Service Industry Trends and Skills

This assignment explores the changing landscape of the service industry, focusing on the impact of automation and robotics. It emphasizes the importance of understanding industry trends and developing both soft skills (communication, teamwork) and technical skills (customer service, database management) to thrive in this environment. The analysis also considers personality traits, learning styles, resilience, and temperament through SWOT, GAP analyses, and self-reflection.

Running head: PERSONAL INSIGHT
Personal Insight-Service Industry
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Word count: 2154

1PERSONAL INSIGHT
Executive Summary
This report investigates the trend of the service industry. It has been found in the report that
the service sector will be dominated by cloud and virtual platforms and back-end-operations
will be automated. The findings of the report show the service industry will experience a rise of
Just-In-Time labor. The purpose of the report is to analyze the development of soft-skills and
technical skills. The purpose of the report is to analyze the GAP of skills to meet Industry
standards and to do a SWOT analysis. It has been found in the report that I have good problem
solving skills and I am a good decision maker while I need to improve my ability to stay calm in
uncertain situation. The research methodology is secondary research from peer-reviewed
journals, recent newspapers and books to find information about service industry.

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Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Discussion....................................................................................................................................................3
1. An Industry of Interest to me..............................................................................................................3
a) The jobs that are expected to change or disappear............................................................................3
b) Why is the change happening?............................................................................................................4
c) The changes that I forecast for the next 5 years..................................................................................5
2. The job cluster.........................................................................................................................................5
a) Reason for Choice of the job cluster....................................................................................................5
b) The skills and knowledge that are expected........................................................................................6
i. Personal soft skills.................................................................................................................................6
ii) Technical knowledge and skills............................................................................................................6
3. Review of current capabilities, discipline knowledge and areas where I would develop skills and
knowledge...................................................................................................................................................8
a) Review of experiences that showcase my abilities..............................................................................9
b) Review of Academic Performance till Date.........................................................................................9
c) Key findings that demonstrate my strengths and areas for improvement..........................................9
4. GAP Analysis and SWOT........................................................................................................................11
a) Skills and Knowledge that are required to be developed to meet Industry Standards......................11
b) SWOT ANALYSIS................................................................................................................................11
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................12
Reference Lists..........................................................................................................................................13
Appendices................................................................................................................................................14
Appendix 1-Learning Styles...................................................................................................................15
Appendix 2- Personal Resilience............................................................................................................16
Appendix 3- Temperament....................................................................................................................17

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4PERSONAL INSIGHT
Introduction
In the modern competitive business era, it is of paramount importance to identify an
industry where I can work in future. The knowledge about the industry trends can help me to
prepare myself well in advance to find an employment in the industry of my choice. It is also
important to hone my personal skills so that they match the industry standards. The industry
that has always fascinated me is the service industry. The employment opportunities in the
service sector are huge. However, the service industry is influenced by technological
advancement like any other industry. So, it is important to contemplate on the changes that will
affect the service industry in future.
Discussion
1. An Industry of Interest to me
The industry that has interested me is the service industry. I would prefer to work in the
service sector because this sector has contributed significantly to the economic activity of the
world including Australia. The service industry is accountable for contributing three-quarters to
the national outputs of Australia four in every five jobs of Australia can be found in the service
sector(pc.gov.au 2017).The service industry also provides important inputs to the goods and
services produced by the Australian economy(abc.net.au 2017).
a) The jobs that are expected to change or disappear
The service sector contributes half of Australia’s GDP and employs more than fifty
percentage of Australian workforce. The main challenge that the service sector has faced is in
the delivery process of service because of the intangible characteristics of service delivery

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process. The human resource that is in direct contact with customers has always been of prime
importance to service sector. However, the service industry will be impacted by machines and
service robots (abc.net.au 2017). These robots will dominate most of the service sectors like
defense and medical services. The nature of job is expected to change in the service sector, for
instance, service organizations will upgrade their IT system and will rely on subcontracting and
relocation. The service sector will witness rise of virtual firms and this sector will embrace the
gig economy, resulting in few workers who will be under permanent payroll of the company
(Abraham et al. 2016).Most of the jobs in service sector will be contractual jobs resulting in
more number of Just-In-Time jobs to meet immediate demands of service industry. Also,
service industry will implement digital technology like adoption of social media for better
service delivery.
b) Why is the change happening?
The change is happening because of technological advancement, change of preference
of customers, globalization and rise of virtual firms in service industry. For instance, the world
will witness a tremendous growth of internet users and customers will prefer to communicate
in social media. Thus the service industry must make use of social media platform to interact
with clients. Also, the virtual firms put the infrastructure in cloud to reduce cost and hire
contractual employees because the modern trend is project-based work in service sector where
the demand from clients is immediate. The back-end processes in service industry like legal
services will be automated to reduce paper-based processes. The rise of service robots will
make the service delivery process more efficient (Pezzotta et al. 2016).

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c) The changes that I forecast for the next 5 years
i) Adoption of social media- The service industry will engage clients in the digital
platform and will make use of modern technology like digital marketing to create brand
awareness. The digital platforms will be used to monitor competitors (abc.net.au 2017).
ii) The globalization process will lead to outsourcing of jobs and there will be a
tremendous rise of virtual service firms who will have an infrastructure in cloud. The service
industry will embrace the gig-economy with very few workers under permanent payroll to
reduce cost and support project based-work. The Just-In-Time workers will be on rise in the
service industry (Abraham et al. 2016).
iii) The service industry will adopt value-based revenue model and services will no
longer be offered as bundled services, instead service components will be modularized and sold
separately.
iv) The service industry will be dominated by an automation of back-end service
processes to reduce paper-based work. Also, there will be emergence of service robots in this
industry (abc.net.au 2017).

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2. The job cluster
a) Reason for Choice of the job cluster
The job cluster of my choice is job in any sector of service industry. I have chosen the
service industry because this industry contributes significantly to the economy of a country and
the opportunity for jobs in the service sector is relatively high compared to any other industry
(abc.net.au 2017).
b) The skills and knowledge that are expected
i. Personal soft skills
Communication- Oral as well as written communication is very important for working in
service industry. The human resource employed in the service sector is in the proximity of
customers and therefore it is important to communicate effectively while working in the service
industry with clients and customers (Matteson, Anderson and Boyden 2016).
Teamwork- The role of teamwork is inevitable in the service industry. The service
industry has witnessed a growth of cross-cultural team as well as virtual team. It is very
important to develop the skill of teamwork which includes soft skills like respect for team
members, ability to build cohesion within the team, respect for diversity, ability to
communicate effectively with team members and ability to accomplish team goals (Matteson,
Anderson and Boyden 2016).

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Leadership qualities and confidence- The leadership quality and confidence are soft skills
that will be useful for me to work in service sector (Matteson, Anderson and Boyden 2016).
Networking skills- It is important for me to build contacts and network with clients and
customers to be successful in the service industry (Chmiel et al. 2017).
Time Management- The ability to accomplish personal and team targets and complete
projects on time is a soft skill that will be useful for service industry (Robles 2012).
ii) Technical knowledge and skills
Database Management- Database management is a technical skill that will be useful for
the service industry.
Customer Service- The service industry aims to create value for customers. Enterprise
Resource Planning Software and Customer Relationship Management Software are useful
software for customer service and I would like to learn this software.
Bookkeeping- I will like to develop the technical skill of bookkeeping and accounting.
Event Management- Many events are organized in the service sector. I will like to
develop public relations and public communication skills to be successful in the service sector.
Social Media Campaign Analysis is a technical skill that I would like to develop because
this skill will help to analyze the success of a social media campaign. I have already found in

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trends of service sector that it is a trend to interact with customers in social media ( Chmiel,
Fraccaroli and Sverke 2017).

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3. Review of current capabilities, discipline knowledge and areas where I would develop skills
and knowledge
Learning Style
I stay
motivated
while
learning.
I like to create
new things
I am outgoing
and full of
energy
Resilience
I have good skills to solve
problems.
I am quite confident on
most of the occasions
I can network well with
people
I can engage in effective
communication with
people
Temperament
I like to link wide
range of concepts
I make logical and
critical decisions
I am flexible and
like to interact
with external
environment
Figure 1- Analysis of habits and
abilities

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a) Review of experiences that showcase my abilities
Volunteer activities- I have volunteered in activities while raising awareness about
homelessness among community members in Australia. I have tried to provide support to
disable Community members in my home country while working with a charitable organization
in school.
School Leadership roles-I have participated in leadership roles in group discussions in
school. I have also shown leadership roles while organizing various events in school like
celebration of cultural festivals in schools. Development of leadership roles is of paramount
importance to succeed in service industry.
Sporting Activities- I have actively participated in annual sports events in school and
played team sports like football and cricket that have taught me skill of team-work.
b) Review of Academic Performance till Date
I have performed quite well in academics till date. I have enjoyed management studies. I
have problem-solving skills and I enjoyed numerical subjects in school. I have liked
management units related to service industries and have always been curious about modern
technology that the business world is embracing. I have enjoyed business studies that are
related to modern technology.
c) Key findings that demonstrate my strengths and areas for improvement
I have found from the results of my learning style that I am highly motivated while
learning. This is clearly evident from my test score which is 92. I like to learn through new ideas,

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approaches. I am reflective and prefer to learn while doing. My score was high in the category
of active changer. I like to interact with people and I am quite inquisitive about learning. My
finding was that I score medium in the category of reflective realist. I prefer to learn in a regular
way. My finding was that I score high in the quietly creative category. I am interested in
creation of something new. My score is medium in the pragmatic doer category which indicates
that my strength is that I am energetic and outgoing and enjoy learning with other people.
From the findings of my resilience test score, I have scored low in the scale of coping
with change and it is an area where I need to improve. My finding is that I have scored in the
mid-range in problem solving skills but I need to improve on my consistency of problem solving.
I have found that I score in the mid-range in self-confidence but I need to improve my ability to
face uncertainty and challenging situations. I have scored mid-range in working with other
which is an important part of resilience however I will try to improve my skill of active listening.
I have scored in mid-range in support networks scale which indicates my strength is that I can
easily share my stress with others.
From the findings of my Temperament score, I have found that I am an introvert. I
prefer Intuition and I like to make link between varieties of concepts which is my strength. I
prefer Thinking and it is my strength that I can make logical, difficult and critical decisions. I
prefer Perceiving category, and therefore my strength is that I withdraw information and like to
explore the external world and is more spontaneous than organized. My overall result shows
that I am an INTP and my strength is that I am a good problem solver. However, I will like to be

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more organized and improve on my introverted nature as extraversion is important skill for
service industry.
4. GAP Analysis and SWOT
a) Skills and Knowledge that are required to be developed to meet Industry Standards
The service industry is advancing in terms of information technology and automation. I
strongly need to increase my soft skills of team-work and extroversion to meet Industry
standards of the service industry. I would prefer to hone my technical skills of database
management and I will like to learn about customer service by increasing my knowledge about
Customer Service Management. I will like to improve my skills of event management. The
service industry requires individual who can work with virtual infrastructure and I will like to
hone my skills about digital technology for better employment opportunities in service sector.
b) SWOT ANALYSIS
Strengths  My strength is that I prefer to interact with the
external world
 I have good problem-solving skills
 I make critical decisions
 I have good networking skills and engage in
effective communication with others.
Weakness  I need to be consistent while solving problems.
 I need to be resilient in uncertain situation.
Opportunities  The service industry has opportunities for
freelance workers and contractual workers.
Thus there is opportunity to work for many
employers at a time.
 There is opportunity to work in digital service
industry like digital banks.
 The service sector is booming and has many
job opportunities.
Threats  The reduction of permanent jobs can lead to
uncertainty of employment.

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 Automation and robotics in service industry
pose threats to human labor.
Conclusion
It can be concluded that it is extremely important to gather knowledge about trends of
the industry where an individual would prefer to work. The service industry will have more
virtual workplace with infrastructure in cloud and automation. The development of soft skills
like ability to communicate effectively with team members and honing of technical skills like
customer service and database management is useful to work in service sector. The SWOT
analysis, GAP analysis and analysis of temperament, learning styles and resilience is very
important to understand personality traits.

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Reference Lists
abc.net.au. 2017. service industry. [online] Available at: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-
05/services-sector-activity-surges-to-highest-level-in-decade/8163012 [Accessed 23 Nov. 2017].
Abraham, K., Haltiwanger, J.C., Sandusky, K. and Spletzer, J.R., 2016, May. Measuring the
‘gig’economy. In Society of Labor Economists Annual Meetings, May.
Biemans, W.G., Griffin, A. and Moenaert, R.K., 2016. Perspective: New Service Development:
How the Field Developed, Its Current Status and Recommendations for Moving the Field
Forward. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 33(4), pp.382-397.
Chmiel, N., Fraccaroli, F. and Sverke, M. eds., 2017. An Introduction to Work and Organizational
Psychology: An International Perspective. John Wiley & Sons.
Matteson, M.L., Anderson, L. and Boyden, C., 2016. " Soft Skills": A Phrase in Search of
Meaning. portal: Libraries and the Academy, 16(1), pp.71-88.
pc.gov.au.2017. service.[online]Availableat:
(http://www.pc.gov.au/research/supporting/service-sector [Accessed 23 Nov. 2017].
Pezzotta, G., Pirola, F., Rondini, A., Pinto, R. and Ouertani, M.Z., 2016. Towards a methodology
to engineer industrial product-service system–Evidence from power and automation
industry. CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology, 15, pp.19-32.
Robles, M.M., 2012. Executive perceptions of the top 10 soft skills needed in today’s
workplace. Business Communication Quarterly, 75(4), pp.453-465.

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Witell, L., Snyder, H., Gustafsson, A., Fombelle, P. and Kristensson, P., 2016. Defining service
innovation: A review and synthesis. Journal of Business Research, 69(8), pp.2863-2872.

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Appendices
a) Learning Styles
b) Personal Resilience
c) Temperament

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Appendix 1-Learning Styles

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Appendix 2- Personal Resilience

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Appendix 3- Temperament