BTEC Unit 35: Developing Individuals, Teams, and Organisations

This report focuses on developing individuals, teams, and organizations within the context of a BTEC Level 5 Higher National Diploma in Business at CECOS College London. It covers the skills and attributes of an Assistant HR manager, including a SWOT analysis and personal development plan. The report also differentiates between organizational and individual learning, training, and development, emphasizing the need for continuous professional development to drive sustainable business performance. It explores how high-performance working contributes to employee engagement and competitive advantage, and examines different approaches to performance management and their role in supporting a high-performance culture within organizations like Sainsbury's.

Developing individuals teams
and organisations

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
Skills and attributes of Assistant HR manager ...........................................................................3
SWOT analysis............................................................................................................................4
Personal development plan..........................................................................................................5
Reflective statement.....................................................................................................................7
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................7
Difference between organizational and individual learning, training and development.............7
Need for continuous professional development that drive sustainable business performance....8
Ways as how high performance working contributes to employee engagement and competitive
advantage.....................................................................................................................................8
Different approaches to performance management and their role in supporting high
performance culture.....................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Developing teams, individuals and organisation is one the main work of job managers in
order to attain organisation's goal. It's HR managers role to perform functions and looking after
the requirements of team, providing them with respective resources. Sainsbury, a supermarket
company is currently second largest chain running in United Kingdom. It is headquartered in
London, United Kingdom. The company also provides online services to it's customers and have
1400+ stores all around UK (Han and Stieha, 2020) . For a large organisation like Sainsbury to
excel its work, development of employees, their teams is an important step taken by mangers
leading to achieve company's goals. Efficiency and attributes of an assistant HR manger are to be
looked upon eventuating in high performance work of employees and creating value and
sustainable development of company.
TASK 1
Skills and attributes of Assistant HR manager
HR department of any organisation holds a key to better performance of organisation
like Sainsbury. Because of constantly changing trends in HR activities, they are expected much
more than before. There are some must needed skills every assistant HR manger should have in
oneself. These include,
Organisational Skills: There should be orderly approach to any work, messiness won't
help in a step-up a supermarket company like Sainsbury. Managing comes with lot of
responsibilities, handling various matters at single time, it is requisite to be well organised in
case of taking any instant actions.
Communicational skills: Moving on, next most important skill set required is
communication, an assistant HR manger is a link between employees and business, representing
business as well as employees (Kumar and et.al., 2017). They are the source of information to
employees, answering their problems and handling their complains while being convincing and
plausible.
Negotiating skills: Dealing with grey areas of business is also a work of HR manager,
these areas include harassment issues, discrimination and even leave approvals and because of
that Negotiating is yet another and important skill a assistant HR manager should have. Goal of
negotiation being a satisfied outcome for two parties. They are supposed to use all the

information on the respective subject and making right decision that benefit company and its
employees with a consciousness of when to get help from experts and attorneys.
Recruiting: Major part of assistant manager's job is to handle administrative work. Using
HRM knowledge helps in recruitment, data reporting and many other process. On-boarding can
be an expensive task for the company but also a basic requirement for its smooth working,
Sainsbury is looking for HR professionals who can hire people well suited for the job, and are
there for a long run.
Conflict handling and Safeguarding Company's assests: As an assistant HR manger it
is require to satisfy the interests of both employees and employers, specially in cases of strong
conflict of interests, one should be sensible in such situations while looking after companies
policies (Wallo and Kock, 2018). HR managers hold the backbone of company and look after
major operational activities, in the process they should shield confidential information and
safeguard assets and resources of Sainsbury.
Being Ethical: Monitor actions of employees that everyone is following rules and
policies of the company, if not then assistant HR manager should push back in order to keep
company on straight path. Employees look forward to HR managers regarding their concerns,
and one who can pull this off wins the trust. Explaining actions can lead to concession of
confidential information, and an assistant HR manager should avoid doing this.
Multitasking: In response to above all points, it is easy to say that Multitasking should
run in blood of a good assistant HR manger, not literally though. Be it dealing with last minute
problems, employees issues, recruiting, handling social media of the company, retention of
individuals, or any other thing, a great HR manger should be able to handle it all, at once major
attribute being this, to keep Sainsbury growing and being at the top.
SWOT analysis
Analysing personal strengths, weakness and all that is basic step leading towards ones
success, SWOT analysis is useful tool to do so.
Strengths: As an assistant manager, they focus on hiring candidates who have best
convincing and sales related skills, helping in attracting customers to the supermarket and
keeping them consistent. Graduated from very known well organisation can result in extra
benefits because of knowledge and experience in respective area of work. Strong communication

and social skills helps in looking for best candidate and good involvement with clients.
Technological potency and strategy leading to innovative measures for company such as starting
online supply of supermarket products and like that is a big plus point for company in individual
growth (Dixit, 2019). Efficiently using the resources of a company and trying to recycle things as
much as possible lead to a healthy sustainable working of a supermarket like Sainsbury, causing
less loss and more profits on its selling products.
Weakness: Talking about the weakness part, they can include one being a fresher, less
experience in handling people leads to no one listening to instructions and less organisational
skills. An assistant manager should take care about lifting its employees by proper motivation
and inspiration, unable to do so can result in having low self-esteem in employees which in fact
leads to boring the customers and shifting them towards new brand. A high level dependency on
others to do ones work is big negative point (Herman, 2017). Good clear communication being a
important point for well-being of company, assistant manger lacking this is major drawback.
Hesitating in asking question and not being proactive is in no way helping the company become
a brand. Less focus on customer is wrong path to take in order to achieve success as Sainsbury is
retail outlet, profits depending majorly on customers.
Opportunities: Making use of the latest technologies can increase the sale in this modern
digital age. Many laws in favour of company are good opportunity for it to grow, upshot for an
assistant manger for a growth in oneself. Due to good growth in company there are chances for
higher wage attracting more candidates to work for the company also for promotion
opportunities.
Threats: Considering threats along with strengths and weakness is really important. This
is an era where everyone wants to excel and be the best, result in high level of competition, some
companies providing more varieties of products than Sainsbury is leading to competitive threats.
Company being in threat means so does the employees. HR has become very famous and
important in past few years resulting in less job opportunities and more candidates for that job.
Stuck into a company which does not focus on growth of employee is a major setback for the
career.
Personal development plan

Areas to
improvise
Activities\Resources Importance Time scale
Proactive In order to be a proactive, use
the 4Ps which are, Predict,
prevent, Plan and Participate
Emboldening flexible work
schedules.
Finding right people can be a
good source of motivation.
Reward proactive positive
behaviour.
Focusing on future.
Taking self-initiatives,
proactive people do not wait for
opportunities, they create them.
(Wallo, and Kock, 2018)
Focusing on solving rather than
problem, focusing on what you
can control.
Proactive assistant HR manger
can deliver more better
candidates to the company.
Help in getting control over
ones own life.
Proactive manager has good set
of listening skills, listening to
employees and customer need
is very important.
Can be
developed
over time.
Organisational
skills
Writing everything down,
making lists is one way to
improve bring organised.
Investing in storage, folder
being bae.
Doing things in bites and
pieces.
Embrace productive days.
It helps in reducing stress.
As being an assistant HR
manger requires to handle lot of
work, bring organised helps in
saving time and thus increasing
productivity. (Bukharina,
2018)
Helps in keeping track of what
all is done and what's remaining
to do.
Giving 15
minutes
every day
for 2
months.

Reflective statement
On the basis of personal SWOT analysis, it is easy to say that I, being an assistant HR
manager has some skills and attributes required for the job and also lacks in few. With help of
self evaluation, I can say that excel in capabilities such as finding goof candidates for on-board
process, have knowledge of what I do and how to do it and up-to date with all technological
advancements whereas there are few areas to improvise in like being a proactive. Proactivity
helps an HR manger to spot problems prior and prevent them from happening. It also helps in
line up HR tasks, to increase value of company. I also lack experience as I am just a fresher.
From the feedback given by my colleagues, I got know that I sometimes lack in uplifting
other employees, motivating them and also because of being a fresher, I am dependent on others
to help me with my work. They also said I do have best strategic ideas helping in company's
growth and development, good in advising and nurturing people. I am surely a team work player,
work well with other colleagues and managers, which helps positively in own self and company's
growth.
TASK 2
Difference between organizational and individual learning, training and development
There is some difference between individual and organizational learning, training and
development.
Individual learning: It refers learning in which individuals at workplace focus on
improving their skills for career development and their personal development. It also helps them
out to do better job and performing functions in better manner (Mainert and et.al., 2018).
Organizational learning: Organizational learning refers a process of creating,
transferring and retaining knowledge within organization for accomplishing their business goals.
Sainsbury’s promote team working and make use of appropriate motivation and recruitment
strategies for this.
Individual training and development: It is a process in which individuals at workplace
increase their own skills with self-analysis. At their own by research and development, working
in a team and self-analysis they train themselves for improving performance. Practice and
continuous development is the main key of individual training and development.

Organizational training and development: It refers all those activities and programs by
which companies improves knowledge of employees that makes them able to fit in their job role.
Organizational training and development helps employees in performing their job role’s
functions with effectiveness (Hussain, Khan and Khan, 2020). The main aim of bettering
performance of individuals in organizational setting.
On the basis of above discussed differences it can be said that both types of learning,
training and development helps company in meeting their goals and developing career of
employees. It increases performance of both employees and company.
Need for continuous professional development that drive sustainable business performance
Continuous professional development is an ongoing process that can help in professional
progress. It is important for Sainsbury’s to focus on CPD as it can help its employees in being in
the competition and also improve performance by adapting changes.
Improves learning ability: Business environment consists of some internal and external
environmental factors and changes in some factors can affect overall performance of company. If
employees do not have an ability to adapt changes then it can have some negative impacts so it is
important for all employees to focus on their continuous professional development by analysing
their own skills and weaknesses.
Improves productivity: When employees focus on continuous development then they are
more likely to improve their performance. It boots their confidence and with this they help
company in meeting their goals (Sharmahd, Peeters and Bushati, 2018). By continuous
development and self-analysis, they learn new ways of performing functions that make them
creative and innovative. For that they put extra efforts that lead to sustainability.
So, from the above discussed all advantages it can be said that CPD plays a vital role and it
can help company in improving its overall performance and sustainable development.
Ways as how high performance working contributes to employee engagement and competitive
advantage
In regard to high performance working it can be said that it refers practices that can help
company in improving their capacity of attracting, selecting and retaining high performing
workers or staff. High performance working culture contributes employees’ engagement and can

help Sainsbury’s in taking competitive advantages. Some areas that lead to HPW and employees’
engagement are:
Motivation: it is believed that companies that has an effective practice and HPW mainly
focus on motivating employees. It is found that Sainsbury’s motivate its employees with
financial and non-financial elements on the basis of performance such as: bonus, appreciation
and others. When employees are being motivated then they are more likely to stay with the
company so it is the reason that shows that HPW leads to employees’ engagement.
Team working: It is other main area on which companies with HPW focus the most.
Sainsbury promote team working in order to improve their relation with each other’s. It is also
believed that when employees work in a team then it increases their skills, knowledge (Huang,
Ma and Meng, 2018). With improved knowledge they try to bring innovation within business
that can help company in taking competitive advantages.
Diversity: In HPW practice companies focus on inclusion and diversity. It is found that
Sainsbury’s employ workers of different age group, gender, race and communication. It makes
employees feel valued and also improves image of the company. An improved image is the main
key of success of company and competitive advantages. Motivated and valued employees also
help company in promoting brand by word of mouth.
So, from the above it can be said that HPW is an effective practice and can help in high
employees’ retention and engagement.
Different approaches to performance management and their role in supporting high performance
culture
Managing performance is critical for improved productivity and growth of company. An
effective practice of performance management can help companies’ in making its culture with
high performance. Some approaches of performance management on which Sainsbury’s focus
include:
Collaborative working: Collaboration is an effective approach in which all employees of
all levels work together in a team. With collaboration they help each other’s. Leaders of this
retailer also focus on transformational style of leading in which they also work with their
employees. They help their company in innovation and creativity that is vital for high
performance and competitive advantage (Puķīte and Geipele, 2017).

360-degree feedback: It is also considered as one of the effective model of managing
performance. This model helps employees in knowing their current and actual performance and
abilities through feedbacks given by their peers. It helps them out in improving their
performance and leading high performance culture.
CONCLUSION
From the above study it has been summarized that high performance working practice play a
vital role as it helps companies in meeting their goals. Further it has discussed importance of
self-analysis with the help of SWOT model. This model helps employees in knowing their own
capabilities along with weaknesses. Personal and professional development plan also plays a
vital role as it helps in improving skills. It has also discussed some approaches of performance
management as how collaborative working and others can support high performance culture.
Organizational and individual learning and training also has great positive impacts on
performance of company.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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introducing mentoring in organizations. Social Psychology and Society. 9(1). pp.162-
176.
Dixit, U., 2019. Strategic Role of Human Resource Management in Employee Skill
Development: An Employer's Perspective. Asian Man (The)-An International Journal.
13(2). pp.199-203.
Han, S.J. and Stieha, V., 2020. Growth mindset for human resource development: A scoping
review of the literature with recommended interventions. Human Resource
Development Review. 19(3). pp.309-331.
Herman, M., 2017. Creating a Personal SWOT Analysis. MRH Enterprises LLC. Fecha de
consulta. 20.
Huang, Y., Ma, Z. and Meng, Y., 2018. High‐performance work systems and employee
engagement: empirical evidence from China. Asia Pacific Journal of Human
Resources. 56(3). pp.341-359.
Hussain, A., Khan, M.A. and Khan, M.H., 2020. The Influence of Training and Development on
Organizational Commitment of Academicians in Pakistan. Review of Economics and
Development Studies. 6(1). pp.43-55.
Kumar and et.al., 2017. The roles and responsibilities of a human resource manager in an
organisation. International Journal of Management, IT and Engineering. 7(9). pp.216-
223.
Mainert, J. and et.al., 2018. How employees perceive organizational learning: construct
validation of the 25-item short form of the strategic learning assessment map (SF-
SLAM). Journal of Knowledge Management.
Puķīte, I. and Geipele, I., 2017. Different approaches to building management and maintenance
meaning explanation. Procedia Engineering. 172. pp.905-912.
Sharmahd, N., Peeters, J. and Bushati, M., 2018. Towards continuous professional development:
Experiencing group reflection to analyse practice. European Journal of
Education, 53(1), pp.58-65.
Wallo, A. and Kock, H., 2018. HR outsourcing in small and medium-sized enterprises. Personnel
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