Developing Team, Individual and Organisation Performance

The provided assignment discusses the importance of performance management in Whirlpool, a company that aims to create a positive working culture. It explains various approaches to performance management, such as collaborative working, comparative approach, attribute approach, and behavioral approach, which can help achieve high-performance culture within the organization.

UNIT 35: Developing Individuals,
Teams and Organisations

INTRODUCTION
Human resources (HR) depict the workers employed in an establishment. It is crucial to
administer and control these resources for accomplishing several functions of the business.
Human resource department (HRD) is a significant part in every company to assist in the
development, management and control of an effective workforce to achieve the undertaken
organisational targets (Macdonald, Burke and Stewart, 2017). The present report has
demonstrated the HR practices of Whirlpool Corporation. It is an American multinational
company which manufacturers home appliances and has been found to earn an annual revenue of
around US$21.25 billion.
Whirlpool is the largest home appliances maker with around 70 industrial research
centres in the globe. The present report focusses on conducting a mini-research for identifying
suitable professional skills, knowledge and behaviours that are needed in HR specialists. In
addition to this, differences training and development program will also be described briefly.
Furthermore, professional development plan of HR will be prepared to develop the skills and
knowledge that is required by Human resource of the company.
MAIN BODY
1. A mini-research to ascertain suitable professional skills, knowledge and behaviours that are
required in the HR professionals of Whirlpool.
HR department of a company is formed for wellbeing of employees. It’s a prime duty of
HR to hire new joinee and train them for entire work system. Making salary slip of employees to
firing them, everything is done by HR of the organisation (Rexhepi, Ramadani and Ratten,
2018). HR of company should have proper knowledge and skills to carry out duties they need to
perform. Some of them are listed below:
Skills of HR:
Conflict management: HR of Whirlpool should have the ability to listen to employees
who are involved in conflict. Every employee goes to HR concerning any problem they are
dealing in the company. HR of organisation should listen to both the parties and give them
solution regarding the issue. Conflicts between any employer and employee or between two or
more than two workers are solved by HR of the establishment. HR should be patient enough to
negotiate and help others. They should deal with maturity and respect everyone involved.
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Effective communication skills: To be an HR, one must have effective oral and written
communication skills. HR has the duty to prepare speech on every occasion or on employee’s
safety, convey message to workers etc. So, they should be confident to communicate effectively.
HR also needs to train new joinee regarding the work culture and task employees have to
perform (Li, Mitchell and Boyle, 2016). Every work of HR involves communication. So, they
should have effective communication skills.
Multi-tasking: HR has various responsibilities to perform, even their duties can change
on daily basis. They should have a personality of managing all the work. Interviews, training and
grievances every task is carried out by HR of company. HR has the skills of handling pressure
and deal with patience. Everyone comes to HR weather is any problem related to conflict or
manager has any issues with recruitment progress. HR deals with all situations, so it is one of the
skill that they possess.
Professional knowledge of HR
Administration and management: HR of Whirlpool has entire knowledge of business
management principles. They should have knowledge of all the leadership technique so that HR
can guide employees and motivate them better working. Coordination of people and resources
are required to be done by HR. This all activities need to be performed with professionalism. So,
HR should have professional knowledge about the same.
English Language: This is a common language that prevails in the organisation on
which they should have good command. Every HR has to give training to new joinee and
speeches on employee security are also prepared by them. Every task should be performed in
English language, Knowledge of the language is must (Clair and Milliman, 2017). HR should
take care of spellings and words because they create base for all employees.
Behaviour of HR:
Transparency and trustworthiness: HR should be fair enough with every employee.
They should be transparent while making any decision regarding conflicts between employees.
They are expected to deal with sensitive issues and personal challenges that employees are facing
in the company. HR should deal everything with complete professionalism and fairness. HR
should not share personal problem of any person to another, they are being told by employees
with trust. So, HR should always maintain the trust factor. Transparency and trustworthiness are
the major two behaviours that HR of Whirlpool possesses.
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Technology savvy: HR conducts interview for hiring of new people for the company.
Many organisations follow procedure of video interviews (Shields and et.al., 2015). So, HR
manager should have complete knowledge of technological related areas. It should be in the
knowledge and behaviour to make maximum use of technology for work. Instant messaging
services, virtual hubs etc every task is performed by HR of company. They must think with open
mid and use maximum innovative ways to perform the work. It will result completion of task at
faster rate, which will save time of company.
2. Assessing a complete personal skills audit to recognise proper knowledge, skills and
behaviours and create a professional development plan for HR in Whirlpool.
HR of Whirlpool has analysed entire personal skill audit to know the skills and
knowledge that are required by HR to perform their job in the company.
Personal skill audit
Skills Very skilled Moderately skilled In need of training
To hiring people by
conducting interviews
and tests

Training to employees 
Problem solver 
Communication skill 
fluent English 
Knowledge of
software operations
and basic computer
system

Technological savvy 
Conflict management
skills

Strengths: Human resource manager of Whirlpool Company has so many skills which
helps the person in performing work that should be done by HR department of the organisation.
They have to hire people by conducting interviews and tests. After selecting the right candidate,
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they are being trained by the HR for the work culture and all the task new joinee has to perform
in the company. This is the biggest strength of HR of Whirlpool to do multitasking, they do all
the activities together. Employees of the establishment always go to HR regarding any problem
and trust them by sharing about what problem workers are facing in the company. Being a
trustworthy personality is the biggest strength for HR which helps every person of company in
some or the other way (Delić and et.al., 2017). So, HR manager of Whirlpool has the major
strength of doing multitasks at a time and they have a trustworthy behaviour which is the second
biggest strength of HR of Whirlpool.
Weaknesses: Human resource department of Whirlpool Company does not have
effective communication skills. It is really necessary for a HR to have proper communication
skills for conducting training and interviews. So, HR should concentrate on improving their
communication. Along with that, HR does not have fluent English vocabulary which is required
to conduct all the major task that HR has to perform in the company. Even Human resource
manager of HR has enough knowledge of software operations and basic computer system. This
all are major weaknesses that are possessed by HR OF Whirlpool.
Professional development plan will be prepared to develop the skills and behaviours that lacks in
HR personality (Odhiambo, 2014). Below professional development plan is shown and also
evidences will be mentioned to check its effectiveness.
Professional development plan:
Areas for Improvement How to develop Time required Evidence
Conflict management skills By being more
patient in
listening
1 week Employers and
employees of the
company
Technological savvy By joining
Certificate
courses of Basic
software system
and operating
computer
6 Months New joinee and
trainee of
organisation
English language Attending 2 Months Colleagues and
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seminars, reading
English
newspapers
top-level
management
Communication skills Watching audio,
videos of experts
and attaining
meetings and
seminars
1 month Seniors and
subordinates
3. Analysing the differences between organisational and individual learning, training and
development at Whirlpool.
Organizational learning: It is a procedure in which a company gains more knowledge
about its environment and objectives. It is developed to improve the overall performance by
sharing knowledge with employees so that goals can be achieved.
Individual learning: In every organisation employee is sole responsible for their own
development and learning. It is up to the person to learn from every work they perform. This will
result in individual development and growth which is beneficial for the person (Elia et.al., 2016).
Self-motivation is really important for individual learning.
Organizational learning Individual learning
This is a long-term process which includes
overall learning of people within organisation
While this is only one single step or part of
organisational learning.
This completely focuses on overall learning
process of company and each employee.
Whereas this will concern upon learning of
one particular person in enhancing his own
targets.
This will be based upon what are the aims
and objective of company
On the other hand, it is based on individual
targets and goals.
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Whole team and organisation with including
each person is grown and developed or has
learnt something from this organisational
learning process
Only one person or individual employee will
be trained.
Training: It is the programme which is organised by company in order to develop skills
and knowledge among new joinee. It is designed in such a form that employee can learn entire
work culture and task they need to perform while working in the company. It is a process which
is carried to make the employees familiar with the operations of the entity.
Development: It is a process in which employees are being self-assessed with such
knowledge and skills that they can perform any task and handle any work of the organisation. It
is never ending process which is majorly for the managers and top-level authorities of the
company.
Basis Training Development
Meaning It is a program made by
organization to make workers
learn about the tasks they have
to achieve in the company.
This process is for overall
growth of the employees.
Term It is a short-range process It is a long-term procedure.
Aim Major aim of training is to
employees learn about job
work and get appropriate
knowledge to handle specific
job.
Development program aim is
to prepare employees for
future uncertainties and for
every kind of task of the
company.
Number of people involved In training program large
number of employees is
involved to make them learn
about specific skill or task.
Here, comparatively fewer
employees are involved. Even
mostly it includes single
person.
Motivation Trainer is the person who No one says to develop skill
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motivates new joinee towards
learning and performing better.
and knowledge. Self-
motivation is the biggest
motivation one can have.
Orientation Training program is always
Job oriented.
Development programme are
carrier oriented.
4. Analysing necessity for constant learning and professional development to drive sustainable
business performance at Whirlpool.
Continuous learning: It is the procedure of increasing abilities by learning on daily
basis. Continuous learning is required to adopt so that working abilities can be enhanced and all
the changes can be accepted (Coutinho and et.al., 2015). In a company, employee has to develop
the ability of improving skills and knowledge so that they can perform well on time.
Need for continuous learning: In every company, employees have to learn on daily
basis to perform their work in effective manner. Continuous learning helps in individual as well
as organisational development. When a person learns on daily basis it will enhance skills and
make them increase their knowledge to a great extent. Career developments will be giving
chance to employee to grow and develop with the available resources or skills which they are
having. In way of sustainable business performance within Whirlpool all type of employees
needs to have continuous learning and professional development. This will help in skills,
behaviour and knowledge development of employees so that they are allowing their team and
organisation to achieve their goals and aims (Tessem, 2014). Continuous learning improves the
professional skills like that of communication, decision making and others work related as well.
Professional development- This is the learning process that will be earning in maintain
the professional ethics, values and working according to the job title or responsibility that us
given to employees. This will be describing the intensive and collaborative evaluation of people
within one business or organisational contexts. Initial professional development will be that
duration that includes individual acquiring level of competence and skills that is needed for
operating professionalism while working within Whirlpool. On the other hand, continuing
professional development (CPD) will be maintaining continues on regular bases training and
development of knowledge and skills of employees so that they could having larger contribution
within organisational development.
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Need for Professional development: Professional development is having number of
approaches which are helping employees for their development and betterment like that of
reflective supervision, coaching, lesson study, consultation and mentoring as well. Then there are
2 types of professional development including initial and continuing both of them are very much
helpful for individuals. This will be very much important for driving into sustainable business
performance as each of the employees will be trained and having professional qualification that
is based on target achievement of Whirlpool (Fedai, Altınay and Dağlı, 2017). So professional
development is very much important for employees at Whirlpool so that members at team will be
committed to work more collaboratively in order to solve problems of business.
There are majorly 4 learning style of Kolb which could be undertook and this would be
including the basis of two dimensions which is how a person understand and then process the
information. These 4 learning styles could be that of:
Diverging- These types of people could be having stronger imaginative capacity than that of
others as they prefer watching things rather than only doing it.
Assimilating- While they are quite logical on their part as they like to gather all sort of important
information and then exploring the analytic model.
Converging- These types of learners solve the problem themselves and then apply practical
issue on their own.
Accommodating- These types of learners always prefer doing things more practically by
attracted towards challenges and ways to solve them.
5. HPW contributing in employee engagement and competitive advantage in Whirlpool
High Performance Working (HPW) - According to UK commission on Employment and
Skills HPW is defined to as “A general approach to managing organisations that aim to stimulate
more effective employee involvement and commitment in order to achieve high level of
performance which is designed to enhance discretionary effort employee put their work into and
fully utilise skills that they possess” (High Performance Working (HPW), 2018). So, this is a
new idea or process which is contributing within the working and enhancing competitiveness and
growth among business sector of UK. This HPW is that practices which organise and manage the
people or company so that they are been able to work with their complete capacity.
This is the system which governs and allows employees of Whirlpool to contribute
equally within the organizational decision making and creating environment of greater
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involvement and responsibility (Gould, Lorencatto and Francis, 2014). Involving employees
within decision making process of company which is the most crucial section of Whirlpool
should include employees. This will have more transparency and building up relationship
between employer and employee of Whirlpool.
HPW will be contributing into employee engagement process within Whirlpool as if the
top management is allowing all workers to collectively formulate the policies and decisions of
company. This will further help into more clear responsibilities and roles within Whirlpool
which is moving towards better goals achievement. On the other hand, this HPW will also be
helping into grabbing the competitive advantages which company is having outside the company
(Ions and Sutcliffe, 2015). Like Whirlpool will be having its competitive advantage over the
others into same market of producing and selling of electronic goods and providing services as
well.
If there is transparency and efficiency within Whirlpool then it will be easy for them to
create positive working culture. Whirlpool should be trying to bring more communication within
employer and employee so that their relationship is stronger. This will be all mix of technology,
infrastructure and employee which is forming system that is using all sort of resource of
organisation so that they are been able to achieve goals and targets of company with joint efforts.
6. Performance management approaches and how they can support high-performance culture and
commitment in Whirlpool.
Performance management- This is concept which binds employees of any company with
their organisation, employers and professional target as well. performance management is the
process which manager or employer will undertake in way of working together to plan, monitor
and review all work and objective of one particular employee so that they could measure
contribution of employer into overall contribution to company. It is very much essential that
company is focusing on working and measurement of performance of all employees so that it
could be able to evaluate whether they are achieving their targets or not (Agarwal and Brem,
2015). So there are many approaches towards performance management and each of them will
be contributing into higher performance culture of Whirlpool.
Collaborative working: This type of approach will be including that all employees and
employer must be contributing towards working together of all employees which is known to as
collaborative working (Maguire, 2017). This will mean that they are working jointly under
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partnership of employee and employer that is covering many types and variety of doing job
together so that targets could be achieved. This type of approach towards collaborative working
will be supporting high performance culture of Whirlpool with commitment with the targets.
Comparative approach: This will be including comparing and then ranking each
employee according to their working and performance of each member. This is the
straightforward approach that help into ranking employees based on their performance and
contribution towards Whirlpool. Thus, it would also help in rising up the bar and standard to
employee performance with comparing and then ranking their performance.
Attribute approach: Under this approach the work and behavior of each employee are
judged and evaluated based on predefined set of characteristics so that they could be matching
with it.
Behavioral approach: This approach will be very much important for shaping and
defining the behaviour of employees who are working into company (Pareek and Purohit, 2018).
one of the techniques that if use by Whirlpool could be that of Behavioral Anchored Rating Scale
(BARS) that will be defining set of behaviour and then serving guide for employees. Thus, this
will also be helping Whirlpool in forming culture and high-performance culture of organisation
so that employees are working as per the set standard of their behaviour.
CONCLUSION
From the above report on developing team, individual and organisation it could be
concluded that there is set of knowledge and skills which each HR professionals need to have.
Individual learning differs from team learning in sense that former depends on learning and
development of single employee while latter one on overall team and organisational learning.
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