Importance of Personal and Professional Development

The provided document emphasizes the significance of personal and professional development in boosting employee performance within an organization. It discusses various aspects such as knowledge, skills, behavior analysis, high-performance work culture, employee engagement, commitment, and competitive advantage. The document also touches upon performance management techniques to effectively manage and enhance employee performance.

PERSONAL AND
PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1. Knowledge, Skills and Behaviours required by HR Professionals.......................................1
P2. Complete Personal Skills Audit............................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
P3. Difference between organisational and individual learning, training and development.......6
P4. Need of Continuous Learning and Professional Development.............................................8
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
P5. Contribution of HPW in employee engagement and competitive advantage.......................9
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................11
P6 Evaluation of different approaches to performance management.......................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Development of an individual, team and an organisation is an element which is necessary
for survival of a business. Whereas, Personal and Professional Development is an individual
concept which is considered to ensure continuous growth and improvement within an
organisation (Von Krogh, Nonaka and Rechsteiner, 2012). It is stated as combined process where
development of individual employee is directly associated with the enhancement of overall
organisational performance. All these factors are crucial for an organisation for its success and
development of a competent position in the market. The report below is based on TESCO Plc,
which is one of leading supermarkets and retail chain in the United Kingdom.
It covers study of employee knowledge, skills and behaviours required by HR
professionals and analysis of factors to be considered while implementation and evaluation of
inclusive learning and development to drive sustainable performance. In addition, the report
covers application of knowledge and understanding ways in which High Performance Working
contributes to employee engagement and competitive advantage. Moreover, evaluation of ways
in which collaborative working and effective communication can support high performance
culture and commitment is also discussed briefly.
TASK 1
P1. Knowledge, Skills and Behaviours required by HR Professionals
TESCO Plc, is one of the leading organisation in the UK which have more than 3,400
stores within the country and a huge workforce higher than 300,000 individuals supporting and
managing the organisation (Tesco UK, 2019). The company is one of the most trusted in the
nation and deals in home and electrical appliances, merchandises, groceries, etc. HR
professionals are quite crucial for a firm as big as TESCO which requires them to effectively
carry out their each role with utmost sincerity and consistency. The reason for such consistency
is that it holds the key to manage such a huge workforce overtime. However, it is imperative that
various knowledge, skills and behaviours are possessed by these professionals to carry out their
roles within TESCO. These skills and attributes as per their different roles is mentioned below:
Workforce Planning
The most important role of HR professionals within TESCO is planning of workforce,
recruitment and selection. The better these individuals perform this role, better and competent
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would be the workforce within TESCO. Various knowledge, skills and behaviours for the role
HR includes: Knowledge: Workforce Planning needs knowledge about effective recruitment and
selection processes which enables them in carrying out in-depth evaluation of each
candidate on the basis of their competence and skills apt for TESCO (West and et. al.,
2014). Skills: They must have adequately analytical and persuasive skills which would help
them in analysing the skills gap in the company. Evaluation of competencies of
candidates and persuading their behaviour help to attain them at appropriate pay scale
which would result in acquisition of talented personnels quite economically (Raes and et.
al., 2015). Behaviours: HR professionals of TESCO must be ethical while workforce planning and
recruiting to ensure a diversified yet effective workforce.
Performance Appraisal
Retaining of employees is another crucial aspect for HR professionals at TESCO. For the
same, a professional must undertake appropriate performance appraisal to encourage workforce
to perform better. Knowledge, skills and behaviours as per this role are discussed below: Knowledge: HR professionals must possess knowledge about techniques of performance
management and measurement to carry out effective performance appraisal. In addition,
they must be knowledgeable about Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS) like
Applicant Tracking Systems and Zoho People to better handle employee performances
and manage recruiting. Skills: Organisational and Decision-making skills are essential for organise employee
performance and systematic measurement to conduct appropriate appraisal of each
employee (Von Krogh, Nonaka and Rechsteiner, 2012). Behaviours: HR professionals must be purpose oriented as it would enable them to
appraise performances effectively and without being bias.
Employee Relations
HR Professionals in TESCO act as a liaison between management and employee. Thus, it
is of vital importance that they keep harmony within the company intact to ensure collective
growth. Knowledge, skills and behaviour required for this role is mentioned as under:
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 Knowledge: It is important for an HR professional in a firm like TESCO to possess the
knowledge about various employee legislations like Employee Act, Equality Act and
Ant-Discrimination Act which is essential to ensure togetherness of employees as well as
management (West and et. al., 2014). Skills: Effective communication and conflict solving skills are crucial for HR
professionals to ensure harmony in the company.
 Behaviours: They must be solution oriented and adaptable to consider each important
aspect into consideration and carry out policies in favour of management as well as
employees.
P2. Complete Personal Skills Audit
For an HR professional, it is of vital importance that personal skills, knowledge and
behaviours are evaluated on regular basis which identifies areas of strength and weaknesses and
enlightens scope for improvement. To determine the same, SWOT analysis is being used which
would help in analysing self knowledge, skills and behaviours as a requirement for HR
professional. Personal SWOT analysis is discussed below:
 Strengths:
There are various knowledge, certain behaviour and skills which are my strengths and
enhances effectiveness in my role as an HR (McCormack, Manley and Titchen, 2013). For
instance, I have proper knowledge about recruitment and selection procedures and how best to
conduct them in order to select the best candidates for the job. Another strengths are various
skills like organisational and decision-making skills which I possess and effectively utilise as an
HR professional. In addition, I am ethical and solution oriented and always practice my role as
per these behaviours.
 Weaknesses:
However good I am at the above mentioned skills, behaviours and knowledge, there are
various attributes which are yet to be improved. For example, I am yet to use Human Resource
Information Systems (HRIS) as a routine element in my HR role. Moreover, I lack
communication skills and fail to persuade or convince other individual in regards of any subject
matter or point of view. I possess some knowledge about employee legislations however, there
are yet very aspects of these legislations which are needed to be learnt.
 Opportunities:
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With my strengths, there are ample opportunities in the organisation which could be
accomplished by me during my HR Role. As an example, recruitment and selection procedures
would allow me to bring a pool of skilled talent in the firm requiring minimal training and
development to enhance their performances. Moreover, decision-making skills would allow me
to handle complex situations easily without compromising any aspect of my job role.
 Threats:
There could be various threats in store for me for the skills, knowledge and attributes
which I lack. Various examples of these threats would be that firm would require professionals
that are inclined towards using appropriate and advanced technology. Another bigger threat is
that within TESCO, communication and persuasion is very necessary for carrying out HR duties
effectively.
Thus, all the attributes are necessary for me to excel my performance and become even
better in the carrying out HR duties. Moreover, to ensure a long term in the firm, it is crucial for
me to develop knowledge on HRIS, employment legislations as well as communication skills
effectively. Thus, it is essential for me to construct a professional development plan to
appropriately carry out these duties. The Professional Development Plan is mentioned below:
SKILLS/
KNOWLED
GE
SPECIFIC MEASURABL
E ATTAINABLE REALISTIC TIME-
BOUND
HUMAN
RESOURCE
INFORMATI
ON
SYSTEMS
Usage and
managing
employee
performance
through
HRIS like
Zoho
People.
Increase in
effectiveness of
handling these
systems and
implement in
daily routine by
at least 25%.
To achieve this,
rigorous training
is being taken
which would set
up a strong base
for its usage in
the organisation.
Through
effective HRIS
training, I
would be able
to effectively
manage
recruitment of
employees and
performance
management.
To enhance
this this
skill, at least
2 months
are
necessary to
acquire
training and
implement
the same in
practice.
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COMMUNIC
ATION
SKILLS
Within
communicati
on, conflict
resolving
and
persuasion
are the
factors need
to be
developed.
Enhancement in
harmony within
the organisation
and increase in
staff
acquisitions by
12%.
To attain this,
seminars would
be taken on
conflict
management and
persuasion
through
communication.
Effective
Communicatio
n Skills learnt
through
seminars
would assist
me in
persuading
candidates
regarding
offers of pay
scales and
company
policies as
well as
managing
conflicts
effectively.
Improveme
nt in
communicat
ion skills
requires a
month to be
developed
and
reviewed.
EMPLOYEE
LEGISLATIO
NS
It is required
to gain
knowledge
about
Employee
Act,
Equality Act
and Anti-
Discriminati
on Act to
facilitate
ethical
practices
Measuring
criteria for this
knowledge
would be
Increase in
employee
engagement by
16%.
To achieve this,
various journals
and books
covering
employee
legislations
would be
utilised.
Employment
legislations
would allow
me to develop
ethical
frameworks
within the firm
and
appropriate
compliance
with the
required
regulatory
To
maximise
efficiency in
this
knowledge,
a time span
of 3 months
would be
essential.
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within the
firm.
standards.
TASK 2
P3. Difference between organisational and individual learning, training and development
TESCO is a global organisation where each staff and employee is essential and work as
to effectively attain personal and organisational objectives. However, there is a brief difference
between individual and organisational learning which is mentioned below:
 Organisational Learning:
The knowledge about procedures, practices, frameworks, etc. which is facilitated
uniformly throughout the organisation refers to organisational learning. For instance, employees
as well as management learn about various new techniques of product packaging or branding
would be organisational learning.
 Individual Learning:
All the learning and acquisition of knowledge on a personal level is referred as individual
learning. As an example, an employee in TESCO would learn individually new techniques for
customer management which would be learning on an individual level.
Difference between individual learning and organisation learning
BASIS INDIVIDUAL LEARNING ORGANISATIONAL LEARNING
ORIENTATION
It is one of those process which
mainly focuses on task of individual
person and how that need to be
performed.
This types of learning is entertained
at greater level of scale because it is
totally based upon goal orientation
SKILL
DEVELOPMENT
In this method the major role is
being played by the person who is
involved in this process.
In this type of learning all the skills
which are needed to be developed are
being organised and managed in
groups and batches
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It is also a regular practice within TESCO to train and develop their personnels in order
to help them achieve their personal goals effectively. Currently, TESCO is effectively managing
their employees by providing them periodic training and development. There are various aspects,
however, which is essential for making this practice even more effective. For instance, every
now and then there are new approaches to marketing and sales. Training and development would
ensure effective learning of these aspect and better performance within the market. However,
both these terns are distinctive in nature (Nahavandi, 2016).
 Training:
The procedure which is undertaken by companies in order to enhance a particular skill for
a specific job role is referred as training. It is an extremely important process which TESCO
follows up each time they hire new clients and periodically for the existing ones.
 Development:
It refers to overall improvement of an employee within an organisation at personal and
professional level. For example, employees within TESCO would be appraised on basis of their
performances and would learn aspects personally ensuring their improvement.
The role of training and development within TESCO is that it effectively helps the
employees within the company to get familiar with advanced and effective methods that could
help them in performing better. In addition, it helps in removing irregularities in performance
which could enhance market position of TESCO within the market.
Difference between training and development
BASIS DEVELOPMENT TRAINING
AIM & OBJECTIVES
It's main aim is to develop the
concept of understanding the
situations.
In this main aim of the
company is to provide
knowledge to its employee's
PEOPLE INVOLVED
The involvement is mainly
seen of small groups or
individual person.
Seminars are the main source
where large groups are
involved.
FOCUS It's main focus is to make
employee's able to perform
future task.
It focuses on performing task
according to the situation
which arises in front of
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employee's.
TERM It is a long term process. It is a short term process.
P4. Need of Continuous Learning and Professional Development
There is a huge workforce supporting TESCO and thus, to ensure consistency in its
market position and effective status globally, it is crucial that employees learn continually and
ensure professional development (Robbins and Judge, 2012). These factors are important for
growth of an organisation and employees for long-term. Need for continuous learning and
professional development is discussed below:
Continuous Learning:
It is a process which is related to constant enhancement of knowledge, skills and various
attributes which is necessary for employees at TESCO. The firm is very certain in upgrading its
human resources to perform in a better and competent way. Continuous learning is necessary
because they would be contributing in the firm' s success in a better manner and would be able to
achieve personal objectives effectively as well. Continuous Learning would aid in attaining
sustainable business performance as employees would effectively continue to learn better
alternatives and methods to achieve desired results and effective performance, which is
necessary for a consistent performance. To facilitate the same, the firm adopts periodic training
and development, both on-the-job and off-the-job to ensure maximum performance from each
employee. In addition, the firm also monitors their performance to enhance self capability.
Professional Development:
This sort of development is facilitated regarding overall professional improvement in an
individual within a company. TESCO requires this development to ensure whether an employee
effectively achieve their full potential for achieving company's objectives in a systematic and
adequate manner. Training within the firm is continuous and aims at ensuring professional
development. This would help employees in developing an overall personality which would
effectively help them in experiencing personal growth which is a contributing factor in effective
business performance. Thus, such consistency through professional development would make it
easier for TESCO to achieve its objectives. The importance of implementation of continuous
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professional development is being analysed through Kolb Learning Cycle which is mentioned
below:
 Concrete Experience:
Training and Development within TESCO is a regular practice and each employee is
given multiple training sessions throughout their work, related to marketing, effective sales and
even customer management. The company provides diverse training sessions to its employees on
a constant basis.
 Reflective Observation of new Experience:
Usually, through training and development, the company witness substantial
improvement in performance of the staff. However, there are various instances, especially in
customer service where changes are inevitable and new aspects are required to be taught which
sometimes couldn't be achieved by standard range of training given by the firm (Choi and
Ruona, 2011).
 Abstract Conceptualisation:
From the experience above, the firm must effectively adopt new on-the-job training
methods such as effective monitoring where employees could be guided throughout their
performance and shortfalls be effectively removed which would give personalised touch to
employees and would improve their performance.
 Active Experimentation:
To achieve this, TESCO must develop new and innovative ideas like interactive sessions
and mock drills where new situations would be created on the basis of which training would be
given to staff to ensure their continuous professional development (Huczynski, Buchanan and
Huczynski, 2013).
TASK 3
P5. Contribution of HPW in employee engagement and competitive advantage
High Performance Working refers to a practice which is performed by companies aiming
at gaining strong competitive advantage over other companies and effectively achieve
organisational objectives. This practice is necessary for ensuring smoothness in operations and
manage themselves effectively between the social systems such as people and technical systems
like processes and machines.
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For instance, there was a case quite recently when the firm was dragged to court by
almost 17 of its employees due to pay cuts in their wages. The dispute affected almost 38,000
employees who got paid on hourly basis. Moreover, the effect of its decisions was witnessed
mostly on employees who joined even before 1999 (Tesco workers take company to court over
alleged discrimination, 2019). Such instances have a negative impact on employee engagement
and commitment, which requires the company to work towards restoring the power within the
workforce and ensure long-term engagement and commitment. For the same, High Performance
Working is required which consists of practices required for ensure competitive advantage of the
firm within the market. These practices are mentioned below:
 Transparent Communication:
High Performance Working requires facilitation of a culture with transparent
communication within an organisation. The situation with TESCO makes it evident for the firm
to follow this practice throughout their organisational levels to ensure appropriate employee
engagement with the company. It would be effective as feeling of discrimination will not arise if
company would maintain complete transparency in communication and discuss each policy and
change with their workforce. The trust which company would show in employees would result in
their long-term commitment with the firm. Transparency would also result in engaging
employees in decision making which would would be helpful in development of strong policies
related to employees which would ultimately lead to better performance standards and thus,
acquisition of competitive advantage in the market (Herrmann and Herrmann-Nehdi, 2015).
 Performance Appraisals:
Another High Performance Working practice as per the situation in TESCO is
performance appraisal. Each old employee within the firm as well as new must be appraised as
per their performance and dedication they have shown while working in TESCO. Such appraisals
would encourage them in increasing their performance outputs and putting in more efforts to
enhance their capabilities. Thus, performance appraisals would help in achieving employee
engagement and commitment. Moreover, performance appraisal would engage each employee in
working at a higher level to acquire higher returns which would also be effective enough for
TESCO to gain a competitive edge.
 In-House Problem-Solving Practices:
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HPW also needs firms to follow in-house problem-solving sessions which keeps up the
reputation of the company and aid in solving sever conflicts internally. As per the scenario,
TESCO must set up effective departments which would deal with ongoing conflicts and present
solutions in favour to employees as well as the firm. This would give a sense of security to
employees that their problems are being dealt with and thus, problem-solving would help
engaging them for a longer term with utmost commitment. Moreover, since each conflict will be
resolved in-house, the reputation of company within the market would be intact, thus, giving
appropriate competitive edge against other companies (Aarons, Hurlburt and Horwitz, 2011).
TASK 4
P6 Evaluation of different approaches to performance management
Performance Management refers to effective activities which is considered as to manage
the execution of activities by employees in relation to set standards and developing frameworks
for improvement. It is a crucial approach which is adopted to ensure high performance culture
and commitment.
TESCO could use various techniques in relation to managing performance of their
employees which would be contributing in relation to sustainable business operations and
adequate achievement of objectives. These approaches are mentioned below:
 Comparative Approach:
As one of the crucial performance management approaches, this aspect is related to
ranking employees performance after comparing them with others in a group. For TESCO,
Forced distribution technique would serve as an appropriate method to compare performances of
employees.
For instance, during implementation of transparent communication, departmental heads
within TESCO would be part of the group as they would be the ones communicating with the
employees in a better and effective manner (Langkamp Bolton and Lane, 2012). Moreover, the
criteria would be feedbacks given by employees to upper management regarding knowledge of
various aspects related to the firm. It would help in managing performance in relation to
implementation of transparent communication within their respective departments. As an
example, most number of positive feedbacks would be given a rate of more than 7 out of 10, and
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department with most negative feedbacks will be rated below 4. This would allow them to
manage their performance and setting up standards for implementation.
 Attribute Approach:
Under this approach, employees' performances would be managed on the basis of set
attributes where problem-solving would be the one for TESCO employees. For this, graphic
rating scale would be the method to manage their performances. The criteria would be number of
conflicts happening within the company. TESCO employees would be rated on a scale of 1 to 5
and further these parameters would be broken as above, equal or below standard limit.
However, since the judging aspect is subjective, this would be tough for TESCO to
manage performances of their employees. However, since the criteria is quantifiable, this method
could serve as an effective one for TESCO.
 Collaborative Approach:
Another approach through which high performance work culture and commitment could
be ensured in TESCO is through collaborative approach. The aspect through which this could be
achieved is by integrating efforts of all the departments within organisation to ensure appropriate
performance appraisal culture within the country. An accumulated effort would be taken by each
department to effectively implement performance appraisal within their departments. Managers
and seniors would be providing training and through effective leadership, will be guiding
employees towards success. The criteria to judge effectiveness of performances would be the
number of appraisals.
However, this might be ineffective if completely applied on the firm as that might as its
wide implementation would cause a burden on the management with increasing number of
appraised employees. However, this would help in increase their performance and establishing
high performance work culture and commitment within the organisation, which would ultimately
be beneficial for the company (Katzenbach and Smith, 2015).
CONCLUSION
Thus, it is concluded by the above mentioned information, that personal and professional
development is a key aspect for an employee in enhancing their performance. Moreover, it is
crucial to develop individuals, teams and organisation to ensure collective growth. It is crucial to
analyse knowledge, skills and behaviour as it would give a way for professional development.
Continuous learning and professional development are effective aspects to enhance performance
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of an organisation as a whole. High performance working within an organisation is effective as
per to ensure employee engagement, commitment and competitive advantage. Lastly, it is crucial
to consider performance management techniques to effectively manage and enhance employee
performance within an organisation.
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