Developing Individuals, Teams, and Organizations Report - M&S Analysis

This report, focusing on Marks & Spencer (M&S), delves into the critical aspects of developing individuals, teams, and organizations. It begins by outlining the required knowledge, skills, and behaviors for a learning and development consultant, including a job advertisement and a personal skills audit. The report then presents a professional development plan. It explores the differences between individual and organizational training, learning, and development, emphasizing the need for continuous learning and professional development to drive sustainable business performance. The application of learning cycle theories to analyze the importance of implementing continuous professional development is also included. Furthermore, it examines the contribution of High-Performance Working (HPW) to employee engagement and competitive advantage, along with an evaluation of different performance management approaches and their impact on culture and commitment.

Developing
Individuals, Team and
Organizations

Contents
INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................................3
TASK 1.......................................................................................................................................................3
Appropriate and professional knowledge, skills and behaviors required for the position of learning and
development consultant...........................................................................................................................3
Personal skills audit to identify knowledge, skills and behaviors along with a professional development
plan for learning and development consultant.........................................................................................5
Difference between organizational and individual training, learning and development...........................8
Need for continuous learning and professional development to drive sustainable business performance 9
Application of learning cycle theories to analyze the importance of implementing continuous
professional development......................................................................................................................10
Produce a detailed and coherent professional development plan...........................................................10
TASK 2.....................................................................................................................................................11
Understanding the contribution of HPW to employee engagement and competitive advantage............11
Benefits of applying HWP with justification to a specific situation.......................................................12
Evaluation of different approaches of performance management along with examples for their
contribution in supporting high performance working...........................................................................13
Critical evaluation of different approaches of performance management and make judgement of their
support to culture and commitment along with valid synthesis.............................................................14
CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................................16
REFERENCES........................................................................................................................................17

INTRODUCTION
Development is an activity of HR department which focuses on making the individuals,
teams and organizations better so that they can achieve their targets effectively and in the desired
manner. It is a continuous task which requires supervision and leadership altogether so that
development keeps on going (Renninger and Hidi, 2019). This report is based on Marks &
Spencer which is a multinational company having its headquarters in United Kingdom. Since, it
is operating at such a huge level, it recruits for different positions in the entity based on the
eligibility and other criteria. Furthermore, this report comprises of determination of appropriate
knowledge, skills audit, difference between individual and organizational training, learning and
development, in addition to this, it also include the need for implementing continuous
developmental plan, detailed and coherent professional development plan, understanding of
HPW, evaluation of different approaches of performance management, judgements on
organization culture and commitment and many more such things.
TASK 1
Appropriate and professional knowledge, skills and behaviors required for the position of
learning and development consultant
Professional knowledge is the understanding of subject matters for the understanding of
student for achieving the expertise. Every individual applying for the post of learning and
development consultant must have a bachelor’s degree in instructional design (Aksit, Arpat and
Kalfa, 2017). Having knowledge of this subject is necessary for able to create activities and
design experiences in such a way that other employees in the organization can learn new things
for their development.
Skills are important for performing given tasks within the specified time. It is necessary
for achieving pre-determined results with the available resources.
Behaviors refers to the study or understanding of the behavior that individuals as well as
teams within an organization show while carrying their activities. It depicts the atmosphere
within the workplace.
Job advertisement is a way through which a company announces or bring to the notice
of people the vacant job positions that are available. Some information other than the job, such as

brief about company and the rewards or perks to be provided for the prospective position are also
included.
Job advertisement
We are Marks & Spencer
Join a team of diverse professionals at Marks & Spencer to acquire the skills on the job and
apply learned knowledge to future roles at Marks & Spencer. We also offer extensive training
opportunities by our senior leaders who have contributed a lot to the company and have been
named in the top magazines in the world. Start your career at Marks & Spencer today.
Job summary
Human Resources department at Marks & Spencer is looking for a fresher Learning and
Development consultant for helping the company to the next level.
Professional knowledge
The applicant must have the degree in instructional design from a Tier 1 or Tier 2 college.
Skills
- Good and strong communication for discussing proposals and strategies
- Reading the people skills
- Listening skills
- High organized skills for planning, implementing and reviewing initiatives
- Knowledge in the education and training field
- Skill for giving instructions
- Coordinating the employees skills
- Effective financial resources management skills
Job Functions
The employee is required to design curriculum activities, meetings with top management
people for discussing the details, communication with the staff, feedbacks, preparing set of
tasks and training them.

Experience requirements
6 month internship at a good company in the field of learning and development.
Personal skills audit to identify knowledge, skills and behaviors along with a professional
development plan for learning and development consultant
Personal skills audit refers to a written document comprising all the skills that a person
possess in the current scenario along with the specification of how advanced they are. It is
important to understand and reduce the gap between the skills so that one can get the dream job.
S
no.
Skills Score Score by my
friends and
previous
workplace
team members
Difference
1 Communication skills which require me
to be clear and on point for my opinions
with others
8 9 1
2 Listen patiently to another individual
even when they are slow
6 6 0
3 Reading the people in order to
understand them
5 7 2
4 Providing instructions for team
members
7 8 1
5 Knowledge in the education and training
field for helping other employees to
develop
6 9 3
6 Financial resources management skills 5 8 3
7 Coordinating employees for the best
outcomes and even for the crucial tasks
7 7 0

From the above skills audit, it can be concluded that I need to work on some of my skills
which can help me in developing good results within the organization. It will also help me to
grab opportunities in the future.
Professional development plan is a blueprint or roadmap which includes skills,
education and strategy necessary for further development in the career so that professional goals
can be achieved.
Target Action to achieve Evidence of
completion
Target date
Work on the basic
and advance
concepts of
instructional
design for
understanding
others in a better
way.
- Giving more
time to myself
for meeting the
target without
rushing
- Applying the
thorough
knowledge into
different
streams, personal
as well as
professional.
- Developing the
understanding of
the requirement
that the
organization
required from
me.
- Motivate myself
to continue
learning and
Assigned work will
be completed on time
and the results will be
measured with the
standard.
5th May 2022

gaining
knowledge.
Improving
communication
skills
- Research the
tactics for
improving this
skills.
- Taking time to
interact with
people in the
workplace as
well as outside
the organization
for overcoming
all the barriers in
this skills.
- Set curriculum
activities for
myself to boost
my confidence.
Records of previous
and current
communication skills
will be examined.
7th M ay 2022
Gain experience in
the prospective
field
- Gain the
experiences
required to be
capable in the
industry
- To land up a
job which I
have been
planning for
too long.
- To exit from
the job with
improved
skills and
knowledge.
2022 (the year of
placement)

Development record is the document for noting and recording all the achievements that
a person gained by applying the skills required for the job position. It is useful for assessing the
performance and giving rewards by the human resource department in the organization.
Date of activity Activity Purpose/Skill
addressed
Number of
Hours provided
Location
15th May Induction Communication 8 M&S head
office in UK
25th May Designing the
first curriculum
activity
Designing and
delivery skills of
strategies
33 M&S head
office in UK
15th June Training for the
job role
Imparting the
knowledge of
the chosen field
after the
employee got
comfortable with
the organization
environment
120 Branch office in
UK
17th June Meeting with the
officials of the
company
To discuss the
ideas and
activities
designed for the
employees
5 Work from
home through
virtual mode
Difference between organizational and individual training, learning and development
Individual learning is all about focusing on self-directed and work based process which
are interconnected to each other. It increases employee involvement and participation go parallel.
It is important for continuous learning. It also enhances motivation and commitment. It
emphasizes on personal development of each personnel. Individual training is provided by the
entity to every employee on the basis of those areas where they are lacking. It is a customized

training session which is provided by the top leaders who have strong knowledge and experience
in the targeted field. Individual development is when the activities are designed for the growth
of each person working in the organization. It is for the benefit of every employee which
improved their performance within the entity. Rewards are given on the basis their individual
performance for retaining them within the organization.
On the other hand, organizational learning is for making the entity competitive in the
industry. It focuses on all the managers and leaders to make them carry their tasks for the
development of overall organization. It is for the whole team where learning opportunities are
given to all the employees irrespective of any other factors. It helps in improving the tasks of
overall team of the company. Organizational training is for the all the employees for making
them aware about the changes taking place in the environment so that personnel can adjust
themselves with such variations. Organizational development is for the development of the
whole entity and does not focus on one individual needs. It focuses on those areas which are
helpful for the organization as a whole. This helps in improving the existing position of the
company in the market standing.
Need for continuous learning and professional development to drive sustainable business
performance
Continuous learning and professional development is the activity of regular expansion
of skills and other subjects for learning. This helps in enhancing knowledge. While talking about
professional level, continuous learning is about further expanding the skill set in response to a
changing environment and new developments. Sustainable business is what many businesses in
the current time look for. It is important for long term survival in the competitive market. Also, it
is important to understand include diverse set of employees in the entity for using the ideas and
experiences of different employees. The need for continuous professional development for the
diverse sustainable performance is as follows:
- CDP is necessary for enhancing knowledge and skills for providing better services to
customers, clients and society/community.
- It helps in keeping the employees up to date with all the changes taking place for meeting
the targets.
- It is useful in keeping pace with the current standards of others in the same field.

- It helps in gaining competitive edge by making individuals to value the organization
which lead to better corporate performance.
- It gives numerous opportunities to employees for their future career growth. This makes
the workforce more productive.
Application of learning cycle theories to analyze the importance of implementing continuous
professional development
There are number of theories emerged for learning cycle so that CDP can be implemented
within organization. A very famous theory along with its application has been provided
underneath:
- Kolb theory was developed for experimental learning concept used by leaders and other
people in the workplace for cultivating and maintaining a successful and constructive
learning environment. There are four pillars on which this theory is based viz. experience,
observation, conceptualization and experimentation. According to this theory, this model
can be used to understand the individual preferred learning style suitable for each
individual.
Experience is gained with the time and by using expertise for a long time in the organization.
CDP helps in providing the necessary understand and awareness of industry competition so that
one can apply his or her experience.
Reflective observation is based on ideologies that a person has learned. It makes an
individual to make changes in current approaches for solving new challenges and to make
effective decisions. CDP often calls for making crucial decisions which is possible through this
only.
Abstract conceptualization is the transformation of experience and reflection gained during
the job. It is the application of the theory extracted from the learnings of a leader. For
implementation of CDP, it is important to use various approaches in the form of theory.
Active experimentation is the activity of testing existing ideas by creating new experiences.
CDP ca be implemented only when employees are given the chance to use their own skills and
experiences for developing something innovative for the entity.

Produce a detailed and coherent professional development plan
It has already been provided above which described all the targets along with the time
limit within which it has be achieved.
TASK 2
Understanding the contribution of HPW to employee engagement and competitive advantage
High performance working is an approach followed by organizations for making
employees more productive. It helps in increasing their commitment towards the company and to
achieve high performance. It is important for the leader and other top management authorities to
understand the importance of including this approach in the competitive era and for high
employee engagement.
There is an interconnection between high performance working and employee
engagement in relation to organizational goals. It shows the commitment that personnel have for
their company. There are rewards and activities for keeping their motivation high so that they
can contribute even more to the organization. It also enhances their interest towards the work, the
value of organization increases, along with personal and professional career growth.
High performance working approach helps building positive atmosphere at the workplace
which leads to high opportunities to work by incorporating all the changes that are taking place
within the market. It also makes the entity to include a policy for diverse employee workforce.
HPW is an outcome of rewards which are given to employees for working one step up from the
current working styles and approaches.
When the entity performs well as compared to its competitors, it is likely that such a
business is going to have competitive edge. The contribution of HWP helps in improving the
tactics and skills of employees who in turn apply the same for incorporating innovation and new
ways to add value to the business. It not only help in attaining competitive edge but also helps
the business survive in the long run.
It also assists the organization to have enhanced synchronization and coordination among
the employees and overall policies and strategies. Also, the HR team can evaluate the
performance of each employee based on their individual performance in the past years, so that

new employees can be hired for the positions and are capable of adding more values to the
organization.
Furthermore, candidates look for those workplace which are uses high performance
working approach as it takes into consideration the needs and interests of employees and fulfill
them for keeping their motivation high.
In the position of external learning and development consultant, it is important to deliver
high performance because of the responsibilities that this position has. There is a need to deliver
effective strategies for keeping the employees motivate and make them learn new things. It
should be made in a way to enhance their learning which is going to help the organization in
achieving the goals within the time limit set for the purpose. Mark and Spencer is a huge
company, which focuses in its employees and tries to fulfil their needs in order to keep them
motivated and enhance their performance within the organization.
Benefits of applying HWP with justification to a specific situation
An organization may face number of situations which may be difficult to handle by the
management team and affect the high performance of employees in the entity. Therefore,
company may apply HWP for the employee engagement in a particular situation. Let’s take the
situation of providing the comprehensive training to the employees for their learning and
development. The situation of training occurs when there are changes which should be taken into
account by the management as without the updated knowledge, it becomes difficult to keep pace
with the variations in the market.
At such times, the company may apply HPW in the workplace which give the following
benefits which are as follows:
- It helps in motivating employees to accept the changes as they are usually resistant to
work according to such variations in the industry.
- HPW encourages personnel to participate in the activities and training sessions for
enhancing their knowledge.
- It also increases their skills and tactics to use in carrying out activities and tasks within
the time specified by the company.