Reflections on Career Development

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The first section of the report will look to analyze career development with respect to a particular theory. While the second and third sections are personalized interpretations and analysis of my long-term career prospects and a thorough analysis of the career options worksheet respectively.

Analyzing a Leader

The hospitality leader, whose career that is going to be analyzed for this report is Amanda Wills. Amanda Wills is the former director at Virgin Vacations and she has been credited to a great degree for her handle over the development of the organization post 9/11 when the vacation market took a tremendous hit. Mapping her career at Virgin Vacation, it becomes clear that her career path can be defined using the Chaos Career Theory. Pryor and Bright, who developed the theory define career as a complex adaptive system that incorporates factors such as complexity, change, chance, and connections. The core of the theory is that it moves away from a direct predictive model of career development and establishes a career as a complex and emergent system (Pryor & Bright, 2014). The theory draws from the fact that career is an ever-changing proposition that requires an individual to adapt themselves to different minor changes that occur over the course of their life. One of the most essential components is that the theory states that individuals at the workplace are all ready for chaos and change.

Amanda Wills’ time at Virgin Vacations was filled with chaos and required an individual to take up the opportunity to redevelop and adapt to the changing environment. Her progress and achievements during the time at Virgin Vacations shows remarkable adaptability and confidence in her work ethic to deliver organizational development and improvement. It has to be noted that within her first year at the firm, she was able to redesign the structure of the organization and greatly improve the branding as well. This suggests that Amanda Wills was able to look at the chaos as a point of opportunity to grow and develop.

Analyzing Self

The career development theory that best associates my interpretation of career development is the Life Span Theory. The Life Span theory was formulated by Donald Super and defined career development as having five stages and that career development is a life-long event. Donald Super divides career development into 5 phases and these phases are growth, exploration, establishment, maintenance, and decline (Savickas, 2011). The theory is a practical take on how the journey of life helps an individual in the development of his career and due to the fact that theory incorporates experience as an important variable.

I particularly relate to this theory over other career development theories since it helps in clearly defining the various stages of development that an individual will experience while building their careers. Additionally, the theory also explores career development from a holistic perspective that takes experiences from formative years into account while defining the stages. I believe that individuals are shaped and molded during the first 15 years of life by learning from their family, teachers, and peers. Other theories tend to look at a career from a very business perspective and as an individual, I tend to look at career from a holistic perspective that involves all characteristics of a person.

Analyzing Career Worksheet

I have chosen two career paths in the hospitality industry, Front of House Hotel Manager and Casino Property General Manager. The two are contrasting roles and are based on different value systems. For me, the central focus of my career is to work in a diverse environment that allows me to take up a challenging role. I have always been drawn towards work and development of my career and thus working under pressure was never a big problem. In fact, I believe that I do my best work while working under pressure since it provides the work with a degree of accountability and responsibility.

On analyzing the worksheet, it is clear that although I had thought Front of House Hotel Manager would be an appropriate career path for me, the low score of 11 out of a possible 24, requires me to reassess my potential career options. The career worksheet allows the individual to contrast and relate to other specific roles. From the worksheet, it is clear that the role of Casino Property General Manager compliments my value system to a greater degree. The worksheet also helps me understand as to why the Front of House Hotel Manager does not compliment my personality and value system. I personally value independence to a significant extent and although I am able to work in teams and with other people, I prefer to work on my own. The role, however, does not allow for a great deal of autonomy and the lack of autonomy is probably a significant reason as to why I scored -1 with respect to that career option. The other value that I perceive with extreme importance is profit gain and believe that a specific level of input should result in a specific and equivalent output. That thought process and weight placed over profit gain has resulted in the score of -1 with respect to Front of House Hotel Manager role.

Additionally, the career options worksheet helped me understand my value system better. The worksheet also helped me develop a better understanding of the type of career that I wanted to pursue along with the domain in which, I wish to specialize in. However, the most important takeaway from the worksheet is that I was able to understand that I wanted a holistic career that allowed me the room to explore and establish myself. The role of General Manager would allow me the space to grow, learn, develop, and fulfill my potential. Having further analyzed the career option worksheet, I believe that the focus of my career is not only in choosing the correct career option but also in choosing an organization with the right culture and work ethic.

Conclusion

The essay task helped me to reflect on career development from different perspectives. It also helped me to understand the different career paths an individual can take based on their characteristics and approach to how they define a career. Overall, the report helped me understand my value system thoroughly, I believe that this understanding along with my ability to interpret a person’s career based on a specific career development theory will help me grow and establish myself upon employment.

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Reflections on Career Development

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