CECOS College London: HR Skills and Development Report for Unit 35

This report, prepared for a BTEC Level 5 Higher National Diploma in Business, Unit 35: Developing Individuals, Teams, and Organizations, examines the essential knowledge, skills, and behaviors required of HR professionals, using Tesco as a case study. It includes a personal skills audit, identifies strengths and weaknesses, and proposes a professional development plan. The report analyzes the differences between individual and organizational learning, training, and development, emphasizing the need for continuous learning to drive sustainable business performance. It also explores how High-Performance Work (HPW) contributes to employee engagement and competitive advantage, and evaluates different approaches to performance management, demonstrating how they support a high-performance culture and commitment within the organization. The report concludes with an overview of the key findings and their implications for HR practices.

DITO

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................3
P 1 Determine appropriate and professional knowledge, skills and behaviors that are required
by HR professionals.....................................................................................................................3
P2 Completed personal skills audit to identify appropriate knowledge, skills and behaviors and
develop a professional development plan for a given job role....................................................5
M 1 detailed professional skills audit that demonstrates evidence of personal reflection and
evaluation.....................................................................................................................................8
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................8
P 3 Analyze the differences between organizational and individual learning, training and
development.................................................................................................................................8
P 4 Analyze the need for continuous learning and professional development to drive
sustainable business performance..............................................................................................10
M 2 Apply learning cycle theories to analyze the importance of implementing continuous
professional development..........................................................................................................11
LO 3...............................................................................................................................................11
P 5 Demonstrate understanding of how HPW contributes to employee engagement and
competitive advantage within a specific organizational situation.............................................11
M 3 the benefits of applying HPW with justifications to a specific organizational situation...12
LO 4...............................................................................................................................................13
P 6 Evaluate different approaches to performance management and demonstrate with specific
examples how they can support high- performance culture and commitment..........................13
M 4 evaluate the different approaches and make judgments on how effective they can be to
support high-performance culture and commitment..................................................................14
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
The aim of this unit is to provide with the opportunity to appreciate that developing knowledge
and skills to achieve high performance is a cross- organization activity. Employees will
recognize that their own professional development is just one route to improving the
performance of those teams and organizations in which they work. Tesco is a British
multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City,
England. It is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-
largest in the world measured by revenues. This report contains issues such as Determine
appropriate and professional knowledge, skills and behaviors that are required by HR
professionals. Personal skills audit to identify appropriate knowledge, skills and behaviors and
develop a professional development plan for a given job role. Difference between individual and
organizational learning, training and development. the need for continuous learning and
professional development to drive sustainable business performance. Understanding of how
HPW contributes to employee engagement and competitive advantage within a specific
organizational situation. Different approaches to performance management (Moxen and
Strachan, 2017).
LO 1
P 1 Determine appropriate and professional knowledge, skills and behaviors that are required by
HR professionals.
HR professional in companies such as Tesco have to be the one to take responsibility of
employees in order to teach and train them with effective practices so that they are able to work
efficiently and make progress in their skills. With the help of profession map of HR company
can easily assess that what form of knowledge, skills and behavior they need to have.
Knowledge-
HR of Tesco must have the knowledge of the present trends or anything with that
information that can help the company to grow. They need to develop their attitude and
personality towards audience so that they can grab their attention or keep on motivating them.
this way the audience they are targeting can easily understand the importance of training and the

techniques that are imposed in it. They need to make sure that before training others with
techniques or use of software they are fully perfect in applying the codes for it. Other than that it
is important that they have knowledge and information about the needs and demands of
employees who are working in the company (McClory, Read and Labib, 2017).
Skills-
HR of company must have adequate skills that helps to operate and guide all other
departments so that they can be managed error free. This is because their role is concerned with
all of those departments as many of the decisions taken for them are done by HR. it is important
that they appreciate and accept a more diversified culture so that they can increase their strength
in the aspect of communication and make their networking more stronger. The skills that is
required in order to be an effective HR in a company such as Tesco involves setting up the
budget for different departments and allocating them in the right area. Apart from that setting up
compensation, benefits or performance appraisals which is set as per the policies and guidelines
formed by the company. They also have to engage or be a part of social activities and encourage
employees to be a part of this too. It is important that before taking the decision they plan out
everything so that it turns out to be right and they can easily manage employees of company.
With this they have to evaluate the performance of each employee in company so that they can
make the required changes in their procedures (Lin and Sanders, 2017).
Behavior-
It is important that HR of company must gain some knowledge of every area they have to
deal in. This is because of behavior of HR works on a professional approach. It is important for
them to assess that what form of structure is suitable to them. This way they will be able to
assess it on the basis of their professional behavior HR must be able to assess that their
employees have potential as per goals set by them. They need to make sure that the environment
formed by them is comfortable to them. This way HR can rely on them and leave some short
term decisions on them. Environment of company must be in that form that they are able to make
sure that employees are able to support each other and the efforts put together by them will help
them to make society a better place for them. behavior of HR must be appropriate so that they
can set the remuneration and incentives for employees which satisfies them. This is an important

aspect as this will keep them motivated and the skills they have will be used for the benefit of
business (Stoll and Kools, 2017).
P2 Completed personal skills audit to identify appropriate knowledge, skills and behaviors and
develop a professional development plan for a given job role
Personal skill audit
Strength Weakness
 I am pretty sure that I can manage time
easily through which I never face any
difficulty in completing the task in the
right manner and missing the deadline.
I have gained enough confidence in this
aspect that I won’t ruin any task that is
assigned to me so that I can get more
opportunities to make improvements
and proceed further in my career.
 I believe due to increasing the level of
interaction I have gotten good at
communicating with other and that is
because I was able to keep interacting
with members of team and coordinate
each other so that details of task is
thoroughly shared.
 I tend to listen people a lot because of
which I have great listening skills this
has made me realize that I can lead the
team by keeping in mind the opinion
and point of view of members of my
team. This was possible because I
consistently motivated them.
 I am sure that my management skills
 One of my weakness that I need to get
better is leadership skills as I do not
excel in that.
 I am not able to assess the risk factor in
an situation or an opportunity and that
has led many times to met failure.
 In the era of advancement and
digitization I am not so good in skills
that are related with technological
aspects.
 Apart from that when I am stuck in a
situation it takes ample amount of time
for me to get out of problem (Lawrence
and Whyte, 2017).

are up to the mark as because of that I
have been able to delegate tasks in
proper manner so that no one feels the
pressure around work load and
completion of task can be done with
less complexity.
Opportunities Threats
 There are different programs and if I
enroll them I can turn my weakness
into strengths.
 With the help of participating in social
media I will be able to gain more
knowledge and make an impression on
others.
 I can attend seminars and listen to the
approach of speakers through which I
can change my approach on many
things which can help me evolve.
 I face severe threats which can affect
my position and create difficulties to
achieve growth in my career. As I need
resources in order to train and make
myself better but due to lack of it I am
facing many threats.
 Trends in market keep on changing it
never stays same and if that happens
my experience at things will become
less valuable.
Professional developmental plan
Development
objectives
Priority Activities need to
be undertaken
Time Criteria for
success
Time
management
skills
High It takes time to
understand and
value the
completion of
task in given
time.
3 months I believe when I
will be able to
start and
complete my
work before
deadline then I
will be sure that
these skills have

been
accomplished.
Communication
Skills
High In order to
improve this
need to
participate more
with other people
and keep on
interacting them.
this way
confidence will
be gained
(Millar, Chen
and Waller,
2017).
2 months When I will be
able to present
my discussion in
front of everyone
then I will feel
that I have
improved this
skill.
Leadership Skills Medium These skills
cannot be learned
by enrolling
them in programs
it can only be
learned with
experience and
time.
1 year minimum These skills are
not easy to
develop as there
are no programs
or training
available or
provided for it. I
need time to get
better in this
skill.
Technology
skills
High This can be
improved by
taking a course
or better
assistance at
workplace.
3 months These skills can
be improved
easily just need
to work with
attention and get
more practice on

it.
Problem solving
skills
Medium This aspect can
get better with
experience and
by making
calculated
decisions in
which risk is
involved.
6 months It takes time to
observe every
measure and
method of
company so that
with the right
ways these skills
can be used in
the situation in
which it’s
required
(Lawani, Hare
and Cameron,
2017).
M 1 detailed professional skills audit that demonstrates evidence of personal reflection and
evaluation.
There are many areas such as managing time, listening carefully and skills related with
communication in which I am useful for the business but after evaluation it has been assessed
that I need to make progress in skills of technological field, and skills that involve leadership
(Harrison, Burnard and Paul, 2018).
LO 2
P 3 Analyze the differences between organizational and individual learning, training and
development
Individual learning-
Learning is believed to be a work based process which is usually self directed by an
individual. This way they learn the capacities to adapt more aspects related to it are learning and

working are interconnected. This aspect involves observing employees getting involve in routine
activities and participate more in it. Try to gain experience by working with experienced
members of company. These are the areas through which they will be able to gain more
knowledge and learn new things. More the employees participate in other areas more they will be
able to learn. Employees tries to be a part of organizational processes so that they can learn more
and commit to new things as this also keep them motivated. In order for this aspect to be
successful it is necessary that Tesco must have sufficient amount of resources such as money,
time and expertise so that they can provide them with facilities for learning. They assess their
employees by their social background, their status and the relation they have maintained with
others. This form of learning begins when employee himself wants to develop their skills. The
higher they set their approach more advanced way they can develop their skills. In order for
individual to learn new things and make progress it depends on their capabilities as if they are
highly capable then they will give more attention to it (Slade, Philip and Morris, 2018).
Organizational Learning-
This aspect focus on learning and development for company as a whole, the focus is on
finding solutions that are effective to problems so that they can offer optimum level of
satisfaction to their employees. This is considered to be a difficult part of company as it comes
on roles and responsibilities for managers of company and being already under so much pressure
of other areas this brings more burdens on them. That is why decisions taken by them for
learning and development are quick and rapid. It is important for them to take initiatives that are
concerned with learning and development because it is directly linked with company’s
achievement of goals and objectives. There are different and various characteristics that are
involved in it such as opportunities those are ongoing for learning and ensure to provide them
with feedback so that they can make progress in those areas. It helps to keep a balance between
routine work so that they can spare their time for opportunities that are provide for training.
Tesco ensures that learning and development are included as a part of their strategy so that they
can plan it up and make the necessary changes with HR of company (Gao and Bernard 2018).

P 4 Analyze the need for continuous learning and professional development to drive sustainable
business performance.
Continuous learning is considered to be the process of learning skills that are new and
acquire knowledge which keeps on going. This can be observed in many forms which can either
formal or casual. It involves taking initiatives by individuals or professionals so that they can
make it more challenging. Companies such as Tesco can keep it an aspect of internal part of their
business. Every business that is operating in market and has established their base of operations
needs to cope up with this measure as they have to fight with the competition in market. if they
keep focusing on this measure then they will surely be able to come up with measures that are
innovative and new which will grab the attention of people in market. For that they need to
provide their employees training and offer them with resources so that they can work up to the
challenge by working with measures that are creative. If management of Tesco does not support
this initiative or action then they won’t be able to make changes in their processes. It is necessary
that management creates challenges for them in task that they offers so that they can work on
finding solutions that are new and achieve goals for them. This way contribution made by them
will help company to reach different heights (Seymour and Geldenhuys, 2018).
This aspect is considered very important if the company wants to keep their operations
sustainable they need to implement this measure as it will help them to make it more cost
effective. The reason behind this is by developing skills of their current employees they will be
able to use them in different areas and company won’t have to invest their time and resources in
finding new people. If they use this measure in order to keep it linked with continuous learning
then they need to appreciate their employees so that they feel valued and recognize that company
is serious about their development in career. By learning and development on continuous basis
they can gain more knowledge which will be helpful for the company as they can implement it
on new projects. Not only it is beneficial for company it is also beneficial for employees. Overall
it all leads to making the company achieve a sustainable path for their business. By
understanding the need for continuous development employees can attain the position of top
performer in business as by developing skills and knowledge they can increase their growth rate
which will result in better performance. This will also help them to make progress in their
careers and for that company and employees must work in coordination so that they can work on
getting more training through which they can improve their skill set. This way they can add more

options in the stream of their career which will open the gates for them to attain a new position.
If employees helps them to form their business and make their way to achieve sustainable growth
then company will offer them with promotion or incentives as per the contribution made by
them. There are many areas in which employees can either learn or develop their skills such as
looking for eco friendly or social measures in order to gain acceptance in eyes of customers as
this will help them to increase overall sales and by earning their trust they will be able to retain
them for long period of time (Dönmez and Grote, 2018).
M 2 Apply learning cycle theories to analyze the importance of implementing continuous
professional development
There are different aspects to theory of learning cycle by Kolb as every individual rely on
some of it. It is important for leaders of Tesco to understand this theory as this will help them to
assess their employees so that they can make the process of learning as per that. With making
changes in the programs of learning they will be able to implement professional development on
continuous basis so that they can increase their strength and delegate more tasks (Coetzer, Bussin
and Geldenhuys, 2017).
LO 3
P 5 Demonstrate understanding of how HPW contributes to employee engagement and
competitive advantage within a specific organizational situation
Many businesses such as Tesco has to focus on area as its prime focus and that is to
improve their performance so that they can get better in achieving short and long term goals.
Approach of management of company is set on keeping their performance strong for goals that
are of short term and for the goals that will help them gain in long term they have to keep it
constant. This way they can make their business sustain to forces of environment and survive in
competitive market. The aspect of High performance working is enabled when the employees are
not in coordination or satisfied with their work which keeps their performance low. HPW helps
businesses and firms such as Tesco to get better support in these areas. With this they also help
leaders and managers to make a right decision. Senior managers of Tesco will calculate and
predict the outcome of their ideas that are about to be enforced so that they can take necessary
actions required for it. This way they can build blocks for their business. Management needs to

make sure that program of HPW helps them to find solutions that are concerned with practices of
HRM. Concept of increasing the interaction with employees is related with practices of high
performance working and that is why Tesco have to cope up with that. With the help of this they
will be able to contribute more which will help company to achieve growth. In order to do that
management is taking initiatives through which they can make it more interesting for employees
and then they will be able to increase the chances of adding more value in their work. If they
increase the level of engagement in their working cycles (Bond-Barnard, Fletcher and Steyn,
2018) then company will surely consider them for promotion. This will be only done if Tesco
seems them as a loyal candidate who will serve with them for long period of time. Some of the
benefits involved in this aspect are
Better cooperation internally and externally of company-
They cooperate with members of team and other than that they are available to colleagues
and suppliers so that even if they are stuck they can find the solution of that problem together.
Management of company considers them as their value chain which is why they have kept open
mid for everyone in company. They have set the bar for engaging in employees and that is for
keeping up the units of business (Zuofa and Ochieng, 2017).
Better Organization-
Management of company needs to work on bringing more measures so that they can
implement new things to their strategy. If they are successful they can add more unique attributes
to their portfolio which they can carry to differentiate easily from their competitors. Other
initiatives are taken by them such as motivating their team members to get involved and be a part
of CSR as this way they will be able to present themselves better in the eyes of target audience.
M 3 the benefits of applying HPW with justifications to a specific organizational situation.
There are various benefits of applying HPW in culture of companies such as Tesco as
they can improve their working speed which will make sure that they never miss their deadline.
Also by enabling this factor company is able to make more tasks in their pace as they are able to
deliver all of them in time which helps them to increase their profits (Bisbe and Sivabalan,
2017).

LO 4
P 6 Evaluate different approaches to performance management and demonstrate with specific
examples how they can support high- performance culture and commitment
Collaborative Working-
This form of working is known to be two individuals or parties’ working together which
consists of methods that are different which helps them to stick together. It includes network that
are informal and form alliances on the basis of that. Other than that it includes working together
on a project and delivers it to their audience together as a merger. The duration for this
partnership depends on both the parties involved in it which can be either for lifetime or just for
specific project. It is important for Tesco to work on voluntary basis. The rise in level of
efficiency is because of sufficient amount of resources. Businesses can form up an agreement to
set the actions on which they need to keep independent decisions and on which they need to form
and work together (Baldé, Ferreira and Maynard, 2018).
Management by objectives-
This model is used by company in order to manage the things strategically so that they
can improve the performance of company by enabling the practices of high performance working
in their culture. The procedure and working of this aspect is to set to keep it clear so that
employees as well as management are clear about their goals and decisions made by them and
easily agree to it. Setting of goals and planning of action helps to increase the level of
participation of employees which creates pressure on them as they get competitive around each
other and understand the value of committing on to their tasks and projects assigned to them.
With that they will align their path to achieve the goals for company instead of claiming it on
personal benefits. In order to become successful they need to compare their achievements and
match it up with the targets they have set for it. This will help them to know their current
position and motivate them to work on reaching the target they want to reach. Sometimes with
this aspect they emphasizes with unfair measures through which they can achieve objectives by
overcoming measures in order to set up a plan which must be as per the structure of company so
whenever its implemented it gives company the support they need and they are able to reach
their targets effectively and efficiently (Ahmed and Kassem, 2018).

M 4 evaluate the different approaches and make judgments on how effective they can be to
support high-performance culture and commitment.
In order to support the culture of high performance working it is important for management to
work with different set of approaches such as low rate of employee turnover, power to make
decisions, backup of team, focus on improving continuously.
CONCLUSION
From the analysis done above it has been assessed that organization needs to consider
everyone one when they are thinking to evolve and develop the aspects of their business. Main
focus of this report was on highlighting the factor of high performance working and its use that
were done by them as it was because of this factor that they were able to observe improvement in
their performance which helped them to get their expected results. This helped them to increase
the level of engagement between each other and inn dealings and they were able to contribute
more of their efforts so that they can easily achieve growth. In order to develop they need to
understand the importance of training and learning so that they complete it with full focus and
prove their worth to company.
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