Report on Developing HR Skills, Teams, and Organizational Performance

This report examines the crucial role of Human Resources in organizational success, using Whirlpool as a case study. It presents the necessary knowledge, skills, and behaviors for HR professionals, including communication, problem-solving, and leadership. The report details a personal skill audit using SWOT analysis, followed by a professional development plan to address identified weaknesses. It differentiates between individual and organizational learning, training, and development, emphasizing the impact on employee capabilities and company performance. The report also highlights the importance of continuous learning and professional development to drive sustainable business performance and explores how High-Performance Work Systems (HPWS) contribute to employee engagement and competitive advantage. Finally, it evaluates different approaches to performance management, offering a comprehensive overview of HR strategies for organizational effectiveness.

Developing individual, teams
and organizations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................3
1 Presenting knowledge, skills and behaviors of HR professionals.............................................3
2 Presenting personal skill audit and professional developmental plan.......................................4
3 Presenting difference between individual and organizational learning, training and
development.................................................................................................................................6
4 Presenting continuous learning and professional development to drive sustainable business
performance..................................................................................................................................8
5 Describing how HPW contribute to employee engagement and competitive advantage.........9
6 Evaluating different approaches to performance management...............................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES .......................................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
In this global world, business growth is quite necessary and this can be achieved by
enhancing competitive advantage. Individual and team plays important role in every
organization. The present report helps to determine the knowledge and skills which are possessed
by Human Resource. The entire report is based upon a case scenario of Whirlpool which is one
of the largest company in United Kingdom. The company offered variety of products to their
customer but faces some problems as per surveyed conducted.
The report presents different skills, behaviors and knowledge required by HR
professionals. Further it also analyzed complete personal skill audit in order to identify their
strength and weaknesses. Report present difference between organizational and individual
learning, training and development. As per survey conducted, report determine the need of
continuous learning and professional developmental in order to drive sustainable business
performance. Report describe the importance of HPW and also evaluate some approaches of
performance management.
1 Presenting knowledge, skills and behaviors of HR professionals
HR are the person who make up the entire organization and do work in order to attain the
goals of a company.HR of every company must have following knowledge and skills which are
mentioned below:
Knowledge: The HR of a company must have good knowledge of training and
development programs because they are the only one who organize such activities in order to
make their new employees comfort in a working area. Further, they must have knowledge of
recruitment process and have knowledge that is related to some policies and procedure of
employee hand book. They should also posses the knowledge of risk management such that they
should also know audit and have knowledge how to control risk (Latino, Latino and Latino,
2016). HR of Whirlpool also need to have trustworthy and ethical knowledge such that it plays a
vital or important role in knowledge because It helps to protect company from risk or
uncertainties’ or also protect from legal punishments. Moreover, HR of a company needs to have
some critical knowledge so that it will help them to take better decision for a company.
Moreover, HR should also not posses knowledge related to finance which helps to raise profit for

a company but on the other side they must have knowledge that can be easily help them to
manage the salary account and other operations which are related to it.
Skills and behavior: Skills and behavior have their own importance in every HR
professionals. Such that HR must posses’ best qualities or skills like they need to have good
communication skills which help to influence or convince each and every employee of a
company (Skills of HR Professionals, 2018) . Further they must have some problem -solving
skills which is quite important. Using this skill, HR of Whirlpool can easily solve complex
problem of their employees and make them comfort in a working area. HR must posses
intrapersonal skills which helps to creates better relationship among employees and managers
and as a result their efficiencies automatically increases. Leadership skills is the another skill
which HR should also posses in order to lead a team in better way. They also need to have
human capital skills because it helps to establish best team for a company. HR must have some
negotiation skills because of strong negotiating skills, HR can create good working environment
by enhancing their employee’s performance.
Types of skills:
Hard skills: This skills are specific, teachable and tangible as compared to soft skills
such as typing, writing and reading.
Soft Skills: This type of skill are less tangible and harder to measure for example,
listening and etiquette which HR posses.
The behavior of HR should always be favorable and supportive such that they should
always present for their employees in order to enhance their productivity. They should behave in
a proper manner with their employees because it helps them to stay connected with them
automatically. The behavior of HR must be motivating so that they always motivate their
employees in order to enhance their efficiencies.
2 Presenting personal skill audit and professional developmental plan
To identify personal skills, SWOT analysis will be helpful to identify Human resource
personal strength, weakness, opportunities and threats. It is an analytical tool that is basically
used to identify their strength and weaknesses.
HR skills Rating Personal skill Rating

Hard skills 10 Leadership skill 8
Soft skill 9 Management skill 8
Leadership skill 9 Interpersonal skills 8.5
Communication skill 9 Knowledge 9
Technological
knowledge
9 Communication skill 8
Risk taker 10 Conflict solver 9
Decision making skill 9 Informational
technological skills
6
Management skill 9 Decision making skills 7
Personal skill audit of HR manager is mentioned below:
Personal skill audit:
Skills Rating
Leadership skill 8
Communication skill 8
Informational technological skills 6
Decision making skills 7
Strength Weaknesses
 I Have strong leadership skills that
helps to lead a team in better way.
 I Have risk management skills that
further assist solve complex
problems.
 I Have good inter- personal skills.
 I Have vast knowledge of
employment legislation.
 Due to emotional attachment delay in
decision making.
 I am Lack of informational
technology.
 I am Lack of few leadership skills.
 I am Problem in communicate with
others.

 I have Knowledge relate to
recruitment process.
 I have Good communication skills
 I am Conflict solver.
 I have Have strong motivational
skills
 I have Strong financial knowledge.
Opportunities Threats
 Being an HR, it helps to develop
communication skills which further
help in future.
 Help to take better decision for a
company.
 Due to strong competition in world,
HR of Whirlpool faces threats from
their colleagues as may be they have
strong HR skills.
In order to overcome weaknesses of HR, professional developmental plan is developed. It
is a process that helps to minimizes individual weaknesses by providing some basic activities. If
HR of Whirlpool follows this continuously then it will help them to accomplish their all defined
goals and objectives in perfect manners. PDP of HR is as follows:
Professional Developmental Plan
What Do I want
need to learn
What will I do to
achieve
This? Or
What resources or
support will I need
Target What will my success
criteria be?
Communication
skills
Conferences, classes 2 months I start Attending some
conferences and start
speaking in public places
will help to overcome
this
Attending some Classes
related to improving
communication skills
will also help HR.
Decision Making Supervisor 30 days I Stop attaching
emotional to employees

because it will lead to
delaying in decision
making.
Digital
technologies
Workshops 2 months I start Attending some
workshops so that can
learn new advance
techniques and then
apply those into working
area and also make
employees learn about it.
Leadership skills Classes 1 month. I start Attending some
classes and reading
biographies of some
famous leader will help
to learn more new
leadership styles so that
it will help to take better
decision for a company
3 Presenting difference between individual and organizational learning, training and
development
Basis Individual Learning, training and
development
Organizational Learning,
training and development
Meaning Learning individual helps to enhance
capabilities of individual and as a
result it helps them in their future
career.
Organizational learning,
training and development is
done to enhance or raise
efficiencies of their
employees so that it helps to
enhances production level of
a company.
Aim The main aim of individual learning
is to enhances their skills and it is
work based process that leads to some
adaptive capabilities from an
individual (Van Dooren and Van de
Walle, 2016).
Organizational learning is
done to develop working
culture among employees and
raise their efficiency level.
Impact It creates direct impact upon
individual future and a person
enhances some inter personal skills
that helps to achieve their all defined
goals and objectives.
Organizational training also
creates direct impact upon
company’s productivity such
that if company provides
training session to their
employees then it

automatically enhances their
capabilities in order to raise
productivity of a company.
Focus This mainly focus on individual
personal skills so that it will assist
them to face tough situation in their
future.
This training and
development helps to focus
mainly on company’s
financial position and
employees overall
performance (Albrecht and
et.al., 2015).
Tenure It is done for short time period It is done for long time
period.
Purpose To develop and enhances skills and
knowledge of an individual
Organizational training is
done to raise abilities of
employees.
Basis To provide some specific role and
role related opportunities
To provide some conceptual
wise and general knowledge
to employees of Whirlpool.
Benefits  Through individual learning, a
person can easily groom
themselves and ready to face
up future challenges.
 Helps in both future as well as
in organization as well.
 Through individual training, a
person can develop some
inter- personal skills such as
communication, presentation
etc.
 Through
organizational
learning, company
overall performance
increases.
 Through this,
employee of a
company can easily
develop some extra
skills and then raise
their production level.
 Using organizational
training programs,
Whirlpool can easily
sustain its brand image
in market.
No of person Only one can participate Many can participate
Orientation It is career oriented process that help
to attain their personal defined goals
(Bianchi and Tomaselli, 2015).
It is job- oriented process that
help to achieve their
Company’s defined goals and
objectives.
4 Presenting continuous learning and professional development
Continuous learning and professional development: It is a simplest process that helps
to learn variety of things and to develop those into an individual, so that they help to achieve
their all defined goals for future. Through continuous learning, the employee gain loyalty and

further it helps to gain trust among them. Using continuous learning and professional
development plans, Whirlpool can easily retain trust, as the company faces issues related to
employee efficiency (Hoff and De Winne, 2018). As the quoted company uses CPD then it
means that HR professionals of a firm will enhances their employee’s skills and knowledge.
As Continuous learning and professional development basically aim is to drive sustaining
working performance of a company. Therefore, the company has to follow CPD in order to raise
its production level and also enhance employee performance too. Moreover, continuous learning
in Whirlpool also assist it for higher retention rates and productivity of employees. It means that
employee no longer feel responsible due to sudden shift in their business demands, hence it is
quite necessary for them to use CPD in their working environment (Kryscynski and et.al., 201).
It is quite important because it helps to uncover the gap between employee’s skills and
capabilities and further provide the overview of professional development. It also has its own
importance and benefits, some of them are as follows:
Increases loyalty among employees: Under this, employees feel proud and satisfied
with their jobs if Whirlpool uses continuous professional development. Though it is quite
necessary for an employee to maintain or sustain trust and increases loyalty in a workplace so
that they help to achieve defined goals of a company. Therefore, by using CPD in Whirlpool, all
employees and co- workers can easily gain their trust with each other and produce best output for
a firm.
Higher retention and improves production level: Due to constantly shifting demand of
business environment, the employee left the job within some years only because they did not feel
their responsibilities. While people move from their jobs so quickly, that is the problem which
Whirlpool also faces (Benefits of CPD, 2018). Therefore, it is quite necessary to develop CPD in
a company to hold retention and as the skilled worker are more productive as compared to others
employees who only waste time, money and resources of a company.
Retaining top talent for their company: Lack of opportunities for advancement is the
main reason for leaving jobs and by using CPD into work area which helps to retaining the top
talent of employees and make them more productive for a company. High ambitious, more
opportunities are the key priority which they looking for but they exactly did not get in new job.

Performance improvement: As per the case scenario, Whirlpool did not perform well
and as it uses Continuous professional development then it automatically enhances employees’
performance i.e. personal as well as professional (De Mauro and et.al., 2018). So it is quite
necessary for Whirlpool to conduct some training session for their employees which helps to
make them more productive and it direct creates impact upon company’s productivity and
profitability as well. Improving performance will helps to retain their position back.
Personal growth: CPD not only helps to raise employee’s professional development but
it also develops employees personally too. As employees are the main sources of a company. By
using CPD or training session, workers start growing personally too which helps to attain all
defined goals of a company (Frank and et.al., 2018). Therefore, it is the another benefit, which
shows that continuous learning and professional developmental plan must be develop into a
working area.
5 Describing how HPW contribute to employee engagement and competitive advantage
High performance work (HPW) plays an important role in working environment and also
contribute in employee engagement and competitive advantage as well. Employee engagement is
considered as a high competitive advantage for every company. It means that up to what extent
employees feels satisfied in a working environment, through its values, their productivity level
and work to achieve company’s goals and objectives in well defined time only. By using HPW in
Whirlpool the entire company performance will raise and as a result the company maximizes
their profitability. Currently the company’s team are not collaborating and no understanding with
each other. That is why there is a need to develop high performance work in a working area.
HPW has so many benefits for employee engagement and competitive advantages and some of
them are mentioned below:
A better employee attitude: Conducting training session in a company will
automatically increase the productivity level of a company and therefore, they will retain
employee engagement. As a result, employee help to attain all defined goals of a company and
then directly help to attain company’s objective. Moreover, they take responsibility and start
producing more innovative product that helps to attain high competitive advantage.
A better organization: As employee start taking responsibility, they produce more
productive products for a company and as a result, Whirlpool overall performance get enhanced

(Davidson and et.al., 2018). The organization has more unique strategy as compared to its rivals
which further helps to sustain its brand image in market. Employee also feels strong corporate
social responsibility which helps a company to sustain its brand image in market. Using high
performance in working area, will help to make an organization enhances their production level
and due to this it easily maximizes their profitability too and gain high competitive advantage.
A better financial result: As employee engagement increases it directly creates impact
upon company’s productivity level. If production increases, company profitability automatically
increases, therefore it helps a better financial result. Moreover, as the financial result of a
company raise, employee retain their position and start making their more efforts and hence
high-performance work will helps to creates best financial result for Whirlpool.
Gain competitive advantages: overall, by using high performance work and increases
efficiencies of employees will helps to creates best financial results. Hence it overall produces
best productivity as compared to its competitors and overall gain high competitive advantage in
market (Alvarado-Ramírez and et.al., 2018). As Whirlpool start using high performance work
which will helps to keep their employee retain or hold in their won position and as a result, they
start producing best result for their company. If result is good then it automatically enhances
profit and then helps to gain high competition in market.
As, the above benefit of HPW shows that by using it, Whirlpool can easily overcome its
present situation because currently the company faces some issues related to their team
performance. High performance work will help to get better financial result and by engaging
employee in working area will aid to gain high competition in market.
6 Evaluating different approaches to performance management
Measuring performance of company’s employees is quite necessary because it helps to
determine the growth of a company. The business owner of Whirlpool generally measures their
performance such that how they contribute to the growth of a company (Katzenbach and Smith,
2015). The employee's performance can be raise by using such factors such as bonus system,
work profile, conductive work environment, job satisfaction and company’s policies or
technologies etc. Basically, there are four approaches of performance management, which are
mention below:

Result Approach: This is the simplest and straight forward method under which the
employee’s performance can be measured by determining their results. The technique is mainly
focus of four perspective such as financial, internal, customers, growth and operation (Buchanan
and McCalman, 2018). Whirlpool also uses Balance Scorecard method to analyses the
performance level of their employees. And it also uses another method name as Productive
Measurement and Evaluation System. The biggest advantage of using this approach is that it
converts strategy into operation with a smoothed view.
For Example, the manager of Whirlpool can allot a work to each and every employee of a
company such that by analyzing their result they come to know the best worker among all.
Behavioral Approach: It is one of the oldest method which small business uses. Under
this strategy, there are some scales which are used to measure the performance of the employees.
Using behavioral method, the company can easily get their best candidates. In this, Behavioral
Observation System can be used in which manager can easily determine their performance by
identifying their behaviors. By creating better relationship between employees which helps to
creates positive behavior of them (Murphy and et.al., 2018). In Whirlpool, the company also uses
this approach which further help to create better culture and enhances their high-performance
work.
Quality Approach: By using this approach, employee of a company enhances their
quality of product which are offered by them and also satisfied their customers by minimizing
errors in the products and services (Epstein, 2018). The system also focuses on product as well as
factor system. The quality approach is also uses by Whirlpool and it is also uses Kaizen process
in order to improve the process of entire business.
For example, Manager of a Whirlpool continuously taking feedback from their peers and clients
in order to know the quality of product which are offered to their customers.
Comparative Approach: It is also one of the simplest method which can be used by
Whirlpool such that employee is ranked through higher to lower performances. There are so
many techniques which can be used such as Forced Distribution Technique, paired comparison
and graphic rating scale (Pandey Schulz and Camp, 2018). Through this, poor workers are easily
identified and this can be improve by using some training and development programs. This
approach can easily determine the top performer of a company.

CONCLUSION
By summing up above report it has been concluded that individual and team helps to
sustaining the entire working performance. To run a company in an effective way, HR
professionals of Whirlpool must posses’ high knowledge and skills which further help to recruit
best candidate for company’s growth and development. Report also concluded that by using
SWOT analysis, the company HR strength and weaknesses are easily identified. Moreover,
individual and organizational training, learning and developmental helps to enhances employees
working performance and efficiency. The report also concluded that that high-performance work
also contributed in employee engagement and gain high competition advantages in market. It
also describe some performance management system which Whirlpool can be used in order to
identify their performance.

REFERENCES
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