Icon College: Developing Individuals, Teams and Organizations Report

This report analyzes the development of individuals, teams, and organizations, focusing on the role of Human Resources. It begins with an introduction to the importance of employee empowerment and the contributions of HR in training and development within organizations like Marriott Hotel. The report covers the essential knowledge, skills, and behaviors required by HR professionals, including decision-making, communication, and training. It also includes a personal skills audit and professional development plan. Further sections explore organizational and individual learning, training, and development, including continuous learning and professional development (CPD) and its impact on competitive advantage and work culture. The report also details approaches to performance management and the significance of culture and commitment in supporting organizational goals. Finally, the report references various academic sources to support its findings and conclusions.

DEVELOPING
INDIVIDUALS, TEAMS
AND ORGANISATIONS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................3
Knowledge, skills and behaviour required by HR professionals.................................................3
Personal skills audit and professional development plan............................................................4
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................6
Organisational and individual learning, training and development.............................................6
Continuous learning and professional development....................................................................7
Learning Cycle Theories..............................................................................................................9
LO 3.................................................................................................................................................9
Contribution of HPW for employee engagement and competitive advantage............................9
Benefits of application of HPW.................................................................................................11
LO 4...............................................................................................................................................11
Approaches of performance management.................................................................................11
Culture and commitment support..............................................................................................13
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Growth of an organization in market there are a lot of changes which are coming and
empowering the employees is going to come in business to gain opportunities. Human resource
is playing a very important role in the market by training and developing the employees so that
there is going to be higher performance. Marriott Hotel was established in 1957 and is having its
headquarters in Maryland, United Kingdom. The report is going to consist of training and
learning which is being given by HR to make the performance of the company improve and
performance of HPW for making the organization gain a competitive advantage in the market.
LO 1
Knowledge, skills and behaviour required by HR professionals
There needs to be a strong understanding of the personal skills and knowledge of the
employees of the organization so that there is going to be healthier working environment which
would be present for the company.
Knowledge
It is important for the organization to have the right employees so that the operations and
performance of the organization can be improved and developed in the market. There are right
strategies and methods which the organization can use so that the expectations of the customers
can also be achieved by the organization (Hirt and et.al., 2017).
Skills
Decision making
There are a lot of decisions which human resource department is taking so that the
company can have higher performance. Human resource is the bridge between the management
and employees and this base needs to be strong.
Communication
There has to be well maintained communication in the company so that there is going to
be higher sense of direction which is going to make the organization have higher performance.
Training and development
Employees have to be provided with good training from time to time because Marriott
hotel is getting in a lot of changes which needs to be included by the organization which would
make the performance of the company improve (Rupčić, 2020). There is a lot of information as
well which needs to reach the customers so that there is going to be higher performance.
3

Behaviour
Behaviour of all the individuals differ from one another which needs to be understood
and improved so that there is going to be effective functioning. There has to be good discipline
which needs to be present by human resource so that there is going to be strong performance
which would be present (Pandey, Gupta and Gupta, 2019). The employees have to be provided
with the right treatment and policies so that they will be able to give in their personal best in the
organization. Benefits and rewards are given to the employees of Marriott hotel so that they
continue to keep giving in their personal best.
Job advertisement
It is important for Marriott hotel to get in the right employees so that there is going to be
well maintained reputation and standard for the organization which is going to be present. There
is going to be effective transparency as well which the company is going to have in the market
and employees will give in their best as well.
Personal skills audit and professional development plan
It is very important to know the strengths and weaknesses of oneself so that there is going
to be improvement which they can do for themselves (Elizabeth, 2018). The further report is
going to analyse the skills and tools which can be used in order to be able to achieve the targets
and goals which the individuals are having in the market.
Strengths
 My strength is that I understand the behaviour of the employees very well by using the
right strategy.
 There is improvement in developed skills like innovation, interpersonal skills and
influence.
 The current trends and technological knowledge is present in me which am a great
advantage for the organizations as well.
Weaknesses
 I do not have the right skills to be able to motivate the others which is going to make the
productivity level get affected.
 Lack of experience is also going to be present which is required in employees so that
there is going to be higher performance and higher portfolio as well.
 There is going to be inefficiency which is going to be present in training and
4

development as well because there is a lack of consulting skills as well.
Development Plan
Skills to
develop
Activities Resources needed Time
interval
Evaluation
Team work There has to be
good coordination
which needs to be
learnt so that
there is going to
be higher
performance
which is going to
be present.
To have higher
performance and
functioning in the
organization there is
a requirement of
decision making in
the group so that
there is going to be
higher results.
3 weeks In the 3 weeks time I
will use more
productive resources
to be able to achieve
this skill and target
which I have
developed for
getting teamwork.
Innovation I will be able to
interact with more
people by reading
more books and
gain more
knowledge as
well as
information about
a lot of topics
(Groeger and
Schweitzer,
2020).
Through the medium
of internet there is a
lot of learning which
is going to be present
in myself which
would be a great
factor.
6 weeks This is a very
important skill
which I can develop
in 6 weeks which is
going to help me
develop in the
market effectively
and efficiently.
Time
management
The tasks for each
day would be
scheduled and
divided into
smaller tasks so
that there are
Good plan action and
schedule needs to be
present in front of the
team so that there is
going to be higher
performance and
4 weeks I will be able to have
perfection in
managing time in the
4 weeks I will be
giving to myself
which is going to be
5

going to be
effective
measures and
performance
which would help
the tasks to be
completed on
time.
functioning which
would be present.
very good for a long
run.
LO 2
Organisational and individual learning, training and development
In order to encourage and facilitated overall organisational development and improvement
in the business performance, there are some key terms that need to be understood very clearly
and properly so that better development can take place.
Organisational learning here indicates the advancement of entire organisation collectively
where focus is on achievement of organisational objectives and growth which can be done only
when every component of the organisation fosters (Afsar, Shahjehan and Shah, 2018). Marriott
Hotel regularly focuses on skill development and training sessions for employees and staff
upgrading themselves collectively which helps the staff as well as the managers in keeping up
with the trends and preferences of the customers. Additionally, organisational learning also
focuses on upliftment of each other where by helping each other and doing what one does best;
Marriott Hotel is able to create competitive advantage in the hospitality industry specifically.
Individual learning on the other indicates the individual goals and objectives that every
individual working in an organisation has. Every employee working in the hotel has their own
timelines and career path goals that they have developed where they work in accordance with
those timelines and objectives (Chidiac, 2018). In order to achieve them, an individual regularly
upgrades and develops themselves, striving to get better and advanced. This is individual
learning where rather than focusing on organisational profits and objectives, employees focusing
on understanding and expanding their own position or career. However, this also improves their
efficiency in the tasks that they are completing and this in a roundabout sense benefits company
i.e. Marriott Hotel only by increasing their quality.
6

Training of employees refers to the short activities or procedures with fixed time limits
where employees are generally trained with the objective of making them capable of meeting the
current demands and keeping them up to date regarding the latest development that have taken
place in the industry. Hosting workshops, making an employee familiar with the job role that
they are required to perform and teaching them the necessary skills are some of the important
aspects which are included in the training at Marriott Hotel (Maduka and et.al., 2018). This is
implicated on an organisation level mostly i.e. management of an organisation engages in
training procedures for its employees.
Development on the other hand signifies individual development that an employee as a
person engages in for himself. It is a common process where the development is continuous
rather than being segregated to a particular timeline. Here focus is on development of overall
personality and performance rather than being target based or for an individual objective. At
Marriott Hotel, development basically refers to the regular moulding of the employees to learn
and adapt with advanced knowledge systems and also create competent employees who are
excellent in their work ethics.
Continuous learning and professional development
The term continuous development basically indicates a non- stop process where in every
moment, individual aims towards learning something new, acquiring new skills or expertise etc.
(Ogbonnaya and Valizade, 2018). The main aspect behind continuous development is every
aspect is regularly recorded and then evaluated which helps in clearly analysing how much an
individual has gained and what are the areas in which they need to develop more in future.
Marriott Hotel involves a very detailed and integrated process of CPD where the benefits of its
implementation are immense and helps in generating a lot of benefits. Some of the major reasons
behind implementation of CPD in Marriott Hotel can be detailed in following manner:
 Competitive Edge: Engaging in CPD contributes immensely in the competitive
development of the company where they are able to serve with that efficiency level and
quality which they competing organisations lack. Since CPD is a continuous process in
Marriott, it not only develops employees themselves but it also helps the organisation in
creating a distinguished customer experience which fosters brand equity in the market
(Pepper, 2020). It also benefits the entire work culture and the diversity amongst the
employees as they regularly interact and develop in their own fields and overall. The
7

strong and developed employee base helps hotel in gaining immense profits and
recognition and this is the prime reason Marriott has been able to create coveted goodwill
in the hospitality industry worldwide.
 Work Environment: When CPD is implemented in the organisations, the work culture
and policies regularly get improved and modified accordingly. Due to this, all the work
processes implemented in the Marriott is regularly evaluated which indicates that what
those processes are that have become redundant. This indicates the unnecessary wastage
of the resources which are then removed due to their uselessness (Safavi and Karatepe,
2018). Since Marriott does this regularly, it automatically optimises their entire systems
which helps them in gaining maximum advantage of the resources usage and increase the
capabilities of hotel. Apart from the obvious monetary benefits, this also creates a
positive integration amongst the employees where they collectively help each other
which improve work culture and cohesion thus helping Marriott in catering to the
requirements of customers exceptionally.
 Skill Gap: In the hospitality industry, skill gap in the employees is most common
problem that creates inefficiency and degrades work quality immensely. This is also an
unavoidable aspect because it is very difficult to hire perfectly skilled employees without
making recruitment a costly affair. In Marriott however, this problem is completely
resolved due to the integration of CPD method. Rather than spending excessively on
trained and experienced employees, they engage in on the job training and skill
development sessions where employees who are experienced and excellent in their job
area teach those employees who are unskilled (Yap and Toh, 2019). This not only avoids
any external party interference but the employee is also able to gain experience which
also fosters employee retention and loyalty. This is the most beneficial reason due to
which CPD method is used cohesively in Marriott hotel.
 Flexibility: Often it is seen that employees resist to the change that is being introduced
because of the fear and risks that it presents and the extra efforts that employees will have
to take to learn something new and step out of their comfort zone. However in Marriott,
due to the implementation of CPD this problem is integrated at a minimalistic level i.e.
here due to constant changes and upgrading in the methods, employees are completely
flexible and adaptive to the change process. This not only removes a major obstacle from
8

the management’s path but it also creates an advantageous situation where rather than
adjusting and adapting to the new trends, Marriott is able to exploit the opportunities that
it presents early in the industry.
Therefore, these indicate the different contributing factors that the implementation of CPD
creates towards sustainability in the performance and gaining competitive advantages for
Marriott Hotel.
Learning Cycle Theories
There are a variety of learning cycle theories that can be implemented in Marriott Hotel such
as Kolb’s Learning theory which emphasises that there are four key stages Concrete Experience,
Reflective Observation, Abstract Conceptualisation and Active experimentation. In first stage,
employees at Marriott Hotel indulge in developing an experience or gaining it. Then in the
second stage, the experience is reflected upon so that relevant learning can be developed as is the
purpose of stage 3. The last stage is of active experimentation where the learning developed is
clearly explained and implemented so that future transactions and potential experiences can be
optimised.
LO 3
Contribution of HPW for employee engagement and competitive advantage
The term High Performance Working indicates that approach adopted by management
where the major area of focus is on increasing the engagement and integration of employees with
the productivity and performance that they have towards the organisational goals and objectives
(Chujfi and Meinel, 2017). Under the HPW method, maximum resource utilisation takes place in
order to meet the multiple problems that arise in the organisation on a day to day basis. In
Marriott, since it operates in hospitality industry, some very common barriers such as increased
employee absenteeism, lack of employee engagement and motivation, do not present any major
consequences just because of the fact that the HPW practices are implemented. The contribution
of HPW in these areas of concern can be mapped in detail in following manner:
 Leader’s Positive Outlook: By the implementation of HPW practices, it becomes
instrumental for a leader to maintain not just positive outlook but also support and
encourage the employees whenever the need for it arises. The leaders rather than dictating or
teaching rules to the employees like a student, focus on them understanding the consequence
of their every decision and action. In Marriott, this not only motivates the employee to
9

perform better and excel in their fields but it also makes them realise that how important
their role or position is in the hotel and its functioning (Malmelin and Virta, 2017). The
productivity also increases consecutively in employees where they try to achieve beyond the
targets that have been set for them thus creating excellent services and ambience at Marriott
Hotel for its customers.
 Excellent Communication: Communication is a key element and it facilitates not just
implementation of policies and procedures in every organisation but it also integrates
employees making them clearly understand what is expected from them and how the set
goals or targets are to be achieved. Marriott hotel uses the communication rigorously where
things and steps are emphasized repeatedly rather than communicating it once. This avoids
potential chances of clash amongst employees and also minimises the chances that resources
might get wasted or mis- utilised in a company. Overall, a positive work environment and
behaviour is fostered in the Marriott which resonates in the stress free, positive ambience
maintained by employees and services that are given to its customers (Mazzei, Flynn and
Haynie, 2016). Hence, employee is not just motivated but also satisfied in the work culture
that they are working.
 Exchanging common goals: High Performance Working method integrates organisational
goals over individual goals and their achievement where emphasis is laid on the team
integrity and cohesiveness amongst employees making them understand the common
objectives that they share. It also bolsters that how the achievement of these will
automatically lead to the fulfilment of the personal aims that individual employees have
planned for themselves. For Marriott Hotel, this helps them in improving the services that
they provide and also facilitates the achievement of better and increased targets and profit
sharing without any compromise in the mission and vision that they have developed to serve
with quality (Cartwright, 2017). Finally, this is returned back in small proportions to their
employees who worked dedicatedly and hence the cycle gets completed where employees
get rewarded proportionately for the efforts that they put in.
 Evaluations and reviews: Although this is last feature of HPW yet the significance that it
has in the efficiency of the company is imminent. In Marriott Hotel, the managers regularly
measure and monitor the engagement level and enthusiasm of employees where they check
how employees are performing, what are the grievances that are shared by them, what
10

according to them needs to be improved or worked upon etc. This helps them in
understanding the thought process of employees so that they are able to work increasingly
productively and contribute in the best way possible. Also taking regular feedbacks and
reviews indicates the management regarding the modifications that need to be made and
when these are done or implemented in Hotel, employees understand the importance that
their concerns and opinions have for the management (Obeidat, Mitchell and Bray, 2016).
This is the ultimate booster in employee motivation and their engagement level making them
excited for their job roles.
Benefits of application of HPW
There are numerous advantages that arise in the implementation of the HPW practices in the
organisation and these can be further detailed in following context for Marriott Hotel:
 Better understanding of the deviations in the company and its operations.
 The documentation and the compliance in Marriott Hotel as compared to other because of
the implementation of the HPW practices.
 The customer relations of the Hotel get improved simultaneously because of the
increased employee efficiency and services that have been given by Marriott Hotel.
 The continuous improvement practices that are integrated under the Marriott Hotel
further increase the chances of revenue generation for the hotel.
LO 4
Approaches of performance management
Performance management is the ultimate constituent of the aim to facilitate the higher
performance culture and along with this commitment of the employees towards the organisation
objectives as well. It increases in a synchronised manner the productivity and performance of the
organisation at the organisational as well as individual level. Here, emphasis is on distributing
the funds of the organisation in a properly distributed manner where the objective with which
they are being implemented in achieved ultimately (Cook and et.al., 2017). Different
performance management techniques implemented in Marriott Hotel can be discussed as:
 Collaborative Working: The concept of collaborative working focuses on the integration
amongst the employees where they are encouraged to work collectively with each other
helping everyone to perform excellently in the job role that has been assigned to them
respectively. Marriott Hotel, for example, regularly puts employees in group activities
11

and tasks where every employee has to work individually as well as together in order to
achieve the targets that have been set. Additionally, by putting in team, employees also
have to compete against each other in team and this motivates them to win against other
team members (Pittino and et.al., 2016). Overall, it improves the commitment level of the
employees and their skill level which helps them in working collaboratively in the
situation of crisis resulting in enhanced productivity and results.
 Rewards and Incentives: The practice of rewards and monetary or non- monetary
benefits for employees acts as the best measure of maintaining and measuring
performance of employees. At Marriott hotel, the management of the hotel identifies and
rewards the best performers in the hotel and not just appraise their salary but also
recognises their work, gives trip vouchers, discounts, benefits etc. Other employees get
motivated trying to work harder in order to achieve the benefits that have been awarded
to the star employees thus increasing their performance (Yu and et.al., 2015).
Consecutively, the management also identifies the non- performers of the hotel where the
most inefficient employees are identified and then the reason behind this is identified so
that they can be either trained in the areas they are lacking or if extremely inefficient,
then they also must be removed. This helps in implementing resources in an optimum
manner developing highly efficient and rewarding workforce in the hotel.
 360 degree feedback mechanisms: The technique of 360 degree mechanism mixes the
opinion and thought process of employees and their feeling along with the practices and
policies that are implemented in company. Marriott Hotel takes the feedback and reviews
of the employees regularly regarding the work practices and the challenges or problems
that they are facing (Yang and et.al., 2015). It also helps in understanding that what are
the good attributes in their hotel and the redundant ones which needs to be removed.
Managers at Marriott in return aim to integrate their feedbacks in the practices by
improving them and addressing their concerns so that the practices can be optimised
accordingly resulting in maximum returns. This encourages the culture of high
performance where every employee works in their best capacity and results where using
the measures and reviews management is able to complete a full circle in Marriott Hotel.
12

Culture and commitment support
The goals and feedback of the Marriott Hotel leaders help in increasing the high
performance induced culture and practices that lead to better practices and also increases the
cultural support that organisations have. Further the trust and accountability of the employees
increase which increases transparency and hence people are more satisfied with the services
given in the organisation.
CONCLUSION
The analysis done in the report above helps in concluding that Marriott Hotel has worked
immensely on the improvement of the employee performance and engagement level. Initially,
individual analysis was done in the report where it was identified that what are the strengths and
weaknesses that need to be developed for the desired job role. Further, differences between
multiple terms were evaluated and the concept of continuous learning was also analysed in
context of Marriott Hotel. The contribution of HPW towards employee integration in Marriott
was identified and lastly, the variety of approaches that can be adopted towards performance
management was discussed with examples and references accordingly.
13

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Afsar, B., Shahjehan, A. and Shah, S.I., 2018. Frontline employees’ high-performance work
practices, trust in supervisor, job-embeddedness and turnover intentions in hospitality
industry. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
Cartwright, R., 2017. Mastering team leadership. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Chidiac, M. A., 2018. Relational Organisational Gestalt: An Emergent Approach to
Organisational Development. Routledge.
Chujfi, S. and Meinel, C., 2017. Design Thinking and Cognitive Science: An Exploratory
Approach to Create Intellectual Capital with Decentralised Organisations. In FedCSIS
Communication Papers (pp. 303-310).
Cook, R. J and et.al., 2017. Online Professional Learning Networks: A Viable Solution to the
Professional Development Dilemma. Journal of Special Education Technology, 32(2).
pp.109-118.
Elizabeth, G.N., 2018. The role of the administration in team building and development of an
organisation. ACADEMICIA: An International Multidisciplinary Research
Journal. 8(7). pp.43-46.
Groeger, L. and Schweitzer, J., 2020. Developing a design thinking mindset: encouraging
designerly ways in postgraduate business education. In Design Thinking in Higher
Education (pp. 41-72). Springer, Singapore.
Hirt, C and et.al., 2017. Developing international talents: how organisational and individual
perspectives interact. European Journal of Training and Development.
Maduka, N.S and et.al., 2018. Analysis of competencies for effective virtual team leadership in
building successful organisations. Benchmarking: An International Journal.
Malmelin, N. and Virta, S., 2017. Organising creative interaction: spontaneous and routinised
spheres of team creativity. Communication Research and Practice, 3(4). pp.299-318.
Mazzei, M.J., Flynn, C.B. and Haynie, J.J., 2016. Moving beyond initial success: Promoting
innovation in small businesses through high-performance work practices. Business
Horizons. 59(1). pp.51-60.
Obeidat, S. M., Mitchell, R. and Bray, M., 2016. The link between high performance work
practices and organizational performance. Employee Relations.
14

Ogbonnaya, C. and Valizade, D., 2018. High performance work practices, employee outcomes
and organizational performance: a 2-1-2 multilevel mediation analysis. The
International Journal of Human Resource Management. 29(2). pp.239-259.
Pandey, A., Gupta, V. and Gupta, R.K., 2019. Spirituality and innovative behaviour in teams:
Examining the mediating role of team learning. IIMB Management Review. 31(2).
pp.116-126.
Pepper, S., 2020. Professional development: The black holes of goal setting. Proctor, The, 40(1).
p.17.
Pittino, D., and et.al., 2016. Are high performance work practices really necessary in family
SMEs? An analysis of the impact on employee retention. Journal of Family Business
Strategy. 7(2). pp.75-89.
Rupčić, N., 2020. Learning organisation as technology for the socio-economic paradigm
implementation. International Journal of Agile Systems and Management. 13(2).
pp.182-212.
Safavi, H.P. and Karatepe, O.M., 2018. High-performance work practices and hotel employee
outcomes. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
Yang, Y.M. and et.al., 2015. High-performance multiple-donor bulk heterojunction solar
cells. Nature photonics. 9(3). p.190.
Yap, J. B. H. and Toh, H. M., 2019. Investigating the principal factors impacting knowledge
management implementation in construction organisations. Journal of Engineering,
Design and Technology.
Yu, X. and et.al., 2015. A high-performance three-dimensional Ni–Fe layered double
hydroxide/graphene electrode for water oxidation. Journal of Materials Chemistry A. 3(13).
pp.6921-6928..
15

16