Report: Developing Individuals, Teams and Organisations - Unit 35, M&S

This report examines the crucial aspects of developing individuals, teams, and organizations within the context of Marks and Spencer. It begins by identifying the essential skills, knowledge, and behaviors required by HR professionals, emphasizing the importance of communication, leadership, and ethical conduct. The report then delves into personal skill audits and development plans, highlighting the identification of strengths and weaknesses and the strategies for improvement. It contrasts individual and organizational learning, emphasizing their roles in enhancing employee performance and adapting to changes. The report further explores the significance of high-performance working and employee engagement, and concludes by analyzing different approaches to performance management. Overall, the report provides a comprehensive overview of human resource development and its impact on organizational success within the retail industry.

Unit 35 - Developing
Individuals, Teams and
Organisations
1

INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Scenario TASK 1.............................................................................................................................4
LO1..................................................................................................................................................4
P1 Determine appropriate and professional knowledge, skills and behaviours that are required
by HR professionals...............................................................................................................4
P2 Analyse a completed personal skills audit to identify appropriate knowledge, skills and
behaviours and develop a professional development plan for a given job role......................6
P3 Differences between organisational and individual learning, training and development. 8
LO3..................................................................................................................................................9
P5 High performance working to employee engagement......................................................9
L04...................................................................................................................................................9
P6 Different approaches to performance management..........................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11
2

INTRODUCTION
A team is defined as a group of individuals those who work together for a common purpose
in order to accomplish specific or common objective. Development is most important element
for an organisation irrespective of its size and scope, as it allows company to ensure long term
sustainability and more competitive advancements with an industry (Hines, Taylor and Walsh,
2020). Employees are most important elements for a company those who possess different skills,
talent, experience and contribute their hard work in organisational objectives. Thus, it is essential
for organisation to develop individuals with the help of training and development on continuous
basis in order to enhance their overall skills, knowledge and align their performance with the
objectives of organisation.
This report is based on Marks and Spencer which is operating its business operations in
retail industrial sector (Szymanski and Ipek, 2020). Being a multinational organisation company
has number of employees, that makes this organisation is essential to invest in the development
of individuals in order to assure competitive positioning in market segment. Present report is
based upon appropriate skills, professional knowledge and behaviour that an HR professional
requires to perform their operations. Along with this personal development plan, personal skill
audit, difference between individual and organisational training and development and need for
continuous development is being included in this report. In addition to this high-performance
working importance and different approaches to performance management is also included in
this present report.
Scenario TASK 1
LO1
P1 Determine appropriate and professional knowledge, skills and behaviours that are required by
HR professionals.
Human Resource Department is an integral segment within an organisation as this
department is having responsibility to provide proper training to employees by managing their
behaviour, skills and knowledge. To fulfil these objectives it is important for HR professional to
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posse’s professional skills, behaviour and knowledge in order to align individual performance
with company objectives. These skills will allow HR professional to maintain strong relationship
with employees and further motivate and encourage them to accomplish organisational
objectives with more effectiveness (Groeger and Schweitzer, 2020). It has been identified that
Marks and Spencer is multinational organisation and conduct their services in different
geographical segments and offer different type of products and services to customers. Thus, it is
essential for company to maintain its leading positioning in retail Industry. For this company is
required to analyse trends that is prevailing in market segment and implement the same in
organisation in order to ensure more competitiveness as compared to other competitors. To fulfil
this objectives company is required to have high talented or skilled employees. In this HR
professional is responsible to hire, recruit and manage performance of employees and provide
different training sessions to them. Along with this continuous development process will also be
undertaken through which employee’s capability can be enhanced. To accomplish this objective
HR professional is required to have proper understanding of various skills, knowledge and
behaviour which is further being underlined below:
Skills which is essential for HR Professionals
Communication skills:
Communication play most important role especially in HR profession. With the help of this HR
can maintain strong and positive relationship with employees. It will also allow them to identify
and understand there issues and communicate the same to top management in order to resolve
the issues in proper time frame (Turner, 2020). This is the most important skill in HR
professional which is essential for Marks and Spencer HR to have, as it allows them effectively
motivate and encourage individuals towards organisational objectives. With the help of this skill
HR can also reduce number of conflicts by understanding perspectives of employees.
Leadership and management skills:
The skill plays most important role for an HR professional as it allows them to properly
lead and manage individuals within an organisation in order to accomplish company vision and
objectives. This skill will allow HR professional within Marks and Spencer to enhance
performance of employees. In addition to this it has been identified that with the help of
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leadership and management skills HR professional can enhance overall productivity and
performance of individuals in organisation by leading and managing them in an effective
manner.
Behaviour which is essential for HR Professionals
Equally treating skills:
It is most important behaviour which is required to be possessed by HR professional. It is
essential for Marks and Spencer HR to equally treat each and every employee and make sure that
there is no discrimination prevails within workplace structure. With the help of this behaviour
HR professional can create a healthy workplace environment. This will significantly enhance
overall productivity as well as profitability of Marks and Spencer also it will allow companies to
retain highly talented employees for a longer period of time.
Ethical behaviour:
In order to assure long-term sustainability in respective industrial sector company is
required to perform in an ethical manner. This is one of the most important behaviour through
which HR professional of Marks and Spencer can not only maintain goodwill of company in
respective sector but can also perform organisational objectives in an ethical manner. It will
attract more talent towards company and enhance overall profitability of organisation.
Knowledge which is necessary for HR Professional
Laws and regulations of government:
It is essential for HR professional to have proper understanding of all the regulation and
laws associated with retail industrial segment (Outram and Parkin, 2020). It will help Marks and
Spencer to perform their operations without facing any legal consequences. In addition to this
with the help of proper understanding of government regulation and laws HR individual can
provide all the rights of employees within an organisation.
Taxation:
It is one of the most important role of an HR professional is to maintain a salaries,
compensation and other benefits of employees. Along with this they are also responsible to
manage deductions of taxation along with other important concepts. Thus, it is essential for HR
professional to have an efficient understanding of taxation practices and laws in order to apply
different taxation schemes and policies in effective manner.
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P2 Analyse a 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 is termed as a written document that involves specification of
knowledge, skills and competence which is possessed by an individual in current state of time.
With the help of this individual can comprehensively identify their skill and can be further
determine strategies to acquire additional skills or improve the existing one in order to acquire
dream job (Bryant, Straker and Wrigley, 2020). Personal skill audit also allow individuals to fill
the gaps within the skills in a proper framework of time with the help of different ways and other
sources. In addition to this it has been identified that with the help of this audit person can
determine their strength and weaknesses and can further incorporate strategies to make
improvement in their skills with the help of different training and development sessions. With
the assistance of personal skill audit HR professional within Marks and Spencer can awake skill
gap in their knowledge base and can further evaluate the strengths and weaknesses for further
development.
Strengths:
In order to forming the role of HR professional in Marks and Spencer it is essential for
me to make continuous or regular basis interaction with individuals, during this process it has
been evaluated by me that I am having strong communication skills through which I can
effectively understand opinions and thoughts of individuals. In addition to this it has been
acknowledged by me that I also process effective decision making skills through which I
undertake decisions in effective and proper time frame. Along with this I have also excellent
team working skills through which I collaborate with individuals to accomplish organisational
objectives. These skills allows me to enhance the effectiveness of my role.
Weaknesses:
There are certain forms of weaknesses that have been identified by me during the
personal skill audit. By working as an HR professional in company that has been evaluated by
me that I am having week time management skills as being in HR it is essential to the multi-taker
in order to accomplish organisational objectives. In addition to this, I have also lack of sound
technical skill that affects my performance within company.
By proper evaluation of personal skill audit it has been identified by me that there is a
possibility for me to make improvements in my weaknesses with the help of personal
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development plan. This will allow me to determine different scope and sources through which I
can significantly enhance my skill.
The PDP for improving technical and time management skills is given as follows:-
Skills Current
ability
Targeted
ability
Activity for the development Time limit
Time
management
3.5 5 In order to improve my time
management skill I will take online
time management courses and develop
effective time management plan in
order to accomplish my activities in
proper time.
50 days
Technical
skills
3 5 To make improvement in my technical
skill I will take use of Internet, take
guidance from supervisors and take
advantage of study materials related to
the technical skills required to perform
my role.
60 days
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Scenario Task 2
P3 Differences between organisational and individual learning, training and development.
Business environment is inclusive of different type of factors that imposes threat upon
sustainability on business operations. It is essential for an organisation to continuously provide
training and development to individual and organisational workplace structure in order to ensure
more competitive advancements compared to other rivals (Kim and Manoli, 2020). In this
training learning and development will enhance skills and knowledge of employees through
which overall performance of company can be significantly enhanced. With the help of effective
training and development Marks and Spencer can enhance overall performance and productivity
of employees and can accomplish sales target.
Individual Learning –
This strategy will allow employees to evaluate their abilities as well as skills. By
providing this form of learning Marks and Spencer can encourage individual to learn more about
their responsibilities and information that are required by them to perform their job role in
effective manner. In addition to this individual learning will also facilitate employee to have
proper awareness about that actual duties and determine the ways through which they can
accomplish them in an effective manner.
Organisational Learning –
This form of learning plays an essential role which is provided by company to employees
within workplace structure. With the help of this employees can make them self aware about the
new technology which is being adopted by organisation (Loon, Otaye‐Ebede and Stewart,
2020). In order to cope up with competitive forces Marks and Spencer is required to implement
change and continuous basis. For this company is required to enhance skills and capabilities
among employees in order to implement changes in effective manner. Thus, with the help of
organisational learning Marks and Spencer can accomplish this objective.
Difference between Individual learning and organisational learning
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Individual learning Organisational learning
Individual learning allows employees to
identify their skills and abilities and further
perform the task with more effectiveness.
Individual learning aim towards enhancing
overall performance of employees by making
them aware about their actual weaknesses as
well as strength.
Organisational learning allows the company to
become more innovative and implement new
technology in an easy and effective manner. In
this employees get to know about the new
changes that company adopted or are planning
to adopt. With the help of this employees can
align their performance with the objective of
organisation.
Difference between Training and development
Training Development
Training is mainly provided by an
organisation to employees for a particular
time period. Maim aim behind this is to
enhance existing performance level of
employees and enhance their knowledge and
skills to perform task with more effectiveness
(Thomas, 2020).
In this organisation mainly aim towards
improving overall capability and competencies
of employees. With the help of development
organisation develop overall performance
skills and knowledge of employees. It is a long
term process that company provides for
regular interval of time.
In context with Marks and Spencer it has been evaluated that organisation take advantage
of training sessions in order to maximize performance of improve and enhance overall sales and
profitability of company. With the help of training courses employees make them self adaptive
towards changes. This allows Marks and Spencer to ensue more competitive growth in
sustainability in respective industrial segment.
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P4 Analyse the need for continuous learning and professional development
Continuous learning is a process through which an individual can effectively identify
their skills and knowledge that are required by them to perform their roles in more effective
manner. With the help of this person can make significant improvement in their skills and
competencies and can assure growth and development opportunity. With the help of continuous
learning Marks and Spencer can assure higher profitability and productivity in respective
industrial segment. Continuous learning also allows company to maximise skills and efficiency
among employees through which they can perform their responsibilities with more effectiveness.
In this HR professional play important rule as in this they require encouraging individuals to
engage in the process of continuous learning in order to maximize their productivity at great
extent. It has been identified that continuous learning arise when individual face issues in context
of high risk, reduction in productivity and increasing competition in market segment. Along with
this change in terms of technology also arises the need of continuous development.
Reduce in productivity:
Employee’s productivity can decrease due to insufficient knowledge, lack of motivation
and skills to perform their job. However these inefficiencies can be further improved by an
individual or employee with the help of continuous learning. In it is essential for Marks and
Spencer to provide continuous learning culture in order to motivate employees to perform their
job roles with more effectiveness (Schweitzer and Drews, 2020). It has been identified that
Marks and Spencer perform their job role as a leading organisation thus, in order to ensure
continuous close it is essential for company to make employees engaged in continuous learning
process by providing them with regular training sessions. This will allow company to provide
proper guidance and direction to employees through which overall productivity and brand image
of organisation can be enhanced.
Advantages of learning process mentioned below:
Abilities lead an employee to become confident:
With the help of continuous learning individual can perform their job roles with self
confidence through which overall productivity of organisation can be enhanced. Continuous
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learning process enhance skills and capabilities of employees that enhance their confidence to
accomplish organisational objectives in an effective manner.
Growth of an individual and organisation:
Continuous learning process not only provides significant advantage to employees but also
enhance growth of the organisation in an effective manner. In addition to this, by providing
continuous learning opportunity Marks and Spencer can strengthen relation with employees that
further allows in accomplishing organisational objectives with more effectiveness.
LO3
P5 High performance working to employee engagement.
High performance working is defined as a process that makes significant improvement
within organisational workplace environment. With the help of high-performance working
organisation can effectively enhance performance of employees and can accomplish objectives
and goals with more effectiveness. With the help of collaborating Work Force Company assure
more competitiveness in market segment. It is essential for Marks and Spencer to have high
performance commitment and culture in order to increase employees towards high performance.
It has been evaluated that company is planning to enter in a new market segment thus in order to
accomplish this process company require more efficient and capable employees through which
they can satisfy the needs and demands of customers (Mertens and Recker, 2020). To accomplish
this objective high-performance working will allow managers with and company to develop
collaboration with top management and employees in order to acquire more growth
opportunities.
Transparent Communication:
It is one of the most important forms of contribution of High performance working. In
this Marks and Spencer is required to have transparency with employees. In this company is
required to provide essential information employees and motivate them towards the objective.
With the help of having transparent communication organisation can accomplish their objectives
with more effectiveness.
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Shared responsibility for results:
To accomplish organisational objectives with higher efficiency company is required to
share responsibilities and results with employees with more effectiveness. Along with this Marks
and Spencer is also required to provide reward and appreciate employees for more hard work.
This will not only enhance motivation of employees but also maximizes their loyalty and
contribution towards company goals.
High productivity:
High performance working significantly enhances organisational productivity along with
this it also increases overall productivity level of employees and maximizes their job satisfaction.
It also facilitates entity to assure higher profitability in respective industrial sector.
High profitability:
With the help of high performance working culture Marks and Spencer can enhance
overall performance and productivity of employees through which organisation can
automatically assure higher sales and growth. By collaborating employees in decision making
process organisation can enhance their loyalty and trust towards company through which they
performance can be aligned with company objectives. This will allow Marks and Spencer to
ensure more growth and development.
L04
P6 Different approaches to performance management
In order to explore more competitive growth and opportunities in a market segment it is
essential for an organisation to manage performance of employees on continuous manner. With
the help of his company can enhance skills knowledge and abilities with employees on regular
basis through which they can perform their roles with more effectiveness by overcoming the
challenges in business environment. With the help of performance management Marks and
Spencer can not only enhance performance of employees but can also retain them for longer
period of time. It will also a company to ensure mire competitiveness in market. There are some
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certain form of approaches being defined below that allow Marks and Spencer to manage
employees performance in effective manner.
Different Approaches of Measuring Performance:
Comparative approach:
This approach will allow Marks and Spencer to rank employees according to their
performance by making comparison and an intensity of employee’s performance. With the help
of this company can enhance overall performance of workers in an effective manner. To utilise
this approach can take advantage of forced distribution, graphic rating and more
Attribute approach:
Attitude approach allows Marks and Spencer to emphasize upon different approaches like
innovation, team working and problem solving. This will allow company to take use of mixed
rating scale in order to enhance existing level of employee’s performance.
Behavioural approach:
In this Marks and Spencer by taking advantage of of BARS (Behavioural anchored rating
scale) or BOS (Behavioural observation scale) can measure various dimension of performance of
employees (Groeger and Schweitzer, 2020). With the help of this company can motivate
employees towards high performance objectives and can assure more growth.
Result approach:
Within this company is required to provide different training and development courses to
employees according to the need of skills and knowledge. In this company can take advantage of
ProMES (Productivity measurement and evaluation system) and Balanced scorecard technique in
order to enhance productivity.
Quality approach:
In this approach company mainly imprecise upon satisfaction level of customers for
which they aim towards removing unnecessary errors to enhance their business results for this
Marks and Spencer is required to determine demands of customers and then provide training to
employees accordingly in order to serve customers needs accordingly.
Collaborative approach:
It is mainly mixture of all the above given approaches. With the help of this Marks and
Spencer can select strategy according to the current needs and can further enhanced performance
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of employers to accomplish company objectives with more effectiveness. Furthermore it has
been identified that performance management system also involves certain aspects that are:
 Develop systematic recruitment plan with clear job descriptions.
 Have proper knowledge of different guidelines and employee’s rights in order to align
their performance with organisational objectives.
 Regularly monitor performance of employees on individual basis.
 Provide necessary training and development to employees in order to fill their skill gap
CONCLUSION
According to the above mentioned report it has been concluded that, employees are most
important aspects for a company as they contribute their skills knowledge in accomplishing
organisational objectives with more effectiveness. It is essential for an HR professional to have
different type of skills and knowledge in order to provide training and development opportunities
to individuals within an organisation in order to company to accomplish organisational
objectives while assuring high growth and success in market segment. Along with this, it with
the assistance of high working performance respective organisation can not only assure more
competitive advancements with an industry but can also enhance knowledge and skill and talent
employees. It will automatically enhance loyalty among employees towards organisation. This
report analysis states that developing individual learning allows an organisation to assure
profitability, long-term sustainability within industrial segment and it also allow company to
retain talent for longer period of time.
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