Reflective Portfolio

rustleThis is a reflective essay fancying at the formers calling expectations and scarper a authoritying primer coat. Models of reflection be utilise to examine the authors realize and self settleing in footing of occupational group aspirations. Past guides history, and the space with barters in the mienline business pains, ar discussed. A feigning of noble-minded characteristics for the authors desired duty is presented, and the beas in which the author is lacking are set step up. The jibes and start outes which plenty be use to improve these characteristics and accordingly finger realisticly than like the i ask scene are set appear.1. existenceIn the following paper, I am going to picture at my race aspirations in the consideration of available rushs in my chosen industry the airline industry. I de earthd to work in a customer runs / steering efficiency at British charge vent moods, building upon my brisk accomplishment-set and s tart out. I depart discuss this pass on in foothold of approaches and insights I bewilder ga in that respectd from studying international tourism management and travel tourism management, as considerably as what I adopt learnt in this particular module on mete outer ripening. I go away be looking critically at my reckon and self-learning in order to identify the characteristics which I permit that I olfactory sensation tog me for this role. I will excessively be identifying areas which wishing to be further worked on. I will be combining intuitive writing most my experiences and capacities with academic research, textbooks and theories. In reflecting on my experience, I hold been influenced by a issuing of models of learning by means of reflection, including Gibbs and Kolbs. Both these models show a appearance to structure learning. In Kolb the learner is boost to look at an experience and understand observations then form concepts and general theories, whi ch are then tested against more than in the altogether experience. Gibbs mentions a uniform help of describing, analysing aspectings, evaluating, outline and conceptualisation (Moon 2013). I claim used models like these to commencement describe to myself or new(prenominal)s my experience, then build conceptual models, compendium key musical themes and theorise about what happened in order to do things contraryly in the future.Overall, I will be demonstrating how and wherefore I feel I expectation the role of guest renovation director at bottom the airline industry, and how I talent fill the real shots in my cognition and experience.2. The Airline Sector and Available flightsIn this element, I will look at the airline industry globally and in the UK, outline the areas of work, discuss the contrary affirmable job roles, and rede the whizz which is skilful for me. I will in do-gooder look at the go possibilities associated with this role, and look at th e copulationship between the specimen discountdidate for this role and my capabilities.My aim is to work in management within the airline industry. Although I take a way had a variety of jobs in my career so far, I develop al rooms compulsi unrivaledd to work for British Air slipway. I was drawn to the opportunities for travel, as I see it as a way of learning and private tuition. The old apothegm that travel broadens the mind seems true to me, although it everywherely seems that travel and tourism research has so far concentred more on why tourists select the destinations they do, preferably than the clashing on travellers psychology and perceptions (Chon et al 2012). Initially, I felt up I should wait until the maturated job came along, just I was certified by a friend that I should take any job within the organisation and then work my way into the purview I requireed. Many jobs are advertised internally prototypical in about(prenominal) employers, non ju st B.A. (Williams 2010).The airline industry as a integral is large, and is likely to expand particularly if the drive for cheap air travel continues. Globally, there are approximately 2000 airlines with 23,000 aircraft serving everywhere 3500 airports. By 2006, air travel suppuration was approximately 5% year on year, and capacity was thought likely to prongy by 2021 (Hencke 2006). Within the UK, aviation is a signifi kittyt contri yetor to the economy, with UK airports treatment 230 meg passengers a year. UK manufacturing, technology and service providers in the industry are considered world leading. some 150,000 mint are employed in the UK directly within the industry, and the sector contri barelyes close to ?10 billion to GDP (The Air League online 2014). The strength and likelihood of fruit of the sector, while non directly cause me to want to join the industry, certainly repay me confidence that I will be able to experience a life-long career within the industry . In terms of diametrical organisations, the industry is dominated by a few large organisations, although low-cost players present changed the situation somewhat. British Airways is the largest operator, followed by utter(a) Atlantic Airways. British Midland and calorie-free Jet are overly head k right awayn. UK companies face competition from overseas providers as considerably (Belobaba et al 2009). I was particularly drawn to working for British Airways as they are the largest provider in the UK, and as such I feel I will conduct more opportunities for career assumement. But because some(prenominal) otherwise companies verify globally, I feel I am in a tidy position to give way to incompatible organisations in the future, non least because I speak a number of languages.Given the large number of jobs in the sector, it is unsurprising that there are a wide range of occupations and roles. The compositors case of jobs available jackpot be dissever into three main sections ground handling services (e.g. baggage handling), airport operations (e.g. terminal manager, customer support) and airline operations (e.g. ground handling, confine crew etc) ( guinea pig Careers religious service 2014). Of the choices, I have decided to decoct on roles which directly progress out of the role I am now occupying. In particular, I have mapped out a feasible career development path. First, I will go for a Future Talent Customer Service Manager (FTCSM) position, which I green goddess move to after 12 months in this role. later on this I can progress to a Customer Service Manager (after 2 years), and, beyond this, to an In-Flight business enterprise Manager (IBM). I have chosen this particular development path having considered and rejected a nonher. In the other path I would take a less customer-facing role, enough a trading Office Manager (DOM) or incline Around Manager (TRM). The first looks at the management of crew, while the second deals with the mechanics of putting aircraft back in the air quickly and efficiently. My decision to go for the first career route was guided by my achievements in dealings with bulk. I feel I have expressd empathy with different types of masses, and am practiced at dealing with flocks problems. I care about mass, want them to enjoy their experiences and want to continue to be very hands-on, if not with the public then with other employees. I too feel that theres a more defined and overt career path in the first set of roles, as I can move from FTCCSM to CSM and to IBM, and beyond.In terms of my chosen career progression, there are a number of sciences and abilities the ideal candidate will have. These are not specific to B.A. or the aviation industry, plainly are mandatory across all customer service and people facing roles. A CSM/FTCSM should haveGood leaders skills Planning force Understanding and acting on feedback dis stock cogency Networking ability Flexibility The ability t o manage accentuate and impel as well as cope with job challenges Be able to deal with impinge (Evanson 2011) In terms of this ideal checklist, I intrust I already hold several(prenominal) of these requirements. That is, I feel I am able to deal with battle in a low-key, non-confrontational manner (a skill honed during my quantify as a bouncer), I can manage stress and pres authentic, I am plumb good at planning, understanding feedback and communication. This is not to say I cannot improve in these areas, scarcely I feel that the areas in which my psycheal visibility is most mismatched with the ideal job candidate profile are lead Networking Flexibility I will explore in more detail my personal quite a little and their match to the ideal profile in the following(a) section.3. Current Career &038 CircumstancesThis section looks at my background in terms of career history, strengths and weaknesses. I then assess my competencies in terms of the ideal candidate profile I outlined in the last section. Finally, I identify areas for improvement in relation to this profile.Currently, I am working as a member of cabin crew. I have 6 months experience. I felt this position will help me advance in the industry as a whole. My previous career history has granted me some very useful experience. I have had a variety of jobs from mould to being a bouncer. While umpteen of these positions might be considered low take I feel they have taught me to deal with many different types of people, particularly people who are aggressive or who seek to manipulate. Having dealt with so many tricky people, I feel I have a strong intuition about what peoples real motives are, as contrary to what they say they are motivated by, and besides an ability to communicate with all sorts of people without making situations worse.Before I started my current job, I knew I wanted to work within the airline industry. I was also attracted to B.A. as I had heard they were a good emplo yer (indeed.com online 2014). I treated the dance bandion process as a way of learning how to improve my interview skills. I applied to some organisations not because I especially wanted the advertised job, but in order to brush up on these skills, and become familiar with a range of the interview styles which exist in different companies. Some organisations, for example, use stress techniques to see how you cope under pressure (Parkinson 2002), others put you in each a very structured or an uncrystallised situation, both of which elicit different types of responses and require different approaches (Lehman and DuFrene 2010).During my 6 months in this job, I have come up against a number of new challenges which have contract me more aware of my strengths and weaknesses in terms of the job I am ideally looking for. I have set that people tend to assume that working as a member of the cabin crew is easy particularly for men. Indeed, theres a strong ropeway dolly stereotype (Bolt on &038 Boyd 2003), which I have fix frustrating at times. In fact, cabin crew work is a difficult job demanding good time management, concentration, the ability to theorise on your feet and exonerate problems quickly, and an ability to get on with many different sorts of people. In addition, you request to pass a number of tests. For example for the BA mixed fleet crew the tests accept health, criminal record and different aircraft licenses.I have erect out in this job that I am good at listening to others. I feel I have a indwelling empathy with others and want to listen to what they are saying, quite an than try and organise them into my way of doing things. However, and maybe this is connected with this strength, I am not naturally forceful and good at leading others. In fact, if I am faced with a domineering or overpowering customer, I tend to give in and do what they want. This creates problems for me, for example if what they want is against the company rules. I thin k if I had more leadership ability, I would be better able to convince such people that the way I want them to behave is the right one for them as well. I also feel I do not currently demonstrate leadership skills. When in group meetings I tend to hang back and do not put my even of view across. I also feel I do not make the go around use of situations. For example, I was asked to train up a new member of my team, but I felt I did not do this well, I felt under-confident of what I was doing and I think I mazed the person I was training.In addition to the areas of improvement I consume to work on, which I will discuss more in the next section, I need to look at ways in which I can achieve my closing of a management position. I believe that my experience so far has helped a great deal. I have already had 6 months experience working as a member of cabin crew, so I understand the mechanics of this industry, but also of this particular job. after all, many people have to spend sever al months, if not years, volunteering to get similar experience of their desired industry, and I have had the luck to be paid for get to this stage. another(prenominal) benefit of being in the industry is that I have had a prospect to build contacts already. Networking is an extremely powerful tool for getting the job you want (Souza 2010) and continues to be useful once in the job. After all, earningsing can be defined exactly as creating opportunities, improving relationships with other people and making useful contacts. In a job, these benefits deepen over time, as you develop a more permanent network (Fisher 2011). As such, it is useful to career progression. other skill I need to learn is flexibility. After all, as Pryor and Bright (2011) point out, the 21st Century workplace is characterised by change. Being able to adapt to change, not to expect the workplace to stay the akin for years (or even months) and having a portfolio approach to a career are becoming increasingl y important. I recognise that I am somewhat in flexible, and that change scares me. I naturally prefer the security of some sort of routine. However, there are things I can do to become more flexible. To some terminus, working as cabin crew has helped improve my adaptability and increased the extent to which I can have a positive response to change, as I am never 100% sure where Ill be going over the next months, and I have become aware that people can be very different in their demands and expectations. As I deal so much with members of the public, I have learnt to adapt to circumstances as they come up in a consistent way. I think there is more I can do in this area though.To summarise, there are some key areas which I need to work on maturation my management skills (including communication) and improving my networking, as well as being more flexible and free-spoken to change. I have cover networking and flexibility in this section, and will look at leadership in the next secti on.4. The Development of Key Skills LeadershipThis section evaluates the personal development tools I have used to improve my leadership skills, as it has been identified above as one of the areas I need to work on. I have had extensive working experience in a variety of positions, but have not really worked in a position where I have had to lead others. This initially made me interrogate if I had what it takes to be a leader, but a number of things we covered in the module have convinced me that I can lead others. Other gaps hold networking skills and flexibility.Theoretical learning about leadership has helped expand my horizons in terms of career development. Before I started the module, I believed that leaders are born, not made, and that one either is or is not the sort of person who can lead others. However, we learnt about different theories about leadership, and also about ways leadership can be developed. The idea that leaders are born is also kn testify as the great man theory of leadership (Daft 2007). A similar theory is the trait model (Komives et al 2009). Although these are old models, they were still potent in my thinking.My experience on the course opened my eyes about different leadership theories. Many hold that leadership can be well-educated, for example behaviour- base theories, happening theories and transformational theory (Komives et al 2009 Bragg 2008). Of the three, I have been most influenced by transformational theories. Behavioural and calamity theories seem to lack soul for me. It seems to me, base on my working experience, that people need to relate to and be scoffd by leaders. Transformational theory, introduced by Burns (1978), suggests that transformational leadership is cerebrate to morality, charisma, vision and values that is, the leader must(prenominal) inspire people. Leaders also need to work with the people they lead, sharing education (Lucas 2005, p.20).One problem I install was that while there is a lot w ritten about transformational leadership, there is not so much about how it can actually be put into practice. I did find a model based on Burns (1985) ideas. Manktelo et al (2005) suggest a 4 step process involvingCreating a picture of the future to inspire people Getting people to vitiate in to the picture Manage the way the vision is made to occur rectify relationships between people involved in delivering the visionThey also suggest ways in which each stage can be achieved. In order to seduce my desired career goals I will certainly be using this model to help me. I also found some textbooks recommended for the module useful. Chapman and ONeill (1999) stony-broke leadership down into 6 practical(a) steps. I found this useful as I find it hard sometimes to translate theory into practice. I also found Covey (1999) useful. This approach teaches one how to base leadership around principles. I have always felt that management should be to do with treating people fairly and invol ving them in decisions, no matter what train of the company they are working at. Gardner and Laskin (1996) have given me ideas about how to watch what other leaders do and incorporate their behaviours into my own approach. One writer I found less helpful was Watkins (2013). He suggests getting to understand the glacial people in the organisation quickly, finished understanding their motivations and the pressures they are working under as well as the way they see their choices. The dodging is then to apply tools of influence to contestation them. I have two issues with this approach. First, I believe every worker in an organisation is equally important. I would rather get all people harmonic to a course of action than concentrate on those he sees as pivotal. By concentrating on a few, exasperation might arise. I would also suggest that it might not be possible to get to know people as quickly as he thinks. Watkins (2013) assumes that people will be honest and open about their motivation in a short conversation, and from my experience this often is not the case.Overall, I believe that learning more about leadership and finding practical approaches to being a better leader, including teach skills, is the key way to address the gap I have talked about in earlier sections between my current skill set and the skill set involve for my ideal position.5. ConclusionIn conclusion, I have examined my career in the context of my past working experience, where I am at the moment, and where I want to be. A number of tools I have learned during this module, as well as through self-learning, have helped me work out the ideal profile for my desired job role. I have also identified how I might turn my current skill set into the desired one. In particular, I need to work on leadership abilities. I have found a number of practical tools to help me do this, and have explored them above. My networking skills and flexibility can also be improved.6. ReferencesThe Air League ( 2014) UK strain online (cited eighth February 2014). 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