Kingfisher PLC: HR Skills, Knowledge, and Development Report

This report focuses on the development of knowledge and skills to achieve high performance, specifically within the context of Kingfisher PLC. It begins by identifying the essential knowledge, skills, and behaviors required by HR professionals, including administration, training, communication, and problem-solving. The report then presents a personal skill audit using a SWOT analysis, highlighting strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, and proposes a professional development plan to address skill gaps. It explores the differences between individual and organizational learning, as well as training and development. The report further analyzes the need for continuous learning and professional development to drive sustainable business performance, emphasizing the importance of adapting to changes and fostering innovation. It demonstrates an understanding of how high-performance work systems contribute to employee engagement and competitive advantage. Finally, the report examines approaches to performance management and their role in cultivating a high-performance culture.

Developing Knowledge and Skills To
Achieve High Performance
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
P1 Determine appropriate and professional knowledge, skills and behaviours that are required
by HR professionals.....................................................................................................................3
P2- Personal skill audit to determine right knowledge, behaviour and skill and creation of
professional development plan....................................................................................................5
LO2..................................................................................................................................................9
P3- Differences between individual and organizational learning and training & development..9
P4 Analyse the need for continuous learning and professional development to drive
sustainable business performance................................................................................................9
LO3................................................................................................................................................11
P5 Demonstrate understanding of how HPW contributes to employee engagement and
competitive advantage within a specific organisational situation.............................................11
LO4................................................................................................................................................13
P6. Approaches to the performance management and the ways in which they could help in
high performance culture...........................................................................................................13
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................17
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INTRODUCTION
Developing individual and teams is the process that is carried on by organisation, in order to
enhance skills, abilities and productivity of employees. It has been analysed that developing
individual means improve self-awareness and knowledge of person who are working in firm. It is
really necessary for organisation that their teams are developed with proper training and
continuous learning as this will assist company in increasing their productivity as well as
operational efficiency. Present report will lay emphasis on Kingfisher plc. It is the British
multinational retail company which is been headquartered in London United Kingdom.
Assignment will lay emphasis on determining appropriate and professional knowledge, skills and
behaviours that are required by HR professionals. It will also discuss about individual and
organisational learning. Report will also determine the need for continuous learning and training.
P1 Determine appropriate and professional knowledge, skills and behaviours that are required by
HR professionals.
In Kingfisher Plc., Human resource management are performed the different important
business operations and functions. But it is essential thing to identify the knowledge, skills,
behaviour an attitude of human resources professionals in proper manner.
Knowledge for HR professional-
Administration and Management: - In kingfisher plc, human resource professionals are
concerned about the different kinds of business activities. But it is important to have complete
knowledge of any kind of management practices and handle the administration processes. An
effective HR professionals has an ability to allocate all essential resources, strategic plan and
other leadership style (Amarakoon, Weerawardena and Teicher, 2019). These are helping to
establish an appropriate coordination between employees and resources. Therefore, it can easily
completing the overall organizational task in proper manner.
Training and development:- In Kingfisher Plc, HR professional are performing the
different activities related training and development session, who have a complete knowledge of
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training design, instruction. Therefore, HR manager can provide the better training session to
their employee so that they can easily improve their skill while gaining more knowledge.
Training and development are considered the important aspect for company which providing the
better opportunities for every staff members. These are beneficial for both organizational as well
as professional development.
Skills for HR professional-
Communication skill- In Kingfisher plc, HR professional have required the efficient
communication skills that can help for establishing an interaction with other individual people.
Sometimes, HR manager can establish interaction with team members to provide right direction
towards different enterprise activities. Moreover, Staff members are actively listening,
identifying the issue or problem of team members (Amarakoon, Weerawardena and Teicher,
2019). HR professional has an ability to follow the rules and regulations while following the
effective policies and procedures. By using communication skill, HR professional can motivate
or inspire staff members to achieve their desirable goal and objective.
Problem-solving skill – it is another kind of skill that will help for HR professional to
resolve any kind of complex business issues. Sometimes, It can utilise to resolve conflict among
staff members (Amarakoon, Weerawardena and Teicher, 2019). Therefore, HR professional has
significant skill to handle critical situation or condition in proper manner. Afterwards, it will be
establishing a strong coordination with staff members.
Behaviour for HR professional
Truthfulness and honesty- these are considered the important role played within
organization. Basically, it depend upon the different aspects of behaviour of HR professionals.
Honest behaviour is mainly developing trust or loyalty among staff members (Amarakoon,
Weerawardena and Teicher, 2019). in this way, it can be established the strong relationship
between staff members and consumers. This kind of behaviour will attract more employee where
they can take a good advice within HR professionals.
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Cooperative Nature – HR professional needs to be shown as cooperative behaviour or
nature. It is also established the coordination with employees and resolve any kind of issue or
problem. This can help to meet expectation level of staff members.
P2- Personal skill audit to determine right knowledge, behaviour and skill and creation of
professional development plan
Skills and
Knowledge
Very good Good Adequate Poor
knowledge
Administration
and
Management
Training and
development
Problem
solving skill
Communication
skill
Truthfulness
and honesty
Cooperative
Nature
Personal skill audit-
It is one of the best approaches or techniques conduct by individual for determining his or
her abilities, capabilities, strengths and weaknesses (Halman, 2018). It helps to identify
development needs of an applicant or person who is interested for gaining further career growth
opportunities accessible in job market. It requires thinking about full list of abilities.
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There are different types of models and approaches accessible, which I could utilize to
conduct personal skill audit for myself. SWOT is one of the models that I am here using to
analyse and identify my skills, weaknesses and threat as well as opportunities.
Strengths-
After conducting personal skill audit I have analysed that I have three different types of
abilities or skills which I will use to work hard and provide desire outcomes while working in
chosen company as HR professional. Through skill audit I have determined that I have
knowledge about training and development concept as key my strength. Furthermore, I have also
identified that Trustworthy, honest behaviour and corporative nature are my other strengths,
which I would use to work effectively in the future.
Weaknesses-
Along with above skills and abilities, by conducting personal skill audit and completing
this procedure I have examined that my weaknesses would put negative impact on my career and
growth either in personal or professional life. I have identified my weaknesses such as poor
knowledge about management and administration, lack of problems solving skill and
communication skill. All these three weaknesses will make by work much harder to do in further
and decrease my productiveness in negative manner.
Threats-
There are certain things available in business world that could posses’ threats for me and
my career growth. For example, changes in employment laws and policies hamper my work and
increase stress level in term of understanding it completely by reading new books or collecting
data from online sources in order to comply with and implement in existing employment
structure. Furthermore, not only this one I will face challenges while performing as HR
professional role due to other threat and that is diverse workforce at workplace within each
person have different culture and beliefs.
Opportunities-
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I have found a lot of opportunities for my career growth and success in context of HR
professional role. For instance, technology advancement is one of the biggest chances which I
can grab in order to keep information about workers and their performance secure that in future I
will use to take decision in context of performance appraisal and rewards. Furthermore, by using
this opportunity I would improve my weaknesses and develop new skills as well in systematic
manner.
Professional development plan-
In simple words, PDP is a set of actionable techniques and steps that I would take to
achieve my career aims and skills development objectives (Aldosemani, 2019).
Development
Objectives
Activities to be
undertaken
Key Resources Criteria for
Success
Timeframe
for KSBs
development
To develop
Administrati
on and
Management
In order to
develop my
knowledge relate
to management
and
administration I
will take right
act in term of
taking
information from
experience
holder who
already gain
excellent
knowledge while
I will achieve this
objective or
develop skill by
using valuable
resources such as
internet which
enable me to collect
a lot of data or
approaches online
for developing and
improving skills.
Success criteria in
regard to
developing this
skill is effective
management all
functions and
business activities.
20 days
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working at Hr
professional
position within
Kingfisher Plc.
Problem
solving skill
I will develop or
improve my
problem solving
skill by taking
appropriate
action in form of
concentrating on
employees’
solution and
clearly defining
each.
I will conduct
communicative act
and try to work in
group to understand
his or her problems
and attempt to solve
by using valuable
and useful
approaches.
Success criteria of
this skill are
effectively solving
problems and
manage conflict at
workplace by
applying relevant
models and
methods.
25 Days
Communicati
on skill
I would develop
this skill by
conducting
collaborative and
communication
practices with
other workers at
workplace while
working as
Human resource
professional
within
I will use books and
novels relate to
development of
communication
skills.
Build positive
relation at
workplace and
successfully share
ideas with other
people at
workplace.
30 Days
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Kingfisher Plc.
LO2
P3- Differences between individual and organizational learning and training & development
Learning is procedure of obtaining new comprehending, acquiring knowledge, skills,
attitudes, behaviours and preferences. Organizational and individual learning are different
concepts just like training and development. Differences between both terms are mentioned
below-
Organizational learning is process of retaining, developing and transferring data and key
knowledge within Kingfisher Company which is beneficial and useful for overall business
growth in term of increasing performance and profitability level. While individual learning is act
of developing knowledge and skills of single worker which make them to perform work even
better and increase productivity of business. It deals with personal development however
organizational learning is deal with professional development.
Training and development are also different from each other, for example, training is
action of learning and developing basis abilities, knowledge and skills which are important for
fulfilling further job roles in productive manner. On the other hand, development means progress
of individual or workers in all respects. Training is all about doing, whereas development of
employees is about being.
P4 Analyse the need for continuous learning and professional development to drive sustainable
business performance
Continuous learning
Continuous learning is defined as process of the learning new skills and knowledge on
the ongoing basis. It could come in the number of ways from the formal course to social casual
learnings. It enables company to manage the performance of organisation in effective manner by
encouraging self initiatives and taking challenges. The continuous learning methods could be
within the organisation or could be at personal level. It is essential for the business to remain
competitive in the global marketplace by bringing new innovations, adaptiveness and taking on
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challenges. Employees should learn new skills and gain knowledge for seeing thing in new
manner and taking next leap. Organisations not supporting continuous learning process lacks
innovation, change and growth. They stick to old methods of doing things that do not increase
their productivity or efficiency (DeNisi and Murphy, 2017). Establishing continuous learning
structure in the organisation is effective manner for improving the performance and increasing
the productivity of organisation. Employees are the key assets of organisation that lead it towards
growth and success therefore it is essential to develop learning habits in them for their self
development and for organisations effectiveness.
David Kolb has given model for effective learning that involves 4 stages which are
concrete learning, reflective observations, abstract conceptualisation and the active
experimentation. It provides participants gain knowledge from every new experience. As per
Kolb learning could take place only when cycle of 4 stages is completed.
Concrete Experience
In first stage of cycle person has experience which serves as basis for the observation.
Individuals encounter new experiences which creates opportunities for learning. As per the
Kolb's theory person could not learn simply by reading or observing. Goal of the stage is to
engage the people actively in experiences so that they could learn from them.
Reflective observation
In 2nd stage, individual reflects on experience before they make any judgements. Specific
notice has to be paid over inconsistencies between the experiences and understanding. Goals for
individual is to review situations and to find the meaning behind experience. The observation
skills are very essential to be developed for getting maximum benefits at this stage (Franco‐
Santos and Otley, 2018). Employees from their previous experiences and similar cases could
analyse the effects and make judgements that are better for them and organisation.
Abstract conceptualisation
In the abstract conceptualisation, employees have to develop theories for explaining the
experiences. The analysis gives rise to the new ideas or the changes in the preexisting concept.
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At this stage individual identifies the recurring themes, issues or problems which would help
with the new learning experiences. Goal is of creating concepts which could be applied in future.
This will enable the employees and management to similar issues quickly and taking steps that
prevents future occurrence of such problems.
Active experimentation
In final stage of cycle, the employees apply the knowledge gained through their previous
experiences to other situations. It uses theories for solving problem, making decisions and to
influence the events or people. In this stage learners have to take the risks and to implement
different theories for seeing what would be the outcomes. Motive behind is testing concepts in
the different situations for discovering methods for improvements. Experiments are very
essential in the learning process as they enable the employees to take risks and challenges that
improves their skills and creativity. It helps them in discovering new methods or processes that
will improve the efficiency of organisation.
The theory has provided the cycle using which they could improve their knowledge and
skills. It will help in improving the organisational performance by increasing the efficiency by
developing effective skills in them by continuous learning process.
LO3
P5 Demonstrate understanding of how HPW contributes to employee engagement and
competitive advantage within a specific organisational situation.
High performance practices can be defined as those strategies which is being adopted by
organisation, so that personnel in company can be developed and also by this firm can retain
talented and skilled employee in company. It has been analysed that Kingfisher plc is being
going through situation of employee turnover and they are working towards lowering down of
attrition rate in company (Nadeem and et.al., 2018). For this firm has been engaged in making
use of high performance work practices. This has assisted them in engaging employees in their
company, so that competitive advantage can be gained. It will also assist them in lowering down
of employee turnover. It has been analysed that making use of high performance practices assists
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in increasing the profitability. It will also assist in developing individuals in firm. It has also been
analysed that making use of HPW has supported Kingfisher plc in creating employee’s loyalty.
Like for example providing teams with better and adequate training assists in enhancing and
boosting morale of workers. Motivated employees will remain in company for longer duration of
time. HPW practices assists in increasing profitability and productivity. It also helps firm in
growing and because of these practices Kingfisher plc will be involved in achieving their set
target and mission. There are various strategies and techniques which can be used b company for
enhancing the organisational culture. It has also been evaluated that making use of better
strategies can assist company in increasing their profitability as well as revenue. This will also
assist firm in expanding their business (Murphy and et.al., 2018). When the employee turnover
will be lower down in Kingfisher plc then they will be able to increase their brand value as well
as reputation. It will also support firm in achieving their target. HPW will also assist in making
company’s culture better. It has also been evaluated that in this employees will also be motivated
to learn continuously so that they can better able to grow.
Managers of kingfisher plc will be involved in analysing the training needs and demands of
employees. This will assist the company in enhancing quality of services which is been provided
by them. It will also support firm in growing and achieving set target and mission. By
implementing the high performance work practices, it has been evaluated that employees take
more responsibility and their morale to work and perform increases. It also assists company in
bringing with more innovative and creative products as workers are more attached to firm.
Kingfisher plc will grow because of this. It has also been evaluated that this will assist company
in enhancing their culture (ALBERTI, 2017). In high performance work practices manager of
Kingfisher plc is also been engaged in taking feedback from employees about the loopholes
which are been linked to company. This has assisted them in enhancing the employee’s
productivity and also by this they are been able to work better. It has also supported organisation
in growing and because of this firm is also been able to increase employee engagement. They are
able to retain skilled and talented staff members because of this practice. It has also been
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analysed that by making use of HPW practices, company has also been able to expand their
business.
LO4
P6. Approaches to the performance management and the ways in which they could help in high
performance culture
Performance management could be described as strategic approach for creating as well as
sustaining the improved performance among employees that leads to the increase on
effectiveness of the companies. Focusing over development of the employees and aligning goals
of company with team and the individual goals could create work environment which enables
companies and employees to thrive. Based over definition of the performance management,
system is built within the company to measure and improve performance of people of Kingfisher
plc. In practice the management is required to continuously develop employees by establishing
clear goals and by offering consistent feedbacks. Approaches for performance management are
Collaborative working
It is seen that organisations that have collaborative working environment show more
growth and innovations. Employees working together encourage each other to enhance their
skills and increase their efficiency. Kingfisher by collaborative working environment could
increase the employee motivation and efficiency. There are organisations where people come
from many backgrounds and the collaborative working environment helps them in adjusting with
new people properly (Heger and et.al., 2017). Development of healthy work environment is the
best manner of developing employees that ultimately leads to the organisational goals.
360-degree feedback
It is approach that provides the employees with confidential and anonymous feedbacks
from people working with them. It mainly includes their peer, managers and the direct reporting
authorities. It is effective tool that helps in the development of employee not in the management.
Employees could identify what are the drawbacks that needs to be improved and the strengths
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that will be enhanced further for their overall development. Feedback works as mirror that shows
the employees about the areas they require improvements
Management by Objectives
It is appraisal method where the managers and the employees come together for
identifying, planning, organising and communicating the objectives to focus over during the
specific appraisal period. It helps in developing goals and objectives that acceptable to both
employees and management. It helps in collective growth of organisation. Organisation
following this structure receives greater support of the employees and they face very low
resistance on implementation of new changes (Richards and et.al., 2019). This approach helps
the management in increasing the performance of employees by effectively. The management
are aware of the requirements of employees and what encourages them the most. Policies are
framed aligning the employees and organisational goals to increase the productivity at maximum
levels. In order to manage the performance company is also being engaged in making use of
certain tools such as KPI and benchmarking. In this Kingfisher plc checks out whether the
benchmark has been achieved by them or not (Brinck, Otten and Hauff, 2019). This assists firm
in looking for loopholes about where they are lacking in giving training. It assists company in
enhancing performance level of employees and also because of this company is been able to
grow. They have been able to achieve set target and mission. This has also assisted firm in
increasing the value of company.
CONCLUSION
From the above study it has been summarised that there are various skills and attributes
which are been required by HR professionals. It has been analysed that an employee needs to
have effective communication skills so that no miss-understanding exists and it has assisted them
in having better relationship with employer. It has also been evaluated that in order to develop
professionally it is really necessary to set target date for achieving objectives. Better
communication skills can be adopted by taking coaching from internet. It has also been
summarised that there is a high need for continuous learning. In this Kolb learning cycle model
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has been used. This has assisted in enhancing skills and knowledge of workers. It has also been
analysed that firm has also made use of HPW. This has assisted them in engaging employees in
their company, so that competitive advantage can be gained. It will also assist them in lowering
down of employee turnover. It has also been analysed that in this various strategies have also
been used by company. They have made use of collaborative working which has assisted in
increasing productivity.
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REFERENCES
Book and Journals
ALBERTI, L., 2017. HRM High Performance Work Practices and Well-being at work: state of
the art literature review.
Aldosemani, T., 2019. Inservice Teachers' Perceptions of a Professional Development Plan
Based on SAMR Model: A Case Study. Turkish Online Journal of Educational
Technology-TOJET. 18(3). pp.46-53.
Amarakoon, U., Weerawardena, J. and Teicher, J., 2019. Entrepreneurial behaviour: a new
perspective on the role of the HR professional. Personnel Review.
Brinck, K., Otten, S. and Hauff, S., 2019. High‐Performance Work Practices and Job
Satisfaction: Gender's Moderating Role. European Management Review, 16(2), pp.333-
345.
DeNisi, A.S. and Murphy, K.R., 2017. Performance appraisal and performance management:
100 years of progress?. Journal of Applied Psychology. 102(3). p.421.
Franco‐Santos, M. and Otley, D., 2018. Reviewing and theorizing the unintended consequences
of performance management systems. International Journal of Management
Reviews. 20(3). pp.696-730.
Halman, R., 2018. Pengaruh Keterampilan (Skill), Atribut Personal, Pengetahuan (Knowledge),
dan Pengalaman Auditor dalam Proses Pelaksanaan Audit terhadap Kualitas Laporan
Audit yang Dihasilkan (Survei pada Kantor Akuntan Publik di DKI Jakarta) (Doctoral
dissertation, Universitas Mercu Buana Jakarta).
Heger, C., and et.al., 2017, April. Application performance management: State of the art and
challenges for the future. In Proceedings of the 8th ACM/SPEC on International
Conference on Performance Engineering (pp. 429-432).
Murphy, K. and et.al., 2018. A review of high performance work practices (HPWPs) literature
and recommendations for future research in the hospitality industry. International
Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
Nadeem, S. and et.al., 2018. Examining cross-cultural compatibility of high performance work
practices. International Business Review, 27(3), pp.563-583.
Richards, G., and et.al., 2019. Business intelligence effectiveness and corporate performance
management: an empirical analysis. Journal of Computer Information Systems. 59(2).
pp.188-196.
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