Competency Approach to Human Resource Management

WHAT DO WE MEAN WHEN WE SAY “COMPETENCY” ?

A Competency is an underlying characteristic of a person which enables him /her to deliver superior performance in a given job, role or a situation.

Competencies are seen mainly as inputs.

They consist of clusters of knowledge, attitudes and skills that affect an individual’s ability to perform.

Hayes (1979) –

Competencies are generic knowledge motive, trait, social role or a skill of a person linked to superior performance on the job.

Albanese (1989) –

Competencies are personal characteristics that contribute to effective managerial performance.

UNIDO (2002)- A Competency is a set of skills, related knowledge and attributes that allow an individual to successfully perform a task or an activity within a specific function or job.

Set of SKILLS

Relates to the ability to do,

Physical domain

AttributeRelates to qualitative

aspectspersonal

Characteristics or traits

KNOWLEDGE

Relates to information

Cognitive Domain

COMPETENCY

Outstanding Performance of

tasks or activities

ANALYTICAL THINKING

The ability to break problems into component parts and consider or organize parts in a systematic way; the process of looking for underlying causes or thinking through the consequence of different courses of action.

KEY BEHAVIOUR INDICATORS

Independently researches for information and solutions to issues

Ability to know what needs to be done or find out (research) and take steps to get it done

Ask questions when not sure of what the problem is or to gain more information.

Able to identify the underlying or main problem.

Shows willingness to experiment with new things.

Develops a list of decision making guidelines to help arrive at logical solutions.

WHAT IS A COMPETENCY MODEL?

COMPETENCY MODEL

A competency model is a valid, observable, and measurable list of the knowledge, skills, and attributes demonstrated through behavior that results in outstanding performance in a particular work context.

Typically A competency model includes Competency titles Definitions of those titles Key Behaviour indicators

COMPETENCY - BROAD CATEGORIES

Generic Competencies Competencies which are considered essential for all employees

regardless of their function or level. - Communication, initiative, listening etc.

Managerial Competencies Competencies which are considered essential for employees with

managerial or supervisory responsibility in any functional area including directors and senior posts.

COMPETENCY - BROAD CATEGORIES

Technical / Functional

Specific competencies which are considered essential to perform any job in the organisation within a defined technical or functional area of work.

e.g.: Finance, environmental management,etc

Competency modeling begins the process of building tools to link employee performance to the mission and goals of the organisation .

Why Competencies ?

TRADITIONAL JOB ANALYSIS VS COMPETENCY APPROACH

Job Analysis leads to long lists of tasks and the

skills / knowledge required to perform each of those tasks

Data generation from subject matter experts; job incumbents

Effective Performance

Competency model leads to

A Distilled set of underlying personal characteristics

Data generation from outstanding performers in addition to subject matter experts and other job incumbents

Outstanding Performance

BEHAVIOUR INDICATORS BASED UPON WHAT OUTSTANDING INDIVIDUALS ACTUALLY DO

The competency definitions are based upon outstanding current performance in the organization.

These competencies do not reflect someone's management theory or an academic idea of what it takes to do the job well, but rather are based on what works within the organization and most directly contributes to top performance.

HOLISTIC APPLICATION Competencies

Help companies ‘raise the bar’ of performance expectations.

Help teams and individuals align their behaviours with key organisational strategy.

Each employee understand how to achieve expectations.

ALIGNMENT OF HR SYSTEMS

Competency Model

Recruitm

ent and

select

ion

Performance

Management

Trainin

g &

Develo

pmen

t Compensation

COMPETENCY BASED RECRUITMENT

Competency based interviews reduce the risk of making a costly hiring mistake and increase the likelihood of identifying and selecting the right person for the right job

COMPETENCY BASED PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL

Competencies Enable

Establishment of clear high performance standards.

Collection and proper analysis of factual data against the set standards.

Conduct of objective feedback meetings.

Direction with regard to specific areas of improvement.

COMPETENCY BASED TRAINING Competency based appraisal process leading to effective

identification of training needs.

Opportunity to identify/ develop specific training programmes - Focused training investment.

Focused Training enabling improvement in specific technical

and managerial competencies

COMPETENCY BASED DEVELOPMENT

Competencies

Contribute to the understanding of what development really mean, giving the individual the tools to take responsibility for their own development.

Give the line managers a tool to empower them to develop people

COMPETENCY BASED PAY

Provide an incentive for employees to grow and enhance their capabilities.