Volume : 4 | Issue : 11 | November 2015 ISSN - 2250-1991

Research Paper Management

Managing Human Resource Through

Competency Mapping

Assistant Professor (SG), Department of Commerce, FSH, SRM

S TAMILARASI
University, Kattankulathur
KEYWORDS
INTRODUCTION petency may take the following forms: Knowledge, Attitude,
Human resource management is a distinctive approach to em- Skill, Other characteristics of an individual including: Motives,
ployment management which seeks to achieve competitive Values, Self concept etc. [3]
advantage through the strategic deployment of a highly com-
mitted and capable workforce using an array of cultural, struc- Competencies may be grouped in to various areas. In classic
tural and personnel techniques. Now a days it is not possible article published a few decades ago in Harvard Business Re-
to show a good financial or operating report unless the per- view Daniel Katz grouped them under three areas[4] which
sonnel relations are in order. Over the years, highly skilled and were later expanded in to the following four:
knowledge based jobs are increasing while low skilled jobs are
decreasing. This calls for future skill mapping through prop-  Technical
er Human Resource Management initiatives. Today, the Indian  Managerial
organizations are witnessing a change in systems, man-agree-  Human and
ment cultures and philosophy due to the global alignment of  Conceptual
Indian organizations. There is a need for multi skill develop-
ment among the human resource. Hence, the role of a HR – This is a convenient classification and a given competency may
Manager becomes more important in shaping the competency fall into one or more areas and may include more than one
level of employees which in turn builds up the overall compe- from. It is this combination that are labelled and promoted
tency of the organisation. by some firms as competency dictionaries. A competency dic-
tionary of a firm gives detailed descriptions of the competency
Companies are vastly shifting their approach of having mul- language used by that firm. It contains detailed explanations
ti-competent employees with knowledge of only one com- of the combinations of competencies (technical, managerial,
petency. Companies are interested in knowing the present human and conceptual knowledge, attitudes and skills) using
competency level of their employees so that training can be their own language. For example Team work or Team Man-
given to improve their performance. This is where Competen- agement competency can be defined in terms of organization
cy Mapping comes in to focus. specific and level specific behaviors for a given origination.
At top levels it might mean in the case of one organization
In good organisations competency mapping existed already. ability identify utilize and synergize the contributions of a pro-
Traditionally HR Directors and their top management have al- ject team and at another level it might mean ability to inspire
ways paid attention to competencies and incorporated them and carry along the top management team including diversity
mostly in their appraisal systems. For example when L&T, LIC management. In competency mapping all details of the be-
or NDDB, NOCIL, HLL, Bharat Petroleum etc. revised their Per- haviors (observable, specific, measurable etc.) to be shown by
formance appraisal systems they focused on the assessment of the person occupying that role are specified.
competencies. Role analysis was done and role directories pre-
pared by the Indian Oil Corporation in mid eighties [1]. IDENTIFYING COMPETENCIES
Competencies can be identified by Experts, HR Specialists, Job
To understand the meaning of Competency Mapping it is es- analysts, Psychologists, and Industrial Engineers. They adopt
sential to understand the meaning of competency and com- the following methods in combination for competency map-
petence. ping[5]:

Competency - It refers to the desired level of attitude, knowl- • Interview

edge and skills required to do a job in the best possible man- • Group work
ner. • Task Forces
• Task Analysis workshops
Competence – It refers to the actual level of knowledge, skills • Questionnaire
and attitude possessed by the employee holding a particular • Use of Job descriptions
job position. • Performance Appraisal Formats etc.

Competency mapping is the process of finding out the dif-

ference between the desired level of competency required by Such specialists who identify competency in the employees,
a particular job position and actual level of competency pos- also try to develop them in each individual employees through
sessed by the employee holding that job position. The process various training and development methods. These identified
of competency mapping can be used in recruitment and se- and developed competencies play a major role all HR planning
lection, training and development, performance appraisal, suc- and functions.
cession planning, coaching and various other areas of HR.[2]
ROLE OF COMPETENCY IN RECRUITMENT & RETENTION[6]
COMPETENCY IN DETAIL Competency mapping can play a significant role in recruit-
Any underlying characteristic performing a given task, activity, ment and retaining people as it gives a more accurate analysis
or role successfully can be considered as competency. Com- of the job requirements, the candidate’s capability, of the dif-

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Volume : 4 | Issue : 11 | November 2015 ISSN - 2250-1991

ference between the two, and the development and training analyzing the input from the represented group of incum-
needs to bridge the gaps. bents and converting it to standard competencies. 
3) With a competency based job description, you are on your
way to begin mapping the competencies throughout your
human resources processes. The competencies of the re-
As far as individual’s career aspirations are concerned, once spective job description become your factors for assess-
the organization gives an employee the perspective of what is ment on the performance evaluation. Using competencies
required from him to reach a particular position. It drives him will help guide you to perform more objective evaluations
to develop the competencies for the same. “Competencies based on displayed or not displayed behaviors. 
enable individual to identify and articulate what they offer-re- 4) Taking the competency mapping one step further, you can
gardless of the job they happen to have at the time so that use the results of your evaluation to identify in what com-
their organization can see, value and utilize what capability is petencies individuals need additional development or train-
actually available. ing. This will help you focus your training needs on the
goals of the position and company and help your employ-
SIGINFICANCE OF COMPETENCY MAPPING ees develop toward the ultimate success of the organiza-
Competency Mapping is excessively used in the organization tion.
to determine the crucial elements and activities. The basic rea-
sons due to which the mapping of the competencies is done Behavioral event interview 
are as follows: A behavioral interview is a structured interview that is used to
collect information about past
· Once the competencies are determined, proper training
can be provided to the individuals to work more efficiently behavior. Because past performance is a predictor of future
on the processes. behavior, a behavioral interview attempts to uncover your past
· Key performance areas can be improved by understanding performance by asking open-ended questions. Each question
the fields where there is a gap between the actual and the helps the interviewer learn about the past performance in a
desired results. key skill area that is critical to success in the position for which
· If the competencies are determined for the given job, then interviewing is done. The interview will be conducted face-to-
the person whose career planning phase is taking place face whenever possible. 
can consider those competencies and can be ready for the
same. Using the STAR Technique 
· Through competency mapping, the individual is preparing In a behavioral interview, the interviewer will ask questions
himself for the next set of responsibilities. about the past experiences. A
· With the help of the competency mapping the individual
can alter the style of work where the gap exists. useful way to prepare for this style of questioning is to use
· By overcoming the differences in the desired level and the the STAR technique. The STAR technique is a way to frame
actual status of performance the individual can feel the in- the answers to each question in an organized manner that
crease in the self confidence and the motivation level. will give the interviewer the most information about the past
· Competency based approach can lead the individual to experience. As you prepare to answer each question, consider
derive much efficient results (with more accuracy) as com- organizing your response by answering each of the following
pared to work in a non-competency derived situation. components of the STAR technique: 
· Helps the individual to determine the areas where the de-
velopment is required and thus leads the individual to de-  What was the S ituation in which you were involved?
velop a self development plan.  What was the Task you needed to accomplish?
· Competency mapping leads the individual to understand  What Action(s) did you take?
the actual position and the gap from the desired status of  What Results did you achieve? 
work.
· Competency mapping plays a crucial role in career plan- Repertory grid 
ning of the individual in the organization. The repertory grid is a technique for identifying the ways that
a person construes his or her experience. It provides informa-
STEPS IN COMPETENCY MAPPING [7] tion from which inferences about personality can be made,
Competency mapping is a process through which one as- but it is not a personality test in the conventional sense.
sesses and determines one’s strengths as an individu-
al worker and in some cases, as part of an organization. A grid consists of four parts.
It generally examines two areas: emotional intelligence or
emotional quotient (EQ), and strengths of the individual 1. A Topic: it is about some part of the person’s experience 
in areas like team structure, leadership, and decision-mak- 2. A set of Elements, which are examples or instances of the
ing. Large organizations frequently employ some form of Topic. Any well-defined set of words, phrases, or even brief
competency mapping to understand how to most effec- behavioral vignettes can be used as elements. For example,
tively employ the competencies of strengths of workers. to see how I construe the purchase of a car, a list of vehi-
They may also use competency mapping to analyze the cles within my price range could make an excellent set of
combination of strengths in different workers to produce elements.
the most effective teams and the highest quality work.  3. A set of Constructs. These are the basic terms that the cli-
The steps involved in competency mapping with an end result ent uses to make sense of the elements, and are always
of job evaluation include the following: expressed as a contrast. Thus the meaning of ‘Good’ de-
pends on whether you intend to say ‘Good versus Poor’, as
1) Conduct a job analysis by asking incumbents to complete if you were construing a theatrical performance, or ‘Good
a Position Information Questionnaire (PIQ). This can be versus Evil’, as if you were construing the moral or onto-
provided for incumbents to complete, or you can conduct logical status of some more fundamental experience. 
one-on-one interviews using the PIQ as a guide. The pri- 4. A set of ratings of Elements on Constructs. Each element is
mary goal is to gather from incumbents what they feel are positioned between the two extremes of the construct us-
the key behaviors necessary to perform their respective ing a 5- or 7-point rating scale system; this is done repeat-
jobs.  edly for all the constructs that apply; and thus its mean-
2) Using the results of the job analysis, you are ready to de- ing to the client is captured, and statistical analysis varying
velop a competency based job description. A sample of a from simple counting, to more complex multivariate analy-
competency based job description generated from the PIQ sis of meaning, is made possible.
may be analyzed. This can be developed after carefully

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Volume : 4 | Issue : 11 | November 2015 ISSN - 2250-1991

Critical incident technique  FOR THE MANAGERS:

The CIT is a method for getting a subjective report while  Identify performance level to improve the accu-racy of se-
minimising interference from stereotypical reactions or re- lection process.
ceived opinions. The user is asked to focus on one or more  Provide more objective performance standards.
critical incidents which they experienced personally in the  Provide good communication
field of activity being analysed. A critical incident is defined  Develops Employer Employee relationship
as one which had an important effect on the final outcome.  Reduces Career related issues.
Critical incidents can only be recognised retrospectively. 
CIT analysis uses a method known as Content Analysis in or-
der to summarise the experiences of many users or many ex- FOR THE EMPLOYEES:
periences of the same user.   Identify the critical Skill to perform in the organ-ization.
 Targets, Roles & Responsibilities are very clear.
 Identifies the gap for improvement.
The  Critical Incident Technique  (or  CIT) is a set of proce-  Provides a systematic approach to improve the skill level.
dures used for collecting direct observations of human be-  Improved Job Satisfaction.
havior that have critical significance and meet methodically
defined criteria. These observations are then kept track of as
incidents, which are then used to solve practical problems and COMPETENCY MODELS[9]
develop broad psychological principles. A critical incident can • “Organizational” Approaches Models
be described as one that makes a significant contribution - ei- • “HR Systems” Approaches Models
ther positively or negatively - to an activity or phenomenon. • “Team” Approaches Models
Critical incidents can be gathered in various ways, but typically • Individualistic Models
respondents are asked to tell a story about an experience they
have had.  “Organizational” Approaches
Elliot Jaques provides a normative model of  effective hierar-
CIT is a flexible method that usually relies on five major are- chical organizations with an emphasis on competencies.  The
as. The first is determining and reviewing the incident, then elements include the present and  potential competencies of
fact-finding, which involves collecting the details of the inci- individuals along the dimensions of cognitive capacity, valuing
dent from the participants. When all of the facts are collected, the work, and non-disruptive personality.
the next step is to identify the issues. Afterwards a decision
can be made on how to resolve the issues based on various Peter Senge’s approach to a whole organization competen-
possible solutions. The final and most important aspect is the cy model is captured in his notion of the  “learning organ-
evaluation, which will determine if the solution that was se- ization.”    Its essential characteristics include nurturing the
lected will solve the root cause of the situation and will cause growth of new capabilities, transformational learning for sur-
no further problems.  vival, learning through performance and practice, and the in-
separability of process and content.
360 Degree Feedback[8]
In human resources or industrial/organizational psychology, “HR Systems” Approaches 
360-degree feedback, also known as ‘multi-rater feedback’, Dubois focuses on the whole human resources system, but
‘outsource feedback’, or ‘outsource assessment’, is employee emphasizes competency improvements through training and
development feedback that comes from all around the em- development strategies and programming: the contingencies
ployee. “360” refers to the 360 degrees in a circle. The feed- are driven by organizational strategy but outcomes are fo-
back would come from subordinates, peers, and managers in cused on individual employees’ competency enhancement.
the organizational hierarchy, as well as self-assessment, and
in some cases external sources such as customers and sup- Charles Snow’s contingency model  links organizational per-
pliers or other interested stakeholders. It may be contrasted formance to HRM and competency.  Strategies depend on ex-
with upward feedback, where managers are given feedback tent to which cause-effect relations affecting organizational
by their direct reports, or a traditional performance appraisal, performance are known and degree of formalized standards
where the employees are most often reviewed only by their of desirable performance.
manager.
“Team” Approaches
The results from 360-degree feedback are often used by the Campion’s model, which applies to professional work, sug-
person receiving the feedback to plan their training and de- gests that teams composed of individuals withcomplemen-
velopment. The results are also used by some organizations tary competencies are more effective and have higher levels
for making promotional or pay decisions, which is sometimes of job satisfaction than teams whose members have the same
called “360-degree review.” competency sets.  This is especially true for work that is com-
plex and varied in scope.
BENEFITS OF COMPETENCY MAPPING
There are some useful benefits of using competency model for Individualistic Models
the company, managers, and employees as well. Traditional Person-Job Match Model

FOR THE COMPANY This model assumes that employees have jobs with specif-
 Support corporate Objective, Strategy, Vision, Mission and ic and identifiable tasks. Work is generally standardized and
Culture. repetitive in an organizational hierarchy.  Job performance is
 Establish performance appraisal by a systematic approach readily verifiable.  This model works best with organizations
for career growth which results in im-proved job satisfac- defined by stable environments
tion and better employee retention.
 Increase the effectiveness of training and professional de- Strategy Based Model
velopment programs by linking them to the success crite- This model assumes that employees have roles defined by the
ria. organization’s strategic goals. Work is flexibly defined and of-
 Provides clear two way communication process. ten carried out in a flattened, decentralized or matrix struc-
 Better understanding of Roles and responsibilities. ture.  Role performance is only partially verifiable.  This mod-
 Provide Common standards and same kind of work at el functions most effectively in organizations in competitive,
equal levels that enable employees to move and work at complex or highly stressed environments.
different parts of the organization.
The Strategy Development Model

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Volume : 4 | Issue : 11 | November 2015 ISSN - 2250-1991

This model assumes that employees with broad, strategic “at- CONCLUSION
tributes” will create their own roles which interact to produce Competency is a set of knowledge, skills and attitudes re-
the organization’s strategy. Work is constantly evolving within quired to perform a job effectively and efficiently. A Com-
a network of organizational relationships. This model is de- petency is something that describes how a job might be
scribed in terms of organizations in chaotic, unpredictable, or done, excellently. A competence only describes what has to
very rapidly changing environments. be done, not how. So the Competences might describe the
duties of a Sales Manager for example, such as manage the
Intellectual Capital Model sales office and its staff, prepare quotations and sales order
These models emphasize the linkages and dynamic interaction processing, manage Key Accounts and supervise and motivate
among human capital, structural capital, and customer (client) the field sales force. The Competencies which might deter-
capital. These models stress the knowledge that resides in em- mine excellence in this role could include Problem Solving and
ployees and strategies to use it and value it differently. Judgment; Drive and Determination; Commercial Awareness;
Inter-personal skills etc. Therefore, structuring a good compe-
Companies create and use the Competency models to speci- tency mapping model will bring about fruitful changes in the
fy the employee behaviors, knowledge, and motivations that functioning of an organization. Most suitably, by competen-
they believe are necessary to produce organizationally critical cy mapping, a manager identifies the right path in which he
results. But if the model is not quite right, the organization needs to direct his work force. A clear cut career – goal in
will suffer. To determine the right model it is essential to look the mind of a HR-Manager provides strength to the manage-
at actual data — assessments of employees‘ competencies rial functions, satisfaction among employees, high productivity
and of the results they achieve. and organizational harmony. As a conclusion we can say that,
it is through the competencies of its employees executives,
RECOMMENTATIONS managers, and individual contributors — that an organiza-
Competency-based HR is considered the best HR. In India tion  executes its strategy and achieves results that are crucial
however competency development and mapping still remains to its success.
an unexplored process in most IT organisations despite the
growing level of awareness. The underlying principle of com-
petency mapping is not just about finding the right people for
the right job. The issue is much more complex than it appears,
and most HR departments have been struggling to formulate
the right framework for their organisation.

Unless managements and HR heads have holistic expectations

from their HR departments, the competency movement is
unlikely to succeed as it requires lot of time, dedication and
money. Before an organisation embarks on this journey it has
to be very clear about the business goals, capability-building
imperatives and core competencies of the organisation. The
competency mapping process needs to be strongly integrated
with these aspects[10].

Experts agree that the competency mapping process does not

fit all kinds of organisations. It has to be specific and tailored
according to the nature of the organization and to the users
of the organisation. Hence, it can be suggested that models
have to be developed by using the existing research, behav-
ioural interview methods, etc. so that the organisation creates
a model that reflects its own strategy, its own market, its own
customers, and the competencies that bring success in that
specific context.

It is also important to focus on one or two key areas of im-

plementation rather than focusing on the whole HRD agenda
in one attempt. Competency mapping can be rather good at
providing organisational pain relief when applied effective-
ly. Further, it is advisable to begin with a ‘horizontal’ slice of
the management or senior-most team as the benefits will drip
down to the whole organisation.

REFERENCES

1. http://www.citehr.com/99043-competency-mapping.html 2.http://www.citehr.com/12975-questionnaire-needed-competency-mapping-project-2.
html#post1026379 3. http://www.citehr.com/99043-competency-mapping.html 4.http://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=articles%20on%20
competency%20mapping&source=web&cd=11&ved=0CFYQFjAAOAo&url=https%3A%2F%2Fround-lake.dustinice.workers.dev%3A443%2Fhttp%2Fwww.iiste.org%2FJour nals%2Findex.php%2FEJB-
M%2Farticle%2Fdownload%2F1508%2F1440&ei=6In5T7vqBoXprQfs6-jgBg&usg=AFQjCNFPmw9AcOC7hBq60lvmuw_Kq340Hw 5. http://www.citehr.com/114959-ex-
cellent-stuff-competency-mapping.html#post469668 6. Ibid. 7.http://www.onestopmba.com/mba-articles/mba-general/details/competency-mapping--an-overview-59.
asp 8. http://www.indianmba.com/Faculty_Column/FC1051/fc1051.html 9. www.linkedin.com/pulse/approach-competency-mapping-techniques-models-hasan 10..http://
www.articlesbase.com/self-publishing-articles/competency-mapping-in-the-latest-scenario- 1102107.html

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