HR Report: Whirlpool's HR Practices for Development and Engagement

This report examines the crucial role of human resources (HR) in organizational development, specifically within the context of Whirlpool, a multinational electronics company. The report explores the essential knowledge, skills, and behaviors required by HR professionals to effectively manage and develop employees, ensuring the attainment of business objectives. It delves into the importance of continuous learning and professional development, as well as the impact of high-performance work systems (HPW) on employee engagement and competitive advantage. Furthermore, the report evaluates different approaches to performance management, providing a comprehensive overview of HR practices designed to foster individual, team, and organizational growth. The report includes a personal skills audit and development plan to identify strengths and weaknesses. The report discusses various HR topics, including professional knowledge, skills, and behaviors, personal skill audits, organizational and individual learning, continuous learning, HPW, and performance management approaches, all within the context of Whirlpool's operations.

Developing Individuals, Teams
and Organisations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Professional knowledge, skills and behaviour that are required by HR professionals.....1
P2 Analyse a completed personal skills audit to develop professional development plan....3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
P3 Difference between organisation and individual learning, training and development......6
P4 Need for continuous learning and professional development to drive sustainable business. 7
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
P5 HPW contribution to employee engagement and competitive advantage.........................9
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................10
P6 Evaluate different approaches for performance management.........................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Development is important part for an individual to work in a team in an organisation. HR
professional require to have skilled and competent people in firm for execution of activities
effectively and attainment of business goals and objectives. For this, they need to have skills and
capability to manage manpower (Amabile, 2012). Present report is based on Whirlpool which is
a multinational electronic company that provide different home appliances to people. This
assignment specifies knowledge, skills and behaviour that are required by HR professional.
Learning and development, continuous learning and professional development are tactics which
are assessed by HR for business sustainability. Besides this, HPW system contribution in
employee engagement and competitive advantage is stated. Furthermore, various performance
management approaches which are used by HR are also mentioned in report.
TASK 1
P1 Professional knowledge, skills and behaviour that are required by HR professionals
HR profession's responsibility is to have sufficient manpower in organisation for
accomplishment of business goals and objectives. It is necessary that they have ability to recruit
and train employees for conduction of work effectively (Berry, 2011). HR of Whirlpool needed
skilled and competent subordinates which help them to deliver quality electronic appliances to
buyers. Training and development programmes are organised through which staff and their
capabilities are enhanced for growth of company. Henceforth, competitive advantage of firm is
established in respect to rival enterprise.
Professional knowledge: HR professional require to have knowledge in respect to
different facts, theoretical and practical tactics (Knowledge and skills required by HR
professional, 2016). They gain information by working in organisation and increasing experience
which aid them to make appropriate judgements for firm. Henceforth, these are knowledge
concepts which HR of Whirlpool require are described below: Personnel and Human resources: HR professional require to have knowledge about
rules and process of recruitment, selection, labour relations, compensation and other HR
practices. This help HR of Whirlpool to execute activities systematically and provide
appropriate facilities to make staff members work in team. They have talented manpower
which conduct tasks in proficient manner.
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 Management and administration: HR professional even need to have knowledge about
principles of business and management. This help HR of Whirlpool in making strategic
plan, allocate resources, modelling human resource, conducting production effectively by
coordinating people and other resources.
 Government law: HR professional require knowledge about legal codes, court process,
rules and regulations for making organisation function legally. Whirlpool has branches
globally so HR need to have knowledge about different laws of government. This help
them to frame policies and carry out business activities properly.
Professional skills: HR professional need to possess skill to manage staff members and
make them work in collaboration for achieving targets (Ford, 2014). Thus, these are different
skills that aid HR of Whirlpool to maintain workforce and their operations are described below: Communication: HR professional work as connector between superiors and staff
members. It is necessary that they have good verbal and written skills through which
information is clearly transferred to people. In Whirlpool, HR have efficient interaction
capability which help them to conduct meeting, interview and training sessions
effectively. This aid them to provide information to staff members about business
objectives and targets. Besides this, HR also enhance capabilities of employees to make
them function in efficient manner. Multi-tasking: Human resource is a field which have different responsibilities in respect
to management of people. HR professional conduct activities which are staffing,
compensation, training and other for having sufficient manpower in Whirlpool. It is
necessary that they remain calm and posses capability to work in pressure.
 Conflict management: HR professional require to have skill to overcome issues and
problems of members. For this, they need to have capability to maintain friendly
connection with people to timely acknowledge their conflicts. HR of Whirlpool posses
negotiation skills and should be patient which aid them to solve difficulties of
subordinates (Gibbs, 2013). They should have maturity through which they are able to
handle complex situations and overcome workplace problems.
Professional behaviour: HR professional require to posses behaviour i.e. attitude through
which interaction with team members are conducted properly. It is essential that relations with
2

stakeholders are maintained for benefit of company. Thus, these are behaviour aspects which HR
of Whirlpool needed for organisation functionality stated as below: Ethical behaviour: HR profession frame code of ethics which require to be followed by
managers and employees. It is essential that they provide healthy and positive working
environment to staff members for making them function effectively. This help HR of
Whirlpool to retain subordinates for longer time. Besides this, transparency tactic aid in
having employees dedicated and committed to complete tasks and targets within specified
time frame.
 Accountable: Human resource is given duty by top personnel to manage people for
attainment of business objectives. Their responsibility is to have skilled and talented
workforce which conduct tasks effectively. For this, performance assessment is
undertaken by HR professional of Whirlpool. This can help them to have information
about capabilities of staff members so that training and development sessions are
conducted accordingly. Thus, HR is able to give knowledge to higher authorities about
outcomes and business functionality.
P2 Analyse a completed personal skills audit to develop professional development plan
Personal skills audit is technique which is used by HR professional to have information
about their skills, knowledge and behaviour (Goetsch and Davis, 2014). Whirlpool is
multinational firm which require to sustain its goodwill and image in market. I have used
personal skill audit tool to ascertain my strengths and weaknesses so that my strengths can be
used for future opportunities while my weaknesses are improved by learning and development.
Apart from this, personal skills audit is being developed by me through looking at my
own skills while working an an HR professionals and this is mentioned beneath:
Skill Very Good Good Adequate Little or no
experience
Information
Technology
Use Microsoft
office word
✔
Use Excel
Spreadsheet
✔
Use specialist HR
software
✔
3

Use a database ✔
Use the internet ✔
Use Email ✔
Use PowerPoint ✔
Skill Very Good Good Adequate Little or no
experience
Communicati
on skills
Drafting
contracts of
employment
✔
Taking notes
of disciplinary
hearing
✔
Write reports ✔
Produce
materials to
support
presentations
✔
Delivering a
training
session
✔
Resolving
disputes
✔
Interviewing ✔
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 ✔
4

than one
solution in
order to solve
a problem
Consider the
ideas of others
to help solve
problems
✔
The strengths and weaknesses that I have analysed in myself are stated below:- Strengths: I have analysed that I possess certain skills that are required for the position of
HR professional. These are good communication and time management skills which help
in maintaining relations with various stakeholders of firm along with ensuring the timely
realisation of goals. According to requirement I have strong IT skills which enables to
meet all the requirements and shows my strong knowledge.
 Weaknesses: As per my analysis, my weaknesses for the job role of HR professional are
multitasking and conflict management skills which can be enhance with learning and
development programmes. According to the skill audit, problem solving skill are not so
much good which are essential for a HR job role so I have to develop my that behavioural
skill too.
S.
No
.
Learning
target
Present
Proficien
cy
Target
Proficie
ncy
Development
Opportunities
Person
responsib
le for
Judging
Skills
Time
Scale
Start
date
End
date
1 IT skills
regarding
use of
softwares
7 10 I can enhance
my analytical
skills by
attending
mentoring and
brainstorming
sessions with my
Managers
and senior
executive
s
45 days O2/03/1
9
17/04/19
5

seniors. These
interactive
sessions will help
me in assessing
my strengths and
weaknesses.
2 Collabora
tive skills
regarding
HR issues
and some
other.
6 10 I can enhance my
collaborative
working skills by
attending
personality
development
classes like that
of Bafel's where
trainers make
people work in
groups. Main
features of these
classes are inner
personality
development,
SWOT anlaysis,
filling the gap
etc. This thereby
leads to
development of
my own skills.
Peers and
colleague
s
1 month 22/03/19 22/04/19
3 Time
managem
ent skills
7 10 I can improve my
time management
skills by
Managers
and
colleague
2
months
31/03/19 31/05/19
6

attending
various training
sessions that are
initiated by
Urban pro. Urban
pro even sends
their trainers in
other locations so
that people from
different
countries can be
trained.
s
Professional development plan: It is document which is formulated by an individual
defining career goals and various strategies through which objectives are attained (Hirst and et.
al., 2011). Thus, this is a professional development plan to develop my weaknesses:-
Skills Current
proficie
ncy
Target
proficiency
Objective Development activities Time
scale
Conflict
management
2.5 5 HR professional require
to solve issues and
problems of staff
members for retaining
them for longer time.
By engaging in group
activities and working
under seniors, I can
explore ideas to
resolve conflicts and
develop collaboration
among
team-members.
45
Days
Multi- 2 5 HR professional conduct In order to be able to 60
7

tasking different activities that is
staffing, compensation
and training for
management of people.
do multitasking, I need
to take some learning
and development
classes. It will aid me
to work in more
effective and efficient
manner and also ensure
timely completion of
goals.
Days
Information
technology
2.5 5 HR professional must be
expert in the IT field so
that software and other
managing tools can be
used perfectly.
I have to take some
training session to
improve my IT skills
regarding knowledge
about various
software's operations,
etc..
40
Communicat
ion skills
3 5 HR professional should
have very effective
communication skills
which attract the persons
before him.
I have to enhance my
oral communication
skills by attending
more speech and other
similar programmes.
50
Problem
solving skill
4 5 HR plays an important
role in problem solving
among the employees so
that the conflicts may
not arise.
I have to engaging
more situational
management
programmes for
enhancing problem
solving techniques.
60
8

TASK 2
P3 Difference between organisation and individual learning, training and development
Individual learning: People require to have capability for working in a dynamic
organisation. For this, it is essential that an individual learn and gain new knowledge and
experience to conduct tasks effectively (Levi, 2015). Learning and development are tactics
through which a person increases skills to work in organisation in a team.
Organisation learning: Firms require that adequate number of manpower present for
execution of business activities effectively. This help people to have opportunity for working in
firm to gain monetary and non-financial incentives. Whirlpool is multinational firm so HR
professional provide facility to members to increase their skills and knowledge.
Difference between individual and organisation learning
Individual learning Organisation learning
This form of learning is related with
development of skills and knowledge of an
individual.
This is process through which capabilities of
workers are enhanced by working in team.
HR professional conduct performance
assessment which help them to gain
information about capabilities of people. Thus,
training are conducted for making them
complete tasks effectively.
Human resource provide facility to staff
members to learn new thing and experience by
working in organisation. Team working helps
employees to increase ability to make growth
in firm.
This form of learning focusses on improving
skills of individuals .
Organisational learning focusses on improving
skilled workforce of entire organisation thereby
leading to achievement of goals and objectives
within a specified time frame.
In individual learning stress is completely on
growth of individuals. Many a times in this
Organisational learning is a quite vast concept
as compared to individual process. It helps in
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