University Assignment: Professional Identity and Practice Report

This report delves into the multifaceted aspects of professional development, focusing on its significance for both employees and employers within an organization. It highlights the crucial skills and competencies expected in the workplace, encompassing both hard skills like technical proficiency and soft skills such as communication and self-confidence. The report explores self-assessment approaches, including SWOT analysis and the Belbin team roles, to evaluate individual skills and competencies. It further examines various learning theories, particularly the behaviorist and cognitive approaches, alongside Kolb's learning cycle, to understand personal and professional development. The report also presents a professional development plan and analyzes a job interview scenario for a human resource manager, emphasizing strengths and weaknesses. The content is geared towards understanding and enhancing professional identity and practice within a business environment.

Professional Identity and Practice

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................3
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................3
P1. Importance of ongoing professional development to stakeholders.......................................3
P2. Skills and competencies expected by an employer...............................................................4
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................6
P3.Assesment of skills and competencies with the help of various self-assessment approaches
.....................................................................................................................................................6
P4. Learning theories and approaches used for personal and professional development...........7
LO 3.................................................................................................................................................9
P5. Professional development plan.............................................................................................9
LO 4...............................................................................................................................................11
P6. Job interview for human resource manager........................................................................11
P7. Strength and weakness .......................................................................................................13
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
The study will cover the importance of ongoing professional development for the
employees and the employers of the organisation. It will also highlight the various skills and
competencies such as hard skills which include technical skills, accounting skills etc. as well as
soft skills such as communication skills, self confidence, creative thinking etc. The study will
cover how an individual can asses own skill with the help of taking job role of travel and tourism
industry it has been explained with the help of different learning approaches such as
behaviourist approach and Cognitive approach. The study will also explain the Kolb's learning
theory for professional development(Zepeda, 2019). The study covers the development plan, a
development plans help an individual to enhance its own skills and knowledge by taking proper
steps.
LO 1
P1. Importance of ongoing professional development to stakeholders
Professional development Plan : It is designed by the managers who are working closwly with
the staff members in order to identify the skills and resources needed in order to support staff
members to achieve career goal and business needs.
Stakeholders of an Topdeck get benefits from the professional development in various ways :
It is necessary for an organisation to run a professional development plan in order to
ensure that people within the organisation continuously improve their skills and ability. The
Topdeck ensure that the learning of individuals is ensured. On going development plan helps an
individual to feel confident with their skills and knowledge(Perry, 2017.).
Benefits to employer :
 It ensures high retention rate of employees. As a professional development programme
conducted by the Topdeck shows that they care about its employee and about their career
progression.
 It also signals competency on the behalf of employer.
 It helps in creating confidence among the employees of the company
 It also helps the stakeholders of the company to make succession planning easier. As it
helps Topdeck to create leaders within the organization rather than recruiting from

outside. It helps the company to give the position to the knowledgeable candidate who
know their all the aspects of working of an organization(Madu, and et.al., 2019.).
 Professional development plan helps to break the monotony as the employees feel bored
or frustrated by doing the same thing for a long time. Professional development plan by
the Topdeck helps its employee to reenergize as the staff of the company gain new skills.
Benefit to employee :
 Professional development plan help employees to create a sense of satisfaction within
them, it helps them in increasing employability. It helps an employee to increase their
motivation level. As with the help of professional development plan employees learn
various new things and enhance there skills as a result it helps them to increase their
efficiency and result in financial gain.
 Professional development plan also helps to improve efficiency of employees. As in the
professional development programme the expertise of the different department share their
experience which helps the employees to gain knowledge related with their work. It helps
in increasing productivity and efficiency within the company.
P2. Skills and competencies expected by an employer
It is important for an individual to posse a professional skills which includes personal
presentation. As in hospitality industry a personal presentation plays an important role as
employees such as front desk staff has to interact with the customers or guests therefore an
individual appearance creates an impact on the customer about the Topdeck. Maintaining the
professional standards in the workplace helps in creating brand image. The
Common skills expected in the workplace
Skills and competencies For employer
Professional language and
communication
Soft skills
The person should be good in communication as to represent
them as a professional. The person should have good
communication skills as to meet the requirements of the
business such as negotiation skills
An individual must posses soft skills such as self confidence
and delegation. A company need that the person should be

Hard skills
Customer Service skills
Team development skill
good in building network which will help the business to grow
and also should be good in taking initiatives for the
organisation
The person should be good in the respective field, here field
refers to accounting, statistics, use of technology etc.
As per the business standards the people within the
organisation should be highly skilled and should posses the
enough knowledge to serve the organisation purpose.
The company needs that an individual follows the culture of
the organisation. The person should ensure building a healthy
relation with its customer in order to maintain long term
relationship. A person should know how to handle the
customer . Should be good in providing satisfactory services to
the customer
An individual should be good in working with the team.
Employees of the organisation play a key role in the success of
the organisation therefore the team should be properly
managed. As there are huge number of employees in Topdeck
and the department also consist of large number of employees
therefore an individual should be able to work in a team. In
order to develop team within the organisation Tuckman
development model can be used
I am a front of house receptionist in the Topdeck hotel as I have to interact with the guest
daily therefore I have the strong communication skill which help me to deal with the customers.
As the job role demands to answer phone calls, handle inquiry and greet guest. As I have a good
communication skill helps me in performing my work effectively.

LO 2
P3.Assesment of skills and competencies with the help of various self-assessment approaches
SWOT analysis
Strength
I have the good communication skills which
help me to handle the customers easily.
I have proper knowledge related to my work. I
know about the type of services our company
provides.
I am strong in problem solving.
I am good in speaking and writing English
team worker
Weakness
I get easily distracted
I am weak with the technical skills which is
required for the job
I am not creative enough
I have no control on my anger
Opportunities
I learn many new things from my colleagues
and guests after interacting with them
The Topdeck helps the employee to enhance
their personal skills
Threat
Lack listening skills which sometimes create a
misunderstanding within team members
The less knowledge of new technology
sometimes hamper my work and productivity
Team characteristics using Belbin team role
As there are large number of people in the organisation belonging to different culture,
region and state as a result it is very necessary that an individual should be good in team work.
As the role discussed here is of front of house desk manager. Therefore it is necessary that a
person should be a good co-ordinator in order to fit for this role a person should be good in
communication skill as it will help to focus a team in the completion of organisational objective
by delegating the work to the team members appropriately . A person should also be good in
English speaking as it will help the people from the diversified culture to understand what the
manager want to say.

Job specification required for Front of house receptionist of Topdeck is
 High school diploma
 Minimum 2 year experience in similar role
 Basic understanding of offices administration
 Written and verbal communication skills
 Multi tasking abilities
 Basic computer knowledge with specialization in MS office programme
Comparison
 A person has good communication skill.
 An individual has completed required qualification
 The person is good in team work as well as is good in office administration
 An individual has knowledge of MS office but still a person feels lack of technical skills
because of change in companies software periodically
P4. Learning theories and approaches used for personal and professional development
Learning approaches
Behaviourist approach : According to this approach, the people responds to stimuli in their
environment. Therefore the manager, leader or any higher authority of Topdeck should ensure to
provide relevant and useful stimuli to its employees. It will help the employee to respond and
gain knowledge which will be useful for them(Jones, Baldi, , Phillips and Waikar, 2017)
Cognitive approach : While cognitive theory is opposite to behaviourist approach. According
to cognitive approach the learning process does not only depend on the stimuli provided to them
but it also depends upon the internal learning process of an individual(Wyer Jr, 2019). Therefore
the learning of an employee also depend upon the individual learning capacity means there
thinking, motivation, memory etc.
Learning theories :
Kolb's Learning styles :
According to Kolb learning is a process in which each stage supports the other stage in
the cycle.
A learner can enter or start from any stage but an effective learning only occurs when a learner
execute all the four stages of a model(Biddulph and Carr, 2017). The various stages in
experimental learning cycle are :

Concrete Experience : It refers to new experience or situation which the person face
Reflective observation : Means what a person thinks about they have done or experienced
Abstract conceptualisation : At this stage a person generates hypothesis of what they have
learned from their experience(DeCoux, 2016.)
Active experimentation : A person effectively test the hypothesis which has been adopted that
whether it support new experiences or challenge it.
Learning style includes
Diverging : A person with the diverging style of learning is able to see the things from different
perspective. The person prefer to watch the information and use their imagination to solve the
problem.
Assimilating : they collect wide range of information and organise it clearly. People with this
style is more focused on the ideas and concepts rather than people.
Converging : The person with this learning style tend to solve problem by using their learnings.
The person prefer to perform technical task(Kolb's learning cycle, 2019.).
Accommodating : an individual relies on institution and does not take initiative on their own.
These type of people use other's analysis and use practical approach(Skenderi, Ademi and
Zimeri, 2018).
In order to develop skills and knowledge a person can use self directed learning
 A company should try to create a strong learning culture within the organisation.
 An employees should first evaluate current situation which includes family situation, the
network both in a work place and in home. This step also involve evaluating past
experiences. An individual in the organisation will learn from the past experience and the
current situation of a person. It will help an employee to communicate effectively,
become self disciplined, organised, it will also help individual with self reflection.
 A company should create an environment such that people of the company feel free to
ask the questions. The employees who ask question why are the one who are most
creative.
 The company should provide tools and resources to employees such as offer periodicals,
books, e-course and should give the time to employees to use them. The reason behind
this is when people feel engaged they perform at higher level(Azab and et.al., 2018).

LO 3
P5. Professional development plan
Current Skills and
Competencies used in
personal and professional
plan
Indicate how
you have
monitored your
progress,
underpinning
learning and
development
theory
Goals
Personal /
Professional
Development
Plan
ACTIVITY
(Use SMART
targets)
Evaluate the
effectiveness of your
personal development
plan
Time management I need to manage
my work within
time
Long term goal (
4 months )
It has helped me to
know where I was
making mistake
More workload I need to focus
on my work and
should develop
the habit to avoid
unnecessary
work
On going I am trying to focus on
my work and I have
seen huge much
improvement in myself
earlier I take too much
stress and my work is
getting hamper due to
mismanagement but
know I am able to
handle my work
Shy to express views I should develop
the habit of
taking feedback
from others. I
should ask my
colleagues with
my work
performance
Short term goal
(2 months )
I have seen an
improvement in me
earlier I feel too shy to
express my views but
taking feedback has
help me to improve my
weakness
Self control I need to control
my anger and the
way I behave or
treat others.
Sometimes even
Medium term
goal ( 3 to 4
months )
Now I am able to
control myself and it
had help me to built a
strong relation with my
team

if my intention is
not wrong the
message deliver
to others in a
wrong way
which cause
misunderstandin
gs
Technical skills I need to learn
computer skills and
various skills needed
for the job
Short term goal ( 1
month )
I am still facing
problem as the
technology is
changing thus I need
more time to improve
Guidance I need to join some
coaching in order to
enhance my skills and
should take guidance
from my classmates
and teachers
Short term goal ( 1
month )
It has help me to
enhance my skills
Lack of knowledge I need to increase my
knowledge in the
related field so that I
can maintain my
position for long run in
the company. For this
I need to take advice
of my seniors and
person in same field
Long term goal (3
month )
It had improved
knowledge and
relation with my
seniors

Taking initiative I should take an
initiative to express
my views to others for
this I need to become
more extroverted to
present my views
more clearly
Short term goal ( 1
month )
I start interacting with
more and more people
and began to share my
creative ideas to others
Learning skills I need to become more
calm and should
develop the habit of
listening to others for
this I need to start
taking meditation
classes
Medium term goal ( 1
month )
It has helped me to
remain calm and
properly handle
difficult situation
LO 4
P6. Job interview for human resource manager
CV
Curriculum Vitae
112 Windover way
[e-mail]
5555996664 ( cell )
Education
B.A in English from xxx university
M.A in personal administration
M.B.A in human resource management
Basic computer knowledge
MS office
Experience

Work in an hotel industry as a receptionist for about 2 years
Languages
English
Skills
Good in team work
Technological skills
Communication skills
Multi tasking
Strong knowledge in human resource activities
have proper understanding of staffing, recruiting and training employees
There are various ways in which company conduct interviews of a candidate such as
telephonic interview, face to face interview etc. The companies also follow the interview process
in order to recruit the eligible candidates. Interview process includes various steps screening
interview, phone interview , face to face interview and final interview.
Job Interview for the role of HR manager :
1. What is the most challenging aspect according to you as an HR manager. And how you
handle it
2. In which field you have experience as an HR manager
3. How will you ensure employment legislation in the company
4. What steps you will take to increase employee retention
5. What is the most significant contribution you have made as an HR manager in the
previous organisation
6. How to handle firing of employees
7. How you ensure that people in the organisation which is recruited fits to the role or not
8. How will you train and motivate employees