Professional Identity and Practice

This report analyzes the concept of professional identity and practice within the context of Hilton Hotel. It examines the benefits of ongoing professional development for both employees and employers, analyzes employer expectations of professional skills and competencies, and constructs a personal development plan to enhance chosen skills. The report also includes a detailed review of a job interview process, highlighting its strengths, weaknesses, obstacles, and challenges.

PROFESSIONAL
IDENTITY AND
PRACTICE

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
P1 Benefits of on going professional development to the employees and employers in the
company ......................................................................................................................................1
P2 Employer expectations of professional skills and competencies............................................1
Abilities:.......................................................................................................................................4
P5 Construction of a professional development plan to enhance chosen skills and competences
within a specific work context.....................................................................................................5
P6 Job interview in a controlled environment.............................................................................7
P7 Review of key strengths and weaknesses of the job interview process..................................9
Evaluation of job interview process emphasising on the obstacles and the challenges.............10
Detailed and coherent critical reflection of interview process and abilities during the process10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Professional identity and practice is referred as the combination of understanding, beliefs
and attitude regarding a person's professional role at the time of carrying out work based task. It
includes role, responsibilities and values of an individual while continuing a profession. This
assignment is based on Hilton hotel which offers all services to its users. It is a global hotel
which is spread around 85 countries in the world (Zinn and Goldsby, 2014). This report will
include the advantages of professional development for various shareholder's. Professional
workers exceptions regarding their ability and skills are also described. Approaches for personal
and development process along with capabilities and skills for a particular role is described.
Besides this, a plan of development to improve the skills is made. A job interview is held at last
and strength and weaknesses linked with interview are calculated.
MAIN BODY
P1 Benefits of on going professional development to the employees and employers in the
company
On-going professional development will allow the management and workers of Hilton
hotel and resort to enjoy the following benefits -
 The development process will benefit the employees of Hotel Hilton by enhancing their
skills and ability according to the standards set (Avalos, 2011) This will improve the
working capacity of an individual and increases overall productivity which will maximise
the profit of the firm.
 It also helps an individual to sustain in the organisation for long run. This process will
create new opportunities for the employees working in Hilton.
P2 Employer expectations of professional skills and competencies
It is the responsibility of an individual to perform better so that the entity can attain its
goals. Every employer of Hilton hotel and resorts also have some below expectations of skills
from their team -
 High confidence – The employer and the management expects from their employees to
show high confidence at the time of performing their work. Positive attitude will be
developed in an individual having high confidence. This will posses them to achieve the
organisational goals on time.
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 Willingness to learn – It is identified that employer of Hilton hotel expects that the
workers working for them are willing to learn new skills. This will help them to satisfy
the wants of their consumers and the staff will provide best services and facilities to them
to attract the customers to make them visit repeatedly. This will also increase the brand
image of the organisation(Hallam, 2012).
 Cooperation and coordination – For effective business operations, it is important for the
staff of Hilton hotel and resorts to coordinate with each other so that operations can be
performed in an effective and efficient manner. Cooperation is required between both
employer and employee to avoid issues in management and to run the activities smoothly.
P3 Role of ongoing professional development in an organisation and access skill and
competencies for a specific job role
Hilton hotels and resorts is a full service hotel based in America. The Founder of
organisation was Conrad Hilton and founded in 1919 and headquartered in United States. The
hotel uses location strategy and operates near airports, city centres, vacation destinations etc. to
attract both business travellers and leisure customers. It gives special facilities such as digital
check-ins, free Wi-Fi etc. For achieving the pre-determined targets, it is important for a person to
learn latest aspects. This will enhance their skills and leads to earn experience as a professional.
HR manager of the hotel need to perform its roles and responsibilities so that they can be
identified as professionals. Continuous development will appraise the worker to perform better.
Thus, following is the role of on-going professional development with regards of Hilton hotel
and resorts -
 An individual is hired to do their business activities with predefined quality so that the
ability of an individual act as hurdle in the success of an organisation (Huston, 2013) .
 This will ensure that the employees of Hilton are improving their skills continuously so
that they can bring innovation and satisfy the customers requirement.
 The crucial role of ongoing professional development is to gain experiences. It will make
the individual, an expertise to deal with complexity.
In this context, my aim is to become manager in Hilton Hotel. But for these I need some skills
and competencies which will differ me from my competitors. Analysis of my skills and
competencies are given below -
Skills
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 High confidence – I will rate myself with 9 out of 10 because I have high confidence
and thus, I do not face much difficulty while working. I also encourages my co-workers
to keep positive attitude while working so that they can also complete their task on time.
 Willingness to learn- I will rate myself 9 out of 10 here as I have a slight incline
towards learning new and different things that will help me in performing and achieving
my goals.
 Coordination and co-operation: here, I will rate myself 5 out of 10 as I am not a team
player and face lots of issues while working in a team. This happens because I am not
comfortable while working in a team.
Competences -
 Time Management- here, I will rank myself 8 out of 10 because I am always on time
and complete my work in prescribed time.
 Customer Service: here, I will rank myself 9 out of 10 as I regularly interacts with
customers and try to fulfil their needs as much as I can.
 Leadership Skills: here, I will rank myself 6 out of 10 as I can't dictate a way to my
employees and suggest them with the right direction.
Systematic evaluation of own skills, abilities and competences using appropriate methods and
techniques
To rank my talents and capabilities I have prepared a personal skill audit, so, that I can
work more efficiently. Here's the table:
Personal Skill Audit
Learning Skills Target Proficiency Existing Proficiency Gap
Skills:
High confidence
Willingness to learn
Coordination
Cooperation
10 8 2
10 9 1
10 5 5
10 5 5
Abilities:
Team work
Target Proficiency Existing Proficiency
10 5 5
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Research and
analysis
10 9 1
Competencies:
Time management
Customer service
Leadership skills
Target Proficiency Existing Proficiency
10 8 2
10 9 1
10 6 4
P4 Review a range of learning theories and approaches used for personal and professional
development processes
Because of continuous change in demand of customer, it is important for an individual
related to hospitality sector to have skills of both personal and professional. The below are some
learning theories and approaches -
 Learning cycle theory -
Kolb's learning theory – According to this theory, learning consists of four level process which
is essential for the person to earn knowledge from each experiences (Jasper, 2011). Learning is a
continuous process in which creative ideas are applied in a repetitive form so that improvements
required can be implemented in the operation of Hilton hotel. This theory consists of various
aspects which are concrete experience; in which individual is observed on experiences, reflective
observation; in which reflection of experience is required before decision making, abstract
experimentation; in this stage, new ideas can be introduced regarding business by the workers of
Hilton, and the last stage is active experimentation. Individual take there own decisions with the
help of past experiences to solve the problems of Hilton hotel and resorts.
VARK model: This model states that there are four types of learners namely, Auditory,
Reading, Visual, Kinaesthetic learners. This model is used in the Hilton Hotel so that the
employees in here can improve their skills in a way they want. They can learn the strategy they
want to implement and learn from it.
P4 Review a range of learning theories and approaches used for personal and professional
development processes
Learning cycle theory -
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Kolb's learning theory – According to this theory, learning consists of four level process which
is essential for the person to earn knowledge from each experiences. Learning is a continuous
process in which creative ideas are applied in a repetitive form so that improvements required
can be implemented in the operation of Hilton hotel (John Wiley & Sons.Cooke, 2012). This
theory consists of various aspects which are concrete experience; in which individual is observed
on experiences, reflective observation; in which reflection of experience is required before
decision making, abstract experimentation; in this stage, new ideas can be introduced regarding
business by the workers of Hilton, and the last stage is active experimentation. Individual take
there own decisions with the help of past experiences to solve the problems of Hilton hotel and
resorts.
P5 Construction of a professional development plan to enhance chosen skills and competences
within a specific work context
To highlight my abilities and talents a Personal development plan is prepared which is stated
below :
Target Action to achieve Evidence of
completion
Target date
To maintain a
effective relationship
with the customers and
employees to develop
high assurance level
 To spend
more time in
understanding
the customers
taste and
working
accordingly.
 Develop and
analyse more
interactive
skills
Customers will
recognize me,
according to my post
in the organisation and
address me by my
name (McNiff, 2012)
Within 60 days
To make the learning
process better
 Analysing and
finding out
about the new
To have a thorough
knowledge about the
organisation's various
Within 100 days
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skills,which
can be learned
via journals,
books,magazin
es and establish
them in the
workings
(Mwalongo,
2011).
rules and regulations
and the decisions
made.
To have more
motivation at work
 Try to
complete each
and every job
assigned within
the limited
period and in
efficient
manner .
Completing the job in
the prescribed time
period.
Within 150 days
Detailed development plan that applies underpinning learning and development theory
Serial
no.
Learning
objective
Current
proficien
cy
Targe
ted
profic
iency
Development opportunities Time scale
1 Be more
confident
8 10 I am confident enough, but, I need
to be more confident, as it will help
me in giving a more organised and
better performance, also, it will
help me in facing huge problems
without much effort.
1 to 2 months
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2 More
willingness to
learn
9 10 I am a fast learner and I am always
ready to learn new things but I
need to work and create more
better skills so that I can be a better
motivator and guide my employees
more effectively and efficiently.
2 to 3 months
3 Coordination 5 10 My skills to work in a team or a
group is low as I am not a team
player. But, I am willing to change
that as I will try to interact with my
co-employees to improve my
communication skills.
6 to 7 months
4 Cooperation 5 10 I have low tolerance in adjusting
with someone while doing
work,but, I am ready to change that
and I'll do that by giving more
importance to everybody's opinion
rather than just following my
assumptions .
3 months
P6 Job interview in a controlled environment
Job Interview Process is a process of hiring a new employee. It is a complex process as it
contains various steps, such as, posting of availability of job in various platforms like,
newspaper, online portal, etc, writing the description about the job, conducting different rounds
of interviews, hiring the right candidate, making them aware about the organisation's working
and many more steps which makes it a tangled procedure (Perry, 2012). In the case of Hilton
hotel, there several steps from which an candidate has to go through as if the wrong person will
be hired, then, they will limit the potential of the hotel and all this will be considered as a time
waste. The steps in this process are:
Job Portfolio
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Organisation: Hilton Hotel
Division: Front desk Department
Job Title: Manager
Job Location: Crawley, London, UK
Working conditions : 8 Hours
Job Summary
Hilton hotel is a multi national corporation and is currently in need of a Manager. The role of
this position includes multi-tasking, good interpersonal as well as soft skills. The job will require
them to interact with the customers and fulfil their needs in an efficient way.
Role
 Can give all the information about the services and the organisation as required by the
customers.
 Motivate and guide the employees
 Ensure that the guests in the hotel knows about all the luxuries and services offered and
are satisfied from it (Shortland, 2010).
PERSON SPECIFICATION
Organisation: Hilton Hotel
Job Title : Manager
Qualification – MBA with distinction
Essential Criteria:
 Have a thorough knowledge of the facilities and services that can be needed by the
customers.
 Effective Communication Skills.
 Will be able to meet up with the issues of customers.
Desirable criteria:
 Experience of one year as a manger in a renowned hotel of London.
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 Quick decision making skills
 Willing to learn.
CURICULAM VITAE
Curriculum Vitae
Name: Charles Hawking
Address : 15th Street, Crawley, United Kingdom
Phone No. - 789456142
Profile summary:Completed Masters in Business Development and have a year experience as a
manager. I need to work in an environment which helps me in achieving my goals and bring out
the best in me.
Specialisation:
 Able to complete my work in an organised form. Satisfy the customers and fulfil their needs to enhance their experience while they are
staying in the Hotel.
Educational qualification: -
 Bachelor in Business Administration. Masters in Business Administration.
Declaration:
I hereby declare that the details mentioned above about me is true in the best of my knowledge .
Date : April 02, 2019
Place : United Kingdom
P7 Review of key strengths and weaknesses of the job interview process
Strength of job interview process
The key strengths of this process is that if the candidate end up doing any mistake, they
can reprehend it accordingly as there will be proper time allotment to them (Thi Tran and Thi
Nguyen, 2013). In Hilton Hotel, the process of hiring an employee is very critical but very
impressive as it helps in selecting the right candidate for the job. The process here is very
flexible as if a manager or anyone from the top management need to ask anything, they can
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directly ask the candidate and can make the judgement about their expertise and capabilities and
after that select the best.
Weakness of job interview process
The weaknesses of this process is that the questions asked by the senior authority are way
too confusing, which makes the candidate tense and that can miss out with the right candidate for
the job. This process is very costly and consumes lots of time of the senior authority (Thomas,
2012).
Evaluation of job interview process emphasising on the obstacles and the challenges
Job interview process at Hilton hotel is very costly as well as time consuming. As it
requires lots of effort from the senior authority to take time out of their busy schedules and
conduct interviews and selecting the right candidate train them. Also, to conduct a whole
interview process is a costly affair, which results in low profit margin as it will be incurred from
the profits and income earned by the hotel (Zepeda, 2012).
Detailed and coherent critical reflection of interview process and abilities during the process
After clearing the tedious task of interview process, I analysed that to be a benefit for the
organisation I need to improve my abilities as it will help me in obtaining a better position in the
organisation and assist me in achieving a better opportunity. Also, Hilton Hotel should try to
make the whole process a little shorter and the interviewer should ask in-point questions as it will
help them in analysing my abilities.
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CONCLUSION
From the above analysis, it can be concluded that there are several advantages that an
organisation experiences out of the development of its personnel. It helps the organisation in
improving the abilities of an employee so that the firm will be able to take over the different
goals and achieve them with the best of their talents. The top management of the organisation
wants to seek the best and that's why there are plenty of desires from the employees.
These development plans assists in the area in which there can be further chance of
betterment that need to be taken place. Also, in this complex process of hiring the right
candidate,it contains some advantages as well as disadvantages but it results in hiring of the right
candidate effectively and efficiently.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Avalos, B., 2011. Teacher professional development in Teaching and Teacher Education over
ten years.Teaching and teacher education,27(1), pp.10-20.
Hallam, J., 2012. Nursing the image: media, culture and professional identity. Routledge.
Huston, C. J., 2013. Professional issues in nursing: Challenges and opportunities. Lippincott
Williams & Wilkins.
Jasper, M., 2011.Professional Development, Reflection and Decision-making for Nurses(Vol.
17).
John Wiley & Sons.Cooke, N.A., 2012. Professional development 2.0 for librarians: Developing
an online personal learning network (PLN).Library Hi Tech News,29(3), pp.1-9.
McNiff, J., 2012.Action research for professional development: Concise advice for new action
researchers. Dorset: September books.
Mwalongo, A., 2011. Teachers' perceptions about ICT for teaching, professional development,
administration and personal use. International Journal of Education and development
using information and communication Technology,7(3), p.36.
Perry, C. W., 2012. Constructing professional identity in an online graduate clinical training
program: Possibilities for online supervision. Journal of systemic Therapies. 31(3).
pp.53-67.
Shortland, S., 2010. Feedback within peer observation: continuing professional development and
unexpected consequences.Innovations in Education and Teaching International,47(3),
pp.295-304.
Thi Tran, L. and Thi Nguyen, N., 2013. Mediating teacher professional identity: The emergence
of humanness and ethical identity. International Journal of Training Research. 11(3).
pp.199-212.
Thomas, L., 2012. New possibilities in thinking, speaking and doing: Early childhood teachers'
professional identity constructions and ethics. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood.
37(3). p.87.
Zepeda, S.J., 2012.Professional development: What works. Eye on education.
Zinn, W. and Goldsby, T. J., 2014. Logistics professional identity: strengthening the discipline as
galaxies collide. Journal of Business Logistics. 35(1), pp.23-28.
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