Professional Identity and Practice: A Report on Development

This report examines the concept of professional identity and its significance in the workplace, using The Mandrake Hotel as a case study. It explores the key benefits of ongoing professional development for both employees and employers, highlighting the importance of continuous learning and skill enhancement. The report delves into various learning theories, including behaviorism, cognitive theory, and constructivism, and their application in personal and professional growth. It also presents a self-audit of skills relevant to a hospitality manager role, identifying strengths and areas for improvement. Furthermore, it outlines a personal development plan with SMART goals to address identified weaknesses and leverage opportunities within the hospitality sector, emphasizing the development of ethical behavior, flexibility, and management skills. The report also discusses the importance of communication, interpersonal skills, leadership, and attention to detail, along with a range of transferable skills applicable to the service industry, providing a comprehensive overview of professional development and career advancement strategies.

Professional Identity
and Practice

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................2
Key benefits and importance of on-going professional development....................................3
Different learning theories and approaches used for personal and professional development.
................................................................................................................................................5
Professional development plan...............................................................................................6
Demonstrate a range of service industry and transferable skills for a job application...........9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCE.................................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
Professional identity is a person's identity based on their professional function in the
enterprise. It is described as a person's belief, attitudes, morals, expertise, perspective and many
other factors that are closely attributed to the professional life. To establish a positive
professional persona at work, certain competencies are necessary. The Mandrake Hotel is taken
as base company. The Mandrake Hotel, established in 2017 by businessman and entrepreneur
Rami Fustok, is a stylish boutique hotel in the United Kingdom with 30 luxury guestrooms,
including three suites and an award-winning penthouse. In this report, it covers the career
possibilities, skills, competencies and the many learning and development techniques,
professional development plan and service industry and transferable skills for a job application
are all important aspects of ongoing professional development and self-directed learning.
Key benefits and importance of on-going professional development
Professional development is the procedure of ongoing learning and career training
whenever an individual has started the job to assist them gain new abilities, keep updated on
current trends and improve their profession (Pei-Shan, 2021). Individuals in several areas are
required to enrol in continual learning, mostly as a condition of maintaining their employment or
maintaining their licence, distinction or credential. Professional growth is beneficial not just to
oneself, but also to the company. Professionals such oneself improve their personal potential and
also by increasing to the total potential of the organisation by offering learning opportunities,
expand their skill sets and keep updated on market trends. Its goal is to provide professionals
with the chance to acquire and use new information and capabilities that will benefit them in
their jobs and improve their careers Professional growth is about polishing the skill set and
expanding the learning and understanding in the industry (Nguyen, 2017). Professional
development and professional training possibilities provide a variety of additional advantages to
both new and skilful workers. The key benefits of on-going professional development are
mentioned below:
To employers: Professional development provides the opportunity to build procedures,
habits and opportunities to enhance staff development while also significantly benefiting aspects
essential to the organisation such as profitability and image. It is a chance for businesses to

utilize the most of their personnel' talents and assist them in even more developing them in an
order to improve both employer and employee efficiency. Although this means spending for
further professional development, it is often even more cost-effective to keep and develop a
dedicated, productive and committed staff than to acquire and educate a new hire (Larijani,
Ghadirian and Bakhshi, 2020). Employers may expect to keep employee commitment by
employee engagement and creating an environment of assistance and motivation for workers by
providing special emphasis to professional development options for its staff.
To employees: Employees who participate in professional development may experience
greater confidence in their abilities to excel in particular field of work. If an employee lacking a
specific talent, that person may be called into issue. Employees will also improve as a result of
professional growth. Personnel who gain the proper capabilities for the job will be much more
effective and competent assisting the firm for which they operate to grow. It has the potential to
provide employees with new opportunities. If an individual is having difficulty getting elevated
to a superior, more profitable job, professional development may be able to assist them in
obtaining such raise (Nylén, 2018).
For the role of hospitality manager, The Mandrake Hotel would be seeking a number of
skills and competences which are mentioned below:
Communication skills: Hotel managers are concerned for the security of their facilities,
resolving conflicts amongst staff and customers, getting updated on improvements in procedures,
reviewing industry publications and much more. Hospitality managers are frequently seen as the
hotel's public face, thus good communication skills are required to fulfil the job responsibilities.
Managers must constantly portray them self respectfully, empathetically and professionally.
Interpersonal skills: Communication is essential and interpersonal skills play a
significant role in becoming a successful communicator. This was primarily the job of the
hospitality manager to maintain visitors and staff satisfied (Knoetze and McCulloch, 2017). A
manager should constantly retain honesty, integrity, tolerance and knowledge when under
pressure.
Leadership: Hospitality managers must be effective team leaders that are prepared to
engage, improve employee morale, address disputes effectively and delegate responsibilities to

employees. Hotels contain many changing elements from visitors to employees to management,
thus a good leader is required to assure the department's performance.
Building a team: It is necessary to take into consideration that the hotel personnel is
continuously dealing with customers. Employee-guest connections will show signs of a stressed
team atmosphere. Creating a collaborative and transparent team atmosphere will benefit both the
employee's efficiency and the visitors' satisfaction (Gibbons and Douglas, 2020).
Flexibility: The uncertain and unpredictable difficulties regularly arise in hotel
management at the most inconvenient times. Flexibility and adaptability are essential qualities
that enable managers to execute quick, clear and well-informed choices. With strong
management, adaptability, empathy and interpersonal skills, negative visitor situations may be
swiftly reversed over.
Attention to detail: Managers should be hyper-vigilant regarding issues as large as
security problems and as basic as keeping flower arrangements in the lobby to assure each visitor
has a wonderful journey (Farrell, 2020). Delegating responsibilities among employees is an
essential component of management.
As Hospitality manager, I have certain roles and responsibilities such as managing
activities and assisting people in reaching their greatest capabilities. I am also constantly
concerned with providing a positive client experience as my job responsibility to be a problem
solvers and leaders. Also, I have the responsibility to supervise and assess employees, ensure that
resources and facilities are sufficient in number and quality, addressing client complaints as
needed and advise in pricing items or services. Along with this, the skills that hospitality
manager should have such as communication skills, interpersonal skills, decision making skills.
Different learning theories and approaches used for personal and professional development.
Learning is described as a procedure that combines personal and social interactions and
impacts in order to acquire, improve, or change one's knowledge, capabilities, morals, emotions,
behaviour and world perspectives. Learning theories generate ideas that characterise how this
process occurs. The different learning theories are mentioned below:
Behaviourism: An individual acquires knowledge in this sort of learning method just by
genuinely watching changes in the behaviour of the others. Learning, according to behaviourism,
is about gaining new behaviours or changing old ones (Lan, 2020). The learning process begins
when a stimulation or indication from the surroundings impacts the learner and person responds

to it. In the context to the organisation, the hospitality manager can stimulate and encourage
workers to perform better work. Rules and regulations, on the other hand, regulate staff
behaviour. The disadvantage of this approach is that it does not train employees for difficult
issues or increase their problem-solving abilities.
Cognitive: Cognitive is concerned with the internal understanding of facts and information
available. In contrast to the earlier view, the cognitive process is directed and influenced
primarily by internal processes rather than external circumstances. Furthermore, changes in
behaviour are noticed and used in the cognitive process to gain understanding as to what is
occurring on within a person's mind (Schubert, Rhodes and Buus, 2021). This idea may be used
to issue resolving in the workplace.
Constructivism: This theory is solely dependent on acquiring and developing a foundation
of learning in ability to comprehend and create concepts. Individuals construct their personal
information models which they then employ to generate a sense of experience. This theory
enhances the comprehension of concepts. Furthermore, consequences cannot be predicted since
they are built by learners based on their education. As a result, this idea cannot be applied when
corporations expect regular outcomes every time. These are utilised in cooperation and
simulations.
Based on the data presented above, it can be concluded that there are several kinds of
learning theories that describe various procedures of learning within any human (Beeson, 2019).
Constructivism is the best learning technique because it encourages cooperation and provides a
feeling of experience. In this approach, The Mandrake Hotel can enhance both its productivity
and the efficacy of its personnel. It will encourage different perspectives while also developing
advanced abilities such as critical reasoning, analysis, assessment and invention. It will also help
individuals to focus on their performance, assess them and discover additional skills to learn
focusing on the requirements.
Professional development plan
Strength-
 I am good at communication skill as I
have the ability to properly interact
with my co workers as well as easily
Weakness-
 I am lacking in listening skills. I do
listen but not able to grasp properly.

express my view about the situation or
point.
 I have the skill of time management in
which I am able to assign my work and
do at the scheduled time. This helps in
maintaining punctuality with myself as
well as with my work.
 I am very aggressive type of person
where I get aggression even on minute
conflict situation or if the work is not
according to me.
Opportunity-
 Applying for a position of Hospitality
Manager at the Mandrake Hotel.
 Working for Mandrake Hotel as
Hospitality Manager .
Threat-
 Major threat for me is that, there are
many hotels and organisation hire
candidate internally where an outsider
cannot get a chance. In the
organisation.
 There are many applicants for this
positions as it is a well reputed
organisation and every individual wants
to get hired.
A personal audit is also known as a skill audit is a method of determining how well a
person can do a skill in his or her daily activities. It includes ratings for competencies that are
required to function in a specific work capacity (Brekke and Anastas, 2019). It is beneficial since
it assists in identifying poorer abilities such that the person could develop them in the coming
years for personal advantage. Self audit chart of my skills for Hospitality Manager is mentioned
below:
Skills Personal audit questionnaire 1 2 3 4 5
Communication skill Good to deliver appropriate signals to
clients in attempt to acquire customer trust
*
Ethical behaviour Good to retain excellent morals and
standards at job and to assist the company in
*

maintaining a healthy workplace change.
Time management
skill
Good to organize time for keeping
employees to do work on scheduled time
*
Decision making
skill
Good to make appropriate decisions and
choice which is beneficial to the
organisation
*
Flexibility Good to work and engage my team working
for hours and faces difficulties strongly
*
Management skills Good in maintaining the various activities
and function of the hotel.
*
From the above mentioned self audit plan, it has been analysed that I am good at some
skills such as communication skills, time management skills and decision making skills.
Communication skills help me to express my views to co-workers and customers as well. Also,
time management skills assists in keeping with my work on time and decision making assists me
in taking the right decisions for the hotel (Springbett, 2018). However, I need to improve certain
skills such as ethical behaviours, flexibility and management skills.
Personal development skills for the skills of Hospitality Manager
Current Skills
and
Competencies
used in personal
and professional
plan
Goals
Personal /
Professional
Development
Plan ACTIVITY
(Use SMART
targets)
Indicate how you have
monitored your progress,
underpinning. learning and
development theory
Evaluate the effectiveness
of your personal
development plan
Ethical
behaviour
To learn
ethical
behaviour
which will take
2 months
I will attend different types of
workshops and classes to get
myself aware about the
different ethical behaviours
(Makovec, 2018). Also I will
be using behaviourism theory
so that I will be able to learn
The purpose to learn this
skill is making oneself
behave properly to other.
One of the benefits of this
skill is that, I will feel more
confident functioning for
the hotel that acts ethically

and adapt the surrounding
and observe the behaviour of
different individuals and will
try to act accordingly.
than one that does not. The
major disadvantage of is
that it might limit the
hotel’s potential to
maximize profitability.
Flexibility To learn this
skill, I will be
requiring 6
months
Flexibility is a Thinking Skill
which concentrates on a
person's capacity to adapt to
new conditions, improvise
and alter methods in response
to many sorts of obstacles
(Othman and Senom, 2019). I
can attend various classes as
well as practice at hotel to
work a little extra so that I
will be able to work in with
flexibility. Here I will be
using cognitive theory.
One of the biggest benefits
of learning this skill is that,
I will be a more useful
worker, a stronger leader
and even much more
prepared to tackle
problems. It would also be
simpler for me to adjust to
professional developments
and become even more
effective as a result of this..
Management
skills
For learning
this skill, I will
be required 3
months.
Management skills are
characteristics or talents that
an person should have in
order to perform certain
duties in a company. I can
measure my performance
with the help of senior
manager who will be
evaluating my performance
and give reviews for my
improvements.
Benefit of this skill is that,
it will be able to boost my
productivity as well as for
the hotel. Disadvantage of
this skill is that, when a
person is attempting to
accomplish projects at the
very last moment, people
nearly always lose quality
for speed (Fauza and
Wilujeng, 2017).

Demonstrate a range of service industry and transferable skills for a job application
Characteristics and importance if Hospitality Manager
Hospitality manager is essential for hotel. A Hospitality Manager is the individual in
charge of managing and coordinating all of the operations of a hospitality firm. Their duty is to
develop the establishment's marketing and managerial plan in accordance with value
maximization, the standard and hygiene and sanitation standards. In context to the selected firm,
they are also important for the maintenance of financial and administrative documentation
(Courraud Bois and Lieutaud, 2018). They are active in the financial and legal sides of their
business, as well as collaborating closely with customers. They are also in charge of reviewing
customer concerns. Also, they are in charge of managing and organise personnel and processes,
control and coordinate staff members and evaluate the amount and integrity of supplies and
material.
Job description of Hospitality Manager

CV for Hospitality Manager

Interview script
Interviewer: Why did you want to work in the hospitality industry?
Interviewee: I want to work in this business because I am extremely enthusiastic about my
ambitions and want to see them come true! I also want to be a good professional in this field! I
choose to test myself with the universe and I believe that this business is the greatest place to do
it, because we must engage with a wide range of people
Interviewer: Describe a moment when you had to deal with dissatisfied consumer.
Interviewee: When I worked, in a restaurant there had been a client who was dissatisfied with
the meal he had received. He seemed dissatisfied with how this has been prepared and when he
questioned me, he claimed it was mine responsibility. I stayed and attention to what he had to
say before offering him various options, such as sending it to the chef or providing him with an
alternate lunch.

He requested me to return it, which I did. I then ordered the chef to prepare fresh meal to the
clients’ requirements and took it out. The consumer expressed his satisfaction and appreciation
for the modifications.
Interviewer: What are your thoughts on working night shifts?
Interviewee: Yes, I am available for night shifts. So what was the usual norm for working night
shifts and would I be obliged to complete a certain amount of them every month?
Interviewer: What does exceptional guest service imply to you?
Interviewee: To me, providing good guest service is demonstrating to consumers that you are
always ready to assist with any difficulties and that you welcome people with a smiling face.
This is all about going through this with consumers.
Interviewer: What do you want to be in five years?
Interviewee: I'd want to pursue a profession in hospitality management. Someday, I'd like to
relocate to other hospitality places throughout the world to get expertise in various nations.
Interviewer: What do you believe the job's tasks and responsibilities are?
Interviewee: As a hospitality manager, I believe that one of their job tasks will be to define the
commercial strategy of the institution in which they operate. Also has the role develop budgets,
monitor operational profits or losses, are in charge of the hotel's financial and administrative
administration and determine the goals that must be met in effort to sustain and expand the
establishment's turnovers. This job is also responsible for developing promotional programmes
to guarantee that the hotel is completely booked. Along with this, the manager may also
participate in professional trade shows or collaborate with tour companies, local governments to
drive in fresh clients and preserve the best possible relationships with important players in the
hospitality industry. They must understand how to earn the loyalty of its clients by the excellence
of what they have to provide in their company as well as the essential humanitarian initiatives.
CONCLUSION
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that personal and professional growth is vital
in one's life. In this report, it includes the importance of on-going professional development and
self directed learning to enhance the professional identity and career opportunities. Along with
this, it also includes the skills, competence and different learning and development approaches in
which in analyzing abilities and skills for job performance is a valuable effort and self-

assessment may assist a person determine which abilities are positives and which are
shortcomings. Furthermore, a professional development plan is mentioned that assist in making
smart choices to enhance weaker abilities that helps in finding a suitable with job and also
includes the interview script for which a person could quickly and easily determine what the
weak areas were throughout the interview process.
.

REFERENCE
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