HND Hospitality Management Personal Development Report Analysis

This report delves into the realm of personal and professional development (PPD) within the UK hospitality industry. It begins by exploring self-managed learning approaches, such as seminars, internet resources, and social networking, and their role in fostering lifelong learning. The report then examines methods to encourage continuous learning, including SWOT analysis and Kolb's learning model, and evaluates the benefits of self-managed learning at both individual and organizational levels, such as improved communication and a positive work culture. Furthermore, the report outlines the implementation of a personal development plan for a Finance Manager, detailing processes like SWOT analysis, strategy development, and objective setting. Finally, it addresses problem-solving, communication styles, and effective time management strategies in the workplace, providing a comprehensive overview of PPD principles and practices within the context of the hospitality sector.

PERSONAL
DEVELOPMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Assessing different approaches to self-managed learning.....................................................3
1.2 Encouraging lifelong learning in personal and professional contexts by suggesting
different ways...............................................................................................................................4
1.3 Evaluation of benefits of self-managed learning at individual and organisational level.......7
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
3.1 Implementing the development plan through discussing required processes and activities..9
3.2 Undertaking and documenting planned development activities..........................................11
3.3 Critical reflection on own learning against development plan’s aim and objectives..........13
3.4 Updating development plan on the basis of assessment and feedback................................14
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................16
4.1 Resolving a work based problem.........................................................................................16
4.2 Different appropriate styles of communication at various levels........................................17
4.3 Assessing the effective time management strategies with their use....................................18
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................19
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................21

INTRODUCTION
In present era, one of the most important tasks of organisations is to
nurture and retain talent management which is done through providing them
personal development opportunities. These can include anything from
providing leadership training to building a new skill which results in
encouraging an employee to perform in a better and more efficient way
which increases the productivity and so as profits of business (Personal
Development, 2018). Professional development is all about improving an
individual’s or team’s existing skill, knowledge and abilities that are required
to be there to perform current or future goals. The firm chosen for present
study is hospitality industry , UK with reference to which many concepts
related to personal and professional development (PPD) will be discussed.
There will be discussion on understanding the way in which self-managed
learning can lead to increase the lifelong learning of employees. Further, the
way own personal and professional development plan can be implemented
and review on continuous basis will be discussed. Along with that, the way
an employee can acquire the interpersonal and transferrable skills will be
studied here.
TASK 2
1.1 Assessing different approaches to self-managed learning
Self-managed learning can be termed as a way by which individuals or
teams at workplace learn different things in distinct ways. It can also be
referred as setting of goals for learning after assessing the purpose for which
it has to be provided so that set targets can be effectually achieved. Some of
the approaches to self-managed learning which are best suitable for the
employees of hospitality industry are: Attending various seminars and conferences – If hotel will
organise seminars and conferences for improving the personality of
employees in terms of raising their skills and knowledge, this will help
in providing them a great experience which they can further use in
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present and future activities that they are assigned with. People in firm
get opportunity to show their knowledge to others that ends up in
gaining new learning with the help of seminars and conferences
(Tattum and Tattum, 2017). Further, they will become confident
enough to communicate in terms of presenting and speaking skills that
are required being working in hospitality industry. Use of internet sources – Internet now-a-days is the biggest source
of learnings as different published online articles by many authors help
individuals at workplace to learn about various concepts related to
effective management. These learnings gained from internet can be
easily applied by individuals at workplace and so, make them confident
enough to deal with challenges and perform assigned tasks effectually.
Through internet, people working in hospitality industry can gain
unlimited information that enhances their self-learning (Whitehall and
et.al., 2018).
 Active participation on social networking sites – People in today’s
era are highly active on social media like on networking sites such as
Twitter, Facebook, My Year Book, etc. A lot of time every day is spent
by individuals on these sites which enhances their knowledge
regarding many concepts and areas that help them to increase their
effectiveness at workplace too (Faris, 2018). On these sites, there are
different stories shared related to successful leaders and
entrepreneurs like Mark Zuckerberg which influence them to apply
same in their working which improved their learning as well as
motivation to perform better.
1.2 Encouraging lifelong learning in personal and professional contexts by
suggesting different ways
When an individual’s learning gets enhanced on continuous basis in
personal and professional contexts, it results in lifelong learning. There are
different ways by which lifelong learning of individuals in hospitality industry
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can be encouraged personally as well as at organisational level. Some of
these are like: Self-evaluation through SWOT analysis – One of the most common
and effective ways by which lifelong learning of individuals at
individual and organisational can be encouraged is through conducting
SWOT analysis which will help the person to get aware with his
strengths and weaknesses which he can enjoy and overcome from
respectively (Turpin and Shier, 2017). Further, individuals come to
know about many opportunities which can be utilised and explored by
them as well as threats for which they can make prior plans to deal
with.
 Using Kolb’s learning model – Using Kolb’s model of learning is one
of the best ways to encourage lifelong learning of individuals at
personal and professional level both. This model is a four state cycle of
learning which is more of concerned with internal cognitive processes
of the learner (Kolb's Learning Cycle, 2015).
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Figure 1: Kolb's Experiential Learning Cycle
(Source: Kolb’s Learning Cycle, 2015)
The first stage is ‘concrete experience’ which is a new situation for an
individual that he encounters for the first time and gains a lot of
experiences personally as well as at work. Second is the ‘reflective
observation’ stage in which individual realises that what he has done
and experienced. In this phase, he assesses that whether there is any
inconsistency in between his experience and understanding. In the
third phase i.e. ‘abstract conceptualization’, individual becomes able to
give rise to a new idea or to improve the existing one by generating a
hypothesis from what he has experienced (Kolb's Learning Cycle,
2015). Fourth phase i.e. ‘active experimentation’ is all about applying
the learning or experience gained to check the results by testing
adopted hypothesis. Thus, in case if experience will challenge the
hypothesis rather supporting it, corrective measures will be taken by
the individual. In this way, lifelong learning of individual get
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encouraged in personal and professional context (Arell-Sundberg and
et.al., 2017).
 Observation and monitoring – If managers in hospitality industry
will observe and monitor the working style of employees by assessing
the way in which they are performing their tasks, they will become
able to delegate the tasks accordingly and so, work will get distributed
effectively among workers. This will enhance the learning of managers
which would ultimately result in increasing their learning to lead and
manage people that will further help in encouraging their lifelong
learning at both; personal and professional level (Tang, 2017).
1.3 Evaluation of benefits of self-managed learning at individual and
organisational level
Self-managed learning proves to be highly beneficial for both
individuals and organisation as with same, efficiency of employees to
perform assigned tasks gets improved and so, productivity of business raises
as well. Some of the benefits of self-managed learning at individual and
organisational level in hospitality industry are stated as below:
Benefits of self-managed learning to individuals Improved communication – Self-managed learning leads employees
to update their current proficiencies and knowledge as well as
confidence (Johnson, Robertson and Cooper, 2018). Through attending
various conferences, seminars as well as reading books and articles,
communication of employees gets improved that is one of the most
important skills being working in hospitality industry as they need to
directly interact with customers (Faris, 2018). Spirit of teamwork – Also, by working in workshops within a team or
attending conferences of seminars on teamwork, employees get aware
with the importance and benefits of working together and with
coordination (Zervas, Proserpio and Byers, 2017). Therefore, spirit to
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work in teams gets improved through self-managed learning which
increases the efficiency of employees along with willingness to work.
 Presentation skill – Further, employees will become capable enough
to present themselves in front of others as with self-managed learning.
Thus, to interact with their senior authorities like managers and other
directors along with customers of hospitality industry becomes easy for
employees as their confidence increases (Youn, Kim and Song, 2017).
Benefits of self-managed learning to organisation Better relationships – The major benefit that hospitality industry will
get through self-managed learning is to maintain a positive and strong
relationship in between employees as their skills like teamwork gets
improved through same (Arell-Sundberg and et.al., 2017). Improved culture – Another benefit that hotel will gain is of
organisational culture that will get improved through self-managed
learning as when employees start working with each other with high
coordination without any conflicts and with problem solving skills, it
creates a positive environment at workplace (Hofmann and
Stokburger-Sauer, 2017).
 Innovation and creativity – Self-managed learning leads to
introduce new ideas and listening to the opinions of employees,
decisions are made on the basis of understanding and expectations of
business and thus, it results in bringing innovation and creativity in
work which is if appreciated by end users, results in bringing high
profits and growth in organisation (Chan and et.al., 2017).
TASK 3
3.1 Implementing the development plan through discussing required
processes and activities
A development plan is made with an aim or objective to improve the
personal and professional skills and knowledge of employees. PPD for the
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position of Finance Manager in above task has to be implemented which
requires specific processes and activities that are stated as below: SWOT analysis – To conduct SWOT analysis would prove to be the
best to implement development plan as with this, I will come to know
about my strengths to be improved, weaknesses to overcome,
opportunities to grab and making strategies to get protected against
threats (Ashton, 2018). Personal development strategy: After assessing the areas which
require improvement, personal strategy will be developed by listing
down all the skills and points in which growth is to be brought. On the
basis of same, a strategy will be developed in which the action will be
listed out which may involve activities like for improving the listening
skills, attending seminars and conferences will do the best with sitting
for long hours and hearing what the person in front is saying on a
specific topic (Boella, 2017). Though I am a good listener but when I
continuously attend meetings after some time I become less active
and I seem to be less attentive. To overcome this I must listen others
with the objective to gain the information. I can also note down
important information so that my attentiveness will be maintained.
Further, to enhance the team spirit, organizing workshops and role
plays will be effective as well as for improving the presentation skills of
individual, using online courses to raise the analytical ability will work.
As a finance manager I need to communicate and work within team so
that all other staff members can perform their tasks accurately. Thus,
it is necessary for me to engage more with the team members along
with good cooperation and coordination skills. Also, to increase the
professional knowledge, study technical and professional journals,
online articles and books on relevant subject matter, can help a lot.
Being coached by an experienced supervisor or colleague as well as
attending necessary training programs in hospitality industry will prove
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to be helpful for the employee (Nieves and Diaz-Meneses, 2018). To
enhance this skill I also interact with the managers of other
department so that I can enhance my management capabilities and
skills. Setting short and long term objectives – After making personal
strategies, setting short and long term objectives can help me to
develop better understanding of my job role and responsibility. My
short term objective is to enhance my communication and analytical
skills so that I can perform my operational tasks with more efficiency.
In long run I want to enhance my leadership capabilities so that with
appropriate strategies I can incorporate better professional practices
and can accomplish my tasks on time.
 Designing the chart – I must also develop chart of development
activities which will include all the areas that to be amended along with
specific deadlines and time frames for same within which the set
target has to be achieved (Baradarani and Kilic, 2018).
It can be added that there are certain strength and weakness which
I’m having as a finance manager. The weakness will be going to be improved
in below PPD plan.
Listening skill- I need to improve my attentiveness and understanding
while listening others. This skill will help in improving the communicating
with other people.
Risk taking ability- This is also one of the most important skill of all finance
manager which they need to follow and adopt as will include my ability for
risk taking. However, to ensure the professional growth I must improve my
risk taking capabilities so that I can explore growth opportunities. As a
financial manager I have responsibility to identify the growth opportunities
for the organisation and to promote the financial strategies for execution of
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growth plans. Thus, if will not have risk taking capabilities then I may fail to
assure the success of my team as well as organisation.
Presentation skill- This is very much important skill that I should be having
to be able to develop this further. Presentation skill will help into delivering
information in better and easy way out so that I can connect with my team in
simple order. As a financial manager I am also required to give presentation
to my team members as well as other management authorities. Thus this
skill is necessary for my functional efficiency. To improve this skill I must
deliver my views with confidence and accurate knowledge and command
over the information which I want to deliver to the audience.
Professional knowledge- This is also very essential task which I should be
developing into myself as I must be having professional knowledge about my
specialised area. As I’m having less information about my professional of
finance manager so I must be able to develop in stipulated time. To sustain
efficiency in work front I must regularly update and improve this skill. For this
purpose I must review and learn the latest trends in financing and hospitality
industry. It will assist in making better decisions and plans for the job role.
Teamwork- I need to study about team work and team building activities so
that I could be able to lead my team very smoothly. This is also one of my
weakness which I need to develop further. I must emphasis on understanding
the individual differences so that I can easily work within teams with better
coordination. For achieving this I can also interact with the team members
informally so that emotional bonding can help me to work better within
teams.
3.2 Undertaking and documenting planned development activities
The below mentioned table is all about my objectives being at position
of Finance Manager in hospitality industry that are to be achieved by
improving respective skills and competencies identified in PPD with their
specific deadlines. Also, the evaluation of skills to be improved along with
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taking feedback for same will be included here.(Tattum and Tattum,
2017) (Whitehall and et.al., 2018) (Faris, 2018)
Training programs:- To enhance the learning training programs are is one
of the most effective method to learn. I can attend various workshops and
seminars so that I can learn the communication skills. The undertaking of
such seminar programs under guidance of suitable mentors will also help me
to assess my mistakes and to make necessary improvements. I can seek
training from my seniors or other expertise so that I can also learn the ability
to work within teams. The training program is also helpful in enhancing the
knowledge and proficiency.
The main objective of training program is to have effective
communication and knowledge improvement.
Skills that are required to improve are Listening skill and knowledge
management.
These skills will be improved within a period of 4 months.
Group discussion:-Another learning activity which can be used for
improving professional skills is group discussion. The regular participation in
such types of activity boost the confidence and active listening. For assuring
the active and quality participation in discussion one is required to
effectively listen and understand the perspective of others. Thus, this
learning activity will assist me in enhancing my knowledge and participation
in the team. In addition to this it will also provide me an opportunity to
analyse the diversity in the perspective of other team members so that
better decisions can be accomplished.
Objective is to increase professional knowledge and confidence. Skills
that need improvement are risk taking ability can be improved by exploring
the different perspectives on the same issue and time need to improve this
skill is 6 months.
Feedback sessions:- In order to minimise the risk factors and to make
better decisions feedback can be very helpful. As a manager I can receive
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