Report: Developing Individual, Teams, and Organizations - HR Skills

This report examines the essential skills and behaviors required of HR professionals, analyzing a personal skills audit to identify training needs. It outlines a professional development plan for an HR officer, setting short, mid, and long-term goals. The report differentiates between organizational and individual learning, emphasizing the significance of continuous learning and professional development in driving sustainable business performance. It also explores how high-performance working contributes to employee engagement and competitive advantage, evaluating different approaches to performance management. The report highlights the importance of continuous learning, leadership, and training programs for maintaining employee effectiveness and organizational success, including examples from companies like Volkswagen and Ford.

DEVELOPING INDIVIDUAL, TEAMS AND ORGANIZATIONS

Table of contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Section 1..........................................................................................................................................3
a. Determination of appropriate knowledge, skills and behaviors that are required by HR
professionals across the department (P1)........................................................................................3
b. Analysis of a completed personal skills audit for an employee (P2).......................................5
c. Creation of a professional development plan in HR officer role.............................................6
d. Analysis of differences between organizational and individual learning (P3)......................10
e. The need for continuous learning and professional development to drive sustainable
business performance (P4).............................................................................................................11
Section 2........................................................................................................................................11
i) How high performance working contributes to employee engagement and competitive
advantage.......................................................................................................................................11
ii) Evaluation of different approaches to performance management.............................................13
Recommendations and Conclusion................................................................................................16
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Introduction
As organizations are striving to compete in the global market, difference based on skills
motivation and knowledge of the workforce takes an enhancing importance. For this reason,
training and development are required to improve the workforce effectiveness. Training refers to
the systematic approach to improve team, individual and organizational effectiveness. For this
purpose, the aim of the study is to determine proper knowledge, skills and behaviors that are
required for the HR professionals across the industry. Along with this, the study will pay
attention to the learning and professional development in order to drive sustainable business
performance. An appropriate management performs as a tool towards better performance of
individuals and teams. Therefore, the study is purely based on teams, individuals and
organizations.
Section 1
a. Determination of appropriate knowledge, skills and behaviors that are
required by HR professionals across the department (P1)
A human resources professional is one who is trained in several aspects of jobs such as benefits
administration, adherence to state and federal employment laws and recruiting. As mentioned by
Brewer, E.C. and Holmes (2016), there are some of the skills that are required to be successful in
the career of the HR.
 Multitasking
The list of responsibilities for the HR professional is very long and daunting and this includes
conducting and arranging interviews, checking along with the managers to ensure that all
requirements are of the staffs are met, recruiting new candidates and staying up to date about the
employment laws and regulations so that, it will be possible for the company to avoid any
political obstacles.
 Public speaking
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An HR professional looks for employment candidates who have that potential to fulfill
organizational needs.
 Leadership
It is worth saying that, HR professional needs to play the role of a leader. Sometimes, HR
professionals work with corporate managers to anticipate employee needs for the future.
 Future planning
According to the viewpoint of Chae et al. (2015), an HR generalist should have to keep the
records of current employees along with company tends and future needs.
 Analytical skills
Sometimes, it is necessary for HR professional to review different kinds of documents so that, it
will be possible for her to compare salaries and various legal compliance forms.
Some other skills of HR professional include team focus, occupational knowledge and
technology orientation. Therefore, it will be possible for the HR professional to maintain the
employee relationship properly.
Figure 1: Knowledge, Skills and Behavior framework
(Source: Chae et al. 2015)
Besides all these, there are some of the factors that are required for the HR generalist as the
personal attributes. Therefore, an HR professional should be
 Decisive thinker
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 Skilled influencer
 Collaborative
 Personally credible
 Role model
 Curious
 Courage to challenge
Therefore, based on the study, it can be stated that, it is necessary for the human resources officer
to maintain all the criteria so that, it will be possible for the employer to maintain a strong
relationship with the employees and to increase productivity in terms of employee retention.
b. Analysis of a completed personal skills audit for an employee (P2)
An analysis of personal skills is required for a candidate so that, it will be possible for the
company to have complete documents to provide particular training to that employee to make
him or her effective for the job role. The situation is not different in case of HR role analysis.
According to the viewpoint of Chun et al. (2016), a well mentioned plan has that potential to
assess the planned task in some of the better manners by using a well trained technique in order
to emphasis the work procedure in the organization accordingly. It is worth saying that, an HR is
successful when she is able to support her employees and then encourage them to work by
informing them the quality of jobs that need to be performed. For this purpose, the study is going
to analyze the given audit so that, it will be possible for the HR manager to identify development
and training that needs to be considered based on the knowledge, skills and behaviors of human
resource professional (Erez et al. 2013).
Technical training
Based on the audit, it can be stated that, the candidate is good at maintaining Microsoft office
word while the candidate has little experience on the database maintaining. However, the person
is very good at handling e-mail while handling of specialist HR software is very weak for the
person. Therefore, based on this, it can be stated that, the company has to provide training on
database handling so that, it will be possible for the candidate to keep the records of employees
as this is one of the roles of HR professional. Along with this, as the person has no previous job
experience, therefore, it is necessary for the authority of the company to provide training
regarding HR specialist software (Hsiung et al. 2014).
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Communication skills
In order to communicate with the employees it is necessary for the HR officer to draft contracts
of employment and the candidate has little knowledge on this matter. For this purpose, it is
necessary for the leaders to provide a training so that, it will be possible for the person to handle
drafting contracts.
Problem solving skills
Problem solving skills is one of the important skills of the HR generalist so that, it will be
possible for the business owner to maintain a strong relationship with the employees. In this
case, the candidate is good at handling the problematic situations. However, it is necessary for
the company to arrange a complete training session for the candidate so that, it will be possible
for the company to enhance the skills of candidate properly (Hsiung et al. 2014).
c. Creation of a professional development plan in HR officer role
Short-term goals
Target Actions to achieve Target time frame
(within 3 months)
Evidence of
completion
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1. Leadership skills
2. Follow ethics
· Set deadlines in
work
· Stop doing
multitasking
· Delegate
responsibilities
· Use the downtime
· Reward yourself
· Knowledge on
ethical issues
· Significance of
ethics in workplace
· Guidelines
01.01.2018-
01.04.2018
High morale
Enhance in knowledge
Influence others
Ethical knowledge
Mid-term goals
Target Actions to achieve Target time frame
(within 6 months)
Evidence of
completion
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1. Communication skills
2. Time-management
skills
· Listen to others
carefully
· Body language
improvement
· Be specific in
communication
· Think before
speaking
· Short course on
communication skills
· Have clear vision
· Be passionate
· Maintain positive
attitude
· Speak to leaders
and mentor
Live accordance with
moral
Within first six
months of 2018
Improved
communication with
seniors
High confidence level
Improved public
speaking
Improved presentation
skills
Improved negotiation
skills
Reached the office on
time
Long-term goals
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Target Actions to achieve Target time frame
(within 12
months)
Evidence of
completion
1. Managing change
2. Strategic thinking
and problem solving
skills
· Face the fears
· Confront the
feelings
· Be flexible
· Communicate the
ideas
· Be part of the
change
· Read subjective
books
· Communicate with
leaders
· Online tests on
strategic thinking
By the end of 2018 Facilitate the change
Improved in
confidence
Strategic knowledge
about management
Gaining knowledge
about roles of
managers
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d. Analysis of differences between organizational and individual learning
(P3)
In the organizational learning debates, the relationship and differences between organizational
and individual learning remains one of the most suggested issues. Organizational learning is
necessary to improve the ability so that, it will be possible for the company to manage the
organization. For this purpose, the higher authority is so responsible to improve the workplace
environment so that, employees can get a better environment to work. As mentioned by
Keerativutisest and Hanson (2017), an improved environment has that potential to motivate the
employees so that, the entire process get influenced. According to the viewpoint of Katzenbach
and Smith (2015), this organizational learning is based on the four levels. All these levels can be
categorized as individual, group inter organizational and organizational. All these aspects are
necessary for the company to focus on to improve the quality of the company.
Levels of organizational knowledge and training
Therefore, from these four levels of organizational learning, it can state that, this learning is
based on the individual learning. In case of individual learning, managers usually empower
employees to experiment so that they will be able to gain more interest in work. Because of this,
it will be helpful for the company to have business growth in terms of productivity and financial
performances. In this aspect, cross training aspect is helpful as it stimulates employee
performances. In this case, Overfield (2016) argues that, there is no particular definition of the
organizational learning and therefore, it depends on some of the disciplines. For example
 The process of correcting mistakes and thereby discovering better way out
 Teamwork to help one another within the workplace environment
 Process and methods to improve and achieve learning
Promotional tools of organizational knowledge
Tjosvold et al. (2014) stated that knowledge management is helpful to promote the
organizational learning as this effective system provides the higher authority or the manager’s
higher quality information. Along with the knowledge management, cognitive biases also
influence the organizational learning. It is worth saying that; organizations need to enhance
strategies so that the company will be able to improve the listing opportunities and decision
making.
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e. The need for continuous learning and professional development to drive
sustainable business performance (P4)
There is a possibility that employees lose their track of work and for this condition the
productivity may reduced and so that it would be possible for the company to lose its reputation
in the business world. For this purpose, it is necessary for the company to incorporate continuous
learning so that, it will be possible for the employees to maintain the effectiveness. According to
the viewpoint of Lopes Pimenta (2014), leadership can be considered as one of the tools to have
continuous learning in the workplace environment. This is because, leaders arrange various
meetings and programs so that, it becomes possible for them to engage with the learning
producers. However, leaders can arrange a number of campuses so that, employees can take part
in these campuses to improve the effectiveness. This is why most of the organizations in the
market of United Kingdom facilitate such kind of offers to the employees. There are a lot of
companies who think that, it is expensive for them to incorporate continuous learning and
professional development for the employees but it is necessary for them to keep in mind that,
without having any professional development plan, it will not be possible for the company to
enhance the employee effectiveness. In this condition, various learning cycle theories such as
Kolb’s learning theory and Honey and Mumford typology and some others that help to improve
the continuous learning and professional development so that, it will be possible for the company
to improve the innovation and effectiveness.
Example
Volkswagen and Fords implement proper training sessions within a specific timeframe so that it
becomes possible for the company to keep employees updated about the competitive strategies of
other companies.
Section 2
i) How high performance working contributes to employee engagement and
competitive advantage
Any business venture that are trying to introduce innovation and quality to the business strategies
are more likely to consider the high performance working system rather than those who want to
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control cost and competition in the global market. For this purpose, many business owners try to
adopt the HPW system so that, it will be helpful for the companies to improve the quality and
effectiveness of the employees which are necessary to have business growth in the intense
competitive global market in terms of financial productivity. However, to install this kind of
technique it is necessary for the companies to consider long duration and coherent approach to
promote building awareness and stakeholder engagement. According to the viewpoint of Barrick
et al. (2015), high performance working is all about to create a culture where there are open,
trustworthy and transparent lines of communication amongst all. On other words, this system is
all about to erode traditional hierarchical structure instead of developing a flatter structure where
staffs are motivated and happy and because of this, they are able to increase productivity. As
mentioned by Alessandri et al. (2015), HPW can be considered as a series of process, policies
and practices that can be put into the workplace environment to get an improved performance of
employees.
Benefits of HPW practices
It is worth noting that, the goal of any form of business is to create corporate awareness so that it
will be possible for the company to increase the productivity and because of this, it will be
possible for the organization to have competitive advantage in comparison with the rivals on the
existing market. Aside from this, according to the viewpoint of Zhu (2014), HPW practices fall
within three broad categories that include human resource practices, high employee involvement
and the other one is all about reward and commitment practices. As mentioned by Zhu (2014), a
company will be able to develop HPW practices when managerial department will utilize the tool
in bundle. As per the statistics of 2015, the organizations in United Kingdom that implement
HPW practices are able to increase productivity to 20 to 30% rather than the company who does
not implement this practice. Other studies so that, the uptake and implementation of high
performance practices within workplace environment correlates increased organizational
profitability, lower staff turnover, greater creativity and innovation and higher job satisfaction.
Implementation of HPW practices:
Therefore, as mentioned by Van Dooren et al. (2015), there are number of ways that can be
considered to introduce the HPW into the regular working pattern of the employees.
 Reinforcement of self management and decentralized structure
 Sharing information and data with employees with the help of networking
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 Flexible working pattern
 Introduction of employee support system
Therefore, it can be stated that, high performance teams are able to develop their own set of
characteristics and are tend towards high level of energy, drive and motivation so that, it
becomes possible for the organization to improve business with the help of these practices.
ii) Evaluation of different approaches to performance management
Measuring and manage the employee performance is required to improve the effectiveness and
innovation of individual so that, it will be possible for the company to enhance the business
growth and competitive advantage in the intense competitive market of business world. As
mentioned by Anitha (2014), business owners generally manage and measure employee
performance by demonstrating how much contribution an employee makes to the organization’s
growth. It is worth saying that; performance is measured during performance appraisal where
performance appraisal refers to the evaluation of the employees by providing them valuable
feedback so that they are able to improve their future performances.
Key factors
According to the viewpoint of Albrecht et al. (2015), employee performance depends on some
of the key factors that include the following
 Conducive workplace environment
 Bonus system
 Job satisfaction
 Compensation
 Technology
These factors can be presented as the determinant of employee productivity and the entire
organizational development.
Various approaches
Organizations can utilize a number of approaches and strategies to measure the performance of
employee as it is necessary for the company to provide an opportunity to the employees so that,
they can improve themselves. According to the viewpoint of Barrick et al. (2015), there are five
major approaches that include
1. Comparative approach
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2. Quality approach
3. Result approach
4. Attribute approach
5. Behavioral approach
Each of these approaches encompasses different suitability and characteristics and therefore a
company can consider any of the approaches to manage and measure the performance of
employees.
Figure 2: Performance management approaches
(Source: Developed By Writer)
Comparative approach
In this approach, the performance of an employee can be measured by comparing it to that of the
other employee. It is worth saying that, employees are classified on the basis of highest to lowest
performances. For example, a team of good performers constituting 20%, average performers
developing 40% while low performer is near about 40%. This defines that; the company needs to
reward that 10% while training should be provided to the other employees.
Attributive approach
In this particular approach, employees are ranked with the help of some of the key parameters
 Problem solving skills
 Innovation
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 Judgment
 Creativity
 Teamwork
 Communication
Graphic rating scale or mixed rating scale is required to measure the performances in this
approach.
Behavioral approach
This approach can be considered as one of the oldest approach to measure the performance of the
employees and consists of an array of vertical scales such as behaviorally anchored rating scale
or behavioral observational scale.
Result approach
As mentioned by Alessandri et al. (2015), this approach is simple and can be considered as the
straightforward concept wherein companies classify employees on the basis of various employee
performance results.
1. Financial
2. Customer
3. Learning and growth
4. Internal and operations
This approach is helpful to motivate employees by providing them feedback. Therefore, it can be
stated that, with the help of this tool, companies calculate entire productivity score in the form of
summation of the performances.
Quality approach
This particular approach takes into account both system and person factors as this approach focus
on the enhancement of customer satisfaction. So that, the main aim of the tool is to reduce the
errors and achieve constant service improvisation. The advantage if this kind of approach
includes
1. Involvement of external along with internal factors
2. Problem solving through teamwork
3. Assessment of employee along with the system performances
4. Evaluation of performances by using multiple sources
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Therefore, based on this approach, it will be possible for the companies to improve the
productivity and effectiveness of the employees with the help of performance appraisal (Van
Dooren et al. 2015).
Recommendations and Conclusion
In the ever awaiting conclusion part, it can be stated that, organizations should have to focus on
the proper training and learning so that, it will be possible for the company to improve the
effectiveness of the employees. For this purpose, the companies could arrange proper training so
that, employees should keep motivated and updated. Companies can implement social learning
attributes to the workplace environment so that, staffs can gain knowledge via reflective
observation, active experimentation, abstract conceptualization and from concrete experience.
Therefore, it can be concluded that, HR manager needs to focus on the training nad development
to improve individual.
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