Developing Individuals: HR Skills, Learning, and Performance Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of individual development within an organizational context, using a case study of Whirlpool. It begins by outlining the essential knowledge, skills, and behaviors required of HR professionals, emphasizing the importance of communication, decision-making, and legal knowledge. The report then details the development of Personal Development Plans (PDPs), including work-based, professional, formal, and self-directed learning approaches, with a focus on skills like information technology, communication, and problem-solving. A comparison between organizational and individual learning is presented, highlighting differences in purpose, focus, and learning strategies. Furthermore, the report examines the contribution of High-Performance Work (HPW) systems to employee engagement and competitive advantage. Finally, it explores various performance management approaches, offering examples and concluding with insights into the overall development of individuals in the workplace and how these strategies can be applied for organizational success.

Developing individuals

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Appropriate knowledge and professional skills, behaviour required in HR professional.1
P 2 Knowledge, skills and behaviours required to develop PDP...........................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
P 3 Comparison between organisation and individuals learning............................................5
P4 Requirements for continuous learning and professional development.............................8
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................10
P5 Contribution of HPW in employee engagement and competitive advantage.................10
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................12
P6 Different approaches to performance management and examples..................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
Development of individuals in organization is considered as major prospect that supports the
organization to remove the problems and achieve their gaols and objectives which they have
developed in their business operations. It is also considered as an important business criterion
that supports the enterprise in development of effective coordination and cooperation with the
employees in organization in organization (Hawkins, 2017). In order to gain very much
competency of employees at workplace. In this report, case of study of Whirlpool has been
considered that provided an understanding that company has faced a major financial crisis which
has provided a negative impact on their performance in market. Various important skills,
knowledge and behaviours have been discussed which is acquired by the employees in
organization. Other than this, various important methods of learning have been discussed which
has been used by organization in order to raise the competency of their employees at workplace.
At last, approaches of performance management have been taken in to consideration which is
used by the management of whirlpool in order to control the performance of their employees.
TASK 1
P1 Appropriate knowledge and professional skills, behaviour required in HR professional.
As per the case scenario, development and management of teams is very important in
every organization as it provides support in resolving various problems which are faced by
organizations in business and operations. Whirlpool company crisis was culminated in 2011 was
completely handled by the North America regional staff by setting an agenda that team members
in organisation will commit to working more collaboratively for solving the business problems
by listening to each other and challenging the one another, ultimately eliminating a hub and
spoke engagement model with the president as the hub. Staff of Whirlpool have aligned their
individual’s commitments to combined their behaviour with the newly developed expectation
from the teams (Landy and Conte, 2016). Further, there is also major roles and responsibilities of
HR professional in organisation to provide the various business objectives that needs to be
considered as important for organisation in order to maintain its effectiveness in business
prospects at workplace. Key potentials skills and knowledge of HR professionals in whirlpool
has developed there potential to perform the job effectively. In present scenario, As HR
consultant of whirlpool, there are some important skills, knowledge and behaviour have been
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analysed which are required in HR professional of company for developing and managing
individuals are as follows:
Skills: There are ability and competencies of personnel acquired through systematic, and
sustained efforts in order to smoothly and effectively carry out complex activities job functions
involving the ideas, cognitive, interpersonal skills and competence. In present context,
Communications and listening skills are most important which HR officer must require as it will
support him to transfer knowledge, information and employee connected activities like
consulting on pay and remuneration, encouraging the other employees for development of shared
commitments towards the vision of Whirlpool and extraordinary goals (Luthans, Youssef-
Morgan and Avolio, 2015). HR officer in whirlpool has developed a transparent communication
with all the members and employees at workplace. Other than this, they also work with different
teams and departments for increasing the work efficiency, they required to have the effective
coordination skills. Decision making and judgemental skills are also needed in HR officer so that
they can easily eradicate the issues and creates harmony between team members.
Knowledge: It refers to the conceptual and practical understanding of the work which is obtained
by professional through and learning and taking practical experience (McCleskey, 2014). In this,
HR professional in Whirlpool requires Human resource and personnel knowledge that involves
the principles and procedures related to recruitments and selection, compensation, industrial
relations, training and development etc. case defines that HR professional in NAR has provided
major support in administration management by managing payroll and maintaining the records of
employees. Further, they have also arranged an special off site meeting concept for staff so they
can address the strategic issues. HR professional should possess clerical and legal knowledge in
order design and drafting innovative policies by analysing the laws like equality, works health
and safety etc.
Behaviours: It is main thing that has supported the NAR staff of Whirlpool in getting the
collaboration and shared commitments towards the organizations. HR professional in Whirlpool
must positive, accountable and responsible towards the other employees so that they too will be
able to communicate consistent message about the visions of teams and goals to the management
(Rock, 2014). It possesses the accountability of getting the positive results and adaptability of
dealing with tensions like decline in profitability, increase in labour turnover, decrease in
employee’s performance and decline in innovation and creativity at workplace. With positive
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behaviour, HR professional can become a leader and should be able to influence his team in right
directions so that problems which are arrived will get resolved.
P 2 Knowledge, skills and behaviours required to develop PDP.
Continuing the professional development includes maintaining and expansion of skills,
knowledge and experience related to the HR professional activities following the completion of
formal training. It involves development of those personal qualities that are required to carry out
professional and technical responsibilities during a life of professional. Both technical and non-
technical skills are required to be developed. Further, a frame work of CPD has been mentioned
above:
Work based learning: This indicates that, HR officer in organization tends to develop its
learning by doing activities, analysing the case studies, making an audit of service users, taking
guidance from other, discussion with colleagues, supervising the staff, effective analysis of
events and problems and accomplishing project work (Ryan and O’Connor, 2013). In case of
Whirlpool, HR professional was also required to provide support through significant analysis of
problems which is faced by company. Professional activities: It includes activities like involvement in professional body,
specialist interest groups and others, lecturing, mentoring, maintaining specialist skills,
giving presentations, which needs to be accomplished by HR professional of cited
company for self-professional development in organization.
Formal and educational: For HR professional development, individual in organization should
accomplish academic courses, research, attending conferences, writing papers, attending
seminar, distance learning and should planning or running a course (Serrat, 2017).
 Self-directed learning: It is also a most effective activity involved in CPD, that provides
an understanding that individuals in organisation are able to develop skills through self-
organised and planned learning that involves reading journals and articles, updating
knowledge through internet surfing etc.
Further, Reflective learning is considered as way of allowing the HR professional to step back
from their experience of learning to help them in development of critical thinking and skills in
order to improve future performance by analysing their experience. After analysing the case
study, there are some personal skills of HR professional have been identified which are
mentioned above:
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 Analysis of information and technology: It involves the knowledge about the computer
system and software that helps in decreasing the manual efforts and increases the
efficiency of HR professional. From personal skills audit, it has been identified that I
have very effective knowledge of using internet service and getting information that helps
the Whirlpool to overcome their weaknesses and communicating with other team
members through E mails. Only minor training is required to increase the performance.
Analysis of communication skills: After analysing the case study of Whirlpool, It has been
identified that HR professional in Organisation should possess efficient skills of writing reports
and producing materials for presentations (Woodcock, 2017). Moreover, it also needs to acquire
adequate skills of writing reports and producing materials for presentations. Further, she also
acquires adequate professional skills of resolving disputes, disciplinary hearings and advising the
human resources issues. Thus, analysis has determined HR professional in organization should
follow reflective learning in order to develop effective communications skills. With this, HR
professional in Whirlpool have become able to develop mutual respect and solidarity among the
other employees at workplace.
 Analysis of problems solving skills: Important skill which relates to exploring more than
one solution in order to resolve the problems and effective skills in considering the ideas
of each other employees to eliminate the problem. Further, it is essential HR professional
to acquire adequate verbal and reasoning skills to tackle complex issues which was faced
by Whirlpool. Through this, it will able to provide effective and strategic business ideas
to management in order to sustain their position.
In addition to this, a personal development plan has been for achievement of these professional
skills, knowledge and behaviours in specific time limit.
Skills needs to improve Opportunities of growth
and development
Criteria for
judging skill
proficiency
Time
duration
Witnesses
Information and
technology skills
High efficiency in
technical understanding
and software.
Use of
technology to
provide
1 month Human
resource
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training at
workplace to
the team
members.
manager
Communication skills Development of various
contracts and making
different presentations
for seminars, proving
information to
employees stated by
management, making
research to define
strategic issues.
Development
of various
important
programs,
workshops
and meetings
to improve
communicatio
ns skills.
1 month Superiors
and
subordinates
Problem Solving skills Good problem-solving
skills that helps in
resolving the problem of
management and
increasing the efficiency
of employees.
Through
development
of
collaboration
and
cooperation
with the
employees at
workplace.
3 Months Top level
and middle
level
management
.
Through this plan, HR professional in organizations will be able for professional development
and driving sustainable business performance of Whirlpool.
TASK 2
P 3 Comparison between organisation and individuals learning.
As per the above scenario, as HR consultant of Whirlpool brand there is major different
between the individual and organizational learning has been identified in order to analyse various
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effective measure that have used by individuals and organizations for professional development.
Example from case study are also taken to determine the difference which are as follows:
Basis Organizational learning Individual learning
Purpose The main reason this approach
of learning is promoted
professional development and
self-managed learning culture
in order to improve the skills
and efficiency of employees
(Qamar and Asif, 2016).
The main purpose behind
individuals learning is to get
the personal skills, knowledge
and efficiency which is
required for development of
profession in the field of
human resource management.
Focus Taking initiative for
increasing the efficiency in
order to raise innovation and
creativity in organization in
order to sustain business
performance in market.
Through increasing the skills
of employee’s organizations
will make them more
professional and competent
achieve growth at workplace.
In this type of learning,
personnel only have its focus
on achievement of its personal
goals and through application
CPD framework or self-
managed learning and taking
practical experience, he will be
able to achieve goals and
objectives.
Ways to improve By developing training
programs, organisation will be
able increase the efficiency of
employees. It will also provide
them motivation and
recognition to their ideas at
workplace.
It can be improving by
individuals by using various
techniques of personal and
professional development.
There are various important
methods like work based
learning, accomplishment of
professional activities and self-
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directed learning.
Examples: In Whirlpool the employees of
their North American region
have provided major support
in business performance of
organization. They have made
effective collaboration and
actions to resolve the problems
of inefficiency of staff
members at workplace.
There was a major role of HR
professional in marinating its
position in Whirlpool and
there are various roles and
responsibilities needs to be
performed by individuals for
sustainable business
performance. Through
development effective skills
and knowledge by individuals
learning he will be able to
complete its organizational
goals.
Basis Training Development
Meaning Training is considered as
process of learning in which
the employees in organisation
have been provided an
opportunity to develop their
skills, competency and
knowledge as per the job
requirement (Qamar and
Rehman, 2015). As given in
case study, Whirlpool staff
made individuals commitment
to align their individual’s
behaviour with newly
Further, it is considered as
educational process that is
concerned with overall growth
of employees in enterprise. It
is considered as shared
accountability for results and
effectiveness.
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developed expectation of team.
Term It is mainly considered for
short term transaction by
organization.
It is recognised as long term
process.
Objective In order to improve the work
performances of employees.
In order to prepare employees
for future challenges.
P4 Requirements for continuous learning and professional development.
Continuous learning means encouraging and facilitating employee’s active searches for
ways to increase the knowledge and skills sets and then understanding how to adopt new
knowledge and abilities in to work processes and procedures. Organization needs to anticipate,
react to and embrace change (Rashidi, 2015). It also helps to create successful environment of
continuous learning back in to team's efforts. In order to raise the profitability and productivity
of business organization, continuous learning and professional development is considered as very
important for the HR professional in the Whirlpool. With this context, the benefits for continuous
learning and professional development is provided below;
 It helps in sharpening skills: Continuous learning and professional development helps
the employees in improvement of existing skills and generation new and effective
required skills to improve various effective measures at workplace. Further, the process
of continuous learning also helps in thought process as well as critical thinking ability of
employees effectively and deficiently (Shi and et.al., 2015). It clearly implies that the
continuous learning is considered as very essential method for development of current
skills and competencies efficiently. It is also recommended for Human resource
professional in Whirlpool to focus on continuous learning and professional development
for raising the productivity and sustaining the business performance of organization. Raises confidence: Employees in the Whirlpool are focused towards learning new things
and getting more knowledge about their profession then it will tend to raise self-
confidence. It is significant for employees while working in organization. It has been
recommended that the HR professional to provide more focus on self and lifelong
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learning and professional development for boosting up their level of confidence in
enterprise to manage employees and resolve strategic issues effectively.
 Generation of alternatives: Lifelong learning and improvement will provide more
options and capabilities of understanding the problems and generating various alternative
ideas to resolve the problems (Van Dooren, Bouckaert and Halligan, 2015). As per the
case study, Continuous at Whirlpool has increased the efficiency of staff to make it more
effective and they have taken various steps like providing an enterprise perspective even
executing personal priorities, involvement, commitment and greater opportunities etc. It
has also supported the enterprise in increase the creativity and innovative thinking
among the other team members at workplace.
Other than there are some effective learning styles have also been analysed which is
mentioned above:
Kolb's learning style
This style of learning has styles model in 1984 from which he developed his learning style
inventory. It is four stage cycle of learning and four separate learning styles Much of kolb's
theory is concerned with the learning with the learner's internal cognitive processes. Concrete experience: From the analysis, it has been recognised that this style of learning
mainly provides an understanding about existing learning or experience which is
encountered by learners.
 Reflective observation: It mainly refers to analysing and providing reflection on the
experience which has been faced by learner (Yadav and Dabhadem, 2013).
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
Illustration 1: Kolb's learning style
(Source: Devarajan, Maheshwari and Vohra, 2016) Abstract Conceptualization: It mainly gives rise to the new idea or modifies the present
extract concept.
 Active experimentation: It mainly applies the learning in real life situation in order to
generate the possible outcomes. It is suitable for those individuals in organisation who are
able to learn by taking a practical experience.
Thus, it can be said that these learning style will help the HR professional in organization
to identify better learning and professional skills in order to gain various business knowledge and
perspectives.
TASK 3
P5 Contribution of HPW in employee engagement and competitive advantage.
High performance in working is mainly referred about generating a culture where there is
transparency trust and transparent communication. In Whirlpool, second administration of HPT
also showed the transparent communication, shared accountability for results, mutual respect and
solidarity which has provided positive results in just half year period and during the critical time
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