HR Skills, Development, and Performance at Whirlpool

This report analyzes the human resource practices at Whirlpool, a major home appliances company. It begins by outlining the essential skills, knowledge, and behaviors required by HR professionals, including communication, conflict management, and understanding of regulations, and presents a personal skills audit and development plan. The report then differentiates between individual and organizational learning, training, and development, emphasizing the need for continuous learning and professional development to drive sustainable business performance. Furthermore, it examines the contribution of high-performance working to employee engagement and competitive advantage, and concludes with a discussion of various approaches to performance management within the organization. The report highlights the interconnectedness of individual, team, and organizational effectiveness, making people development a critical component for the company.

Developing Individuals, Teams
and Organisations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Knowledge, skills and behaviours required by HR professional...........................................1
P2 Completed personal skills for professional development plan .............................................2
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
P3 Difference between organisational and individual learning, training and development........5
P4 Need for continuous learning and professional development to drive sustainable business
performance.................................................................................................................................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................8
P5 High performance working contributes to employee engagement and competitive
advantage.....................................................................................................................................8
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................9
P6 Approaches to performance management .............................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
High performing teams are very important for organisation through which individuals
also learn to enhance their knowledge, skill and behaviour. Firm need to develop both individual
as well as team for achieving goal and objective of firm. It is interconnectedness between
effectiveness of team, individual and organisation which warrant companies to consider people
development as an essential parts. Given assignment is based on Whirlpool which was
incorporated in 1911 at United states dealing in home appliances. Here will be discussion about
knowledge, skills and behaviour required by human resource professional which can be analysed
through personal skill audit for development plan (Caroline Martins and Meyer, 2012).
Organisational and individual learning, training and development along with learning cycle for
sustainable business performance. Different approaches are used for performance management
and high performing working contributes in employee engagement and competitive advantage.
TASK 1
P1 Knowledge, skills and behaviours required by HR professional
It is the responsibility of HR to recruit employees with sound mind and outstanding skills
to achieve the objectives of the organisation. However, it is required from the HR professionals
of Whirlpool to possess certain skills, knowledge and behaviour to increase the overall
productivity of the firm.
The skills required by HR professionals are as follows:
Effective Communication- This is an essential skill required in an HR Professional. They
are responsible to establish communication effectively in all levels of the organisation, from
CEO to entry-level employees. Effective communication would allow them to clearly explain the
company policies and procedures to the employees (Davids and et. al., 2013). Along with this,
the employees are effectively handled their job roles which increase their efficiency as they
know the plan of action needed to accomplish their task.
Conflict Management- Efficiency of HR professionals is denoted by their capability to
solve conflicts. Whirlpool is global name and in such a big organisation, with a huge workforce,
possibilities of conflicts are very high. These conflicts maybe between two employees or maybe
between the employer and their subordinates. These professionals have to play a crucial role in

solving these conflicts in an appropriate and respectful manner to avoid any hindering in
organisational performance.
HR professionals are needed to be knowledgeable about certain aspects which are
mentioned below:
Government Rules and Regulations- An organisation must function according to certain
norms given by the government and as per the law policies crafted for them. An HR professional
must have knowledge of these rules and regulation and must monitor the work of their
employees to ensure that all these regulations are rightfully followed.
Employee Legislations- An efficient way to increase the performance of employees is by
ensuring that there is no violation of their employment laws (Dijkstra and et. al., 2014). It is the
responsibility of HR professionals to effectively manage employee's salaries, their incentives and
compensations according to state and federal laws.
HR professionals are needed to develop certain behavioural attributes for effectively
carrying out their duties:
Ethical- It is required for the HR professionals of Whirlpool to be ethical. They should
work discretely as they handle many critical information about the company and the employees.
These informations must be communicated to the right person at the correct time and in an
appropriate manner. They are also needed to be vocal in case any employee in the company does
not operate as per their set principles.
Transparency- For an organisation like Whirlpool to avoid frictions, it is essential for
these professionals to establish transparent communication with their employees. This would
help them in building strong relations with these employees and the workforce will have
someone to rely upon in case of some personal issues. It would certainly help in increasing the
employees' commitment towards the firm.
P2 Completed personal skills for professional development plan
The skills and weaknesses of a person's professional career can be effectively determined
by a personal skill audit. It allows individuals to determine areas in which they are perform their
best and areas which require improvements (Dochy and et. al., 2012). It helps professionals to
carry out their responsibilities effectively and increase their work performance. Benefit of skill
audit are improving knowledge & skill, increased productivity and acquisition & use of
information. Similarly, disadvantages of skill audit is individual cannot work effectively and

efficiently. Completed personal skill audit to identify knowledge, skills and behaviours is
described below:
Requirements Personal
Audit
rating
(out of 10
points)
GAP Hurdles in
achieving
goals
Development
Opportunitie
s
Remedial
Action
Deadline
Effective
Communicati
on
9 I could not
communicat
e very
effectively
in front of
audience.
Lack of
training and
developmen
t activities.
Seminars,
conferences
must be
attended.
I can improve
this by
communicati
ng with
people,
public
speaking and
reading
books.
1 months
Conflict
Management
7 When
conflicts
arise in
organisation
, I could not
get instant
ideas.
Lack of
availability
of books
and proper
guidance.
Acknowledge
different
situations and
analyse them.
I have to go
through
books related
with conflict
management
and solve out
issues.
3 months
Government
Rules and
Regulations
9 I have not
read current
books
regarding
changes in
policies,
Seminar,
conference
were not
conducted
for new
rules and
Regularly
check laws
and policies
amended by
government.
I need to
updated about
new rules and
regulations.
2 months

rules and
regulations
of
government.
regulations
of
government.
Employee
Legislations
10 I was
unaware
about such
legislation.
Employee
legislations
did not
followed in
organisation
.
Visit different
websites
which
provide
information
in this aspect.
I need to
learn more
about
employee
legislations
for
betterment of
organisation.
1 months
Ethical 7 I did not
follow
ethical
values and
principles
framed by
organisation
.
Organisatio
n did not
make aware
about
ethical
values to
their
employee
and worker.
Need to
understand
working
environment
of
organisation.
I need to
follow ethical
values, moral
and principles
made for
organisation.
3 months
Transparency 9 I did not get
transparent
information
about
solving out
issues.
Lack of
clear goal
and
objective for
organisation
.
Acquire most
of the
knowledge of
organisation,
this will aid
them to
function
effectively.
All
information
related with
organisation
need to be
very clear
and
transparent
for both
2 months

employer and
employee.
From above completed personal skill audit strength and weaknesses can be identified
(Eriksson, 2013). Strengths are effective communication, government rules & regulations,
employees legislations and transparency which helps in achieving goal & objectives and
productivity. Similarly, weaknesses are conflict management and ethical which decline
productivity and low results. After analysing strengths and weaknesses of HR weaknesses can
be improved by help of professional development plan which is given below:
Objectives Resources
Required
Issues faced at
time of achieving
objectives
Succession
Criteria
Target Dates
Conflict
Management
Books related
with conflict
management,
proper guidance
I did not get
alternatives for
conflict which
arise in company.
I can solve this by
solving conflicts
arise in
organisation.
3rd December
2018 - 5th January
2019
Ethical Books, applicable
in real life
scenario.
I was unaware
about ethical
practices for firm.
I need to follow
all ethical
principles values
an moral.
3rd December
2018- 7th
February
TASK 2
P3 Difference between organisational and individual learning, training and development
Individual Learning- It refers to the capacity of an individual to gather knowledge about
external sources through personal reflection. This knowledge can be enhanced by interacting
with others. In Whirlpool, if HR professionals are familiar with a specific skill set, it means that
they have complete knowledge about that skill and is able to generalise the same in different
situations (Furnham, 2012).

Organisational Learning- This is the process of generating, retaining and conveying
knowledge within a company. The experience an organisation gains overtime improves its
performance in the market. In Whirlpool, organisational learning helps HR professionals in
developing better employee relationships, enhancing employee performance, etc. (Ghobadi,
2015).
The difference between individual learning and organisational learning is mentioned
below:
BASIS INDIVIDUAL LEARNING ORGANISATIONAL
LEARNING
SCOPE It aims at personal development of
individual employees.
It aims at overall development of
the organisation to gain a
competitive advantage and to
build stronger customer base
RIGIDITY Individual learning is a flexible process. It
allows an individual to choose their own
methods to gain knowledge.
It is a rigid process, where the
upper management decides the
materials to provide learning
which focuses on priority issues
about the business environment.
Skills Depending upon there own requirements
related with enhancement of skills they
opt for different methods of learning.
When employees are skilled and
posses knowledge of latest
technology, it creates a positive
impact on overall performance of
organisation.
Professional training must be given to individual so that they can remain up to date
within their field. In context of organisation, management must be given legal training so that
they are aware of legal changes which are amended in laws. An example can be considered in
both aspects, if individuals are not aware about what they have to do and how that can be
achieved then they will not be able to accomplish there task effectively. Similarly, if

management do not possess knowledge about current legislations then they will land into trouble.
Therefore, training is essential for both individual and organisation.
Training- Training refers to the process of enhancing personal skills required to enhance
the performance of employees in their respective tasks or for a specific project (Kinnie and
Swart, 2012). In Whirlpool, HR professionals undergo various training programs to enhance
their skills and to better manage the human resources of the company.
Development- It is an ongoing process which aims at the overall development of an
individual, team or an organisation. It maybe career development of organisational employees or
business development, continuous development is essential for the growth of an organisation. In
Whirlpool, HR professionals focus on their overall career development at ever stage of their
work life cycle. They enhance their skills, develop better relationships with subordinates,
develop effective time management skills and leadership skills, etc.
The difference between training and development is as follows:
BASIS TRAINING DEVELOPMENT
SKILL It helps the employees of the
organisation to enhance their technical
skills required for their job roles.
It helps the employees to enhance
their overall concepts and ideas
required for their whole career.
AIM It aims at enhancing skills of an
employees for a specific job role.
It focuses on the overall
development of the employees and
the organisation.
If individuals and organisations will learn together then goal and objectives scan be
achieved, productivity increases, cost decrease at Whirlpool. Similarly, in case of individual and
organisation don't learn together result will decline, productivity decreases, cost increases and
goal and objectives cannot be achieved (Landsberg, 2015).
P4 Need for continuous learning and professional development to drive sustainable business
performance
Continuous learning- It refers to learning of individuals to expand their skills and
knowledge as employees need to adapt changes in business environment and new developments

in industry. Continuous learning helps Whirlpool to reduce training cost, promotes engagements
and interest as new skills are added to them (Leask and Terrell, 2014).
Professional development- This is a process which enhance and improves capability of
employees by providing training opportunities at workplace or outside the business. It helps in
improving productivity and efficiency of employees which leads to high quality of products and
services. This provides sustainability to organisation.
Like any other organisation, Whirlpool also needs to provide professional development
and learning to its employees. As it improves ways of working in an efficient and effective
manner which helps organisation to achieve improved productivity and profitability.
This can be explained with help of kolb's experimental learning styles.
Kolb's Experimental Learning
This is four stage theory which is divided into learning cycle and styles which is
described below:
Learning Cycle- It has four stage learning cycle which includes:
Concrete Experience- It is step where learner experiences an activity such as lab session
or field work. Whirlpool also provide opportunity to their worker to learn something new and
unique which help organisation to achieve results.
Reflective Observation- In this step learner look back at their past experiences.
Employees of Whirlpool learn from their experience to improve them a lot and work as per
company standard.
Abstract Conceptualisation- It reflection gives new ideas or modification of existing
concept. Here, learner attempt for conceptualising theory and model. As manager and employee
learns form experience which assist them to in built new and creative ideas and modification of
old one.
Active Experimentation- In this stage, learner applies ideas to world and see the outcome
coming from those ideas (McGuire, 2014).
The result can be positive or negative depend upon way of applying. Whirlpool has improved a
lot after applying this theory in practical approach.
Learning Styles- It is also divided into four styles including:
Diverging- Individual look things differently in which they prefer watching than doing.
They posses imagination capacity, open minded, strong in arts, emotional.

Assimilating- Individual prefer clear information and exploring analytics models. They
are interested in abstracts and concepts than in people.
Converging- They are problem solvers and applying learning into practical issues. They
do technical task and experiments new ideas.
Accommodating- The things are done practically by individual and are attracted to new
opportunities and challenges (Miletzki and Broten, 2017).
The barriers of continuous professional development (CPD) can be related with quality,
lack of planning, information unavailability.
In many ways, CPD is beneficial for the firm and would help in attaining sustainable
business performance which are described as below:
Improve performance: Employee of Whirlpool receives training which helps them to
perform their job in better ways. As individuals become aware of practices and procedures
related to the assigned task. It increase confidence among employees which makes them more
responsible towards job. This confidence influence them to give excel performance. Continuous
learning makes them competent enough for the changing environment.
Employee satisfaction: Training and development give access to different programs
which provides and develop skills and knowledge to individuals of Whirlpool. Through this,
employees get advantages over individuals working in other companies. It provides supportive
and healthy working environment. This assist in increasing employee satisfactory through
promoting employee engagement and learnings within the organisation (Vincent, Li and
Blandford, 2014).
TASK 3
P5 High performance working contributes to employee engagement and competitive advantage
High performance working is related to providing a culture of transparency, open
communication and trust in organisation. It is a process that create system which establishes
actions and management practices that provides environment in which employees are more
involved and responsible. Whirlpool uses different ways to provide high performance working to
employees like it has open culture environment in their organisation. Where ever employee get
chance to share their ideas and views with others and they get opportunities to learn and adapt
new technology in industry by training and development (Caroline Martins and Meyer, 2012).

It contributes in employee engagement and competitive advantage, as by enhancing skills
and knowledge employees become able to perform in competitive environment and open
communication increase trust among employees and organisation that increase employee
engagement. National America Region has identified some dimensions that contributes in
employee engagement and competitive advantage, like shared commitment towards the vision
and goals of the firm, shared accountability and results, Transparent communication, mutual
respect and solidarity etc. The following are ways through which HPW contributes to employee
engagement and commitment:
Open communication- It helps Whirlpool in building trust between employees by
improving communication and creating culture of transparency. Open communication involves
employees in decision making process. Engaged employees in Whirlpool will works with full
dedication that is very important for company for growth and attainment of long term goals and
objectives. It increase productivity at workplace and profitability which helps business in
growing. This will result in high employee retention which is beneficial for organisation.
Team building- For achieving competitive advantage Whirlpool should focus on team
building as teams are source of innovation. As they work more effectively in finding innovative
solutions to difficult problems. Team generates new ides by exchanging views and knowledge
with other members and improves synergy effects of working together. It increase ability of
employees to share and transfer their knowledge, that helps in performing task in an efficient
manner. It improves quality of products which increase profitability by achieving competitive
advantage (Davids and et. al., 2013).
Employee creativity- This will help whirlpool in achieving competitive advantage by
using innovative ideas and creativity of employees for development and innovation of products.
They can invent or adapt new technology for manufacturing products which are different from
their competitors' offerings. This will provide competitive place to Whirlpool in market.
TASK 4
P6 Approaches to performance management
Performance approaches are related to the management which encourage and improve
effectivenesses of employees. It creates or provide healthy working environment where every
employee can work with full efficiency which provides satisfaction. It will enhance overall