Developing Skills and Knowledge for HR Professionals at JD Sports

This report provides an in-depth analysis of the skills, knowledge, and behaviors required by HR professionals at JD Sports. It evaluates completed personal skills audits to identify appropriate areas for development and proposes a professional development plan. The report differentiates between training and development, emphasizing the importance of continuous learning for sustainable business performance. It also explores how High-Performance Work systems (HPW) contribute to employee engagement and competitive advantage within JD Sports, and examines different approaches to performance management that support a high-performance culture and commitment. The analysis includes a SWOT analysis, skill audits, and personal development plans tailored for Assistant Manager HR Development roles within the organization.

Unit 35

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................1
P1. State the employees skills, knowledge and behaviour needed by the HR professionals ......1
P2. Evaluate completed personal skills audit to identify appropriate knowledge, skills and
behaviours and develop a professional development plan for a given job role. .........................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
P3. Differentiation between training and development in context to JD Sports..........................6
P4. Evaluate the need for continuous learning and professional development to drive
sustainable business performance ..............................................................................................8
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................10
P5.Demonstrate understanding of how HPW contributes to employee engagement and
competitive advantage with a specific organisational situation ................................................10
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................11
P6. State different approaches to performance management and demonstrate with specific
example how they can support high performance culture and commitment.............................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Developing individual, teams and organisation is a process for business human resource
management to evaluate their qualities and skills. The development of performance is the set of
activities to build knowledge or skills, improve weaknesses and utilize strengths (Brilingaitė,
Bukauskas and Juozapavičius, 2020). Human resource professionals make plans, organise and
direct the organisation functions of the company to achieve the goal more effectively. They
manage the hiring and interviewing of new employees then recruiting them after discuss with top
managers on plan of action. Developing individuals is a solution, as well as the continuous
improvement of the capabilities of human resources professions by assignments, mentoring and
targeted training. The selected company is JD Sports which was established in 1981, by John
Wardle and David Makin. It deals in goods related to the sports such as cloths, footwear and
accessories. They also sponsor multiple football associations, teams and players.
The following report covers about employees skill, knowledge and behaviour required
by HR professionals then implementing or evaluating about learning and development to make
sustainable business performance. Further, it covers different application of HPW and its
competitive advantage and contribution employee engagement. At last an appraise of the ways in
which the factor of performance commitment and culture can support.
Task 1
P1. State the employees skills, knowledge and behaviour needed by the HR professionals
Continuing professional development refers to process of learning and documenting the
knowledge, professional skills and experience by an individual along with company skill
development training (Chen and Wang, 2018). Human resource management of JD Sports
managing and hiring people to achieve goal and better performance. In the context of JD Sports,
Assistant Manager HR Development are engaged in by attending conferences, training courses,
seminars and workshops as well as attending online course to gain necessary skills for
performance and career development. CPD helps an employee to manage their time and improve
performance. Manager record it accurately, which provides data and proof of continuing
professional development as well as helpful for professional responsibility and employer
appraisals or direction. The CPD of employees recorded by experts, group reading, personal
action research and F2F workshops.
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For individual developing and better performance in JD Sports, the skills, knowledge and
behaviour required by Assistant Manager HR Development are given below:-
Basis Description
 Knowledge
A
 Technical knowledge: It is a set of knowledge required to
perform a particular task such as programming language,
technical writing and program designing (Clarke, 2018). In JD
Sports, the Assistant Manager HR Development need to increase
their technical skills to collect and record the data, evaluate the
process of training, make polices related to hiring and recruiting
of staff.
 Business awareness: It is the ability to understand the situation
and current trend which leads an organisation toward success.
Assistant Manager HR Development of JD Sports company
improves their business awareness knowledge to understand the
needs for recruitment and training of the staff. As well as to know
about the skills and specialisation needed for the job assigned.
 Skills  Leadership skills: It refers to the skills managers to guide and
organise employees to reach the organisation and individual goal.
Assistant manager HR development of JD Sports need to enhance
their leadership skill for planning and managing people in various
department as well as guide people and give them chance to their
self-growth and increase their capabilities.
 Communication skills: It refers to the skills of HR which used to
convey proper information from directors to staff (Cleary and
Doody, 2017). In the context of JD Sports, assistant manager HR
development should convey all r manger information from
directors to staff and workers to increase productivity, seem less
flow of work and easy to understand the purpose of work. With
proper communication HR can increase morale of employees to
create healthy and positive work environment for the benefit of
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company and employees.
 Behaviour  Adaptability: Being adaptable means learn and listen the
working requirements and having flexibility to work or accept the
changing situation. Assistant Manager HR Development of the
JD Sports company should bring adaptability in their behaviour to
rapidly understand the market change, set new goals, learn new
skills to handle changes to progress the growth of organisation.
 Proactive: It means to find advanced solutions and aware about
future certainties or problems to prevent from them before they
happen (Dawson, 2018). In JD Sports, Assistant Manager HR
Development must be proactive to solve various problems related
to administration. As well as always keep their eye open to adapt
changes and try to find solution of problem before they create big
trouble.
P2. Evaluate completed personal skills audit to identify appropriate knowledge, skills and
behaviours and develop a professional development plan for a given job role.
Personal skill audit
personal skill audit is the method and written letter to know about the current skill they
have and how those skills are useful to develop. As well as this audit analysis which skills they
need for their job (Farr, 2018). To fulfil the gaps between current skills and skills they needed to
learn. It is important to identify the formulation of learning style and for this outlay strengths and
weaknesses. Questionnaire and determined the style is the essential part in development skills
and training program. In JD Sports company, Assistant Manger HR Development listed their
strengths and weaknesses during personal skill audit. Personal SWOT analysis is the process to
evaluate the personal internal strengths or weaknesses along with external opportunities or
threats in the business organisation. Personal SWOT as the role of assistant manager HR
development in JD Sports is discussed below:-
Personal SWOT analysis
Strengths Weaknesses
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 I am confident to manage people and
hire new employees according the
Higher study requirement of given job.
 My basic skills and HR profession are
relevant.
 I demonstrate as a good leader, when I
appointed to guide a group of people.
 My software and computer knowledge
is good that based on my career or job.
 Sometimes I loose my temper while
dealing with subordinates.
 I want more technical skills to do hiring
and recruiting process of technical staff.
 Needed to focus on more time and staff
management.
 I found difficulties to maintain my
fitness while training and work time.
Opportunities
 Higher study opportunities are
forthcoming at ease and chance to get
huge salary.
 I can have seminars, workshops and
management programme sponsored by
the organisation which I work for.
 Annual appraisals report of
organisation produces favourable
feedback.
Threat
 personal commitments and pending
works need to manage.
 Time and health are badly affected by
climate and market condition.
As above SWOT analysis, it is helpful for Assistant Manager HR Development to
analysis the situation for making decisions. It is useful to determine the strengths such as good
leadership and easy adaptability and weaknesses that is time management and lack of technical
knowledge. Also to find opportunities for future growth and threat from climate change(Kunz
and Fischer., 2020). After SWOT analysis, manager used it for strategic planning, competitor
analysis, research report, product and business development, team development and more
personal skill development.
Personal skill audit
Skills, knowledge and
behaviours
Definition Proficiency level
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 Technical knowledge It is a set of knowledge
required to perform a
particular task.
✓
 Business awareness It is the ability to understand
the situation and current trend
which leads an organisation
toward success.
✓
 Leadership skills It refers to the skills managers
to guide and organise
employees to reach the
organisation and individual
goal.
✓
 Communication skills It refers to the skills of HR
which used to convey proper
information from directors to
staff.
✓
 Adaptability Being adaptable means learn
and listen the working
requirements and having
flexibility to work or accept
the changing situation.
✓
 Proactive It means to find advanced
solutions and aware about
future certainties or problems
to prevent from them before
they happen.
✓
From above skill audit, it is analysed that there are some skills, knowledge and behaviour
of Assistant Manager HR Development of JD Sports company need for future development for
the smooth working, fast decision making and overall development of the organisation. To work
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as Assistant Manager HR Development, I need to develop technical knowledge, communication
skills, management skill and proactive nature.
Personal development plan
Personal development plan is used to identify the personal goal and the skills which need
to improve in future (Lawrence and Whyte, 2017). After SWOT analysis and personal skill audit
it can be evaluate by the personal development plan as given below:
Personal Development Plan
Skills,
knowledge
and
behaviour
Action to perform Importance Time
period
Progress
track
Achievable
 Techni
cal
knowl
edge
By continuous
research and
experiments, read
technical books and
attain workshops.
Very
important
4 week In progress Yes
 Comm
unicati
on
skills
By attaining
seminars, practising
with friends and
family.
Important 2 week In progress Yes
 Time
Manag
ement
skills
By prioritising task
and building time
schedule.
Important 5 week In progress Yes
 Proact
ive
nature
By continuous
monitoring the
environment and
analysing market
trends
Very
important
2 week A In progress Yes
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TASK 2
P3. Differentiation between training and development in context to JD Sports
Differentiation between individual and organisation learning in reference with JD Sports
Basis Individuals Organisation
Importance It is important in JD Sports so
that individuals recognize their
full capacities and firm can
take benefits of their learning
opportunities (Loon, Otaye‐
Ebede and Stewart, 2020).
It enhances efficiency of
organisation and helps in
meeting organisational
objectives.
Barriers Individuals reluctance to
change as well as lack of focus
and motivation. Lack of self
confidence and fear of failure
to achieve goals of JD Sports.
Lack of leadership abilities and
limited resources in JD Sports.
Absence of team spirit and
individuals working for their
own success rather than
growth for JD Sports.
Approaches Understanding different
mindsets and providing
formative trainings to improve
focus.
JD Sports should work on
enhancing leadership and can
produce sense of community.
Differentiation between training and development in reference with JD Sports
Basis Training Development
Advantages Helps to increase employees
efficiency and match them
with JD Sports requirements.
It creates team spirit and
results in greater productivity.
Continuous development is
important to retain employees
in JD Sports. It creates future
leaders and helps top level
management to gain insights.
It benefits in building
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workplace relationships
(Malik, Pereira and Tarba,
2019).
Strategies Analysing staff performance
and identifying needs for
training to use resources
effectively. It can be use for
freshers to improve their skills
and to provide detailed
structure of JD Sports.
Encouraging staff focus
towards company's goals and
coordinate their actions to
maximise efficiency and
profits of JD Sports.
Giving all kinds of job
responsibilities to employees
and rotating their departments
can help in development of
both employees and JD
Sports. Maintaining emotional
level of staff to their
intellectual growth can turn
into development for JD
Sports.
Limitations It demands time away from the
actual working and can results
in huge expenses such as
travel costs, training centres
and equipment for JD Sports.
No surety of positive
outcomes from training, it can
also results in incorrect
knowledge (Niemi and
Pekkola, 2017).
It can be time consuming and
costs resources of JD Sports.
It puts extra stress on top level
to manage freshers and the
threat of employees leaving is
always present.
P4. Evaluate the need for continuous learning and professional development to drive sustainable
business performance
To drive the sustainable growth and development of the company it is important for
employees to do continuous learning as well as professional development. Continuous learning
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means a gaining skills and knowledge for life time along with current learning process involves
review goals, tasks, plan of action and outcomes (Ouakouak and Ouedraogo, 2017). Professional
development is necessary to perform or succeed requirements , create knowledge and achieve
experience for professional and personal life . The success of JD Sports depend on its employee's
performance and growth and to accomplish it required continuous learning and professional
development. To drive sustainable performance of JD Sports it is essential to provide continuous
development and training program to their employees to prepare them for:
 Becoming multifunctional and specialist: It refers to the ability and talent of an
individual to perform more than one task and function. It helps them to decrease
overlapping and complete the given task on time with more effective way. JD Sports is
offering their staff and employees various development training, programs and
workshops, which further help them to manage or deal with multiple task (Renshaw and
Chow, 2019). They perform multiple task at a time and give their best to make
sustainable performance. The staff is driving their multiple activities and learning the
new skills or challenges that enhance their professional and speciality knowledge. Preparing for uncertain change: As a dynamic world which demands advance
technology and good marketing strategies. The JD Sports examine the market condition
and customers needs and wants which is important for sports to select what better for
their growth. Continuous learning and development positively enhance the employee
performance. The director or manager of JD Sports , understand the position as well as
need of employees. Further, they offer and provide various training, scholarship,
seminars and workshops to their employees for increase exceptional skills, knowledge to
accept or adopt the current market and customer trend. Each employee's skills,
knowledge and experiences along with their positions and provide them particular
instructions for attaining sustainable performance.
Learning cycle theory to analyse the importance of implementing continuous professional
development
The learning cycle theory includes reflection observation, practical experience, active
research and ideal conceptualization (Robertson, 2017). These activities used in organisation for
process development approaches to enhance the culture of continuous development. When once
the experiment for task finishes, the learning process begins once more with another along with
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previous experience. It is important for every employees of JD Sports to improve their skills,
productivity, experiences and overall growth of performance to achieve organisation goals.
TASK 3
P5.Demonstrate understanding of how HPW contributes to employee engagement and
competitive advantage with a specific organisational situation
High Performance Working is a process to manage business activities and better staff
commitments along with engagements for acquire higher performance level. It is designed to
improve and engagements of employees in work and use their efforts for the growth(Rowe, Karg
and Sherry, 2019). It derive the organisation successfully with influencing employee
involvement, responsibility, performance and skills. The contribution and benefit of high
performance working in JD Sports are-
 Eliminating and competing with uncertainties: High performance is working for
gaining multiple advantage such as eliminating and competing with uncertainties in
dynamic world. In context of JD Sports , these high performance of employees that
influenced by the proper training or development provided by HR. To understand the
current market situation and competitors strategies the HR of JD Sports make strategies,
motivate employees to adopt the changes rapidly and give their best. Also it connected
HR practices with HRM position of employees as well as clear goal with integrated
belief. High employee retention: HR is the most precious asset of a business and invest on HR
or employees brings full productivity and performance which leads organisation toward
its success and goal. In the context of JD Sports, with high performance working they
retain their HR and employees for life long which reduce their employees turnover or
training time as well as increase organisation performance and growth. Favourable
environment and healthy competition among employees which help them to compare
themselves with other and fulfil the gap between their performances. It also create
interest among employees to learn new skills or experiences to ensure high performance
and give their full potential for the growth of the company.
HPW and stakeholders
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