HR Skills, Development, Performance, and Employee Engagement Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the skills, knowledge, and behaviors required by HR professionals, using Whirlpool as a case study. It examines the importance of HR in developing individuals, teams, and the organization, emphasizing the need for effective recruitment, training, and performance management. The report includes a personal skills audit and professional development plan for HR officers, highlighting areas for improvement in communication, problem-solving, and leadership skills. It also explores the benefits of continuous learning, high-performance work systems, and various performance management approaches to foster employee engagement and competitive advantage. The report concludes with recommendations for enhancing HR practices to support sustainable business performance and a high-performance culture.

Developing Individual, Teams and
Organisation

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1: Appropriate skills, knowledge and behaviour required by HR professionals..................1
P2&D1: Personal skills audit and professional development plan for HR ...........................2
M1: Detailing about professional skill audit..........................................................................7
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................7
P3: Evaluation of different between individual and organisational learning & training and
development...........................................................................................................................7
P4: Need to continuous learning and professional development in sustainable business
performance............................................................................................................................9
M2:Application of learning cycle theories to analyse the benefits of continuous professional
development.........................................................................................................................10
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................11
P5&D2 Contribution of High performance worker in employee engagement and competitive
advantage..............................................................................................................................11
M3: Analysing the benefits of applying HPW within an organisation................................11
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................12
P6&M4: Different approaches of performance management and their contribution in high
performance culture and commitment..................................................................................12
CONCUSION................................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
HR manager or officer is the prime responsibility to develop individual and team working
in an organisation due to which maximum supports will be received by them in near future.
Therefore, it is important to first identify the needs and requirements of employees at workplace
and accordingly implement an effective decision in order to develop skills and knowledge. The
present assignment report is based on Whirlpool, a USA manufacturing company which deals in
providing home appliances across worldwide. It has attained over 70 manufacturing and
technology research centres all over the world and employed over 92000 employees which
assists company to provide quality products and services to the targeted customers. The project
includes the skills and knowledge required by HR professionals in an individual as a employee.
Along with this personal skills audit and professional development for HR professionals has
been also discussed under this report. The project also summarises the need of continuous
learning and professional development in sustainable business performance. In addition with
this, different approaches of performance management and contribution of skilled workers in
growth of company are also explained under this report (Ainscow and Sandill,2010).
TASK 1
P1: Appropriate skills, knowledge and behaviour required by HR professionals
There are several functions which need to be performed by HR professionals of
Whirlpool in order to manage and control business operations in more effective and efficient
manner. For this, it is important for HR officer to have specific skills, knowledge and behaviour
with the help of which they can able to analyse the performance of employees and find out the
deviations and issues that may restrict them to contribute their maximum efforts. It directs the
HR officer to conduct training and development programs with an objective of enhancing skills
and knowledge of employees so that performance level will increased. Through this, the
company can easily achieve its desired goals and objectives within pre-determined period of
time. Thus, HR officer of Whirlpool require to perform different roles and responsibilities which
are further described as below:
Maintain relation with other departments: It is essential for HR officer to maintain
healthy relations with other departments so as to get adequate support from them in achieving
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profitable outcomes. Getting feedbacks and suggestion from the managers of different
department help HR manager to recruit skilled and knowledge employees for their departments.
Maintain work ethics: HR officer of an organisation is held responsible to make an
effective policies related with work ethic and implement them in proper manner. This will help
company in eliminating cultural differences and promote equality among employees working in
an organisation (Barclay and Osei-Bryson, 2010).
Health and safety measures: It is the responsibility of HR officers to adopt safety
measures at workplace so as to secure and protect employees from any damage while working
with machines and equipments. For this, it is essential to comply with health and safety policies
so as to maintaining healthy work environment.
Recruitment of employees: It is the foremost responsibility of HR professional to fulfil
requirements of human resources in Whirlpool through adopting recruitment and selection
process so as to attain skilled and knowledgeable employees who are more capable to complete
allotted project activities within pre-determined period of time.
Training and development programmes: HR officer required to identify the needs of
training at workplace through conducting research within an organisation. It will help in
collecting feedbacks and views of employees about the Working environment and issues they
faced at workplace. Thereafter HR officer should required to conduct training sessions in order
to enhance their potential and capabilities. It will bring motivation among employees and build
healthy relation with them.
Determination of remuneration: It is essentially required for HR officer to identify the
capabilities and knowledge of employees and accordingly implement suitable policies regarding
fixation of remuneration for each and every employees.
Implementation of employment legislation laws: There are various laws related with
employment thus need to be adopted by HF officer for the betterment of their human resource. It
will help in creating good working atmosphere as well as build healthy relation them which
increases the commitment of employee with company (Bolman and Deal, 2017).
P2&D1: Personal skills audit and professional development plan for HR
As a HR officer of Whirlpool, there is need to perform various important functions in
order to achieve desired goals and objectives. In order to determine whether HR officer are
enough capable of doing allotted responsibilities in an effective manner, personal kills audit is
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must required to be conducted. Thus, if any deviation found during skills audit then it shall
required to be improved through organising training sessions. It will help in improving the
personality and develop professional career as HR officer. Such personal skills audit and
professional development plan enable HR Professional to perform in an optimum way.
Personal skills audit of HR Professional is described below:
Skill Very Good Good Adequate Little or no
experience
Information
Technology
Use Microsoft office
word
✔
Use Excel
Spreadsheet
✔
Use specialist HR
software
✔
Use a database ✔
Use the internet ✔
Use Email ✔
Use PowerPoint ✔
Skill Very Good Good Adequate Little or no
experience
Communication
skills
Drafting
contracts of
employment
✔
Taking notes of
disciplinary
hearing
✔
Write reports ✔
Produce
materials to
support
presentations
✔
Delivering a
training session
✔
Resolving
disputes
✔
Interviewing ✔
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Advising on
HR issues
✔
Skill Very Good Good Adequate Little or no
Experience
Problem solving
skills
Make good use
of verbal
reasoning skills,
able to handle
complex data
and make
selective use of
information
✔
Explore more
than one
solution in
order to solve a
problem
✔
Consider the
ideas of others
to help solve
problems
✔
Supervisory
Management
How much experience
have you had in your
placements?
< 1 month
✔
1-3 months > 3 months
How many people
have
you managed at any
one time?
None 1-5
✔
Above 5
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It has been clearly identified from the above skills audit that there is need for
improvement in relation with communication and problems solving skills. For this further
actions to be taken in order to make strength their weaknesses through engaged in training
programs. It will help company in achieving desired target within predetermined time period
(Leggat and Balding, 2013).
Personal development for HR Professionals of Whirlpool
As per the above audit, there is requirement to prepare personal development plan for the
HR officer of Whirlpool. It is generally made by management to enhance the communication
skills, problem solving skills as well as leadership skills. Such plans is made to achieve growth
and success in its professional career as HR professionals. Such plans are prepared in the
following manner:
Development need Development type Development Time required
Communication
skills
Own development As identified from
audit report that HR
manager has facing
lack of
communication skills
thus it is essential to
develop as quickly as
possible so that
proper direction and
guidance will be
provided to their
employees.
Communicate roles
and responsibilities
and collecting
feedbacks from
employees bring
motivation and self-
confidence among
1.5 Months
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them due to which
their performance
level will also be
improved.
Problem solving
skills
Own development There are lots of
issues and problems
that may faced by
employees at
workplace which
may harm the interest
and working
behaviour of
employees therefore
it is essential as HR
manager to have
problems solving
skills so to bring out
optimum solution in
order to resolve as
quickly as possible.
Thus, need to be
improved by HR
manager.
2 months
Leadership skills Own development It also has been
observed from audit
report that HR
Manager do not have
sufficient leadership
skills which is
essential to be
present in HR
3 months
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manager in order to
provide motivation
and get work done
from others in more
effective and
efficient manner.
Having such skills
encourages
employees to work in
a team so that
combined efforts to
be made in achieving
desired goals and
objectives.
M1: Detailing about professional skill audit
Professional skills audit is define below:
Skill Very good good average
Leadership skill ✔
Team building skills ✔
TASK 2
P3: Evaluation of different between individual and organisational learning & training and
development
Training and development are two important aspect which plays a valuable role in
enhancing the skills and knowledge of employees thus need to be conducted by HR officer on
regular basis. Training includes the development of specific skills of an individual whereas
development programs includes development of overall personality. It has been identified that
development programs has wide scope as compared to training programs. But both techniques
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gives an opportunity to improve the skills and abilities of employees which further help them in
achieving growth in their professional career (North and Kumta, 2018).
Comparison between training and development
Basis Training Development
Meaning It is an effective program
which is conducted to
enhance the specific skills
and knowledge of employees
so as to make them capable
of doing their allotted task in
a profitable manner
Such programs is conducted
to enhance the overall
personality of employees
which further help in
achieving growth in
professional career. Thus, has
wide scope.
Term Short period of time Long period of time
Concentrate on Present Future
Objective To develop lacked skills and
knowledge of employees.
To enable employees to deal
with challenges that may
comes in the way of their
professional career.
Orientation Job oriented Career oriented
Aim Job related Development of personality
Similar wise, individual and organisational learning are also two different concepts which
also improves the knowledge of an individual as well as an organisation. Individual learning
focuses on learning of individual whereas other concept to focused on organisational learning.
Both are briefly defined as below:
Individual learning: Under this concept, the main emphasis is given on learning of an
individual working in an organisation. Under this, the strengths and weaknesses of an individual
has been identified and accordingly organise learning programs so to enhance their weak areas.
This makes their employees more capable of facing problems and challenges that may comes in
the way of achieving growth in their professional career.
Organisational learning: It is the process of formulation of plans and policies related
with learning programs and styles which need to be adopted within an organisation due to which
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the desired goals and objectives can be achieved within pre-determined period of time. Thus
need to be adopted by Whirlpool in order to recover from downfall and increase their
performance level (Prugsamatz, 2010).
Comparison between Individual learning and organisation learning
Individual learning Organisational learning
It may be defined as the process of
identifying the learning of single individual
so that suitable learning programs will be
organised.
It includes the polices and strategies related
with adoption of learning styles in an
organisation so as to manage and transfer
knowledge of all departments within an
organisation.
It has main focuses on identifying strengths
and weaknesses of an individual with the
purpose of removing them as quickly as
possible.
Its main focus is to develop learning of
organisation through implementing new
process and techniques.
It helps in development of skills and
capabilities of an individual so that allotted
task should be performed by them in
profitable manner.
It helps in the development of team groups in
an organisation which directly makes positive
impact on the entire performance of an
organisation.
P4: Need to continuous learning and professional development in sustainable business
performance
Learning and professional development makes huge impact on the overall performance of
Whirlpool in positive manner. Learning is the process of acquiring new skills and knowledge
through studying and getting practical experiences. Training and development programmes also
plays valuable role in learning process. Therefore, HR officer is held liable to identify the
strengths and weaknesses of individuals and accordingly implement sufficient learning methods
and programs with an objective of enhancing their weak areas. Accordingly development
programs also required to be conducted in order to make employees more capable to achieve
growth in their professional career (Schalock and Verdugo, 2012). Maximum contribution of
employees directly improving the performance level of organisation which increases its
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sustainability in competitive market. There are different need for continuous learning and
professional development which are given as below:
Development of skills: There are various learning styles and methods such as Kolb's
learning theory etc. which need to be applied by HR officer of Whirlpool with the purpose of
developing skills and knowledge of existing employees. It will help company in getting
maximum contribution for their workers in achieving desired goals and objectives due to which
the chances of sustaining in market for longer period of time will be more.
Improvement of communication and coordination: Continuous learning among the
workers of Whirlpool removes the communication gap between HR manager and employees
which brings motivation among them. Therefore, proper communication and coordination among
between HR manager and employees brings motivation to work in a team and give combined
efforts in achieving desired target (Waddock and Bodwell, 2017).
Employee relation: The chances of getting profitable outcomes will be high if the
relationship between the HR manager and employees are good and strong. Therefore continuous
learning and professional development plan helps in identifying the weak areas of an individual
which are ton be developed by HR officer through adopting an effective learning programs.
Accomplishment of different objectives: Such learning and professional development
plans improves the strengths and weaknesses of an individual due to which they contribute
maximum efforts in achieving desired goals and objectives within pre-determined period of time.
M2:Application of learning cycle theories to analyse the benefits of continuous professional
development
There are four learning cycle theories which supports in professional development which
are defined as below:
Concrete experience: It helps in enhancing the problems solving skills and overall
development of employees.
Reflective observation: It helps in identifying the problems and challenges that may
comes in the process of executing business activities due to which optimum solution will be find
out to resolve them as quickly as possible.
Abstract conceptualisation: It helps in understanding the roles and responsibilities the
employees need to be performed in an organisation (Wegge and et. al., 2010).
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Active experimentation: It helps in bringing out innovations and creativity among
employees so as to complete allotted project activity in more effective way.
TASK 3
P5&D2 Contribution of High performance worker in employee engagement and competitive
advantage
An organisation having high skilled and high performance employees bring motivation
among other employees due to which they work hard to achieve growth in their professional
goals. Through this, an organisation can easily achieve its desired goals and objectives.
Observing the high performer will enhance the interest and working behaviour of other
employees due to which the chances of occurring mistakes will be less. Some other contribution
is defined as below:
 Good employees and their supportive behaviour helps in creating healthy atmosphere at
workplace which makes easy for employees to compete their working hours and engaged
in each business activity.
 High performer if supportive in nature help other employees in maximising their
performance through telling them innovative ways of completing allotted task in an
effective and efficient manner.
 High performed of Whirlpool helps in bring motivation among low performer due to
which the chances of creating new and innovative ideas by them will be more. It will
bring profitable result in near future (Williams, 2010).
M3: Analysing the benefits of applying HPW within an organisation
Benefits of High performance employees:
 It helps in establishing healthy relation with the employees and build an effective team.
 Enhancing the communication and coordination among various departments.
 Creating healthy environment at workplace which brings motivations among employees.
 Helps in achieving competitive advantage and accomplishment of desired goals within
pre-determined period of time.
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TASK 4
P6&M4: Different approaches of performance management and their contribution in high
performance culture and commitment
There are many effective approaches which need to be considered by HR officer of
Whirlpool in order to appraise the performance of employees. It can be done through
identification of needs of training, challenges, weaknesses of employee etc. which direct HR
officer to formulate an effective polices and strategies in order to fulfil the requirements at
workplace. Adoption of different approaches helps in creating healthy atmosphere at workplace
which brings motivation among employees to build high performance culture. Such approaches
are described as below:
Comparative approach: Such approach is mainly focuses on comparing the performance
of employees with the standards so to find out the deviations if any, which restrict workers to
give their maximum efforts which causes low performance. This will help HR Manager to make
an effective decisions and planning so as to eliminate such deviations as quickly as possible. In
order to enhance the performance level of employees, the management ranked their performance
and accordingly provides benefits to them (Approaches for measuring performance of
employees, 2017).
Attribute approach: In this approach, various aspects are used by an organisation in order
to enhance the performance level of employees. Such aspects includes innovation, creativity,
team work etc. which ensures in completing allotted task in desired manner. This can be done
after recognising the attributes of an individual working in an organisation and accordingly
assign them roles and responsibilities.
Result approach: In this approach, the appraisal of performance of employees are based
on their result received from their allotted business activities. This will help in identifying the
high and low skills workers due to which training requirements are easily identified. The
management provides SMART goals according to which employees should be performed their
allotted task. The balance scorecard may also required to be adopted by management which
consist of four perspectives includes financial, internal, customers and operations.
Behavioural approach: Under this approach, the management appraise the performance
of employees on the basis of their behaviour in an organisation. It includes supportive nature,
12

communication, coordination with co-workers etc. which help in creating healthy working
atmosphere.
CONCUSION
It has been concluded from the above project report that HR officer of an organisation
bear main roles and responsibilities on the basis of which the growth and success of employees
as well as company depends. To achieve sustainability, HR officer shall required to perform
several functions such as appraisal of performance, recruitment and selection of human resource,
conducting training and development programs etc. It is also important to identify the strengths
and weakness of employees through conducting professional skills audit which help HR officer
to organisation personal and professional development plan to enhance weak areas of an
individuals.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Ainscow, M. and Sandill, A., 2010. Developing inclusive education systems: the role of
organisational cultures and leadership. International Journal of Inclusive Education.
14(4). pp.401-416.
Barclay, C. and Osei-Bryson, K.M., 2010. Project performance development framework: An
approach for developing performance criteria & measures for information systems (IS)
projects. International Journal of Production Economics. 124(1). pp.272-292.
Bolman, L.G. and Deal, T.E., 2017. Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership.
John Wiley & Sons.
Leggat, S.G. and Balding, C., 2013. Achieving organisational competence for clinical leadership:
the role of high performance work systems. Journal of health organization and
management. 27(3). pp.312-329.
North, K. and Kumta, G., 2018. Knowledge management: Value creation through organizational
learning. Springer.
Prugsamatz, R., 2010. Factors that influence organization learning sustainability in non-profit
organizations. The Learning Organization. 17(3). pp.243-267.
Schalock, R.L. and Verdugo, M.A., 2012. A Leadership Guide for Today's Disabilities
Organizations: Overcoming Challenges and Making Change Happen. Brookes
Publishing Company. PO Box 10624, Baltimore, MD 21285.
Waddock, S. and Bodwell, C., 2017. Total responsibility management: The manual. Routledge.
Wegge, J., and et. al., 2010. Promoting work motivation in organizations: Should employee
involvement in organizational leadership become a new tool in the organizational
psychologist’s kit?. Journal of Personnel Psychology. 9(4). p.154.
Williams, C., 2010. Understanding the essential elements of work‐based learning and its
relevance to everyday clinical practice. Journal of nursing management. 18(6). pp.624-
632.
Online:
Approaches for measuring performance of employees, 2017. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.projectguru.in/publications/approaches-measuring-performance-
employees/>.
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