HR Skills: Developing Individuals, Teams, and Organizations Report

This report examines the critical role of Human Resources (HR) in developing individuals, teams, and organizations, emphasizing the skills and knowledge required for HR professionals to foster a healthy work environment. It analyzes an employee's skill audit and creates a professional development plan, highlighting the differences between organizational and individual learning and the need for continuous professional development for sustainable business growth. The report also explores the contribution of High-Performance Working (HPW) to employee engagement and competitive advantage, discusses various approaches to performance management with organizational examples, and concludes by underscoring the importance of professional development in achieving sustainable growth for business organizations. Desklib provides a platform to access similar solved assignments and resources.

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DEVELOPING INDIVIDUALS, TEAMS AND
ORGANIZATIONS

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Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................3
Section 1................................................................................................................................................3
a) Knowledge, Skills and Behaviour required by an HR professional.............................................3
b) Analysing the personal skill audit of an employee.....................................................................7
c) Creating professional development plan for an employee........................................................8
d) Difference between organizational and individual learning..........................................................8
e) Need of continuous learning and professional development for the sustainable business growth
...........................................................................................................................................................9
Section 2..............................................................................................................................................10
i) Contribution of HPW in employee engagement and competitive advantage..........................10
ii) Different approaches to performance management with examples of organizations.............12
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................13
References...........................................................................................................................................15

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Introduction
Any business organization requires effective employees to achieve the goal of the
organization successfully. They hire people according to their skills which can help an
organization to grow in the market. But, learning cannot be limited to any specific boundary.
One can learn through his/her entire life. Developing professional skill is very much
important in order to gain the success individually as well as for the organization too
(Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). A professional HR of any business organization can help an
employee in this regard. Professional development of any individual is a route to improve the
performance and activity of the organization. There is a link between the individual learning
and development process with the growth of any business organization. This paper is
focussed to examine the role of HR in any company and what are the skills and knowledge
require for a HR to maintain the healthy working environment in the workplace. With the
example of an audit report and the professional development plan of an employee the skills
required for a HR is also analysed. The paper also discusses the different learning process and
its impact on the sustainable development of any company. The High Performance Working
framework and approaches to performance management with real-life examples are also
reflected in this paper. Finally the paper concludes about the need of professional
development in the sustainable growth of any business organization.
Section 1
a) Knowledge, Skills and Behaviour required by an HR professional
Human Resource department of any organization plays an important role in the
development of it. Human resource officer should develop and implement some strategies
and policies to the effective use of the staffs of the organization. One of the major factors of
being a successful human resource officer is an array of skills to deal with any kind of

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situations within the organization. In any business organization there will be diversity of
culture as people come from different places and their individual behaviour will also differ
from each other (Brewster et al., 2016). Human Resource Officer should then have multiple
skills to manage the people in order to maintain the balanced environment within the
workplace.
Any Human Resource Professional should have an organization skill to manage the
people of the workplace in an organized manner. Due to diversity in culture and opinion of
the staffs of the organization, a chance of raising any conflict is very high. A human resource
officer takes care of all the conflicts and takes necessary steps in order to resolve them also.
So, the officer must have a critical thinking skill to judge the complete matter to come to a
decision after listening to it from both the sides. The HR should look closely to all the
departments and he/she should assist the line managers who are working in the organization
to understand the rules, policies and procedures of it. Due to the existence of people from
different countries or culture and there will be employees working irrespective of their
gender, so HR should maintain a healthy environment by promoting equality irrespective of
gender as well as culture in the organization. A strategic mind-set helps an HR to plan and a
strong sense of ethics is also required to examine the moral rights and wrongs of any certain
situation. However, the role of managers varies across the organization according to their
structure (Cascio, 2018). The basic knowledge, skill, and behaviour of Human Resource
Professionals required to play its role is as follows.
Organizational skill- Human Resource Professionals should have organizational skill
to keep a closer look to the various departments within the company at a same time. They
should be capable to assist the line managers in learning the policies and procedures of
working in the organization.

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Ethic sense- The HR of any organization must have a sense of ethics in order to
maintain a good behaviour with all the staffs irrespective of their gender, caste and origin.
There will be diversity in culture because different staffs will be there from different origins.
So, their behaviour and way of thinking and executing anything will differ from each other in
a broader way (Cascio, 2018). Human Resource Professional should have enough knowledge
in ethics to promote the cultural diversity and gender equality within the organization.
Dealing with multiple areas- The HR not only keeps eye on maintaining the
environment healthy but also they look on the health and safety of the employees who are
working with the company.
Recruiting capability- The recruitment process of any company is mainly dependent
upon the Human Resource Department. The role of HR officers is to recruit staffs by
providing a brief job description. After matching the requirement criteria with the interested
candidate who are willing to apply for a job, the HR arranges interviews and other rounds in
order to shortlist their names as an employee of the organization (Cascio, 2018).
Human Resource knowledge- The Human Resource officers of any organization must
have knowledge to implement and develop policies which deal with the issues regarding the
working condition of the company. All the employees should have equal opportunities and
they should maintain a disciplinary procedure to maintain the healthy environment of the
company. HR professionals always look into the matter of absents. Even, all the staffs must
be provided some handbooks to take note and in other purpose also, which will be provided
by the HR officer only.
Decisive thinker- The HR of any organization must be a decisive thinker because
he/she needs to look after the remuneration and salary issues. All the employees should get
salary as per their performance and efficiency. HR maintains a record to keep the

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performance of the employees in order to utilize them at the time of salary hike or any other
purpose regarding remuneration. HR also takes the reviews from the staffs regularly about
their salary and expectation. So, the HR should be knowledgeable enough to maintain the
records and pay-roll of the employees (Cheung-Judge and Holbeche, 2015).
Communicative skill- HR plays the role of connector between the employees and the
higher authority of any organization. They should have a good communication skill as if any
employee is not satisfied with any of the action they directly come to the HR and HR then
needs to have a direct interaction with the employee and the higher authority if required.
Skill of laws- HR needs to look after if all the employees are maintain the rules and
regulations in the workplace so the HR should have a clear knowledge about all the rules and
policies of the organization (Cooke et al., 2014). This knowledge can only help to give advice
about the employment law.
Critical thinking capability- An HR of any organization must be a critical thinker. If
there any conflict is raised within the organization, then employees come to the HR for the
solution. HR should be capable enough to deal with the grievances and they should judge the
whole matter and think critically before taking any decision in order to resolve the matter.
Providing training- The training of the new employees is generally conducted by the
HR in conjunction with other managers of other departments. So, HR should be manageable
enough to handle such training effectively. HR should maintain a good behaviour with all the
employees to build a good relationship with all of them so that they trust their HR and
directly come to resolve any kind of issue within the workplace without any hesitation (Crane
and Matten, 2016).

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b) Analysing the personal skill audit of an employee
A Human Resource Officer needs to play a major role in improving the effectiveness
of an organization. They require lots of skills and practices in order to act effectively for the
development of the organizational structure by improving the environment of the workplace
also. Jane Cambridge is appointed as a Human Resource Officer in an organization. To work
effectively Jane also need to improve her skills and knowledge so that her performance
becomes better. Her skills and knowledge has been analysed properly and she has clearly
mentioned in which she is good, excellent or has limited or adequate amount of knowledge or
no experience either. Initially she has mentioned about not having any experience in
specialist HR software (Friedman, 2013). Previously she had not dealt with drafting any
contracts for employment also. She is not experienced in delivering a training session to the
employees.
A human resource officer plays important role in the employment of new employees.
He/she needs to have a capability of recruiting people because after scrutinizing the profile of
interested candidates for the job, a human resource officer arranges interview round to hire
the candidate in the organization. After hiring, human resource officer drafts the contract of
employment to the newly appointed employee stating the rules and regulations of the
organization. As Jane is not having any experience drafting contracts of employment she
needs to take a training to achieve this skill (Fullan, 2014). Moreover, a newly appointed
employee gets the advantage of training from the human resource officer. The officer
arranges training for the employee in conjunction with the managers of the other departments.
Jane Cambridge has no experience in delivering a training session to the newly appointed
employees. SO, being a Human Resource Officer, she needs to enhance her skills with
knowledge in this field also. She also needs to gain knowledge about the specialist HR
software as she is the Human Resource Officer of that organization. Apart from that, advising

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on HR issues, resolving complaints and taking interviews she is not good or excellent. HR
officer must have enough knowledge and skill in this field. So, she also needs to enhance her
skills and knowledge in this regard (Hillson, 2017). She is not good in verbal reasoning skill
which may affect her critical thinking skill and communication process with the employees
while resolving any conflicts. So, from the analysis of her audit report it is clear that, in this
field also she needs to know about the behavioural practices required to be a good Human
Resource Officer in her organization.
c) Creating professional development plan for an employee
Jane Cambridge is a Human Resource Officer of an organization. She needs training
to develop her skills as a HR officer. The first step of professional development plan is to set
objects (Jackson et al., 2014). Jane is responsible for a range of activities being a HR of the
organization. She should engage herself in the recruitment and training of the newly
appointed employees. Jane will take care of the internal environment of her workplace. If
there is any conflict raised in the organization then she will engage herself in solving that
issue. The next step of the professional development plan is to prioritize the objectives. Not
all the objectives have equal priority and weight. Jane will decide which of the objectives
should get attention first. According to that she will perform her next activity. While
identifying the objectives and areas of improvement it is also important to know about the
resources also. The final step of professional development is to review the whole process.
This is an excellent opportunity for Jane to learn and identify the factors which may affect or
prevent the organization in achieving its goal. Improving her skills and performance she can
utilize her professional development for the growth of the organization.
d) Difference between organizational and individual learning
Learning can be achieved by developing new skills and gaining knowledge and
information about new facts and procedures. Learning can be of two types. It can be

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organizational and individual learning, training or development. Both of these learning
processes are interlinked with each other (Kavanagh and Johnson, 2017). The organizational
learning is basically a learning process in which a learner experiences learning progresses
which are mainly concerned about the development of an organization where the learner
experiences a group-based learning process actually. In organizational learning, an individual
learner undergoes a learning process where the main target is to achieve organizational goal
with the utilization of the knowledge and skills developed by the learner. In organizational
learning, a learner gets the ability to share the learning experience to others also. Assimilating
new insights into groups and implementing the shared understanding through the
organizational rules, procedures and strategies is possible with the help of this organizational
learning process (Komives, 2016).
In individual learning process a learner undergoes a method of teaching on the basis
of his/her ability and interest of learning. Individual learning is a method where a learner gets
a deeper insight into the new facts and knowledge but they cannot share their experience in a
group (Mahfoozi et al., 2017). The main difference between organizational learning and
individual learning is that, in individual learning or training, a learner can learn from the
trainer and in case of organizational learning, learners can have the opportunity to learn from
the group behaviour also. It also helps to increase the knowledge management process of a
learner as it is a key component of quality improvement programs.
e) Need of continuous learning and professional development for the
sustainable business growth
Sustainable business performance is one of the major challenges faces by any
business organization. Any business organization acquires lots of practices in order to
achieve the goal of sustainable business process. A person undergoes a continuous learning
process while working in an organization because there are people from different cultures and

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different opinions to create various different situations from which a learner can learn a lot of
things required for personal development (Serra and Kunc, 2015). Sharing of any personal
experience and knowledge can also be a tool for continuous personal development within an
organization. Continuous learning and professional development facilitate transition to
practice for employees and help to ensure competency and quality throughout the business
organization. In order to develop personal skills with continuous learning process within an
organization, the environment of working must be healthy enough so that one can learn from
others. If the employees get the opportunity to learn continuously then it will increase their
courage and interest on their work and they will completely engage themselves in the growth
of the business (Sparrow and Makram, 2015). Employee engagement id directly associated
with the productivity and competitive advantage which are very important for the sustainable
growth of any business organization. With the use of learning cycle, the learning can be
continuous which will result in the sustainable development of the company.
Section 2
i) Contribution of HPW in employee engagement and competitive
advantage
Organizations face many challenges to meet the rapidly changed dynamics in their daily
activities as well as in future. To manage all the changes any organization needs to have a
strong workforce which can support it to achieve its goal. So it is important to have internal
reliability among all the employees. The high performance workforce always contributes to
the employee engagement (Stewart and Rogers, 2012). Many organizations integrate this
business practice to enhance the performance of the employees. The individual active
participation of employees using their personal energy is termed as employee engagement.
The employee engagement has three different components which are voice, creativity and
proactive behaviours. The voice characteristic focuses on how workforce investigates the

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improvement oriented voice in the job engagement. The creativity characteristic of this
employee engagement mainly concerns on beliefs of the employees about the organization
and its working conditions also (Storey, 2014). The proactive behaviour is a component of
employee engagement which is concerned to offer valuable contribution to the organization.
Job engagement plays an important role in developing the relationships and positive beliefs
between the High Performance Working System and creativity and other organizational
behaviours.
Employee engagement is one of the mostly discussed topics in the business organizations. If
the employees working in any company do not engage themselves completely or do not
dedicate their full potential for the benefit of the organization then it is impossible to reach
the goals of it. High Performance Working System is a set of management practices which
are used by an organization in order to create an environment for the employees which helps
to involve them more in their job (Tafti et al., 2017). When the employees are completely
engaged with the organization then it is possible for the company to get the competitive
advantage in the market. Employee engagement always results in the loyalty and
commitment of the employees to their workplace. If the employees are satisfied with their job
role then they will try to engage more with their work practice which in turn will support in
improving the productivity and efficiency of the organization. This directly leads to the
customer satisfaction and to the increased market share with great profitability and sales
growth. High Performance Working System always includes many business practices to
engage the employees of an organization. If the organizational culture is health and the
working environment is satisfying then an employee can work with full effectiveness. In
HPWS the organizational culture is maintained in such a way so that only the good and
meaningful work can be provided to all the employees. If the human resource practices are
progressive then it is possible to maintain the integrity and trust among all the employees

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within the organization. HR of any organization plays an important role in improving the
employee engagement. A clear and consistent communication between the employees and
HR helps to resolve all the hidden conflicts in order to maintain the environment healthy.
Rewarding the employees is another activity of High Performance Working System in which
employees are rewarded as per their performance and this activity support an employee to get
satisfied and courageous to work with full dedication and engagement with the company.
HPWS provides opportunity to the employees to grow and develop more so that they get
interest in their work and involve more with loyalty in the working of the organization. If the
employees are fully engaged and committed to their work then the company gets the
competitive edge among all the competitors available in the market (van der Voet et al.,
2015). High Performance Working System has a strong association with competitive
advantage because it engages more employees to the workplace. Employee involvement and
participation helps in increasing the productivity by increasing the number of stakeholders
and market shares. This activities helps a company to get the competitive advantage. So, in
getting the competitive advantage with the help of employee engagement High Performance
Working system plays a major role.
ii) Different approaches to performance management with examples
of organizations
The performance of employees is highly important in the effectiveness of the company. In
many researches it has been found that the effective performance of the employees produce
extra-ordinary business results when compared to other companies which do not put attention
to their performance management. Many approaches are there taken by the different
companies in improving their performance management. The traditional approach of
performance management mainly focuses on the evaluation. At the beginning of the year
managers set goals for direct reports. Then at the middle of the year they meet with the
employees to know about the progress and give feedback, and at the end of the year they