Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing in Teams

This assignment delves into the crucial aspects of teamwork, focusing on collaboration, knowledge sharing, and continuous professional development. It examines how these elements contribute to building high-performing teams within organizations. The provided text discusses various theoretical frameworks and empirical studies that highlight the significance of effective communication, shared understanding, and collective learning for team success.

Developing of Individual,
Teams and organisation

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Essential knowledge, skills and behaviour for HR...........................................................1
P2 Personal skill audit and development of Personal development plan...............................2
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
P3 Analysis of difference between individual and organisational learning, training and
development...........................................................................................................................5
P4 Analysis of need of continuous learning and professional development in sustainable
business development.............................................................................................................7
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................8
P5 Contribution of HPW to employee engagement and competitive advantage...................8
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................10
P6 Evaluation of approaches to performance management.................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Development is defined to be the state of evolution and enlargement. It is an necessary
feature in several aspects be it individual, teams and organisation. Individual development is a
situation of evolution in skills and capabilities of an individual (Bolden, 2016). Team
development is increase in performance through synergy and development in the organisational
context is expansion, efficiency and enlargement. Development is vital in an organisation as it
helps in survival in the industry. The Human resource department ensures evolution in all the
aspects of the business. This assignment takes into consideration electronics giant Whirlpool.
The necessary skills and capabilities of HR are identified. The dimensions of team performance
such as shared commitment, accountability, results, respect and solidarity will be understood.
Role of HPW in an organisation will be assessed as well.
TASK 1
P1 Essential knowledge, skills and behaviour for HR
Human resource is the area which looks after the retention and development of human
capital for organisational gains. To ensure the same, HR manager is need to be equipped with
essential knowledge, skills and behaviour to facilitate development programs in the organisation.
HR of whirlpool needs to be competent to get the company out of situation of crisis in the
organisation. Not just the evolution, Human resource manager is responsible for holding
diversity, safety standards, conflict resolution and suitable work culture. The skills and behaviour
are as follows:
1. Leader: A successful HR manger need to be leader as well. The employees in
organisation look up to the manager for guidance and support (Belbin, 2010). Human
resource manager should form a proportion between authority and running things
effortlessly.
2. Communication: It is one of the primary function of HR. A effective communication
helps in getting the message across in most appropriate manner. The ideal human
resource manager have sharp written and communication while help in better
management of business.
3. Organising: Organising things giving order to the function performed in an organisation.
To facilitate effective organising of activities an individual needs to have strong time
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management skills. HR needs to organise variety of activities such as recruitment,
training and conflict management programs in a systematic manner.
4. Problem solver: Conflict resolution is necessary to maintain a harmonious environment
in the organisation. It is the duty of HR manager to make sure conflict within employees
are resolved in ideal manner.
Knowledge of HR professional
1. Personnel and Human resources: The Human resource manager in an organisation
needs to be equipped with through knowledge of theories and principles of recruitment,
personnel management, compensation, labour legislations and conflict management.
2. Psychology: Psychology undertakes in understanding human behaviour (McCormack and
Dewing, 2011). The knowledge of psychology is crucial for successful management of
human resources in an organisation.
3. Communication and media: The HR manager should possess an expertise in the
communication media and methods. The effective channel is necessary to inform and
communicate information to various sources.
4. Training: the ideal HR manager should carry a thorough knowledge and methods of
training and development programs. As these programs and events are to designed and
strategic effectively considering the training needs of employees.
5. Legislations: Legislation takes into consideration the laws and policies established for
labour. The HR manager needs to have adequate knowledge policies and laws enacted by
government and make sure that they are adhered.
P2 Personal skill audit and development of Personal development plan
Personal skill audit is an examination of skills and capabilities of an individual. The audit
is carried out to understand the deviation between equipped skills and required level of skills
(Langkamp and Bolton, 2012). The difference between the skills and capabilities must be
fulfilled by adequate training and development program. In order to fulfil requirement of
competent HR manager for Whirlpool, personal skill audit is conducted. It helps in identification
of areas which are to be developed to fulfil the vacancy in an ideal manner. The personal skill
audit is as follows:
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Personal skill audit
Serial Learning Objectives Personal skills Ideal skills Assessment of
developmental
needs
Time duration
1 Management 7 10 Management
skills can be
enhanced with
experience.
4 Weeks
2 Communication 8 10 Ability to
effectively
interact with
employees and
understanding
their feelings
and emotions.
4 Weeks
3 Decision-making 8 10 The Effective
evaluation of
alternatives
and choosing
the best
suitable
amongst them.
4 weeks
4 Leadership 6 10 It is the ability
to lead people
through
guidance and
support. It is
one of
necessary
4 weeks
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skills to be
equipped by
HR manger
and carries a
huge scope of
development
in my case.
From the above skill audit, it is clear that there is a variation in acquired skill set and
ideal skill set. It also helps in identifying the level and method which is to be adopted to fulfil the
requirement. For the purpose of fulfilling the vacancy as a HR manager in Whirlpool these
competencies are to be evolved. Effective management, communication, decision making
capabilities and leadership skills are essential.
 Management skills: It is the process of effectively managing and employing their
resources for their optimum use. This skill can be developed by evaluation of the decision
formulated to assess, scope for improvement. For HR professional it is essential to know
how to manage business activities and entire staff members so that they can direct an
organization towards correct directions. In fact, it will manage all the task by preventing
individuals from wrongful conducts.
 Communication: Communication skills can be improved by attending seminars. The
practice of active listening helps in sharpening of communication skills and matching the
standards to be a HR manager in Whirlpool. Interaction is all about sharing the views or
opinions with various employees for passing the correct data or information with them.
As a result, it helps in creating peaceful environment at workplace by satisfying customer
needs or demands. Along with this, this process is all about enhancing the way of
expressing matters for impressing others with politeness.
 Decision making: Decision making skills can be enhanced with experience. The various
methods and approaches to evaluation helps in evolution of decision making capabilities.
 Leadership: It is the situation of leading a group of people into achieving the tasks in an
efficient and harmonious manner. Taking initiatives, responsibility and introduction of
improvements are ways to enhance leadership skills. Basically, leading a team is all about
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managing things in suitable style by encouraging each or every individual towards certain
goals or objectives. In fact, it helps in accomplishing business activities in a defined time
frame.
Continuous Professional development is a process which involves tracking and
documenting of skills and abilities post training session. When an individual is provided with
suitable training program. CPD is a means to measure the improvement incorporated post
training session. It is one of the crucial aspects in business. Basically, continuous learning is
highly indispensable for growth because it aids an individual for long term changes and facilitate
them with best services to resolve issues in a defined time frame. It is useful to an individual
ways in numerous ways:
 Describes the professional development.
 Assessment of further developmental needs.
 Scale of progression.
 Influence of changes.
(Source: Continuous Professional Development, 2013)
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Illustration 1: Continuous professional
development

TASK 2
P3 Analysis of difference between individual and organisational learning, training and
development
Individual Development
Individual development refers to evolving the skills and capabilities of an individual. The
methods and approaches are formulated exclusively. The process of learning for an individual is
never ending. Individual development can be formulated keeping in mind the needs and desires
of a person which may or may not relate to the professional context of the individual (West and
Eckert, 2014). It is necessary for an individual to keep evolving his competencies as they help in
succeeding in life and formulation of better plans and decisions.
Individual training and development are identified after an examination of the current
skills and capabilities. Individual training and development is different from organisational
context. The contemporary means of training an individual are online training, seminars,
coaching, on-the-job training etc. these training programs are designed for employees
development and training exclusively. The major benefits which can be derived out of these
training methods is increase in efficiency, confidence and productivity of an employee resulting
in better financial gains.
Organisational Development
Organisation development is the enlargement, expansion and increased productivity of an
establishment (Cooper and Cant, 2010). The development is essential in present competitive
market. Whirlpool is facing difficulty to cope with change in the environment. The company
assessed the needs of reconstitute the business environment to compete effectively. The
company identified crucial features which are to be embedded in the organisation with support of
the employees. The rise of LG, Samsung and apple giving a tough times to company by
innovating products and focusing on customer service. Therefore it is crucial to evolve an
organisation to ensure survival of a firm.
The deviation between Organisational learning and Individual learning are:
Organisational learning Individual learning
1. Focus on improving the performance of
company through various development
1. It is focused to inculcate permanent change
in the behaviour of an individual.
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measures.
2. The organisational development in
Whirlpool is promoted by employee
commitment to vision, accountability,
transparency and mutual respect.
3. The organisation can evolve when the
employees are committed to fulfil the vision of
the company (Decuyper and Dochy, 2010).
4. It is essential to improve the market position
of the company.
2. The major tools to enhance learning are
coaching, mentoring and simulation.
3. The individual solely improves its
performance in personal and professional
context.
4. It is essential to facilitate growth of an
individual and perform better than its
subordinates.
Organizational and individual learning both the aspects are totally distinct from each
other in various aspects as well as acts in a different way. For example; self learning is a part of
individual because number of person are love to learn alone instead of in a group. Whereas, few
people prefer together learning as discussion is more effective more them. Hence, both the
aspects are different from each other in various manner.
Training and development is highly important for accomplishing business activities for
assisting employees towards corrective direction. In fact, somehow it also helps in enhancing the
performance of staff members.
P4 Analysis of need of continuous learning and professional development in sustainable business
development
A Human resource manager in a company can help in changing a disruptive business
environment in to an evolving one. The incorporation of continuous learning can help achieve
the goals set for human capital of an organisation. Continuous learning is a on going process of
enhancing skills and knowledge of an individual. This method help in evolution of an individual
personally and professionally. Whirlpool is going through a bad phase at present and only way to
counter that is to develop human resources so that they equip the company achieves competitive
advantage and sustains in the market effectively. Restructuring is a process of changing the way
and manner in which organisation is carrying out its operations. The company was earlier relying
its operations on 'effectiveness' exclusively. But the environment have changed the focus is to
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cater the needs of the electronic needs of people by providing value goods creativity and cost
efficiently.
The continuous professional development is a measure to find out the progress of an
individual by documenting the same post training session(Fiore and Smith, 201). However there
is a difference between learning and training. Learning is a never ending process where as
training is confined to sharpening of skills to increase the efficiency of performing a assigned
task. The learning and development carries a multi-benefits on the individual as well as
organisation. Benefits on organisation are:
5. Creativity: the continuous professional development helps in acquiring knowledge about
the concerned problem which in the case of Whirlpool is ability to cope with the change.
CPD ensures that employees are adopting to various creatives ways of doing a task which
is beneficial to the organisation.
6. Innovation: It is the process of identifying alternative uses of the existing products. There
is a need for innovation in electronics goods which ensures sustainable development.
Samsung and LG are the electronics firm which are sustaining in the market relying on
innovation.
7. Development of Individual skills: The development and evolution of personal knowledge
and skill will have a positive impact on the functioning of business as well. The learning
environment will develop a satisfied batch of employees which will contribute in
attaining objectives in a rapid manner (0Ryanand and O’Connor, 2013).
8. Efficiency: It is the accomplishment of task along with proper utilization of resources and
minimizing wastages. The operations of Whirlpool are dependent upon effectiveness only
which is not adequate to fulfil the requirement of present generation. The incorporation of
efficiency will help in saving costs and building a sustainable business performance.
TASK 3
P5 Contribution of HPW to employee engagement and competitive advantage
High performance working is a process to enhance employee participation in the
functioning of business. The main purpose of this tool is to attain objectives with the help of
employee's participation in the organisation. The company's dependency on effectiveness have
run out of fuel in this present scenario. So Whirlpool needs to focus on encouraging
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participation of employees in the organisation for its sustenance in the market. Employees are the
that aspect of business when developed properly can equip an organisation with competitive
advantage (Ochieng and Price, 2010). They can provide unmatchable performance which is
difficult to imitate by rivals. The involvement of employees enhances the loyalty and
commitment of employees towards the organisation and perform competently.
The Skills and Employment commission of UK defines it as 'approach to stimulate
organisational performance through employee participation.' HPW is a set of process aimed to
improve performance of an employee in the organisation.
HPW can be categorised into 3 major areas i.e.
6. Employee involvement: Whirlpool have realised the importance of incorporating
employees in the decision making. To facilitate the same it is essential to develop a high
performance working organisation. The company is looking to develop 97,000 employees
to achieve a 1st position in the household appliances market.
7. HR practices: HR practices are crucial in facilitating employee participation in an
organisation. The practices should be aimed at enhancing skills of employees which
carries a direct positive impact on the quality of goods and services served to customer
(Gillespie and Chaboyer, 2010). Some examples of practices are:
 Annual appraisal
 Feedback mechanism
 Training Mentoring.
8. Reward and commitment practices: Rewards and commitment practices in an
organisation can also be used to stimulate employee performances. The best work done
when rewarded adequately motivates an employee to perform better. Incorporating
commitment practices help in evolving better loyalty towards organisation.
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Illustration 2: High performance work organisation
(Source: High performance work organisation, 2015)
The report published on the effectiveness of HPW stated that implementation of the same in
organisation can rise in the productivity by 20 to 40%. There are multi-benefits of
implementation of HPW along with the increase in the productivity. i.e.
 Higher profitability
 Better Job satisfaction
 Rise in Innovation and creativity
These factors depict the importance of implementation of high performance working in
an organisation and developing and retaining the best human capital will help in development of
competitive advantage to the company.
TASK 4
P6 Evaluation of approaches to performance management
Performance management is defined as a process which focuses on effectively managing
the performance of employees so that the objectives are attained. It is a process through which
resources and systems are aligned. Performance management in an organisation leads to
alignment of individual goals with organisational goals so that employees contribute positively to
the organisational objectives. It is responsibility of HR manager of Whirlpool to ensure
applicability of various approaches to performance management in the organisation that are:
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Comparative approach: This is one of the most popular approach when it comes to
performance management. Comparative approach helps in improving performance of employees
and improving employee commitment. It involves comparison between employees in a
organisation. The performance of employees are ranked on the basis of performance and best
performer is rewarded. This approaches improves competitiveness within organisation and
brings positive impact on the productivity (How to Help Employees Embrace Continuous
Learning, 2014).
Attribute Approach
Attributes are characteristics possessed by an individual. The approach identifies the
necessary skills and traits required to performs a task. The essential skills in employee are
problems solving, team work and innovation. This approach helps in improving the productivity
of the organisation by sharpening of the necessary skills (How leaders can gain competitive
advantage through employee engagement, 2013). The management of Whirlpool should ensure
that all the employees sitting at important position must have essential attributes.
Example: the role of communication attribute is vital role in an organisation. It helps in
manifesting queries and problems and maintaining harmony in the organisation.
Behavioural Approach
It is one of the most preferred approach. This approach takes behaviour of employee into
consideration. The behaviour of an employee is measured on 5 to 10 parameters and evaluated.
The are further ranked on basis of the performance. The management of Whirlpool can
incorporate this approach in the HR evaluation. The manager have to keep in mind the behaviour
s which are linked with higher level of productivity and their evaluation helps in identifying the
discrepancies in the behaviour. The deviations are fulfilled with effective learning and
development program.
Results approach
This is the most practical approach. It helps in evaluating performance of an employee
based on the results achieved. The means of achieving results are not taken into consideration.
The major tool in this approach of performance approach is Balanced Scorecard. This methods
results in high performance of employee resulting in better productivity.
Example: the sales team is given a target of sales volume of 5000 home appliances.
Communicating this will increase morale of the team and work for attainment of the same. The
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team was able to sell 4550 units which describes the quality of performance of individuals and
scope of improvement.
All the above approaches are highly appropriate because it aids in improving the
individual performance by taking corrective initiatives in a defined time frame. Mainly, it helps
in maximizing the company productivity by enforcing each or every individual towards their
certain objectives or goals. In fact, positive results are also identified at workplace by which
company make changes and conduct improvement programmes. For instance; sales volume are
getting maximized and employees productivity are showing their performance.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from this report that development play a crucial role in survival of a
business organisation. It is the means to counter with changing circumstances of the market. The
skill audit helps in assessment of skills and capabilities of an individual which can later be
fulfilled by formulation of a development plan. Continuous learning is a never ending process of
evolution of skills of a person which has a favourable impact on the performance outcomes of
the company. High performance working is an means to improve performance through employee
involvement and engagement. It is the only way by which a company can successfully overcome
the situation of crises and compete in the market.
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Online
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How to Help Employees Embrace Continuous Learning. 2014. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.getadministrate.com/blog/how-to-help-employees-embrace-continuous-
learning/>.
How leaders can gain competitive advantage through employee engagement. 2013. [Online].
Available through:
<https://www.td.org/Publications/Blogs/Management-Blog/2013/02/How-Leaders-Can-
Gain-Competitive-Advantage-Through-Employee-Engagement>.
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