Professional Identity and Practice Report: Virgin Holidays Analysis

This report delves into the concept of professional identity and its practical application, focusing on the context of Virgin Holidays, a prominent travel and tourism business. It begins by outlining the key benefits of ongoing professional development for various stakeholders within the company, emphasizing its importance in enhancing employee retention, improving productivity, and expanding knowledge. The report then investigates the expected skills and competencies for a floor manager role, including communication, delegation, and technological proficiency. It includes a self-assessment of skills, identifying strengths and weaknesses, as well as a review of learning theories such as cognitive and social learning theories used for personal and professional development. Furthermore, the report constructs a development plan to enhance selected skills and competencies. Finally, it includes a job interview simulation, analyzing its strengths and weaknesses.

Professional Identity and
Practice

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1. Key benefits of on-going professional development for different stakeholders within
company......................................................................................................................................3
P2. Investigate professional employer expectation of skills and competencies within industry 5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
P3. Assess own abilities, skills, and competences for a specific job role...................................6
Abilities:......................................................................................................................................6
P4. Review a range of learning theories and approaches used for personal and professional
development processes................................................................................................................8
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................8
P5. Construct a development plan to enhance chosen skills and competencies within a specific
work context ...............................................................................................................................8
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................10
P6. Undertake a job interview for a suitable service industry role...........................................10
P7. Review key strengths and weaknesses of an applied interview process.............................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Professional identity refers to concept which assist individuals in analysing and knowing
about what they thinks about themselves according to their occupation and manner of
communication. It differs from person to person as identity is developed on basis of individuals
values, morals, attitudes, experiences, and beliefs which further helps in describing and
differentiating themselves in their social environment whereas professional practice is concerned
with utilising skills and knowledge at their workplace as per their profession (Brooks, 2016). In
order to have complete understanding,Virgin Holidays concerned with travel and tourism
business (Warner, 2014). It was founded under Virgin Group in the year 1985 by Sir Richard
Branson. In this report important benefits of ongoing professional development for stakeholders
will be included. Along with this, it has been discussed about competencies, skills and learning
approaches. Lastly, development plan will be prepared along with skills for service industry and
interview process with its strength and weakness is been discussed.
TASK 1
P1. Key benefits of on-going professional development for different stakeholders within
company
Company Overview
Virgin holidays which was founded in year 1985 is leading travel and tourism business
in United Kingdom offering wide range of services to their consumers in context of tourism
sector. The preferred holidays destination by company are USA, Africa, Canada, Middle East,
South Pacific and India (Cruess, 2016). Also, Virgin Holidays offers unique services as it have
specialised cruise division “ Virgin Holidays Cruises” and “Worldwide Holidays” which helps to
develop competitive place for businesses at global level. To gain first mover advantage from its
competitors managers are required to carry development programmes on continuous basis for its
various stakeholders. Therefore, continuous development programmes is known as learning
process which help in developing professional competencies, skills and knowledge in order to

face fierce competition at workplace. This process is very much important as this is concerned
with past experiences further helps to overcome weaknesses and develop effective plans and
procedures. On-going professional development assist managers of Virgin Holidays to deal with
cut throat competition in market and to gain competitive advantage by increasing quality of
services. It is beneficial for both employer as well as employee which are discussed below:-
Basis of comparison Employer Employees
Enhancing employee
retention
Their is high employee retention
at Virgin Holidays as they
continuously focuses professional
development. Managers of Virgin
Holidays are able to retain they
employees by emphasising on
increasing skills and maintaining
loyalty of staff members as this
further contributes in quality of
services by increasing efficiency
and productivity (Cyrino, 2016).
If there is continuous professional
development programmes it assist
employees in enhancing their
competencies and skills which further
helps to grab opportunities of
promotion at existing workplace.
Also, now they have ability to
effectively accomplish their goals and
objectives.
Improve productivity As employer on continuous basis
is imparting training with regards
to professional development. So,
Virgin Holidays will be able to
increase level of productivity as
now employees are now able to
work as per trends prevailing in
market because now they have
proper understanding and
knowledge (Guile, 2014).
This ongoing professional
development assist employees by
learning new ways of performing
tasks as it helps in reducing errors and
mistakes. Furthermore, it also provide
support by helping them in increasing
skills and knowledge base which in
turn contributes in achieving career
goals.
Enhance Knowledge Employer conducts training and
learning sessions for developing
If employees get proper and complete
access in professional development,

employees. As this further helps
to improve their knowledge base
and helps Virgin Holidays to deal
with complexities arising in
business environment. Along
with this ongoing professional
development helps company to
gain competitive advantage over
rivalry firms.
than employees have opportunity to
develop understanding which helps in
formulation of strategies to face
competitors and current market
situation. Also, employees can focus
on improving their practices, methods
related to work and provide
suggestions for effective strategy
formulation.
P2. Investigate professional employer expectation of skills and competencies within industry
Professional competencies and skills play very important role for building employees so
that they are able to perform their tasks and work effectively by maintaining satisfaction level of
customers with quality of services. In context of Virgin Holidays employees should be able to do
effective and proper interaction with customers in that way that they put direct influence on
satisfaction level of customers for this appropriate professional skills are very much crucial
(Hayward, 2014). Various hard and soft skills are expected to be in an individual for job profile
of Hospitality Floor Manager. Some of skills are listed down below:-
 Communicational skill:- This is very important skills for role of floor manager at Virgin
Holidays as their task is to have interaction with their subordinates at regular intervals for
conveying about work which they are required to perform. If employee’s is not having
appropriate skills related to communication than it will put impact upon quality of work,
their will be errors in operations and also this may lead to repetition of work.
 Delegation of work:- Floor manager of Virgin Holidays should possess complete
understanding for effective delegation of work of their employees on basis of their
competencies, skills and expertise. Their may be conflicts between employees is there is
improper delegation of work and will put negative impact on accomplishment of
objectives and goals (Wenger-Trayner, 2014).
 Use of technology:- If floor manager of Virgin Holidays will have complete knowledge
about technological advancements than these can be implemented to simplify task and
work effectively and efficiently by providing enhanced productivity. Proper and effective
implementation will assist manager to have proper interaction with employees. Also,

employees will able to make effective use of technology for proper allocation of
resources (Kearney-Nunnery, 2015).
 Team leading and development:- floor manager of Virgin Holidays should know
various ways to lead their team effectively and build coordination among employees to
maintain productivity level and efficiency (Willetts, 2014). Also, manager should focus
on development of employees so as to improve quality and timely accomplishment of
their tasks.
TASK 2
P3. Assess own abilities, skills, and competences for a specific job role
To determine my skills and competencies related to job position of floor manager at
Virgin Holidays I have conducted audit for personal skill. Further this supported me analysing
about my strengths, weaknesses as well as areas of improvement which are necessary for role of
Floor Manager. Personal skill audit of mine is mentioned below:-
Audit of Personal Skill
Learning Skills Target Competency Existing Competency
Skills:
 Communication skill
 Team leading and
development
10 7
10 8
Abilities:
 Critical thinking
 Decision making
Target Competency Existing Competency
10 9
10 7
Competencies:
 Delegation of work
 Usage of technology
Target Competency Existing Competency
10 8
10 9
Above mentioned are my skills which are important for performing job profile of Floor Manager
and I have ranked these skills on basis of targeted competency with existing competency. Also,

from my personal audit I was able to know about my strength and weaknesses with respect to
capabilities and skills (Mellin, 2011).
Strength Weakness
 My strength is to manage and handle
teams in effective manner which will
help in completion of tasks on time by
keeping employees engaged to their
work.
 Biggest strength of mine is critical
thinking as this helps me in assessment
and identification of solutions to
specific problems.
 I am having complete understanding
about technological advancements and
I am quite adaptable so this further
helps in performing my tasks
effectively.
 I have average communication skills
because sometimes I loose my
confidence so I am unable to convey
messages effectively and this create
problems related to work.
 I am not having effective decision
making skills as I get confused in
various alternatives.
 I am unable to do proper delegation of
work as I do delegate work to
employees beyond their competencies
with aim to enhance their skills but this
lead to inefficiency.
Opportunities Threat
 As I am having appropriate knowledge
related to updated technology and
software this will help me to
accomplish my targets by execution of
latest techniques.
 My team building skills are good and
this will help me to gain promotion in
near future by effective team work with
coordination and achieving targets as
 The threat for being a Floor manager is
my poor communication skills and this
might affect the outcomes and results
because of reason of
miscommunication while conveying
instructions.
 My improper delegation of work might
be threat for organisation success as
this might create conflicts between

quickly as possible. manager and subordinate. Also, this
will hamper level of performance.
P4. Review a range of learning theories and approaches used for personal and professional
development processes
The professional and personal development is considered very important practice at
Virgin Holidays. This helps in improving the skills and capabilities of employees so that they are
able to achieve their set goals and targets. Therefore, various learning theories which are used for
personal and professional development process are described below:-
Cognitive approach- It is psychological theory that consists thinking process. In this,
manager of Virgin Holidays adopt this kind of approach to study mind of consumers and
determine their demand which make company to make its service better. With the help of this,
both Virgin Holidays and its employees could effectively expand the overall performance level
through offering customers with holiday packages as per their own interest, needs and
requirements as well (Miller, 2018).
Social learning theory- This theory is based on learning from other people and their
behaviour. In Virgin Holidays, this theory is helpful to observe behaviour of managers through
employees so that they are able to learn new things and enhance their professional and personal
development. Considering this theory, manager of Virgin Holidays might effectively enhance the
performance of staff members where they will focus on offering customers with different range
of services from resolving there queries to developing new package as per their requirements.
Kolb learning theory:- This theory is basically represented by four stages which is
concerned with the learner's internal cognitive processes that they use to learn new things. Kolb
view learning as integrated process where each stage being supported by previous stage and feed
the next one. So, application of this theory the floor manager of Virgin Holidays can build
employees experience regarding a particular situation so that they can deal with it in future by
forming up concept and creating solution to work over it in near future (Nicholls, 2014).

TASK 3
P5. Construct a development plan to enhance chosen skills and competencies within a specific
work context
Professional development plan refers to document which helps in knowing about
objectives, required skills, competencies and goals which are required to be attained with
purpose of career development and continuous improvement. With proper execution of
professional development plan I will be able to know about measures that can be taken into
consideration as this will help me in improving my competencies and skills. Also, this helps me
in scheduling various ways to overcome my weaknesses (Olsen, 2015). Therefore, I have
prepared professional development plan which consist of skills that need to be performed along
with how much time and what activities will be performed which are shown in table given
beneath:-
Skills &
Competencies
Goals Activities for improving
skills
Effectiveness of PDP
Communication
skill
6 months For improving this skills I will
attend seminars and lectures so
that I get to know about ways
to improve my communication
skills. Also, I will take active
participation in group
discussions and debates as this
put positive impact on
enhancement of my
communication skills.
By having proper command
over my communication skills I
will be able to effectively
interact with my subordinates
and will also reduce errors of
misrepresentation of messages.
Along with this, by attending
various seminars, group
discussions and debate I will get
learning about different errors
which might affect productivity
and efficiency.

Decision making 3 months For improving my decision
making skills I have to make
critical evaluation of problem
and than find out alternative
solutions. Further most
suitable and appropriate
solution with maximum
benefits would be my decision.
Enhancing my decision-making
skills will allow me to take
effective decisions which will
be towards improvement in my
competencies which will further
help me to achieve great
success.
Delegation of
work
6 months As I want to improve my skills
related to delegation of work I
will evaluate performance of
subordinates and on their
competency level I will allot
and assign work to
employee’s.
Evaluating performance of
subordinates will be
advantageous for me as now I
am able to analyse capability of
employee’s as per their past
performance to get
understanding about the fact
that they will perform
effectively and efficiently or
not. Also, this will help in
reducing occurrence of failures.
TASK 4
P6. Undertake a job interview for a suitable service industry role
The process of job interview is defined as process of various stages which is utilised with
purpose of hiring and recruiting new employee’s in business organisation. It consist of various
stages which are necessary to be carried out at the time of job interview process. Their is vacancy
of floor manager at Virgin Holidays which is require to be filled so, with this objective interview
will be conducted at company premises where opportunity will be given to many candidates but
only best and suitable candidate is selected (Pihl-Thingvad, , 2015).

(a) Job specification
Job Specification- Job specification is a statement which represents that what kind of job
candidate has to perform. Job specification comprises of educational qualification required along
with roles and responsibilities of candidates.
For the job role of floor manager at Virgin Holidays job specification is shown below:
JOB SPECIFICATION
Organisation Name: Virgin Holidays
Job Profile: Hospitality Floor manager
Qualification Required: MBA and PGDM ( Human Resource )
Selection Criteria:
 Ability to delegate work and duties along with maintaining work effectively.
 For operations performed providing assistance to customers.
 Team handling skills.
 Responsible for prompt services and customer satisfaction.
 Ability to perform strategic planning for effective work done.
Desired Criteria:
 working experience of 2-5 Years in Hospitality Field.
 Efficacious communication skills.
 Attractive personality.
 Possess technical know-how skills.
(b): CV
CV or curriculum vitae is a summary of experience as well as educational background of
applicants along with other personal and relevant information regarding candidate. This provide
a medium through which an organisation can select more appropriate and skilled employee for

particular job role (Kearney-Nunnery, 2015). For this current job role of hospitality floor
manager applications are submitted by interested candidates and one of them is given below -
CURICULAM VITAE
Name- Jacob Ken
Address- 30, Abbott Street, London. United Kingdom
Contact no.- 241475653
Job Experience- experience of four years at Thomas Cook as assistant of floor manager.
Looking forward to work within leading hotel organisation like Virgin Holidays that provides
more opportunities to me for sharpening up skill and taking my career to new heights. The
primary concern is to see organisation growth along with success of employees that is fully
satisfied with Virgin Holidays.
Specialisation-
 Team Handling
 Technological knowledge
 Solving conflicts among employees
 Good cognitive thinking skill
Qualification-
 Bachelor in Commerce. (B.com)
 Master’s in Business administration (MBA) (Marketing)
Declaration- I hereby declare that all the information that are provided above are true and best
of my knowledge.
Date-
Place-
The following is the organized interview. The description of the Interview Process for the
Job Role of Floor Manager which was conducted by Human Resource Manager of Virgin
Holidays which is provided as under:
Interviewer: “Tell me something about yourself?”