Personal Skills Audit and Professional Development Plan for Marriott

This report focuses on a personal skills audit and professional development plan, using Marriott International as a case study. It begins with an introduction to the importance of professional development, followed by an examination of the benefits for various stakeholders, including investors, managers, suppliers, and employees. The report then analyzes the skills and competencies expected by employers in the hospitality industry, such as communication, technological proficiency, and leadership. A personal SWOT analysis is included to recognize individual abilities, skills, and competencies, along with a skills audit table. The report also explores relevant learning theories and approaches used for personal and professional development, such as behavior learning theory. A development plan is proposed to enhance skills and competencies within an organization. Finally, the report discusses job interviews in the service industry, including strengths and weaknesses of the interview process, and concludes with a summary of the key findings.

Personal Skill Audit
and Professional
Development Plan

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1. Provide the key benefits of on-going professional development for the different
stakeholder within the organisation........................................................................................3
P2. Examine the professional employers expectation of skills and competencies within the
organisation field....................................................................................................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
P3. Recognize own abilities, skills and competences for the specific role...........................6
P4 Learning Theories and approaches utilised for personal as well as professional
development process..............................................................................................................7
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................8
P5. Develop plan for enhancing the skills and competencies within the specific organisation..8
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................10
P6. Discuss job interview for service industry role..............................................................10
P7. Discuss strengths weaknesses of an interview process..................................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFRENCES.................................................................................................................................15
Books and Journal................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
Professional development have become important for an individual in order to grow in
the company. For this it is necessary for the company to develop the professional development
for their employees in order to enhance their efficiency and effectiveness at their workplace. It is
documents that defines the potential skills and competencies that an employee need to acquire in
order to ensure continuous career development. In addition to this there is an personal audit skills
which is prepared in order to measure and monitor the skills of the employees in performing the
task allotted to them. This report focuses on the Marriott International which is an American
diversified hospitality organisation having its headquarter in Bethesda, Maryland. It operates the
largest hotel chains across the globe which was founded in 1927 by J. Willard Marriott and Alice
Marriott (Burdon and Munro, 2017). The hotel have diversified is operating in 30 brands in 131
countries and territories. This report will focus on benefits of the professional development plan
of the hotel. Also, this report will analyse the expectations of the skills from the employees in the
hotel. With this there is an inclusion of my own skills for an specific job role with the approaches
to be used for preparing PDP. Furthermore, there is an explanation of the interview process for
the service industry with the analysis of its strengths and weaknesses.
MAIN BODY
TASK 1
Provide the key benefits of on-going professional development for the different stakeholder
within the organisation.
Marriott hotel is an global based hotel which is operating effectively with the team of
their effective workforce. But for sustaining their leading position in the industry they have to
keep their employees skills updated. The company has a capacity of 1,400,693 rooms with 7,484
properties across the globe. The hotel is operating for more than 94 years which have enhanced
their growth prospects and have increased their market share. The management of hotel have an
perspective that they must recruit the employees who can perform multitasking (Darling-
Hammond, 2017). In addition to this, there are many advantages of professional development for
the stakeholders of the hospitality industry. These benefits are explained as underneath: Investors and Analyst: These are the main stakeholders for the hospitality industry as
they provide funds for the operations of the industry. As if the hotel have effective

functioning in their working environment then it will attract new investors towards the
hotel. This will also help in enhancing the currents investment amo0unt by the investors.
It is because the investors have properly analysed the profits and stability of the hotel due
to which they have no fear of losing their money. Hotel Manager: The hotel manager is another important stakeholder as they are
responsible for managing the operations of the hotels effectively. Their work involves
proper guiding, monitoring and controlling the activities in the working environment of
the hotel. Also, they act as the front line soldier of the industry who interacts the
customers on the priority basis and serves them in an efficient manner to satisfy their
expectations (Donelson, Ege and Maksymov, 2020). Professional development skills will
enhance the competencies and capabilities of the managers which they can apply in the
hotels in order to sustain the competitive advantage of the hotel. Suppliers: suppliers are necessary in order to meet the demands of the goods and services
of the hotels. It is necessary for the suppliers to enhance their skills according to the
requirement of the external environment. As this will help them in expanding their own
business due to the increased sales of goods and services of the hotel. Industry Association: The association plays an dominating role for the hotels as they
defines the rules and regulations that need to be followed by them. This will help the
hotels in securing them from legal liabilities as they follow framework developed by the
industry association. Proper professional development is necessary to introduce in
Marriott hotel in order to develop and enhance the effective working standards.
 Employees: The employees are the important part of the organisation. Since they work in
reams in order to attain the targets of the hotels. Proper development of skills help the
employees in maintaining proper balance between their personal goals and their
professional goals. Due to which their productivity in the working environment gets
improved and they will be able to achieve the targets before the deadlines.
Examine the professional employers expectation of skills and competencies within the
organisation field.
There are various skills and competencies required for the development of the employee in the
competitive industry. In the context with Marriott hotel, there is requirement of developing
certain skills that will help in enhancing the efficiency of the operations of the hotel at global

level. For this the hotel aims at recruiting the employees who have the following skills and
competencies:
Skills Communication Skills: It is an effective skills that will enable the employees to share
their views and ideas with the top management of Marriott hotel. For this it is necessary
for the employees to develop this skill at a greater level as this will help them in serving
the customer in an appropriate way(Gilissen, Pivodic, and Van den Block, 2018). Also,
for communicating the roles to the subordinates or the team members it is necessary to
have proper communication standards. Technological Skills: The current era is an digital era and for working on this era it is
necessary to have effective technological knowledge and skills. Marriott hotel is working
at a global level due to their developed link thorough online network. As they are serving
the services of online booking and payments which will help them in attracting the
customers. For managing their operations effective an employees should perceive the
technological skills. Leadership Skills: A leader guides the team members to work effectively. Marriott hotel
is working on an international level and their workforce comprises of teams who are
managed by the leaders. These leaders are being selected by the management. So every
employee must initiate to perceive the leadership skills in order to enhance their growth
prospects.
Competencies Analytical abilities: It is necessary for an employee to have the analytical skills as this
will help them in evaluating the threats and opportunities for the Marriott hotel. This can
be perceived by proper analysing the information and data supplied by numerous users
which will improve their skills. This will help them in understanding the current trends of
the industry.
 Teamwork: This can be considered as an competence for the employees working in
Marriott hotel. As the team player plays an encouraging role for the employees as they
gets motivated to attain high performance. Also, this will help them in enhancing the
customer base of the hotel which will improve the productivity and profitability of
Marriott hotel (Klindt, 2017).

Hence, from the above discussion it can be analysed that the development of the skills and
competencies is necessary in order to sustain high performance. Also, this will help them in
extracting new customers for the Marriott hotel.
TASK 2
Recognize own abilities, skills and competences for the specific role.
It is necessary for an individual to develop an internal audit of their skills in order to
enhance them in the external environment. For this an individual can use SWOT analysis as an
effective tool, which will help them in analysing their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and
threats.
SWOT analysis:
STRENGTH WEAKNESS
Communication skills: This can be
considered as an strength for me. As I can
easily communicate with the people which
will help me in understanding the
information provided by different senders.
Also, I can easily understand the language of
their communication (Liu, McBride and
Scarmardo-Rhodes, 2018).
Technological skills: This can be counted as
one of my weakness as the technology keep on
changing on a daily basis. Also, it have
become difficult for me to understand the
technological trends.
Decision Making ability: This can be
considered as my another weakness as I am
little confused personality that is why it
becomes difficult for me to make effective
decision.
OPPORTUNITY THREATS
To identify different skills: It is an great
opportunity for me to enhance my efficiency
and effectiveness in working environment.
Also, it is necessary for me to prospects the
opportunities in an effective manner as this
will help me in achieving my goals and
objective in the near future.
Competition: It can be considered as an major
threat for my career in hospitality industry.
Due to an increment in the level of
competition in the external environment it will
be difficult for me to analyse and utilise my
growth prospects effectively. Also, there are
many experienced employers who have more
work experience more than myself.

Skill Audit :-
Skills and
competencies
Score by self Score by others
Communication
ability
8 9
Team building
skills
6 8
Financial
management
3 4
Leadership skills 8 7
Decision making 4 6
It can be concluded from the above listed table that I needs to focus more on enhancing
my financial management so as be competent in regulating the financial resources of the
company effectively and to manage the inflows and outflows of finance in a systematic and
productive manner. I also need to concentrate on my decision making capabilities in order to
implement good decisions in the workplace (Peres, Ezeagu and Gómez-Torres, 2017). My
communication skills are an asset to me as they help me to interact effective among a number of
individuals and I will keep enhancing the communication by participating and increasing my
interaction.
Learning Theories and approaches utilised for personal as well as professional development
process.
A variety of theories, models and approaches are introduced in the business environment
which can assist in the development of an individuals personally as well as professionally. These
theories and approaches are very fruitful for an individuals as they help to increment the
development of the same for a long term. The incorporation and application of the below
mentioned theories can increase the effectiveness in the learning abilities and acquisition of the
professional mannerisms as well.
Behaviour learning theory
It can be characterized as theory that suggests that growth and development of an
individual depends on their respective behaviours in various circumstances and conditions rather

than the natural characteristics and features of the same. It lays concern over the fact that an
individual can achieve greater heights by focusing and aligning their efforts towards behaviour
learning.
The above described theory involves two important factors :-
Classic Conditioning of an individual
It can be termed as a kind of learning that is occurred when a natural reflexive result to
the stimulus is provided. The learning is acquired unconsciously. It highlights upon the fact that
an individual will surely have a specific response to a situation at any point of situation. In
relation with Marriott Hotel, the individuals working in the same are expected to learn from the
working environment of the organisation through experiencing challenging situations and should
try their best to overcome the same.
Operant Conditioning of an individual
It can be considered to be a kind of learning wherein rewards, benefits as well as
punishments are employed fro the behaviour of the individual. In this theory the behaviour is
interrelated with a response or a consequence that an individual needs to bear. The consequence
can be either positive or negative (Provan, Dekker and Rae, 2017). Marriott Hotel needs to
establish this type of learning for the employees in order to motivate the same to increase their
concerned performance and to also identify the individuals that are not so effective or inefficient
and to punish the same in order to encourage them to do better in the future. This in turn will also
help the company to keep an eye on all the individuals and to measure the growth of the same in
the workplace.
TASK 3
Develop plan for enhancing the skills and competencies within the specific organisation.
SKILLS Current
proficienc
y
Targeted
expertise
Development
opportunities
Resources Time
frame
Financial
Managem
ent
6 out of 10 9 out of
10
I wish to develop
higher expertise in the
field of finance by
I have decided to
join several
online classes
I have
determined
time frame

gaining insights
related to several
financial theories and
models. This will help
to explore in career
and get better
opportunities in
future.
and programs to
improve my
knowledge in the
field of finance.
In addition, I will
also take advise
from experience
personnels to
improve in skills
and potential.
of 6
months to
get desired
results.
Decision
Making
5 out of 10 9 out of
10
It will help me to take
effective decisions for
the betterment of
organisation and
strengthen my
position at work
place. With this, I will
be able to grab the
opportunities of future
growth and success
and make appropriate
plans to reduce the
uncertainties. It will
help me to select best
alternative by
analysing different
factors.
For this I will
take initiatives at
work place to
undertake
different
functions and
take better
decisions. In
addition, I will
also take advice,
support and
guidance from
experience
personnels
within company
so that my
decision making
ability is
improved.
I will
assign time
period of
5 moths to
develop
effective
decision
making
skills.
Leadershi
p skills
7 out of 10 10 out of
10
Leaders are the key
person of an
Here, I will take
initiatives to
In this, I
have

organisation as they
lead, guide as well as
motivate people of
organisation to attain
predefined vision.
This skill will provide
me opportunities to
lead team in an
effective manner so
that they will be able
to attain
organisational goal in
stipulated period of
time.
work as well as
handle the team
so that I came
across with the
constraints and
problem that may
arise during
leadership. In
addition, I will
attend several
seminars,
workshops to get
familiar with the
experience of
real life leaders.
determined
a time
period of 6
moths to
develop
this skill.
From above discussion, it can be said that there are several skills and potential are
required to perform job effectively within hospitality sector. These skills are essential to explore
in career and get better exposure. In addition, it is crucial to undertake self analysis on timely
basis so that an individual will be able to asses own performance and develop an effective plan
for future career enrichment (Anderson-Gough, 2018). Here, a particular time frame is also
determined to develop necessary skills in stipulated period of time. For front staff manager it is
crucial to develop effective leadership, decision making skills to perform assigned task in better
manner.
TASK 4
Discuss job interview for service industry role
Interview is a process in which interviewer assessed the skills, potential of candidate in
reference of the available position within company. There are several steps followed during
interview so that a potential candidate can selected in order to perform assigned task in best
possible manner. It can be done face to face and through other mediums such as telephone,

Skype and more (Baume and Popovic, 2016). Nowadays, different process of interview are used
by different companies that is determined by the HR department of respective company. In
addition, it also differs based on the job role such as for managerial position interviews there are
multiple rounds of interview are conducted. During interview, recruiter try to know about
personality, attitude, behaviour of candidate. For this, they ask several questions that are both
technical as well as general differ as per the post available within company. It is analysed that
interview is conducted by human resource department. They conduct a complete process of
recruitment and selection consist several steps from inviting applications to offering job letters.
There are some questions which are related to a vacant post within hospitality industry are given
as under:
Questionnaire
 Tell me something about yourself?
 What is your strengths as well as weaknesses that will affect your performance at work
place?
 Why should we hire you?
 Where do you see yourself after five years down the line?
 What do you know about company?
 Why do you wish to associate with our company?
 How many years of experience do you have or in which area?
 Tell me something about your past experience?
 What are the functions of your department in previous organisation?
 How you will handle the conflicts within organisation and what methods will you adopt
to reduce it?
 How do you respond feedback and queries of customers of respective department?
 How will you select and handle the employees of your respective department?
 What kind of strategies and theories you will adopt to ensure effective functioning and
management of your department?
With above discussion, it is analysed that during interview several questions are asked in
order to know the abilities, potential of applicants (Cheng, 2016). These questions are designed
is such a manner that maximum information can be gathered from candidates regarding their

professional life. Interview is an essential process that is designed in order to monitor the
capabilities of an applicant. Therefore, HR managers need to design interview questions with due
consideration by keeping vacant position in mind in order to select an potential candidate.
Discuss strengths weaknesses of an interview process
Interview is a process that is undertaken in order to evaluate the skills, potential and
knowledge of a n applicant. In addition, multiple rounds of interview helps to select most
appropriate candidate for job opening within company. In interview, there are a set of questions
that are asked from applicants and their response is measured accordingly. Here, selection of
individuals based on their performance during interview. Strength and weakness of interview
process are discussed as under:
Strengths
Provide qualified staff: With this, organisations are able to hire potential, skilful
candidates who will be able to perform different organisational task effectively for the success of
company. There are multiple rounds organised during interview which eventual help to select a
competent candidate.
Short term process: It is analysed that interview is a short term process based on the
rounds included in the interview. Generally, it consist two rounds in which one is telephonic and
other is face to face round (Collings, Dew and Dowse, 2016). There are some organisations who
conduct different rounds such as technical round and more. However, it can be said that
interview is the most suitable as well as shore term process to select a potential candidate.
In depth analysis: Interview helps to gather detailed information about applicant
regarding their personality, attitude, behaviour and other traits. In addition, it also provide
information regarding professional capabilities, skills, potential of candidate that is crucial to
make appropriate selection.
Weaknesses
Negative process: During interview several candidates who do not possess skills, abilities
related to vacant position are eliminated from overall process. Therefore, sometimes
organisations are not able to select an appropriate candidate and eliminate them during interview
process.
Required qualified persons: Here, organisations are required to have qualified as well as
highly experts persons to take interview. For this, they need to hire highly skilful and