Analysis of HR Practices and Development at Virgin Media (Unit 35)

This report analyzes the knowledge, skills, and behaviors required of HR professionals at Virgin Media, examining their roles in employee training, development, and policy management. It explores skills audits, personal SWOT analyses, and Continuous Professional Development (CPD), highlighting the importance of Personal Development Plans (PDPs) and reflective practices. The report differentiates between organizational and individual learning, training, and development, and investigates high-performance working and its contribution to employee engagement. It also includes a personal skills audit, PDP, and reflective statement, offering insights into HR practices within the organization, the role of HR professionals and their impact on employee performance and engagement.

PROJECT SUBMISSION FORM
Unit Number & Unit
Title
Unit 35 Developing Individuals and Teams in organisations
Project Title Virgin Media
Signature: ……………… ……………………… Date: ___________________
Introduction
Personal as well as professional development is basically the process in which organization as well
as individuals are engaged within a process of the learning for meeting their long term and short
term goals. The main aim of this report is to analyse the skills as well as behaviour which are
required for growth and development in Virgin media organization. This report enlightens the
various aspects which are related to organizational learning as well as development and assess the
various practices which organization uses for creating a culture of high performance.
This report gives a brief about knowledge, skills as well as behaviour required by HR
professionals, personal skill audit along with PDP plan, reflective statement and SWOT analysis,
comparison between organization learning, individual learning and training and development, need
of continuous learning as well as professional development, learning theories, professional
development plan, understanding of HPW, approaches in performance management and use of
HPW for improving employee engagement.

Who are HR Professionals? What knowledge, skills and behaviour are required of them?
HR Professional plays a signifiant role in the virgin media as they are accountable for
developing ,managing as well as maintaining the policies of the firm. They are responsible
providing training as well as development of the employees. Training is the essential part of their
job .they can make aware both employees such as new and existing about the firms polices . They
are the one motivates the employees, have the suitable knowledge regarding the laws and polices
and have time management skills and good in communication skills both in verbal and non verbal
communication (Chen. and Huang, 2017)
. They also listen the problems of the employees and manage the conflicts between two employees.
They are accountably for maintaining the records of employees and their performance
indicator ,accountable for all the job related queries. HR professionals have skills such as
Communication making skills- It plays a crucial role as it focusses on the positive growth as well
performance of the firms and employees.
Decision-making skills- This skills assists the HR professionals regarding payrolls,laws and
polices,various operational skills and many more (Arthurson, 2015).
Leadership skills- It aids the HR manager to achieve more successful as well professional as
within this manner.
Management skills- These are the skills that are more vital as well as effective as management
skills focuses on the employee's salary, selection and recruitment and accountable for various
management operations.
Appropriate knowledge for HR Professional
The knowledge is considered as the effective and best part of the HR team as they have to
collect the information as per need. Mention below list of the knowledge.
 They have the appropriate knowledge regarding the laws and polices of the firm and know
where to uses these at the effective manner. Laws such as health and safety act,employment
law, anti discrimination act.
 They have the suitable knowledge of the performance indicators so that they can check
absence of the employees as well as aids the line managers (Arthurson, 2015).
Appropriate attributes
These professional needed time management skills regarding good human resource manager
Human resource manager also required to take the decisions and gives proper motivation to
the staff members. The performance of the employees can be measured with full fairness.

what do you understand by a skills audit? what role does it play in the personal and professional
development of an employee?
Skills audit analysis is a process that can be identified skills gaps within the firm. it
determines that the firm can meet their goals as it enables to identify the special training needs
prioritizing the things where improvement is needed. Personal audit skills is considered as a good
way that can identify an individual strength and weakness so that develop a healthy atmosphere. It
is helpful for various individuals that keep themselves on their career track. In professional
development it can identify the potential knowledge gaps that might affects the plans that are long
term within a firm of an individual affects (Chen. and Huang, 2017)
.
What is a Personal SWOT Analysis?
A Personal Swot analysis can be done within same regarding a context of an individual in
terms of pursuit of their career. It focuses on the strength and weaknesses an individual own as well
as what are the challenges as well as opportunities faced by an individual falls under personal
development scene (Arthurson, 2015).
What do you understand by CPD?
It stands for the Continuous professional development as it focuses on the process of
tracking as well as documenting the knowledge,skills as well as experience that able to gain both
formally and Non formally as per the work of an individual beyond training. It is a record about
experiences of an individual, learning as well as apply.
What is a Personal Developmental Plan?
Professional development plan:
Personal development plan is basically the process through which individuals mainly creates the
action plan on the basis of their strength, goals, objectives for their own growth and development.
It is very crucial for improve and develop my skills as well as knowledge within suitable
manner regarding my successful growth in the future. I need to improve my communication skills
as communication plays a crucial role and it is vital for the job role communication also vital for
improving my positive skills. It is effective and productive for becoming the successful Human
resource professional within my future. These skills assists me in effective manner regarding
solving problems as well as issues that will happened in Virgin Media
Why is it important to evaluate and reflect on a PDP?
It can be evaluated and review development as it is considered as a reflective process as it
has two main purpose to check that every an individual followed the development plan as well as
assured to planned development aids to achieve the goals. It enables individuals to learn more about
their oneself (Chen. and Huang, 2017)
.

Activity 1a
1) Determine appropriate and professional knowledge, skills and behaviors that are required
by a HR Professional for the job role of HR manager in Virgin Media.
JOB ROLE NO 1
Organisation Virgin Media
Knowledge Skills Behaviour
1
laws and polices
Communication making
skills-
Positive attitude
2
performance indicators
Decision-making skills Simple nature
3
Training and development
methods
Leadership skills Problem solving
JOB ROLE NO. 2
Determine appropriate and professional knowledge, skills and behaviors that are required by a
HR Professional for the job role of HR_executive in Virgin Media.

Organisation Virgin Media
Employee Name
Department:
Position/Job Role:
Knowledge Skills Behaviour
1
Technical knowledge
Time management Discipline
2 Recruitment and selection
methods
`
Organising skills Positive attitude
3
Induction process `
Inter personal skills

Activity 1a)
MY PERSONAL DEVELOPMENTAL PORTFOLIO
MY JOB ROLE IS____
PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL SKILLS AUDIT
Knowledge and skills which I consider to be
important for my current job role
My ability rating (1-5)
1 People skills
2 Good communication skills
3 IT Skills
4 Organisation skills
5 listening skills
4
3
2
5
5
Knowledge and skills which I consider to be
important for my future career
development/job role
My ability rating (1-5)
1 Problem solving skills
2 Critical thinking skill
3 Creativity skills
4 Time management skills
5 learning skills
2
3
3
5
5
People skills:
I scored myself 4 because I have the ability to hear other’s people’s point of view, also I am able to
relate with other people in a professional and personal level.
My high level of empathy particular place me very well among team members.

Communication skills:
I have rated myself 3 because I see my communication skills as just about average at the moment,
my ability to receive and give information is quite strong but I believe I need to improve my
observations more attentively.
IT Skills:
Good IT skills is very important in HR, as we all know most HR process are conducted online. I
have rated myself 2 because I see myself as just IT literate because I know the basics skills to do
basic things such as, opening emails, the ms word, excel etc, but to become more efficient I will
need to do some computer training.
Organisation skills:
I am very expert in Organisation skills as I organise my things effectively and efficiently.
Listening Skills:
I am also expert in listening skills . I carefully listen my peers and my co-workers
Problem solving skills:
I am not able to solve problems that why I have rated 2
Critical thinking skill:
I think out of the box but needs more time to increase my critical thinking skills.
Creativity skills:
I am also good in creativity skills but also needs more time to improve creativity skills.
Time management skills:
time management skills as I manage my meetings and training on time.
learning skills:
I am very efficient in learning skills ,i adapt changes easily and learn new things
Rating:
1 = No current knowledge or skill
2 = Some awareness, but not sufficiently competent to use it
3 = Familiar with and able to use the knowledge or skill
4 = Proficient in the knowledge or skill and able to show others how to use it
5 = Expert, with a high degree of skill and/or comprehensive knowledge
EVALUATION OF MY SKILLS AUDIT(M1)
Knowledge,
skills and
behaviour
identified above.
Evaluation of my Knowledge, skills and behaviour 1 2 3 4

1
2
3
4
5
Strength
 I am very effective in time management
skills
 I am easily able to learn and grasp things
in quickly and effective way
Weakness
 I am not able to solve problems
 I am very weak in I.T skills
Opportunities
 I can learn about various IT software and
application
`threats
 I may face threats from intelligent and
more capable co-workers
Personal Development Plan (PDP)
What are my objectives?
(short & long term)
Success criteria What activities/actions do I
need to undertake to
achieve my objectives?
Implementation –how activities
will be applied to achieve
objectives
Time management skills Observation can
be done through
seniors
By managing the meeting
at time and completing
work at deadlines
I will take the help of various
resources and my peers for
feedback.
Need of Communication
skills both verbal and
Consistently
practice can be
By listening English-
speaking videos and
I will take over various
challenging tasks as well as

written' communication done within this
field
writing something about
the topic for improve
written skills.
will work in teams for differen
projects.
Need to think out of the box
and decision-making
By checking the
proper feedback
from the
customers.
Solving various complex
cases and practice day to
day think critically in
every aspect of decision.
I will solve the various
complex problems and will
solicit the opinions of
customers.
Reflective statement
Make a reflective statement whether you need to reset or change your initial objectives of your
personal development plan after critical reflection of your learning experience
Activity 1b
REPORT
To: HR Manager

From: Your name (HR Trainee)
Date:
Subject: Inclusive learning and development within Virgin Media for driving sustainable
business performance
2) Analyse the differences between organisational and individual learning, training and
development.
What is learning?
Learning is basically the well-through process which allows the individuals to acquire new
knowledge as well as modify the existing ones and thus helps to provide a defined shape to the
behaviour, skills as well as attitudes (Dutton, 2018).
What is organisational learning?
Organizational learning is predominately process through which organizational basically improves
itself with the period of time by gaining the proper experience as well as utilizing the experience for
creating knowledge.
What is Individual Learning?
When learning occurs for changing the behaviour or increasing the knowledge base of an individual
then this is commonly refereed to as individual learning.
What is Training and Development?
Training and development mainly refers to various educational activities in organization in order to
enhance skills as well as knowledge of the employees through offering information on different
activities.
Differences between the above three.
ORGANISATIONAL
LEARNING
INDIVIDUAL LEARNING TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT
The organizational learning have
an obvious nature and thus applies
to each and every employee of the
organization. It is generally broad
in nature in which organization
tries to improve the behaviour as
well as skills of their employees
for increasing their productivity
individual learning is basically
learning process wherein the
mental process of an individual is
comprehended and the
improvement within their skills
and knowledge takes place at
individual level. Individual
learning although have a narrow
scope as it is mainly directed
Training and development plays
one of the crucial role within
organization through which efforts
are being made for making the
employees more competent to
achieve individual as well as
organizational goals. Training and
development mainly encompasses
the setup for every employee within

and performance. Besides this, the
main aim of organizational
learning is to bring the necessary
improvements within the
behaviour as well as skills of the
employees in order to attain
competitive advantage by relying
upon employees. The
organizational learning plays an
important role and is mainly
directed towards the employees
and workers of entire organization
(Smither, Houston and McIntire,
2016).
towards the individual but it
covers diverse areas whether it is
academic life or professional life
(Corbett, 2019). The major
objective of providing individual
learning is to inculcate a deep
understanding as well as
experience within the individual
through personalized instruction
and thus enhance the overall
learning process. Individual
learning is most comm;y and
widely applied in academic life
where learner or students are
mainly delivered the dynamic as
well as effective content in order
to strengthen their mental ability.
Within organization, individual
learning takes place among
employees where their beliefs as
well as perception changes
towards different situation.
Individual learning mainly occurs
across each and every level of
hierarchy within organization via
internal communication, defined
policies, procedures etc.
organization whether they belong to
technical job or administrative job
(Shokri and Ranani, 2017). The
main aim of providing training and
development to employees is to
provide a better as well as deep
understanding about how to
perform job and its related aspects.
In the nutshell, main purpose of
making training and development as
organizational strategy is to provide
educational as well as holistic
growth to employees and improve
the relationship with other level of
hierarchy. The main advantage of
training and development is that it
helps the employees to understand
the areas of improvement as well as
helps to appreciate their work and
job. Besides this, it assists the
organizations to gain competitive
advantage and establish position in
market by having competent
employees to achieve their goals
and objectives.
4) Analyse the need for continuous learning and professional development to drive sustainable
business performance
Learning as well as professional development is one of the most important pillar of every
organization through which an organization is able to survive in this cut-throat competition.
Learning as well as professional development is predominately the way through which an
individual is able to increase its knowledge base and enhance its skills as well as behaviour with the
help of different aspects (Crews, 2018). Learning as well as professional development not only
helps the employees to achieve their individual goals as well as objectives but also assist the
organizations to drive their business performance as well as increase their productivity. When
Virgin Media incorporates learning as well as professional development then it helps to increase the
skills of employees for particular tasks as well as job and thus enable them to gain the better
understanding of each and every aspect of their job. Thus, when employees perform better as well
as increase their productivity level then this eventually increases the performance of Virgin Media
as well as gain a better position and goodwill in the eyes and hearts of people. Learning and
professional development allows employees within organization to know that where they lack
behind and in which area they need a thorough improvement thus helps them to make necessary
improvement which improves their overall performance and this directly impacts the sustainable
performance of organization. Learning as well as professional development plays a key role within
Virgin Media and forms the integral part and thus there is high need for incorporating this within

organization.
Sparking new ideas
Continuous learning as well as professional development is important for sparking the new
ideas within employees. Through acquiring the new knowledge as well as skills, employees are able
to unveil the new opportunities as well as helps them to recognize as well as find innovative
solutions for problems (Caples, 2018). The emergence of innovative ideas eventually helps Virgin
Media to build new products as well as services to satisfy needs of customers and this increase their
performance.
Increasing productivity
Employee forms the integral as well as significant part of the organization without which no
organization is able to survive. In order to increase their performance as well as productivity,
recognizing some means for enhancing their learning ability is necessary and this is the point where
there high need of continuous learning as well as professional development. This provides a chance
to employees for enriching their abilities as well as skills which eventually raises their productivity
and commitment towards job. This in turn helps Virgin Media to gain an edge over the competitors
as employees strive willingly to provide their best (Obedgiu, 2017).
3) Apply learning cycle theories (Kolb’s Learning Cycle and Kurt Lewin’s Change model) to
analyse the importance of implementing continuous professional development. (M2)
Kolb’s Learning Cycle
Explain
Kolb learning cycle
Kolb learning theory is basically the learning theory which enables the individuals to gain a
deep insight of different aspect and thus learn the new experiences. This theory mainly consist of
four stages which an individual goes through. First one is the concrete experience in which new
experience as well as situation is mainly encountered. Second stage is reflective observation in
which the new experience encountered is reviewed as well as reflected. Third stage is the abstract
conceptualization wherein the logical analysis as well as assessment of the ideas and experience
takes place and thus individual learns from the new experience. Last stage is active experimentation
which is all about doing. In this stage, learner mainly applies the new ideas as well as skills for
performing around the world (Choy and Chua, 2019).
Diagram