Developing Professional Practice: HR Role, Techniques, and Dynamics

This report delves into the multifaceted role of an HR professional, exploring their contributions within the context of the CIPD's Profession Map. It examines the core knowledge, behaviors, and specialist knowledge required for effective human resource management, emphasizing the importance of evidence-based decision-making, principles-led approaches, and outcomes-driven strategies. The report further analyzes project management techniques relevant to HR, including the PMBOK and PMI's five stages, and problem-solving techniques. It also explores group dynamics within teams and departments, referencing Tuckman's stages of team development, and examines conflict resolution methods to address issues arising from group interactions. Additionally, the report includes a self-assessment of current skills and knowledge, identifies areas for professional development, and outlines a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) plan. The report provides insights into the practical application of HR principles and techniques within organizational settings.

Developing Professional Practice

Table of Contents
Developing Professional Practice....................................................................................................0
Activity-1.........................................................................................................................................2
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
A.C 1.1 Role and Contribution of the HR Professional in context of the CIPD’s Profession Map 2
Professional Values.........................................................................................................................4
- Evidence-Based........................................................................................................................4
- Principles-Led..........................................................................................................................5
- Outcomes-Driven.....................................................................................................................5
Core Knowledge..............................................................................................................................5
Core Behaviours..............................................................................................................................5
Specialist Knowledge......................................................................................................................6
A.C 2. 1 Project Management Techniques with Reference to HR Context....................................8
A.C 2.2 Problem Solving Techniques with Reference to HR Context............................................8
A.C 1.2 Group Dynamics Arise within Teams and Departments within Organisation and Impact
on HR Department...........................................................................................................................9
Conflict Resolution Methods Used to Resolve Issues Created by Group Dynamics and the
Effectiveness of their application within Organisation.................................................................10
2.3 Range of Methods for Persuading, Negotiating, and Influencing...........................................11
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................12
Activity-2.......................................................................................................................................13
3.1 Self-assessment of current knowledge, skills, and behaviours in your practitioner role
including two core areas of Profession Map. Identify Continuing Professional Development CPD
needs..............................................................................................................................................13
3.2 Identify the areas of development and devise your own CPD plan.........................................14
3.3 Reflection.................................................................................................................................15
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References......................................................................................................................................17
Activity-1
Introduction
Professional development is defined as the operative strategic and skilled implementation that
contributes to the enhancement of knowledge and aid in learning (Allen, Palermo, Armstrong,
and Hay, 2019). Professional development is generally incorporated in group settings (meetings,
training, and presentation), and also in mentoring and general technical assistance. In contrast,
professional practice is referred to employee reflection in order to maintain a balanced and
healthy relationship within an organisation and also with the consumers and manufacturers. For
the purpose of maintaining a balanced and satisfactory relationship with employees and
manufacturers, decisions are formed by making use of knowledge, and on the basis of past
evidence that gives an experience of self-development. This report will contribute to the
generation of information regarding the HR professional's role. In addition, examples will also be
provided in regard to project management techniques and problem-solving techniques. Group
dynamics elements will also be determined in the context of department and team. In regards to
problem-solving techniques, the report will also establish conflict resolution methods.
A.C 1.1 Role and Contribution of the HR Professional in context of the CIPD’s Profession
Map
HR professionals are vital in the continuous and effective human resource management function.
HR professionals contribute to the identification of goals, vision, and mission statements of an
organisation and communicate them with team members for the successful business growth and
development that leads to the attainment of targeted objectives. Talented working team and
successful achievement of goals are succeeded by the human resource management. Human
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resource management is capable of performing various functions that help in the successful
accomplishment of goals. Human resource management is concerned with the hiring of talented
workers and trains them accordingly with the rules and culture of an organisation. Training is not
only provided to the new employees but also provided to the existing employees, as it will help
them in improving skills that lead to the optimal success of organisational goals (Emmott, 2016).
Hiring the right employee and compensating them at the right designation is not an easy task, HR
professionals do this job with effectiveness and frame techniques and policies to retain most of
the talented employees in an organisation and try to reduce the rate of employee turnover. CIPD's
profession map is used in order to make better and more operative decisions, it will aid
organisations to perform confidently meanwhile enhance the organisational performances that
will help in making beneficial and effective changes.
HR professionals make use of the CIPD profession map as a tool in order to measure the key
functions of human resource management that lead to the pathway that enhances the employee's
career development as well as the business development of an organisation. Nowadays, HR
professionals are accompanied with a set of knowledge, professional behaviour, and skills to
perform effectively in an organisation. CIPD profession map helps HR professionals in
identifying skills and capabilities of employees that may contribute in suggesting the alterations
for future development of employees as well as of team. CIPD profession map is a cycle of 8
behaviours and 10 professional areas that are hierarchically separated into four groups of
professional competencies. The 8 behaviours are listed at the end of the cycle (map) and
contribute to establishing information relevant to the functions and daily operations of HR
professionals (Griggs and Allen, 2018).
Subsequently, two core areas and eight professional areas are composed under the roof of the
professional area of the map. Moreover, core areas are named solutions, insights, and strategies
that are vital for almost all HR professionals (Hunter-Hill, 2019). In addition, the CIPD
profession map predicts that human resource management success is mainly based on their
capabilities and skills for the promotion of a better understanding of mission, vision, and
business strategies and their communication to the working team for timely and successful
business achievement. CIPD profession map also resources in meeting the innovative business
demands and enables an organisation to set strategies and make use of innovative approaches for
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the successful accomplishment. CIPD profession map will help out the employees, organisation,
and HR professionals throughout. CIPD profession map is attached below that gives information
regarding the functions of HR professionals:
(Band 1 professional development - Presto Pizza, 2021)
Professional Values
Professional values of the CIPD profession map helps in the maintenance of trust relationship in
an organisation that is mandatory for the positive changes within an organisation. Professional
values are composed of the following elements:
- Evidence-Based
However, evidence is not established by the CIPD profession map, although it may resource in
the formulation of information regarding the effectiveness of information formed on the basis of
evidence. In order to form evidence-based decisions HR professionals considers behavioural
sciences, academic research, practitioner expertise, and organisational data as this evidence leads
to effective decision-making.
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- Principles-Led
Three key principles of organisational change are used by HR professionals. The three key
principles are people matter, work-matters, and professionalism matter. These three elements
help HR professionals in effective decision-making.
- Outcomes-Driven
The possible outcomes of the shaped strategies and formed decisions made in the last stage are
suggested by HR professionals. The outcomes are related to the impacts of decisions on work,
professionalism, on employees, and impacts on individuals. These driven outcomes aid HR
professionals in predicting the best suitable and most possible techniques and outcomes to
achieve optimal success.
Core Knowledge
HR professionals use six core areas of knowledge for effective decision-making. The used core
areas are people practise business acumen, culture and behaviour, creation of analytics and
values, and digital working. Using these core areas as knowledge, enables HR professionals to
act as a specialist and practitioners.
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Core Behaviours
In order to show optimal and constant changes in an organisation, core behaviours are used by
HR professionals for effectiveness. In addition, used core behaviours are valuing people, ethical
practices, working inclusively, focussed insights, commercial drive, and situational decision-
making, etc.
Specialist Knowledge
HR professionals make use of the CIPD profession map that helps them in effective decision-
making as it encloses all the areas and develops professional opportunities for the employees and
also enables personal development. The information is extracted by the HR professionals from
the areas of relations of the employees, talent management, employee experiences, resourcing
rewards, learning and development, research and development, people analytics in order to gain
specialist knowledge that leads to effective decision-making.
The term "group dynamics" refers to the interactions between individuals who are part of a team
or a group (Forsyth, 2019). A team is a group that has achieved cohesion, and the strength of a
team comes from the bonds built among its members (Fransen, Weinberger, and Kirschner,
2013). Tuckman's team development phases, which encompass the stages listed below, are one
approach to characterising team development.
The "formation" stage of team development is the first step; during this stage, team members
may have a variety of goals and ideas. Team members are usually cautious about what they say
and how they communicate. People strive to be their best selves.
The following step, known as "storming," shows the disagreements that are likely to arise as the
team defines itself. During the storming stage, team members often believe that they will never
be able to be on the same page and develop as a unit (Hiriyappa B, 2018).
The third stage is the "norming" stage, which occurs when members of the team build a shared
vision and establish objectives and goals. During this stage, team members become aware of
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each other's strengths and flaws and learn to collaborate with one another. During this phase, the
team is more productive.
The team members share a clear sense of purpose, open communication, and high trust in the
"performing" phase. In the current paradigm, the team is effective. In this stage, the team's
relationships, camaraderie, and spirit are at an all-time high.
The final stage, known as the "transforming: stage, occurs when the team has reached such a
high level of productivity and efficiency that it is able to redefine its shared purpose and manage
change fast (Kim, Kim, and Jo, 2021).
HR management can benefit from this idea because it allows HR managers to identify each
employee's strengths and shortcomings, as well as what they excel at. Finally, it can enable HR
managers to establish various performance management criteria that can subsequently be utilised
as a performance indicator or a measure to incentivize the team to reach their goal, such as a
group bonus upon project completion (Ulrich, Younger, Brockbank, and Ulrich, 2013).
Conflict resolution is a process that allows two or more parties to work out a peaceful solution to
a problem. The conflict could be personal, economic, political, or emotional in nature. When a
conflict emerges, the best course of action is frequently to negotiate a solution. The three main
ways to resolve conflicts within an organization are:-
1. Avoiding: Someone who employs an "avoiding" method tries to ignore or dodge the problem
in the hopes that it will resolve or disappear.
2. Accommodating: Using the "accommodating" conflict resolution method is taking steps to
address the other party's concerns or demands at the price of your own wants or aspirations
3. Compromising: Finding an acceptable settlement that will somewhat, but not totally, satisfies
the concerns of all parties involved is the goal of the "compromise" technique.
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A.C 2. 1 Project Management Techniques with Reference to HR Context
Project management is composed of methodologies, skills, processes, experiences that are
needed for the achievement of objectives of the team project according to the set criteria of the
project. In addition, the foundation of project management is based on PMBOK and PMI's five
stages that are categorised as initiation, planning, execution, monitoring, and closure that helps in
turning the process of the project into the functional state (Karaman and Kurt, 2015). The listed
stages can help HR professionals in the formulation of an effective strategy for the project.
Organisations deals in various projects with the targeted goal. In order to achieve these targeted
goals, HR professionals arrange training sessions and coaching sessions. The official document
for the project is shaped by an HR professional, this framed document helps to keep the working
team on track and enables them to work accordingly. The shaped formal document is consisting
of names of team members and the name of the leader of the team and project sponsors,
timeframe and budget of the project are also mentioned in the project document. In addition, an
official meeting is arranged by the HR professionals that help to boost up the energy levels of
employees and empower them to show extended performances as well as maintain the
momentum in the success of the project. The project is divided into three milestones, starting at
the middle and end of the day-by-day performance evaluation, by the HR professionals, they also
help to predict modifications in order to show optimal success. For example, HR professionals
associate employees and create a formal document for providing the direction of project
achievement and assist each employee with a distinct task that collectively helps in the
achievement of set targeted goals. In addition, for the project of change management HR
professionals collaborates with capable and high-achieving employees and work in the direction
of success.
A.C 2.2 Problem Solving Techniques with Reference to HR Context
HR professionals provide training, coaching, and mentoring sessions for the hired talented
employees in order to give brief information regarding the culture and functioning of an
organisation that may ease in achieving the targeted goals of an organisation. In addition, in
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organisational groups or teams are formed for the purpose of achieving the targeted goals, in
order to achieve set objectives working team is gathered and there are chances of conflicts and
issues as every individual has their own set of ideas. Such issues are resolved by HR
professionals by adapting problem-solving techniques. Moreover, human resource management
is concerned with framing such problem resolving tactics or raised conflicts. Whereas in the
absence of such tactics or problem-solving techniques organisation's productive growth may be
slow down and it may face downfall. Unresolved conflicts in an organisation tend to disturb the
decorum of an organisation. In common, raised conflicts are mainly related to reward
management, employee engagement, unclear policies of an organisation explained to newly
hired employees, ineffective leaders, team disagreement, and many other relevant issues that
may impart a negative impact on the business development of an organisation (Angrave et al.,
2016).
HR professionals are prone to problem-solving methods that made them capable enough to
render the issue and find all the possible solutions as well as evaluate each and every listed
solution to choose the best out of it. After the successful selection of problem-solving methods,
HR professionals form an implementation plan in order to communicate the solution. For
example, employee engagement conflict raised in an organisation is resolved by the HR
professionals by successful identification of the root cause of the problem and implementing the
most suitable solution of arranging mentoring and training programs. These sessions will help to
enhance the importance of working in associations, among the employees. Moreover, innovative
policies are adapted by HR professionals to resolve the issue of unclear communicated company
policies to the newly hired employee, through implementing a technique of clear and precise
conveying of policies.
A.C 1.2 Group Dynamics Arise within Teams and Departments within Organisation and
Impact on HR Department
Group dynamics are concerned with the behaviours and terms of the individuals that they use
while performing functions in an organisation. Positive group dynamics suggest that employees
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are working well while on the other hand, negative group dynamics give a view of poor
employee behaviours. Group dynamics can be categorised into nine basic elements, such as
engagement, group structure (group size, norms of group, group roles, and cohesiveness of
groups), openness, communication quality and dominant style behaviour, group process
(decision-making, communication, power dynamics), group tasks (complexity and
interdependence). Moreover, group dynamics are mainly cataleptic and psychosomatic factors
that enable the members with the right direction in consideration with the performance and
performance of the group.
Conflict Resolution Methods Used to Resolve Issues Created by Group Dynamics and the
Effectiveness of their application within Organisation
Conflict resolution methods are in a variant that resource in resolving the raised conflicts in the
group dynamics are categorised as mediation, negotiation, litigation, etc (Ribeiro, Ellerbroek and
Hoekstra, 2020). Moreover, in order to reduce the chances of raised conflicts in an organisation
HR professionals look after this issue, however, there are still some other reasons such as low
engagement, lack of trust, poor change management, lack of transparency. Such reasons also
need to be resolved that helps to restore the decorum of an organisation. For example, the issue
of low employee engagement and issues related to team leaders was resolved by making use of
the conflict resolution method of negotiation. For instance, in order to maintain the business
development of an organisation, human resource management resolves such matters. Another
situation of raised conflicts due to lack of trust in between the employees for the purpose of
decision-making that raised a problem in group dynamics that can be resolved by including the
third party that identifies the main culprit, this method is known as the mediation method of
conflict resolution. The disrupted stakeholder's relationship results in a raised conflict in the
group dynamics that tends to the usage of litigation method of conflict resolution, this type of
method is used in most critical situations, although HR professionals try to avoid using this
method as it involves law governing bodies and the process is quite time-consuming. The raised
conflicts in an organisation may delay the process of business development in an organisation.
However, by making use of conflict resolution methods organisations may try to speed up the
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growth process. Kenneth, Thomas, and Ralph Kilmann proposed a model of conflict resolution
that forms the basis for resolving the raised conflicts in an organisation. This model gives
methods of conflict resolution such as defeating, avoiding, compromising, collaborating, and
accommodating. In case of the unavailability of such methods organisation may face a downfall.
(Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Resolution Assessment | Genes of Leadership, 2021)
2.3 Range of Methods for Persuading, Negotiating, and Influencing
Human resource management professionals make use of a range of methods for the development
of an effective team. Human resource professionals make use of these methods to encourage
employees, negotiate in various matters, and inspires others to incorporate persuasion and
negotiation. For instance, HR professionals introduce persuasive and encouraging techniques in
order to boost up the energy and motivational levels of employees so that these employees must
put in extended efforts, as persuasive techniques enhance the skills, loyalty, and capabilities of
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