HR Report: Analysis of Skills, Learning, and Performance at Whirlpool

This report provides a detailed analysis of Whirlpool's HR practices, focusing on the development of individuals, teams, and the organization. It begins by identifying the essential skills, knowledge, and behaviors required by HR professionals, followed by the development of a professional development plan. The report then differentiates between organizational and individual learning, evaluating the need for continuous learning and professional development. It also demonstrates how high-performance work practices contribute to employee engagement and explores different approaches to performance management within Whirlpool. The report highlights key concepts such as conflict resolution, communication skills, and the importance of training and development in enhancing employee capabilities and organizational success.

Developing Individuals, Teams and
Organisations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Identify appropriate skills, knowledge and behaviour required by HR professionals ..........1
P2 Develop a professional development plan ..........................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
P3 Difference between organizational and individual learning .................................................5
P4 Evaluate need for continuous learning and professional development .................................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
P5 Demonstrate how HPW contributes employee engagement..................................................7
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................8
P6 Different approaches to performance management...............................................................8
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
An organization requires a set of distinct knowledge and skills for its growth and survival
in market. It is vital for a company to get correct range of individuals who; with their potential
and ability contributes effectively towards achieving organizational goals and objectives. Both
employers and employees are considered as an asset of business, hence it is essential to keep
them motivated so as to extract best out of them (Aarons, Hurlburt and Horwitz, 2011).
Personnel Development develops a learning environment that bridges the gap between present
and desired stage of employees and also conducting various training programmes so as to make
them self-dependent and competent enough to deal with future contingencies in an effective
manner. The given report is based on “Whirlpool” which is an American multinational
manufacturer. The report covers different approaches to performance management, designing
professional development plan, need for continuous learning and lastly how high performer work
practices of Whirlpool contributes towards employee engagement.

TASK 1
P1 Identify appropriate skills, knowledge and behaviour required by HR professionals
Human Resource Department primarily deals with the process of employee development
that is held in every organization. Generally, it includes arranging various training and
development session for workers with an aim of improving their knowledge and skills. Success
and growth of any business enterprise depend upon the contribution of employees towards firm's
goals and objectives. Set of knowledge and competencies of each person is distinct from one
another and becomes the reason for motivating them towards the accomplishment of defined
tasks. During 2011, when Whirlpool undergo crisis, North American Staff of Whirlpool had
decided to do major restructuring. Although, the team was aware of the fact that restructuring of
company would require timely decision-making, well-informed, effective, efficient and cross-
functional collaboration (Bolman and Deal, 2017). As the firm highly depends upon its team for
higher productivity and innovation which was at that moment of time was not sufficient for
them. Thus, the need for improving the skill, knowledge and behaviour of each individual arises
in Whirlpool.
Skill: It can be define as an individual's ability so as to deal with present and future contingencies
in a systematic manner.
Knowledge: Any information, fact or skills acquired by a person through education or experience
is termed as knowledge. It is regarded as both practical and theoretical concept of understanding
something in a better way and take appropriate decisions accordingly.
North American Region team of Whirlpool has decided to measure the skills, knowledge
and behaviour of its team on the basis of 5 core dimensions namely transparent communication,
shared accountability for results, vision and extraordinary goals, mutual solidarity and respect
and constructive conflicts (Choi and Ruona, 2011). Considering these five dimensions, NAR
Staff became the first one to engage its employees in the assessment process of HPT and to
execute the important changes that ensure High Performance Working. However the skills,
knowledge, ability and behaviour of each individual must be different from one another. The role
of Whirlpool’s HR professional is to ensure optimum utilization of person's skills and knowledge
and try to extract best out of them. For doing it effectively and systematically, HR manager must
possess adequate skills, knowledge and behaviour which are discussed below:
Skills:

 Conflict Resolution Skills: Conflict is considered as a normal part of any healthy and
open relationship. It normally occurs when people disagree over their ideas, values,
desires or perception. In an organization, vast number of employees worked together and
share common goals. Thus, chance of arising conflict is any workplace is high as
compared to others. For example: Earlier employees of Whirlpool use to do personal
conversation at weekly staff meeting which creates disturbance for others. As a result,
HR manager of Whirlpool has decided to avoid personal conversation held at meeting. Communication Skill: HR professional also act as a liaison between employers and
employees. It is the prime responsibility of HR to relay clear information to employees.
Whether running training session, sending e-mails to employees or defining roles and
responsibilities, HR manager needs to be comfortable while speaking effectively, clearly
and confidently.
Knowledge: For achieving better outcomes and long term sustainability, HR manager must have
adequate knowledge regarding employment laws, health and safety law etc. For example: HR
Professional of Whirlpool must have information about employees like who all are top performer
or who are least performer (Hartnell, Ou and Kinicki, 2011).
Behaviour: Employees are often known as crucial asset of the company as it's success and
growth depend upon how workers perform towards achieving organizational goals. Behaviour of
an employee means the manner in which they acts or conduct oneself specially among others.
Thus, the needs for understanding and knowing individual is important as they are the who
actively participates in firm's profitability and productivity.
P2 Develop a professional development plan
Personal Skill Audit is mainly used by individuals in order to identify his/her strengths &
need to grow in a healthy atmosphere. It depend upon the area of business in which one is
working and varies too with different environment and areas (Herrmann and Herrmann-Nehdi,
2015). It is mainly taken into consideration when an individual wants to know its current strength
and weakness. However, strength and weakness of each person may vary from one another. But
it is important to measure it and take corrective actions accordingly.
Sr. No. Skills and Competencies Self-assessed Score from others Variances

Score
1 Team Building Ability 7 8 -1
2 Conflict Resolution Ability 7 8 1
3 Decision making Power 8 9 -1
4 Confidence Level 6 9 -3
6 Effective communication skills 7 9 -2
7 Information Technology Skills 6 5 1
8 Time Management Ability 6 8 -2
Here positive variance are identified as my weak points whereas negative variance represents my
strong points.
SWOT Analysis:
Strength:
 My core strength is team building i.e.
I am good at managing and holding
team collectively till the given task is
accomplished.
 I am also good at making decision. I
critically examine all possible factors
and then take decision accordingly.
 I am having good knowledge of
information technology. I am aware of
all basic language of computer like C+
+, JAVA etc.
 My conflict resolution skills are also
good which means before taking any
decision I listen viewpoint of both
parties and then draw a conclusion.
Weakness:
 My major drawback is I am unable to
complete any task on time.
 My confidence level is comparatively
low. As I am afraid to speak in public or
give presentation.
 Apart from this, my communication
skills are ineffective. I stammer
whenever I get an opportunity to speak
in front of large group of people.

Personal Development Plan:
Sr.
No
Learning
Objective
Current
Proficiency
Target
Proficiency
Development
Opportunities
Criteria
for
judging
success
Time
Scale
Evide
nce
1 Communication
Skill
I am a
moderate
communicator
who is average
at transferring
information
concerned with
business
process,
products and
services to all
employees.
In order to
become
effective
communicat
or, I have
decided to
use different
channel of
communicati
on that help
me in
transferring
information
easily and
conveniently.
Talk sessions,
use distinct
channel of
communicati
on, Audio-
visual, listen
to others,
write down
important
things, think
before your
speak.
Team
Members
,
Managers
, Other
colleague
s.
25
Nove
mber
2018
Feedb
ack
from
peers,
super
visors,
team
leader
s.
2 Decision
making skills.
My decision
making skills
are moderate.
Before taking
any decision, I
do listen
perspective of
For framing
right
decision at
right time, I
must possess
accurate set
of
For
enhancing my
decision
making
abilities, I can
join
simulation
Senior
manager
will
evaluate
my
performa
nce.
25
Septe
mber
2018
Top
mana
gers,
co-
worke
r.

both parties but
still it took me
some time to
come on a final
decision.
knowledge
and skills.
program,
attend
workshop.
TASK 2
P3 Difference between organizational and individual learning
In simple words, learning means improving or modifying person's existing knowledge,
value and skills in order to gain carry out task in more effective and efficient manner (Jones and
Jones, 2010). It is important for a company to maximise current knowledge and skill of an
individual which also assist in their both personal and professional career.
 Individual Learning: It refers to an individual capacity to acquire knowledge through
external sources or stimuli and through personal experience.
 Organizational Learning: It is broadly defined as a learning process that takes place
within company only. It refers to the procedure through which an organization learns
something new about its processes, goals and environment.
Comparison between Individual and Organizational Learning
Individual Learning Organisational Learning
 In this type of learning, employees of
Whirlpool learn or acquire knowledge
by watching their seniors.
 It is one of the quickest and most
effective process of acquiring learning
 Problems are handled by employees
only which ultimately boost their
 It refers to the procedure where
personnel acquire learning through
transferring and sharing knowledge
within company only.
 It takes a little time to acquire learning
through this process.
 As the employees are having number of

confidence level. options, so they have a chance to select
best among the choices.
 Training: It is a planned activity that is usually takes place with a motive of improving
the existing skills, competency and knowledge of respective employees. It means
enhancing particular skill of an individual to a desired standard by practice or instruction. Development: It refers to an organized procedure through which managerial employees
learn theoretical and conceptual knowledge for general purpose.
Comparison between Training and Development
Training Development
It alludes to a learning procedure in which
workforce of Whirlpool inspires chance to
learn new aptitudes and capabilities.
It refers to the process of educating employees
and provide them overall growth that helps
them in their future career growth.
Training is a job-oriented procedure as it gives
just job related abilities and figuring out how
to representatives with the goal that they can
adequately perform task in Whirlpool.
It is a career oriented process as it administer
additional skills to the employees that helps in
their personal growth.
It provide short-term learning to an individual Development provides long term learning to
the workforce of Whirlpool.
The fundamental target of Whirlpool behind
giving adequate training to its specialists is to
enhance their work execution.
Main objective of administer development is to
prepare employees for future challenges.
It focuses on present. Development emphasize on future.
P4 Evaluate need for continuous learning and professional development
The process of continuous learning is applicable at both organizational and individual
level. At an organizational level, it means how groups or teams adapt themselves and react to
changing situation in an effective manner. On the other hand, individual learning means

increasing the competency to learn and modify knowledge and behaviour according current
prevailing condition (Katzenbach and Smith, 2015).
Professional Development alludes to learn through expert accreditations, for example, MBA
degree.
Following are the necessities required for consistent learning and professional development are
discussed below:
1. Build Sustainable Engagement: The concept of “Sustainable Engagement” described the
immediate connection amongst quality and nature of worker's experience with the organization.
Fundamentally it suggests how Whirlpool is engaged with its workforce through transparent
communication, conducting training and development session with a motive of improving its
performance and mutual solidarity and respect to employees so as to retain them for longer
period.
2. Increase Employee Retention Rate: Whirlpool primarily concentrates on holding their
representatives through including them in their decision making process which persuades them to
stay in an association for longer period (Landy and Conte, 2016). Whirlpool provide healthy
and open working environment which motivates employees to work more effectively and
efficiently.
3. Encouraging Problem Solving: NAR Staff team of Whirlpool has decided to made
constructive conflict resolution team that centres around taking care of and tackling the issues
successfully and effectively. It is critical for an association to keep up sound connection amongst
boss and representative as business includes an incentive in the execution of its sub-ordinates.
4. Respond to Technology: As the innovation is adjusting step by step, it is imperative for a
business endeavour to adjust with the change. For example, Whirlpool can embrace new
innovation for making their item more viable and which encourages them to increase upper hand
to its rivals. They can give sufficient preparing to their representatives with the goal that they can
utilize updated innovation in a proficient way and way (Malone, Laubacher and Dellarocas,
2010).
Honey Mumford learning style
Honey Mumford learning style can be understood by the following given points:

 Activist: These are the individuals who learn new things by actions and experience.
These individuals are open mind and they like group discussion. This will help the
employees of an organization to add new skills.
 Theorist: This aspect covers the individuals who learn by understand the theory behind
action. These type of individual’s love reading quotes and theories. This will help the
employees of an organization to get the knowledge about theories.
 Pragmatist: These are person which want to know that how they are going to put their
learning into practice. They like to experiment with theories and ideas and techniques in
reality. This will help to employee to ascertain knowledge about new aspects.
 Reflector: This will include the capability about the learning through watching people
what they thinking and what is happening. This will help the employee to create bond
with each other.
TASK 3
P5 Demonstrate how HPW contributes employee engagement
Individuals usually consider high performance with employee engagement. High
performance usually takes place when people go beyond and above their duties i.e. contributing
more effectively and efficiently towards achieving organizational objectives. Greater
engagement means greater productivity. But here work design is equally important as it
encourage productivity separately from employee engagement. High performance working is
highly essential and viewed as a great source for attaining high competitive edge in the market
place. It includes series of practices that needs to be taken into account for improving company's
capacity to effectively select, recruit, develop and retain high performing workers. Whirlpool is
highly reckon upon its team members for innovation and productivity. But this is sufficient
enough to gain high competitive advantage (Robbins and Judge, 2012). As a result, team of
North American Region of Whirlpool have decided to do restructuring. Although it's a quite
lengthy and time consuming process, but is equally for company to perform in a better manner.
Performance of its employees are measured on five key dimensions which include constructive
conflict, shared accountability for results, shared commitment towards company's vision and

mission, mutual respect and solidarity and transparent communication. Having a clear
understanding regarding what needs to be achieved with restructuring, NAT team of Whirlpool
becomes the first one to pursue HPT assessment process and implement changes that ensure
HPW within the company.
With all these findings, Whirlpool has decided to conduct 1 day team development
session with an aim of improving team functioning and performance. For example: Minute of
meeting was streamlined by stressing on important issues of the company only. Personal
conversation held at the meeting were eliminated along with end run communication. Along with
this, company also laid stress on individual commitment and desire which motivated them to
work hard towards company's goals and objectives. In-fact company has started involving
employees in decision making process which makes them feel valued and important. Additional
contribution of each employee will be valued which in return reduce overall employee turnover
rate of company (Schein, 2010).
The high performance work practices are defined below:
Shared vision and mission: This will help the employees of an organisation understand
about the concept and the activities which are required to be perform by them. This will help to
ensure their full commitment towards the activities of an organisation. Through this company
can easily get competitive advantage in market.
Transparent communication: This is one the important practice which is related with
proper communication and deliverance of the ideas to the employees regarding their activities
which they have to perform. This will aid in maintaining effective bond with others. This will
lead employee engagement and help the organisation to attain competitive advantage.
TASK 4
P6 Different approaches to performance management
The backbone of any company's management is to measure the performance of its
employees. Usually, business owners compute workers performance by evaluating how much
contribution the personnel is making towards firm's growth & development. Performance
Appraisal simply means assessing of employees, creating a positive effect on future performance
and providing them with valuable feedback. However the performance of an employee depend
upon number of factors such as work profile, job satisfaction, compensation, company policies,

work environment etc. All these factors play key role in determining employee productivity and
thus the overall organizational development. Firms are using different approaches and strategies
for the purpose of evaluating performance of their workers. An organization can select any one
or combination of these approaches depending upon management type and business goals. Some
of the common approaches used by Whirlpool are discussed below:-
1. Comparative Approach: This approach involves ranking worker's performance with
respect to that of other's team members in group. Individuals are positioned based on
most astounding to the least performer. Several techniques for comparative approach
includes graphic rating scale, paired comparison and distribution technique. This
approach motivates lowest performer to perform more effectively and efficiently (Von
Krogh, Nonaka and Rechsteiner, 2012). Moreover, Whirlpool provide reward to top
performer which creates an urge among other to carry out business operation & activities
in a structured and thorough manner. Competitive culture is going to prevail in work
surrounding of Whirlpool with the application of this approach.
2. Behavioural Approach: This is one of the oldest technique for measuring performance. It
consists of a set of vertical scales for various job dimensions. BARS techniques is
primarily used for assessing employee performance. Behaviourally Anchored Rated Scale
is compromised of 5-10 vertical scale. These scales are based on certain parameters
which are decided mutually by all employees. Further, Whirlpool ranked its workers
according to these parameters. All dimensions of performance to be measured are depend
upon observable behaviour and are relevant to job. Based on the results, supervisors of
Whirlpool provide valuable feedback to workers. This help employee in knowing their
key strength and weakness. This approach promote future growth & development of
personnel both personally and professionally.
3. Quality Approach: This approach laid stress on improving satisfaction level of customers
by eliminating errors and attaining continuous service improvisation. Under this
approach, employers of Whirlpool take regular feedbacks of employees from peers,
clients and managers to resolve performance issues. The main advantage of this approach
is problem solving through team work (Approaches for measuring performance of
employees, 2017). It's main focus is to improve business processes and that too on
continuous basis. Additionally, this approach promote healthy and open working

environment where feedbacks are given to workers so that they can improve their overall
performance & productivity.
4. Result Approach: This approach is straight-forward and simple in which employers of
Whirlpool rate personnel on the basis of their performance results. This method is very
effective in terms of motivating employees for improved productivity and evaluating the
feedback (Wates, 2014). However, the main advantage of this method is that it converts
strategy into operations with an holistic view.
CONCLUSION
According to above mentioned report, it can be concluded that organizational success
depend upon how effectively team and its members contributes towards achieving pre-defined
goals and objective of business. It is summarised that how effective utilisation of skills and
behaviours assist HR professional to align the departments of business in single format.
Evaluation of learning and development to derive sustainable business performance also
summarised in this report. Concept of HPW subject to effective employee engagement and
competitive advantages also defined in this context.

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