Developing Individuals, Teams and Organisation Report for Whirlpool

This report examines the crucial role of human resources in developing individuals, teams, and organizations, using Whirlpool as a case study. It outlines essential professional skills, knowledge, and behaviors for HR professionals, including employee relations, organizational skills, and knowledge of government regulations, communication, and decisive thinking. The report presents a personal skills audit and a professional development plan to identify strengths and address weaknesses in areas such as coordinating skills, decision-making, and IT proficiency. It further explores the differences between individual and organizational learning, emphasizing the importance of continuous learning and professional development for sustainable business performance. The contribution of high-performance working to employee engagement and competitive advantage is discussed, along with an evaluation of different approaches to performance management, effective communication, and collaborative working to support a high-performance work culture within Whirlpool. The report concludes by summarizing key findings and recommendations for enhancing HR practices.

Developing Individuals, Teams
and Organisation

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Determination of professional knowledge, skills and behaviours required by HR
professionals................................................................................................................................1
P2 Analysis of completed personal skills audit and professional development plan..................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
P3 Difference between organisational and individual learning, training and development........6
P4 Need for constant learning and professional development to drive sustainable business
performance.................................................................................................................................7
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................8
P5 Contribution of HPW to employee engagement and gaining competitive advantage within
a particular organisational situation............................................................................................8
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................10
P6 Evaluation of different approaches to performance management.......................................10
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Development of teams and individuals is one of the major responsibility of human
resource department. Different roles and functions are performed by HR manager to determine
skill needs of their manpower and provide them appropriate training session that assists in
fulfilling those needs (Brett and et. al., 2014). In the present assignment, given organisation is
Whirlpool which is an American multinational firm that offers home and kitchen appliances to
customers. This assignment covers different skills, knowledge and behaviour needed by HR
professional and components to be considered when evaluating and implementing inclusive
learning. Apart from this, contribution of high performance working to employee engagement
and ways in which performance management, effective communication and collaborative
working supports HPW commitment and culture within organisation is discussed in this project.
TASK 1
P1 Determination of professional knowledge, skills and behaviours required by HR professionals
Professional Skills refers to those which are required by the individuals to perform their
duties well at workplace and achieve career objectives. Knowledge is considered as the
information or facts that a person acquire through education and experience. Behaviour refers to
the way in which an individual behaves with others or in a specific situation. Professional skills,
knowledge and behaviour, all are very essential for a human resource managers in performing
their duties. They have the responsibility to perform several functions in order to effectively deal
with various situations and controlling operations efficiently. In Whirlpool, for managing and
running functions smoothly, manager requires combination of skills and knowledge. This assists
in resolving issues that are faced by manpower at the time of production process (Darcy and et.
al., 2014). Some skills, knowledge and behaviour required by human resource professional of
Whirlpool are defined below:
Professional skills:
Employee relation: Successful business organisations thrive on secure relationship
between employer and employee as well as the professionals or managers who support those
relations. So, it is very essential for human resource administrator of Whirlpool to be able to
determine and resolve concerns of manpower as it helps them in developing satisfying work
environment. This skill helps manager in maintaining good employer employee relation which in
turn results in higher productivity of company.
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Organising people: It refers to the skill that assists human resource professional in
managing employees within organisation. Contribution of manpower is very high in growth and
success of every business enterprise. So, HR professional of Whirlpool requires to have good
organising skills as it helps them in managing skilled and knowledgable manpower within firm.
It helps them in assessing capabilities of workforce and improving their performance by
administering them proper training programme (Thorpe, 2016).
Knowledge:
Government laws and regulations: As a human resource professional, it is very essential
to have proper knowledge regarding legislations and regulations made by government. It helps
them in framing appropriate human resource policies for firm that assists in motivating and
satisfying employees. Sound knowledge of different legislations helps manager of Whirlpool in
eliminating legal issues and maintaining strong image of firm in market.
Communication and media: Knowledge regarding communication and media helps
human resource manager in providing appropriate information to prospective candidates
regarding vacant job positions within firm. So, Whirlpool's HR professional requires to have
proper knowledge related to media and communication as it helps them in conveying
information regarding job vacancy to interested people in an effective way.
Behaviour:
Decisive thinker: It shows the ability to examine and understand data or information
quickly. Being decisive in process of thinking is the key to be a good business partner. In
Whirlpool, this behaviour of human resource professional assists them in using knowledge,
insights and information in structured way to determine options and make defendable decisions
(Robbins and O'Gorman, 2015).
Collaborative: It means work inclusively and effectively with people inside and outside
the firm. Development, change, learning and diversity are all important drivers in human
resource. These are best achieve by collaborative behaviour of human resource professional of
Whirlpool. This can only be attain when collaboration is at base of policy making and practice.
Above discussed are the knowledge, skills and behaviour that HR professional of
Whirlpool should possess to attain better results and excellent performance.
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P2 Analysis of completed personal skills audit and professional development plan
Personal skill audit is the best way for a person to determine his/ her strengths. It is very
useful for individuals to keep themselves on career track primarily entrepreneurs and ambitious
managers. The process of skill audit assists in measuring and recording individual's or team
abilities. It includes complete assessment of strong and weak points of a person that further
assists in improving his/ her performance (Rienties and Kinchin, 2014). Some capabilities that
must be require in human resource professional of Whirlpool includes decision making, time
management ability, communication and conflict resolving skills etc. According to the needed
skills in performing job responsibility, a personal audit plan is developed that assists in
identifying strengths and weaknesses. My personal skill audit plan is defined below:
Personal Skill Audit Plan
Sr. No. Skills and Competencies Self-assessed
Score
Score from others Variances
1 Team Building Ability 8 9 -1
2 Conflict Solving 7 8 -1
3 Coordinating skill 8 7 1
4 Decision making Power 9 8 1
5 Communication skills 8 10 -2
6 Information Technology Skills 9 7 2
7 Time Management Ability 7 8 -1
(Negative variance in above mentioned table depicts my strengths and positive one shows
weaknesses)
As per the personal skills audit plan, the identified strengths and weaknesses are defined
below:
Strength Weaknesses
 I have good skills of forming team
which assists me in developing
 My coordinating skills are not good due
to which sometimes, I am not able to
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effective teams.
 My conflict resolving skills are very
good that allows me in providing
effective solutions to resolving
conflicts.
 I have strong and effective
communication skills which enables me
in interacting with others and
communicating informations
effectively.
 My time management ability is quite
good that helps me in managing work
on time.
coordinate team properly.
 My Decision making skills are not so
good which restricts me in taking
effective decisions regarding particular
activity or issue.
 I have poor Information Technology
skills due to which I am unable to
handle system and work with
technologies effectively.
Professional development plan:
It is a plan that documents the goals, needed competencies and skill development and
objectives that an employee needs to achieve to support career development and continuous
improvement (Oliver, Foot and Humphries, 2014). My professional development plan as a
human resource professional is defined below:
Professional Development Plan
Sr.
No
Learning
Objective
Current
Proficiency
Target
Proficiency
Development
Opportunities
Criteria
for
judging
success
Time
Scale
Evide
nce
1 Coordinating
skills
Ineffective
coordination
skills which
creates
difficulty for
me in
To improve my
coordination
skills by
staying
conscious at
the time of
Enhancement
in
coordination
skills helps in
making
coordination
Managem
ent and
team
members.
3
mont
hs.
Feedb
acks
of
manag
ement
and
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coordinating
work and
teams.
working and by
participating in
coordinating
activities.
with work and
team
members. It
also helps in
timely
completion of
work.
co-
worke
rs.
2 Decision
making skills
Average
decision
making skills
that restricts in
taking
effective
decisions
regarding any
issue or
situation.
To improve my
decision
making ability
so that
effective
decisions can
be taken in
difficult or
challenging
situations.
From the
proper
guidance of
professionals
and superiors,
it becomes
easy to get
knowledge of
different areas
that assists in
taking
effective
decisions.
Performa
nce
assessme
nt by top
level
managem
ent.
4-6
mont
hs
Upper
level
manag
ement.
3 Information
technology
skills
Poor
information
technology
skills due to
which
difficulties
arise in
handling
systems and
using
To enhance my
IT skills by
getting proper
understanding
about various
tools and
technologies
and attending
trainings
related to
Enhancement
in knowledge
regarding
information
technology
tools and get
proper
understanding
about use of
technology. It
Team
members
4
mont
hs
Judge
ment
from
inform
ation
techno
logy
manag
ers.
5

technology in
effective way.
information
technology.
enables in
communicatin
g information
effectively.
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TASK 2
P3 Difference between organisational and individual learning, training and development
Learning is a continuous process of getting new knowledge regarding different areas. It is
an activity of acquiring knowledge or skill by practising, studying or experiencing something
(North and Kumta, 2018). This is a long term process which is very essential for every individual
to acquire as it assists in improving their understanding or knowledge related to distinct areas
and also helps in their performance. Learning is categorised into 2 parts: Individual or
Organisational learning.
Individual learning: It refers to the capability to develop knowledge by individual
reflection regarding external sources and stimuli, and by personal re-elaboration of person's
experience and knowledge in light of synergy with others and environment. In this learning,
human resource manager of Whirlpool requires to identify weaknesses and strengths of their
manpower in order to organise learning events accordingly.
Organisational learning: It is the process of developing, retaining and passing
knowledge to other individuals or within an organisation. As the firm gains experience, it
improves over time. This is the most effective way that can be utilized by Whirlpool in
effectively communicating its policies and procedures and attain desired results. This process is
used by manager to execute innovative and unique way of learning that contributes towards
success of firm (Moxen and Strachan, 2017).
Differences between individual and organisational learning:
Individual learning Organisational learning
 It is an individual oriented learning that
mainly emphasize on improving
performance and productivity of single
individual only.
 It is a career oriented process that
focuses on development of
interpersonal skills within employees of
Whirlpool. This a learning is provided
by assigning tasks to individuals or
 Organisational learning emphasize on
development of groups by improving
their skills and competencies that
assists in enhancing performance of
Whirlpool.
 It emphasize on developing capabilities
and competencies of manpower
(Manuti, and et. al., 2015). In
whirlpool, organisational learning is
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providing them a particular job role. provided to employees through training
and development.
Training and development:
It is one of the crucial function of human resource management that assists in improving
performance of manpower as well as firm. Training and development programmes provides an
opportunity to manpower of Whirlpool in terms of improving their knowledge and developing
skills that assists in their personal and professional career growth. It plays vital role in improving
performance and productivity of individual and organisation as well (Macdonald, Burke and
Stewart, 2017).
Difference between training and development:
Training Development
 It refers to the learning process where
workforce of Whirlpool gets an
opportunity of developing their
competencies, knowledge and skills as
per the requirements of job.
 Training is a job oriented process that
focuses on present.
 It refers to the educational process that
is concerned with employee's overall
growth.
 Development is a career oriented
process that emphasize on future.
P4 Need for constant learning and professional development to drive sustainable business
performance
Continuous learning:
It is an ability of constantly enhancing knowledge, skills and competencies so that work
can be performed in more effective manner. It enables an individual to adapt with changing
environment. Continuous learning ability assists Whirlpool's manpower in updating about
technologies that may use in operations of firm (Hawkins, 2017).
Professional development:
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This process helps in increasing abilities of manpower by proving them training and
learning programme. It assists in improving morale of employees by giving them opportunity to
develop their skills related to job.
Continuous learning and professional development, both are essential for workforce of
Whirlpool in order to attain business objectives. Its significance in driving sustainable business
performance is defined below:
Enhance performance: The concept of professional development and continuous
learning is essential in improving performance of organisation as well as its employees. It helps
manager of Whirlpool in developing skills and knowledge of manpower which in turn results in
improving productivity of company. By conducting appropriate learning programme, additional
skills can be provided to employees so that they enables to attain goals of company in more
effective manner.
Encourage problem solving: By providing opportunity to employees of enhancing their
skills and knowledge, manager can enables their manpower to effectively deal with challenging
situations. Continuous learning allows individuals to improve their skills and increase abilities
so that any issues that may arise in business operations can be resolved effectively and drives
sustainable performance of company (Flin and O'Connor, 2017).
Higher employee retention: Professional development and continuous learning sessions
helps individuals in improving their skills and abilities. This will helps in improving motivation
of manpower and increase their satisfaction level as it provides them an opportunity of their
career growth. It assists manager of Whirlpool in retaining their employees within organisation
for long term that drives sustainable business performance.
TASK 3
P5 Contribution of HPW to employee engagement and gaining competitive advantage within a
particular organisational situation
High Performance Working refers to an approach of managing enterprises that intent to
encourage effective commitment and engagement of manpower towards accomplishing high
performance level. This is defined as the practice that have been delineated to enhance
organisational capacity to attract, select, develop and retain the workers with high performance.
In competitive business surrounding, high performance working have become extremely
essential as a main source of gaining market advantage. Abilities of human resource management
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are significant for attracting, selecting, retaining, developing, coordinating and motivating work
force within organisation (Ellinger and Ellinger, 2014).
(Source: High Performance Work System, 2018)
HPW is defined as an organisation's culture where free flow of communication exist and
there is transparency and trust for all. It primarily focuses on alteration of traditional hierarchical
structure of business concern to flatter structure that enables staff members to share thoughts,
opinions, ideas and issues or problem, as they are treated as valuable asset of company. The
factors like innovation and productivity are used by Whirlpool in its business practices and
operations so that high competitive advantage can be gain in market. The team of Whirlpool is
measured on five core dimensions which are critical for exceeding team performance. These
includes transparent communication, mutual respect and solidarity, shared accountability for
results, constructive conflict and commitment to firm's extraordinary goals and vision. Along
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Illustration 1: High Performance Work System