A professional works in a profession. In Page (2018), profession is identified as inclusive of different people who ascribe to a specific ethical standards, appreciated by public as possessing special knowledge and skills. This is by possessing knowledge, skills and educated in different levels. They are primarily in a position of pursuing knowledge application and skills for the sake of others. Hence, simply put, a professional gain income from using their knowledge and expertise. There are professional bodies as noted in Cadogan and Hughes (2021) which are mandated to oversight their skills, knowledge possessed and conduct. A case example is in Saudi Arabia (KSA), there is the Saudi Council of Engineers which is a professional body mandated with the role of promoting engineering profession and their roles.

People Professionals

In CIPD HR Professional Map, people professionals are identified in CIPD (2022) as “support of vision and goals of an organisation through great people interventions”. Organisations are inclusive of individuals/employees who are involved to empower entities to thrive individually and collectively. Since their roles vary, reasons an individual becomes a people professional is illustrated in figure 1;

Figure 1: Reasons for being a people professional summary

For people professionals, as described in the CIPD HR professional Map, they must have personal values (CIPD, 2022a). They are;

Fairness- According to findings presented in CIPD HR professional map core behaviours, fairness include equally/impartially treating others albeit of age, race, gender, religion and possession of protected characteristics (Bellucci & Park, 2020). Working as a people practice professional, I guarantee all stakeholders with appropriate opportunity for managing them fairly and non-discriminatory.

Honesty- In Héder et al. (2018), people professionals practices and behaviours need to be identified through immense honesty. This is through working in line with the regulations set, rules for managing any unintended results. Being people professional, I ensure all decisions are honestly made without any bias or prejudice.

Exclusivity- According to Abbott and Meerabeau (2020), people professionals ought to be dedicated holistically to their organisations interests. This promote performance and practice.

Professional Integrity– People professionals are tasked to establish, maintain and develop business relations in a confident, trust-oriented and mutually respecting all. This is at the same time being role models in their good behaviours. In my roles, I ensure I am honest, respect others and responsible for all decisions I make.

Task 1: Question 2

3.1 Role of people professional evolving and priorities raised for continuing professional development (CPD)

As evidenced in CIPD (2022b), CPD include a set of strategies, ideas set and techniques for assisting personalised learning and growth management. Also, (REF) for success in achieving a credible people profession, commitment in self-improvement is essential.

Adopting the definition of Brand and Ekkekakis (2018), the reflective process is a thinking on or reflecting on an individual performance. This is directly correlated with learning from experience. Working as a people practice professional, for each 3 months, I work on reflective practice where I put efforts to on reflecting on my actions, occurrences and make decision on what ought to be uniquely done in future.

For people practice professionals, the scope of evolving include;

Transitioning from Admin to Strategy

According to Ansell et al. (2021), people function is transitioning from admin to strategic functions. Prior COVID-19 pandemic, administrative function was rare amongst HR teams. Increased technology demand has led to improved capacity development programs and assessment of talents. A case example is in Saudi Aramco where HR is majorly strategic. The rationale of this is that it guarantee employees alignment with all goals set.

People-focused strategy and being tech-savvy

From year 2010, O’Connor (2021) hypothesise that HR function is involved in process of changing to being people-focused and tech-savvy. This is by improving resourcing and management strategies. With the technology change, innovation is today a major strategy of executing assigned roles. For Saudi Aramco, the limitation of this is lack of capacity and resources/tools for abiding to the new change. The priority need to be on big data, mobile technology, integrated social media platforms, globalisation embraced, technology training and gap analytics.

Increase in specialisation and job titles

Considering people professionals, different concepts which were not there in the past have emerged. According to Sukawati et al. (2020), these terms did not exist in the past 50 and even 10 years ago such as gig economy. The outcome of this has been new job titles arising and specialism areas which have changed to reflect the identified change. Considering Saudi Aramco, they have been introduced. These include the Chief Happiness Officer, Chief Heart Officer and Lead People Data Scientist. Considering the identified new job positions, their priority is for the employees as individuals rather than resources.

Task 1: Question 3

1.2 Ethical Values concept; Impact of ethical values

According to CIPD (2022b), ethical values are the moral compass for people living their lives and decisions making, executing the right thing since it is the right thing to be done. Considering the CIPD HR professional map, the ethical practice is categorised as core behaviour (CIPD, 2022c) and represent the best practice for people living and reputation of organisation.

The different personal values examples are;

Equality- Basically,CIPD (2022c) argue that treatment of all employees similarly in terms of opportunities and rewards is an ethical value. This is by ensuring that their age, gender, sex and demographics are not prioritised in implementing these practices. During recruitment in Saudi Aramco, equal time is granted for all employees to pursue their roles as a demand in resourcing. The outcome of this is a feel of appreciation in assigned functions hence readiness in participating in resourcing function. The result of this is increasing retention.

Valuing others- This is categorised as core behaviour in CIPD HR Professional Map (CIPD, 2022). This value include feeling for others and ensuring their input is part of organisations decision making. In my role in Saudi Aramco, through valuing others, an improvement of staff dedication in services provision to clients depending on demanded services is achieved. The outcome of this is organisation being managed appropriately. For my position, I make sure that I empower staff and motivate them in intellectually pursuing their interests and ideas in job functions implementation. When COVID-19 pandemic emerged, employees were feeling demotivated and not appreciate. This was leading to reduced productivity and performance which largely affected business practices. It was successfully managed by ensuring all parties are valued and recognised.

Fairness– According to Bauwens et al. (2019), a fair treatment of employees is an undertaking which intend to balance stakeholders in terms of interests and their facilitation. A case example is working in Saudi Aramco where I manage to attain this by ensuring policies and practices pursued in reward management are defined with high-level fairness. A case example is men and women executing similar functions are remunerated equally. Also, the gender pay reporting is sufficiently used in guiding the operations. Through a fair treatment of all staff, an entity trust levels are achieved, morale increase, loyalty improved and productivity. In situations of lack of fair-based practice, affected employees lower their overall performance and work with deception leading to reduced retention.

Task 1: Question 4

1.3 People professionals contributing confidently to discussions

Informed

In CIPD HR Professional Map, an informed practice is a core behaviour. As evidenced in CIPD (2022d), this stipulates the need for achieving a professional courage (and influence) for HR teams, OD and learning professionals which is important currently in world which is truth-based, justice and distortion or weaponisation of being right. Therefore, through ensuring an informed practice is pursued, the people practice professionals are able to adopt both quantitative and qualitative data to direct on their decision making. A case example is in Saudi Aramco where management of their absenteeism is pursued through pursuing a series of discussions through questionnaire survey and interviews. This is to source quantifiable data and opinions on the issue of absenteeism. Also, by benchmarking, there is a likelihood of appreciating the scope of organisations in same or different sectors manage similar issues while being informed adequately.

Clear

Additionally, according to Rasooli et al. (2019), this is inclusive of a strategy pursued to be clear on ethics, moral and fair-based practice. This is characterised by an act of being good, virtuous and just outcomes important for people practice professionals. The implication of this is noted in Abu-Shaqra (2020) as informing productivity with lacking it thereof contribute to stresses and being confused. Therefore, an embrace of clear discussions harness performance by improving personal effectiveness and organisation performance.

Engaging

This entail the capacity to embrace critical thinking, solve all problems and embrace high-level critical thinking skills. By engagement, there is a possibility of recognising the context set and pursue the most appropriate for the target audiences. In Saudi Aramco, before pursuing discussions, I make sure that I work on needs analysis for understanding entire expectation, weak areas requiring unique engagement and evaluation.

Task 1: Question 5

1.4 Raising concerns when issues of organisational policies or leadership approaches conflict with ethical values or legislation

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