Developing Individuals, Teams, and Organizations

This essay explores the importance of HR professionals in developing individuals, teams, and organizations. It analyzes the skills and knowledge required by HR professionals, examines the differences between individual and organizational learning, and discusses the importance of continuous learning and professional development for sustainable business performance. The essay also explores high-performance working practices and evaluates different approaches to performance management, using Whirlpool Corporation as a case study.

Developing individuals,
teams and organisation

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Analyse employee knowledge, skills and behaviours required by HR professional........1
P2 Personal skills audit to develop a professional development plan....................................2
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................4
P3 Difference between organization and individual learning, training and development.....4
P4 Continuous learning and professional development to drive sustainable business
performance............................................................................................................................5
Task 3...............................................................................................................................................8
P5 High performance working contribute to employee engagement.....................................8
Task 4...............................................................................................................................................9
P6 Evaluation of different approaches of Performance Management.............................................9
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
References .....................................................................................................................................11

Introduction
Human resource professional and team plays an important part in the triumph of an
organization. Their main work is to recruit candidates according to the required skills set so that
vision of the organization can be achieved. Apart from that assigning of task is done by HR so
that work is divided according to the individual skills and abilities. In this report Whirlpool
corporation is taken into consideration. Whirlpool is an American MNC that deals in home
appliances and headquartered in Michigan, United states of America. In this report, HR
professional required skills, abilities and behaviour is discussed with example. Apart from that
different type of learnings which could be helpful for the company will be scrutinized. At last
High performance working and performance management approaches is discussed with different
functional example.
Task 1
P1 Analyse employee knowledge, skills and behaviours required by HR professional.
HR professional are those whose work is to maintain the peace and harmony at the
workplace so that maximum utilization of resources can be achieved with higher productivity.
Apart from that their work is to ensure that employees of the company is working under the
given guidelines (Bolden, 2016). HR roles and responsibilities have changed drastically. In past,
their work is to do the administration work but now they contribute in the success of the
company through contributing ideas and strategy to the management. Important knowledge,
skills and behaviours required in HR professional is mentioned below,
Knowledge
Rules and compliances: HR should be well aware of all the rules and laws like
employment law, working condition law etc as it affects the company in the future. Whirlpool
HR professional should have the knowledge of all the laws so that they can make the
environment work friendly. Workplace environment plays an important part in the motivation of
the employees and their efficiency. If the employees of Whirlpool are satisfy from the
environment then they will fully devote themselves to the work thus increasing the productivity
of the company.
Education and training: HR should do the job analysis of all the jobs within the company
and according to the requirements of the job, training would be given. Whirlpool should give
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training to the new trainee to learn their specific role. Besides this, training should be given to
the old employees also so that they can improve and increasing their skills set. With the help of
training, individual and organization learning could increase to a certain level thus increasing the
efficiency of the company and individual.
IT knowledge: HR have to do lots of work on computer like performance management,
employees salary report, communication with the potential candidates etc. So if HR does not
have the knowledge regarding it then it will affect their efficiency in a negative way and on the
other side, if they have knowledge regarding all the components of it then HR would be able to
perform their task on computer with full efficiency and productivity.
Skills
Negotiation: Negotiation is the factor which should be in HR professional if they want to
succeed in their career (West and et. al., 2014). Whirlpool has large number of employees thus to
manage all the employees negotiations skills should be there in HR. Moreover, Whirlpool HR
have to negotiate the salary with the employees also so that company objectives of saving the
fund can be achieved.
Conflict management and problem solving: When large number of employees are
working under same roof than chances of conflict between members also increase. Whirlpool HR
should have the skills of solving the conflicts between employees and among employers also.
Conflict environment of the company decrease the productivity of the employees to a certain
level. That's why HR should be aware of all the conflicts and try to solve it before creating a
huge buzz for the company.
Communication Skills: It is one of the important skills which every HR should be
equipped with as their work is to maintain peace and harmony at the workplace and it could only
be attain if HR have excellent communication skills. Apart from this, communication skills is
directly connected to the negotiation and conflict management also. For instance, if HR of
Whirlpool have good communication skills then it would be easier for them to scatter the
important information to the employees. It will also help them to reduce conflict in the
organisation resulting in favourable environment at Whirlpool.
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Behaviour
Adaptability: The external environment affects the internal environment and climate of
the Whirlpool. So HR work is to maintain the environment according to the scenarios so that
employees productivity does not get affected.
Transparency: Whirlpool HR have work like performance appraisal, recruitment and
selection etc. All these work can affected by biasness or personal favour. So HR should do their
work with full transparency so that HR can be trusted by the employees of the Whirlpool.
Team management: This behaviour is important as HR have to regularly communicate
with the employees of different behaviour and styles. So HR should have team skills in which
they can easily make rapport with other employees. To attain this, HR should have patience,
confidence, soft skills etc in them.
P2 Personal skills audit to develop a professional development plan
Personal audit is refer to monitoring of owns skills and abilities so that it will be improve
in the future and productivity could increase. With the help of personal audit, more skills will be
added to an individual abilities (Kislov and et. al., 2014). So as a HR individual I will discuss my
strengths and weakness below,
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Strengths Weakness
I am diplomatic in nature so I can easily attract
employees to work for me.
Communication skills are weak as I find hard
to express myself in front of people.
Time management skills are good as I can
manage different things at the same time.
IT skills are average as I cannot perform
complex problems in computer.
Decision making skills are good as I enjoy
solving complex situation.
My team management skills are not good as I
find it hard to manage people.
With the help of strengths and weakness I will make my personal development plan so that it can
be improved with time.
Development
objectives
Time Activities I need to
undertake to achieve
my objectives
Mentor and monitor by
Communication skills 3-4 months Daily classes of
communication will be
taken for 3 months so
that my stage fear and
public speaking would
be removed.
Colleagues and friends
IT skills 2 months Classes will be taken
so that I can learn
advanced skills of
excel and power point.
Besides this I can also
learn the basics of
SAP HR.
Manager and
colleagues
Team management
skills
1 months Development classes
will be taken to
improve my
My subordinates and
manager
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management skills.
Communication skills play a very important role in the life of HR. Communication play
important role while taking the interview. This is important while interacting with the new
employees and in meeting communication skill of HR is important.
Now days company opt more technology feature so in HR department there is also a high use of
technology. HR present it presentation on computer. HR make its all salary receipt through the
computer so IT play important role in the career of HR
team management skill is very important for the HR . In the company issues and genial problem
are solved by the HR so it is important to have the team management skill in HR.
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Task 2
P3 Difference between organization and individual learning, training and development
Learning is a process of acquiring new skills, abilities and knowledge. In other terms
learning is shift of knowledge due to past experience. Skills and knowledge plays an important
part in the success of the organisation. Whirlpool should focus on providing knowledge, skills
to their employees so that they can increase their productivity to a certain level. It helps the
company and the employees to tackle the future hindrance created by the external environment.
Individual learning refers to expand in skills and knowledge of the employees through
learning. In other terms acquiring of new skills and knowledge through instruction or experience.
It begins with the intrinsic motivation of the employees. Whirlpool HR should motivate the
employees for the individual learning as it will increase the productivity of the employees and
the company (Lawton and et. al.,2014). For instance, after motivation by company, if HR of
Whirlpool starts learning about the rules and regulations which they should follow while creating
the working environment. Then the after impact would be positive for company as well as
individual because it will increase their efficiency while working which leads to increase in
overall efficiency of Whirlpool.
Organization learning means shift in knowledge of the employees. It is directly
proportionate to individual learning. If individual is learning then the organization is also
learning. Whirlpool should motivate the employees as it will help the company to achieve their
mission and vision. For instance, according to the above mentioned example if HR is able to
increase their working knowledge then it will also increase the overall knowledge of company as
employees is the part of Whirlpool.
Difference between individual and organizational learning
Individual learning Organization learning
Individual learning focus on personal
development. Whirlpool should insist the
employees for individual learning as it helps
the employees to acquire different and unique
skills so that different situation can be handled
easily.
Overall development of the organization is the
main focus of organizational learning.
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It helps the individual of Whirlpool to increase
their effectivity and efficiency to a certain level
which leads to performance enhancement.
It helps the Whirlpool to attain their vision and
increase the profits due to increase in
knowledge of the workforce.
Motivation like intrinsic or extrinsic forces the
individual for organization learning that's why
Whirlpool should regularly motivate their
employees for individual learning.
Organizational learning is totally depend on the
employees of the Whirlpool. Increase in
knowledge of workforce will lead to increase
in organizational learning.
Training and development
Training is a process of imparting the skills and knowledge in the employees related to
the specific job through which they can conduct their task and give satisfactory result to the
company (Katzenbach, and Smith, 2015). For example, if HR requires to improve their
personality development then Whirlpool should provide training related to that as then only
individual weakness will turns into strengths. It is an organize effort through which job related
skills is conveyed to the employees. Development is a process of learning and improving of
skills perpetually. If proper training is given to the Whirlpool employees then it will help them to
improve their mind set, attitude towards work and life, perceptions towards different things,
professional development etc which overall helps the Whirlpool to developed and gain
sustainable business performance over a time.
Difference between Training and development
Training Development
Through training specific skills is imparted to
the employees so that they can perform their
task with full commitment. For instance if
Whirlpool provides training related to IT skills
then it would assist company to increase their
performance level.
Development is perpetual process of improving
the performance. So that they can perform
better in the future in different scenarios.
Training is given by the experts in their
specific field so that proper knowledge can be
Development is depends on the employees.
The development program can be changed
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given to the employees. Like to provide
training regarding IT skills, Whirlpool will
contact the trainer who is experts in this field.
according to the employees.
Training is positive and negative. As if it is
given properly than it will help the Whirlpool
to increase their profits but if not properly
given than it will create the negative impact on
the performance of the employee.
Development is a positive process as it will
always help the employee and Whirlpool to
grow.
P4 Continuous learning and professional development to drive sustainable business performance
Continuous learning
Continuous learning is all about expanding of knowledge and skills by upgrading it
through learning. This will help the individual and company to improve their performance at
work. This is a continuous process of increasing of one's ability. As the external environment
changes quickly, employees and company should prepare themselves with proper knowledge and
skills to tackle the situation (Pakdil and Leonard, 2014). Whirlpool can give continuous training
to their employees through classroom training, coaching, workshops so that they can prepare
them for the different type of scenarios. Market is getting competitive with time that's why
whirlpool can only survive if and only if they give emphasis on continuous learning.
Professional development
It is a continuous process of improving the skills and knowledge related to the specific
job of the employees through training, classes, coaching, workshops etc. With the help of
professional development, Whirlpool will improve their employees motivation and their
productivity. It also helps the Whirlpool employees to get the promotion, improve their
credibility towards company, reduced their employees turnover etc.
 Continuous learning and professional development helps the employees to expand their
knowledge and skills related to their specific work. If there is a expansion of job then it
will motivate the employees to fully devote themselves into the work. Hence it will
increase their efficiency and competencies and help the company to give sustainable
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business performance. Importance of implementing continuous professional development
is discussed below with the help of Learning theory.
Learning theory: Learning is identified as an effective and continuous process where by
knowledge and skills is developed via the transformation of experiences. This theory works in
two different level, first is learning cycle and other is learning style.
Learning Cycle has 4 parts.
Concrete experience: This stage states that one should do something to learn rather than
watching or analysing it. Whirlpool can apply this technique through giving team games,
problem solving scenarios, debates etc. It will help the employees to become more adaptable to
unique situations thus increasing their efficiency and competencies. Hence, it will help the
company to get the sustainable business performance.
Reflective situation: This stage spells out that an individual can learn from their past experiences
if correctly interpretate. Whirlpool could give training to their employees so that they can
improve their knowledge and skills thus increasing the performance of the employees.
Abstract conceptualization: In this stage, individual learns from their past experiences and then
modify it according to the circumstances. Whirlpool should motivate these types of employees as
they have the ability to produce something unique to the market thus creating the competitive
advantages.
Active experimentation:In this individual has applied their idea into the real world to make
something unique (Woodcock, 2017). Whirlpool should motivate these type of practices as it
will help the company to make unique and competitive product.Whirlpool should focus this type
of behaviour in the employees as they have the ability to produce something unique or improve
their past products for the company. Innovation is always supported by the Whirlpool as it will
help the company to gain the competitive advantage over others.
Learning style has 4 parts:
Diverging: In this stage, Individual prefer the monitor and analyse rather than doing. Their main
work is to view the situation from different perceptive and than choose the best according to their
resources. This can help Whirlpool for monitoring the external environment so that any new
opportunity can be detected as it will help the company to capture the market.
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Assimilating:In this, individual like to evaluate all the possible outcomes of the solution and
design it according to the resources. Whirlpool can use these type of employees so that
maximum utilization can be achieved thus helping the company to attain their vision.
Converging: Main work in this to convert the ideas and projects into a real life model or
prototype. Whirlpool can use this type of employees to solve their daily problem. Besides this
they can also help the R&D department to make a unique product for the customer. If the
customer unmet need is satisfy with the product then it will help the company to create a
sustainable business performance (Goodwin, and et. al., 2014).
Accommodating: In this, individual waits for someone to conduct their research and then solves
it. It can be harmful for the whirlpool as if the research has some flaws in it then so does the
product.
Advantages and disadvantages of Continuous professional development.
Advantages of CPD Disadvantages of CPD
It enhances the performance of the employees
of Whirlpool thus increase in productivity.
CPD process is a complex process thus
requires lot of time and skills to implement it.
It helps the Whirlpool to retain their employees
for the longer period of time thus reducing the
employee turnover.
Latest resources use in the CPD process hence
increasing the cost of the company.
Task 3
P5 High performance working contribute to employee engagement
High performance working: High performance working refers as an essentials practice that have
been determined to enhance an organization capacity in order to attract select and retain high
performing personnel. Organization culture plays an important part in creating the HPW culture.
Whirlpool could improve their culture by adding transparency, open communication, trust
among employees etc to motivate them. HPW plays an crucial part in the creating the
competitive advantage (Griffin, and Care, 2014). Whirlpool can follow different practices of
HPW which can help the company to give sustainable performance which are described as
follows,
Reward program: It means awarding an reward due to their good performance.
Whirlpool should reward their employee on the basis of their performance as it will increase the
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motivation level of the employee. Reward includes trips, bonus, incentives etc. Rewarding a top
performer helps the employees to increase their efficiency at the work. Besides this non
performer should provide a training by the Whirlpool so that they will also perform better in the
future. When the employees are dedicated in their work then performance of the employees
automatically increases thus creating a competitive advantage. For example: if an employee of
whirlpool company perform well in the organisation then company provide then reward for
appreciating their performance such promotion of the employee in the company, incentive,
voucher these are te reward which is give it to employee in the company.
Recruitment and selection: Proper recruitment and selection process should follow by the
whirlpool to choose the best candidate. Candidate should be selected on the basis of their skills
and capabilities so that they can perform their best at the time of work thus helping the company
to create a competitive advantage and sustainable business performance (Mahembe and
Engelbrecht, 2014). Apart from that proper training should be given by the Whirlpool to train
them accordingly. for example company can select right employee for whirlpool from the
refrence, many apps like linked-in, noukari.com these are effective in selecting the right
employee in the company.
High employment involvement: The culture and climate of the company affects the
motivation level and productivity of the employees. Whirlpool should involve their employees
while making the strategy or allow them to participate in the decision making process. Due to
this their performance can be improved. For example: company like whirlpool provide
programme which is effective in engage the employee in the organization this programme are
job rotation, conference meeting etc.
Task 4
P6 Evaluation of different approaches of Performance Management
Performance management: It is a process in which recruiter and employees are working
together with giving contribution on a desired task in order to achievement of goals for an
organisation. Management should controlling the performance of employees and maintained it.
Which brings efficiency and productivity in their employees. In the context of whirlpool they can
implement this for measuring the performance level of their staff members, because it is very
important to know the performance of the employees during the task. HR manager of whirlpool
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should analyse the efforts of their employees in company's sustainability and growth. There are
various approaches used in performance management they are as follows:
Comparative approach: It involves ranking an employee's performance in the difference of
others. In an organisation employees are ranked form higher to lower performer. In case of big
firms it will used in group of employees who are from same field doing similar task with using
their strength and skills. For example if P and Q are doing same activity and Q has more skills
which is used by him during the task than organisation will rank Q higher than P. In the context
of Whirlpool it is more profitable for gaining competitive advantage by using this kind of
approach (Swanwick and McKimm, 2017). Due to this, not only performance level of employees
bur also competition level will be increased in them.
Attribute approach: In this approach, employees are rated on the basis of their different kinds of
skills such as problem solving, teamwork, communication, judgement etc. Organisation can
utilize this criteria and rated their employees on the basis of Graphic rating scales between 1-5.
Whirlpool can implement this approach, By this they can take suggestion from their employees
in critical situations which will make competitive advantage of whirlpool in the marketplace for
long time.
Result approach: Under this approach, organisations measures the performance level after
evaluation of the results. Results are divided in two categories on the basis of productivity and on
the basis of balance score card. Whirlpool can use this approach either based on production or as
per quality of performance (Wellin, 2016). Due to this, Whirlpool can easily achieve their
targets in given period of time and gave a tough competition to their competitors.
Behavioural approach: In this approach performance are measured by using different tools such
as BARS tools (Behaviourally anchored rating scale) which consists of ten vertical scales. These
scales are used for specific parameters that are chosen with the concern of the number of
employees at the point employees are positioned on these parameters as per their performance
level. HR manager of Whirlpool can use these parameters for evaluating their employee's
performance and positioned them according to their performance level. It creates positive impact
on their morale and builds satisfaction level in employees. By the help of this, HR manager of
whirlpool can bring motivation in their employees so that they will gave their effort in the
growth and success of organisation.
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Whirlpool should apply such approaches in order to properly examine the performance and
productivity level of their employees which makes positive impact on their morale and
satisfaction level (Liljenberg, 2015). These approaches also support employees in determining
their actual strengths and weaknesses which brings motivation among them to work hard and
minimises their weaknesses with maximising their strengths.
Conclusion
From the above report it can be concluded that HR professional plays an important part in the
success of the organization and maintaining the harmony. Employees should find out there
strengths and weakness and make a professional development plan so that it can help the
individual in the future. Apart from that Continuous learning and organization learning is
important for Whirlpool as it can help the company to create the competitive advantage. High
performance working can help the Whirlpool to make a sustainable business performance against
their competitor as it helps the company to increase their productivity. At last performance
management is explained.
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References
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