HR Skills, Development, and Organizational Impact: A Whirlpool Report

This report delves into the critical aspects of human resource management and organizational development, focusing on Whirlpool as a case study. It begins by outlining the essential professional knowledge, skills, and behaviors required of HR professionals, emphasizing areas like legal knowledge, workforce management, training, motivational abilities, communication, and leadership. A personal skills audit is then conducted, identifying strengths and weaknesses, followed by a detailed professional development plan to address skill gaps. The report further explores the differences between organizational and individual learning, highlighting the importance of continuous learning and professional development for sustainable business performance. It examines the contribution of high-performance work systems to employee engagement and competitive advantage, and concludes with an evaluation of various approaches to performance management. The analysis provides a comprehensive understanding of how to develop individuals, teams, and organizations for enhanced effectiveness and success.

Developing
Individuals, Teams
and Organisations

INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1 Professional knowledge, skills and behaviours required by HR Professionals.........3
P2 Personal skills audit to identify skill and knowledge as well as a Professional
development plan......................................................................................................................5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
P3 Difference between Organisational and Individual Learning.......................................6
P4. Analysis of the need of continuous learning and professional development to
drive sustainable business performance...............................................................................9
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................12
P5. Contribution of HPW to employee engagement and competitive advantage:.......12
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................13
P6: Evaluation of various approaches of performance management.............................13
CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................................16
REFERENCES............................................................................................................................17

INTRODUCTION
Development is very essential in an organisation whether it is of an individual
person or a team. It is helpful in enhancing the skills and capabilities of the organisation
as a whole. It is manager’s responsibility to take care that both employees and
organization are developing in their respective fields (Anitha, 2014). The Organisation
which will be undertaken in this report is Whirlpool. It is a renowned company in
electronic sector. In this report, the skills and behaviour that an HR professional will be
discussed, and a personal skill audit will also be conducted along with preparation of
personal development plan. There will be discussion about learning and development
and contribution of high performance working in employee engagement and competitive
advantage will also be discussed.
TASK 1
P1 Professional knowledge, skills and behaviours required by HR Professionals
An HR professional can be defined as an individual who recruits and manages
the staff members of company in an effective manner. They are having responsibility of
organising several programmes and events for employees like training, rewarding etc so
that they can develop their learning in an effective manner and can sustain in the
company for longer period. In Whirlpool Company, they are required to choose an HR
professional who is having appropriate skill, knowledge and behaviour so that they can
perform their operations in a proper manner. These are described in detail below:
Knowledge of HR professional
Legal Information – It is very much necessary for an HR manager to have knowledge
about the laws and regulations so that they can use it while framing the rules and
policies of the company. It will be very helpful for the company as they will able to follow
all the law that are being framed by government and necessary to be followed by
company (DeNisi and Smith, 2014).
Management of Workforce – The HR manager should know how to manage the
employees of the company since this is an important part of their job. If they will be able
to manage the workforce in a proper manner, then the employees will be able to work in
a more proper manner and their productivity will also increase.
3

Training: The HR of an organisation must required to have knowledge about different
training techniques and approaches as this will help to improve the existing skills and
traits of employee’s.
Skills of HR professional
Motivational Abilities – It is very much necessary for an HR manager to have
motivational skill as they will face many situations in the company where the employee
will feel de-motivated and will try to leave their job. During that time, HR should try to
motivate the employee so that he/she doesn’t leave the organisation (Ford, 2014).
Effective Communication Skills – It is known that the environment of n organisation
can be healthy only if the employees are having good communication amongst them.
So, it is the duty of HR manager to make an open and effective working environment in
the company so that the employees feel happy and satisfied.
Leadership skills: HR of an organisation is required to have leadership skills as
this will aid in guiding the other employees and completion of work within stipulated
period of time.
Problem solving skills: It is one of the effective skills which would be needed to
be carried by a leader while working within an organisation. It includes being able to
classify and describe the difficulties, producing alternative solutions, assessing and
choosing the top alternative, and applying the selected solution.
Behaviour of HR professional
Skilled influencer – It is necessary for an HR manager to behave like a skilled
and influencing person in an organisation because then only they will be able to control
the employees of the company in a positive manner.
Polite and Fair – The HR manager of company should be polite towards
everyone while talking so that the employees also learn this and maintain a healthy
environment inside the company.
Integrity: This will include about acceptance of professionalism in behaviour
where you perform work according to the situations which are present in an
organisation. They have to behave confidently.
Self-control: HR of an organisation is required to have self-control as this will aid
in completion of the tasks positively. It is important for them be neutral while providing
their services as this will to maintain professionalism.
4

P2 Personal skills audit to identify skill and knowledge as well as a Professional
development plan
Personal skill audit can be defined as a method through which an individual
person can identify their strengths and weaknesses in a proper manner. It helps them in
knowing that in which segment they are strong and where they need more development
(Jiang and Liu, 2015). This will help an employee in developing themselves and become
more efficient.
Personal skill audit of employee is as follows: -
STRENGTHS: I have analysed that I have good communications skills since I
am able to communicate with my fellow colleagues in a proper manner. Also, my
Information technology skills are also strong as I am able to use various kinds of
software’s while doing my HR duties and record my data in a proper manner as well.
Along with this, I can consider problem solving skill as a strong point, but I lack in that
as well in some sections.
WEAKNESSES: I believe that, it will be needed for me to work on my problem
solving skills as I often face problems while exploring more than one solution in order to
solve a problem. Apart from this, I want that my listening skills should also improve as i
don’t listen to people many times properly.
A Professional development plan can be defined as a process through which an
organisation makes plan to develop their skill which need improvement so that the employee can
grow completely.
Requirements Personal audit Gap
Motivation 3 To perform a role of HR
manager at workplace, it is
very essential for an
individual to have
motivation skills as this help
in encourage employees to
perform well, which is very
essential for a company to
achieve its set goals and
5

objectives.
Communication 3 For a HR manager,
communication is very
important skill as this help
in interact with employees
confidently and make them
aware about their roles and
responsibilities at
workplace.
Management of workforce 3 Main role of HR manager at
workplace is to manage
employees and their
actions in a manner so
company can achieve its
set goals and an better
satisfy the needs of its
customers.
Leadership skills 5 With the help of this skill,
HR manager could easily
lead subordinates to attain
their daily targets. In
present context, it will be
required for me to enhance
this skill so that maximum
benefits could easily be
gained right on time not
only by me but by my
subordinates as well.
Problem solving skills 6 Through this skill, HR
manager of a business firm
could resolve issues of both
6

company and of staff as
well. I am lacking into this
section because at the time
when any sort of
uncertainties, I go through
heavy nervousness and this
impacted negatively upon
overall performance level of
my own.
Professional Development Plan
Serial
no.
Learning
objective
Current
proficienc
y
Target
proficienc
y
Development
opportunities
Time
scale
1 Problem
solving skills
3.5 5 There are various kinds of
situations in an
organisation where
employees fight with each
other or any other problem
arise, so it is necessary
that the HR manager
should know how to solve
the issue so that they can
handle the situation
properly.
30 to 45
days
2 Listening skills 3 5 There are situations where
the seniors convey various
kinds of important
information and if the HR
6 months
7

manager will be weak in
listening then they will not
be able to understand the
situations that are going on
in the company. So, they
should develop it for the
better.
3 Motivational
abilities
Employees play a big role
in success of company, in
order to attain set goals
and objectives, it is very
essential for employees to
perform well. It is very
important for HR manager
to have motivation skill so
he/she can encourage
workers to work well.
30 days
4 Effective
communication
skills
To perform any role at
workplace, it is very
essential for every
individual to have good
communication skills. For
develop this manager
require to participate in
group activities.
40 days
5 Management of
workforce
Management of employees
and their activities at
workplace is one of the
most essential function of
40 days
8

every HR manager. For
develop this skill HR
manager can do
multitasking.
6 Leadership
skills
5 7 Through this skill, I might
become able to start
offering number of
employees with right sort
of tasks as per their
capabilities.
50 days
Benefits from skills audit:
It is known as one of the valuable information that would be used for a wide range
of objectives such as for internal employee selection as well as to ensure that the
correct person is been deployed in each position. Some advantages are:
 Improve skills and knowledge among employees.
 Increase overall productivity as people can do better matched with their position.
 Skill audit develop the skills base of workforce which improve their productivity
and support them to meet their career goals.
 This help in develop more creative and productive workforce.
 Gather information related with skills base of company help in take better
decision which help in manage the change.
Limitation without Skills audit:
Sometimes, it cannot provide a complete picture as good results. If the accounts are
prepared with the motive to control the unethical behaviour of the employees. It would
also take plenty of time to resolve their issues as auditing cannot provide complete
solution for the company. This is very lengthy and complex process. Further it is not
necessary that it provide accurate results and help in determine the areas in which
individual require to make improvements.
9

TASK 2
P3 Difference between Organisational and Individual Learning
It is very much necessary for each organisation to launch various kinds of
educational and learning programs so as to develop trh4e overall efficiency of the
employees (McCormack, Manley and Titchen, 2013). To do this, various events are
being organised by the HR managers of the company so that the knowledge and
efficiency of the employees can be boost up and they are able to perform in more
proper manner in the company. This will help the organisation in earning more profits
and their productivity will also be developed. So, the HR managers of whirlpool should
also develop the need for training programs so that knowledge or skills of employees
can be enhanced (Mone and London, 2018). But learning is also of two types. It is
described as under:
Individual learning:
This can be defined as the learning which is gained by the person by themselves.
It depicts the ability of an individual to learn things by themselves just by seeing or
observing things. While working in an organisation, an employee gets various
opportunities through which they can develop their skills and capabilities and gain a
better position in the company, but it totally depends on the employee that whether they
are in favour of it or not. Offline and online type of training programs given by employers
of a firm are type of individual learning programs. Along with this, it is said that
considering the individual learning HR Manager of Whirlpool could easily reach to new
heights in specified time frame. This could be understood with a good example where,
improving skills like problem solving, time management and communication can be
taken as a section within individual learning. With the help of this, maximum benefits
could easily be gained by HR Manager and aid Whirlpool in gaining ample number of
competitive advantages.
Organisational learning:
This type of learning is gained by sharing knowledge and skills with your fellow
employees and leaning something from them as well. it is the duty of HR manager to
make sure that the employee is having proper knowledge of organisational work so that
they can develop their skills according to the requirements and perform in a better
10

manner (O’Neill, Sohal and Teng, 2016). There are various methods to gain
organisational learning like seminars, conferences etc. This could be understood with a
good example where, a specialised team of Whirlpool is looking forward to improve
sales by 5% and this can only be done by both team leader and HR manager through
enhancing the skills of specialised team through giving training to them in conferences
or meetings.
Difference between Individual and Organizational Learning
Basis Individual Learning Organizational Learning
Focus Here, the individuals
have focus on their
own separate tasks
and they try to
complete their
particular target so as
to achieve better
outcome.
Here, the organisation i.e.
Whirlpool focus on
developing the skills and
efficiency of their
employees so that they
can contribute in
achieving the aims and
objectives of business.
Control In this, an individual
can be controlled
through applying
various kinds of rules
and policies on them
so as to make them
more efficient.
In whirlpool, learning can
be controlled by vision,
culture and technology
while implementing the
strategies of the company
so as to achieve the goals
and objectives.
11

Training Development
It can be described as a process through
which employees are trained in an
organisation. Through this, an organisation
can develop the skill, attitude and
behaviour of employees and make them
competent to work in the organisation.
Whirlpool also conducts various kinds of
training programs so as to train their
employees and develop their practical
knowledge (Pinjani and Palvia, 2013).
Training can be modifying business
performance, profit and staff morale.
Benefits to company consists of choosing
right kind of skills that workforces gain and
targeting skills to meet the requirements of
the future training staffs which will results
in better outcome services and better work
safety for the company.
This can be explained as to carrying out
more effective as well as proficient
educational or learning programs for
increasing awareness and working ability
of staff members. Thus, it will facilitate to
develop their capabilities which give
support to accomplish success in business
of Whirlpool Corporation.
The overall knowledge and skills of the
employees at the workplace. An
organisation are more used at various
methods for instance to job rotation that
can be helpful to train employees in this
era of globalization. It also assist in
increasing the moral of the moral of the
employees as well as overall confidence
among the employee at the workplace.
Individual learning Organisational learning
This is type of learning is done by
research. In this an individual learn new
things by do research in the area in which
he/she wants to gain the knowledge.
Under this learning company carry out an
in depth analysis in order to collect new
information.
In this an individual learns from past
experience.
In this organisation learns from the
mistakes done in past.
Individual learning is the process in which
an individual learns from others by taking
part in group activities individual share
As organisation learning is a process in
which all employees of company take part
in company process so in this company
12