Thomas Cook Travel Consultant: Personal Skill Audit and PDP

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Personal Skill Audit and Professional Development Plan
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Table of Contents
Introduction..............................................................................................................................3
LO1. Explore the importance of on-going professional development and self-directed
learning to enhance professional identity and career opportunities.........................................4
LO2. Assess own skills, competences and the different learning and development...............6
LO3. Design a professional development plan, within a specific work context. 400..............11
LO4. Demonstrate a range of service industry and transferable skills for a job application.. 13
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................16
Reference List........................................................................................................................17
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Introduction
The assignment will be depicting a detailed comprehension of the travel and tourism
organisation, Thomas Cook, which is based on UK. The organisation services globally and is
headquartered in London, United Kingdom. The organisation was found in the year of 1841
and is now one of the most well renowned travel agencies in the world. Several services are
offered by the organisation including packaged holidays, hotels and resorts, charter and
scheduled passenger airlines as well as cruise lines. The organisation has a net income of
£163 million and an operating income of £250 million (Thomascook.com 2019). The revenue
of the organisation is £9584 million and has several subsidiaries including Thomas Cook
Airlines UK, Thomas Cook Airlines Balearics, Thomas Cook Tour operators, and Thomas
Cook Holiday division.
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LO1. Explore the importance of on-going professional development and self-directed
learning to enhance professional identity and career opportunities.
P1. Examine the key benefits of on-going professional development for different
stakeholders within a specific organisation.
In the modern generation, the organisation faces an intense competition in the markets and
the travel and tourism organisation that operates on the international markets such as
Thomas Cook has to ensure the application of flexible strategies that can benefit the
organisation. There are several functional departments in the travel and tourism
organisations and each of the departments has their individual roles that can have direct
impact on the operational procedures of the organisation. In order to ensure that the
employees as well as the functional department of the organisation undergoes through a
smooth work procedure, the management of the organisation has to ensure that suitable
training as well as orientation is provided to the employees. This allows the employees to
gather an in-depth knowledge of the aims as well as objectives of the organisation.
The employers are the responsible one for the professional development of the employees
working for the betterment of the organisation (Tanwar and Prasad 2016). Professional
development of the employees enhances the productivity as well as efficiency substantially
and allows organisations to gain a significant competitive edge in the market. Thomas Cook
has to ensure that the existing skill sets of the employees are enhanced and therefore, the
management has to provide training as well as orientation. This shall allow the employee to
gather an in-depth knowledge of their roles as well as responsibilities that can have positive
effect on the growth of the organisation.
There are several stakeholders of Thomas Cook and the management has to ensure the
satisfaction of the stakeholders and therefore, develop the competencies of the employees.
The efforts of the employees have direct impact on the satisfaction levels of the stakeholders
(Hanaysha 2016). The stakeholders of Thomas Cook include the customers, investors, local
and national government as well as institutions that are engaged in the tourism projects.
The employers expect a devoted effort from their employees that can affects the growth as
well as development of the organisation. Similarly, Thomas Cook has to ensure that their
stakeholders are satisfied from the outcomes provided by the employees. An amalgamation
of both the external well as internal training programmes is involved in the development of
the employees of Thomas Cook. Being an international travel and tourism organisation there
are several operational procedures that the management of the organisation has to operate
suitably and most of the procedure focuses on customer satisfaction and therefore, the travel
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consultants has to ensure that the customers are provided with the information that they
desire regarding to the trips (Morakabati et al., 2017). The professional developments of the
employees are mainly focussed in handling the customers through call, emails, as well as
social media.
P2. Investigate professional employer expectations of skills and competencies within
a specific organisational context.
A travel consultant has to ensure that the customers are provided with a detailed knowledge
of their trips along with the services that are available at their feet. Therefore, travel
consultant has to communicate suitably with the customers and maintain the ethical conduct
within the organisational premises (Costa et al., 2018). It is also obligatory for travel
consultants to develop suitable competencies in technologies that are influential in the
growth as well as development of the organisation. An in-depth knowledge of the
organisation and the markets is extremely beneficial for the travel consultant of travel and
tourism organisations to have excellent communicational skills. This shall allow travel
consultants in communicating with the customers and delivering suitable pieces of
information regarding the desired trip of the customers.
Thomas cooks offers several international trips to their customers and therefore, travel
consultants of Thomas Cook has to ensure that the pressure is handled suitably.
Furthermore, in order to ensure the hike in the revenue, it is extremely beneficial for the
travel consultants to have an excellent competency in sales. However, this involves an
excellent communication skill that shall be beneficial in the development of the sales figures
of Thomas Cook. Moreover, technical skills are also necessary for the travel consultants that
shall affect the maintenance of the websites of Thomas Cook suitably. The modern
generation has witnessed a significant growth in the technological sectors and therefore the
use of websites has become common in the travel and tourism industry (Rahimi and Gunlu
2016). Technological competencies shall allow the travel consultants to communicate and
provide necessary information with the clients through the website via emails.
The plans of the travellers receives several alterations and there, travel consultants have to
ensure that the pieces of information regarding the trips are offered to the customers suitably
that shall increase the available options to the customers, which furthermore, affects the
customers satisfaction positively. However, all the operational procedures of the travel
consultants depend on the needs as well as requirements of the customers. Therefore, the
certification has to be provided to the customers on behalf of the travel consultant that shall
allow the customer to believe the viable source and can present their demands that has to
be fulfilled by them.
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LO2. Assess own skills, competences and the different learning and development.
P3. Assess own abilities, skills, and competences for a specific job role.
The required skills of Thomas Cook for the post of a travel consultant can be addressed
via a personal SWOT analysis (Brandon-Jones et al., 2016). Strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats regarding the required skills are stated in reflection as shown in the
table below-
Strengths
 I can take responsibilities on my own
shoulder, as this is a quality, which I
possess by passion. The company is
requiring his employees to be
responsible towards each of its travellers.
Therefore, it is one of my strengths.
 I possess very good listening skills,
which can help me to join the company
as at ravelling consultant. This is
because of the fact that I am very much
participative in nature and likes to involve
in any kind of public speaking and
presentation scenarios.
 I have developed a very strong
communication skill in English.
Especially the foreign travellers
require having a communicative travel
consultant so that they can consult
for a particular tour or trip before
going for it. According to my personal
point of view, by possessing a smooth
communication skill a travel
consultant can prove himself or
herself to be attractive in seeking
traveller’s attention. Hence, my
fluency in English is a strength for
this job (Ahmad, 2016).
Weaknesses
 I am not much experienced in this
travelling and tourism field or in any of
the local hospitality industries. This can
be exposed as one of my weaknesses
while competing with others for the job
post.
 I need to develop my creativity and
innovative practices in the hospitality field
so that I can suggest the tourist for a
much more time and money saving way.
This development will require a long
term, such that the process is time
consuming. This is one of my
weaknesses.
 I am not comfortable in handling
travellers from different trip routes.
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Opportunities
 The implication of emerging technologies
in the hospitality industry can be proved
to be one opportunity for me in this
particular field.
 The continuing or ongoing development
plans organised by Thomas cook will
surely give me a window of opportunity in
order to grow my personal skills required
for this job.
Threats
 I feel nervous while a conflict situation
arises within an industry. I need to
resolve this issue in order to overcome
this challenge as a threat.
 In am not strong in writing skills as much
in a professional scale, which will not
allow me to have competitive advantage
over the other applicants.
Comprehensive and contextual errors
can be resolved by continuous practice.
Table-1: SWOT Analysis on personal and professional skills
(Source: Created by the learner)
P4. Review a range of learning theories and approaches used for personal and
professional development.
A vast range of learning models or theories can be used as supports for approaching
towards both a personal as well as a professional development. Several learning theories
that can support the personal or professional development are stated as follows-
1. Humanist Model: This model is referred to an individual motivation theory. According to
this model, every individual human being possesses a distinct nature of learning.
2. Social Learning Theory: This theory states that the process of learning conducted from
nature. According to the theory inventor Bandura, every human being has a tendency to
learn from his or her surroundings or the society where he or she belongs (Akers and
Jennings, 2015).
3. Kolb’s Experimental Model: According to the experimental model given by Kolb, there
are four stages of achieving learning based on experiments. According to the founder, the
whole procedure can be conducted in both shorter and longer time span depending upon the
capability of the learner. A weak learner can consume more time than a stronger one for
learning (Smith, 2016). These four stages form a cycle and is shown in the figure as below-
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Active Experimentation Concrete Experience
Abstract Conceptualisation Abstract Conceptualisation
Kolbe’s Learning Cycle Model
Action Learning
Theory or VAK
Visual Auditory Kinaesthetic
Figure-1: Kolb’s Learning Cycle Model
(Source: created by the learner)
4. Action Learning Theory or VAK: According to this theory, there are three learning styles
in total in order to develop personal and professional learning skills. These three styles are
given as follows-
Figure-2: Action Learning Theory or VAK
(Source: created by the learner)
A procedure of action learning must consist of the following elements-
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Honey and Mumford
Learning Theory
Activists
Pragmatists Reflectors
Theorists
 An important as well as real problem that is complicated and usually critical.
 A team or set of people that can solve the problem as mentioned above.
 A procedure that promotes or supports reflection as well as curiosity as it is an easier
approach to deal with the problems.
 A requirement of talk that can be transformed into an action and a solution accordingly.
 Finally, there should be commitment for learning (Illeris, 2018).
5. Honey and Mumford Learning: This learning theory is an extension of Kolb’s
experimental theory, such that, the basis of Honey and Mumford learning is that every
individual learner possess different learning styles in order to develop the skills both
professionally as well as personally. Distinct individuals should carry the adaptation of
learning out utilising different motivational approaches. This natural learning style as
mentioned by this theory has four distinct elements, such as-
Figure-3: Elements of Honey and Mumford Learning Theory
(Source: created by the learner)
These four kinds of learners are explained as follows-
Activists are the people who learn by performing any action.
Theorists are the learners who have a tendency to understand theory before performing any
action.
Pragmatists are the people who always tend to know the practical application of the
theories in real life examples.
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Reflectors are the type of learners who learn by watching the activities of people around his
or her. Usually, fresher candidates are the examples of reflectors (Truong, 2016).
After studying all the learning theories and models, it can be concluded that, I can implement
the action learning and Honey and Mumford learning theory as it will give me an
exposure to improve my personal and professional skills as a travel consultant in Thomas
Cook.
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LO3. Design a professional development plan, within a specific work context. 400
P5. Construct a development plan to enhance chosen skills and competencies within
a specific work context.
Professional development plan (PDP) is created in a reflective way in order to identify the
necessary skills required for a particular job profile (Tasker, 2015). In this context, the skills
required by the managers of Thomas Cook for the post of a travel consultant is reflected
here as follows-
Required and
necessary skills
or competencies
Current
Proficiency
Target
Proficiency
Development
Plan
Time Scale
Communication
skills
Right now, I am
professionally
at a situation in
English
communication
so that I can
compete with
other
candidates for
this job post.
I need to
develop
communication
skills in other
local
languages so
that the
company can
rely on me to
handle local
tourists as
well.
I can learn the
local
languages by
watching
videos online
lectured by
scholar
delegates.
Three or four
moth will be
enough for
learning a
domestic
language from
my point of
view.
Writing and
listening
competency
I am not that
much fluent in
writing skills as
mentioned
earlier. I usually
used to make
comprehensive
or contextual
mistakes more
frequently.
However, my
participative
I need to filter
my errors while
writing
something in
English in
order to meet
the criteria
given by
Thomas
Cook.
I can improve
my writing
skills through
practice.
Moreover, the
listening skills
also require
practice in
order to gain
fluency.
These
competencies
will require
regular and
continuous or
long-term
practices.
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nature helps me
to develop my
listening skills.
Innovation or
creativity
I am weak at
the innovative
and creative
works.
I have to
implement
innovation and
creativity in my
work in order
to compete in
the scenario.
For that, I will
read a
number of
published
articles or
journals.
This will hardly
take two
months
approximately.
Conflict handling I feel nervous in
a conflict
situation as
stated earlier.
I need to
improve my
conflict
handling skills
to manage
more than a
group of
tourists for the
company.
For that, I will
have to be
trained under
a global
tourism guide.
This training will
take roundly
one month to
become a
strong
competitor for
this post.
Time
management
I am good at
time
management
skills, but this
job demands a
professional
level of time
management.
I have to be
professionally
well equipped
at time
management
so that the
company can
offer the job to
me as a
responsible
employee.
Time
management
skills can be
improved via
experience
only, so that I
can
understand
the value of
time in real
life.
My previous
work
experience of
one year helped
me to develop
time
management
skills.
Table-2: professional development plan (PDP) for a travel consultant
(Source: created by the learner)
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