CIPD: Professional behaviours and valuing people

This unit focuses on how applying core professional behaviours such as ethical practice, courage and inclusivity can build positive working relationships and support employee voice and well-being. It considers how developing and mastering new professional behaviours and practice can impact performance.

CIPD’s insight

Rotten apples, bad barrels and sticky situations: unethical workplace behaviour (April 2019)

Workplace ethics has been an increasing focus for businesses, policy makers and regulatory bodies in recent years. In the wake of corporate scandal, talk often turns to how organisations can change their culture and manage unethical behaviour. But, to make a much-needed change, we need to understand why unethical behaviour occurs in the first place. With this knowledge, business leaders and people professionals can take meaningful action to tackle it.

This report Rotten apples, bad barrels and sticky situations: a review of unethical workplace behaviour, provides evidence-based, practical lessons that people professionals and leaders can use to minimise the likelihood of unethical behaviour in their workplace.  

https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/culture/ethics/ethical-behaviour

Gifford, J., Green, M. and Barends, E. (2019) Rotten apples, bad barrels and sticky situations: an evidence review of unethical workplace behaviour [online]. Research report. London: CIPD.

Diversity and inclusion in the workplace (May 2020)

Understand what diversity and inclusion mean in the workplace and how an effective D&I strategy can support business. Promoting and supporting diversity in the workplace is an important aspect of good people management – it’s about valuing everyone in the organisation as an individual.

However, to reap the benefits of a diverse workforce it’s vital to have an inclusive environment where everyone feels able to participate and achieve their potential. While UK legislation – covering age, disability, race, religion, gender and sexual orientation among others – sets minimum standards, an effective diversity and inclusion strategy goes beyond legal compliance and seeks to add value to an organisation, contributing to employee well-being and engagement.

https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/fundamentals/relations/diversity/factsheet

Miller, J. and Green, M. (2020) Diversity and inclusion in the workplace [online]. Factsheet. London: CIPD.

Case study

You currently work in the People Practice Team and are studying for your CIPD qualification. Your Line Manager is running a break-out session about ethical practice in business, at one of the CIPD conferences, and you have been asked to help.  The focus of the session is the importance of personal and ethical values for people practice professionals and how these can be applied at work, including contributing to (if not driving) discussions, to influence others towards ethical behaviour. The session will also explore the human and business benefits of inclusive behaviour such as positive working relationships and improved performance, and make the business case for people being included, valued and fairly treated at work.

Preparation for the Tasks:

• At the start of your assignment, you are encouraged to plan your assessment work with your Assessor and where appropriate agree milestones so that they can help you monitor your progress.
• Refer to the indicative content in the unit to guide and support your evidence.
• Pay attention to how your evidence is presented, remember you are working in the People Practice Team.
• Ensure that the evidence generated for this assessment remains your own work.

You will also benefit from:

• Completing and acting on formative feedback from your Assessor.
• Reflecting on your own experiences of learning opportunities and continuous professional development.

Reading the CIPD Insight, Fact Sheets and related online material on these topics.

Task One – Conference presentation on ethical practice in business

In readiness for the session, prepare a presentation (slides and presenter notes) about ethical practice in business.  The presentation should explore the importance of ethical values to people practice professionals, how they can be applied, and how ethical practices can impact positively on organisations. 

Your presentation should cover all the points below and provide a convincing argument for ethical behaviour in business.  Your audience will be a mixture of academics and practitioners, who will expect your presentation to include a range of relevant academic theory as well as practical examples to support your comments. 

1. AC 1.1 Define the term professional and explain what it means to be a ‘people practice professional’. (1.1)
2. AC 1.2 Discuss the concept of ‘ethical values’, and how at least three ethical values that you hold personally impact (or could impact) on your work as a people practice professional. (1.2)

• AC 1.3 Drawing on work or personal examples, analyse how you would/have:
• made an engaging and well-informed contribution to discussions to support the application of good people practice (1.3)
• AC 1.4 taken responsibility for your work/actions, including recognising and rectifying mistakes (1.4).  
• AC 1.5 known when and how to raise concerns when issues such as organisational policies or leadership approaches conflict with ethical values or legislation. (1.5)

• AC 2.1 Provide a robust argument for ethical people practice that is supported by academic theory and details both the business and human benefits of people at work feeling included, valued and fairly treated. (2.1)
• Using your own example of providing a people practice solution to meet a particular need, or a hypothetical example such as introducing a new policy or reward initiative, comment on how you would/have: 
• AC 2.2 ensured the ‘design’ of the solution was informed by engagement with others, particularly those most affected by the solution. (2.2)

AC 2.3 evaluated the impact of the solution in terms of how well it met the needs of and engaged all those it was aimed at. (2.3).

Your evidence must consist of:

• Presentation material:
• Slide deck
• Presenter notes

(ideally these should be presented as a single word document with slides embedded in the document, make sure the learners cite where they’ve answered the question)

Approximately 2250 words in total

• IMPORTANT NOTE: At Associate Level Referencing is mandatory – you must provide a reference where you have drawn from a secondary source; Harvard referencing is preferable. Please use the Reference box provided to record all of your long references. Short references should be included within the narrative.

Upload the completed Learner Assessment brief, with both tasks completed, through the Assignments option in the Oakwood Learner Hub.

Task Two – CPD portfolio

This task combines a number of activities to produce a continued professional development (CPD) portfolio. The activities require you to demonstrate your understanding of, commitment and approach to CPD.

Activity 1 – The Context of Professional Development

As an introduction to your portfolio, explain the following:

• The concepts of CPD and Reflective Practice

How the role of a people professional is changing and the implications this has for CPD. (3.1).

AC 3.1  Explain the concept of CPD and Reflective Practice (AC 3.1) Short references should be added into your narrative below. Please remember to only list your long references in the Reference box provided at the end of this section.

Type here:

Explain how the role of a people professional is changing and the implications this has for CPD (AC 3.1) Short references should be added into your narrative below. Please remember to only list your long references in the Reference box provided at the end of this section.

Type here: