Analysis of Employability Skills and Professional Development at KFC

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of employability skills and professional development within Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC). It begins by exploring various tools and techniques, such as performance appraisals, simulation training, and technological adaptability, that KFC can utilize to enhance its market position and reputation as a responsible employer. The report then delves into the implications of interpersonal skills, time management, and problem-solving skills for KFC's operations, emphasizing their importance in customer service and employee relations. Furthermore, it examines the wider purposes KFC could serve by becoming a responsible employer, including environmental benefits, social contributions, and brand awareness. The report also discusses how KFC can help individuals achieve personal responsibilities and performance objectives through cognitive flexibility and other skill development initiatives. Finally, the report concludes with an evaluation of personal skills and professional development for a specific job role within KFC in the form of a reflective essay, offering a holistic view of the company's approach to employability and employee growth.

EMPLOYABILITY
SKILLS AND
PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
PART 1............................................................................................................................................1
Range of tools and techniques to identify, analyse and enhance KFC position in the market1
Implications related to Interpersonal Skills, Time Management and Problem Solving skills2
Wider Purposes for KFC........................................................................................................4
Contribution of KFC in helping people achieve Personal Responsibilities and Performance
Objectives...............................................................................................................................5
Recommendations..................................................................................................................6
PART 2............................................................................................................................................7
Analysis, Evaluation and Organisation of own learning and development............................7
Discussion of Skill Audit........................................................................................................7
Explanation and Justification.................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9
APPENDICES...............................................................................................................................10
Appendix 1...........................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Employability Skills refer to a combination of several competencies and attributes that are
necessary for an individual to possess in order to enhance the scope of employment, along with
effective growth in terms of being professionally ahead in the market. On the other hand,
professional development means enhancement of these skills in an appropriate manner, which
provides several career related opportunities to individuals, along with personal and professional
prosperity (Zacharopoulou, Giles and Condell, 2015).
Hence, in this context, the report below is divided in two parts and is based on Kentucky
Fried Chicken (KFC), which is one of the world’s leading fast food chains. The firm is currently
directed towards improvising its market reputation as an appropriate and responsible employer.
Thus, in regards to this, the first part of report undertakes appropriate usage of tools and
techniques in order to identify, analyse, as well as enhance the positive for KFC in the food
industry sector. Furthermore, the assignment also undertakes analysis on the wider purposes
which the firm could serve if it becomes a responsible employer. In addition to this, an
evaluation which is being undertaken below is subjected on how helping individuals contribute
in achieving personal responsibilities and performance objectives, As for the second part, it
evaluates personal skills and professional development for a specific job role within KFC in form
of a reflective essay.
PART 1
Range of tools and techniques to identify, analyse and enhance KFC position in the market
For an organisation like KFC, it is very important that its market position is improvised
and its reputation is transformed as a responsible employer. Currently, the organisation is very
much working towards development of strategies and tactics that could help the company in
enhancing its market position in a competent and more appropriate manner. Hence application of
a range of tools and techniques in this context are analysed below: Performance Appraisals:
One of the most appropriate techniques that the firm could use to enhance its market position
is related with using performance appraisals. This method is applied on appraising individual
performance and reviewing the same to identify the strengths and weaknesses of employees to
increase their performances within the marketplace. One aspect through which KFC could
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enhance its market position is through indulging into 360-degree feedback, which would allow
them to evaluate overall performance standards of individuals within the company (Kaushal,
2016).
 Simulations Training:
Another technique through which the organisation could increase their market position is
through simulation training that must be provided to each staff members at different levels of the
company. This training is a method through which the firm and its managers could engage in
mock situations that would be allowing individuals to furnish and practice their skills in an
appropriate and effective manner. This would further be helping KFC in boosting their
motivation, along with performance standards through gaining expertise in their job roles.
 Technological Adaptability:
This method is very crucial if KFC wants to increase and improve its market position and
become a responsible employer. With growth and accessibility to technology within the markets
in which the organisation currently operates, it is also necessary for the firm to responsibly
acquaint and equip the individuals within the company through latest techniques and processes
that are associated with their respective job roles. Furthermore, being accessible and adaptable to
latest technologies, the firm could gain effective competitive edge in the market, due to better
and more structured infrastructure. Hence, this would also be resulting in an appropriate
improvement in market position.
All these techniques are quite appropriate for the company in order to assess, analyse and
enhance its market position. Moreover, using these tools and techniques would also be
improvising the company’s position as a responsible employer.
Implications related to Interpersonal Skills, Time Management and Problem Solving skills
Within the hospitality sector, especially in an organisation like KFC, it is very crucial that
several implications are taken into account in context of educating and training individuals in
several skills that are necessary to enhance the sustainability of the organisation. Hence, in this
context, these implications with respect to several skills within KFC are evaluated below:
 Interpersonal Skills:
A very positive implication that is associated with educating employees on Interpersonal
Skills is that it increases the individual’s competence towards dealing with other team members,
as well as towards customers. In addition to this, effective interpersonal skills within employees
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also relates to lesser conflicts and work relationships amongst one another, as well as with
managers, resulting in a better alignment of personal and organisational objectives. In addition to
this, interpersonal skills also ensure better teamwork and motivation within individuals, which
contributes to better engagement and loyalty towards the company (Artess, Mellors-Bourne and
Hooley, 2017).
 Time Management:
Within an outlet such as Kentucky Fried Chicken, there are loads of customers each day
which expect that they are considered as a priority for the firm. This contributes towards
customer engagement and provision of better services which keeps them satisfied for a long
period of time. Moreover, this also contributes towards customer loyalty that is one of the most
effective reasons for competitive advantage within the industry.
One of the main reasons as to why the organisation’s reputation slid off as a responsible
employer as customer’s waiting time got affected a lot, which was due to the inappropriate
management of employees each day while preparing and serving dishes within the food joints.
Hence, the implication of educating employees on time management is that the organisation
would be leading to better management of work, as well as would lead to appropriate and
effective reduction in waiting time for customers. Another implication that is associated with
time management is that the burden and constant pressure that is dealt by the employees would
also be conveniently reduced, that would be leading to enhanced performance, as well as better
satisfaction level. Problem Solving Skills:
Hospitality sector has daily issues and problems that could arise almost instantly and would
require the expertise of managers and staff members to deal with the same as swiftly as possible
without causing disturbances or havocs for others. Some of the examples that are associated with
problems within outlets like KFC are related to untimely customer service, shortage of supplies,
bad quality raw materials, absurd demands of customers, conflicts between employees and so
forth. All these problems hamper the organisation and its daily management in worst ways
possible. Moreover, they also contribute within bad reputation in the marketplace (Spence and
Hyams-Ssekasi, 2015).
Therefore, people within KFC are required to be educated on problem solving skills which
they could apply and effectively implement in different scenarios. The implications that are
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related to this aspect are that the company would be having a smooth management without any
friction, due to each of the problem being effectively handled by the organisation’s employees.
In addition to this, problem solving skills would also pave way for appropriate anticipation of
each of the issue which could likely arise within the organisation and would also be leading to a
better responsiveness in each of employees with respect to a range of different problems (Choate
and et. al., 2016).
Hence, it could be stated that training and educating employees with respect to skills such as
interpersonal, time management and problem solving skills would be allowing Kentucky Fried
Chicken to experience positive implications that would be contributing in better people
management, along with effective market position and competitive edge over its competitors.
Wider Purposes for KFC
As per the case above, it becomes very crucial and important for the organisation to turn its
image as a responsible employer, in context to satisfy each of its stakeholders in an appropriate
and effective manner. In addition to this, there are several wider purposes that the company
would be serving if it succeeds in turning its image in the marketplace. Hence, some of these
purposes are elaborated below: Environmental Benefits:
One of the most important and crucial purposes which KFC would be fulfilling through being
a responsible employer is that it would allow the company to focus on its CSR activities,
particularly the ones which are associated with environment. Within big markets like UK and
US, the governments are very much concerned in terms of contributing in climate change issues,
as well as preservation of energy and natural resources. Moreover, there are several initiatives as
well as industrial guidance that have been issued in light of the current problems related to
environment and energy.
Being a responsible employer would enable KFC in indulging better into waste management,
through effective supply chain and logistics management. Furthermore, the firm could also
ensure adoption of energy conservation techniques as a responsible employer, which would
allow in preservation of energy and reduction in carbon footprint. In addition to this, sustainable
approach would also be benefitting the company in context of sustaining in the market for a
longer period of time, due to its contribution towards natural resources, energy and climate
change issues within the markets in which it operates (Ito and Kawazoe, 2015).
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 Social Contributions:
A wider purpose that could be served by KFC as a responsible employer is associated
with social contributions. Having effective people management could allow the company in
solving several social issues, such as unemployment. For example, there are several
communities within markets such as the United Kingdom, who does not get effective jobs
due to being in minority (Jackling and Natoli, 2015). Hence, if there is a responsible
employment within KFC, then this would be leading the company to provide opportunities to
such communities in terms of getting them employment on the basis of talent. Moreover, to
further support these individuals, the firm could also ensure equal and better opportunities for
skills development that would further serve this purpose in an appropriate manner.
Another way through which social contributions could be made by KFC as a responsible
employer is through indulging in social activities and monetary contributions which would be
from the profits the firm might gain through effective people management and better
performance.
 Brand Awareness:
For an organisation like KFC, it is very necessary that its awareness is enhanced beyond
its niche markets so that the customers effectively gets attracted to the company and its
awareness is enhanced to an even better notch. The company is a global brand and yet, it
could ensure better awareness within the market that would help the firm in beating several
of its competitors such as McDonald’s by being a responsible employer. This could be done
by the firm through promoting equality, diversity, as well as effective opportunity for
individuals to achieve high professional growth and personal satisfaction that would be
leading to a better and more effective public image of the company within the marketplace.
Contribution of KFC in helping people achieve Personal Responsibilities and Performance
Objectives
As per the above analysis, Kentucky Fried Chicken could adopt several appropriate
techniques and approaches that would help the firm in enhancing its market position as a
responsible employer and could the company in serving a range of wider purposes.
However, all these would be helping individuals within the company in serving personal
responsibilities and a range of performance objectives in a variety of manner. Some of these
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ways are elaborated below along with the responsibilities and objectives it would help
individuals in achieving (Messum, Wilkes and Jackson, 2015).
 Cognitive Flexibility through problem solving:
One of the most crucial ways through which the firm could help individuals in achieving
personal responsibilities and performance objectives is through training them within problem
solving. Using creatively crafted techniques for a range of scenarios would allow employees in
achieving the objective of cognitive flexibility. This would be done through engaging employees
in a series of scenarios which allows them cognitive development for spontaneous decision
making (Simatele, 2015).
 Emotional Intelligence by interpersonal skills
Another way through which KFC could ensure achievement of responsibilities and objectives
is by establishing an appropriate communication channel, along with norms that enhances their
interpersonal skills. This method would lead to development of aspects such as empathy,
teamwork and creativity which would enable employees in achieving the objective of emotional
intelligence that would further contribute in serving the responsibility of better customer
management and teamwork.
 Productivity through time management:
Productivity is one of the most appropriate and effective performance objectives of
employees and each individual wishes to reach to an expert level of their job role. Hence, the
company could ensure different workshops that would be training employees as to how best
these individuals could manage time, which would ultimately result in better productivity and
output coming from these individuals. Moreover, the responsibility which this would help the
employees in achieving is towards customers with better and more effective services that would
allow the company to be preferred by a range of potential individual groups within the market
that would contribute in enhancing its competitive share.
Recommendations
According to the information presented above, there are a range of recommendations which
Kentucky Fried Chicken must follow in order to enhance its market position, along with
transforming into a responsible employer. These set of recommendations are presented below:
 One way through which KFC could improvise itself is by acquiring repeated and
structured feedbacks from its employees, that would allow the firm to analyse the aspects
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that are required to be improved and which are hampering employee’s performance. This
would be improving the area related to productivity (Rowe and Zegwaard, 2017).
 External and internal audits are another way through which the organisation could ensure
that it is working as per the expectations of all its stakeholders within the marketplace.
This approach would help the firm in becoming competent in the market.
 In order to become more effective in relation to customer service area, KFC could
indulge into training its employees for gaining further technical advantage.
PART 2
Analysis, Evaluation and Organisation of own learning and development
There are several roles which are prominent within KFC and that are considered to be quite
important (Jackson, 2016). As for the role of Manager, in my opinion, the organisation helps in
improving several performance objectives. For instance, one objective that the firm assists in
improving is related to high intellectual development. This objective, according to me is very
crucial to sustain in the food industry and excel in this role within the organisation. The company
adopts certain methods, such as on the job training and development, which allows the
individuals at this role to be familiar with the structure and culture of the company and act
accordingly.
Another objective that KFC helps individual within the job role to achieve is associated
with effective decision making skills and risk taking abilities (Tsitskari and et. al., 2017). A
range of different techniques such as weekly briefings and feedbacks are used by the firm to
ensure that each decision taken is in favour of each stakeholder, as well as the risks that are taken
are subjected on high profitability and revenue.
Discussion of Skill Audit
As an aspiring manager, it is necessary that a proper skill audit is timely and crucially
conducted that allows individuals in gaining an insight on their current competence and areas of
improvement. Hence, in context of a manager within KFC, the skills audit is appropriately
conducted below (See Appendix 1).
As per the skill audit system, there are several skills that I am quite efficient at, for
instance, Interpersonal Skills, Time Management and Decision Making skills, where I am
perceived to be either at par with the expectations or exceeding the same effectively. However,
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there are several skills that are required to be enhanced and improvised, for example, Problem
Solving and Risk Taking Skills. This is because while I work in a structured and effective
manner, I tend to panic when it comes to solving issues within the workplace that makes my
performance ineffective in that area. Furthermore, I also avoid taking risks mostly due to the
level of uncertainties associated with the same, which in turn costs me to help the firm in gaining
better outcomes.
Explanation and Justification
In my opinion and rating, skills development is very important in order to achieve positive
appraisals. According to me, the skill audit system must be adopted to identify the scope of
improvement and those competencies must be developed in order to improve the overall
performance in the job role and help the company and subordinates in achieving their
professional and personal objectives respectively (Jackson, 2015). For instance, improving my
risk taking skills would be leading to taking effective decisions that would help the company in
enhancing its growth in the market. Furthermore, improvising my problem solving skills would
make me competent enough to deal with organisational problems in a more effective and
professional way. All these would be leading to positive appraisals from the company, as well as
other stakeholders. Hence, in my consideration the linkage between skills development and
positive appraisals is quite high.
CONCLUSION
Thus, it could be concluded form the report above that employability skills and professional
development are crucial for an individual to consider in order to get a proper growth in their
respective careers. Moreover, it is necessary to analyse companies that could provide people with
employment in terms of their market position and people management to analyse and suggest
ways in which these aspects could be improved. Moreover, it is also important to evaluate certain
employability skills within the company, along with ways in which they help in achieving the
performance objectives and personal responsibilities in order to assess the effectiveness of the
systems and processes of an organisation in context of people management and their professional
development. Lastly, they it is very crucial to analyse the skills audit system adopted by a firm in
context of specific job roles to identify the strong and weak competencies which would be
leading to further growth professionally.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Artess, J., Mellors-Bourne, R. and Hooley, T., 2017. Employability: A review of the literature
2012-2016.
Choate, J., and et. al., 2016. Using a professional development program to enhance
undergraduate career development and employability. International Journal of
Innovation in Science and Mathematics Education (formerly CAL-laborate
International). 24(3).
Ito, H. and Kawazoe, N., 2015. Active Learning for Creating Innovators: Employability Skills
beyond Industrial Needs. International Journal of Higher Education. 4(2). pp.81-91.
Jackling, B. and Natoli, R., 2015. Employability skills of international accounting
graduates. Education+ Training.
Jackson, D., 2015. Employability skill development in work-integrated learning: Barriers and
best practice. Studies in Higher Education. 40(2). pp.350-367.
Jackson, D., 2016. Re-conceptualising graduate employability: The importance of pre-
professional identity. Higher Education Research & Development. 35(5). pp.925-939.
Kaushal, U., 2016. Empowering Engineering Students through Employability Skills. Higher
Learning Research Communications. 6(4). p.n4.
Messum, D., Wilkes, L. and Jackson, D., 2015. What employability skills are required of new
health managers?. Asia Pacific Journal of Health Management. 10(1).
Rowe, A.D. and Zegwaard, K.E., 2017. Developing graduate employability skills and attributes:
Curriculum enhancement through work-integrated learning.
Simatele, M., 2015. Enhancing the portability of employability skills using e-portfolios. Journal
of Further and Higher Education. 39(6). pp.862-874.
Spence, S. and Hyams-Ssekasi, D., 2015. Developing business students’ employability skills
through working in partnership with a local business to deliver an undergraduate
mentoring programme. Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning.
Tsitskari, E., and et. al., 2017. Employers’ expectations of the employability skills needed in the
sport and recreation environment. Journal of hospitality, leisure, sport & tourism
education. 20. pp.1-9.
Zacharopoulou, A., Giles, M. and Condell, J., 2015. Enhancing PASS leaders’ employability
skills through reflection. Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. 1. pp.1-
19.
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APPENDICES
Appendix 1
Personal Skills Audit
SKILLS SCORE FROM SELF
SCORE FROM OTHERS
(SENIOR MANAGERS,
COLLEAGUES,
CUSTOMERS)
Interpersonal Skills 7 8
Time Management 7 7
Problem Solving Skills 4 3
Risk Taking Skills 8 6
Decision Making 6 7
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