Developing HR Skills: A Report on Whirlpool's Needs

This report provides an analysis of the essential skills, knowledge, and behaviors required for HR professionals, using the case study of Whirlpool. It highlights the importance of communication, problem-solving, and time management skills. The report includes a personal skills audit and a professional development plan designed to address skill gaps and enhance the HR manager's capabilities in areas like technical knowledge, management skills, and communication. It also differentiates between organizational and individual learning, emphasizing the need for continuous professional development to achieve competitive advantage and employee engagement. The report further explores various approaches to performance management within the context of Whirlpool's operational challenges and strategic goals.

Developing Individuals,
Teams and Organisations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................2
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................2
P 1 . Appropriate and professional knowledge, skills and behaviours needed by HR
professionals................................................................................................................................2
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
P 2. Completed personal skills audit to identify appropriate knowledge, skills and behaviours
and develop a professional development plan for a given job roles...........................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
P 3. Difference between organisational and individual learning, training and development......5
P 4. Necessity of continuous learning and professional development........................................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
P 5. Contribution of HPW to gain employee engagement and competitive advantage.............7
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................8
P 6. Various approaches to performance management...............................................................8
CONCLUSION ...........................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................12
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INTRODUCTION
In the competitive market, organisational successes depend on their ability to constantly
improve and expand the individual and collective capabilities of their people. This requires
cooperative workers and team members as without their cooperation nothing can be changed
(DuFour and DuFour, 2013). For this, venture needs to provide proper training so that each
individual develop itself and contribute in attaining aims & objectives of organisation. Therefore,
it is necessary to manage a skilled HR who can handle numerous issues and problems happening
in specific firm. The current report is based on 'The Whirlpool HPW Case'. Initially, appropriate
ability, behaviour needed by a HR professional is highlighted along with the methods to improve
those skills. Report will also light over individual and organisation learning for continuous
professional development of individual of Whirlpool to meet competitive edge.
TASK 1
P 1 . Appropriate and professional knowledge, skills and behaviours needed by HR professionals
Whirlpool falls under one of the most popular international manufacturer of home
appliances in America. This was founded in 1911 around 106 years ago by Louis Upton and
Emory Upton. Its headquarter is situated at Benton Charter Township, Michigan, United States.
After investigation, it has been observed that approx. ninety two thousand (i.e. 92,000) workers
were working under this venture in 2017 (Barber, 2012).
According to the given scenario, Whirlpool has faced some crisis in the year of 2011. In
order to overcome those situation, North American Regional Staff is obligated for implementing
strategical as well as organisational changes. The main reason of doing so is to reconstitute
business activities since this will assist in sustaining strong position in market again. But for this,
corporation requires to focus on human resource department as it is the task of employers to hire
suitable person for specific designation. In addition to this, HR is also responsible for handling
each and every type of issues affiliated with all employees. Thus, Whirlpool requires to recruit
best human resource manager for the same. Some of the major skills , cognition and behaviour
that ought to be present in a HR are discussed below :
 Employer should have fluent communication skills as without this he or she would not
be able to communicate with their subordinates and other members also. Additionally,
more than three languages should be known by nominee or HR professional.
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 Time management ability ought be preset in HR professional as they should know how
to manage work. Such person should have the skill of doing work on the basis of priority
either that chore is simple or complicated (Zepeda, 2012).
 They should have command on their tempers or behaviour since different kinds of
employee would work under them. Thus, politeness in voice ought to be maintained at
the time of interacting with anyone. This gives positive impression and also aid in
strengthening relationship with staff members.
 Candidate should posses high educational skills like MBA specially in sphere of Human
Resource department.
Therefore, Whirlpool HR manager should outline these skills, behaviour and knowledge
to manage the activities and handle the current imbalance within the working environment of
company.
Professional knowledge required – There is requirement of professional skills in HR
manager such as they should have knowledge about all the contract laws. So that, they can make
contract without any problem. Whereas, training and development is the work of HR manager in
the company.
Communication skills - It is the process or the act of transferring the message from one
person to another. It may be vocal, written, or visual or non verbally which will be body
language, gestures or the tone and pitch. This is an ability to communicate clearly as intended.
Problem solving skills - It comes in everybody's life when they stuck in their problems.
The problems are of many types but the solution of having problem solving skills implies an
important part. It is generally been seen in any organization but it would be wonderful to have
the ability to resolve all the problems should have creative mind, researching skills, team
working ability, emotional intelligence, risk management and have the decision making effort.
Behaviour required – HR manager should be confident while taking to other and most
follow all the ethical rules as well as regulations.
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TASK 2
P 2. Completed personal skills audit to identify appropriate knowledge, skills and behaviours and
develop a professional development plan for a given job roles
Skill audit is one of the significant part of information which need to consider worker
qualities and skills i.e. optimised through HR. This can be referred as significant piece of
information to understand their people and their abilities to perform work. Hence, skill audit can
be claimed as the process used to recognise the skills gap within a company. The outcome of
skills audit management result in training need evaluation which recognise where the
requirement of training incur within Whirlpool. The entire assessment assist in directing and
developing better process of training by emphasising and improving the weakness and strengths
of company. It assist in functioning of operations and disciplined management of activities to
govern, manage and control organisational processes.
As being the HR manager of Whirlpool company, I need to manage the qualities and
skills which is required for the efficient development of company. This rely on the skills and
knowledge of HR professional of company for which proper evaluation of strengths and
weaknesses is required. I have numerous skills and abilities as being the HR manager of such a
large organisation, Whirlpool that include role model charterer, collaborative nature, effective
listening and speaking skills etc. As an human resource manager, one need to perform numerous
job roles and other activities in regard of achieving business objectives along with resolving the
issues and improvise the basic level of enterprise.
As an HR manager, I am responsible for performing numerous roles in Whirlpool
company to manage the activities such as creating commitment, building capacity, working
together, addressing and resolving issues etc. for managing the tremulous condition of
Whirlpool. It is essential to evaluate the skills audit of HR abilities to understand their strengths
and weaknesses. Here are discussed SWOT ANALYSIS of my own skills mentioned as below:
SWOT Analysis
Strengths Weakness
 Most important skill required in HR
manager is problem-solving. It is my
strength that I can resolve any kind of
 No data documentation experience
 lack of technical knowledge which is
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issues.
 Effective management skills of internet
technologies and emails. Because while
working as an HR manager there is
requirement of fluency on such
technology so that information can be
provided and several promotional
activities can also be done.
 Proper presentation abilities and
guiding skills.
 Decisive personality and analytical
skills.
my weakness.
 Less administration and management
experience among worker.
 No training and development support.
 Less hearing and employee discipline
management abilities.
 Lack of communication skills and I am
not able to communicate with people
easy. While performing role of HR
manager in Whirlpool I have to interact
with several people and at that time I
feel nervous.
Thus, this is essential to set up proper training and development program for HR
professional of Whirlpool to improve their weaker areas and enhance qualities. Being an HR
manager, I need proper training to improve my technical skills, management skills and
communication skills to manage the condition of Whirlpool in more efficient manner. In order to
manage this, it is require to prepare proper personal professional development plan.
A professional development plan can be termed as formal means through which an
individual determine their strategies, targets and outcome of training and learning effectively. In
order to contour the skills according to demands of work profile, PDP plan is being prepared by
an individual. Here is mentioned my PDP plan to improve the weaker abilities of mine:
No
.
Learnin
g
Objectiv
e
Current
skilfulne
ss
(average
1 week
good-5
skilfulne
ss goals
Development possibilities Duration Time/
deadline
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2.5)
1 Technic
al
knowled
ge
9 10 Need to use more advanced
tactics and methods that can
assist in delivering
knowledge and improve
skills in regard of distinct
frameworks or software.
1 months 1st to 31st
January
2 Problem
Solving
Skills
8 10 Require to employ different
technologies and models to
manage the teams and
resolve emerged conflicts
within workforce to improve
performance and basic output
of company.
2 months 2nd March
to 2nd May
3 Commu
nication
skills
7 10 Need to emphasise my
interactive skills and abilities
by creating more
communication among
members and widen the
knowledge criteria.
15 days 15th to 30th
June
TASK 2
P 3. Difference between organisational and individual learning, training and development
This has been observed by reviewing the case of Whirlpool that organisational and
individual learning are completely variant terms which shows different meaning. This can be
better understand by below mentioned facts :
 Organisational learning can be simply defined as the procedure of creating, continuing
and giving knowledge ton employees within an enterprise (Van Driel and Berry, 2012).
This is planned by ventures for attaining short term goals. Hence, it can be said that
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personnels who are performing in a firm can attain knowledge by working under the
supervision of specific supervisor or mentor.
 On the other hand, individual learning is nothing but the process of acquiring education
and learning by considering individual's capability and weak factors. This offers golden
opportunities to workers in finding their weaknesses since now they doing their job under
mentorship but on the ground of their experience and current performance. It become
time consuming when employer is going to check every employee, so the better option is
guide them on the basis of their existing experiences and increasing similar. This will
save time of Whirlpool. They have also made certain corporation- al long as well as short
terms objectives and are trying to develop skills of their workers by applying same
tactics.
Organisational learning theory – This theory states that, in order to be gaining
competitive advantages in the changing environment, companies must learn to change their goals
and actions to reach those goals. Argrys and Schon identify three levels of learning in 1996
which may be present in the company. Explanation of these are as follows :-
 Single loop learning
 Double loop learning Deuterolearning
Difference between organisational learning and individual learning
Individual learning Organisational learning
These kind of approaches are related to
individual development practices in which
training session has been conducted for
enhancing skills and abilities of each person.
It is related with adequate development
procedures for creating better organisation
Manager of Whirlpool focus on transferring
skills and provide knowledge in organisation.
These kind of approaches assist in enchaining
abilities of individual so that organisation can
at attain their target objectives easily.
In Whirlpool, these kind of approaches assist in
supportive in forming team to create positive
environment within firm.
Individual learning is the capacity by which a
person able to build knowledge through
reflection and experience in the light of
Organisational learning concerned with
developing the new knowledge as well as
insights that have a potential to bring a change
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interaction done with others and the
environment.
in employee behaviour.
Difference between training and development
Basis for comparison Training Development
Meaning Training is a required aspect
that aid in enhancing skills,
knowledge and abilities by
learning so that individual can
perform effectively in
organisation.
This is a educational process
that assist in enhancing career
practices of individual in
effective manner.
Objective Main objectives of this
procedure is to enhance
performance of individual who
are working in firm.
This learning is trying to
prepare individual for facing
several challenges and
situations in the future.
Number of individual In training, there are number
of people.
In development, there are only
one person.
Term It is short process. It is long term process.
P 4. Necessity of continuous learning and professional development
CPD stands for 'Continuing Professional Development'. This is a way through which
professionals can maintain and raise their capability by improving current skills (Pan and
Franklin, 2011). Whirlpool has been using this process for upgrading or empowering their
workers since it become very simple task after applying the same. Some of the benefits of
utilising CPD and its need are described below :
 This is an effectual scheme which is provides profit to commercial activities as it helps in
developing the capabilities of individual. If ability of person get improved then he or she
can do anything with confidence. Increment in level of self – confidence will definitely
assist in attaining setted aims and within specific period of time.
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 Personnels working in Whirlpool could easily learn new things and attain their ambitions
by going through different learning processes such as technical sessions, coaching,
reflective supervision and so on. These all would help a lot in enhancing professional
capabilities. Staff members ought to know how they can achieve promotion at their work – station.
This is treated as main necessity since without that employee can not develop themselves.
Thereby, it is necessary to implement Continuing Professional Development at
Whirlpool. This will aid in motivating candidate as people will show more enthusiasm
when matter comes to their promotion.
Honey and Mumford Model: Inspired from Kolb's learning style, this model was
developed by Alan Mumford and Peter Honey who has categorised the learning concept into four
groups which are supposed to be reflective of learner's natural approach to receiving information.
The distinct learning style are associated on Kolb's work which are designed to assist each
learner focusing to be a successful one. This states that a learner comprise distinct learning
preferences which have been postulate into four classifications i.e. pragmatist, activist, reflector
and theorist. Here are elaborated the basic concept of this model: Activist: These individual often learn by acting or doing. They experience he learning and
learn from it. They are typically unbiased and open minded who like problem-solving
session, group discussion and brain-storming activities etc. Theorist: learner who consider a concept or theory behind each action comes under the
theorist. These learner are attracted toward facts and evaluation of model to engage in
process of learning. These people love reading quotation and distinct stores as well as
appreciate their information or backgrounds of information which they get (Macdonald
and Poniatowska, 2011). Pragmatist: These learners are curious to understand where they should put their practice
their learning in the real world. These are not attracted toward abstract action or concepts.
They experiment with distinct techniques, seas and theories as well as take time to
analyse their practices associating with reality.
 Reflector: These are the reflection of their surroundings who observe ad analyse the
doing of people understanding the cause behind incurring. These learner observed from
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accumulation of data and sidelines and then outline entire experience to perceive a proper
conclusion suitable according to answer.
Whirlpool through undertaking this concept and classifying their staff member as per the
model, can successfully manage their learnings and continuous professional development.
Employing the distinct learning techniques, the company can enhance their outcome in
significant manner.
Kolb individual learning theory -
 Converging – Such individuals are skilled in practical implementations of ideas. They
have ability of conceptualization as well as active experimentations.
 Diverging - Individual from these kind of learning are good in observing practices after
this they organise numerous issue in smaller bits of information into meaningful whole.
They enjoy to implementing working practices in creative things.
 Assimilating - These individuals are understanding each situation properly and creating
theoretical models which is known as their greatest strength. They enjoy to work that
provide appropriate planning and research.
 Accommodating – Such type of learners are risk takers and they believe in exploring
latest thoughts as well as ideas for better implementation.
TASK 3
P 5. Contribution of HPW to gain employee engagement and competitive advantage
HPW means High Performance Work Practices. This is nothing but a means of increasing
execution power or performance of workers. Mostly human resource department used to
implement this procedure for enhancing current conditions of organisation.
HPW is implemented in the organisation for motivating there employees by utilising
several tools and techniques. This result in enhancing performance of the enterprise and result in
generating more and more revenue.
Employee engagement – These are the working approaches that assist in determining
coordinating with employees in order to attaining organisational goals and objectives in effective
manner. For Whirlpool, these kind of activities can be beneficial in terms of getting desired
success and growth. In this, employees always try to manage several business process,
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operations, capacities for the purpose of raising abilities, aptitudes, efficiency, and achieve
particular gaols or objectives in an effective way.
Competitive advantages – In a economy, each and every organisation is working to
attain higher competitive advantages for the betterment of their success path. In this procedure,
employees engagement works effectively.
High performance working can be effective procedure that aid in managing employees
engagement in Whirlpool so that firm can attain desired advantages from competitive
environment. In this procedure, internal and external stakeholders play a most important role as-
 Internal stakeholder – These are the existing factors of Whirlpool who works to
attaining desired goals and objectives of firm. Internal stakeholder can be employees and
investor who works for higher performance activities.
 External stakeholders – High performance working activities assist in attaining
effective growth of firm as well as higher competitive advantages.
Whirlpool is implementing the same process for assuring that their work of restructuring would
complete. They have provided this obligation firstly to staff members of North America Region
i.e. NAR. An extended meeting was arranged for sorting out the issues associated with HPW
because company know without proper implementation of effective plan of action, they could
not overcome their existing competitors. Assistance of HPW can be better understand by below
mentioned points :
 Now – a – days, business world is becoming battle ground as every venture is trying to
proving itself good in the eyes of customers by offering them innovative products &
services. High Performance Work Practices helps in increasing range of performance of
personnels. If working action of staff members get improved then they could easily make
innovational commodities by applying their creative ideas (Little, 2012). Thereby, it can
be said that HPW would contribute more in achieving competitive advantages. The
workers of Whirlpool could design quality based merchandises as their technical skill
may improve a lot by attending training sessions provided by human resource managers
of venture.
 Involvement of subordinates and workers can also be achieved by implementing HPW in
Whirlpool. When mentioned company will arrange training sessions for both newly
recruited employees as well as existed personnel at workplace then, it is obvious that they
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