HR Development for Sainsbury's: Individual and Organizational

This report examines the crucial role of HR development in fostering individual, team, and organizational growth, with a specific focus on Sainsbury's. It delves into the essential knowledge, skills, and behaviors (KSB) required by HR professionals, including communication, conflict resolution, and stress management, alongside a personal skills audit for an HR Officer role. The report contrasts individual and organizational learning, highlighting the significance of training and development for employee skill enhancement and career progression. It further explores the implementation of high-performance working cultures to boost employee engagement and competitive advantage. Furthermore, the report analyzes various approaches to performance management, emphasizing continuous learning and professional development as drivers for sustainable business performance within Sainsbury's. The Kolbe's cyclic learning theory is also considered to understand CPD.

DEVELOPING INDIVIDUALS, TEAMS
AND ORGANIZATIONS
1

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................4
P1. Appropriate knowledge, skills and behaviors (KSB) required by HR professionals ...........4
P2. Completed personal skills audit for HR Officer role.............................................................6
P3. Differences between organizational and individual learning; training and development.....7
P4. Continuous learning and professional development to drive sustainable business
performance...............................................................................................................................11
P5. HPW for employee engagement and competitive advantage .............................................12
P6. Approaches to performance management...........................................................................13
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................15
.......................................................................................................................................................15
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................16
2

INTRODUCTION
Developing individuals, teams and organizations is central key-point for the development
and succession by performing the functions in appropriate manner with the ulterior aim of
moving in the forwarding course. It emphasizes on suitable training and development for laying
a platform to have positive effects on the business environment in context to both individual and
organizational levels. Moreover, the continuous professional development is the tool which
enlightens the cyclic learning with respect to the employees’ engagement and gaining insights
for sustainable performance management in context of Sainsbury's business environment(Van
Dooren, Bouckaert and Halligan, 2015). This assignment will focus on understanding the
significance of professional skills, knowledge and behavior of HR professionals. It will also
describe about high performance working cultures for improving profitability and productivity of
Sainsbury's .
Figure 1. Cyclic approachability for developing individuals, teams and organizations
(Source: Unleashing the Potential of Individuals, Teams, and Organizations, 2018)
3

MAIN BODY
P1. Appropriate knowledge, skills and behaviors (KSB)
There is a need to understand the work ethics to bring radical changes in the working
practices of any organization. With focus on bringing improvisations in the functional units of
enterprise like Sainsbury's, it has become necessary to understand the appropriate knowledge,
use of several skills and professional behavior of the Human Resource Department members for
overall profitability and productivity as well.
Professional skills
It is defined as competencies needed for career grow that cannot be taught but can be
acquired with time.
Communication: HR managers must be good in communication to provide proper information to
the existing as well as new employees about the policies, regulations, meetings and working
practices of the enterprise. Along with, this will help to connect them with employees to foster
healthy relationships at workplace.
Conflict Resolution: This is major issue at office where different people work under one roof.
Hence, HR Managers has the ability to listen and overcome any unpleasant situation at
workplace by being approachable and understand the arguments/disagreements with neutral
attitude to solve the problems.
Stress Management: With immense tension due to workload, it is understandable that employees
might feel tired or strained (Brockbank and et.al., 2012). However, HR department organizes
team meetings, events like office parties etc. along with festival celebrations that release their
stress and give them an opportunity to establish cordial relationships.
For Example: There is a need to understand the skills required to maintain the business
environment of Sainsbury's. Furthermore, their HR must use of their interaction skills for proper
selection of employees' along with stress management and conflict resolving skills that help in
enhancing the relationships and connectivity.
Professional knowledge
4

It is defined as dynamic and challenging practice of using knowledge to gain profits in
terms of maintaining cordial relations at office.
Human Resources and Personnel: The HR manager must be well versed with the key procedures,
techniques and principles for recruitment and selection process. Moreover, they must be
knowledgeable about the reward systems, incentives, personnel information systems etc. to
bridge the communication gaps and help in providing assistance to solve all the queries,
confusion etc.
Law and Government: HR should be updated and technology savvy to have information about all
the important legal codes and government regulations for better execution of operations at the
organization they are working with.
Accounting and public safety: They should have an understanding about the financial concepts
for calculating the profits, losses, employees' salaries so that they can later decide the appraisal
or incentives bench-mark for the task-force (Swart and Kinnie, 2013). Moreover, the must know
about the disaster management in terms of protection of people, data, property etc. to overcome
the emergency situation in proper manner. This will make them to convey the local or state
security measures for better strategic management.
For Example: It has played important role in working practices of Sainsbury's. The use of
training and induction programs help in employing the policies, appraisal, rules etc. in suitable
setup to inform the employees about company's structure. It also focused on decreasing the
workload and enhancing productivity at workplace.
Professional behaviors
It is defined as the way of conducting oneself under the professional and ethical manner
to mark the presence and gain respect for the work.
Collaborative: HR managers must be transparent to lay the foundation of trust and respect to
make people work together in unity and team work spirit. This would help in maintaining the
environment of office in effective manner.
Future-oriented approach: Their major contribution comes to achieve the targets by being
purpose oriented to fulfill the expectations of their clients and customers as well.
5

Solutions driver and credible: HR managers should be good in quick decision making. Their
mindset is inclined towards solving the problems and being constructive (McClean and Collins,
2011). This helps to crack deals and maintain harmony in the workplace.
For Example: Sainsbury's administration must be future oriented to improvise the
working styles. This would help them to be innovative and approachable while setting the
objectives and goals of this enterprise. Additionally, this will help to maintain the
professionalism with apt decision making. It further adds about collaboration skills to improve
the communication and interaction between the upper management and staff or personnel.
P2. Completed personal skills audit for HR Officer role
STRENGTHS
 Good communication skills
 Team player with self motivation
 Strong interpersonal skills
 Self-belief
WEAKNESSES
 Indecisive
 Judgmental
 Reckless and no control on temper
 Impatient
OPPORTUNITIES
 Improvement in the technical skills
and knowledge
 Following latest updates on
technologies and trends
 Attending seminars and conferences
 Participating in activities to improve
connectivity and social networking
THREATS
 Competition in the marketplaces
 Poor strategic planning
 Attainment of Deadlines
 Fluctuations at global market
Personal development Plan:
Sl No. AREA OF
DEVELOPMENT
DESCRIPTION RESOURCES TIMESCALE
1 Technical skills I have good
knowledge about
my field but with
digitalization,
there are so my
updated news
which I lack in
keeping a tab on
so I must focus
By following
latest news,
subscribing or
reading journals,
books and
magazines
regarding the
current
technologies to
Within six
weeks
6

on this sphere. increase insights
2 Patience level I lose calm easily
at workplace and
during any
interaction with
people, I give
quick reactions
that affect the
entire
environment and
bring hostility.
Should join yoga
classes to
minimize the
distractions and
help in my
concentration
levels
Within four-
five weeks
3 Time management I complete my
work just before
or on the
particular time
mentioned by my
superiors. Thus, I
tend to waste
time in doing
frivolous tasks.
Employing to-
do-list which will
save time. Also,
it will help in
prioritization of
tasks to finish it
as per the
specified
timeframe
Within two
weeks
P3. Differences between organizational and individual learning; training and development
Individual Learning Organizational Learning
It is the enduring procedure of an individual
towards achieving personal goals and
objectives through directing self-
capabilities.
It is the methodology for creating and
executing knowledge and skills within
company’s perimeters.
Every employee must undergo training and
induction for self-growth in completion of
allotted tasks of Sainbury's . Along with,
an individual puts undivided concentration
on the tasks single handedly (Jehanzeb and
Bashir, 2013).
In context to the workforce of Sainbury's,
the set of traits must be utilized in mutual
approach to resolve conflicts and issues in
order to attain the objectives with time
efficiency.
In regard to this, the implementation such
leaning of communication, interpersonal
skills with knowledge has to be used to
fulfill expectations and complete the tasks
on schedule of Sainbury's (Goetsch and
Davis, 2014).
Here, Employees have been allotted to finish
tasks effectively by understanding the needs
and requirements in context of Sainbury's .
It is helpful in laying a demonstration of
competencies, beliefs and values of
Sainbury's employee.
It develops opportunities for employees of
Sainbury's to inculcate a sense of
responsibility by delivering the best through
using feedbacks from organizing group
activities (Pollock, Jefferson and Wick,
2015).
7

It is meant for personal satisfaction to
understand the self worth on the whole
(Huber, 2011).
It is related to overall progression of
organizational framework for gaining
profitability.
Training Development
It is the prospect to learn new skills with
financial back up by enhancing
knowledge in doing job.
It is the action of learning innovative
concepts to do assigned jobs to enhance
the profits and revenues.
It is a short term practice where the focus
is on current positioning with respect to
tasks or job.
It is a long term technique based on future
to manage the career front (Capps,
Crawford and Constas, 2012).
It puts insights on the employees’
improvements in terms of work ethics and
performance (Arneson, Rothwell and
Naughton, 2013)
It gives insights on the complete
preparation of combat challenges and
issues of an organization.
For the same, the individuals or group of
people attend seminars, conferences at
regular interval of time
For this, it is a self assessment practice in
which the person improves learning and
skills (Differences between Training and
Management Development, 2016).
Training has several advantages like skills'
development, confidence gain with
motivation to enhance productivity in
positive manner
Development involves coaching,
mentoring, improving quality of work by
balancing the profession and personal life.
Moreover, training and development in separate manner is significant for working
practices of Sainbury's employees'. It paved a platform to comprehend the preparation
needed for enhancements in terms of learning new skills and improve the existing profiles
by gaining new dimensions for combating the conflicts and issues (Capps, Crawford and
Constas, 2012).
8

Figure 2. Training and development
(Source: Training and Development, 2018)
Furthermore, the Kolbe’s cyclic learning theory has been considered here to understand
this CPD. It is one of the most adopted theories that has emphasized on the utility of this process
and has four stages namely concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract
conceptualization and lastly, active experimentation. For the same, the employees encounter a
new training or experience by incorporating new approaches and learning the latest trends to
combat the prevailing inconsistencies (Morgeson, DeRue and Karam, 2010). Along with, there is
an imperative part of a reflective viewpoint in modifying opinions, thoughts and perception for
better implementation. Lastly, its implementation must be of utmost significance to use their
personal experience for bringing radical changes to secure the future.
9

Figure 3. Stages of Kolbe’Learning Cycle
(Source: McLeod, 2017)
Overview of the organization: Sainsbury's is one of the largest supermarkets chain of United
Kingdom. It was founded in the year 1869 by John James Sainsbury. This enterprise has
been holding into three categories namely Sainsbury's Bank, Sainsbury's Argos and
Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd. Recently, it proposed to outdistance their structural
management leading to thousands of people losing their jobs. Along with, they have merged
with their rival,Asda but need to offload around 460-plus stores before planning to expand
together in order to satisfy the competition watchdogs.
10

P4. Continuous learning and professional development to drive sustainable business performance
It is defined as the procedure of record keeping with supervision of employees’ skills,
knowledge and experience which are gained from both types of outlook such as formally and
informally. With this rise of need for continuous learning, there must be an understanding the
importance of performance metrics for pushing the sustainable aspect in an organization; here at
Sainsbury's has been considered. Also, the benefits of this professional development consist of
amplified participation to attain self-efficacy with continual learning in an integrated
collaborative approachability amongst the employees.
Moreover, it has become an integral part to understand CPD (continuous professional
development) that support in the increased productivity and employees’ retention rate at
Sainsbury's. In regard to the same, there are analyses that help in the identification and
evaluation of competencies with respect to specialist and generalist roles that must be swapped to
11
Illustration 1: Merger details between
Sainsbury's and Asda
(Source:Sainsbury's-Asda merger:
Competition probe begins,2018)

expand enhancements in performance management of this company to satisfy the personal
growth and overall assessment.
Hereafter, one must be understandable that this journey of self growth with focus on
improvising the environment at Sainsbury's that needs proper time with discipline and sense of
responsibility. Employees must be realized and treated as assets who in return would give their
best efforts in accomplishing the tasks at all the operations of Sainsbury's to fetch profits and
revenue generation (Stewart, 2014). Moreover, learning at both individual and organizational
levels must be promoted to lay the success path to be successful and enthusiastic for completion
of tasks properly.
However, there is an accessibility of interactive communication channel, which has given
a strengthening bending by providing dialogue to know about the effective learning to grow
knowledge, skills and technicalities in context to marketplaces. Additionally, this CPD creates a
culture of employees’ engagement at Sainsbury's for sustainability aspects to tap the
competitive advantages. It also comprises the current market segregation for workforce in terms
of improved performance by empowering them on superior degree (Zhang, Di Fan and Zhu,
2014).
In addition to this, it moves towards the new positions and advancements that can be
gained through consistent efforts of employees. Furthermore, it provides assistance for
motivating and imbibing confidence and safeguarding the entire qualitative workplace cultural
value with the help of tools and techniques through workshops, online forums; along with, there
is a necessity for checking the altercations regarding the job markets that provide beneficial in
adopting the bench-marking for improving Sainsbury's operations (Stewart,2014).
Additionally, it leads to the preparation of functional units by building an assessment of constant
loop containing the stages of the entire continuum professional development.
P5. HPW for employee engagement and competitive advantage
Definition of High Performance Work Culture: It is an integrated arrangement that brings a
structured inspiration and enthusiastic participation for the entire workforce by determining the
performance in the completion of conducting operations effectually.
12