Personal & Professional Development Plan for Travel & Tourism

This report discusses the importance of personal and professional development within the travel and tourism industry. It highlights the skills required to meet professional standards, including conceptual, effectiveness, interpersonal, and communication skills. The report identifies personal development...Read More

TRAVEL AND TOURISM
MANAGEMENT

CONTENT
• Introduction
• Skills required as per professional standards.
• Own developmental needs
• Developmental opportunities
• Conclusion
• References

INTRODUCTION
Every organisation defines its professional
standards that every employee must have. These
professional standards are the benchmarks where
people need to reach (Floyd, 2012).
Developmental plan must be made according to
these benchmarks.

Skills required as per professional standards
Few skills are as follows:
• Conceptual skills: This is understood as one of the basic skills that assist an
employee in evaluating opportunities as well as predicting threats etc. It is a highly
utilised skill in making of the presentation and at the time of its delivery. Design
models and never closing business models becomes easier.
• Effectiveness skills: A company needs to have a workforce that is highly effective.
Individuals must make use of effective methodologies for completing the task. It will
help in maintaining the project’s standards that are beneficial for them. It also acts as
a factor that helps individuals in their survival while facing the competition.

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• Interpersonal skills: These are the skills that should be present in any employee.
This plays a very crucial role in the hospitality and tourism industry.
Interpersonal skills of high quality differentiate them from the general masses.
This skill helps individual in their development as a leader (Yeh, Huang and Yeh,
2011).
• Communication skills: It is most essential skill that is required in the modern day
business. It helps the employee in expressing himself in a better manner which
helps them in ensuring their growth (Horsford, Grosland and Gunn, 2011).

Own developmental needs
While I was making the skills I have and the professional standards that are marked
by the firm, I found that there were certain laggings that can be noticed my
portfolio. This analysis helped me in understanding the core competencies I have
and the self-development needs I require to fulfil. Few of them are as follows:
• My research skill needs to be improved so that I can do any task in a better
manner.
• Instincts of manager need to be improved.
• I have to utilise my approach in a better manner.
• I need to improve my responsibility taking approach.

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There are certain activities that enhance the speed of this process:
• Guidance by managers: Such guidance can be beneficial as it smoothness the process
of development. More experienced managers can provide such kind of guidance.
• Seminars and conferences: Several seminars and conferences of different types
happen on daily basis and are given by the experts. This can be valuable in the leaning
process.
• Simulation training: To enhance person’s own ability, it is good that he or she is kept
inside the virtual environment where his skills are tested (Wang and Tsai, 2014). New
skills are developed through various kinds of trainings.

Developmental Opportunities
Several opportunities of development are available to the employees from time to time
in their professional career (Rienties, Brouwer and Lygo-Baker, 2013). Individuals just
need to be ready for such opportunities. Several things need to be done for achieving
these objectives. Some of them are as follows:
• In the process of decision making involve larger number of workers.
• Mind-set changing sessions can be beneficial.
• Taking use of the libraries can be highly crucial for developing the research related
skills.
• For PPD smart goals needs to be prepared and should be implemented in a better
way.
• Taking use of the seminars and conference can help in building the lagging skills.

Conclusion
There are various skills that are required by me in order
to capitalise on the opportunities that are available and
will come in future. While analysing my skills I found
that I lag in many things when compared to professional
standards. I need to develop an PPD plan according to
the analysis and the ways in which I can develop them.

REFERENCES
• Floyd, A., (2012). ‘Turning Points’ The Personal and Professional
Circumstances That Lead Academics to Become Middle
Managers. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 40(2),
pp.272-284.
• Horsford, S., Grosland, T. and Gunn, K.M., (2011). Pedagogy of the
personal and professional: Toward a framework for culturally relevant
leadership.
• Wang, Y.F. and Tsai, C.T., (2014). Employability of hospitality graduates:
Student and industry perspectives. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism
Education, 26(3), pp.125-135.
• Rienties, B., Brouwer, N. and Lygo-Baker, S., (2013). The effects of online
professional development on higher education teachers' beliefs and
intentions towards learning facilitation and technology. Teaching and
teacher education, 29, pp.122-131.