Professional Identity and Practice

This document discusses the growth and development opportunities in the hospitality industry, focusing on the requirements for self-development. It explores the skills required for various job roles and the benefits of personal and professional development. The document also discusses learning theories and personal abilities, and provides a comprehensive developmental plan to achieve career goals in the industry.

Running head: PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY AND PRACTICE
PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY AND PRACTICE
Name of the Students
Name of the University
Author Note

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Part A: Case Study and Report
Introduction to organization
The study considers the growth and development opportunities present in the hospitality
industry. Subsequently, the study focuses on the requirements that have to be met to ensure
proper self-development. The organization that is being considered EFES Turkish restaurant
located in London. The restaurant offers authentic Turkish cuisines to the customers which is
very rare in the UK. It can be compared to any other five star dining facilities in the city and
offers highly reviewed food services. The hospitality industry is a sector that requires essential
growth capabilities of the individuals that are willing to make a career. The restaurant offers
much opportunity for professional and personal growth. The restaurant has quite a long history
and was first opened in 1974 by Kazim Akkus (Efes Restaurant 2019). Another branch of the
restaurant came into being in 1990. The restaurant believes in the motto of serving good food.
The long history of the owner in the kitchens of various restaurants gives him the required
expertise to effectively run the business.
Investigation of skills required
The organization is currently looking for people that can improve the customer service
experience. The restaurant is currently looking for energetic young and career oriented
candidates that can improve the customer service that is provided by the restaurant. The
restaurant currently has job openings for waiters, cooks, reservation oriented workers and other
important posts. It is important to consider the job responsibilities in terms of both the growth
opportunities and the development of career. All the post do not offer the same growth
opportunities. For example- the role of a waitress holds more significance as a career building

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opportunity than that of a receptionist. Hence, it is important to choose the role accordingly. The
performance potential of workers can greatly improve in the organization as a large number of
previous workers have long experience in the hotel industry spanning many decades. Dedicated
work is required as the restaurant has long working hours. The candidates should hence be
equipped and willing to work late. The job role needs to be considered seriously as the waiters
are one of the most important people for the operations of restaurants. Quick understanding of
the customer’s queries and needs is required. This increases the performance requirements on the
part of the people that would be selected to work for the organization. Good amount of cross
cultural knowledge would also be required as the restaurant is traditionally rooted in Turkish
culture. Essential levels of cultural communication would be required.
Professional and personal development benefits evaluation
It becomes important that a personal development plan is undertaken effectively in this
situation. My name is Florin Olariu and I would like to work as a waiter for Efes Restaurant. I
am focused towards achieving essential growth in the hospitality industry. In order for the same I
would need to form a systematic plan for growth. I would firstly need to improve upon my
current skills towards being an efficient water. Later I would like to seek growth in the Efes
Restaurant. I would like to get promoted to a higher designation within 1 year of my
employment. In order to achieve the same professional and personal development would be very
much important. My ultimate aim is to start my own restaurant. Without proper knowledge and
experience in the industry it would be impossible to achieve. The hospitality industry is a fast
growing industry and needs to be approached in a professional manner. Personal development
would help to assess the capabilities that I have in order to grow in the industry. I need to find
my essential strengths and crucial weaknesses. Knowing the same I could, as I work in the

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industry use the strengths to overcome the weaknesses. The benefits I would receive from the
professional and personal development can potentially determine my career path in the future. I
would use the self-evaluation maintenance model for evaluation of my own capabilities. I would
watch a person as my ideal in this case this would be my uncle. Further, I would want to use the
self-assessment model.
Learning Theories
The theories of learning provide essential learning framework that can help people to
grow as persons and professionals. The learning theories can be applied on various environments
to improve the knowledge of the learner. Moreover, in the context of hospitality it becomes
important that learning theories that are most suitable are used for enhancing personal growth
prospects. I would prefer to use the learning theories of behaviorist approach and the cognitive
constructivist approach. These are the best suited for my given industry. Behaviorist learning is
concerned with the conditioning of the individual according to the experiences that the given
individual gains from the working environment (Resnick 2017). The cognitive learning approach
is concerned with the formation of deep ideas based on the recent learnings that have been
developed over the already known learning. These two learning processes would greatly help me
to achieve my goals in life. The hospitality industry is a place where growth can be achieved
through learning experiences from the ground level operations. The industry requires people to
explore various job roles. The situational elements play a large part in shaping the individual
growth. I would like to use the experiences as essential learning areas (Yang and Wong 2018).
The development should take place through learning oriented activities as this is the only way
one can grow in almost all the industries that a person can work in. I would obviously need to

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improve upon my role flexibility. The application of learning theories are important as they make
it easier to find stronger and effective ways of learning things.
Personal Abilities: Critical Evaluation
The personal abilities that I have are goal oriented approach, quick learning, positive and
development oriented mindset, honesty, integrity and inclination towards gaining knowledge. I
consider myself to be a motivated individual and I am inclined to learn and grow through even
the most difficult situations that I come across in the given hospitality industry. I am a strong and
flexible worker. This means that I can easily change my working styles to suit that of the
operations of a restaurant such as Efes. I am a good natured human being who is willing to help.
I am an individual who is always thinking about the company and the profitability of the
company first. I have no problem working in long shifts. I believe that if I use my optimal
growth potential I can be an optimally effective worker. I am practical and tend to look at things
from various angles. This would help me to understand customer requirements in better ways. I
would be able to easily understand the expectation of the organization, expectations of the
customers and the expectations of the industry. I have strong communication levels that would
help me in every step in this industry as communication is a very important factor in the
hospitality industry. Altogether my abilities are focused towards achieving positive results, be it
in my personal life or professional life.
Best developmental approaches

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Developmental approaches become much important in achieving essential growth. They
can help people focus more on the intended outcomes that they want to achieve. In the context of
the work that I am about to undertake, the best development approaches will be cognitive
developmental approach. In this approach a person acquires knowledge through the experiences
and learnings gained from the surrounding environment. This approach helps to develop the
cognitive skills and abilities. Behavioral development is also a very important growth path. The
approach focuses towards developing the behavioral aspects of personality. The behavioral
changes within a person helps to understand how the person is able to conform to the
requirements of the work and change his/her behavior accordingly. Behaviorist learning is
concerned with the conditioning of the individual according to the experiences that the given
individual gains from the working environment (Ashby and Valentin 2017). The same learning is
utilized in the behavioral development. It is important that the behavioral and cognitive
developmental approaches are used as the industry facilitates essential learning only through the
utilization of this process. Another important factor is self-development. Without proper self-
development, it becomes very difficult to sustain the things that have been learnt in the working
process. Self-development helps to easily put whatever has been learnt into practice (Jones,
Hillier and Comfort 2016).
Conclusion
The implications point to the fact that the development opportunities in the industry are
fairly large. People can develop essential learning from the entire process of being employed in
the hospitality industry. It was found that the hospitality industry requires essential motivational
approaches to tackle the challenges that are very much part of it. The conclusions point to the
fact that I would require to use my abilities at full potential if I am to reach the heights that I

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would like to achieve. The industry requires good adaptability, good knowledge, efficient service
delivery, work flexibility and higher levels of engagement with the customers and the
management. I would need to perform according to the requirements and stay motivated
throughout the process.

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Part B- Developmental Plan
Goals and objectives
The objectives and the goals are intended towards achieving best outcomes from the
professional life in the hospitality sector. One of the most significant primary objective would be
to get selected as the waiter at the Efes Restaurant. After being selected for the job role it
becomes important that the performance levels are improved. I would like to learn from my
peers, co-workers and my managers about the standards that need to be maintained for being
effective in the job. Moving forward, it would be very important that I achieve high levels of
competencies that would help me to be optimally successful at the designated job role. Upon
achieving this distinction I would like to be promoted to a higher job role. Ultimately I would
like to attain the position of at least the assistant manager throughout the duration of my
employment in the Efes restaurant. I would like to get employed in other restaurants as per the
opportunities that I get. I would like to work for a large fife star hotel in the future. My ultimate
goal would be to open my own restaurant after spending a significant amount of time in the
hospitality industry.
Targets
 Acquiring the right knowledge, competency, skills, service levels and other important
professional strengths to improve the potential for getting effective job roles in the
hospitality industry
 Nurture my talent further after being employed in the restaurant and keep on developing
my skills and competency levels
 Achieve promotion within the very first year in the restaurant

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 Achieve, subsequent promotions to reach a respectable position in the restaurant
 Providing the performance levels that are at par with the norms of performance in the
industry
 Developing effective communication with the peers and guiding them to become better
performing individuals at every level of the job
 Focusing on overachieving the targets that are set before me within 3 to 4 months of
service
 Learn more about the things in restaurant operations that are beyond my job roles to gain
essential knowledge of the industry
 Developing essential learning about the various aspects that are connected with the varied
job profiles
 Understanding how the industry works and gain experience about the required leadership
skills for future utilization
 Getting promoted to the rank of the Assistant Manager within a time span of 5 to 6 years
 Gaining enough knowledge of the industry to open my own restaurant in the distant
future
Strategies
It is very important that the strategies are effectively placed to help in the essential
professional and personal development. I would not benefit much from simply being a waiter for
the Efes Restaurant without achieving growth for a long time. I need to grow further in life and
for the same I would need to have a growth oriented professional attitude. Learning theories that
I have previously discussed can help me to achieve the growth that I want in the restaurant as
well as the industry. For the long run development, I would rely on the strategies of Cognitive

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development and behavioral development. Both of these strategies would be used towards
enhancing my performance potential in the industry. The knowledge that I would gather would
be done through cognitive development, thereby acquiring essential knowledge from the
surroundings. The same would be used towards improving the behavioral changes. The value of
the different aspects in the professional life would be understood greatly through the behavioral
changes. Additionally, self-development would be an important aspect that can help to achieve
essential growth in my professional life. In this strategy I would also incorporate the aspects of
effective communication. The entire development process would be very much dependent on
communication as it would help me to interact more freely and effectively with the people that
are close to me. I would become an efficient and effective person.
Learning outcomes
 To understand the standards that are required to perform at professional levels in the
hospitality industry
 To understand the implications about the various aspects that govern individual growth in
the hospitality industry
 Developing essential communication levels that help in keeping up with higher levels of
service quality that provide satisfaction to the customers
 To develop myself as an optimally efficient person with regards to the hospitality
industry
 To develop essential knowledge about the various areas of productive areas of the
organization
 To know as much about the industry that helps in the understanding of customer
expectations

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 To gain as much knowledge of the industry to help others to grow
 To develop applicable knowledge about the industry and focus towards achieving
essential goals
Training requirements
I would definitely require training as there are a lot of areas that I have identified that
need to be essentially developed. Training is firstly required in the area of customer service. The
customer service is an important part of the training requirement as it helps to provide better
customer satisfaction. I would need training about the cultural aspects of Turkish food. Cross
cultural training is an important activity in the hospitality industry. This is mainly as large hotels
cater to global guests. It becomes important that effective training takes place in order to
facilitate my learning of the work as well as the industry (Kandampully, Zhang and Bilgihan
2015). I will require training on the aspects of communication and customer interactions. This
can help me to understand the requirements of the customers better. At the same time
communications training will help me to develop essential levels of communication abilities with
both the management and my peers. Service training is important factor as this can help me to
understand the norms of service in hospitality industry.

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References
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http://efesgroup.co.uk/about/
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