Competencies Questions Asked

WHAT IS MEANT BY "INTEGRATED HUMAN RESOURCE PRACTICES?

Organizations are using competencies in virtually every human resource domain. They provide criteria that can be applied to each of the human resource practices shown below:

Staffing →	Assessment →	Performance → Development	Training & → Development	Career Management

Competencies are used as the "key criteria" for implementing each application. In other words, competencies are framed into a specific tool and accompanied by guidelines defining how managers and employees use the tool to produce results in each of the above areas.


HOW DO COMPETENCIES DIFFER FROM SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE?

Competencies only include behaviors that demonstrate successful performance. Therefore, they do not include knowledge, but do include applied knowledge or the Behavioural application of knowledge that produces success. In addition, competencies do include skills, but only the manifestation of skills that produce success. Finally, competencies are not work motives, but do include observable behaviors related to motives.


WHY ARE ORGANIZATIONS ADOPTING COMPETENCIES?

Competencies have been used in one form or another for over thirty years. Many public and private sector organizations are now using or are in the process of introducing a systematic approach and process to competencies in their human resources management systems. Competency-based systems are founded on the principle that personal and organizational performance will be significantly enhanced when the right people with the right skills and abilities are in the right jobs, at the right time doing the right things.


WHAT IS COMPETENCY BASED MANAGEMENT (CBM)?

CBM is the application of a set of competencies to the management of human resources to achieve both excellence in performance and results that are relevant to the organization's business strategies.

It means identifying how performance links to business results and mapping out strategies to export the techniques throughout the work force.

It also means giving employees a systematic approach to expanding and using their full capabilities. There are, however, many approaches to CBM and different organizations define it and use it in different ways.


WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COMPETENCY BASED MANAGEMENT (CBM) AND JOB ANALYSIS/EVALUATION?

The federal Public Service is a position-based organization. This means that job analysis and job evaluation are the cornerstones of all other human resource management systems, including CBM. Because of this, the following principles need to be respected when applying CBM:

• Job analysis and evaluation need to serve as the basis for competency profiling if the employee is to be assessed and managed using CBM.
• Job analysis and job evaluation can stand alone without CBM. However, CBM is meaningless as a management tool in the absence of a solid job analysis and evaluation system, such as a Classification Standard.
• Compensation is based on a position's relative value within the organization, not on the competencies an employee brings to the position. Competencies can be assessed in terms of the extent to which they contribute to results on the job.

HOW DO YOU ENSURE COMPETENCY BASED MANAGEMENT (CBM) SUPPORTS THE PUBLIC SERVICE'S LEGISLATIVE PARAMETERS?

Anyone opting for CBM needs to ensure that:

• Competencies assessed must be both observable and measurable with established relevance to the work description.
• Care is taken to ensure that competencies are not excessively restrictive in order to avoid cultural bias.
• Competencies that are rated as essential must in fact be essential, and even then allow for reasonable accommodation.

HOW CAN PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT WORK IN A COMPETENCY-BASED SYSTEM?

Ideally, performance management is positioned as a process comprised of steps that include planning, managing, evaluating and rewarding performance. Often, definitions or a subset of the competencies are used in performance management. In addition, the performance appraisal process includes goals, expected results, and competencies as an ongoing process which aligns and integrates the objectives of the organization, business units, teams and individuals. Competencies specify precisely how individuals can align their activities to the key strategies of the organization.


SHOULD THE COMPETENCY PROFILE BEING DEVELOPED FOCUS SOLELY ON THE CURRENT BUSINESS NEEDS OF THE JOB?

HRD research often focuses on the knowledge, attitudes and skills needed to do jobs as they currently exist. However, competencies are used to assess and train people for tomorrow. For example, view sales managers as entrepreneurs and consultants who help clients make money rather than bosses who help salespeople make more sales.


WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO ASSESS COMPETENCIES?

There are many possible approaches to assessment. Each has its pros and cons in accurately measuring competencies and in maintaining consistency across individuals. The challenge is to convert the competency model into an instrument that reliably measures qualifications of employees. Here are some of the assessment methodologies that can be used:

• Opinion Survey Assessments
• Test Assessments
• Experiential Assessments
• Interview Assessments
• Observation Assessments
• Measurement of Results

WHAT LEVEL OF DETAIL SHOULD BE USED TO DESCRIBE THE COMPETENCIES?

The more detail you create:

• The longer it takes to complete the model.
• The more money it requires
• The less generalizable the results are.
• The less you can compare information across jobs or people
• The more you restrict the possible range of acceptable performance behaviour.
• The more you inhibit creative/alternative ways to get to the same end result.
• The faster the information becomes obsolete.
• The more specific the expected outcome can be articulated.
• The more specific the performance management process can become.
• The more you can differentiate between performance levels and between people.