Unit 35 Developing Individuals, Teams and Organisations

Introduction

The aim of this unit is to provide students with the opportunity to appreciate that developing knowledge and skills to achieve high performance is a cross-organisation activity. Students will recognise that their own professional development is just one route to improving the performance of those teams and organisations in which they work. They will also gain an awareness of the context in which learning takes place and how development needs are linked to learning interventions aimed at supporting an organisation’s strategy.On successful completion of this unit, students will have laid the foundations for their own continuing professional development which will support their future engagement in lifelong learning. They will also be able to contribute to the development of others and make a positive contribution to the sustainable growth of an organisation.

Learning outcomes

LO1 Analyse employee knowledge, skills and behaviours required by HR professionals

Continuing professional development (CPD):

• What does this mean?
• How do we engage in CPD?
• How and why should CPD be recorded and evaluated?

Frameworks for CPD:

• As a means to structure CPD activities and to provide opportunities for reflection and evaluation.

Reflective learning:

• Consider this as a philosophy and a concept. Using reflective learning to gain a deeper and objective insight into levels of performance in comparison to levels of expectation.

Feedback for learning:

• Using feedback as part of the learning cycle where feedback informs reflection which in turn informs action.

LO2 Analyse the factors to be considered when implementing and evaluating inclusive learning and development to drive sustainable business performance

Supporting organisational and individual learning:

• Learning should be focused on strategic and tactical goals and informed by, for example, GAP analysis or a skills evaluation.
• Consider how learning is determined and implemented.

The learning organisation:

• The use of formal and informal learning across an organisation to develop individual, team and organisational skill sets.

Training or development:

• Training as a one-off event or series of activities is different to development which has a more protracted timescale and builds on the skills and knowledge gained during training. Should organisations focus on training, development or both?

The learning cycle:

• Recognising that learning is continuous through the use of learning cycle theories developed by Kolb, Honey and Mumford and Lewin.

Barriers to learning:

• Recognising the various environmental, physical, psychological and cognitive barriers and how to overcome them.

LO3 Apply knowledge and understanding to the ways in which high-performance working (HPW) contributes to employee engagement and competitive advantage

High-performance working (HPW):

• As a concept, philosophy and approach to developing and supporting strategy development, competitive advantage and improving employee relations.

HPW organisations:

• What characterises a HPW organisation (HPWO)?
• How is this beneficial to employees and the employer?
• What barriers may exist to HPW?

High-performance HRM practice:

• How are the two related?
• Which informs which?
• What impact does the desire to achieve HPW impact of HR practices?

HPW and external stakeholders:

• How will HPW be perceived and viewed by internal and external stakeholders?

Partnerships in a HPWO:

• Consider who will be able to support HPW in an organisation?
• The use of HPW champions to act as catalysts.
• How do you sell the concept of HPW to those who will be facilitating this?

LO4 Evaluate ways in which performance management, collaborative working and effective communication can support high-performance culture and commitment

Performance management (PM):

• As a concept and a process.
• What constitutes effective PM?
• How does effective PM inform learning and development at the organisational, team and individual level?
• Differences in PM systems.

Organisational culture:

• How this can be both a facilitator or barrier to effective PM.
• The use of internal collaboration to deliver effective PM.

Transformation process:

• Use PM to transform organisations. How this is achieved would depend on factors such as scale and size of the organisation, its geographic dispersal and competing challenges. The latter could be the requirement to remain strong in the market, to make a profit or to meet customer expectations during a period of transformation.

The developmental approach to PM:

• Separating development from evaluation where the developmental approach considers stages in development and how these are achieved through the setting of criteria, the imposition of systems and an incremental approach to achieving developmental aims.

Resources

• FRIEDMAN, A. L. (2012) Continuing Professional Development: Lifelong Learning of Millions. London: Routledge.
• MEE-YAN, C-J. and HOLBECHE, L. (2015) Organizational Development: A Practitioner's Guide for OD and HR. London: Kogan Page.
• STEWART, J. and ROGERS, P. (2012) Developing People and Organisations. London: CIPD.

Journals

• European Journal of Training and Development
• International Journal of Training and Development
• Organisation Development Journal