HR Skills, Learning, and Performance Management Report for Whirlpool

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the skills, knowledge, and behaviors required of HR professionals, focusing on the context of Whirlpool. It identifies key skills such as time management, problem-solving, and negotiation, alongside essential knowledge areas like contract laws and recruitment. The report explores the difference between individual and organizational learning, emphasizing the importance of continuous learning and professional development. It further examines how High-Performance Work Systems (HPWS) contribute to employee engagement and evaluates different approaches to performance management. The analysis includes a personal skills audit, highlighting strengths and weaknesses, and proposes remedial actions for improvement, making it a valuable resource for understanding HR practices and strategies.

Developing
Individuals, Teams
and Organisations

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Identify professional skills, knowledge and behaviour required by HR Professional...........1
P2: Analyse personal skill audit..................................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
P3. Difference between Individual and Organisation learning and Training and Development.5
P4: Need for continuous learning and professional development...............................................7
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................8
P5: State how HPW contribute to employee engagement...........................................................8
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................10
P6. Evaluation of different approaches of Performance Management......................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Development is the process through which current knowledge can be polished. There is
requirement of different skills at work place to perform commercial activities. This is relevant
and significant for individual as well as organisational development. When manager of
organisation makes plan for individual development, then this helps to improve organisational
position also. In enterprise, task can not be performed by single person, there is a group of two or
more people which are working to attain same goals and objectives within specified time. This
group is known as team. This report is based on Whirlpool, which deals in electronic and dome
appliances. This organisation was founded in 1911 with its headquarters in Benton Charter
Township, US. This report covers skills, knowledge behaviour of HR professional, difference
between individual and organisational learning. This report covers different approaches of
performance management.
TASK 1
P1 Identify professional skills, knowledge and behaviour required by HR Professional
Human resource department works in relation to selection, recruitment, training of
personnel. There is requirement of different employees in organisation to achieve good profits.
HR personnel means person who deals with employees of organisation. There are many
employees in Whirlpool which helps to attain good image in society while working according to
market trends. This department deals with managers of other department to know requirement of
employees at work. In case of Whirlpool, there are some conflict among employees, proper
decisions are not taken, etc. hence in this case, HR manager plays important and essential role.
This helps to maintain good and long term relations with employees. For instance: if employees
are not satisfied with work place facilities, then this problem must be resolved by HR manager of
Whirlpool (Au and Marks, 2012)
.
CPD MODEL
CPD Model is a formal way to collect data elated to employees experience at workplace.
There are many situations which arise at work. So some provides good experience and sad.
Hence this is the way through which employees can gain knowledge and gets knowledge from it.
There are some set standards to perform business operations, but in some situations set standards
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does not work. So in this case manager has to use new techniques through which they can
operate in innovative manner. Hence managers of Whirlpool must create an environment of
innovation, so employee are ready to work with new techniques.
Knowledge to HR Professional
Contract laws- HR managers of Whirlpool must have knowledge about contract laws.
There are many laws such as minimum wage act, equal opportunities act, hours of working, etc.
This helps to convey to employees working in organisation. Ion case of alteration in laws and
regulation, HR managers of Whirlpool must deliver to workforce. In case change in laws, then
HR manager must use help of legal person and then alter business plans and policies (Brett and
et. al., 2014)
Recruitment and selection- HR main aim is to select, recruit and train employees. This is
prime function of HR department. So it is mandatory to have information related to recruitment
and recruitment criteria. When some department provide details related to required employees,
then qualification, experience, pay scale, designation, etc. must be known by HR manager.
Organisational policies- There are some policies which followed within organisation.
HR manager is responsible to provide knowledge related to organisational culture to new
employees. This can be done in induction, when new employees become part of Whirlpool,
organisational policies conveyed to them by HR professional.
Skills of HR Professional
Time management- Time management is one of the important skill which must posses
by HR manager. For instance; if there is urgent requirement of sales manager in sales department
of Whirlpool , then selection of appropriate candidate within set deadline. When HR is punctual
to time it gives positive impact to employees and hence organisational ethics will follow.
Problem solving- There are many employees in Whirlpool having difference in their
mindset and perception. So there are possibilities that some issues arise them. Hence in this case
HR manager can create balance among them. This helps to maintain good environment in
organisation. There must be regular interaction among employees and HR personnel so this helps
to analyse problem and resolve it. This provides satisfaction to employees that management of
Whirlpool is concern about them (Ellinger and Ellinger, 2014).
Patience- This is also one skill HR must have. There is difference in perception of
employees, if HR keeps cal, then they can maintain decorum of organisation. This is relevant for
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attaining good image in society. HR can calmly listen to problem and provide appropriate
decision related to it.
Negotiation skill- In organisation, there are many employees working having difference
in their demand. So sometimes there is requirement of negotiation with workers or trade union to
set argument. Hence this skill is essential to be present in HR professional.
Digitalisation skill- These days, trend for use of digital techniques are more. There are
different modes such as use of computer, social media, internet, mobile application, etc. are part
of digitalisation. While working in Whirlpool there is requirement of different techniques, so HR
must be techno friendly, so they can perform operations in appropriate manner.
Behaviours of HR professional
Confidentiality- There are many policies related to employees such as performance
measurement, performance appraisal, etc. these policies have to kept confidential. This is
responsibilities of Whirlpool's HR manager to kept such things confidential.
Equality- HR manager must not be biases among employees on different basis such as
age, income, geographical background, etc. They must be ethical perform commercial
operations. This can be done when HR manager maintain balance between personal and
professional relations (Holden and et. al., 2012).
Ethical behaviour- At workplace, it is essential to be ethical. There must be some
decorum followed at workplace so no one gets affected in negative way. This is important
because there are many employees having different geographical background, cultural valuers,
etc.
P2: Analyse personal skill audit
Personal skill audit is the legal document to identify weakness and strength of employees.
Employees are the personnel which works according to guidance of managers. There is
requirement of different skills which helps to polish attain goals and objectives on it. This
process is conducted by HR manager to judge performance of individual in order to train
employees. Skill audit provides knowledge about qualities which are required at workplace, then
it provides knowledge which skills are good and at last it provides skills which requires to be
polished. Personal skill audit of HR personnel is as under-
Skills Self assessed Score from others Outcome
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Leadership 8 9 -1
Decision making skills 7 8 -1
Negotiation skills 6 8 -2
Decision making skills 5 7 -2
Communication skills 9 8 1
Legal and ethical skill 8 6 2
Digitalisation skill 9 6 3
From the above discussed skill audit, HR managers gets rated out of 10 from others and
through self evaluation. There are positive as well as negative results. Negative results shows
that those skills are good, while positive outcome shows weak skills. So HR manager is weak in
communication, digitisation and ethical knowledge at workplace (Liljenberg, 2015). HR
personnel best skill in negotiation and decision making, while HR is poor in digitalisation skills.
Following strength and weakness are shown through skill audit of HR manager.
Strength
 I have good decision making power. I
can equally evaluate situation and then
take decisions.
 I perform work within strict deadline.
So there is no delay in my professional
work. I am good in negotiating with elated
parties such as employees, trade unions,
new candidates related to salary and
other related matters.
Weaknesses
 I am weak in knowledge related to laws
for employees. If there is change in
laws then I am not able to work
effectively.
 My communication skills are weak
because I am from non technical
background.
 I have poor skill to use digital
techniques which affects my
performance at workplace.
 I am not able to performs my business
operation in ethical manner.
Requirements Personal GAP Remedial Deadlines
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audit
(rating
scale: 0-
10)
action/strategy for
remedial
action
Knowledge:
Contract Law 6 Contract related
knowledge must
be improved
which helps to
frame policies
according to
external
environment.
This can be
improved with
books,
newspaper,
journals, etc.
2 month
Skills:
Communication Skill
9 HR manager of
Whirlpool wants
to improve
writing skills.
This helps to
convey
information to
employees.
Conferences and
seminars
1 month
Digitalisation skill 6 HR personnel at
Whirlpool has
lack of knowledge
related to digital
techniques. I am
not able to use
Lectures, online
classes.
3 months
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technologies at
work place such
as job
advertisement on
social media.
Behaviour:
- Ethics 8 Ethical behaviour
is relevant and
significant for
creating good
environment
within
organisation.
Reading books,
online sources,
speeches are
media through
which ethics can
be improved.
On-going.
TASK 2
P3. Difference between Individual and Organisation learning and Training and Development
Individual learning – It is a psychological process of increasing knowledge, skills by
adopting at their own level of an individual. In this process, an individual adopts from the
surrounding environment or past experience for changing in their attitude. In addition to this, it
can be used by an individual for increasing strength or capabilities so that they gave their great
suggestions for grabbing competitive opportunities in the organisation.
Organisation Learning – In this process, an organisation increases its ability for
accepting new ideas from their employees to face internal and external challenges. In addition to
this, an organisation analyse market trends and their competitor's strategy for generating new
ideas, which are helpful in achievement of goals. Whirlpool makes new ideas through analysing
the market conditions so that they can achieve their goals in time (Macdonald, Burke and
Stewart, 2017).
Difference between Individual and Organisation learning
Basis Individual learning Organisation learning
Scope It is based on Individual's
perception, so there is less
It has a huge scope because it
covers all the challenges for
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scope than organisational
learning.
improving performance of
employees and organisation.
Objectives Its main objective is to
increase capabilities and
strength of an individual. So
that making opportunities for
them to grabbing success
Its main objective is to making
innovative ideas through
analysing the market trends
and competitor's strategy. So
that, It may helpful for
achievement of goals in
whirlpool.
Outcomes From surrounding
environment and past
experience gave changes to
their attitude so that it may
helpful at their work place
It helps to organisation for
facing different challenges as
well as knowing competitor's
strategies so that they may
create new ideas and beat the
competition.
Training – It is an important part of an organisation. It is a systematic activity by which,
skills and knowledge increased for doing a specific job. It is similar to learning, which helps to
doing a specific task. Every organisation wants to recruit well educated and trained employees,
so they increase their knowledge and skills of employees by run a training programme. In
whirlpool, there is also a different department is made for training and development of their
employees. By using this every organisation makes healthy relations with their employees.
Development- It is an use of employee's knowledge for achieving goals in the
organisation. In this process, employees get efficiency in their work so they can face challenges
for the given task. In whirlpool, there are a team who analyse their efficiency and performance,
so that employees can improve their performance (North and Kumta, 2018).
Difference between Training and Development
Basis Training Development
Objectives It gives the skills and
knowledge to the employee for
It improve their efficiency and
performance for facing
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doing a specific task. different challenges at
workplace.
Nature It increases knowledge and
skills of employees and it
gives practical knowledge to
new joinees.
It improves weaknesses of
employees and gave them new
knowledge for doing a work
with efficiency.
Process It is a last part of recruitment.
In this part, after giving them
knowledge of working in the
organisation and taking
feedback from them, this part
is finished.
It is a continuous process, By
which employees can learn
new things every day and
develop their skills by various
skill developing programmes
which are held in whirlpool.
P4: Need for continuous learning and professional development
Continuous learning:- It alludes to the capacity for constantly enhancing and improving
the skills and abilities for performing work all the more effectively and for getting to be versatile
to evolving condition. This ability help in staying up workforce with the latest technologies and
methods that to be included in the operations to achieve high efficiency.
Professional Development:- It is a procedure of expanding the capacities of employees
by conducting training and learning programs at workplace, through workshops outside or an
organisation or by observing others performing similar activity. Professional development
program help in rousing and building up the morale of employees (Raes and et. al., 2013).
In case of Whirlpool professional development and continuous learning is exceptionally
important for both company and employees for accomplishment of the organizational goal and
objectives. Significance of both the concepts are clarified underneath:
• Higher representatives maintenance:- Continuous learning and professional
development help organization in boosting their workers standard for dependability. Whirlpool
focuses on organising professional development programs with an objective of giving adequate
learning sources to their workers which makes positive impact on their profitability and alos
encourage their workers to continue with their jobs.
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• Respond to innovation:- Technology is the primary factor which influences the activities
of an organisation and bring changes. Whirlpool utilizes advanced and updated technologies in
their electronic products with the support of their employees. For this, they conduct training
programs at workplace on regular basis (Rienties and Kinchin, 2014).
• Encourage critical thinking:- Continuous learning program build up the skills and
capacity among people which help in managing troublesome circumstances in best way.
Whirlpool keeps up sound organisation with their workers so they can limits the issues or can
settle them successfully by collaborating with workers in recognizing the purpose for the issues
and welcoming proposals from them.
• Enhance performance :- Continuous learning and professional development both
are extremely basic activities for maximising the performance level of both employees and
organisation. Whirlpool attempts to build up the abilities of their workforces to improve their
performance as high skilled employees are more beneficial and contribute toward the
accomplishment of an organisation.
TASK 3
P5: State how HPW contribute to employee engagement
High performance working refers to an outcome of an effective organisational culture
where there is trust, transparency in communication etc. at workplace. It mainly emphasis on
making changes in their organisational structure from traditional to falter framework with an
intention of providing an opportunity to its employees to share their ideas, views and issues
freely without ay hesitation.
Whirlpool is much emphasis on innovation as they believe that innovation brings them
ahead their rivals in competitive market and achieve competitive advantage. Due to this, the
company manage their team members as per the practices achieved by North American Region
as they evaluate the performance level of its workers on the basis of five main core dimensions
which includes constructive conflicts, sharing company’s missions, vision and objectives,
transparency in communication, responsibility for outcome, mutual respect and solidarity. Apart
from this, Whirlpool has followed HPW practices which are briefly listed as under:
Selective hiring of employees: Whirlpool always tried to fulfil workforce required ith
skilled and knowledge employees due to which it has followed lengthy procedure to select right
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