HR Development: Skills, Strategies, and Performance for Aston Martin

This report delves into the essential skills and attributes required of HR professionals within Aston Martin, a British sports car manufacturer. It includes a personal SWOT analysis of an HR manager, a reflective statement, and a corresponding personal development plan. The report explores the differences between organizational and individual learning, training, and development, emphasizing the importance of Continuing Professional Development (CPD). Kolb's learning cycle is used to illustrate the significance of CPD. A detailed professional development plan is presented to achieve sustainable business performance objectives. The report also examines how High-Performance Work Systems (HPWS) contribute to employee engagement and competitive advantage, along with approaches to performance management in support of a high-performance culture. This report provides valuable insights into HR management, organizational development, and performance improvement strategies. The report provides a detailed analysis of the Aston Martin's HR requirements, including skills, development, and organizational learning, as well as CPD and performance management strategies.

Developing
Individuals, Teams
and Organizations

Table of contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Skills and attributes required by HR professionals within an organization.....................................3
Personal SWOT analysis of the HR manager..................................................................................4
Personal development plan based on the SWOT analysis...............................................................5
Reflective statement.........................................................................................................................5
Introduction to the organization.......................................................................................................6
Differences between organizational and individual learning, training and development................6
Continuing professional development (CPD) for individual and organizational development.......7
Learning cycle theories on the importance of implementing continuous professional
development.....................................................................................................................................8
Detailed and coherent professional development plan in relation to the learning cycle to
achieve sustainable business performance objectives......................................................................9
HPW contributes to employee engagement and competitive advantage and benefits of
applying the HPW............................................................................................................................9
Approaches to performance management in support of high-performance culture and
commitment...................................................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
This report will be discussing the skills and the attribute of a HR professional that are required in
the Aston Martin. Aston Martin is an independent British manufacturer of sports car as well as
grand tours. Headquarter are in Gaydon, Warwickshire, England, UK. Report provides with the
personal SWOT analysis of the HR manager of the company. The step wise reflex statement
from the HR manger is discussed and to resolve the issue, personal development plan based on
SWOT is also provided. Analysis of the organizational and the individual learning, training and
development is also discussed. The importance of the continuing professional development
(CPD) is also explained with the help of learning cycle theories of Kolb’s model. A detailed and
coherent professional development plan that helps in learning and achieving the goals of the
organization is given.
MAIN BODY
Skills and attributes required by HR professionals within an
organization.
The HR for the Aston Martin needs to be skilled influencer, collaborative, passionate,
focused to the work, open-minded and curious (Kryscynski and et.al, 2018). The HR should
possess the following skills:
Effective and efficient organization
The HR of Aston Martin should follow a time management organizational approach, as
the HR have a lot of responsibilities and have to deal with more things at a time. So being
organized can help HR respond the issues on time. If the matter is not responded on time they
can accumulate and become a big issue in the future for the company and also becomes very
problematic for the HR to solve that.
Friendly implementation of the policies
The HR of Aston Martin needs to take actions according to the interests of both the
employees and the employer, so that the conflicts could be avoided. In cases where the staffs are
not acting accordingly, strict action can also be taken by the HR manager to deal with the
situation (Arpad, 2018).
Taking right decisions
It can be really hard to take the right decisions all the time but the manager can
accomplish this by having the overall knowledge of the situation in hand. The HR of Aston
Martin need to take the right decision for the betterment of the company. The HR can also take
advice from the seniors and the leaders of the company.
Negotiation skills
In the times where the parties have the opposite views about the other party, the HR can
solve the issues by negotiating. The HR of Aston Martin needs to have the skill of negotiating so
that the company will not have to suffer from loses. The HR, thus, requires the negotiation skills.

Communication system
The HR of Aston Martin needs to build a communication skill so as to connect with the
leaders of the company to the lower employees and set a system of communication where the HR
can transfer the message, announcements and news to all of the organization (Jasmin and Beulah
Hemalatha, 2017).
Safeguarding resources
The HR of Aston Martin needs to protect the company’s valuable information, assets and
the resources. This is the basic work of the HR in an organization to save and protect the interest
of the company.
Personal SWOT analysis of the HR manager
Strengths
Aston Martin is able to organize the work and have time management skills. The
company is honest with the work and have a good sense of the ethics. The company build
positive relationship with the employees and the employers.
Weakness
Aston Martin lack in the communication with the employees with create disturbances in
the functioning due to misunderstanding. The company focus on internal issues rather
than the external issues. The company lacking in implementing strategic perspective
towards the goals of the company and development is slow because of this.
Opportunities
The company have the opportunity for the development of the workforce due to the
increase in the demand of the products and the services. The company can hire the trained
and skilled workforce. Implementing strategic plans for the development activities of the
company can increase the profit margins. Development of the artificial intelligence in the
company for the ease of doing the work (Martinez, 2017).
Threats
Increasing conflicts between the employees and the employers can impact the
productivity of the company. The changing laws and government regulation due to
protest groups impact the operational activities of Aston Martin. Increased taxes and fuel
rates add to the costs for the company.
Personal development plan based on the SWOT analysis
Skill Objectives Method of
development
Time
Communication To avoid
misunderstanding and
loss
Making the goals and
the objectives clear
for the employees
through meetings
Two week

To avoid loss for the
company
Conducting meeting
with the parties and
understanding their
point of views
One month
Decision making Avoid discrimination Educate employees
on their roles in
preventing
discrimination
One week
Discretion and ethics To maintain
discipline
By making the
decision making
process transparent
One month
Reflective statement
Step1-Description
One day when I was on duty and working out some issues in the Aston Martin, I found
that a group of employees were creating conflict in the office. When I asked about the issue I
found out that it was about an employee. The employee had joined in a few week back. The
company found the employee to be an asset for them because of the skill and training in the
respective field, he was provided with more salary. And this was creating a sense of distress in
the other employees working in the same department (Weng and Liu, 2018, June).
Step2- Feelings
When I got to know that the employees are taking things into their hands and not
informing the higher authorities for the issues, I felt like they are lacking trust in the manager.
Before the experience I was ensured that I have good bonding with the employees and they can
share everything with me comfortably.
Step3- Evaluation
The employees that were creating the conflict were the ones who are
most certainly involved in such activities from the start. The other employees are trying to stop
the certain people, this was a positive sign as they are the employees that understand the goals of
the company and trying to maintain the rules (Cairns and Callander, 2019).
Step4- Analysis
I took out the information about the employees who were creating conflicts and examine
the times and the reasons why they had created such conflicts in future. I started to think about
the possible ways I could do to improve the situation.
Step5- Conclusion
I learned from the experience that it should be made clear for the employees that if they
have any kind of issues regarding anything they need to consult the manager rather than just
acting upon things themselves.
Step6- Action Plan

I need to improve the communication with the employees about the things they are
unclear about. Make the people to trust the authorities rather than acting by themselves.
Introduction to the organization
Aston Martin is an independent British manufacturer of sports car as well as grand
tourers. Headquarter are in Gaydon, Warwickshire, England, UK.
Differences between organizational and individual learning, training
and development
Organizational learning is a social part in the Aston Martin where the knowledge and the
understanding will help the organization to grow and perform with high efficiency. The
organization learning is beneficial to improve the tasks that are happening in the organization.
The understanding will improve the integrated new knowledge and spread around the
organization (Zambrano and et.al, 2019).
The organization invest in the organization learning because it helps in the development of the:
 Organizational and the group learning process,
 Individual and the team performance
 Organizational performance
Organizational learning is related to the organizational performance, more the learning
process of the organization more will be the performance of the organization. The learning
quality also matters in the development.
Individual learning have various levels and dimensions of learning. The learning practice
in the organization is very complex process. There are many levels of the organization where the
individual learning have its possible impacts. The learning process in the organization is limited
due to the limited view of learning from the organizations point of view. Thus, the organizational
learning will affect the learning process and decide the limits of the individual learning at the
organization. The organization culture of the Aston Martin promotes the learning of the
individual but it is limited by certain boundaries in the organization.
The organizational learning and individual learning are interconnected at some level and impact
the development of the organization greatly.
Continuing professional development (CPD) for individual and
organizational development
The continuing professional development (CPD) is meant to be the development activities for the
professional in the Aston Martin for the improvement of their skills and the interests that further
help the organist on. There are types of CPD that includes:
Structured CPD

Also called active learning the professional are made to learn through certain ways like training,
workshops, lectures and seminars. The professionals have to participate in them (King and et.al,
2020).
Reflective CPD
Also known as passive learning and it is not participating based interaction required. The
professional are made to learn through the newspapers, case studies and through listening the
podcast.
Self-directed CPD
It is an unstructured learning type where the professionals are made to learn through the reading
the articles and publications. Along with the reviewed books, industry journals and news feeds.
Benefits of CPD for employees are:
Up skilling
The CPD provides the professional with the view of their skills and help in improving and
upskilling them; this improves the confident and the efficiency to work. The employees become
more proficient in their jobs. This can boost the production in the organization and team spirit.
Adaptation
This helps the professional to learn the latest skills in the market and helps the employee to
adjust comfortably according to the changes in the industry. Makes the employees an asset in the
market place. This will save the time and expenses of the organization.
Thus, CPD is an asset for the Aston Martin to attain the sustainable business development.
Learning cycle theories on the importance of implementing
continuous professional development
Kolb’s learning cycle provide the Aston Martin with the goal directed as well as behavior
learning theories that will increase the importance of the learning and the ongoing need of
learning. There are four steps in the Kolb’s learning cycle they are:
Concrete experience- Having any kind of experience.
Reflective observation- reflecting on the experience
Abstract conceptualization- learning from the experience
Active experimentation- trying out what have been learnt
These four steps are a continuous cycle and promotes more learning and implementation of what
have been learnt (Bates and Morgan, 2018).

Learning CPD enables the employee to become proactive as well as conscious instead of being
reactive and passive. This is done by the vocational practices in the organization. Kolb’s learning
cycle and the CPD align in the process of continuously making personal improvements even
when the learning is completed.
With the increasing evolution of the industries and market, there is always a need to improve and
develop with it. The Kolb’s theory states having an experience and the experience is gained by
the continuous professional development, then use it in the Aston Martin and get the results. If
the results are not as expected towards the goal then learn from it and improve the skills and then
try again. This not only helps the individual from growing but also helps the organization to
grow with it. It makes the continuous professional development very important part for the
organization.
Detailed and coherent professional development plan in relation to
the learning cycle to achieve sustainable business performance
objectives
Step1: Requesting a self-assessment from the employee of the organization.
The skills career opportunities and technologies of interest of the employees can be taken and
understand if they are aligning with goals and aims of the organization. Calculate the short or
long term steps to get to this alignment (García-Feijoo, Eizaguirre and Rica-Aspiunza, 2020).
Step2: Developing the assessment of individual skill level
Technical skill: The specific digital tasks need expertise.
Social skill: Helps in the interaction with the changing environment and situation.
Aptitudes: These are the natural talents of the employee for performing specific tasks.
Attitude: The feeling, mind-set, outlook and the way of thinking.
Step3: Asses the departments and the organizations needs
This can be divided into
Big goals: The goals such as the improvement in the team collaboration and learning new tool.
Department goals: The goals of the manager to create the specific set of goals to meet the
objectives for the employees.
Team goals: The goals that are needed to be completed by the employees working in teams.
Individual’s goals: The goals set on the employees to be completed.
Step4: Exploring the development opportunities of the employees
This can be done by conducting the workshops, seminars, trainings, volunteer opportunities and
mentorship.
Step5: Recording and analyzing the progress

Feedbacks can be taken to get the knowledge of how the skills are used and applied. The skills
are directing the company towards the goals or not and if the skills can be improved for
achieving the future goals.s
Theoretical framework of HPW
The HPW in Austin Martin leads to the improvement as well as sustainable performance.
The working helps the organisation in recognition needed for the adaptation of the surrounding
in which the organisation is operating. The HPW helps the organisation to change according to
the changing needs of the company.
HPW contributes to employee engagement and competitive advantage and
benefits of applying the HPW
Aston Martin provides the employees of the company with good compensation then the
other companies. The rewards given to the employees in addition to the salary gives the
employee to engage in the development process. The recognition and the rewards will keep the
employee motivated and directed to the work more, that help the company to get increased
profitability which in turn get a competitive advantage over the other.
The high performance work system provide the company with the improved productivity
and efficiency. The employees are able to see the progress in the Aston Martin will get motivated
and this helps in engaging in the work process even more. The company share the business
information with the employees to gain the trust. This culture help the employees to get involved
in the training session, discussing the plans and the strategies which improve the ability of the
employee to work (Killer and et.al, 2017).
High performance work system in Aston Martin can be defined as creating an
environment for the employees working there so that they can work with greater involvement as
well as responsibility. The employees are seen as the asset in the company and they are
considered to create a competitive advantage due their commitment towards the aims of the
employees. The benefits of the high performance working system includes:
Having a voice
The employees at Aston Martin are confident enough because their voice are listened to
and considered. The employees can talk about any concern they are having and this gives the
employees an improved attitude. This also improve the team performance of the employees.
It is very necessary for the employees to be comfortable in having their voice at the
workplace because if they have an idea that can help in improving the customer service, the
employee can discuss about that idea that will eventually help the development of the
organization. This will also help the seniors at the office in improving the decision making
processes. The employees feel empowered and try to actively participate in the discussion and
that will result in faster decision making.

The employees are the people who know the company inside out and can come up with
better ideas when solving a problem, they can look at the ways for performing the work better
and faster and having confidence to speak up the solution can ease the problem solving process.
Well trained
The high performance work (HPW) in the company is created by trained employees. The
training and development of the employees at the workplace ensure the high performance. The
employees that are well aware of their job roles tend to be more engaged as well as motivated.
The training and the development bring a positive attitude in the employees of the Aston Martin.
The employees feel more satisfied with the work, improves the efficient of the work process and
raise the morale. This help the company with reducing the employee turnover and the funds
required for the recruitment and the onboarding process.
The training prepares the employees for taking more responsibilities with their job and
helps in motivating. The training provide the employees with more skills and that help them
retain the customers by fulfilling their needs.
Motivated and committed
The trained employees are not only motivated for their personal success but also for the
development of the company. The culture of the company is based on the commitment and not
on the controlling the employees, this inspires the employees to involve into the business goals
and make them their own by working towards them.
The employees are motivated by the way the company is running, this have a positive
impact on the jobs of the employees, health and wellbeing. The company have value in the
employees of their business. The company provide the employees with rewards and recognize
them for their work this keeps the employees even more motivated and committed.
Secure in the roles
The employees of the Aston Martin are happy and feel secure about their roles because
the culture of the company is make high trust partnership with the employees. The partnership
help the company to make the employees go extra mile for their company by working hard. The
reputation company get for treating the employees better help the company in recruiting people
best suit for their roles. The reputation of the company attract the employees towards the
company and the company get the best employees for the workplace (Ma and et.al, 2017).
Careful recruitment
High performance work requires a culture in the company and the new employees need to
be skilled and cultural fit for the best results. The right employees have the potential to work for
longer period of time in the company. The right employees will able to perform well in their
roles and save the time as well as money of the company.
Importance of performance for an organisation
The organisation needs the employees that are able to perform the task and complete it as
the performance of the employee is important for the success of the organisation. The

performance of the employees in the organisation has various impacts on the strengths,
weaknesses as well as potential managerial gaps in the business. So the organisation has to keep
complete update of the performance and do various activities to keep the performance up to
mark.
Approaches to performance management in support of high-performance
culture and commitment
Aston Martin consider the performance management an important part for knowing what the
employees are doing, how they are doing and why they are doing it (Hu and et.al, 2019). The
system in the company allows to maintain the roles and responsibilities of the employees
according to the skills and interests. An effective performance management keeps the employees
engaged, helps in retaining the talent and develop the leader from the company itself. The
effective performance management can be achieved by practicing:
 Identify the goals
The company need to decide the reason why they need the performance
management program for the company. The reasons will help to build a program that
would direct towards the problems in the company that needs to be improved.
 Define roles
The Aston Martin need to define and assign each role and responsibilities to the
employees, this will help the employees in understanding their roles better and help them
work in the direction the company want it to work. The employees who have a clear
vision of why they are working and what is the end results tend to work more efficiently.
 Short term goals
The Aston Martin need to prepare short term goals out of the long term goals so it
will be easy for the employees to work and accomplish the goals. This help the
employees in observing the progress of the goals and that motivates them to work more.
 Collaborative working
Plans are made to work the employees collaboratively. Collaborative working will
increase the bonding between the employees and help them in developing. The workers
are able to give each other appreciation and advice while working collaboratively.
Collaborative working speed up the work and save time which in turn increase the
productivity (Mora and et.al, 2020).
The progress after the application of the program needs to be checked for the
growth of the company. Changes can be made to the plans and strategies that are not
working efficiently for the company.
 Creating guidelines
The Aston Martin should provide the employees with the guidelines with the roles
and the responsibilities. The employees work better with the guidelines and policies.

 Performance aligned culture
The Aston Martin need to provide the employees with the culture that best fit the
performance goals. The culture share the beliefs, values and the expectations between the
employees at the workplace. The committed employees will give their best to achieve the
give goal of the company.
These approaches will support the high performance work system of the Aston Martin.
The defined roles will help the employees have the knowledge about the work and this speeds up
the work. Setting up of the short term goals help the employees to complete the goals faster
because long term goals takes time to show the progress and can demotivate the employees.
Collaborative working of the employees help in doing the work faster and less time, giving the
company more work to do. Guideline will set limits for the employees and help them work. The
culture of the company support the commitment and high performance work system by creating
the values for the work and aims of the company.
Performance management in support of high performance culture and commitment
The performance management focuses on the development and the performance of the
employees which give the employees the sense that the Aston Martin is concern about the
employees with their work. The employees are made to believe that the purpose of the company
is higher than the just gaining profit which help them to stay in the company for the greater time
and stay committed to the company because of the cause it is serving (Eliyana and Ma’arif,
2019). The performance management helps the company to look on the performance of the
employee and allows to focus on the bigger picture. It helps the company with the sustainable
growth and individual employee’s growth. This management will allow the company to set
standards and expectations for the employees to achieve the goals. Knowledgeable employee at
the company can help the company in reaching the goals and provide with the higher
profitability.
Collaborative working in support of high performance culture and commitment
The high performance working promotes the collaborative working because it is very
useful for Aston Martin. The collaborative working gives the employees the advantage of being
up to date with the technology as its saves time, and collaborative working saves a lot of time for
the company. the projects in the company bring new challenges as well as surprises, working
collaboratively help the employees to be more creative while thinking of a solution and helps in
being more reactive to sudden changes (Dubey and et.al, 2019). The collaboration helps in
building up relation between the employees at the workplace that improve the work environment
and allows efficient working. The collaborative working also helps in sharing the knowledge
between the employees. The individuals in the collaborative working is free to share their views
and the responsibilities are shared in groups. This helps in the high performance working of the
employees and gives high productivity.
Effective communication in support of high performance culture and commitment
The communication at the work place is a crucial part and requires to be done with no
confusion. The Aston Martin with strong communication can be an advantage for the company.