LO1: Analyze Employee Knowledge, Skills, and Behaviors Required by HR Professionals
Human resource management (HRM) is a catch-all word for all the administrative processes designed to assist companies in regulating their staff members and other stakeholders. HR management is responsible for three primary functions: personnel recruiting and remuneration, and work assignments (Saeed et al., 2019). HR professionals require a variety of abilities to fulfill their duties successfully. These include excellent interpersonal and interaction skills, solid consulting abilities, cooperation abilities, team bonding abilities, a positive personality, competence, corporate consciousness, labor legislation awareness, judgment call, and tactical thinking (Kianto et al., 2017). Ultimately, human resource professionals must be empathic and possess effective communication, team cohesion, instruction, advancement, and decision-making abilities.
P1: Required Attributes of Costco Wholesale Assistant Manager HR
Costco Wholesale’s corporate framework’s objectives and tactics are the foundation for human resource administration considerations. According to Rao (2017), Costco Wholesale Corporation focuses on developing the next generation of talent through numerous programs such as ‘put people first.’ When internet commerce accelerates its growth, Costco’s ability to expand its commercial activities is a testament to its creative HR strategies. Costco Wholesale uses the SHRM competency model that requires human resource experts and employees to adhere to (Vu, 2017). Table 1 below illustrates the SHRM competence framework that Costco Wholesale Corporation necessitates for its HR managers.
Table 1: Required HR Skills and Competence at Costco Wholesale Corporation
As noted previously in Table 1, Costco Wholesale’s HR professionals are highly competent and require significant experience in personnel and relationship building. According to Vu (2017), Costco Wholesale wants its HR specialists to possess sufficient knowledge about HR management techniques and to be able to provide recommendations to appropriate internal persons. Additionally, Costco Wholesale requires its HR professionals to demonstrate the necessary knowledge of HR management techniques and to be able to guide internal key stakeholders.
P2: Personal Skills Audit and Professional Development Plan for Assistant Manager HR in Costco Wholesale Corporation
An individual competency audit enables an individual to assess their skills and expertise. Additionally, it assists in determining which skills must be developed to perform a particular role. Personal SWOT (Abilities, Vulnerabilities, Possibilities, and Risks) evaluation is a valuable tool for identifying the advantages and disadvantages of pursuing a specific goal (Pluchevckaya et al., 2017). Below is the SWOT evaluation and skills oversight for the Assistant Manager Human Resources position at Costco Wholesale Corporation.
A Personal SWOT Analysis
Strengths
- Communicating skills
- Quick Learner
- Efficient and detail-oriented
- Good work in a Team
Weaknesses
- Lack of Confidence
- Problem-solving, avoiding Conflicts and personal confrontations
- Lack of Experience
- Leadership skills
Opportunities
- Career Growth Opportunities
- Training and Development
- Apprenticeship and Internships Programmes
- Hard Skills (Diplomas and Qualifications)
Threats
- Great Competition
- Quick Changes in the industry
- Technological surge
My strengths include excellent communication skills, being a quick learner, being an organized and detail-oriented individual, and working in a team. I have certain flaws, like a lack of self-confidence and an inability to resolve issues, prevent conflict, and avoid personal confrontation. Additionally, I lack the prior expertise in human resources that many successful firms require of HR practitioners. There are numerous human resource career options accessible in the market. Many organizations offer apprenticeships and other skill-enhancement opportunities that eventually lead to employment with the same or another firm. Threats exist as a result of the technological environment’s rapid changes.
Table 2: Professional Skills Audit
As noted in Table 2, my interaction and presentation abilities are excellent, which is a necessary qualification for the HR function. Additionally, I am imaginative and creative, which is critical for human resource specialists. My computer and leadership abilities are inadequate, and I also lack proficiency in legal documents.
M2: Evidence for Personal Reflection and Evaluation
After obtaining the requisite skills, the next stage is to critically reflect on them by considering what occurred and identifying shortcomings and places for advancement. The personal SWOT assessment identified my threats and vulnerabilities. The individual skills review and ratings on a score of 1-5 for the abilities necessary to acquire the position of assistant manager HR at Costco Wholesale Corporation clarified particular areas for growth. Gibbsâ reflective paradigm aids in formulating and analyzing thoughts regarding past experiences.
The description enumerates what occurred, accompanied by the individual’s feelings and thoughts about the circumstance, an assessment of the positive and negative experiences, an interpretation of the encounter, and a summation of other possibilities. Eventually, an implementation plan characterizes what will eventuate if the same scenario happens afterward. I will be able to accomplish my goal by integrating Gibbs’ reflective model into my reflections described previously and by completing a self-assessment analysis, a personal skills inspection, and a comprehensive professional growth plan at Costco.
Table 3: Personal Development Plan
LO2: Analysis of Factors to be considered while Implementing and Evaluating Inclusive Learning and Development to Drive Sustainable Business Performance
This study discusses the function of institutional and personal learning and investigation how instructional development concepts are used. It defines the successful use of growth and teaching to enable team members to engage in high-performance work (HPW) and foster a high-efficiency work culture. Additionally, a detailed review of alternative solutions to HPW has been described and their function in enhancing job satisfaction, dedication, and competitiveness for Costco Wholesale Corporation. Costco is an American retailer of superstores and commercial clubs, selling large amounts of items at substantial discounts to consumers who pay an annual subscription. It is one of the world’s largest merchants. The usefulness of growth and teaching in the use of continuous professional development (CPD) at Costco is discussed in this paper. Additionally, the significance of high-performance working conditions in fostering a high-performance working atmosphere at Costco Wholesale Corporation is evaluated.
P3: Analyzing the differences between Organizational and Individual Learning, Training, and Development at Costco Wholesale
Learning relates to developing new knowledge, expertise, or principles or altering existing ones. Thus, this is a lengthy procedure because learning occurs through expertise. Organizations and individuals must improve their effectiveness to achieve set objectives (Hawkins, 2021). Instruction is categorized into two sections: First, personal learning, which refers to a Costco employee’s responses to environmental conditions and other sources. They must identify their employees’ strengths and weaknesses to organize instructional approaches that meet their needs. Second, institutional learning means transmitting, distributing, and preserving knowledge inside an enterprise. Therefore, this is an excellent method of presenting the practices and techniques that Costco Wholesale can employ to attain its objectives (Macdonald et al., 2018). Costco Wholesale’s human resources officers utilize this educational approach to adopt new and original types of learning that contribute to the company’s performance.
Table 4: Differences between Individual and Organizational Learning.
Training and development is the primary function of human resource management; it is the process by which institutional arrangements are coordinated to enhance the effectiveness of groups and people within an enterprise (Lee et al., 2019). Furthermore, it is an instructional method that entails acquiring knowledge, mastering concepts, honing abilities, and altering one’s mentality to improve a personal performance. Training and development are critical components of Costco Wholesale Corporation’s overall development.
Table 5: Differences between Training and Development for Individuals and Organizations.
P4: Need for Continuous Learning and Professional Development
Continuous learning describes the capacity to continuously improve and enhance one’s understanding and abilities to work efficiently and adapt to new environments. This capability assists Costco in keeping its personnel informed about contemporary techniques and processes used in company processes to improve job productivity. On the other hand, professional development promotes individuals’ competencies through on-the-job instruction and educational initiatives, workshops held outside the firm, and observation of others executing their jobs (MourĂŁo, 2018). Career enhancement programs assist employees in encouraging and enhancing their morale. Work growth and constant learning are essential to the achievement of Costco Wholesale for the corporation and its workers.
Costco Wholesale benefits from its ongoing professional growth to maximize retention rates. Costco places a premium on professional training programs to provide consistent learning opportunities for their staff, enhancing efficiency and motivating employees to stay in their professions (North and Kumta, 2018). Costco Wholesale considers its personnel in its decision-making approach, encouraging them to stay with the company long-term. Technology is the primary component that impacts an organization’s activities and results in change. Costco incorporates cutting-edge technology into its items to entice customers and provides ongoing training to its personnel to boost productivity.
Costco provides ongoing training to its employees to keep them informed about newer technologies utilized in the manufacturing process. Additionally, continual instruction and career growth promote problem resolution by developing individuals’ talents and capabilities to deal with challenging circumstances in the most efficient manner possible (MourĂŁo, 2018). Costco establishes a positive interaction with its staff to successfully mitigate problems or resolve them. Thus, this is accomplished by communicating with employees to ascertain the cause of the difficulties and soliciting recommendations. Finally, lifelong learning and continuing education are critical activities for improving workers’ and employers’ productivity and effectiveness. By instituting educational programs in the workplace, Costco aims to increase the abilities of their employees to improve their competence, as highly skilled staff are more motivated and add to a company’s success.
M2: Application of Learning Cycle Theories and Continuous Professional Development
Kolb’s complete theory is predicated on this concept of knowledge being converted into understanding. With each new skill, the person gains the opportunity to blend fresh discoveries with their modern understanding with each new encounter. In an ideal world, individuals should have the chance to advance through each degree. Kolb’s philosophy is founded on memories, as he considered them a means by which something must be transitioned. Memorizing or recalling taught concepts does not constitute understanding, as no value is added to the learner. The study applies Kolb’s approach to Costco Wholesale administration and is discussed in four sections. Kolb’s education cycle begins with a contextual approach, which might be either new or reinterpreted. Each individual participates in a task during a concrete approach.
Kolb felt that interaction is essential to learning and that it is insufficient for individuals to read about it or observe it in action simply. Costco must actively involve its employees in assignments to learn new expertise. Following the contextual approach, the employee takes a step back to think about the task. This step of the learning cycle allows the laborers to ask questions and take their experiences with others. Interaction is critical at this stage because it enables the consumer to detect gaps between their concept and the real-life experience. Costco’s human resources department’s strong vocabulary will enable a thorough assessment of the unfolding incidents. The following stage of the instruction cycle is to construct the meaning of these occurrences. The participant sought to draw implications from the encounter by meditating on existing knowledge, using recognized concepts, or conversing with others about plausible possibilities.
When people begin to categorize situations and develop inferences about the events, they transition from reflective observation to abstract conceptualization. This process entails analyzing the event and drawing analogies to their present grasp of the concept. Thoughts do not have to be novel: Costco’s employees can analyze additional knowledge and revise their judgments based on previously held beliefs. The final phase of the process is testing, during which an individual comes to an activity to extend their results to new encounters. They can create forecasts, evaluate assignments, and prepare for the future use of learned knowledge. By allowing students to apply their understanding and demonstrate how it applies to their daily lives, you can ensure that the material is kept in the future.
LO3: Understanding High-Performance Working (HPW) and its Contribution to Employee Engagement and Competitive Advantage at Costco Wholesale Corporation
HPW or high-performance labor practices (HPWP) are often alluded to as practices with a strong organizational engagement. These are all aspects of the firm’s HR initiatives to improve workforce effectiveness. Numerous studies demonstrate a correlation between labor outcomes and company profitability (Ogbonnaya et al., 2017). On the other hand, worker engagement can be defined as a state in which personnel expresses themselves physiologically, emotionally, and cognitively (Ogbonnaya et al., 2017). Costco Wholesale promotes a happy and healthy work environment for its employees. The organization provides well-structured initiatives for competence growth. Costco prioritizes its workers’ emotional and physical well-being, apart from education and growth. Additionally, the corporation is involved in human rights, social, and ecological welfare operations. To provide work prospects for disadvantaged or unemployed youth, the firm offers numerous internship and apprenticeship programs.
P5: How HPW Contributes to Employee Engagement and Competitive Advantage at Costco Wholesale Corporation
HPW refers to an institution’s culture with confidence, openness, and an open flow of information for all. It concentrates on transforming the firm’s conventional hierarchical company architecture into a flatter framework that enables staff to interact with their perspectives and concerns, as the staff is viewed as the corporate’s most significant asset. Costco Wholesale places a higher premium on performance and creativity to maintain competitiveness in the industry (Mkansi and Nsakanda, 2021). Thus, the organization operates its group members following North American procedures, as they evaluate personnel based on five essential components. The elements include dialogue and discussion, a collaborative effort to the organization’s purpose and exceptional objectives, open discussions, transparency for results, effective discussions, and mutual respect and togetherness. Apart from this, Costco must adhere to the HPW practices outlined herein.
First, Costco makes a greater effort to recruit staff through selective recruitment since they follow a lengthy process for picking the best prospects from a large pool of applications. It thinks candidates should be recruited based on their academic credentials and interpersonal abilities. Costco must hire individuals with the capacity and talents to accomplish tasks more efficiently and promote the company’s effectiveness. Second, as part of their common dedication to the firm’s vision, Costco involves its staff in the decision-making procedure and defines the entity’s aims to determine every component contributing to the business’s future (Ogbonnaya et al., 2017). Additionally, it assists in inspiring and supporting people, which fosters trust and fosters a culture of collaboration. Finally, Costco establishes a dispute settlement team or group to resolve difficulties affecting the corporation and its personnel. This department listens for difficulties and challenges encountered by the workers throughout activities and works to resolve them. They share the results with their personnel, which aids in resolving problems or misunderstandings among the staff.
M3: Benefits of Applying HPW at Costco Wholesale Corporation
Numerous advantages of HPW practices assist Costco in growing its external customer base. High-performance work techniques result in increased job satisfaction, reduced staff turnover, and increased innovation and creativity in the firm. According to Nadeem et al. (2019), HPWP improves personnel competencies and enthusiasm for working. Thus, this results in the institution’s sustainability and long-term growth. Costco views its workforce as immensely valuable and the foundation for the company’s success. The HR function is referred to as the people team, and it is constantly focused on fostering a positive workplace environment in which individuals may work independently. Costco offers convenience to all employees to maintain a healthy balance between their personal and working relationships. Costco benefits from high-performance working by ensuring the flawless performance and effectiveness of its commercial tasks and procedures.
Additionally, the corporation’s personnel have a positive attitude toward their job and labor in an energetic, concerned, and self-directed manner. The organization has noticed an improvement in the inventiveness of its professionals toward their work and the facilitation of superior and more unique ideas that contribute to the business’s success. After implementing high-performance work, a closer connection to the company’s internal and external environments was noted. Costco’s application of high-performance functioning has resulted in the company gaining the attention of additional consumers in the marketplace. Therefore, HPWP increases the advancement of knowledge and information among the firm’s workforce.
LO4: Evaluating How Performance Management, Collaborative Working, and Effective Communication Support High-Performance Culture and Commitment
Performance measurement comprises the following key activities: performance evaluation, assessments, comments, assessment of instruction, and identification of growth needs. To be competitive in today’s quickly transforming workplace, management must consider commercial achievement and social traditions. A high-performance culture and dedication are built on the foundation of a compelling corporate mission and beliefs that govern company processes and behaviors (DeNisi and Murphy, 2017). Administrators must establish and encourage company culture to achieve tactical goals, as civilization substantially impacts staff performance. Effectiveness administration is a continuous process, as illustrated in the figure.
The performance management cycle begins with establishing a purpose, proceeding by formulating a program to accomplish that target, performance evaluation execution, and interaction. Ultimately, Costco’s personnel are compensated for their efforts as Costco Wholesale provides a variety of education measures to help individuals improve their presentation skills. These strategies are time-limited, and their progress is monitored and disseminated to staff. Individuals are also compensated based on their performance. The firm’s diversified team-oriented corporate culture fosters individual and organizational innovation, inventiveness, autonomy, and management skills. The corporation collaborates with numerous organizations and provides numerous professional development initiatives and employment possibilities for young adults.
P6: Different Approaches to Performance Management and High-Performance Culture and Commitment
The management of a project can be accomplished in a variety of ways. Collaboration is when two or more individuals in an institution work together to accomplish a common goal (Lock and Heere, 2017). Collaboration enables the evaluation of a marketing strategy developed in the trade and commerce environment. Every company’s first issue is managing the project within the macro and micro environment. Coordination occurs when two or more organization personnel work collaboratively toward a shared and unified goal. Costco has recently adopted a collaborative business model with many advantages for an enterprise.
The following are justifications for and explanations of the collaborative terminology functioning: Self-analysis can be practiced in business contexts through teamwork. Company employees are capable of evaluating the firm’s productivity and processes. Staff members must have some previous understanding of the corporation’s market’s advantages and shortcomings. A collaborative approach can boost an organization’s people’s ability for problem resolution. Once they handle the benefits and drawbacks of the entity’s employees, they can fix difficulties that are harming the business’s competitiveness and profitability.
Costco employs the cooperative working method to improve the seamless operation of the commercial entity processes. Furthermore, the organization works and engages with other industry operators to strengthen the firm’s activities. Costco Wholesale Corporation places a premium on people’s cognitive and psychosocial well-being. The organization is committed to creating a pleasant, safe, and equitable workplace atmosphere. It enables individuals to develop skills and expertise and maintain a suitable work-life. Individuals are compensated fairly and properly compensated. The organization has a high-performance culture dedicated to delivering its employees with a positive and productive work climate.
M4: Critical Evaluation of the Different Approaches and How Effective they Support High-Performance Culture and Commitment
Performance management is an ongoing method of interaction between managers and subordinates to assess the quality and improve the competence to perform activities more effectively and efficiently. Additionally, it assists in determining progress, creating targets, and offering ongoing feedback to ensure that people achieve their professional goals and objectives (Diamantidis and Chatzoglou, 2018). The following are some techniques that Costco can use to assess its workforce’s performance. First, Costco employs a similar approach, in which it evaluates workers’ effectiveness and employment conditions by conducting employees completing identical tasks. Costco ranks its staff based on their performance on a specific assignment. For instance, Costco engages with Elavon Ltd to improve its operational and human management capabilities.
Second, Costco employs an attribute-based method that evaluates job performance based on certain characteristics such as analytical analysis, collaboration, connection, decisiveness, and innovation. The company applies these criteria and ranks the team on a graphic rating scale based on their score range. Thirdly, Costco employs a result-based strategy in which they evaluate their employees’ performance based on their ability to execute results. These consequences are classified into two categories: performance metrics and balanced scorecards. Costco may determine the task’s accomplishment depending on the number of output or the degree of execution.
Finally, the organization employs a quality approach to emphasize growing customer happiness by eliminating faults and improving service. Costco’s HR managers use this strategy to solicit input on their employee’s personal and work characteristics from their boss, consumers, and peers to correct productivity faults. Costco Wholesale can use these ways to review and improve their workforce’s effectiveness, which benefits staff morale and motivates them to function better. Additionally, these methodologies assist employees in evaluating their strengths and limitations and can aid in skill development.
Summary
The paper addressed how critical it is for businesses to invest in ongoing training and development activities so that people may grow in the dynamic business context. The aforementioned project determined that the HR department must perform several responsibilities to accomplish the corporate goals, and to do so efficiently, specific skills and expertise are necessary. The primary responsibility of the HR director is to establish a qualified and knowledgeable staff and give them the necessary training and growth opportunities to increase their performance, which will ultimately increase Costco’s effectiveness. Finally, the study discussed various performance management methodologies that enable HR managers to assess their personnel’s productivity and take appropriate action to resolve performance difficulties that prevent the organization from meeting its objectives.
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