Professional Development Report: Professional Identity and Practice

This report delves into the significance of professional development within the context of the Langham Hotel, a renowned establishment in the hospitality sector. It explores the benefits of ongoing professional development for both employers and employees, emphasizing the enhancement of skills and knowledge. The report outlines the employer's expectations regarding competencies and skills, including personal presentation, knowledge of dress code, responsibility, creative thinking, and technological proficiency. Furthermore, it assesses the current skills and abilities of a potential hotel supervisor, utilizing a SWOT analysis to identify strengths and areas for development. The report also examines various learning theories and approaches, such as the humanist and behaviorist approaches, and Kolb's learning cycle, to facilitate personal and professional growth. The conclusion summarizes the key findings, highlighting the importance of continuous development for career advancement and success within the hospitality industry.

Professional Identity and Practice

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................3
Benefits and significance of ongoing professional development for several stakeholders in
Langham hotel.............................................................................................................................3
Employer expectations of competencies and skills within hotel................................................4
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................5
Current skills, abilities and competences for specific job role....................................................5
Range of learning theories and approaches used for both professional & personal development
processes.....................................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................8
LO 4...............................................................................................................................................10
INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................................10
Undertake job interview for Hotel supervisor job role in Hospitality industry........................10
Key strengths and weaknesses of applied interview process....................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Professional practice refer to work and conduct of someone from a specific profession.
Professional activities may set standards of performance, ethics, insurance, competence, training
and so on that must be met to remain within specific profession. The current study is based on
Langham, Hotel which falls under category of one of the biggest and well-known traditional
style grand hotels in London, UK. It is established in territory of Marylebone on Langham place
and look up Portland place towards regent's park. This report will explain key benefits of
ongoing professional development for varied stakeholders in hotel and also describe professional
employer expectations of abilities and skills within firm. It will explain individual abilities,
competences and skills for specific job role.
Furthermore, this assignment will justify range of learning approaches and theories used
for personal and professional development.
LO 1
Benefits and significance of ongoing professional development for several stakeholders in
Langham hotel
Ongoing professional development is the best way by which professionals and experience
person maintain, broaden and improve their knowledge as well as skills to gain benefit
employment related benefits. It is quite beneficial and important for employees and employer
within hotel.
In context of employer-
With the help of ongoing professional development employer can make assure that they
can enhance and maintain knowledge as well as skills, which need to be delivered by
management as professional services to their consumers (Price and Reichert, 2017). With this
programme employer can increase employee engagement which is quite beneficial for them as
they can build strong workforce who are able to cater the best services to consumers within
hospitality industry for long run. Ongoing professional development provide many benefits to
employer as it help to build strong brand image within market place which in return gain
attention of new consumers as well applicants who are seeking to get the best employment
chances in well reputed hotel. It contributes effectively and efficiently to Langham hotel success
and growth and make employer cable to create culture where workers can learn certain important
things.

In regard to employees-
Along with above benefits, employees also get advantages from ongoing professional
development. It helps workers continue to not only be competent in their professional career, but
also excel in it. It can aid to assure that skills and knowledge stay up to date. It also permits
individual employee to be more aware of changing directions and trends in hospitality industry.
Due to the ongoing professional development, the cleaning and front office department
employees can increase their skills and can also develop a new one (Morsing, Oswald and
Stormer, 2019.). Due to this, they can get the benefit of the facility related to employment in the
future. It also helps to add more value on CV's of applicants and allow them to get the best job
within hospitality sector where they can grow more and more. Without, ongoing professional
development, candidates may struggle to keep up with changing world of business. With this
procedure, staff gain relevant and appropriate skills on job which makes them able to satisfy
target market. Through this process, employees can obtain personal satisfaction at high extent
which in return increase their motivational level even better.
Employer expectations of competencies and skills within hotel
Within Langham hotel professional employer have high expectations of skills and
competences from employees. Before hiring employees they identify appropriate skills in them
which is really very important for business success and growth. The first expectation of
employers related to skills in applicants is personal presentation skills. It is a communication
skill which is one of the five essential professional and personal skills applicants build as young
professional. With this skill, workers can present and portray themselves to other people either
leader or top authority with full confidence (Kachniewska and Para, 2017).
Another expectations of employer from working people is that they must have
appropriate knowledge of dress code. It is very important for staff to understood about this skill
which make them able to become professional. Applicants must work responsibility and
accomplish their tasks on timely manner without making any major mistakes that direct impact
on hotel image. Employers expect employees to do this and complete every job honestly which is
quite beneficial for them as well as business in term of increasing profitability and consumers
satisfaction as well. Along with above expectations, there are some more things employers have
from employees like people must have creative thinking skills which falls under category of
soft skills. It can be said that this skill encourage employees to find out the best solutions for

specific situation without falling back on accepted approaches. With this skill, applicants can feel
independence and accomplishment. It gives them the best chances to attempt to get new ideas
and new ways of thinking and solving issues at workplace in Langham hotel.
Furthermore, employer expect that employees must have knowledge about use of latest
and advanced technologies which make them more capable to complete their work on timely
and effective manner. Strong and effective knowledge of this area or technical skills applicants
can leverage technology to hilt and that leverage pays as well. The better they can comprehend
technology employees can use the more value they can efficiently extract from it. Workers with
the help of this skill can save time that they spend for making marketing content or
preparing account sheets as well.
The most important skills' employer expect from people are consumers services skills
that help to satisfy target guest of Hotel in ethical manner.
LO 2
Current skills, abilities and competences for specific job role
Here, all skills and abilities are discussed in context of particular job role in Langham
hotel, London and that is Hotel supervisor. By using personal SWOT analysis as self assessment
method I evaluate my own abilities and other things that are following below:-
It is really very essential to have appropriate skills and qualities in person because it
makes them able to get the best job at desire place or company. I can say that I have good
communication skills that is appropriate for Hotel Supervisor job role. I am able to
communicate with my friends and other people as well. It helps me to build strong relationship
with other individual either at work place or personal life. It is one of the most important skill
required for above position in firm. Without this skill people can not be able to develop good
workplace relationship as it effect productivity of others who are working at same work area.
With above skill, I also have ability to make comparison against job specification and
needed personal as well as professional skills. With this skill I can compare and determine skills
related to professional and personal areas. It helps to improve by understanding by highlighting
essential details, making abstract thoughts more concrete and decreasing confusion between
related activities. I can find out the differences between needed and current requirement for skills
through this ability.

With communication, I also have good mentoring skill that is quite important for Hotel
supervisor job role in hotel. When I am performing as Hotel supervisor in firm this skill help me
a lot as I can develop skills of my team members by directing and guiding them in effective
manner. I am able to demonstrate how I have worked with people or colleagues to cater coaching
to improve & enhance their current practices.
After all above discussion, I want to define some skills which I need to develop in the
future and that are time management skills, problem solving, and decision-making skills as well.
All these are important and quite beneficial for me as it help to increase my as well as other
productivity even better. Sometime I cannot able to handle situations that affect my work more
than before.
Range of learning theories and approaches used for both professional & personal development
processes
There are different types of learning approaches available that can be used by learner or
employee for developing their personal as well as professional career.
Humanist approach to learning aid positive emotions in applicants like empathy,
motivation and high self-esteem and seek to avoid negative emotions like anger, depression, and
stress. This method emphasized personal worth of person, centrality of human values and the
active and creative nature of employees (Lake, 2017). It is focuses on noble human ability to
overcome pain and hardship. In simple words, by following the principles of this method
individual can develop their professional along with personal career even better. Management
treat their applicants fairly and equally without making any differences that help in their
development procedure and build inclusive work culture at workplace.
Behaviourist approach, refer to psychological method which emphasizes objective &
scientific methods of research. According to this concept, people can develop their career by
learning new skills through interacting with other at same workplace where number of workers
are performing effectively. It makes them able to react and respond according to the situations
which in return cater desire outcomes.
Kolb's learning cycle- this theory is also used for professional and professional
development of applicants which is very important for them. It can be said that by following the
4 stages of this model above thing is possible for individual. For example, according to the first
phase of Kolb's learning cycle, that is concrete experience person can learn and develop either

personally or professionally when to do their own work and learned from it. Due to this,
employees or learners gain personal experience about how to complete work.
The second stage (Reflective observation of new experiences) of this cycle, define that
individual can develop their skill and improve work practices by reflecting and reviewing on
experience. At professional level, employees try to solve workplace situation and apply methods
they learned from earlier condition as it help to determine need for further improvements.
Abstract conceptualization is third stage of this cycle, individual reflect their own
abilities as it gives rise to new ideas and make them able to do changes of existing abstract
concept.
Active experimentation is last stage of model, learner by applying their ideas and
experience to conditions around them to see what outcomes they get. It makes person capable to
develop professionally and personally.
LO 3
Covered in another folder
LO 4
Covered in PPT
CONCLUSION
From above analysis, it has been concluded that ongoing professional development
provide many benefits of employer and employees of Langham hotel. Firm is operating in
London where they cater the best services or products to consumers. Employer expects many
skills such as effective communication, creative thinking and mentoring from applicants. By
developing these skills individual is able to get job in company as hotel supervisor. Furthermore,
it has been summarized that by using Kolb's learning cycle as learning theory, behaviourist and
humanistic approaches as learning methods person add more value in their professional and
personal development procedures.

REFERENCES
Book and Journals
Kachniewska, M. and Para, A., 2017. Hospitality employers’ expectations towards the higher
education system in Poland. In Handbook of teaching and learning in tourism. Edward
Elgar Publishing.
Lake, R.W., 2017. A humanist perspective on knowledge for planning: Implications for theory,
research, and practice. Planning Theory and Practice, 18(2), pp.291-319.
Morsing, M., Oswald, D. and Stormer, S., 2019. The ongoing dynamics of integrating
sustainability into business practice: The case of Novo Nordisk A/S. In Managing
Sustainable Business (pp. 637-669). Springer, Dordrecht.
Price, S. and Reichert, C., 2017. The importance of continuing professional development to
career satisfaction and patient care: meeting the needs of novice to mid-to late-career
nurses throughout their career span. Administrative Sciences, 7(2), p.17.