Report on HR Skills Development for Hightown Housing Professionals

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of HR skills development within the context of Hightown Housing. It begins by identifying the essential knowledge, skills, and behaviors required for HR professionals, including ICT skills, interpersonal skills, analytical skills, and leadership skills. A personal skill audit is conducted to assess current capabilities and areas for improvement. The report then outlines a professional development plan designed to enhance these skills. Furthermore, it explores the importance of continuous learning and professional development, examining various strategies for implementation and highlighting their benefits. The report also delves into the concept of High-Performance Working (HPW) and its contribution to employee engagement and competitive advantage. Finally, it identifies and discusses different approaches to performance management, providing specific examples to support the arguments. The report aims to provide a strategic framework for fostering individual, team, and organizational growth within Hightown Housing.

DEVELOPING
INDIVIDUAL, TEAMS AND
ORGANISATIONS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
SECTION 1.....................................................................................................................................3
PART 1............................................................................................................................................3
Knowledge, skills and behaviour required..................................................................................3
Personal Skill audit and analysis.................................................................................................4
Professional Development Plan...................................................................................................5
PART 2............................................................................................................................................8
A. Continuous Learning and Professional Development............................................................8
B. Analysis using Learning Cycle Theories................................................................................9
SECTION 2...................................................................................................................................10
PART 1..........................................................................................................................................10
Contribution of HPW to employee engagement and competitive advantage............................10
PART 2..........................................................................................................................................12
Approaches to performance management.................................................................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Development of individuals, teams and organisations is a very comprehensive process
where the key is to strategically plan the growth of the employees in the organisation so that
along with them, organisation can also grow (Cartwright, 2017). The current report will evaluate
the knowledge, skill and behaviour that is necessary to become an HR professional in the
Hightown housing and the factors that are important while planning for inclusive learning and
development. The report will also evaluate the concept of High Performance Working i.e. HPW
and the manner in which it contributes to employee engagement and gaining competitive
advantage. Lastly, the report will identify manner in which the different performance
management approaches can be adopted and specific examples will be given to support the
arguments.
SECTION 1
PART 1
Knowledge, skills and behaviour required
Human resource is the key aspect of any organisation and its management is even a more
crucial task (Malmelin, N. and Virta, 2017). For Hightown housing, there are certain skills that
the employee expects in the HR Advisor for the company and these can be illustrated in
following manner:
 ICT Skills: Information communication technology skills are necessary for the HR advisor
so that they can perform all the day to day activities such as emailing, virtual meetings and
conferences, employee information portals, attendance and performance tracking etc. (Yu
and et.al., 2015). Apart from this, the use of MS- Office tools etc. is also necessary so that
they can perform all the duties and maintain records.
 Interpersonal Skills: It is instrumental that the HR advisor of the company knows how to
communicate with the people and develop strong and integrated relationships with the
employees (Pepper, 2020). They should be able to make them understand their point of view
and in return also understand their issues and concerns. The implementation of a positive
body language and the capability of managing and avoiding conflicting situations is also an
additional aspect covered in interpersonal skills.
 Analytical Skills: The analytical skills here does not pertain to the high level data analysing
skills that researchers and economists or financers use but the basic numerical skills that are
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the HR advisors of Hightown housing need to posses (Main and Pendergast, 2017). These
are mainly required to perform simple salary related calculations, or performing analysis of
performance, standards comparisons, developing interpretive graphs etc.
 Leadership Skills: Leadership skills help in the successful management of the employees in
Hightown Housing where the HR advisors can monitor the activities of the employees, the
performance can be adequately evaluated, their discipline and team development are the key
aspects which can be facilitated by the use of these activities (Afsar, Shahjehan and Shah,
2018).
Knowledge required by HR advisor mainly pertains to the ICT skills where it is necessary to
have knowledge about how the different technological aspects that are necessary to perform
the duty and the use of software that is necessary needs to be learnt and developed by the
HR. it is also necessary to understand the human psychology and integrate the interpersonal
and communication skills etc. with the knowledge of the manner in which an employee who
is also an individual thinks or reacts (Chams and García-Blandón, 2019). This will help in
maintaining a satisfied workforce which is the key objective of the HR advisor at Hightown
Housing.
The Behaviour of the HR advisors must be complacent at all times where they must seem
accessible and attentive to every employee who might have any concern. It is necessary that
they are amiable with all the employees and rather than being abrupt or short minded, they
are patient enough to listen to all the issues that the employee is facing attentively and then
working on the resolution of that issue.
Personal Skill audit and analysis
Skill audit is instrumental in ascertaining the key strengths and weaknesses that an
individual possesses in relation to the skills that are necessary for the fulfilment of job related
roles and duties (Mazzei, Flynn and Haynie, 2016). For the current role, Brunel Skill Audit can
be performed in following manner:
Analytical Skills:
No Not Sure Yes
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I am able to understand numerical calculations and can
perform them satisfactorily.
I can interpret the numerical information sufficiently and
draw relevant conclusions.
I can successfully integrate numerical part with the theoretical
results.
I can implement the numerical tools and software.
ICT Skills:
No Not Sure Yes
I know how to use different software.
I can successfully utilise these tools in my overall work.
I rarely require assistance in these tasks unless there has been
some update in the software.
I can use this software to explain things to other as well.
Interpersonal Skills:
No Not Sure Yes
I am able to communicate with people successfully.
I can manage and resolve conflicts and problems at workplace
I can increase coordination and satisfaction of the employees.
I am able to improve performance and productivity by
creating a win- win situation for both.
I can adequately analyse that I am currently not at par with some of the most essential
skills that are necessary in order to develop a proper and comprehensive approach towards the
fulfilment of the job responsibilities as the HR Advisor for Hightown housing. I need to develop
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myself keenly in all the three areas as identified and further I also need to develop sufficient
leadership skills because it was identified that an HR advisor should be properly developed in
this area and I currently cannot qualify as an expert of this skill.
Professional Development Plan
Development Plan for a role of HR advisor is a document that includes the goals, skills
required and developing competencies for an HR along with the objectives it must accomplish in
order to contribute positively in improving and developing the career (Chams and García-
Blandón, 2019). It is mainly made by the managers to analyse the skills and resources needed to
support the members and the organization.
What do I
want/need to
learn?
What will I do to
achieve this?
What resources
or support will
I need?
What will my
success criteria
be?
Target dates
for review and
completion
Good
Communication
Skills
 By reading
various books.
 By getting
enrolled in
certain online
courses in
which people
communicate
with each other.
 By becoming a
 Different
types of
Books.
 Laptop,
Internet
Connection.
 Network of
educated
people,
 Becomes
easy to read
books, less
time taken to
read a
particular
book,
knowledge.
 Passing in
Online
assessments,
able to
participate in
Online
quizzes and
Seminars.
 Became able
to give
workshops
 Almost 1
month but
needs
feedback in
2 weeks.
 Almost 2
months but
needs
performance
report in 1
month.
 Almost 1
week.
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member of one
of the clubs like
Toastmasters
International
(Podgorodniche
nko, Edgar and
McAndrew,
2020).
sufficient
money to
submit the
registration
fees.
and
speeches,
various
certifications
and many
people in
contact.
Ability to take
Quick Decisions
 By setting a
time limit and
make a decision
for any
particular
problem.
 By doing
meditation to be
able to control
ourselves in
tough times.
 By becoming a
leader in
different places
where decisions
are made.
 A timer and
a peaceful
place to
think
calmly.
 Silent place
and
sufficient
time.
 Groups of
people,
effective and
strong voice
quality.
 Able to
make
decision in
short time as
compared to
the previous
times.
 Getting
feedback
from the
colleagues.
 Become able
to take
shorter
decisions
initially
followed by
large ones.
 Almost 2
weeks or
more.
 A week or
two.
 A month or
two.
Technical  By creating  Mobile  Numerous  Almost a
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Expertise accounts on
social
networking
sites.
 Exploring
everything
through
internet.
 Enrolling in
certain online
and offline
computer
courses.
phones and
Internet
Connectivity
.
 Laptops and
internet
connectivity.
 Sufficient
money for
enrolment,
time and set-
up including
computers.
accounts on
different
sites with
number of
people
connected.
 Became easy
to surf
anything on
internet and
technically
smart.
 Feedback
from the
colleagues
and
certification
of
achievement.
week or two.
 Almost a
month.
 At least 2
months.
The above professional development plan gives a clear idea to the HR Advisor to inculcate the
above mentioned skills and the ways for achieving it. The managers and HR of High town
Housing will be able to set substantial objectives of business performance and will analyse the
ways to achieve those objectives for the overall growth of the organization.
Weakness: If the smaller companies are considered where these plans are the part of regular
activities, then their absence can cause delays in the development and thereby productivity
decreases. As maximum number of employees are involved in Professional Development Plan,
the productivity is decreased rapidly.
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PART 2
A. Continuous Learning and Professional Development
This type of learning deals in expanding the skills and skill sets of the person through
increasing knowledge by learning continuously. This need is realized in Hightown Housing for
the role of HR by analysing the regular changes in the environment and the advanced
developments (Ahammad, 2017).
Professional Development can be helpful to teachers, administrators, and other educators by
providing trainings, learnings, formal education in order to improve their knowledge regarding
the profession, skills, competence and effectiveness in performing tasks. Its experiences are
sometimes funded by schools, programs of districts or states or can be supported by certain
foundations or private sources of funding. These can be virtually delivered through online
platforms or in person. They also follow different formats as sometimes they are facilitated by
the people of the organizations and sometimes by the people hired from outside. Many strategies
are used to improve its process as it ensures the continuous learning of the teachers and faculties.
Continuous learning can be exercised by an individual and the teams as well.
 Ways to exercise it: An individual can learn continuously by asking more doubts, observing
the employees who are more experienced, always try to do new things, searching for
alternatives for each and everything, by continuously brushing up the existing knowledge,
taking the online training and coaching besides the work. A team can exercise this by
upgrading itself in order to adapt the changes in the organizational environment. The teams
must have the latest knowledge of all the technologies and about the updates in the market.
The HR in the company must apply all these ways in their daily life to exercise continuous
learning and get upgraded regularly. Importance: It plays a major role in the life of every individual. The HR managers in
Hightown Housing examine some of the advantages of continuous learning. It helps to
become relevant in this rapidly changing world in terms of everything especially technology
(Baldwin, 2016). It also prepares the individual to be ready for the unexpected things
happening thereby boosting its profile. Learning continuously also builds confidence to take
new challenges. The individual comes up with infinite new ideas which can find innovative
solutions thereby earns money. This become lifelong learning by inculcating leadership skills
which changes the perspective of an individual.
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So, the individuals and the teams develop themselves professionally by exercising continuous
learning and become upgraded according to the updates in the country and the company as
well.
B. Analysis using Learning Cycle Theories
There are many theories and models used for developing the continuous learning for
professional development. The Hightown Housing uses Kolb’s theories of learning cycle to
evaluate the process of continuous learning. This theory comprises of 4 steps which are as
follows:
Figure 1: Four Stages of Kolb's Theories of Learning Cycle
Source: McLeod.S,2017
Concrete Experience
This is based on the completely new experience or reinterpretation of the existing one.
The company uses this stage for the role of HR as they regularly face new situations in terms of
the market or the employees. They can get the experience by making attempts for different
things. So, they must undergo this phase to have the experience of every situation.
Reflective Observation
This plays a major role as it describes the inconsistencies between experience and
understanding. Sometimes, this can create hurdles in learning as developing wrong conclusions
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from the experience can lead to the completely opposite results to the one which are expected.
So, the HR of the Hometown Housing must thoroughly research on the experience and learn
from it.
Abstract Conceptualization
This step is considered as the result of the experience stage. This gives rise to a
completely new idea or modification in the existing idea. The HR managers of Hometown
housing learns from the experience and develops new idea which is used in the upcoming
processes of learning.
Active Experimentation
This is the phase of implementation of the new ideas or the modifications in the ideas. In
the Hometown Housing, the HR managers applies their opinions and the ideas in the company as
well as in the world to see the desired changes which proves to be beneficial to them (Oosi and
et.al., 2019). This again gives them new experiences and those are treated in the same way and
the cycle goes now in the real world.
So, the Continuous Learning is effective only when the individual or the team undergoes all the
above 4 steps of Kolb’s theories of learning cycle. Each stage in this cycle mutually supports
each other and feeding the results to the next step making it an integrated process.
SECTION 2
PART 1
Contribution of HPW to employee engagement and competitive advantage
High-performance Working practices and systems are devised to boost the effectiveness and
productivity of employees. Employee engagement refers to the extent to which employees are
committed to their work, the efforts they put and passionate about their jobs. The utilization of
these practices and implementation in the Housing society can reduce costs for the society, while
generating value for workers. The Housing Society can benefit by effective employee
engagement practices as it would boost morale of the workers. As the employees become more
engaged, they would strive to outperform and this would be a payoff for the Housing society.
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This would create a competitive advantage for the company by improved employee retention,
quality of service, customer satisfaction and bottom line financial performance.
Key elements and practices that make up HPW:
High-performance Working (HPW) is primarily based on creation of n organisational culture that
encompasses a high level of trust, accountability and transparency along with improving clarity
in communication for all employees of the organisation (ALBERTI, 2017). It contains:
1. Employee involvement: Employees can be engaged more with the Housing Association
by practices of Task discretion, Task variety and Problem-solving teams (Sroufe and
Gopalakrishna Remani, 2018). Task discretion is the allotment of independent authority
to take initiates in the job tasks. If an employee is given task discretion, he or she can talk
to the customer directly and take decisions according to the situation without constant
worries of taking permission from the higher authority. Task variety means the employee
has to perform a wider range of tasks and breaks the monotony of doing a single task. In
the management of housing operations an employee can be assigned to set the rent and
administer collections along with supervising the staff. Problem solving teams can be
made to allow various employees of different departments like collection and supervising
to work towards a specific problem like receiving late rents from the tenants.
2. Skills acquisition: To work efficiently in the housing sector, employees have to be trained
properly on dealing with people, communication, conflict resolution, problem addressal
etc. Improving and enhancing the skills and knowledge of the employees is a
commitment to effective training and development (Proctor and Xiong, 2017). Various
practices can be included in this like Induction, Work-shadowing, On the job training and
off the job training. Induction means effectively introduction and orientation for
beginners or new employees like properly showing them how look after lift operation or
regulate the parking. Work shadowing is mostly about observation, of a new task before
actually practicing it, like observation of reviewing process of vendor applications for
services needed in the society. On the job training would mean training on the premises
of the housing society like learning how to supervise the adherence of bye-laws of the
society and learning to detect breaches or frauds.
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