Is Yours A Competency Managed HR?

By Adedoyin Adebayo
So much has been written about competence-based management. I conducted
a Google search on the word competence and the search returned about
52,600,000 hits in (0.38 seconds)! There are also over 16,326 books on
Amazon written on this subject in various book categories.
The concept of competence has been around for centuries and can be traced
back to the medieval guilds in which apprentices learned skills by working
with a master and were awarded credentials when they reached the standards
of workmanship associated with and set by the trade. While competencies are
not new to most organizations, what is new is their increased application
across varied human resource functions.
For those of us who have been following developments in the field of HRM, we
have come to know that if HR is driven around competency based
management, the contribution it can make towards business success is always
very huge.
Competency can be applied to a wide range of areas in human resource
management including employee selection, succession planning, performance
management, development and career pathing, compensations, and
integrated information systems.

One of the most challenging tasks most organizations face is placing the right
people in the right jobs. A wrong move on companys part can mean lost
productivity for their company, high turnover, lower worker morale, bloated
training bills, and too often , trouble-some lawsuits brought by disgruntled exemployees.
From a simple definition; competence is the ability to do something
successfully or efficiently. Words like capability, ability, capacity, proficiency,
accomplishment, adeptness, adroitness, knowledge, expertise, expertness,
skill, skilfulness, prowess, mastery are usually used by some people to
represent the word "competence".
According to UNIDO (2002), 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.
Lyle Spencer and Signe Spencer, one of the early researchers on competency
define competence as an underlying characteristic of an individual
that is casually related to criterion-referenced effective and/or
superior performance in a job or situation.
Underlying characteristics here means that competency is a fairly deep
and enduring part of a persons personality and can predict behavior in a wide
variety of situations and job tasks.
Casually related means that a competency causes or predicts behavior and
performance

Criterion-referenced means that the competency usually predicts who does

something well or poorly, as measured on a specific criterion or standard.
By these definitions, it is surmise to say that competencies demonstrate the
following key features:

They describe the skills, knowledge, abilities, motivations or other traits

required in the job

They are required for effective or successful performance of the job or task

They are defined in terms of observable behaviors, and therefore can be

assessed or measured.
In other words, for your organization to achieve its mission, it must have the
right people with the right Skills (Technical &Non-Technical), Knowledge and
Ability (Competencies). Competencies provide a means of translating
organizational goals and objectives into behaviours that employees must
display for the achievement of the organizations goals.
A 2001 research reveals the following facts about competence management
and these have reinforced the acceptance of competence based talent
management in organizations for positive results and improved productivity.
Better employee competency/job matching results in:

63% reduction in turnover due to increased employee satisfaction due to

greater clarity about performance expectations Spencer, 2001

19% improvement in employee performance Spencer, 2001

5% increase in sales and profits due to Competency-Based training programs

Spencer, 2001

Improved leadership capacity

Companies with highest rated leadership development programs, compared to
those with weak programs experienced:

600% increase in overall business impact

640% improvement in their leadership bench strength

480% improvement in leader engagement and retention

When competencies are used as part of an overall talent management strategy,
they can translate the organizations strategic vision into specific employee
behaviors which will have a direct impact on the overall business results.
When you use competencies, you are giving your employees a roadmap that
shows them how their behaviors or actions can contribute to the strategic
vision and goals of the organization.
Advantages of competency based management

1. Competence based management can help you translate your organizations

vision and goals into expected employee behavior
2. It can help you improve hiring decisions

3. Can help you to identify gap between present skill sets and future skill
requirements
4. Can help you to identify areas for employee development that are directly
linked to desired organization objectives
5. Can help you shorten the learning curve, as the new recruits demonstrate high
potential, etc
6. Can help you increase employee satisfaction leading to reduced turnover rate
7. Can help you increase employee productivity and operating effectiveness
An accurate and unbiased approach to predicting job performance and success
of your organization is to design your organization around competency based
management. The future of this fast growing field will move beyond the
workplace and be applied more broadly to societal concerns.
What are your thoughts on Competency-based management? Kindly share
them.