London Hilton: Professional Identity, Practice, and Development Plan

This report delves into the concept of professional identity within the hospitality industry, particularly focusing on the role of a Front Office Manager at the London Hilton. It highlights the benefits of ongoing professional development for both employers and employees, emphasizing the importance of skills enhancement and career advancement. The report assesses the skills required for the Front Office Manager role, evaluates current skill levels, and identifies areas for improvement. Furthermore, it explores various learning theories and developmental approaches applicable to the hospitality sector, including reinforcement theory, social learning theory, and constructivism. A personal SWOT analysis is conducted to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, leading to the formulation of a professional development plan. The report also touches upon the significance of a positive brand image and common skills expected in the hospitality workplace. This document is available on Desklib, where students can find a wealth of academic resources, including past papers and solved assignments.

PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY AND
PRACTICE

Contents
INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................................3
TASK 1.................................................................................................................................................3
Benefits of On-going professional development in the hospitality industry......................................3
Professional Standards and Expectations for the job role of Front Office manager...........................4
Importance of Positive brand image in the organization....................................................................4
Common skills expected in the workplace at the hospitality Industry...............................................5
Assessment of skills at present for the job role of Front Office Manager at London Hilton..............6
Critical evaluation of skills................................................................................................................6
Learning Theories and Approaches used in Personal and Professional Development at Hospitality
industry..............................................................................................................................................7
Developmental approaches................................................................................................................9
TASK 2.................................................................................................................................................9
Professional development Plan..........................................................................................................9
TASK 3...............................................................................................................................................10
CV...................................................................................................................................................10
Preparation for the interview...........................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION...................................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES....................................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Professional Identity is referred to a concept that describes how a person perceives
themselves within the context of an organization. The personal identity is also related with
the way a person communicates the professional identity to other people. The professional
identity can be created through observations and socializing with the colleagues and peers.
This is developed through the process of sharing expertise. Professional Identity is built and
established with the help of various infrastructures that gives its contribution in creating a
common sense of commonality among the ones who are into professional practice. This
reflects clarity among the personnel (Brown. and et.al., 2021).
London Hilton on Park Lane is situated in London which has a 101 meter tall building
with 28 floors and has 453 rooms which includes 56 suites as well. The hotel was established
in London in the year 1963. The hotel is situated near the Londonderry house location. The
report focuses on the career advancement opportunities in the organization according to the
skills and abilities (Fitzgerald, 2020).
TASK 1
Benefits of On-going professional development in the hospitality industry
Professional development is referred to different types of training, education and
certifications that are required by an employee in order to succeed in their career. Each job
requires different amount of skills and even if the individual has those skills then they may
need to upgrade in order to excel in their career. There are various benefits of professional
development to both employer as well as employee. The benefits are explained below-
Benefits to employer-
 Professional development leads to higher employment retention in an organization.
The organizations which provide professional development tend to attract more
employees.
 The professional development tends to show competency on behalf of the employer.
Various industries want the employees to have certifications as a professional. In case
the worker doesn’t have the required certifications then it can lead to legal issues in
the organization. Hence the professional development helps the organization in
fulfilling required certifications (Glucina and et.al., 2020).
Benefits for employees-
 It boosts confidence among the employees that engage in professional
development as they have the skills that are required by the employer in order to
succeed in the career.
 There is enhancement in the skills of the workers as they learn the right skills
required for the career in order to become more efficient and productive.

 The professional development provides various new opportunities for the
individuals. The professional development helps to secure a better and a lucrative
position in the organization.
Professional Standards and Expectations for the job role of Front Office manager
A Front Office Manager is the face of the organization and it his duty to ensure a
heart-warming welcome of the customers in the organizations. A front office manager works
to coordinate all the activities related to front office desk in the organization which includes
attending calls along with the reservations and the guest services (Jain, Jones and
Thammasitboon, 2020).
A front office manager is expected to possess an attractive personality along with a
professional attitude that can be in accordance with dynamism in the industry. The personnel
of the job role must have leadership skills in order to monitor and lead the team. The
individual must have efficient communication skills in order to deal with the critical
feedbacks in order to have a strong customer service approach in the organization. The
individual for the job role must possess a friendly gesture in order to pace up with the
customer friendly environment in the organization.
Importance of Positive brand image in the organization
For a positive brand image, the product variety and its offerings that are associated
with any particular employer will need to be a really perfect match. Along with being an ideal
match, you furthermore might need to preserve in mind about brand advertising and
marketing and packaging in conjunction with customer service. Consistency in addition to
reliability wants to be hand in hand with the enterprise and needs to be projected in the proper
way to the favored shoppers or audience. A nice emblem image is essential as more than 90%
of all purchase selections taken with the aid of mainstream customers these days are primarily
based on logo image and not anything else. It isn't always pretty much obtaining any
particular product or service however also getting access to a brand’s popularity, status,
perceived goodwill and quality as a whole. The various benefits of positive brand image are-
 It allows the organization to expand the business as a whole along with their products
and services in the name of their existing business.
 The positive image leads to attraction of new customers in the market for the
organization.
 The positive brand image tends to create a better and strong relation with that of the
customers. This leads to a better interaction among the organization and the customers
(Kunrath, Cash and Kleinsmann, 2020).
 The positive image tends to enhance the level of trust among the customers in
accordance with the organization.
 The brand image when is positive it leads to the organization enjoying a better prices
in the industry.
 The positive image of the organization sets a different perception of the quality.

Common skills expected in the workplace at the hospitality Industry
There are various types of skills that are required in the hospitality industry. The skills
are divided in to two categories, namely Soft skills and hard skills. The various types of soft
and hard skills are explained below-
Soft skills-
 Empathy and emotional intelligence- It is going without pronouncing that digital
transformation carries the future of the hospitality and tourism industry, but this
doesn't imply the industry turns into depersonalized. On the opposite, making an
investment in human capital is fundamental to finding revolutionary answers in an
ever-converting scenario. People decide the achievement of an employer and, if this
holds actual across all fields, it's miles even extra critical for provider-based totally
industries like hospitality and tourism (Landis and et.al., 2020).
 Teamwork- Team work is important in order to accomplish the common goals with
equal efforts in an organization. A group of individuals who work together in order to
accomplish their common goals is called a team. Team work is very important in the
hospitality industry as the teamwork has a huge significance in the task completion.
 Stress and time management- Hospitality managers will regularly work on numerous
matters straight away, handling a heavy paintings load at a fast pace. It’s smooth to
permit your feelings run wild when you are asked to do numerous things at once over
a quick time span and forced to cope with unexpected problems… For careers in
hospitality and tourism, you want to be prepared to multi-project and remain cool and
amassed in case you are to obtain extra performance and patron delight!
 Problem-fixing- Whether you’re handling a difficult customer or faced with inner
troubles, the capacity to think and recommend feasible solutions to issues is one of the
maximum valued gentle capabilities for careers in hospitality and tourism, and
sincerely a figuring out issue in relation to professional fulfillment. Whatever your
forte, you will need to discover ways to control a disaster, from identifying the hassle
to comparing how nicely you probably did and what may be progressed in destiny.
 Strategy and innovation- Hospitality and tourism HR managers have a tendency to
choose applicants who're allergic to the “if it ain't broke don't restore it” mantra and
will go an extra mile to innovate (O’Doherty and et.al., 2021).
Hard Skills-
 Food and beverage control encompasses in-depth product knowledge round food,
wine and other liquids bought on-premise. Moreover, it requires a radical information
of meals protection. Managers are chargeable for ensuring food handling is compliant
with health and safety laws at each production factor.
 Commercial acumen is a vast set of abilities such as financial control and commercial
enterprise making plans. Hospitality leadership roles commonly contain some budget
managing, whether it is group of workers rostering, menu making plans, recruitment
or procurement. You have to be capable of recognize sales margins, manage budgets
and plan for enterprise success.

 Sales and advertising and marketing refers for your ability to recognize, utilise, reveal
and measure the success of various advertising channels for the enterprise. Today,
there's a greater emphasis at the value of digital advertising specially, with social,
search and reserving websites becoming important to hospitality advertising strategies
(Richards and Hadaway, 2020).
 Competency in all areas of lodge operations does not come alongside easily. This
requires enjoy operating in and round all departments of a inn. The proper
qualification offers you perception into each operating region of a hospitality
established order, as well as real enjoy in the discipline.
 Human useful resource management combines a lot of your management tender
capabilities with practical aptitude in recruiting, vetting and disciplining body of
workers.
Assessment of skills at present for the job role of Front Office Manager at London Hilton
A personal SWOT analysis, working as a Front Office Manager at the London Hilton
is discussed below-
Strength-
 An enthusiastic and inspirational
personality
 Good listener
 Possess innovation skills
 Have competitive skills to cope up
with the competitive and dynamic
environment.
 Good at Multi-tasking
 Have excellent communication skills.
 Ability to work under pressure and
stay calm
 Teamwork
 Academic and educational skills
 Work experience
Weakness-
 Lack of planning and controlling
skills
 Work experience
 Rebellious nature
Opportunities
 A new career direction
 Changes in the industry that favor my
skills
 Challenges in the industry
 Flexibility in the career
 Fields offering better earning
opportunities
Threats-
 Work experience
 Lack training qualifications
 Lengthy leaves
 Decline in the hospitality industry
Critical evaluation of skills
A critical evaluation of the skills that an individual must have in order to work as a
Front office manager at The London Hilton is discussed below-
Sr no. Interest areas Self-marked Marks by others Deviations
1. Communication skills 7 6 -1

2 Time management skills 7 8 1
3 Decision making skills 8 6 -2
4 Technical skills 7 6 -1
5 Leadership skills 8 7 -1
6 Listening skills 9 9 0
7 Presentation skills 9 8 -1
8 Team work 7 8 1
9 Academic writing 8 8 0
10 Confidence 8 9 1
It may be interpreted from the above desk that I possess some clearly proper talents
and for a few I want to work a good way to enhance them. I very well need to work upon my
communication abilities, technical abilities and decision making competencies. The
development in the skills is crucial to perform in a prominent manner with all my potential in
the business enterprise. The rest of the capabilities may be taken into consideration great but
development is always a great concept to enforce irrespective of how exact you're at
something (Sawatsky, Huffman and Hafferty, 2020).
Learning Theories and Approaches used in Personal and Professional Development at
Hospitality industry
There are various learning theories that can be utilized in order to enhance the human
capital in the organization. The various learning theories applied in hospitality industry are
discussed below-
Reinforcement theory
Reinforcement theory is referred to a learning theory that lays emphasis on motivating
the employees to perform efficiently in order to avoid certain behaviors that have happened in
the past. There are two types of reinforcement theories, namely positive reinforcement and
negative reinforcement. The reinforcement refers to repetition of the same behavior in the
organization. It is advised that a positive reinforcement will always have a positive impact in
the organization (Sawatsky and et.al., 2020).
Social Learning theory
Learning through observations or monitoring is termed as social learning theory. In
this type of theory the individual treats the other person as idealistic in order to learn various
skills through direct experience also.
Goal Setting Theory-
A person’s behavior is affected by their goals, aim or objectives. A person can behave
in a certain way in order to attain their personal goals. The trainee is tend to be more
motivated when they are aware of the consequences that are going to happen.
Expectancy theory-
It is referred in the expectancy theory that behavior of a person is based upon three
factors namely, Expectancy, Instrumentality and Valence. The link between a person’s effort

to perform and performing well in reality is known as expectancy. Instrumentality is referred
to performing a certain behavior and Valence is referred to the value of the person in a
situation (Sternszus and et.al., 2020).
Adult Learning Theory
Adult Learning theory states the process of learning that is adapted by the adults or
mainly the professionals. This is somewhat customized learning where the instructions are
designed as per the needs of professional of every phase.
The various learning approaches that can brought in to consideration for hospitality
industry are explained below-
There are various learning approaches that can be used in gaining knowledge. The
various learning approaches that can be applied in the hospitality industry are discuseed
below-
Behaviorist Approach-
The behaviorist approach focuses on the behavior of a person as the name suggests. It
is a learning that impacts a change in the behavior of an individual. These are brought in with
the help of practical learning. This approach focuses on repetition and reinforcement. The
approach includes Recognition, Stimulus, Multiple Discrimination, Problem solving, motor
chain learning, Concept learning, Acquisition of rules and Verbal chain learning.
Cognitive Approach-
The cognitive learning approach is referred to have focus on the memory of a person.
It is solely not associated with the cramming process but it is a comprehensive process of
learning that deals with establishing understanding based on the information gathered which
leads to building a long term memory. This provides an in depth knowledge of everything
and settles in form of memory (van der Cingel. and Brouwer, 2021).
Humanist Approach-
The humanistic principle is primarily based entirely on the concept of goodness for
all. It targets for a united global this is at peace, in which there may be a good unfold of
information, and the newbies gain abilities and information that have high-quality results.
This method works high-quality for institution obligations. Learning that has religious
grounds or aimed toward a community can be achieved proper with this mastering method.
This method begins by means of encouraging the learner to focus at the proper as opposed to
the incorrect. Moreover, the humanistic method has two approaches:
Pedagogy is the mere transmission of understanding that is primary gaining knowledge of.
However, andragogy makes matters interesting through placing all of the learning control
within the fingers of the learner.

Developmental approaches
The developmental approaches that I can use to enhance my own personal and
professional skills in the hospitality industry, working as a front office manager at London
Hilton are-
 Formal training- The formal training regarding the tasks to be performed can help in
developing my skills in order to perform better at the organization.
 On the job training- The on the job training methods can also help in development of
an individual’s career by enhancing the skills (Wang and et.al., 2020).
 Job rotations- Job rotations allow a person to perform different tasks after every
repeated interval in order to be efficient in all the tasks that need to be performed.
 Workshops- The idea of attending the workshops related to hospitality will always
enhance your knowledge in the industry which will lead the development in career.
TASK 2
Professional development Plan
S. no Area of Interest Action Plan Essential needs Duration for
completion
1. Communication Skills I will work upon
enhancing this
interest area in
order to have a
lasting impact
upon the other
person in form
of verbal as well
as written
communication.
The skill is quite
important from
the point of view
of a marketer to
communicate
about the goals
and information
to various
stakeholders.
The key
requirement for
the course will
be to enrol for
an academic
course along
with the online
or the offline
course that are
available on the
various
platforms. This
skill will require
a lot of patience
and practice in
order to develop
confidence in
myself.
The time period
estimated for
completion of
the course is
expected to be 1
month through a
medium of
online course.
2. Presentation skills When it comes
to
advertisement,
presentation
plays a crucial
role as it helps
in attracting
customers.
Along with
graduation, all
these skills will
help in standing
out from the
crowd.
Time frame for
this skill is 6
months.

TASK 3
CV
The CV is prepared to advance my career in the hospitality industry and grab the job
opportunities for the job role of Hospitality Manager (Zhu. and et.al., 2020).
Name:
Address:
Contact no.:
Personal statement:
To secure the hard and accountable opportunity of career position in the legit corporation
with the intention to decorate my skills, knowledge and mastering, while making the full-size
contribution to the boom of enterprise. I am an ambitious business control graduate and
inclined to beautify and develop my career in the subject of hospitality with the help of
diverse capabilities I possess which can be important on the way to cope with the challenges
in the hospitality industry.
Skills and knowledge:
 Good listener
 Team management
 Communication skills
 Proficiency in MS office
 Multi-tasking
Educational details:
 Bachelor’s degree in Business management, Bucks New University
(September 2019- present)
Work Experience:
 Housekeeper, Beck and Call LTD, London
(December 2018 – September 2019)
 Front Office manager, Hilton, London
(October 2019 - Present)
Hobbies and Interests:
 Reading
 Sports
 Travelling
 Movies
Preparation for the interview
It is very important to prepare for an interview to have a long lasting impact and
increase the chances of being selected. The steps to excel the interview are-
 Go through the job description of the organization thoroughly.
 Research about the company, at least the basic information related to the organization
must be known.
 Plan in advance the attire to wear, as the first impression is the last impression.
 Plan in advance the visit to the organization for the interview.
 Prepare for the questions that are most likely to be asked in the interview.

 Prepare a list of queries or question that you can put up in front of the interviewer.
 Follow up with the employer (Wyatt and et.al., 2020).
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded that professional identity and practice plays a significant role in
the career of an individual. The study focuses on the career in hospitality industry where the
individual is employed as a front office manager at London Hilton, London, UK. The study
focuses on the various leaning skills and approaches that can be utilized in the industry along
with the developmental theories. The study consists of a CV and the professional
development plan for an individual who wishes to expand his career in the hospitality
industry.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals