Learning Styles and Performance Evaluation

This assignment delves into the concept of learning styles and their influence on performance evaluation. It examines various learning styles, drawing upon Honey and Mumford's framework, and explores how understanding these styles can enhance the effectiveness of performance assessment methods. The assignment also incorporates relevant research and provides a critical analysis of the relationship between learning preferences and individual performance.

Developing Individual, Teams and Organisations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Analysis of the professional, knowledge, skill and behaviours required by HR
professionals...........................................................................................................................1
P2 Analysis of the complete personal skill audit and identify appropriate knowledge, skill and
behaviour to develop professional development plan............................................................3
M1 Personal reflection..........................................................................................................5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
P3 Comparison between organisational and individual learning, training and development 6
P4 Analysis of the needs for continuous learning and professional development to drive
sustainable business performance...........................................................................................7
M2 Learning cycle Theory.....................................................................................................8
P 5 Analyse that how HPW contributes to employee engagement and competitive advantage
within a specific organisational situation...............................................................................9
P6 Evaluation of various approach to performance management and demonstrate with specific
example.................................................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
In an organisation, employees play a very crucial role by which company can attain it
targets within reasonable time period. Human resources can largely help the organisation in
developing business in more excellent manner. Organisational development is that practices
under which overall improvement occurs either it is related to training of employees, redesigning
policies and practices, technological implementation etc. However, actual development of any
organisation is largely related to the enhancing individual skills and ability. The success and
growth of the organisation largely depends upon the skill, ability and capability of the
employees. In this assignment, case has given on the Jane Cambridge who is HR officer in the
Marks and Spencer company. Jane is required to improve his skill and ability in some area such
as information technology skill, communication skill, problem solving skill etc. The major
objective of this report is to understand the ways through which organisation can develop the
skill and ability of individual (Budhwar and Debrah, 2013) Difference between the
organisational and individual learning, training and development has been also included in this
report. Furthermore, requirement for the continuous learning and professional development to
drive sustainable business performance has been also discussed in this report.
P1 Analysis of the professional, knowledge, skill and behaviours required by HR professionals
Organisational development largely depends upon the skill and talented workforce
because in the absence of human resource no organisation can attain its determined target. In
every functional department of the organisation like human resource, operation, production,
marketing, finance etc requires highly skilled workforce because in every business activity in
every sector presence of talented staff is vital. Thus, if company is going to develop and grow
then it is very important to develop and improve overall workforce skill, ability and knowledge.
As per the case scenario, Jane Cambridge is the human resource officer in the Marks and
Spencer company which is world leading popular retail business enterprise in the UK. It deals
with consumer goods, services and accessories (Cummings and Worley, 2014). James
Cambridge requires improvement in his skills, abilities and talent in various areas such as
information technology, communication, resolving complaints skill etc. In the HR department,
HR manager plays a very crucial role who have various kinds of responsibility and role to
manage the employees so as they can effectively carry out their working in an organisation. It is
very important for HR manager to develop their skill, ability and talent in such manner so as
1

they can effectively accomplish all task and responsibilities in human resource department. Jane
required various skill for his personal and professional development. The major role of HR
manager is to manage entire human resource and their working within the organisation. In
addition to this, it is great responsibility of manager is to motivate, recruit, encourage employees
so as determined objective can attain at the right time. Furthermore, HR manager have to design
such effective HR practices, policies and strategies through which employees can effectively
carry out their working within the company in an effective and efficient manner. In the Marks
and Spencer company, HR manager is required to have professional skill, knowledge and
behaviours which assist them in attaining the human resource need and manage them in
excellent manner. - Relationship building skill- This is one of the most important skill and competencies
which required in the Jane as human resource manager in the Marks and Spencer. It is
great responsibility of human resource manager to maintain healthy relationship with
employees so as they can motivate and encourage in producing high quality work Erez
and et.al., 2013). With help of healthy relationship, HR manager can influence employees
for attaining objective for company. In addition to this, HR manager have great
responsibility to analyse the issue and conflicts among employees and find out best
solution. Thus, for addressing these practices, they have to maintain good relationship
with workforce. Communication- This is another best skill and competency which is required in the
human resource manager in the Marks and Spencer. This skill helps manager in
discussing the several problems and issues among the workforce and find out the best
solution for them. HR manager must possess good communication skill in order to
interact with outsourcing providers, union leader, public official and employees within
the organisation. In addition to this, in order to announcing policies practices and other
information in various department, communication skill requires in HR manager.
 Technical skill- This is another skill and competency which required in the Jane as a
human resource manager in Marks and Spencer. With assistance of this skill and ability,
HR manager can easily operate computer, and other technical equipment in the company
for operate business activities and function (Gardner, Gino and Staats, 2012.
2

Technological skill assists manager in accomplishing the task and allotment in minimum
time with help of technology and equipment
 Relation building skill- This is another one of the major skill which required in the HR
manager through which he/she can effectively carry out their roles and responsibility
toward the organisation. With help of effective relationship with employees, HR manager
can diagnose their issues and problems related to their work at workplace.
P2 Analysis of the complete personal skill audit and identify appropriate knowledge, skill and
behaviour to develop professional development plan
In order to analyse and asses the skill of self, personal audit is one of the best method by
which individual can conduct self-evaluation and self-improvement. This method can assist to
individual in analysing their strength and weakness (Hendry, 2012). With help of this tool,
individual can easily analyse strength and weakness and also assess the capability. Another
major advantage of the audit is that individual can easily overcome their weakness by assessing
and self-evaluation. In the context of Jane who is HR manager of the cited venture, with
applying SWOT model, Jane personal audit can conduct-
A logical and creative thinker
Effective and considerable decision making who takes decision is fast as well
as fair manner
1 2 3 4 5
Effective analytical skill and observation skill
Distinguish various information for communicate conclusion
and summary
Get effective information on the basis of written and verbal
basis
Effective technical skill through which easily resolve the issue
and find out the best outcome in the fastest manner.
Identify effective opportunities and be pro activity for
innovative idea for problem solving.
3

Strength
High command on the human resource
concept, theories and models.
Effective relationship building skill
Weakness
Weak communication skill.
Ineffective management and leadership skill
Opportunity
Become best HR manager
Work in the world leading organisation
Threat
Threats from new development in company
practices and policies
As per the SWOT analysis of the HR manager Jane it has been analysed that there are
various kinds of strength have in the Jane. However, he also has some weakness which required
to improve. With help of self-auditing and evaluation, Jane can easily overcome these
weaknesses.
The personal development plan of the HR professional in the Marks and Spencer are as follows-
Skills Action Resource Time frame
Communication skills This skill can improve
by use of various kind
of individual practices
like self-practices,
watching video of
effective English
speaking, reading
books, conduct more
interaction with other
and speaks in public
and group. In addition
to this HR manager
Seminar, conferences,
group activities, group
discussion, published
books, journal,
watching you tube
video , self-assessment
and practices.
5 Months
4

can also attend the
conference sand
seminar where
communication skill
improvement
suggestion can give
(Renwick, Redman
and Maguire, 2013).
Technical skill It is very important for
the individual to
manage the thing and
task at the workplace
by help of computer
and other
acquirements. With
help of training and
development I can
improve my technical
skill which help me in
using database, HR
software and use excel
spreadsheet for the
business activities and
functions.
Gain knowledge by
technical studies,
attending trainings and
development classes,
seminar.
3 Months
Leadership skills Conduct group
activities and attending
seminar can help to
individual in
enhancing their
leadership skill and
Group discussion,
team working, group
activities, conferences,
seminar can help in
improving leadership
skill of HR manager.
3 Months
5

ability. Group
discussion and team
working can beneficial
for HR manager in
enhancing their
leadership skill in the
company.
M1 Personal reflection
Being HR manager within the Marks and Spencer, Being a HR manager I have High
command on the human resource concept, theories and models. Effective relationship building
skill. In addition to this I have also Effective analytical skill and observation skill in the Marks
and Spender through which I can effectively analyse the situation and find out the best
alternative solution. I have several kinds of roles and responsibility toward the organisation. By
above auditing of myself in the company I have analysed and assessed that my major weakness
related to lack of communication, leadership and time management. By these skills I cannot
effectively perform in the company and unable to perform my roles and responsibility toward the
organisation. From self-audit I have also analysed that I required to improve my communication,
leadership and technical skill. In order to improve my communication skill, I have doing self-
practices and self-evaluation. In addition to this by interacting people and conduct group
activities I can also improve my communication skill. By self-auditing I have analysed that I
have lack of technical skill by which I have faced the issue related to use excel sheet, HR
software using database etc. In addition to this in order to improve technical skill I have
attended training and development program and classes by which I can gain the knowledge and
idea about the computer operation in an organization. Thus, from this personal development plan
I have analysed that by use of training and development, self-assessment, self-practices,
conferences, seminar and class, I can easily improve my communication, technical and
leadership skill which help me enhance my personal and professional developing. Thus, being a
HR manager, I can easily perform at the workplace in excellent manner and attain the target of
organisation on time.
6

TASK 2
P3 Comparison between organisational and individual learning, training and development
Training includes activities such as learning, enhancing, knowledge, skill to perform task
in effective and efficient manner. Training and development program can help to the employees
in improving the existing knowledge, skill, ability and capability through which employees can
do better performance for accomplish its determined objective. It refers to the short term
program that include long term procedure application to growth of individual. In an organisation,
training and development is very important practice for the workforce by which they can easily
improve their existing knowledge, skill, ability and talent related to the work. It is great
responsibility for the management to analyse the needs of training and development among
workforce and organise it accordingly. If any corporation organise training and development
program then it can provide opportunities to enhance existing skill, knowledge and ability to
personnel. According to the given case scenario, Jane is a human resource manager in the Marks
and Spencer organisation who required to improve his various skill and knowledge among
various area. Thus, it is very important for cite venture to organise training and development
program for him. However, there are quite difference between the training and development
(Goetsch and Davis, 2014). Training is a program organised by the corporation to develop
knowledge, skill and ability among the employees according to the need of the business and job.
On the other hand, development is an organised program which the manpower of the
organisation learns and develops with time. It is a kind of select assessment activities. In a
simple word it can be said that training is an opportunity which provided by company for
enhancing their skill, knowledge, ability, competencies according to the job requirement. On the
other hand, development is an educational process which assist to employees in enhancing their
personal and professional development.
Organisational learning includes the several kinds of knowledge, skill and ability among
individual related to their organisation needs. Organisational learning includes procedure of
building, retaining and sharing knowledge about the subject. On the other hand learning is
another procedure that includes gaining skill, knowledge through which they can improve their
personality and professionalism. On the other hand, individual learning includes the skill, ability
and knowledge which helps them in improving their personal and professional development.
Organisational learning helps the business unit in attainment its target within time period and
7

enhance excellent outcome for business (Levi, 2015). On the other hand, individual learning
helps in enhancing their overall development. Organisational learning includes procedure of
building, retaining, sharing knowledge within the corporation. It is a kind of specific program
that is facilitated the employees who are working in an organisation. Business learning program
helps to the individual in addressing their strength and weakness at the workplace. On the other
hand individual learning assist to analyse specific user's strength and weakness.
In simple words it can be said that organisation learning help to the business unit in
enhancing effective outcome and results for the company. In this process, company's all member
can collectively work and enhance their skill, ability and knowledge to attain the organisation
objective. On the other hand, in the context of individual learning, only individual learn new
skill, ability, knowledge for enhancing their personality and professionalism. Organisational
learning helps to the company and individual learning help to individual. Organisational learning
includes the efforts which put by the company in order to enhance its employee’s skill, talent and
knowledge. On the other hand, in the individual learning, only individual puts their efforts to
enhance their personality and professionalism. In this also includes self-assessment, self-
practices and self-learning by individual.
P4 Analysis of the needs for continuous learning and professional development to drive
sustainable business performance
In an organisation, learning among the employees is very important because if they have
high talent and capability then they can able to attain objective of business enterprise in large
manner (Ngo and et.al., 2014). Continuous learning among the employees and their professional
development is essential for drive the sustainable business performance and growth. In the
context of Marks and Spencer organisation, its major objective is to enhance the profitability and
market share by delivering effective services and products. In order to attain its determined
objective within business unit, it is very important to continuous development and learning
among the workforce. Continuous learning helps to the Marks and Spencer organisation in
improving its growth and success in large manner. Organisational learning helps to the company
as well as employees in enhancing their growth and development. In order to gain sustainable
development and success in the company, continuous learning and professional development is
very important. Following are some reason for continuous organisational learning and
professional development required at the workplace-
8

 Continuous learning and professional development encourage the human resource for
attaining high level of outcome and growth in the market.
 Continuous learning and professional development provides the competitive advantage to
the company as it helps in improving employee’s skill, ability, capability etc by which
they can improve quality of services (Mikolajczyk and Schmid, 2005).
 Continuous learning and professional development assist in developing effective brand
image in market because if employees have effective, idea, creative thoughts, skill, and
ability then they can give their best contribution within company for attaining the
objective (McGrath, 2012).
 With assistance of continuous learning and professional development in Marks and
Spencer, advance technology can implement through which efficiency and effectiveness
of organisation can enhance (Brewster and Hegewisch, 2017).
 Employees have an opportunity to enhance their existing talent, skill, knowledge and
ability about the work in the company by help of continuous learning and professional
development (McKenzie and et.al., 2012).
 Marks and Spencer can easily enhance the quality of product and services by help of this
mentioned aspect because overall development can occur in cited venture by help of
continuous learning and professional development.
M2 Learning Cycle Theory
Learning cycle theories can assist to the Jane who is HR manager of the Marks and
Spencer. With assistance of the various learning theories, he can easily acquire the knowledge
and improve their personal and professional development at the workplace. Learning life cycle
theories are as follows-
Honey and Mumford
In this learning style, major four kinds of stages such as activists, reflectors, pragmatists,
activists. According to these style, every individual has different criteria to learn the new skill,
ability and knowledge. In the activist kind of learning style, people can learn from experience
(Koziolek, 2010). On the other hand, theorist type of learner can learn from the model, idea and
truth. They use the methodical and hypothesis for acquiring new knowledge and skill. In
addition to this, pragmatists learning style individual have the capability to perceive how to put
the learning into practice in their present reality. Furthermore, in the reflector's learner,
9

individual can learn by watching and contemplating what happened. Thus, it can be said that
there are several kinds of the style by which learner can learn something new and improve their
personal and professional development.
P 5 Analyse that how HPW contributes to employee engagement and competitive advantage
within a specific organisational situation
In an organisation high performance working among employees is very important by
which company can gain excellent outcome and success. In the competitive business
environment, it is very important for the company to develop such impressive strategy by which
it can compete with rival in excellent manner. In order to survive in the competitive
environment, high skilled employees are very essential who can give excellent outcome to the
10
Illustration 1: Honey and Mumford
Source; Honey and Mumford, 2017

company. Highly skilled employees can help the company in performing business activities in
excellent manner and attain its objective on time. Thus, it can be said that high performance
working among the workforce is important for attaining competitive advantage in the
organisation. In addition to this, high performance working can assist in enhancing employee
engagement at the workplace (Jenter and Kanaan, 2015). While company have high skilled
workers then firm can perform in high quality which enhance employee engagement Employees
engagement is a workplace approach which is based on the trust, integrity and two-way
commitment between an organisation and its member. In a simple word it can be said that
employee's engagement is a property of the relationship between organisation and its employees.
While there is good relationship between organisation and employees then it can be said that
there is excellent employee’s engagement. While in the company there is high performance
working of employees then there May excellent employees engagement because management
can more trust and loyalty on the workforce. If employees perform in excellent manner then
management can easily trust and believe on them and also, they make strategy and practices for
improving employee’s motivation (Jiang and et.al., 2012). By high working performance,
company satisfy with employees and delivers reward and facilities accordingly. In addition to
this high performance working also helps in enhancing competitive advantage in the company.
While employee gives high quality of work and perform in excellent manner then company's
competitive advantage can automatically improve.
For instance, Marks and Spencer is currently facing the issue related to low profitability
and market share due to lack of proper services to customer. In this situation, high performance
working of employees can help to organisation in overcome this issue. Ineffective customer
services influence company’s profitability and market share because sales of business have been
decreased. In this situation, employees of the company are great assets who can overcome this
situation if they perform in high quality (Kehoe and Wright, 2013). If employees give high
performance at workplace then they can easily provide high quality of work and deliver high
quality of services. Overall quality of work and services can improve of Marks and Spencer if its
workforce focuses on the high-performance working. Customer issues can be addressed
effectively because employees can effectively acknowledge about issue and problem of
employees in the company. Thus, it can be said that high performance working can easily
11

develop the competitive advantage of the company and overcome the situation of lack of
customer services and low market share and profitability.
Following are some benefits of the high performance working in the Marks and Spencer
company-
 With assistance of high performance working in the company, it can gain the high level
of outcome and result because employees can give their best efforts and participation in
attaining high quality of results (Gray and et.al., 2013).
 High performance working can assist to the organisation in developing competitive
advantage in the market because while employees perform in excellent manner then they
can automatically deliver high quality of product and services. This thing helps to the
company in developing impressive brand image in the market and develop competitive
advantage.
 High performance working can assist to the company in overcome the wastage and
additional cost because if employees perform in excellent manner then wastage and
additional cost can automatically overcome in the operation of business (Brewster and
Hegewisch, 2017).
P6 Evaluation of various approach to performance management and demonstrate with specific
example
Performance management is major function of the human resource which encompasses
activities such as joint goal setting, continuous progress review and frequent communication,
implementation of employee’s development programmes and rewarding achievement. In a
simple word it can be said that performance management is a process that provides feedback,
accountability and documentation for performance outcome (George, Haas and Pentland, 2014).
With assistance of the performance management, employer and manager can get together and
work together at the workplace. In an organisation there are various kinds of ways by which
manager and higher authority can manage the performance of employees. In this aspect, it is
great responsibility of higher authority and manager to perform performance management task in
excellent manner so as they can effectively manage the performance of employees and attain the
determined objective. In the Marks and Spencer organisation, there are various kinds of
approaches which is used by the manager and higher authority in order to conduct performance
management. These approaches are as follows-
12

 Collaboration working- This is one of the best approach of performance management
under which employees are supposed to work together for attain the organisational
objective. In this method, manager observe and analyse the performance of employee as
they are how much efficient to collectively carry out the activities of business. (Gallo and
et.al., 2014) With help of this method, manager can effectively analyse and observe the
skill, ability and talent among the workforce. Comparative approach- In this aspect, manager and higher authority provides the rank
and rate to the employees according to their efficiency and effectiveness. In this aspect,
performance of employees can compare along with other employees. 360 appraisals feedbacks: It is a technique under which employees performance can
measure on the basis of other review and feedback at the workplace. In this process,
colleagues and co-workers provide the feedback about the employee's performance and
ability (Estampe and et.al., 2013). On the basis of other feedback and review, rating and
grade can give to that particular employees in an organisation.
 Group activities- This is another effective approach of performance management in the
Marks and Spencer by which it can easily measure and analyse the performance of
employees. In this approach, management organises group activities of employees and
give some task to them for accomplishing within some specific task (Alfes and et.al.,
2013). In this activity higher authority and manager can observe and analyse the
performance of the employees and assess the which employees perform in the best
manner and give their best contribution to attain the target. Thus, in this method, it can be
said that higher authority and manager can measure and analyse the performance of
employees in the group activity (Mikolajczyk and Schmid, 2005). With assistance of this
method, manager can also observe employee efficiency and productivity.
CONCLUSION
Organisational and individual development in an organisation is very important aspect by
which company can attain its determined objective in an effective manner. Employees are very
crucial part for business unit by which firm can easily carry out their working and achieve its
target. From this report it has been concluded that Marks and Spencer organisation can gain high
13

completive advantage and growth in the market by high performance working practices. In
addition to this collaboration working can also assist to organisation in performance
management practices. From this report it has been also concluded that training and development
program in the company can assist in proving high level of business performance. if any
organisation organise training and development then its employees can have opportunity to
enhance their skill, ability, knowledge and idea about the working.
14

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Alfes, K. and et.al., 2013. The link between perceived human resource management practices,
engagement and employee behaviour: a moderated mediation model. The international
journal of human resource management. 24(2). pp.330-351.
Brewster, C. and Hegewisch, A. eds., 2017. Policy and Practice in European Human Resource
Management: The Price Waterhouse Cranfield Survey. Taylor & Francis.
Budhwar, P. S. and Debrah, Y. A. eds., 2013. Human resource management in developing
countries. Routledge.
Cummings, T. G. and Worley, C. G., 2014. Organization development and change. Cengage
learning.
Erez, M., and et.al., 2013. Going global: Developing management students' cultural intelligence
and global identity in culturally diverse virtual teams. Academy of Management
Learning & Education, 12(3), pp.330-355.
Estampe, D. and et.al., 2013. A framework for analysing supply chain performance evaluation
models. International Journal of Production Economics. 142(2). pp.247-258.
Gallo, M. and et.al., 2014. Performance evaluation of the random replacement policy for
networks of caches. Performance Evaluation. 72. pp.16-36.
Gardner, H. K., Gino, F. and Staats, B. R., 2012. Dynamically integrating knowledge in teams:
Transforming resources into performance. Academy of Management Journal. 55(4).
pp.998-1022.
George, G., Haas, M. R. and Pentland, A., 2014. Big data and management. Academy of
Management Journal. 57(2). pp.321-326.
Goetsch, D. L. and Davis, S. B., 2014. Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper
Saddle River, NJ: pearson.
Gray, C. M. and et.al., 2013. Football Fans in Training: the development and optimization of an
intervention delivered through professional sports clubs to help men lose weight, become
more active and adopt healthier eating habits. BMC public health. 13(1). pp.1.
Hendry, C., 2012. Human resource management. Routledge.
15

Jenter, D. and Kanaan, F., 2015. CEO turnover and relative performance evaluation. The Journal
of Finance. 70(5). pp.2155-2184.
Jiang, K. and et.al., 2012. How does human resource management influence organizational
outcomes? A meta-analytic investigation of mediating mechanisms. Academy of
management Journal. 55(6). pp.1264-1294.
.
Kehoe, R.R. and Wright, P. M., 2013. The impact of high-performance human resource practices
on employees’ attitudes and behaviors. Journal of management. 39(2). pp.366-391.
Koziolek, H., 2010. Performance evaluation of component-based software systems: A survey.
Performance Evaluation. 67(8). pp.634-658.
Levi, D., 2015. Group dynamics for teams. Sage Publications.
McGrath, S., 2012. Vocational education and training for development: A policy in need of a
theory? International Journal of Educational Development. 32(5). pp.623-631.
McKenzie, L. M. and et.al., 2012. Human health risk assessment of air emissions from
development of unconventional natural gas resources. Science of the Total Environment.
424. pp.79-87.
Mikolajczyk, K. and Schmid, C., 2005. A performance evaluation of local descriptors. IEEE
transactions on pattern analysis and machine intelligence. 27(10). pp.1615-1630.
Ngo, T. T. and et.al., 2014. The largest inertial sensor-based gait database and performance
evaluation of gait-based personal authentication. Pattern Recognition. 47(1). pp.228-237.
Online
Honey and Mumford, 2017. [Online]. Available through<http://resources.eln.io/honey-and-
mumford-learning-styles/>.
16