Workplace Learning and Development Strategies

The assignment examines various workplace learning strategies, with a particular emphasis on the effectiveness of personal development plans (PDPs) in fostering employee learning and development. It delves into research articles and case studies to analyze the benefits and challenges associated with PDPs. The analysis considers factors such as self-managed learning, mentoring, coaching, and peer networking, highlighting their roles in enhancing professional growth within organizations.

PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT

Table of Contents
Task 1.........................................................................................................................................3
Task 2.........................................................................................................................................7
2.1 Skills required to achieve business objectives and curriculum vitae..........................7
2.2 Personal and professional development needs and activities to undertake.................9
2.3 Development of Opportunities to meet the current and future needs.......................10
2.4 Personal development plan to achieve the intended goals........................................11
3.1 The process and activities to implement the development plan...............................12
3.2 Document your planned activities............................................................................13
3.3 Learning outcomes against the aims and objectives ................................................13
3.4 Evaluation and feedback based on Personal development plan................................13
Conclusion................................................................................................................................14
References ...............................................................................................................................15

TASK 1
Every individual needs to analyze his potential and capabilities to engage themselves
in the process of ongoing learning to meet and address the challenges and opportunities in
respect to their personal and professional development (Beausaert, and et.al, 2013.). This
report critically evaluates various aspects which help the individuals to manage their work
and in designing the strategies which help in personal and professional development of
people. In the retail industry, there is vast growth and individuals have to effectively manage
their learning to plan an overall development of the organization and themselves. Tesco is
being chosen in which the employees effectively manage their learning and attain the goals
with the help of effective planning.
The skills and abilities play a very crucial role to any individual which direct them to
develop their personal and professional life. It is beneficial for the employees as it helps to
assist them in attaining the goals of Tesco. In context to the self managed learning procedure,
there are various skills and approaches which are required to execute the plan which helps in
attaining the goals and also develops their potential (Allen and et.al, 2014). The basic
approaches include learning sources which are discussed as below:
Learning through others: Monitoring is the conceptualized process which helps an
individual to gain knowledge from others. It facilitates employees to develop various ideas
and concepts for attaining the goals and objectives of Tesco. It is suitable as it helps the
employees to deal with different situations which they encounter.
Seminars and conferences: Employees have the opportunities to present their views
and experiences which enhance their communication skills and also help to gain the
knowledge which is delegated by different people of various backgrounds.
Learning styles reflect the key aspects which help them to improve their working
potential by inheriting this style. Various learning styles are discussed underneath:
Visual style: The learner retains its knowledge by visualizing the various aspects.
They prefer to use the visual aids which help employees to access and understand the
information. It is beneficial for the working people of Tesco as it increases their
concentration power which helps them to memorize and recall the information.
Auditory style: In this style, learner understands the content through listening and
speaking as it is the prime form of exchanging the information. It is beneficial as the
employees retain the information and implement which improve their performance.

Kinesthetic style: This style helps to learn the best by doing and moving and dealing
with different aspects. They adopt trial and error approaches to deal with various aspects.
This proves to be beneficial for the employees as they learn by real experiences which they
face while attaining the goals of Tesco.
Tesco adopts this style to enhance the potential to manage the roles and
responsibilities which are being assigned to them to deal with the purpose of attaining
organizational goals.
Further, the study discusses various methods which can be adopted by the individual
to inherit the learning to develop their potentials and capabilities (Bennett, 2004). Being the
human resource manager of Tesco, methods which I identified are mentioned as below:
On-the-job training: The employees of Tesco are given with training while they are
carrying out their work as it motivates the employees to perform. It helps them to learn the
things while performing their task and while developing effective measures.
Job rotation: This method is adopted in Tesco to enhance the potential and
competencies of employees to perform various jobs. It helps them to reduce the boredom and
increases efficiency to perform different tasks.
Being HR manager, proper work planning process will be adopted in order to
coordinate the various activities which are to be carried in order to accomplish all the
objectives of Tesco. This will involve the major innovation and the effective procedure which
can be adopted in order to carry out the various aspects in order to complete the functional
objectives of Tesco.
Individuals know their potential and competencies through which they can
accomplish the goals of organization. On the job training method is suitable as it helps the
employees of Tesco to learn things while performing various tasks for attaining the goals. It
also enhances their knowledge which improves their efficiency. With the help of on the job
training method it would be easy to communicate the work objectives to the individuals they
will effectively implement it with learning while performing the task
Lifelong learning is the attribute which helps to develop the overall perspective of
individuals. Learning does not stop with the qualification. It is an ongoing process which is
carried out throughout the life. It can be encouraged by self reflective learning by reviewing,
judging and analyzing the capabilities of individuals to develop the skills and to acquire
knowledge to attain the goals. It helps to analyze the future perspective which develops the
personal and professional aspect of employees of Tesco.

It discusses various aspects of self managed learning which helps in taking initiatives
to gain something valuable from the learning which they make or ascertain while performing
the tasks (Bennett, Cunningham, and Dawes, 2000.). There are various benefits of self
managed learning which are stated as below:
 It helps them to enhance their skills of working in a team which contributes in
building team spirit and also supports Tesco to attain the target on time.
 Leadership skills are also enhanced as they are assigned task in a team which make
them responsible towards their role which they perform to attain the goals of Tesco.
 They also improve their decision making skills which help Tesco in minimizing the
loss and it also provides benefits to employees as they contribute to profit
maximization.
This study reflects many problems which are faced by the employees who are engaged in the
organization to attain the goals and objectives. The individuals feel uncomfortable to discuss
with the managers due to which the performance of organization gets affected. With the short
or long span of time, they are being resolved (Bratton and et.al. 2003).
One of the major work based problems which are faced by Tesco is the work culture.
As it is a large retail store in the retail industry, it employs the large workforce to carry out
various operations in order to attain the goals. This leads to unhealthy work environment
which de-motivates the employees. Because of this; employees feel discouraged towards their
job role and this increases the turnover day by day.
In order to resolve the work based problem, the employer can follow proper steps for solving
the problem.
Define the problem: The problem should be diagnosed properly so that the focus
would lie on the aspect which defines the problem symptoms which are encountered by the
employees of Tesco.
Analysis the problem: The problem should be analysed properly in order to identify
the root cause of problem which is encountered by the employees of Tesco.
Develop alternatives solution: At this stage, it is necessary to generate the potential
solutions to the problems which are present in the work culture of Tesco. Various alternatives
should be developed to choose the final solution.
Select a best solution: At this stage, the most feasible and potential solution is being
adopted in order to resolve the problem which is being faced by employees of Tesco by
keeping in mind all the aspects.

Implement the solution: Selection of the solution does not resolve the problem. It is
essential to implement the solution so that desired actions can be taken by employees to solve
the problem.
Evaluation: With the implementation of solution, the work based problem of Tesco is
not resolved as it is essential to properly monitor the work environment and to ensure that
there is no loophole which may affect the work culture of Tesco.
Further, this study discusses various learning styles which are used at different levels
to overcome the work based problem. As the size of organization is growing day by day, they
adopted various learning styles to overcome the work based problem.
Tesco adopts the auditory style to resolve the problem which is being faced by the
employees. This in turn helps the employees to understand the work environment as they are
made aware about the each aspect in verbal form. It helps the employees to retain the
information by listening to the higher level personnel (Pearn, 2003.). This also enhances the
communication as they interact with each other through which they have the ease to discuss
the various issues which they encounter while performing the task which is assigned to them.
It builds a healthy work environment in Tesco as the employees interact with each other. This
leads to the positive work culture which motivates the employees and improves the efficiency
of the employees in an effective and efficient manner. This also helps in attaining the goals
and maximizing the profits of Tesco. They properly communicate the various aspects at all
the levels which are present in Tesco. The problems are communicated to the higher level by
mails as it is the formal way as they cannot directly approach to the strategic level. At the
operational and the tactical level they communicate directly interact face to face in order to
carry out the various problems associated with the work.
The study further deals with the different time management strategies which are being
adopted in the organization to carry out the work in the designed time frame. Various
strategies are discussed below:
Set Priorities: In order to complete the task within the time frame it is necessary to
set the work according to their priorities. They should sort the task as per their time frame
which is defined for task completion.
Create the schedule: Proper schedule should be prepared in order to estimate the
time which is being required to perform the task. With the help of various planning tool the
work schedule can be created which serves as a guide to schedule the entire work to complete
it by the end of the day.

Avoid Multi-tasking: There are many studies which determine that performing the
various task at same time affect the performance of the individual. It will make loss of time
and lead to difficulty in completion of the task. With the help of delegation of the
responsibilities will avoid the multi-tasking and will help to accomplish the task within the
designed time frame.
Delegation of responsibilities: They can effectively delegate the responsibilities
equally to the each employees which will result I effectively accomplishment of the various
task within the specific period of time.
Proper Planning: Each and every task should be effectively planned in order to carry
out the various activities in order to carry out the various activities so that the task are
accomplished within specific time duration.
Therefore, one of the best time management strategy which can be adopted by Tesco
is the scheduling of the task with the help of the various planning tools which will improve
the productivity and help to attain the goals as per they are scheduled. It is very productive
because it determine the specific duration which are allocated for the completion of the task
which block the time for the higher priorities and also leaves the interval to perform the small
tasks.
TASK 2
2.1 Skills required to achieve business objectives and curriculum vitae
As a human resource manager in Tesco different sets of skills are required on my part.
Tesco is one of the leading retail organizations in United Kingdom that is operating at large
scale. Moreover, the business unit aims at achieving high level of growth by employing
competent employees (Chivers, 2006). As a HR manager, I should be competent enough to
recruit right personnel at right post. Moreover, my communication skills should meet up the
business standards to welcome new members. Besides, I need to motivate employees within
organization. It is essential for the HR manager to create a positive environment within the
business unit. I should be good at leading people and guiding their actions at work place. It
can be therefore said that as a HR manager I should be highly competent to meet business
objectives. The curriculum vitae presented herewith provides an overview of my skills and
capabilities.
JOB DESCRIPTION
Job Title Human Resource Manager
Location 106, New Tesco house . Delemarmare4

Road. United Kingdom.
Reporting to Senior Human Resource Manager
Summary Develops various policy and procedure and
coordinate the various activities such as
recruitment, training and development and
various other duties.
Duties and Responsibilities  Proper analyze the work of the
employees.
 Overseas the various other activities.
 Plan and conduct new orientation
programs for employees.
Supervisory Responsibilities  Provide proper direction and
counseling.
 Supervise the assistants and the
temporary staff.
Salary range £49.116- £ 59.227 gross per year
Education and Experience  M.B.A (Masters of Business
Administration) in Human Resource.
 Two years experience in the retail
industry.
Skills  Ability to speak different language.
 Ability to analyze each aspect very
effectively.

Curriculum Vitae
Name:
Address:
Email address:
Career goal:
I wish to pursue my career by working in a reputed organization whereby I can enhance
my capabilities. Moreover, I want to utilize my competencies for organization’s growth
and development.
Educational Qualification:
DEGREE BOARD/ UNIVERSITY YEAR OF PASSING
M.B.A (Masters of Business
Administration) in Human
Resource University of Kent 2014
B.B.A London University 2012
High School Stanford Academy 2007
Experience:
 Worked as HR executive for 4 years in XYZ ltd.
 Currently working as a HR manager in Tesco.
Skills:
 Excellent communication skills
 Effective time management capabilities
 Competent to manage staff
Declaration:
I hereby declare that all information enclosed above is true to my knowledge.
Signature:
Date:
Place:
2.2 Personal and professional development needs and activities to undertake
I feel it is essential for every individual to indulge personality development on regular
basis. On the basis of personal evaluation, it is found that I need to develop over my
relationship building and problem solving skills. It is through competent problem solving

skills that I will be able to develop effective course of action (Guo, 2014). Moreover, I need
to develop capabilities to understand employees’ capacities and map up with different job
requirements. This in turn helps in recruiting right people at right place and activities and
attracts more number of competent people towards works. In order to enhance personal and
professional developments following activities are planned on my part.
Required skills Activities required to meet the needs
Problem solving skills
It is essential for Human resource manager to
provide a concrete solution for each problem. In
order to develop problem solving skills; I have
planned to attend training sessions. Moreover, I am
going to attend sessions whereby we are put into
different live situations.
Relationship building skills
The relationship building skills will be developed
by attending various meetings, seminars, corporate
parties and so on. I have planned to involve with
people in varied manners so as to develop
relationship building skills.
Managing employees at work place
As a human resource manager, it is essential for to
manage employees at work place. It is through
effective management of human resources that I
will be able to justify my position. In order to
develop these skills, I have planned to attend classes
related to reading human psychology.
2.3 Development of Opportunities to meet the current and future needs
Professional Skills
Current
Level
5=strong
3=average
1 = weak
Best Current Example Ways to Improve

Communication Skills 5 Effectively
communicate with the
employees at various
levels (Hampton,
Rhodes and Stokes,
2004.).
Can enhance it by
increasing the
interaction level with
the employees to carry
out the work more
effectively.
Analytical skills 3 Inefficient in
implementing the
frequent changes due to
poor analytical skills.
Design a proper
framework to properly
analyze the market
trends and implement
it.
Recruiting skills 5 Recruits the best key
personnel which are
suitable for Tesco to
attain its goals.
Attending the
recruitment program
will enhance the
potential to recruit the
best.
Technological skills 1 Not competent enough
to make the use of the
new technology.
With the help of
attending and
organizing the
workshops will enhance
the technical skills of
the entire person who
are working in Tesco.
2.4 Personal development plan to achieve the intended goals
Learning
Objective/
Goal
Current
Proficiency
Target
Proficiency
Development
Opportunitie
s
Criteria For
Judging
Success
Time
Scale
1
Analytical
skills
Incompetent to
analyze the
present trends of
Improve
the
competenci
Can analyze
the market
trends by
Proper
review shall
be done to
2 to 3
weeks
.

the market.
es to
analyze the
trends.
developing
the analytical
skills.
analyze it.
2
Inter
personnel
effectiven
ess
Build up the
friendly
relationship with
the employees.
To make
them
efficient to
attain the
goals and
objectives
of Tesco.
Develop the
assessment
through
which the
efficiency
can be
measured.
Set the
benchmarks
which will
determine the
efficiency of
the
employees to
meet the
goals.
Will
perfor
ming
the
job.
3 Technolog
ical skills
Incompetent to
adopt the new
technology and
make an effective
use of it.
To increase
the
efficiency
which
proves
beneficial
for Tesco
Attending the
workshops
will develop
the skills.
With the
implementati
on of the new
technology
the skills
efficiency
can be
measured
(Wilcock,
Campion-
Smith and
Elston, 2003)
1 to 2
weeks
3.1 The process and activities to implement the development plan
There are various process and activities which are incorporated in Tesco to meet the
short term and the long term objectives (Koenigsfeld, 2012). They enhance the flexibility of
the employees in the work environment of the organization to develop their potential to attain
the goals.
The short term objectives can be attained with the help of the communication process
through which the various activities can be conducted which will ensure the effective
participation of the employees as information is communicated in an effective manner to all

the employees (Phillips, 2002). Tesco also conduct the various training sessions through
which their competencies can be enhanced and they can overcome the areas in which they
were lacking their performance which help them to accomplish the long term objectives.
3.2 Document your planned activities
There are the various activities which can be taken into my account as being the
HR manager to enhance their efficiency and build up a healthy work environment
(Lester, 2014).
Skills that has be enhanced Activities to enhance them
Technical skills Workshops will be organized and effective
experts will be hired to make the employees
learn about the new technology which will
help them to modify the work behaviour of
the employees.
Communication skills Various seminars and conferences will be
organizes in order to increase the interaction
between the employees at the various level of
Tesco. This will build an effective work
environment through which the employees
share their professional constraints and
develop the proper plan to meet the
constraints as a group.
3.3 Learning outcomes against the aims and objectives
It is very important to meet the aims and objectives of the organization. With the help
of proper evaluation and implementation of the proper skills and abilities help to meet the
performance outcomes (Llopis, 2013.).
Improving the analytical skills will help me to analyze the market trends in an
effective manner which will help to ascertain the required changes and modification in the
work environment. It will help to properly meet the objectives of Tesco.
Improving the technical skills I can bring modification in the technology which is
being used in Tesco. This will upgrade the work environment as the new technology will be
implemented in Tesco in order to meet the technological advancement.

3.4 Evaluation and feedback based on Personal development plan
After the adoption of various tools and techniques it is properly evaluated that the skills and
the capabilities of the employees of Tesco are being enhanced. They obtain the feedback
from the employees regarding the various methods and styles which are adopted to enhance
their potential (McDowall and Mabey, 2008). Therefore they consider each and every aspect
which is implemented to develop the personal and professional aspect of the employees. They
critically analyze the various aspects and ensure that there is no lack behind aspect. This
helps them to increase their potential which act as a motivator tool for the employees of
Tesco and help them to meet the designed outcomes.
CONCLUSION
This report emphasizes on personal and professional development of the individual and
helps them to enhance their potential and abilities to meet the desired goals of Tesco. This
also develops the positive attitude in the employees as they are motivated by the various tools
and techniques which are adopted by Tesco to enhance their skills and potentials.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Allen , A. J. and et.al., 2014. Understanding workplace meetings: A qualitative taxonomy of
meeting purposes. Management Research Review. 37 (9). pp.791 – 814.
Beausaert, S. and et.al., 2013. Effect of using a personal development plan on learning and
development. Journal of Workplace Learning. 25 (3). pp.145 - 158
Bennett, B., 2004. Feature articles Leadership development: The use of self managed, work
based, learning. Development and Learning in Organizations: An International
Journal. 18(5). pp. 4 – 6.
Bennett, B., Cunningham, I. and Dawes, G., 2000. Self Managed Learning in Action: Putting
SML Into Practice. Gower Publishing.
Bratton, J. and et.al. 2003. Workplace Learning: A Critical Introduction. University of
Toronto Press.
Chivers, G., 2006. The training of university lifelong learning professionals as researchers.
Journal of European Industrial Training. 30(5). pp.330 – 348.
Guo , S., 2014. Developing effective professional development programs: a case study. New
Library world. 115(11/120). pp. 542 – 557.
Hampton, G., Rhodes, C. and Stokes, M ., 2004. A Practical Guide to Mentoring,
Coaching and Peer-networking: Teacher Professional Development in Schools
and Colleges. Routledge.
Koenigsfeld, P.J., 2012. Revised competencies for private club managers. International
Journal Of Contemporary Hospitality Management. 24 (7). pp.1066 – 1087.
Lester , S., 2014. Professional standards, competence and capability.Higher Education,
Skills and Work-based Learning. 4 (1). pp.31 – 43.
McDowall, A. and Mabey, C., 2008. Developing a framework for assessing effective
development activities. Personal Review. 37 (6). pp.629 – 646.
Pearn, M., 2003. Individual Differences and Development in Organisations. John Wiley &
Sons.
Phillips, A., 2002. Communication and the Manager's Job. Radcliffe Publishing.
Wilcock, P., Campion-Smith, C. and Elston, S., 2003. Practice Professional Development
Planning: A Guide for Primary Care. Radcliffe Publishing.
Online
Llopis, G., 2013. The 6 Most Important Things Employees Need From Their Leaders To
Realize High Potential[Online]. Available
through:<http://www.forbes.com/sites/glennllopis/2013/09/30/the-6-most-important-

things-employees-need-from-their-leaders-to-realize-high-potential/> [Accessed on
2nd December 2015].

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