Analyzing Professional Identity and Practices at Whitbread Plc

This report examines professional identity and practices within the context of Whitbread Plc, a multinational hotel and restaurant company. It begins by defining professional identity and its importance, then discusses ongoing professional development for various stakeholders, including employers and employees. The report further analyzes the skills and competencies expected of a general manager, differentiating between hard and soft skills. A self-assessment of the author's own skills is presented, identifying areas for improvement such as technology use and leadership. The report then explores learning theories and approaches, including cognitive and humanist approaches, along with Gagné's theory and social learning theory. Finally, a personal development plan is constructed to enhance chosen skills and competencies within the work context, with SMART targets and monitoring methods. The report concludes with a discussion of a job interview process, highlighting strengths and weaknesses.

Professional Identity
And Practices

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK1 ...........................................................................................................................................1
P1 Importance of ongoing professional development for different stakeholders.......................1
P2 Skills and competencies expected by professional employer ...............................................2
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
P3 Assessment of own abilities, skills and competencies ..........................................................3
P4. Learning theories and approaches used for personal and professional development process
.....................................................................................................................................................1
TASK3.............................................................................................................................................2
P5. construct a development plan to enhance chosen skills and competencies withinn a spesfic
work context................................................................................................................................2
P6. undertake a job interview for a suitable service industry role..............................................4
P7 Key strengths and weaknesses of interview process .............................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Professional identity is defined as the description of individuals in a professional context.
It can also be described as the set of values and meanings that an individual perceives within. An
individuals identity defines the description same as professional identity represents a person's job
or in which work they are indulge for earnings. In this assignment we have chosen Whitbread Plc
, a British multinational hotel and restaurant company. This hotel was founded by Samuel
Whitbread in 1742(Broadhead, 2017) . its headquarters are located in Houghton Regis, England,
UK. In this assignment the ongoing competencies and skills of an employee and manager is
defined to operate the functions of the hotel effectively and effectively.
TASK1
P1 Importance of ongoing professional development for different stakeholders
Whitbread plc, a British multinational hotel and restaurant company. The companies
headquarters are in Houghton Regis, Bedfordshire UK. The largest division of this hotel is
Premier Inn, biggest hotel brand in UK with over 785 hotels and 72,000 rooms. Until January
2019, the costa coffee was owned by the premier inn but later on sold to coco-cola company.
The number of employees in the hotel is 50,000 with the total revenue of 436.4 million.
Whitbread is listed on the London stock exchange and is famous for its luxurious services.
Ongoing professional development is defined as the process of developing the skills
through interactions and active participations made by the learners in different fields. It helps the
learner to develop the capabilities and(Bukor, 2015) skills through accepting the learning
methods. The OPD plays an vital role in setting the long term and short term goals, it helps to
retain a consistent set of knowledge and keep the qualifications up to date. The ongoing
professional development plays an important role for Whitbread's stakeholders such as the
customers, shareholders, employer and employees of the company to keep them updated with
knowledge.
Benefits of Ongoing development for employer:The employer of Whitbread hotel will be
benefited with the skilled workforce by the continuous training and development programmes.
 The employees are trained which helps them to increase their capabilities and knowledge
enhancement.

 The training and development process increases the organizational brand image by the
highly skilled and motivated staff.
 The business's reputation is enhanced by this development programme among the
customers and clients (Cruess, Cruess and Steinert, 2016)
Benefits of Ongoing development for employee: This process is helpful for the
employees because by this they enhances their capabilities and skills. They improves their
unskilled capabilities by this programme.
 The employees of the hotel feel motivated by the continuous development programme.
 The structure of OPD is consist of online and offline training, workshops, group events,
seminars etc.
 It raise the ability to learn regular and promotes the independence by self engagement
activities.
 The training and development programmes adds the experience and value knowledge in
the CVs of employees.
P2 Skills and competencies expected by professional employer
The skills and competencies are very important for the employees and manager to operate
the activities properly and systematically within an organization. Without the proper knowledge
Whitbread can lack behind in the competitive world. An employer expect good skills and
competencies from a general manager such as there are two types of skills which should be in the
employees are explained below:
Skills: The ability to do something well, Skills are divided into two parts soft skills and
hard skills. Soft skills are the abilities which are in build in an individual as in the
communication skills, flexibility, team work, time management etc. However hard skills are
accumulated with the help of books and practical knowledge as accounting, typing techniques,
machine operations, programming languages, software knowledge and degrees, apprenticeship,
accounting. The employer of Whitbread hotel expect such as
communication skills: This skill helps the general manager of Whitbread hotel in
maintaining and coordinating the employees and customers well through communication and
assist the employees for teamwork by proper communication abilities(Cruess and et. al.2015)
Self confidence: The confidence of general manager is determined by the employer
because it is a key factor for the success of hotel. A manger should focus on accumulating
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knowledge so that they can confidently discuss and communicate with the employees and
customers.
Use of technology: This factor comes under hard skills here a employer expects the
proper knowledge and use of technology by the general manager to carry on the task and
activities.
Professional standards and expectations: The expectations of a employer from general
manager is to behave ethically and mannered with the employees and customers. The tasks and
activities should be properly executed. A manger should be polite and sincere and should behave
professionally with others(Fawkes, 2015)
Dress code and appearance: The general manager of the organization should follow the
dress code. They can not come in the unethical dress code which reflects their negative etiquettes
. A manager should wear formal clothes which reflects professionalism identity to others. The
appearance should be sober and the shoes should be proper and formal. Once it is said that a
persons appearance and personality can be defined from their shoes and the way they behaves.
TASK 2
P3 Assessment of own abilities, skills and competencies
As a general manager I have analysed my own abilities, skills and competencies with the
help of self-assessment it is being observed that I lack in some of the skills which should be
improved. In order to measure the skills table is prepared to rate the abilities.
S No. Basis Present ratings Desired ratings
1 Self confidence 8 10
2 Communication skills 10 10
3 Use of technology 7 10
4 Time Management 9 10
5 Leadership 6 1`
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As per the above table I have measured my skills and competencies and concluded that
there are some factors which should be improved for effectiveness of the organizations activity.
In the table I have rated my self 8 out of 10 in self confidence this shows that self confidence
should be improved. My communication skills are very effective I can communicate properly
with the employees and customers it is a strength of my professional identity. I lack behind I the
use of technology the measurement is 7 out of 10. The leadership competency is also not proper
which leads in arising of conflicts in the Whitbread hotel.
Ways to improve self confidence
 It is ones personal ability which can be increased with the help of knowledge.
 Books and magazines can help in gain the proper knowledge.
 Attending the seminars training programmes builds self confidence by listening the
experienced persons.
Ways to improve the use of technology
 on the job training and off the job training can help provide the knowledge of
technological advancements.
 The proper analysis of the experts who are technically advanced can help about the
technological use(Ivanova, and Skara-MincĿne, R., 2016).
Ways to improve time management
 This can be improved by setting the deadline before some days so the employees will
focus to finish the work as soon as possible.
 Time management can be improved by avoiding multitasking process.
 It can be managed with the help of early start.
Ways to improve leadership competencies:
 Leadership qualities can be improved by understanding the strengths and using
them at right situation.
 The leadership skills can be improved and enhanced by motivating the employees.
 It can be improved by admitting the wrong decisions made by the manager.
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P4. Learning theories and approaches used for personal and professional development process
Learning theory and approaches defined as a set of principle which help in improving the
professional and personal development. Some of the learning approaches and theories mention
below(Kearney-Nunnery, R., 2015).
Learning approaches:
Cognitive approach: This cognitive theory is defined as wide theory which is effective
in explaining the mental process of a person and how they are affected by the internal and
external factors in order to produce learning. Manager of Whitbread should use this approach in
order to study the mind of customers. When manager Study the mind of customers than it is
effective for employee to perform well in term of providing services to its customers according
to their own interest and demand. Manager of Whitbread observe its customers mental process
which is effective in get to know their preferences and requirements from the services(Marañón,
and Pera, 2015)
Humanist approach: This is a approach which study the whole person and uniqueness
of each individual. This approach can be understood in two perspective that can be a manager
and employees. In this context, Manager of Whitbread should provide reasons and choices to its
employee for each performing task so that employee perform well in organisation. If an
employee perform task according to its choice and skill than they perform very well in
organisation. In context of employee, Employee of Whitbread should observe their own
behaviours so that they can make necessary changes in them.
Learning theories:
Gagné’s theory of instruction: This learning theory includes five category of learning
outcomes that is verbal information, intellectual skills , cognitive strategies, attitude and motor
skills. This is a way of transfer of learning from one person to another. Manager of Whitbread
provide the right instruction to its employee from its different learning outcomes that is verbal
information from which manager can transfer its instruction to its employee. This learning theory
of Gagné’s theory of instruction considered as the hierarchy procedure(Pennington, and
Richards, 2016).
Social learning theory: This social learning is defined as the theory in which people can
learn easily by observing others their behavior, values and attitude. This theory of learning work

effectively for Whitbread. In this context, employees who are working in Whitbread observe
the behavior of its manager and learn from them. Observing manager activity and the way of
working is effective for employees in term of enhancing their performance and also their
personal and professional development. In this context, every day employees are learning
something new in the organization which helpful in enhancing their skill in organization and for
their personality development(Pihl-Thingvad, 2015).
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TASK3
P5. construct a development plan to enhance chosen skills and competencies withinn a spesfic
work context.
Personal development plan is effective in term of analyzing the area of strengths and
weaknesses. This development plan is effective in term of improving employee's talent, potential
and the ability to create wealth. Personality development plans are made for improving overall
skills of an individual. General Manager of Whitbread developed a plan in term of improving
its employees skills and competency. This development plan is mentioned below:
Current skills and
competencies
SMART
targets
Ways to monitor progress
underpinning learning and
development.
Effectiveness of
personal
development plan
Communication skills
3 months In order to improve
communication skills at
workplace, I am joining the
seminar, conference.
Read more books, magazines,
newspaper.
Interact more with people and
communicate more which is
effective in enhancing my
communication skills.
Better communication
will work effectively
in whitbeard in term
of perform well and
fast and also interact
effectively with the
customers.
Good communication
will assist me to
present myself in front
of foreign delegates.
Self confidence
6 months In order build self confidence
I am interacting with more
peoples and groups . In this
context, I am interacting with
group of friends and also use
the term of public speaking.
I am focusing on my skill and
With the improving
my Self confidence
providing the best
result in whitbeard .
With having self-
confidence in my self I
can influence more
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improve that skill effectively
which work in term of build
confidence in me.
In order to build my self
confidence I watch more
motivational video which will
be helpful for me in build the
confidence.
people in organization
and control their
behaviours
responsibly.
With having good self
confidence I able to
motivate employee at
workplace to achieve
the goals and objective
of whitbeard.
Use of technology 12 month In order to improve the skills
of using technology I learn
from open source resources
which effective in learning
the uses of technology.
In order to improve the uses
technology I am joining
different computer classes
from where I can learn use of
technology.
I spent my lots of time with
technology which will work
in term of using the
technology.
In order to able in
using the technology it
will effective in saving
the time.
Proper knowledge of
technology is effective
in deal with people
and keep company
update with the trend
which attract more
customers towards
Whitbeard services.
P6. undertake a job interview for a suitable service industry role.
Interviews are conducted by the employer for selecting the staff. Interview is considered
as the one of the most important process in which organisation use selection procedure to choose
best employee in its organization(Wald, 2015)n this interview process its connect both employer
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and the job seeker. In any company for interviews its required interview process , job
specification and also required C.V. These are mentioned below:
A job specification is the written statement with its education qualities and traits which
required to perform its duty in organisation. In this context, job specification of general manger
is mention below:
Job specification:
General manager job specification
Organisation: Whitbread hotel
Job title: General manager
Job location: Shefford UK
Working condition
Job Description:
The general manager is responsible for the overall management of the organisation and manage
task or activity in organisation.
Experiences :
 10 years
 supervising a staff
Education :
 Bachelor of business administration
 master of business administration
Role
 Maintain good services for its product .
 allocation of budgets.
 Improving the administration process.
 hiring and training employee in the organisation.
 Formulating the effective policies for the development of the organisation.
Curriculum vitae : it is define as the summary in which professional experience and
educational background is mentioned. .(Wald, H,and et. al.2015).IThis is defined as the format in
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