking proper guidance
from superiors which can help me to
develop my skills to form best suitable
decisions.
 I have planned to take training from
experienced people so that my
management abilities can be enhanced.
 Weak skills of mine can leave negative
impact upon my ability to manage all
the work effectively.
 My career growth can get affected due
to weak skills of mine.
P4 Reviewing a range of learning theories and approaches which are used for personal and
professional development
There are various types of learning styles and approaches which could be used by
Casamia Restaurant for the purpose of personal and professional development. All of them are as
follows:
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Behaviourist theory: This is also known as behavioural psychology and it is based on
ideas that behaviour are acquired by conditioning. In simple term, behaviour theory explain
learning which is not more than acquisition of new behaviour that is based on environmental
conditions. Thus, training must be provided to the staff member of Casamia Restaurant to
understand different situation and condition in effective manner as well as behave according to
that. Although, it is learning theory which help in handling situations or conditions within
effective manner (Hensel, 2014).
Cognitive theory: It was introduced by Edward Tolman, according to him particular
person not only respond towards stimuli but also act on beliefs, attitude, thoughts, feeling as well
as strive towards goals. In relation of Casamia Restaurant, staff member can create cognitive
map within their mind which is simply imagination of external surroundings, preserves,
information gatherings and so on. So that, organism learn about objects or events on the basis of
meaning allotted to stimuli. Cognitive learning process is: Attention, observing, perception,
interpreting, organizing, memory, categorizing and forming generalizations.
VAK learning styles: Visual Auditory Kinesthetic is learning model which provide
simple way of understanding learning style. There are three mainly sensory receivers i.e., vision,
auditory and kinesthetic for determining individual's dominate as well as desirable learning style.
Although, no staff member of respective restaurant utilise any particular learning style, they
preferred all the three mention above. Moreover, learning style always not same within different
circumstance, it vary according to the situation. With the implementation of VAK learning style
staff members of Casamia Restaurant adopt several skills within effective manner as well as
result in accomplishing goals and objectives (VAK theory, 2019).
Gange's Nine Level of learning: This approach can be considered as a valuable
contributor when it comes to designing training activities within the organisation. This theory of
learning have been employed by Casamia Restaurant to make sure that employees are developed
on professional grounds through undertaking a checklist. The major elements of this learning
model are mentioned below briefly:
 Reception: This is the first level of learning where instructor tries to gather attention of
audience and preparing them for the learning to take place.
 Expectancy: The instructor at this level informs trainees about the aspects which they
need to learn along with suitable reason for this learning (Izadinia, 2015).
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 Retrieval: This level of learn emphasizes on comparison between the learning carried
out at the moment along with learning in the past. This feature will be helpful in
identifying the problems and experienced faced.
 Selective Perception: This level focuses on presentation and communication of
information appropriately. The infrastructure is recommended to use right channel and
medium which matches needs of trainees.
 Semantic Encoding: The trainer in this level must support their learning with different
approaches so that professional working in hospitality industry are able to grasp the
information ideally (McCrae, Askey‐Jones and Laker, 2014).
 Responding: This section in the learning model persuades trainees to share their
knowledge on the subject. This demonstration is carried out with a view to determine the
information gathered.
 Reinforcement: Reinforcement strategy is employed by trainer on personnels who are
not able to grasp or act according to the latest information offered.
 Retrieval: Tests and assessment are conducted at this stage so that learning could be
identified.
TASK 3
P5 Construction of development plan in order to enhance chosen skills and competencies
Current skills and
competencies
SMART objective Monitoring of
progress
Effectiveness of
personal
development plan
Problem solving skills I will try to strengthen
my problem solving
skills by
communicating with
top level managers and
take their guidance so
that I can improve this
skill. It can be
improved by me in
In order to measure
progress of problem
solving skill I will use
behaviourist theory
which can help me to
analyse my behaviour
and assess ability to
find appropriate
solutions for problems.
This personal
development plan is
effective to enhance
problem solving
skill because it will
help to take proper
guidance from top
executives and
enhance the skill.
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short term which is
around 3 months.
Decision making skills In order to improve my
decision making skills I
am required to take
proper guidance of my
superior at workplace
so that they can help
me to analyse the best
and worst decision and
enhance this skills. It
could be improved in 6
months.
Progress of this skill
will be measured with
the help of VAK
learning style in which
I will try to enhance
my ability form
effective decisions with
the help of different
learning styles.
Professional
development plan is
very effective for
improving decision
making skills as it
will help me to
interact with
superiors and ask
them to guide me to
form strategic
decisions.
Management abilities It is very important for
me as a general
manager to have
management abilities
but I am weak in this
skill. In order to alter
this quality of mine I
am planning to take
professional training so
that I can enhance my
capabilities to manage
all the tasks effectively.
It may take a long
period which is around
1 year to improve this
skill.
Progress of this skill
can be measured with
the help of learning
theory such as Gange's
instruction model
which helps to provide
training to the
employees for
professional
development.
This professional
development plan
will be beneficial
for me to improve
management
abilities as it will
help me to take
proper training and
develop
management
abilities.
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TASK 4
P6 Undertaking a job interview for a suitable service industry role
Job Advertisement
It can be refer as an announcement about job offering to inform people that certain job
position is available in company by different print and electronic media (Neary, 2014) Casamia
job advertisement is mention below.
Job Advertisement
General Manager required in Casamia, UK
Casamia hotel is one of biggest restaurant in the world as it provide qualitative service with best
staff in hospitality industry. We are looking for candidates for general manager post with
required skills and qualification to perform job effectively and efficiently.
Responsibilities
Managing daily business operations
Creating and managing budgets
Evaluating performance and productive
Directing and delegating task
Requirements
Masters in business administration
Strong leadership qualities
Excellent commination and interpersonal skills
Knowledge about different business functions
Please send resume at [e-mail] by 20th June,19
Job Specification
It is a well written document that includes employees specification to perform a job
(Thomson, 2014). It includes qualification, experience, skills, emotional characteristics etc.
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Job Title General Manager
Report to Chief Executive Officer
Roles &
Responsibilities
Managing daily business operations
Creating and managing budgets
Evaluating performance and productive
Directing and delegating task
Qualification Masters in business administration or Hotel Management
Title of the job General Manager
Date: 18/06/2019
Qualification required Essential Desirable Met
Masters in Hotel
Management
Masters in Business
Administration
English Fluency
Yes
Yes
Yes
Need of Experience
6 years experience in
hospitality industry with
repudiated company
Yes
Personal characteristics
& conduct
Leadership qualities
Communication skill
Interpersonal skill
Managed and organized
Yes
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Roles and
Responsibilities
Directing and managing
team
Training and
Development
Creating budgets for
business operations
Yes
Yes
Yes
Curriculum Vitae
Curriculum Vitae
Objective: To obtain a position in reputed company that enable me to use my academic
knowledge, strong organisational skill and my abilities.
Educational Qualification:
Course College/School Year Percentage/CGPA
Masters in Hotel
Management
Oxford University 2010-2012 7.08 CGPA
Graduation Harvard University 2007-2010 85.00%
12th William Perkin High
School
2007 82.00%
10th William Perkin High
School
2005 87.00%
Skills:
Communication skill
Leadership Skills
Positive attitude
Organized skills
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Job Experience:
Working experience as a general manager at Marriott hotel from 2012 to present.
Declaration:
I hereby declare that the given information to best of my knowledge.
Interview Question
 Tell something about yourself.
 What were your roles and responsibilities in previous organisation?
 Why are you looking for change?
Interview process
Recruitment: It is a process for attracting and stimulating candidates for vacant position
in an organisation. It is a positive process as organisation want to find prospective candidates
with required skills and qualification.
Short-listing: In this each and every candidate is evaluated on bases of their skills and
ability to identify which candidate best meet selection criteria for vacant post
Selecting: This step includes eliminating of candidates who does not match with the
selecting criteria (Webb, 2016).
P7 Reviewing key strengths and weaknesses of an applied interview process
In an organisation HR management conduct numerous activities that assist them in
analysing new talent on the basis of organisational requirement and need. For this they conduct
interview process that carry some strength and weaknesses as:
Interview Process Strengths Weaknesses
Recruiting This is an advantage for
organisation to attract new and
more creative talent in
organisation which leads to
improvement in overall
functioning of company.
This process is very time and
cost consuming as require high
knowledge to find and hire
right candidates
Short-listing In his process, HR manager This procedure take a specific
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can evaluate qualities of
individuals on the basis of
their organisational
requirement and need.
duration in order to short
listing a required candidate.
Selecting In the selection process, HR
manager can hire a specific
candidate who match with
selection criteria of firm in
order to serving for specific
job role.
This can be a negative or a
biased approach for those who
are not going to select for
specific job role (Wengrower,
2015).
CONCLUSION
From the above project report it has been concluded that professional identity is very
important for all the individuals as it help them to reach their career goals. There are various
types of self assessment techniques such as personal audit and SWOT analysis. Both of them
help of identify weak as well as strong skills. There are different types of skills and competencies
such as Hard and Soft which are expected by employers from their employees in order to execute
all the business operations. Professional development plan is a technique which helps to develop
all weak skills with the help of proper training and guidance from experienced person.
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REFRENCES
Books and Journals:
Baxter, J. A. and Haycock, J., 2014. Roles and student identities in online large course forums:
Implications for practice. The International Review of Research in Open and
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Dollarhide, C. T. and Oliver, K., 2014. Humanistic professional identity: The transtheoretical tie
that binds. The Journal of Humanistic Counseling. 53(3). pp.203-217.
Farrell, K., Payne, C. and Heye, M., 2015. Integrating interprofessional collaboration skills into
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Floyd, A. and Morrison, M., 2014. Exploring identities and cultures in inter-professional
education and collaborative professional practice. Studies in continuing education.
36(1). pp.38-53.
Goodyear, V.A., Casey, A. and Kirk, D., 2014. Tweet me, message me, like me: using social
media to facilitate pedagogical change within an emerging community of
practice. Sport, Education and Society. 19(7). pp.927-943.
Hall, D. and McGinity, R., 2015. Conceptualizing teacher professional identity in neoliberal
times: Resistance, compliance and reform. education policy analysis archives. 23. p.88.
Hensel, D., 2014. Typologies of Professional Identity Among Graduating Baccalaureate‐
Prepared Nurses. Journal of Nursing Scholarship. 46(2). pp.125-133.
Izadinia, M., 2015. A closer look at the role of mentor teachers in shaping preservice teachers'
professional identity. Teaching and Teacher Education. 52. pp.1-10.
McCrae, N., Askey‐Jones, S. and Laker, C., 2014. Merely a stepping stone? Professional identity
and career prospects following postgraduate mental health nurse training. Journal of
psychiatric and mental health nursing. 21(9). pp.767-773.
Neary, S., 2014. Professional identity: What I call myself defines who I am.
Thomson, D. I., 2014. Teaching formation of professional identity. Regent UL Rev.. 27. p.303.
Webb, S. A., 2016. Professional identity and social work. The routledge companion to the
professions and professionalism. pp.355-370.
Wengrower, H., 2015. Widening our lens: The implications of resilience for the professional
identity and practice of dance movement therapists. Body, Movement and dance in
Psychotherapy. 10(3). pp.153-168.
Online
VAK theory. 2019. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.learning-styles-online.com/overview/>
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