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.
 What is Common in the definitions?

Competencies Job
• underlying characteristic of • superior performance in a
a person’s inputs. given job, role or a situation
• individual’s ability to
• clusters of knowledge,
perform.
attitudes and skills
• linked to superior
• generic knowledge motive,
performance on the job.
trait, social role or a skill
• contribute to effective
• personal characteristics
managerial performance
• set of skills, related
• successfully perform a task
knowledge and attributes
or an activity within a
specific function or job
 KNOWLEDGE
Relates to information
Cognitive Domain

Set of Attribute
SKILLS Relates to
qualitative
Relates to the
aspects
ability to do,
personal
Physical
Characteristics
domain COMPETENCY or traits

Outstanding
Performance of
tasks or activities
 Behaviour Indicators
• A Competency is described in terms of key
behaviours that enables recognition of that
competency at the work place.

• These behaviors are demonstrated by excellent

performers on-the-job much more consistently
than average or poor performers. These
characteristics generally follow the 80-20 rule in
that they include the key behaviors that primarily
drive excellent performance.
Example of a Competency
 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 Competency model leads to

• long lists of tasks and the • A Distilled set of underlying
skills / knowledge personal characteristics
required to perform each • Data generation from
of those tasks outstanding performers in
addition to subject matter
• Data generation from experts and other job
subject matter experts; incumbents
job incumbents • Outstanding Performance
• Effective Performance
Distinguish Superior From Merely Satisfactory Performance

 The approach allows executives and managers

to make a distinction between a person's ability
to do specific tasks at the minimum acceptable
level and the ability to do the whole job in an
outstanding fashion
 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.
The Competencies are Behaviour Specific

 It is one thing, for example, to ask whether

an employee "takes initiative," a very
general concept, open to interpretation, but
it is quite another to ask, "Was it typical of
this manager to carry out tasks without
your having to request that they be done?,"
a question which has only two answers,
"Yes" and "No".
 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

nd

Pe ana
a
nt

rfo ge
M
e
tm tion

rm me
i
cru elec

a n nt
e

ce
R s

Competency
Model
t & n
in pme

Co
m
ai elo
g

pe
T ev

ns
n

a tio
r

n
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.
Methodology?
Steps in Model Building
• Background information about the organisation
• Decide on the Occupation / Job Position(s) that
require competency Model(s)
• Discuss the application of the competency model
• Select a data collection method and plan the
approach
• Organize Data collected
• Identify main themes or patterns
• Build the model - Defining specific behaviour
Indicators
• Review the model
Data Collection Methods
• Resource / Expert Panels
Structured process to get the participants (Job
holders, managers HR / training staff) to think
systematically about the job, skills and personal
characteristics needed for success.

• Critical Event Interviews

Structured interviews with superior performers
which involves in-depth probing of a large
number of events and experiences.
 Data Collection Methods
• Generic competency Dictionaries
• Conceptual frameworks of commonly
encountered competencies and behaviour
indicators.
• Serve as a starting point to the model building
team.
• Can be used in resource panel by asking the
participants to select a set of generic
competencies related to the job and rate the
importance
Competency
model building

A detailed approach
COMPETENCY MAPPING
• Competency approach to job depends on
competency mapping.
• Competency Mapping is a process to identify
key competencies for an organization and/or
a job and
• incorporating those competencies
throughout the various processes (i.e. job
evaluation, training, recruitment) of the
organization.
• A competency is defined as a behavior (i.e.
communication, leadership) rather than a
skill or ability.
The steps involved in competency mapping
are presented below:
a)Conduct a job analysis by asking the
incumbents to complete a position
information questionnaire (PIQ). This can be
provided for incumbents to complete, or
used as a basis for conducting one-on-one
interviews using the PIQ as a guide. The
primary goal is to gather from incumbents
what they feel are the key behaviors
necessary to perform their respective jobs.
b)Using the results of the job analysis, a
competency based job description is
developed. It is developed after carefully
analyzing the input from the represented
group of incumbents and converting it to
standard competencies.
The steps involved in competency mapping
are presented below (continued):
c)With a competency based job description,
mapping the competencies can be done. The
competencies of the respective job description
become factors for assessment on the
performance evaluation. Using competencies
will help to perform more objective evaluations
based on displayed or not displayed behaviors.
d)Taking the competency mapping one step
further, one can use the results of one’s
evaluation to identify in what competencies
individuals need additional development or
training. This will help in focusing on training
needs required to achieve the goals of the
position and company and help the employees
develop and contribute towards the ultimate
success of the organization.
 A Detailed Approach
• Info about the company.
• Decision on the job position(s) .
• Discussion on the CM application.
• Basic data collection on the job
responsibilities (using customized menu)
• Focus group
 Review job description
 Understand performance criteria
 Discuss specific behaviours
 List top ten competencies
 A Detailed Approach
• Critical incident technique (CIT) is a flexible method
that usually relies on five major areas.
• The first is determining and reviewing the incident,
• Then fact-finding, which involves collecting the
details of the incident from the participants.
• When all of the facts are collected, the next step is
to identify the issues.
• Afterwards a decision can be made on how to
resolve the issues based on various possible
solutions.
• The final and most important aspect is the
evaluation, which will determine if the solution that
was selected will solve the root cause of the
situation and will cause no further problems.
 A Detailed Approach
• Content Analysis
• Group behaviours
• Match behaviours to competencies using
competency dictionary as a guideline
• Evolve new set of competencies if required
• Match behaviour indicators identified through
CIT to the top 10 competencies identified by the
focus group
• Review the model and make corrections
 Some of the advantages of critical incident technique
are presented below:
a) Some of the human errors that are unconsciously committed
can be traced and rectified by these methods. For example, a
case study on pilots obtained detailed factual information about
pilot error experiences in reading and interpreting aircraft
instruments from people not trained in the critical incident
technique (i.e. eyewitness or the pilot who made the error)
b) Users with no background in software engineering or human
computer interaction, and with the barest minimum of training
in critical incident identification, can identify, report, and rate
the severity level of their own critical incidents. This result is
important because successful use of the reported critical
incident method depends on the ability of typical users to
recognise and report critical incidents effectively.
Some of the disadvantages of critical incidents
method are presented below:
a) It focuses on critical incidents therefore routine
incidents will not be reported. It is therefore poor
as a tool for routine task analysis.
b) Respondents may still reply with stereotypes, not
actual events. Using more structure in the form
improves this but not always.
c) Success of the user reported critical incident
method depends on the ability of typical end users
to recognise and report critical incidents
effectively, but there is no reason to believe that
all users have this ability naturally.
 COMPETENCY MAPPING PROCESS

1.0 DESIGNING THE QUESTIONNAIRE

While designing the questionnaire following

factors are to be taken into consideration:
1.1 Purpose of the job.
1.2 Critical Success Factors
1.3 Key Result Areas
1.4 Key Activities
 JOB

CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS

CSF - 1 CSF - 2 CSF - 3 CSF - 4 CSF - 5

KEY RESULT AREAS

KRA- 1 KRA - 2 KRA - 3 KRA - 4 KRA - 5

KEY ACTIVITIES

KA - 1 KA - 2 KA - 3
Each Critical Success Factor (CSF) is the end result of multiple Key Result Areas.
Each Key Result Area (KRA) is the end result of multiple Key Activities.
DESIGNING THE QUESTIONNAIRE (CONTINUED)
1.5 Relationship.
1.6 Organization Structure.
1.7 Empowerment of the position.
1.8 Challenges in the job.
1.9 Changes expected in the technology, product,
process etc. in the next 2-3 years.
1.10 Budget and Controls.
1.11 Investment Plan.
 DESIGNING THE QUESTIONNAIRE

1.12 Academics, Knowledge, Skills Sets, Experience

1.13 Competencies
2.0 DATA COLLECTION

2.1 Clarity of Organisation Direction

2.2 Clarity of Organisation Structure.
2.3 Interview Job Holder.
2.4 Interview Job Holder's Reporting Officer.
2.5 Discuss with the Focus Group if the job are
of the same family.
3.0 C0MPETENCY DRAFTING

3.1 Rank Order of the list of competencies .

- Guided / Unguided.
3.2 Comparing good performer and average performer
with select list of competencies.
3.3 Use research data and assign competencies
to positions.
4.0
4.0 FINALISE
FINALISEROLE
ROLEDESCRIPTION
DESCRIPTION
AND
AND
COMPETENCIES
COMPETENCIES--JOB
JOBWISE
WISE
5.0 FINALISING CORE COMPETENCIES FOR

• Front Line Management

• Middle Management
• Senior Management / Top Management
6.0 EVALUATE PURPOSE OF COMPETENCY MAPPING
Competency Mapping
It is a process to identify key competencies for an
organization and/or a job and incorporating those competencies
throughout the various processes (i.e. job evaluation, training,
recruitment) of the organization. A competency is defined as a
behavior (i.e. communication, leadership) rather than a skill or
ability.

"Effectiveness
"Effectivenessof
ofan
anorganisation
organisationisisthe
thesummation
summationof
ofthe
the
required
requiredcompetencies
competenciesininthe
theorganisation".
organisation".
 Gap
GapAnalysis
Analysis
 Role
RoleClarity
Clarity
 Selection,
Selection,Potential
PotentialIdentification,
Identification,Growth
GrowthPlans.
Plans.
 Succession
SuccessionPlanning.
Planning.
 Restructuring
Restructuring
 Inventory
Inventoryof
ofcompetencies
competenciesfor
forfuture
futureplanning.
planning.