Professional Development in the HR Sector: Challenges and Solutions

The rapid pace of technological advancements and evolving business practices necessitates continuous professional development, particularly in the Human Resource (HR) sector. Despite its importance, HR faces significant challenges like inadequate training programs that fail to equip employees with necessary skills, leading to high turnover rates. Additionally, a lack of structured career paths often hinders employee motivation and retention. Effective solutions include implementing comprehensive training programs tailored to emerging industry needs, fostering a culture of continuous learning, and establishing clear career progression pathways. By addressing these challenges, organizations can enhance employee satisfaction and organizational performance.

Developing Individuals Teams
and Organisation

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1. Professional knowledge, skills and behaviour that are required by HR professional...........1
P2. Personal skills audit to know knowledge, skills and behaviour............................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
P3. Difference between the organisational and individual learning...........................................6
P4. Requirement of continuous learning and professional development development..............7
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................8
P5. Contribution of the HPW concerned with the competitive advantage and employee
engagement.................................................................................................................................8
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................9
P6. Approaches of performance management............................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
It is the employees in the organisation which ensure the success of the company as their
contribution and efforts make them achieve the business goals. To make sure that their staff
yields better productive results the management of the company needs to invest good amount of
money in this. It is the duty of the human resource department of various organisation to
organise different types of events so that they can teach new skills and pour other knowledge in
their staff. The management is emphasising on continuous professional development as there are
lots of advantages to both the employees and company (Zepeda, 2012). This report highlights the
significance of performance management, collaborative working and effective communication
and its use in the high performance culture and commitment. All these things will be explained
through taking the case scenario of Whirlpool which is a multinational manufacturer and
marketer of home appliances. This highlight the knowledge of the HR professional thus brief
about the skill audit with a personal and professional development plan.
TASK 1
P1. Professional knowledge, skills and behaviour that are required by HR professional.
Knowledge is defined as the information or the skills through gained through education
and other experience. Thus, it can be said that it is the practical and theoretical understanding of
the issue.
In the current scenario the importance of human resource department has been increasing
day by day as they play a crucial role in hiring and resolving any dispute arising in the
organisations. In earlier time Whirlpool hardly focused or felt the need of any such department
which can manage their workforce and business operations. But with the change in time they
realized that this is one of the department which can help them in attaining business goals and
competitive advantage (Van Driel and Berry, 2012). There can be more productive results if the
department has certain professionals who posses some of the skills thus making them flexible in
handling any of the task. Below mentioned are some of the required or necessary skills and
knowledge which a HR professional should have in his or her personality. Below mentioned are
some of the knowledge which should be posses by HR professional.
Ability to understand the nature of an individual:- It is not necessary that all the
organisation will have the same working culture and some of the individuals imagine that the
1

recruitment department try to recruit the best staff but this though is not right. But their aim and
objective behind the recruitment is to get and look for a candidate who can work with them
through showing their full efforts and contribution. In the hiring process they analyse the
candidates behaviour and personality but there is no assurance that the staff will speak truth or
will highlight the genuine personality. There are also chances that they become nervous and are
not able to express their skills thus making them out of the interview process. In such cases it is
the duty of the HR professional to read the behaviour and mind of the candidate or the attitude of
the existing employee. This skill will help them in checking the actual area very that person can
be settled.
Knowledge of the law and policies related to employment and organisation:- Each
nation government has framed certain laws, policy related to the job, discrimination at the work
place, health and safety so that they could make a environment where business activity can be
done in better manner. It is the role of the HR department at Whirlpool to ensure that they abide
all the laws thus taking them in consideration in during framing any business strategy. To ensure
that all the things are going well and they are able to resolve the issue and disputes which has
been arising frequently in the Whirlpool company (Rao, Savsani and Vakharia, 2012). If the HR
professional at Whirlpool has deep knowledge of the laws and legislation related to the business
they can help the organisation in creating a better brand image as they make sure that the interest
of the employees are maintained thus providing them healthy and safe working environment at
the workplace.
Skills are the capability of an individual to perform an task in better way and some of the
HR skills are as follows:-
Soft Skills:- HR at Whirlpool is the person who acts as a mediator between the directors
and the employees who are part of this. It is their responsibility to ensure that there is proper
communication between both the parties is done in better way and each of them understand the
message which has to be conveyed. During the communication between them he or she should
show some confidence and should be very much clear about the message.
Negotiation:- This is one of the skills which is always used to take out effective solution
of the problem which is coming in the way of the organisation. Manager at Whirlpool decides
salary and frame the incentive concept for the employees who are performing well. This is the
concept where good bargaining skills must have and if the manager fails in this attempt they may
2

face the issue of high employee turnover as they are finding it difficult to retain the valuable
staff. They should know how they can motivate an individual who are part of the organisation as
this will ensure that the staff puts more efforts in completing a task which has been allotted to
him.
Multitasking:- The human resource department at Whirlpool is not restricted to some
work as they have to make sure that they train the employees, organise various activities for the
personal and professional development thus improving the skills and knowledge of the staff.
They have less period of time and in this they have to perform a lot of activities and handle a
pressure (Pan and Franklin, 2011). They also need to take care of the latest technology which can
be adopted to bring more efficiency at the workplace. Knowing about few skills will not help
them in many cases like they will find it difficult to perform the recruitment and other functions.
P2. Personal skills audit to know knowledge, skills and behaviour.
As a HR professional I am able to manage my personal skills which are required for
every HR manager. But it cannot be said that I am a perfectionist in all the work which I do
because everyone lacks some or other skills and behaviour. It is through the experience and
knowledge through education which helps in developing the absent qualities. There are various
things which still needs to be developed in my personality. Training is the process which can be
called as coaching and teaching so that a new skills and behaviour can be developed in the
individual. On the other hand developing is concerned with improving the whole personality of
the person in a longer period of time (Macdonald and Poniatowska, 2011). PDP that is expanded
as professional development plan and is considered as a document which highlights the skills
that exist in an individual and explains the targets which has to be achieved in a certain period of
time. For the personal skills audit I need to find strengths and weaknesses. Following are the
personal skills audit of HR manager at Whirlpool:-
 Strengths:- The HR manager at Whirlpool has the deep knowledge about the rules and
regulation framed by the government. With this Whirlpool is easily able to handle any
legal obligations which are coming in their way. The manager has done an outstanding
work in the HR department of Whirlpool from lots of time. It has been analysed that
there are various HR professional who does not have any knowledge of the
organisational culture at the company where they are working thus they have to face
disappointment at orientation session. It was observed that almost every employees use
3

to approach HR manager of Whirlpool whenever they faced any issue and the reason
behind this was good communication skills posses by HR manager.
 Weakness:- Although the HR manager at Whirlpool has good communication skills and
has good knowledge of the legislation related to the business but it is the negotiating
skills which she lack. Because of this he faces difficulty in negotiating with the
employees thus failing in resolving the conflicts between the employers and employees.
This is one of the thing which can impact its performance in Whirlpool and the
organisation may transfer him to the recruitment department. The other weaknesses of
the HR professional is that he is not aware about the latest technologies this increases
the chances of losing his position in the organisation.
S. No. Aim of
Learning
Existing
proficiency
Target
Proficiency
Developme
nt
Opportunit
ies
Standard
for judging
success
Time
period
1 To Improve
the
negotiation
skills of HR
manager.
His
negotiation
skills are not
up to the
mark thus
face the
problem in
judging the
suitable
salary which
has to be
given by the
organisation
to the
employee.
He needs to
develop the
negotiation
skills so that
he can
recruit a
candidate
and ensure
that it does
not impact
the process
cost.
Through on
the job
training or
off the job
training this
weaknesses
of the HR
professional
can be
developed
into his
strength.
If they want
to see
whether
there has
been
improved in
the skills the
best way to
analyse this
is to look at
the disputes
and
conflicts
concerned
with the
salary
solved by
45 weeks
4

him.
2 To gain the
knowledge
about the
latest
technologies
of
recruitment.
She has no
knowledge
about the
latest
technology
in the
market and
how to use
them in
effective
way.
The goal is
to have deep
knowledge
of the
artificial
intelligence
and the
latest
technologies
. The other
thing which
has to be
achieved to
make the
employee
aware about
the latest
trends
through
various
techniques.
To gain
knowledge
about the
technology
he has to
developed a
interest in
knowing the
things.
Whatever
efforts are
executed
their results
can be
evaluated
small cases
and the
approaches
which has
been used in
doing any
task or
work.
30 weeks
3 To improve
the skills
related to
discretion
He does not
have good
discretion
skill
To give
them the
knowledge
about the
importance
of result of
discretion
It is one of
the skill
comes from
birth and
there is
requirement
of the full
efforts to
The
feedback
from all the
departments
will be
taken to
judge the
results and
70 weeks
5

master it. the feedback
will be
taken from
the staff.
TASK 2
P3. Difference between the organisational and individual learning.
To expand the market share and to increase the profit margins it is necessary to improve
the skills of the employees and this thing has been taken on the serious note by the management
of the Whirlpool. The reason behind this is that it is the contribution of the staff which makes the
business things happen so that they easily attain the targets (Little, 2012). The staff has to show
creativity and innovation in their working so that Whirlpool can gain competitive advantage in
the electronic market segment. So it can be said that the individual learning is all about gaining
knowledge about the loopholes in the personality of the person and removing that weaknesses
with a new skill. This thing can be only done with the help of proper training. Talking about the
other concept it can be said that organisational learning is focused on the development of the
skills of not only a single person but a collective effort is made to improve the skills at all the
position. For example; Whirlpool decided that they will be coming out with new generation of
refrigerator so what they will do is to ensure that the new technology which they will be adopting
is know to every staff who is part of the process. So to attain the goal a 1 week training is going
to provide to them with the help of experts (Flint, Zisook and Fisher, 2011).. They also ensure
that how the performance of these staff at Whirlpool can be improved. Not only training but
there are various other techniques which can be adopted by the organisation to engage them in
the learning process. On the job training, stimulative training and workshops are the ways
through which organisational learning can be adopted. Following are some of the basic
difference between the organisation learning and individual learning that are as follows:-
 Required Development:- Employees are confined to a basic needs and learning at the
personal level only. They adopt some of the qualities to learn new skills for improving
their performance at the Whirlpool workplace (Esposito, Berlin and Lal, 2012). The
improved performance or the skills which they have learned through individual learning
6

can give them benefit in not only the current organisation but the other organisation in
which they are going to join. If the organisation learning is compared with the individual
learning it can be said that it is quite complicated process. The organisation has to face
lots of issues when they give any sort of training to lots of employees in a single time.
 Vision:- The difference between both of them can be analysed on the basis of vision
which is behind both the learning. The organisational learning is based on the macro level
and on the other side individual learning will be on the micro level. In the individual
learning the training and coaching needs are not asked by the individual but through their
personal efforts they try to gain knowledge about the new things. This can be an
beneficial thing for the organisation as this will be decrease the cost of the company
Whirlpool (DuFour and DuFour, 2013). But in the case of organisational training is an
expensive process and also consumes a lot of time the reason behind this is that they have
to hire a expert for the training. There might be chances that the employees don't show
any interest in such kind of procedure and thus the efforts of the HR manager at
Whirlpool fails to gather the support.
 Methods of Learning:- There are various ways or the sources which can be utilised in
both the process to learn to new things. Internet, books and journals, practical
experiences, working under the professional, seminars, training programs and etc. are
various sources which are available.
Although there has been variation and difference in both the procedure but they have the
common objective of growth.
P4. Requirement of continuous learning and professional development development.
There has been a lots of organisation who are part of the electronic industry so it can be said that
there is tough completion for Whirlpool. In order to gain more market and attract more
customers it is necessary that they come out with various products which has innovative and
creativity involved in it. But for that they have to regular adopt the continuous development and
learning. With the help of continuous learning the skills of the workers can be enhanced thus
making them a professional in whatever task they do (Eliot and Turns, 2011). This will also
increase the productivity and profitability of the organisation in which they are working.
Following are the ways through which professional development can be made possible.
7

 Conferences and Seminars:- This is the best way to make improve professionally and
through it the employees get to know about the problem which was faced by the big
businesses men and what process they have adopted to overcome it. They tell them the
ways to handle the depression thus making them motivated to put more efforts in
whatever they are doing.
 Coaching:- The other approach which can be adopted is to organise the classes and teach
them the basic fundamentals which are required at the workplace. The above mentioned
process that is seminar is not will be much effective in the case if someone wants to learn
and gain knowledge about the complicated things which are part of the company. So it
can be said that this is the best way of learning and it also includes six sigma, SAP
training, SPSS training, communication improvement classes and etc. are some of them.
 On the Job Training:- This is the approach where the staff gets training on the job only
as they don't need to go anywhere. This is done under the guidelines of an expert who is
the senior employee of the company.
TASK 3
P5. Contribution of the HPW concerned with the competitive advantage and employee
engagement.
High performance working is directly related to more efficiency in the work thus making
more profits for the organisation. To ensure that Whirlpool attract lots of customers they make
sure that their staff engages in various activities thus making them motivated to do more work.
This is the best way to earn the customer loyalty. They should judging the human capital with the
resource available to them and then aligning in the way that they yields better results. The reason
behind this is that they they are the human beings with different mindsets and attitudes so it is
necessary that they should be treated in a way that they can easily do task without facing any
issue (Darling-Hammond and McLaughlin, 2011). With the HPW framework there can be also a
better relation with the employees and employers thus assuring smooth functioning of Whirlpool
company. This will help them in gaining competitive advantage over their rivals.
The other big issue which is hampering the working of the Whirlpool is the retention of
the employees. The reason behind this is that there is no proper communication between the staff
and employees thus decreasing the moral level of the staff. With the HPW there can be increase
8

in the motivation level thus directly giving them an advantage in their professional career. The
individual with try to complete their task on their own although he will face various issues and
obstacles in between. There will be introduction of the hygiene factors thus this increase the
value of their work.
It has been analysed that most of the staff has regular complaints about the working hours
as due to it they are facing problem in balancing their working life with other activities. The best
part of the Whirlpool is that there management gives the employees the freedom to choose their
shifts according to their will. Such types of policies are not adopted by any organisation thus this
gives them an extra benefit to beat their competitors. To engage the staff in the business
activities Whirlpool management can introduce the incentive scheme and rewards system thus
recognising the employee work who is performing well. The management of Whirlpool also
adopts the strategy of fast promotion so this promotes staff to complete their task in time with
efficiency.
TASK 4
P6. Approaches of performance management.
There are various option available to the organisation to improve the performance and
this is according to their suitability. The one method which can be productive in this case is the
comparative and it involves comparing of the work of the employees who are doing the same
work. This is help them in knowing who is performing well and who is not and to compare them
they have set the standards on which they will be evaluated and will be given certain ratings.
The other important approach is to check the contribution of the workers at the time of
analysing the complete task after their accomplishment. There are various innovative and
creative ideas which might available to the employees for the organisation like Whirlpool but
they fear that their idea might be rejected by the manager or face the fear of failing of the idea.
So with this approach the employees are involved in the decision making. This thing will bring
the high performance working culture (Barber, 2012).
With the help of behaviour approach the attitudes of the staff towards the work can be
analysed thus giving them insight whether the staff is suitable for particular work or not. If the
employee show positive attitude that specific job can be allotted to them.
9

Collaborative approach is the process which is in trend and in this all the better
performing staff from different department of Whirlpool gather at a common place and discuss
on the problem or issues faced by the company. They come out with a solution and put that to the
management thus ensuring HPW.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be analysed that continuous development of the staff is
important for the success of the organisation like Whirlpool. Those who are part of the HR
department should have some skills which are concerned with the employees and the business
activity. They have to understand the importance of organisational and individual training and try
to find the ways through which they can promote both of them to attain maximum output. If they
gain success in this they can gain competitive advantage over their rivals. To work on the
professional development of the employees it is necessary for the HR department of Whirlpool to
engage the staff in training and motivation sessions.
10

REFERENCES
Books and Journal
Barber, D., 2012. Bayesian reasoning and machine learning. Cambridge University Press.
Darling-Hammond, L. and McLaughlin, M.W., 2011. Policies that support professional
development in an era of reform..Phi delta kappan, 92(6), pp.81-92.
DuFour, R. and DuFour, R., 2013. Learning by doing: A handbook for professional learning
communities at work TM. Solution Tree Press.
Eliot, M. and Turns, J., 2011. Constructing professional portfolios: Sense‐making and
professional identity development for engineering undergraduates. Journal of
Engineering Education. 100(4). pp.630-654.
Esposito, M. C., Berlin, D. H. and Lal, S., 2012. Special Education Professional Development
Schools: Why Do Candidates Choose to Participate?.Journal of the National
Association for Alternative Certification. 2(1). pp.4-17.
Flint, A. S., Zisook, K. and Fisher, T. R., 2011. Not a one-shot deal: Generative professional
development among experienced teachers. Teaching and teacher education. 27(8).
pp.1163-1169.
Huang, G. B., 2014. An insight into extreme learning machines: random neurons, random
features and kernels. Cognitive Computation. 6(3). pp.376-390.
Little, J. W., 2012. Professional community and professional development in the learning-
centered school. Teacher learning that matters: International perspectives, pp.22-46.
Macdonald, J. and Poniatowska, B., 2011. Designing the professional development of staff for
teaching online: an OU (UK) case study. Distance Education. 32(1). pp.119-134.
Pan, S. C. and Franklin, T., 2011. In-Service Teachers' Self-Efficacy, Professional Development,
and Web 2.0 Tools for Integration. New Horizons in Education. 59(3). pp.28-40.
Rao, R. V., Savsani, V. J. and Vakharia, D. P., 2012. Teaching–learning-based optimization: an
optimization method for continuous non-linear large scale problems. Information
Sciences. 183(1). pp.1-15.
Van Driel, J. H. and Berry, A., 2012. Teacher professional development focusing on pedagogical
content knowledge. Educational Researcher. 41(1). pp.26-28.
Zepeda, S. J., 2012. Professional development: What works. Eye on education.
Online
15 Professional Development Skills. 2017. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.teachhub.com/15-professional-development-skills-modern-teachers>.
Employee Performance Management: A Positive Approach Pays Off. 2017. [Online]. Available
through: <http://jakoba.com/employee-performance-management-a-positive-approach-
pays-off/>.
11