Professional Behaviours And Valuing People Assignment Sample

Professional Behaviours And Valuing People Assignment

Introduction - Professional Behaviours And Valuing People

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An organisation needs to follow policies and practices that continue to maintain ethical values in all aspects. This allows the organisation to avoid controversial and often illegal practices and improve the working efficiency of the organisation. Such practices create trust, integrity, and solidarity among the employees as well as the customers and all other stakeholders. The following presentation aims to elaborate on the ethical and professional practices in the business environment to analyze and explain the importance of such practices.

Being Professional

In simple terms, an individual who earns their livelihood from a specific professional activity is considered a professional. On deeper consideration, the term also includes the educational and training environment that develops the said professional individual. This includes the accumulation of the required set of skills or knowledge for the said profession. Also, it is to note, a professional is dutifully bound to adhere to a certain set of codes of conduct strictly that has been prescribed according to their chosen profession. Additionally, there are also ethical duties and moral obligations that a professional must practice. These codes and obligations are now recognised and maintained by professional associations in the present times (Klopotan et al. 2020).

Since an organisation is dependent upon the people who work there, the people must be managed professionally. To do so, there is a set of requirements that must be followed and maintained in a business. A people professional who is tasked with the management of the people are required to focus on ethical practices, value the people, focus on the insights and methods for working inclusively. The proper management and development of the employees are also expected of the people professionals (Coates and Dutson, 2021).

Ethical Values

Ethical values can be considered as the guiding principles that aid a business in performing its functions while maintaining acceptable behaviour standards. Complying with the rules and regulations of the region they practice in is an essential part of such values. In a broader sense, these values differentiate right from wrong, good from bad and moral from immoral. Some of the common ethical values in practice are honesty, loyalty, integrity, teamwork, fidelity and responsibility (Rendtorff, 2019).

The personal ethical values that I practice regularly in a business environment are humility, loyalty and empathy. The following section shall brief upon the effects of these values on work and the relationship in the working environment.

Humility

Humility refers to the non-practice of egoistic and arrogant behaviour. A humble individual considers others in their thoughts while taking a decision or performing an action. In an organisation or business, a humble individual will always consider how their actions or words may affect other employees, customers or other stakeholders. Especially the individuals in leadership roles must practice humility. This can be done through recognition and acceptance of a difference in opinions and welcoming them. Being humble creates a more accepting and caring environment and improves the bonding between co-workers. Acceptance of mistakes or encouragement of opposing but better ideas are signs of humility (Norcross, 2019). Practising humility in the workplace improves working relationships and encourage better teamwork and more inclusive behaviour.

Loyalty

To be loyal means to stay committed and devoted to a person, cause or organisation. In business, it refers to working for the best interests of an organisation with dedication. Although loyalty is a desirable trait, it is one of the least understood and practised ones. Employee loyalty and customer loyalty are one of the top priorities for any organisation or business (Stojanovic et al. 2020). They are interrelated and interdependent as well. Employee loyalty depends majorly on employee satisfaction levels. A satisfied and happy employee is a loyal employee. Thus, it can be said that focussing on the improvement of employee satisfaction levels creates a loyal environment. Loyalty is crucial for improving business outputs and results (Farrukh et al. 2020).

Empathy

One of the most essential human values is that of empathy. It refers to the ability of an individual to understand and relate to the emotions, needs or experiences of others. In a workplace or perhaps in any environment, empathy is a desirable practice (Radu et al. 2019). Empathetic behaviour creates a sense of trust and inclusiveness. It effectively improves loyalty as well. Empathy can be practised through having proper, meaningful conversations and helping individuals in need. The overall morale and productivity of the business increase as well through empathy. Communication and teamwork are also improved via empathy. It can be said that empathy is an essential part of the emotional quotient and an integral part of ethical practices.

Analysis

The importance of the application of people practices is undeniable. Thus, one must contribute to discussions in the workplace to ensure that such processes are practised properly. The discussions, in this case, can be formal or informal. In formal situations, such as team meetings or group presentations, people practices can be employed in various ways (Rogers and Paul, 2018). Humility can be practised by giving all individuals an opportunity to present their views and plans. Loyalty can be introduced through regulations such as providing pay benefits, pension and healthcare benefits to the employees. Informally, empathy is practised in the workplace through listening without judgement, understanding and acknowledging the difficulties faced by an employee. In certain cases, going out of the way to provide aid to a co-worker in need is a prime example of empathy. Encouraging the modification of Human Resource practices and codes for better working conditions of the employees is another method of contributing to the cause (Egiyi, 2019).

Even with a great cause and purpose, an absence of effective communication can fail to make the required change. Numerous methods can be utilised to implement effective communication practices. The first fundamental step to effective communication is the use of logic and reasoning (Radovic Markovic and Salamzadeh, 2018). If proper logical reasons are used to point out the importance of an idea or practice, the audience, whomever it may be, listens and ponders over it. Influencing and engaging people requires a well-researched and reasonable explanation and presentation. Through teamwork and collaboration with other individuals, ideas can be dispersed better. Inspiring people through enthusiasm is also an effective communication tool. It has further been observed that building a trustful and loyal relationship at the workplace through humility and empathy leads to developing credibility. Being empathetic, humble and loyal creates an environment where people want to listen and implement the ideas of other individuals (Ömüri? et al. 2020).

Issues that conflict with legislation or ethical values at an organisation must never be ignored or avoided. The issues require to be brought to the notice of the leadership and the conflict must be resolved. The first step in this method is to gather data for a better understanding of the situation. Without information and evidence, such issues may not be given importance. Following this, the formal procedure is to present the issue in front of the leadership or department responsible for handling such situations. In case such methods bring no results, organisations and institutions or even the court of law may be notified.

Benefits of people feeling included, valued and fair treatment

For the proper working of a business, it is important that the organisation and the individuals working there feel a sense of fulfilment and fair treatment. A theory that keeps in mind the benefits of both parties is necessary for complete and proper systems. Some of the business theories in this aspect are the Expectancy Theory, the Equity Theory and the Reinforcement Theory.

The Expectancy Theory

The expectancy theory was developed by Victor Vroom and the working assumption is that individuals feel motivated through the expectation of success. The level of motivation is considered directly proportional to the expectancy level. It is understood that if the organisation is capable of understanding the requirements of the employee and provides them with that, the morale of the employees is positively affected. This is a case of empathy shown from the organisational perspective that allows for an employee morale boost and further development of loyalty (Lloyd and Mertens, 2018). A loyal employee again works for the benefit of the organisation, resulting in the improvement of the latter. Thus, a symbiotic loyal and beneficial cycle is observed between the two parties.

The Equity Theory

John Stacey Adams developed the equity theory that focused on fair treatment. It discusses the effect of fair treatment on the motivation of the workers through the concept of inputs and outputs. In the case of a work environment, fair treatment and benefits are considered as inputs from the perspective of the organisation. These inputs are theorised to generate better outputs (Meyer et al. 2019). Outputs in this situation are the results and profit generated by the employees. This theory also describes a cyclical situation of feedback loop where better standards of inputs result in improved outputs. Resultantly, the business and the employees are both gaining trust and loyalty from one another, leading towards efficient results. On the contrary, bad inputs like unfair treatments, toxic work environment, harassment and other factors directly lead to worse outputs. The employees in this situation are demotivated and lose morale. The results can be observed in the downfall of business numbers and lack of efficiency and improvement. Thus, fair treatment and equity are highly regarded as the most applicable theory in this aspect.

The Reinforcement Theory

The reinforcement theory was introduced by B.F Skinner after extensive research and experimentation. Skinner worked with animals such as rats and pigeons to understand the power of positive reinforcements. It was observed that positive reinforcements and encouragements lead to further success while the opposite was also true. Negative reinforcements and discouragements result in failure and decline results (Susanto et al. 2021). Later, the theory was observed to be true in the case of humans as well and has been applied in various fields including business. When employees are rewarded with encouragement or rewards show improvement in work motivation and boost in morale. This results in improved loyalty and trust, benefiting the results of the organisation.

Thus, in practice, it can be argued that it is essential to create a relationship between the people and the business that benefits both parties. When businesses take initiatives to make the people feel more included, heard and taken care of, it results in improved work efficiency. This leads to profitable outcomes for the business and thus boosts the morale of both (Spranger, 2018). Any of the three presented theories or similar theories can be applied for an improved and fair business environment.

People Practice Initiative

Several people who practice initiatives can be employed in an organisation for better working conditions and practices. Following internal feedback reports, a certain practice has been initiated in the organisation. The practice in the discussion here is that of holding stay interviews. Stay interviews are similar to regular interviews that are held during the recruitment procedure. The difference is that these interviews are conducted not for new potential employees but existing employees (Kai, 2021). The purpose of conducting such interviews is to engage with the employees that have been identified as potentially at risk of leaving the organisation. A long-existing complaint by the employees in all sectors has been that of organisations not complying with the initial promises. A decline in working standards or employee benefits has also been identified as a cause of the decline in employee satisfaction level. With low satisfaction, employees do not perform up to the mark and the business suffers. Also, these employees contemplate resigning from their jobs for better opportunities. This is a big issue for organisations as it has been concluded that keeping an employee is far more efficient than searching for a replacement. Thus, the viable option is to clear the issues, improve employee satisfaction and keep them in the organisation.

In this method, the employees are engaged to discuss their career plans, requirements and issues they are facing in the present situation. They are encouraged to point out any obstacles that deter them from seeing a long-term stay at the present organisation. Skip level meetings can be organised for larger departments. Regular interviews with the managers after a certain period can also be done. A humble and empathetic behaviour by the interviewer can encourage the interviewee to discuss the problems they are facing with honesty. The problems and difficulties are to be identified and then further analysed to understand if the issues presented can be mitigated or not. The impact of this initiative has been observed through the decline in the number of employees leaving and better employee satisfaction levels. Instead of leaving, employees now engage with the organisation more intimately, discussing their outlooks, views and issues. This results in the organisation revising its policies and standards to introduce more ethical aspects and practice the use of CIPD maps.

Conclusion

Through this task, the importance of people’s profession has been concluded. The requirements of a people professional as per the CIPD has been identified and discussed. Ethical values are one of the requirements and are thus explained in the following section. An understanding of ethical values through the examples of loyalty, humility and empathy has been presented. The following section discusses the possible methods of contribution for ensuring the application of people practices. It also includes effective communication strategies and methods for raising issues in case of conflict with leadership or organisational policies regarding legislation or ethical values. Utilising business theories, an argument to include benefits of both business and people benefits has been presented in the next section. The equity and reinforcement theories and their business-level applications along with results are discussed too. The people practice initiative of holding stay interviews is discussed in the final section. The reason, the purpose and the impact of the initiative in the organisation are further briefed upon to conclude the presentation.

Task Two: CPD Portfolio

Introduction

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) can be defined as an accumulation of ideas, methodologies and approaches that aids an individual to manage their growth and learning. The CPD portfolio is a tool that supports an individual to meet the requirements concerning the CPD. It helps in recording the activities that have been performed by an individual and the timing of those activities. The learning gained from CPD is also recorded in this portfolio to understand how it has made an effect on the individual practice.

The Context of Professional Development

With the change in business practices and ideals, a change in the role of the people professional has been duly noted. They are now required to be more strategic and align with the objectives of the organisation. The three major roles are undertaken by such professionals presently are marketers, designers and, supply and demand experts (Heide, 2021). These professionals are required for the marketing of the organisation and job opportunities to the best potential candidates. They are also required to assess the requirements of the organisation to design a talent plan and work model. The people professional is also required to plan a strategy to meet the talent demands of the organisation (Coates and Dutson, 2021). CPD assesses the continuous changes in the professional environment and provides a plan to keep up to date with the changes. Thus, it can be said since the role of a people professional is changing, CPD is necessary to keep track of the changes and predict the coming changes. Through extensive study, the key characteristics of a good-practice CPD have been identified. It can be said that CPD must seek to develop responsible professionals who are competent and confident as well. It must also develop reflective and critical practitioners and epistemic agents.

Self-Assessment

Through a self-assessment of competency using the standards of CIPD Professional Map against Ethical Practice Core Behaviours at Associate Level descriptors, the following results have been obtained. The self-assessment has concluded the undertaking of responsible choices regarding work with the application of professional principles and values (Hunter-Hill, 2019). Inconsistency has been observed in the consideration of implications of actions, decisions and people practices regarding all the stakeholders. Sometimes, implications have not been considered completely. A certain level of incompetency or lack of teamwork is one of the concerns that have been discovered to be inconsistent with the values. The reason for not considering concern for all stakeholders in the low experience of working in a cohesive environment such as the one currently present in. Continuous attempts are being made to take the perspectives and inputs of all co-workers under consideration. This is done through consistent team-related practices.

The strengths have been identified as undertaking high-responsibility tasks with composure, application of professional principles and values at the best. The presence and utilisation of communicative and social skills have been also been identified as a strength. Weakness includes the lack of experience in working with an extensive team like the one at present that leads to certain complications. Not regarding the implications of actions on all respective stakeholders is a major weakness.

The Development Plan primarily focuses on improving the communication skills further and understanding the far-reaching implications of the decisions on all the stakeholders. These objectives can be met through a better understanding of the team and the implications of actions. Team activities, empathetic connection and informal conversation are some of the strategies that may be implemented. Self-development practices such as meditation, reading and exercising can be added to the list of initiatives that can help in the overall improvement (Rimmer, 2018).

Reflective Practice

There has been an occasion when I mistakenly blamed a subordinate for the mistake I had made. I had lost composure and behaved in an unprofessional manner. Later, the error was identified to be made by myself. An apology in front of all subordinates had been performed with the assurance that such behaviour will not repeat. On another occasion, a subordinate was not given the due credit for a successful project initially. The error was rectified by issuing a memo and giving the credit. The importance of humility, apologising and encouragement has been learnt from these occasions.

Encouragement and practice of regular team meetings and discussions is one example of an inclusive approach at the workplace. Engaging in informal conversations both on a one-on-one basis and in groups is another example. This has been practised through physical means in canteens or break times as well as the virtual means through social platforms and instant messaging. This has improved trust and loyalty among the employees and created an empathetic bond. The teamwork and communication levels have also improved, leading to efficient business.

Assessment of the impact of learning and CPD

Through the consistent analysis and study performed under CPD, better learning and understanding of the self-behaviour has been achieved. Resultantly, considerable improvements in all aspects have been made. The strengths and weaknesses have been identified through CPD. Thus, the aspects that need working upon have been shortlisted and strategies to improve them has been developed. CPD has a positive impact on the team and overall stakeholders of the organisation. Since weaknesses and issues are being identified and worked upon consistently, all the colleagues have accepted and aided in the process inclusively. Over the past year, communication and understanding between team members have improved drastically. This can be observed through the level of connection and trust among the team members. The instances of irritable behaviours, misunderstandings and errors caused by such reasons have also diminished over the recent months. The stakeholders have also informed increased levels of inclusiveness in their day-to-day practices.

Conclusion

Through the presented CPD portfolio, analysis and understanding of self, have been concluded. The first section discusses the role of a people professional in the changing times and the impact of such on CPD. The following section presents an assessment of self through the CIPD Professional Map. The next section presents a self-assessment plan and reflects upon the practices. The final section concludes by assessing the impact of CPD and the learning procedure relating to it.

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