Work Based Experience in Travel & Tourism Assignment

Introduction

In any business industry, work related knowledge is gathered by two methods- by means of training, and by means of work based experience. Work based experience in a highly important factor in enhancing the skills of a particular individual regarding their skills and productivity in the industry. Work based experience allows the individuals to reflect upon their productivity and work related functioning, and as a result of which learn important methods of improving the work skills and the ability to perform (Bailey, 1995). The need to learn from the work based experience gets more important in the industry of travel & tourism as the industry has more real life variables than most other industries and such variables can only be felt and dealt with in real life experience, which can only be gained by working in a travel and tourism industry.

This presented paper focuses on the various aspects of learning from experience and also presents various methods using which an individual can improve his ability to enhance the skills and productivity from the work based experience. The additional benefits of learning from experience, such as being able to deal effectively in a team based work environment and learning to remain focused on goals even in discouraging work conditions and hard to follow deadlines. The paper will also analyze the various other aspects of working in the industry to gain experience and how the work based experience helps an individual.     

LO1 Be able to negotiate industry experience                

P1.1 Research and evaluate suitable organizations that could provide industry experience

In any industry, earning work based experience is highly essential and important for the employees to gain real life knowledge of the work and the ability to deal with the critical scenarios of the industry. However, it is extremely important that the organization selected for the task of gaining the work related knowledge is selected carefully and smartly, as selecting the right organization is very important for the maximum benefit and skill improvement task (Blake and Mouton, 1978). In order to do so, the candidate should always look for the top reputed companies in the same industry. For a candidate who is looking for a profession or career in the travel and tourism industry, it is important that the selected organization is capable of offering amazing work based experience to the employees. It is worth noting that the selection of the organization is one of the most important aspect in the process of getting best available experience in the industry. For a candidate residing in UK and willing to take a career in the Travel and Tourism industry, it is ideal to select an organization is one of the following organizations:

• Hotel industry: As a major tourism attraction, UK attracts a large volume of tourists in the country every year. UK is a great location for different kinds of tourism option such as education tourism, medical tourism, cultural tourism, etc. As a major hub for tourism industry, the region has a large number of travel and tourism establishments in the UK. The majority of the multinational hotel organizations have their presence and corporate offices in UK due to this region being the center of financial and tourism activity in Europe. Hotel organizations include a large part of the travel and tourism organizations and can be very assistive for any new employee in learning new skills and earning experience which can be very knowledgeable. The candidate seeking for experience can select this industry option as his choice for the organization he wishes to work for in order to gain maximum advantages and meaningful experience. There are plenty of big hotel franchises active in UK that will provide worthy option for the candidate.
• Tour planner and organizer: This kind of organization is the essential part of the travel and tourism industry. The responsibilities of tour planner is the highest among other tasks that influence the quality of a travel or tourism plan. This is true because a tour planner is generally involved in all parts of the travel package, such as from the departure flight, stay at a hotel, duration of the stay, places visited, and return flights.

It is the job responsibility of a tour planner to make sure that the travel plan is scheduled and developed accordingly to ensure the maximum quality of travel and comfort to the tourists. As such an organization has contacts with other companies in the industry, like hotels, transport services, airlines, tourism attractions, etc.; such an organization would be highly helpful for a candidate who is seeking to learn from work based experience. This would provide an excellent opportunity to the candidates as they would get to interact directly with customers about every individual part of their travel plan, and also to interact with them and get feedback about different services (Casey and Andrisani, 1979). In the travel and tourism industry, this provides an excellent opportunity to understand the industry in all aspects of it.

P1.2 Negotiate with work and academic supervisors a proposal for the work experience

The purpose of the following guidelines is to help a candidate in negotiating a fruitful outcome with the proposal of the work based experience with the academic and work supervisor. It is possible that one proposal is not meeting with all the requirements in the very first attempt, in accordance with the supervisor. However, this does not really refer to the situation being that a flexible negotiation cannot be reached, which is satisfying to both the academic supervisor as well as the candidate. The Harvard business essentials guide presents the following advices to achieve the flexible negotiation ability:

Any successful implementation of negotiating tactics should have the basics of a fundamental framework that should be developed on the basis of the following aspects:

• Provides an alternate option for the proposal task to the negotiation technique
• There should always be a minimum threshold limit that need to be met in order for successful completion of a negotiation deal
• It should clearly state how flexible the candidate is willing to go, and what are the things that can be traded off in order to establish a negotiated deal.

These are the key elements that are implemented to develop a negotiation framework for the proposal acceptance by the academic supervisor (Griffiths and Guile, 2004). While it is possible that the language of the flexible proposal may look more like the language of a business deal, it is highly important for the academic supervisor to consider when entering into a negotiation about the arrangement of a flexible work environment for the candidate to earn work based experience.

BATNA – Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement

Developing and understanding a BATNA technique means that the candidate knows and is prepared to do, what needs to be done in case the proposal for work based experience fails to get accepted in the negotiation process.

The BATNA technique should be carefully designed and in all situations, it is a preferred arrangement of actions that needs to be taken to achieve the successful outcome of work based experience. Such a technique is used only in the cases where an agreement is not met its success criteria and alternative method is required. If the candidate fails to develop an agreement with the academic supervisor in a way that is acceptance to both the parties, then the candidate should consider the following aspects:

• What are the other options to meet the demand of the academic supervisor?
• Are the reasons, on basis of which the candidate has refused the proposal developed are fair and reasonable?
• Of your alternate method, what would be the impact on the academic supervisor?

It is important to note that the alternative proposal developed to earn work based experience should not be creating a situation of disadvantage for the academic supervisor or other staff members. It is worth putting the alternate option under the cost/benefit assessment, in a defined manner to better understand how effective an alternate method is. 

P1.3 Recognize the business constraints of the work experience offered

Once an agreement has been agreed upon by all the parties involved in the deal, it gets highly important that the terms of the agreement are document in a very fine manner from the start of the work based learning process to the finish time of it, including the trial and performance evaluation dates and methods (Dalin and Chisnall, 1983).

It is vitally important to put the agreement in writing form and providing a copy of it to the academic supervisor. By following this method, it can be made certain that the conditions of the agreement remain visible and clear to both parties. To further extend the usefulness of the agreement, it is worth making sure that one copy of the agreement is provided to the human resource personnel, who can put this in the file of the staff member.

LO2 Understand the specific requirements of the placement.

P2.1 Agree and priorities the tasks and responsibilities involved in the work experience

In the process of establishing a work based experience agreement, it is important that various work related responsibilities and other processes are discussed and agreed upon in the initial phase of the agreement. Following are some of the important aspects that need to be addressed in the agreement and relates to the process of work based experience.

For any work based experience agreement, it is highly essential that the agreement made actually depicts the various points of the work allocated, such as the work schedule, and it should clearly indicated various scheduling points relating to the task, such as how many hours the candidate is   required to work on a daily basis and for how many weeks. In this part of the agreement, it is also settled the time limit for the trial period of the candidate in the new organization (Littler, 1985). A flexibility clause is also needed to be developed and added in the agreement at this phase to allow the candidate the facility to skip work to attend on urgent works in personal life or in some unforeseen situations. This part of the agreement should also reflect upon the commitment of the persona about attending staff meeting and other events.

The agreement, which is agreed upon in advance, should provide a clear statement about the work position of the candidate as well as primary and most noteworthy work related obligations and responsibilities. The agreement should identify the various tasks, the candidate is delegated to perform, what are the work responsibilities that are shared with the candidate, and the terms of eliminated as well as reassignment.

For any organization, communication is the key to success and this process needs to be made clear to all the employees. For the candidate, the agreement should state the communication mediums and methods using which the candidate can establish communication with the other staff members, company officials, and the work team of the candidate. An agreement should also focus and shed light on some other very critical points of employment, such as- how and when can the job position of the candidate can be changed, what are the different positions that the candidate can be switched to, what is the method of performance evaluation, etc.

P2.2 Produce a plan for the work experience

Work based experience is an extremely important precise for any student who is pursuing a professional degree or diploma course. This is a work practice that is followed by students extensively these days (Longson, 1999). Following are the various benefits that can be achieved by a candidate by getting involved in the task of earning work based experience learning:

• The process of the work based experience make a student more likely to get hired by employers upon completion of the educational curriculum.
• This process helps the student in evaluating the industry and the various job titles that are offered to the person.
• It provides an excellent tool to the candidate to learn more insight into the work field.
• It assists a candidate in understanding and assessing own skills in real world industries
• Helps the candidates in developing a more profiling resume for future jobs and interviews

Placement based job opportunities are most commonly used in situations of course completion for the purpose of work experience programs. The structure of such programs are often times developed in a manner that provides high amount of flexibility and opportunity to learn to the candidates while working in the different fields of organization. A work experience placement is in many ways similar to the process of internship, and can be of limited duration ranging from three months to a whole year of work. There is a high completion in all industries for the opportunity to work on paid internship and the application process in such situations is likely to have extensive demands (Miller, Watts and Jamieson, 1991). The candidates seeking for such internship opportunities may need to wait for the right opportunity and may need to enhance their resume a little more to gain an edge on the other people applying for the paid internships. 

For a more strict and time consuming study environment, the option that is more suitable is of a part time job of vacation time job. This kind of a job allows the candidate to work in such a manner that their job does not consume too much time to cause an issue to their studies. By applying for such a job, candidates can make sure that they can fit both studies and job responsibilities in their daily schedule. In major universities and other job and placement boards, details can be found for the organizations hiring part time employees or vacation time employees.

The work based experience by using the opportunity of accepting international exchanges offer a very attractive opportunity to the student to learn the work related ethics and skills in global scenario, and also to gain experience about new cultures. This kind of work experience is seen as highly appreciated by the employers as most employers like the bit of independence and work related committeemen among their employees. At present times, multiple international organizations are actively offering such job opportunities to the candidates looking for international placements, such as CIEE, AISEC, and ISESTE. Voluntary work is also seen as a good tool to gain work based experience and this can be anything from very minimal short term involvement to large scale involvement in big organizations.

P2.3 Analyze the benefits of the proposed activities to the business and the learner

Earning work based experience is highly essential and important for the employees to gain real life knowledge of the work and the ability to deal with the critical scenarios of the industry. However, it is extremely important that the organization selected for the task of gaining the work related knowledge is selected carefully and smartly, as selecting the right organization is very important for the maximum benefit and skill improvement task. In order to do so, the candidate should always look for the top reputed companies in the same industry (Moon, 2004). For a candidate who is looking for a profession or career in the travel and tourism industry, it is important that the selected organization is capable of offering amazing work based experience to the employees. It is worth noting that the selection of the organization is one of the most important aspect in the process of getting best available experience in the industry.

LO3 Be able to undertake work experience as identified

P3.1 Fulfil specified requirements of placement conforming to all related codes of practice

UK is a great location for different kinds of tourism option such as education tourism, medical tourism, cultural tourism, etc. As a major hub for tourism industry, the region has a large number of travel and tourism establishments in the UK. The majority of the multinational hotel organizations have their presence and corporate offices in UK due to this region being the center of financial and tourism activity in Europe. Hotel organizations include a large part of the travel and tourism organizations and can be very assistive for any new employee in learning new skills and earning experience which can be very knowledgeable. The candidate seeking for experience can select this industry option as his choice for the organization he wishes to work for in order to gain maximum advantages and meaningful experience (Office of technology assessment, 1995). There are plenty of big hotel franchises active in UK that will provide worthy option for the candidate.

P3.2 Produces systematic records work undertaken

Any successful implementation of systematic work undertaking tactics should have the basics of a fundamental framework that should be developed on the basis of the following aspects:

• Provides an alternate option for the proposal task to the negotiation technique
• There should always be a minimum threshold limit that need to be met in order for successful completion of a negotiation deal
• It should clearly state how flexible the candidate is willing to go, and what are the things that can be traded off in order to establish a negotiated deal.

These are the key elements that are implemented to develop a negotiation framework for the proposal acceptance by the academic supervisor. While it is possible that the language of the flexible proposal may look more like the language of a business deal, it is highly important for the academic supervisor to consider when entering into a negotiation about the arrangement of a flexible work environment for the candidate to earn work based experience.

P3.3 Revise the initial plan as required

The purpose of the following guidelines is to help a candidate in revising the plan to achieve a fruitful outcome with the proposal of the work based experience with the academic and work supervisor. It is possible that one proposal is not meeting with all the requirements in the very first attempt, in accordance with the supervisor. However, this does not really refer to the situation being that a flexible negotiation cannot be reached, which is satisfying to both the academic supervisor as well as the candidate (Shepherd-Barron, 2010). Developing and understanding a revised work based experience plan means that the candidate knows and is prepared to do, what needs to be done in case the proposal for work based experience fails to get accepted in the negotiation process.

The revised work based experience plan should be carefully designed and in all situations, it is a preferred arrangement of actions that needs to be taken to achieve the successful outcome of work based experience. Such a technique is used only in the cases where an agreement is not met its success criteria and alternative method is required. It is important to note that the alternative proposal developed to earn work based experience should not be creating a situation of disadvantage for the academic supervisor or other staff members. It is worth putting the alternate option under the cost/benefit assessment, in a defined manner to better understand how effective an alternate method is.

P3.4 Make suggestions for improvement and review these with appropriate supervisor

Once an agreement has been agreed upon by all the parties involved in the deal, it gets highly important that the terms of the agreement are document in a very fine manner from the start of the work based learning process to the finish time of it, including the trial and performance evaluation dates and methods.

It is vitally important to put the agreement in writing form and providing a copy of it to the academic supervisor. By following this method, it can be made certain that the conditions of the agreement remain visible and clear to both parties (Stenstro?m and Tynja?la?, 2009). To further extend the usefulness of the agreement, it is worth making sure that one copy of the agreement is provided to the human resource personnel, who can put this in the file of the staff member.

LO4 Be able to monitor and evaluate own performance and learning

P4.1 Monitor progress against original proposal

Work based experience is a work practice that is followed by students extensively these days. Following are the various benefits that can be achieved by a candidate by getting involved in the task of earning work based experience learning: The process of the work based experience make a student more likely to get hired by employers upon completion of the educational curriculum. This process helps the student in evaluating the industry and the various job titles that are offered to the person. It provides an excellent tool to the candidate to learn more insight into the work field. It assists a candidate in understanding and assessing own skills in real world industries. Helps the candidates in developing a more profiling resume for future jobs and interviews

Placement based job opportunities are most commonly used in situations of course completion for the purpose of work experience programs.

P4.2 Evaluate the quality of own performance

For any work based experience agreement, it is highly essential that the agreement made actually depicts the various points of the work allocated, such as the work schedule, and it should clearly indicated various scheduling points relating to the task, such as how many hours the candidate is   required to work on a daily basis and for how many weeks. In this part of the agreement, it is also settled the time limit for the trial period of the candidate in the new organization (Swallow, Chalmers and Miller, 2004). For any organization, communication is the key to success and this process needs to be made clear to all the employees. For the candidate, the agreement should state the communication mediums and methods using which the candidate can establish communication with the other staff members, company officials, and the work team of the candidate.

A flexibility element is also needed to be developed and added in the agreement at this phase to allow the candidate the facility to skip work to attend on urgent works in personal life or in some unforeseen situations. This part of the agreement should also reflect upon the commitment of the persona about attending staff meeting and other events (Tattersall, 2003). The agreement, which is agreed upon in advance, should provide a clear statement about the work position of the candidate as well as primary and most noteworthy work related obligations and responsibilities.

P4.3 Analyze the learning which has taken place during the work experience using suitable reflections

The candidates seeking for such internship opportunities may need to wait for the right opportunity and may need to enhance their resume a little more to gain an edge on the other people applying for the paid internships. For a more strict and time consuming study environment, the option that is more suitable is of a part time job of vacation time job. This kind of a job allows the candidate to work in such a manner that their job does not consume too much time to cause an issue to their studies. By applying for such a job, candidates can make sure that they can fit both studies and job responsibilities in their daily schedule.

The work based experience by using the opportunity of accepting international exchanges offer a very attractive opportunity to the student to learn the work related ethics and skills in global scenario, and also to gain experience about new cultures (Whyte and Whyte, 1984). This kind of work experience is seen as highly appreciated by the employers as most employers like the bit of independence and work related committeemen among their employees.

P4.4 Make recommendations on how the experience could have been enhanced

Upon reflecting on own experience of learning from the work based experience, I have noticed many issues with the existing system of gaining acceptance of the work based experience in the universities. Based on analysis of such issues, following recommendations can be made:

• The universities should have a fixed format of work based experience proposal for the ease of the students (Yip, 2009).  
• There should be a clear guideline discussing and highlighting the various aspects of work based experience in universities to make sure that the students are able to follow such guidelines. At present, the situation is bound by personal choice and preferences of academic supervisor.
• The academic supervisors should encourage the provision of work based experience.
• The academic session can be made more flexible to facilitate work based experience. 

Conclusion                                                             

This presented paper focused on the various aspects of learning from experience and also presented various methods using which an individual can improve his ability to enhance the skills and productivity from the work based experience. The additional benefits of learning from experience, such as being able to deal effectively in a team based work environment and learning to remain focused on goals even in discouraging work conditions and hard to follow deadlines. The paper also analyzed the various other aspects of working in the industry to gain experience and how the work based experience helps an individual in achieving the aim of a better career.    

References

Bailey, T. (1995). Learning to work. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution.
Blake, R. and Mouton, J. (1978). Making experience work. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Casey, F. and Andrisani, P. (1979). Work attitudes and work experience. Washington: Dept. of Labor, Employment and Training Administration.
Dalin, P. and Chisnall, H. (1983). Learning from work and community experience. Windsor, Berks.: NFER-Nelson.
Griffiths, T. and Guile, D. (2004). Learning through work experience for the knowledge economy. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.

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