COMPETENCY MAPPING

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER III

COMPETENCY MAPPING

XAVIER INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SERVICE

RANCHI

Submitted by: Submitted to:

Group III Prof. Sajeet LakraPersonnel Management-II2010-2012

COMPETENCY MAPPING

GROUP CONSTITUTIONMembers Roll No.Vishal Vats……………..……….. 03Ankita Kevin Natal…..…………. 12Ruhama…………………………. 25Abhinav Mishra…….………….. 35Hirni Pathak…….…..…………. 49Ritesh…………………………… 64Tanvi…………….……………… S-4

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Success of a project depends on the endeavor put behind it. Encouragement and patronization perfect an endeavor.

We take this opportunity to express our heartfelt gratitude to our faculty Prof. Sajeet Lakra, for providing us with the opportunity of preparing the study material for the third chapter “Competency Mapping” of the HRD curriculum and give presentation in the class.

The group’s involvement and team work helped us understand the chapter in a lucid manner. The group’s cohesiveness and team work helped us to make this task a success. We thank all the team members and also all our colleagues for their unconditional support.

Thank You

Group III

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CONTENTS

S.No. Topics Pg. No.1. Competency Mapping - Evolution 12. Definition, Objectives & Needs 33. Steps in Competency Mapping 74. Effect On Other HRD Systems 95. Competency Mapping At Different Levels 146. Assessment and Feedback Based on

Competency Mapping19

7. Tools for Developing Competencies 228. Case Analysis 249. Bibliography 26

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Competency Mapping - Evolution

In the beginning of the 20th century, work brought complex skills to the job. Typical Business process required specific competencies for the task at hand. These competencies could be acquired only through years of on-the-job learning and practice.

Then came the era of scientific management where Frederic Taylor’s and Henry Ford’s use of assembly line shifted competencies from workers to time and motion study. Complexity was minimized and efficiency was maximized. Process expertise left little scope for training.

World War II (mid century) enforced management centric views where officers gave orders to subordinates who obeyed without questions. Thus people in command were assumed to have information, perspective and ability to make decisions. After the war they still lived under a command and control hierarchy.

In the post war decade the demand was unparalleled and competition was little. The turnaround came when in the early 1960’s when McClelland wrote a landmark article in the American Psychologist asserting that IQ and personality tests that were then in common use were predictors of competency. He felt that companies should hire people based upon competencies rather test scores.

In the year 1973 McClelland developed new methods to predict human performance for US Information Agency. Objective was to eliminate the potential biases of traditional intelligence and aptitude testing. This was the beginning of the field of competence

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measurement. McClelland began by asking the USIA’s personnel director and some top managers for the name of their most outstanding employees. He also asked for the names of people whose jobs were secure but who were in no way outstanding.

McClelland and his associates asked the 2 groups to describe 3 incidents where they felt that they have performed outstandingly and where they have messed up.

Many skills that the panel of experts had identified as crucial to job performance turned out to be irrelevant to the everyday duties of the people interviewed by McClelland

The turning point for competency movement – Article published in American Psychologist in 1973 by McClelland. Article presented data supporting that traditional achievement and intelligence score may not be able to predict job success. Need of the hour was to profile the exact competencies required to perform the given job effectively. Equally noteworthy is the pioneering work by Douglas Brey and his associates at AT&T which gave evidence that the competencies can be assessed through assessment centers and on the job success can be predicted to certain extent.

Behaviour Event Interviewing (BEI) was developed by McBer to map the competencies. Increased recognition of the limitations of performance appraisal in predicting future performance shifted focus to potential appraisal and assessment centers in seventies. Assessment centers were an integral part of the HRD plan given to L&T in 1975.

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Definition, Objectives & Needs

COMPETENCY

Any underlying characteristic required for performing a given task, activity or role successfully can be considered as competency.

COMPETENCY - DEFINITION

United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (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.”

RANKIN (2002)

“Competencies are definition of skills and behaviors that organizations expect their staff to practice in work.”  

MANSFIELD (1997)

“Underlying characteristics of a person that results in effective a superior performance.”

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Competency may take the following forms:

Knowledge

Attitude

Skill

Other characteristics of an individual including

Motives

Values

Traits

Self Concept

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ObservableBehavior

Motives, Values , Traits, Self Concept

Attitudes

Knowledge

Skills

COMPETENCY MAPPING

COMPETENCY MAPPING

It is a process of identification of the competencies required to perform successfully a given job or role or a set of tasks at a given point of time. It consists of breaking a given role or job into its constituent tasks or activities and identifying the competencies (technical, managerial, behavioral, conceptual knowledge and attitude and skills, etc) needed to perform the same successfully.

Competency Map. A competency map is a list of an individual’s competencies that represent the factors most critical to success in given jobs, departments, organizations, or industries that are part of the individual’s current career plan.

Competency Mapping. Competency mapping is a process an individual uses to identify and describe competencies that are the most critical to success in a work situation or work role

Competency profiling It is the process of identifying the knowledge, skills, abilities, attitudes, and judgment required for effective performance in a particular occupation or profession. Competency profiling is business/company specific.

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OBJECTIVES OF COMPETENCY MAPPING

Competency mapping serves a number of purposes. It is done for the following functions:

Gap Analysis

Role Clarity

Succession Planning

Growth Plans

Restructuring

Inventory of competencies for future planning

NEED FOR COMPETENCY MAPPING

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Steps in Competency Mapping

The following steps may be followed in competency Mapping:

1) Decide the roles for which the competencies need to be mapped.

2) Identify the location of the roles in the organizational structure. This needs the clarity of organizational structure, defining the role relationships (reporting authority, subordinates, peers etc.).

3) Identify the objectives of the function or the department or the unit or section where the role is located.

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Training and Development

Recruitment and Selection

CareerPlanning

Performance Appraisal

Succession Planning

Compensation

Replacement Planning Compete

ncy Mapping

COMPETENCY MAPPING

4) Identify the objectives of the role. Why does the role exist? What are the main purposes of the role etc. details.

5) Collect the Key Performance Areas (or KRAs, Tasks, etc.) of the role holder for the last two to three years from the performance appraisal records. Alternately, collect the job descriptions of any of the role to make a list of all tasks and activities to be performed by that role holder.

6) Interview the role holder to list the Tasks and activities expected to be performed by the Individual. Group them into a set of tasks. The tasks list may be as many as 15 to 20 for some roles and as Competency mapping few as five to six for other roles. There is no rigid rule about the number of tasks. It depends on how complex the role is. It is useful to start with as many tasks as possible.

7) Interview the role holder to list the actual knowledge, attitude, skills, and other competencies required for performing the task effectively. The role holder should be asked questions like: “If you are to recruit someone to perform this task what qualities or competencies would you look for in him/her? What competencies do you think are required to perform this well?

8) Repeat the process with the entire role set members.

9) Consolidate the list of competencies from all the role holders’ by each task.

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10) Edit and finalize. Present it to the supervisors of the role holder and the role holder for approval and finalization.

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Effects Of Competency Mapping On Other HRD Systems

Competency mapping is the process of identification of the competencies required to perform successfully a given job or role or a set of tasks at a given point of time. Competencies include the collection of success factors necessary for achieving important results in a specific job or work role in a particular organization.

Success factors are combinations of knowledge, skills, and attributes that are described in terms of specific behaviors, and are demonstrated by superior performers in those jobs or work roles. Attributes include: personal characteristics, traits, motives, values or ways of thinking that impact an individual's behavior. Competency must lead to effective performance.

There are certain advantages of incorporating competency mapping in various HRD systems which are given below:-

1. Recruitment & Selection: Competency-based recruitment is a process of recruitment based on the ability of candidates to produce anecdotes about their professional experience which can be used as evidence that the candidate has a given competency. Candidates demonstrate competencies on the application form, and then in the interview, which in this case is known as a competency-based interview.

The process is intended to be fairer than other recruitment processes by clearly laying down the required competencies and then testing them in such a way that the the recruiter has little discretion to favour one candidate over another; the process assumes high recruiter discretion is undesirable. As a result of its perceived fairness, the process is popular in public services.

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Competency-based recruitment is highly focused on the candidates' story-telling abilities as in indication of competency, and disfavors other indications of a candidate's skills and potential, such as references.

A competency based approach to recruitment and selection of staff can help an organization, to make it an effective and successful investment of time, money and expertise. Such an approach will help ensure that:

i. The organization is clear regarding the competencies and skill sets required by the job;

ii. Selection processes encourage a good fit between individuals and their jobs, managers and staff have the required skills and competencies;

iii. Individual skills and abilities are matched to the requirements of the job; and

iv. Evaluation of work demands and staffing are accurate

2. Performance Management System: Performance management is about achieving results in a manner that is consistent with organizational expectations. Integrating competencies within the performance management process supports the provision of feedback to employees not only on “what” they have accomplished (i.e., performance goals), but also “how” the work was performed, using competencies for providing feedback.

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Integrating competency with PMS assist:-

i. Employees in understanding performance expectations and enhancing competencies.

ii. To integrate capabilities with existing or new processes.

iii. To provide a mechanism for providing positive feedback about an employee’s training achievements and on-the-job performance

iv. To provide job standards for performance appraisal

v. To provide clear direction for learning new job skills

3. Training: Competency Based Training focuses on what the participant is expected to be able to do in the workplace as opposed to just having theoretical knowledge. An important characteristic of Competency Based Training is that it is focused not only on the actual jobs that are required in the workplace, but also the ability to transfer and apply skills, knowledge and attitudes to new situations and environments.

• The emphasis in competency based training is on “performing” rather than just “knowing”.

•  Competence-based program needs to focus on building the knowledge and skills needed in a particular job. Competence-based programs are also used to increase employees' current job performance, prepare them for changing job requirements or introduce new tools or technology in the work place.

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• By having a well designed competence-based training and development program the organization will be able to ensure it has the right people, with the right skills, at the right time, to accomplish their business objectives.

The advantages of competency based training (CBT) are:-

i. Participants will achieve competencies required in the performance of their jobs. 

ii. Participants build confidence as they succeed in mastering specific competencies. 

iii. Participants receive a transcript or list of the competencies they have achieved.

4. Development: For organizations to succeed in today’s competitive setting, employees at all levels need to develop and demonstrate a set of behavior showcasing his or her capabilities, characteristics, knowledge, talent as well as personal qualities for effective performance at work.

All businesses are based on some key competencies. If any business neglects employee competency and its development, all growth and productivity of an employee, company and profits will be affected. The main reason for an organization to create a competency-based system that focuses on having the right people with right skills at the right time is that it helps in accomplishing business targets. Competencies are the need of the hour and designing appropriate competency development models is a necessity.

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Advantages of competency based development:-

i. Improvement in productivity, performance and profitability 

ii. Identify employee’s capabilities for an organization’s future needs

iii. Analyzing capability gaps

5. Compensation: Competency-based pay fits this new environment. It provides an ongoing incentive to employees to enhance their ability to perform their jobs. Employees are rewarded with salary increases when they add new knowledge or skills or when they demonstrate higher level competence on existing capabilities.

Advantages of competency based compensation:-

i. Provides a basis of deciding on the compensation.

ii. Encourages employees to develop their competencies further.

iii. Lead to a focus on totality of job rather than just what is achieved.

iv. This system fits every job.

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Competency Mapping at Different Levels

The Lancaster Model of Managerial Competencies is a universal management competency framework, developed by Burgoyne and Stuart (1976) and first published in Personnel Review. The 11 qualities separated into three groups, as shown in figure below, represent three different levels. The first level forms the foundation level, and comprises of two kinds of basic knowledge and information a manager may need to use in decision making and action taking.

The Lancaster (Burgoyne) Model of Managerial Competencies

Source: Burgoyne and Stuart (1976)

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LEVEL 1

LEVEL 2

LEVEL 3

COMPETENCY MAPPING

Level One

Competence One: Command of Basic Facts

This competency states that a successful manager should understand the business and have a sound knowledge of basic facts surrounding the business such as short- and long-term goals, product knowledge, and the roles and relationships between various departments.

Competence Two: Relevant Professional Knowledge

This includes knowledge of a specification such as legislation, management techniques, sources of finance or knowledge of basic background management principles including planning, organizingand controlling. The second category comprises specific skills and attributes that directly affect behaviour and performance.

Level Two

Competence One: Continuing Sensitivity to Events

This means the manager is aware of what is going on and is perceptive and open to information: hard information such as figures and facts and soft information such as feelings of other people. As a result, a successful manager is able to respond in a suitable manner to situations as they arise.

Competence Two: Analytical, Problem-solving and Decision-making Skills

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A manager must make many decisions—sometimes these can be made using logical, optimizing techniques. At other times it means using the ability to weigh the pros and cons in what is a very uncertain or ambiguous situation, calling for a high level of judgement or even intuition. Consequently, the manager must develop judgement-making skills.

Competence Three: Social Skills and Abilities

Burgoyne and Stuart (1976) describe interpersonal skills as ‘one of the key features of the manager’s job’. A successful manager needs to develop a range of skills such as communicating, delegating, negotiating, resolving conflict, persuading, using and responding to authority and power, all of which are essential to interpersonal activities.

Competence Four: Emotional Resilience

This is the ability to deal with the emotional stress and strain that arises as a consequence of working in situations of authority, leadership, power, targets and deadlines. Burgoyne and Stuart (1976) talk about being resilient in coping with this stress. They explain:‘Resilient means, that when feeling stressed, we don’t get thick skinnedand insensitive but manage to cope by maintaining self-control and by “giving” to some extent.’

Competence Five: Proactivity or Inclination to Respond Purposefully to Events

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At times managers must respond to the needs of the instant situation, but whilst making such a response, the successful manager considers the longer-term aims and goals and the impact of theimmediate decision. This competence also includes abilities such as dedication and commitment, having a sense of mission and taking responsibility. The third category consists of qualities that allow a manager to develop and deploy the skills and resources outlined in the second category. The authors have called this third category ‘meta-qualities’ because ‘they allow the manager to develop the situation-specific skills needed in particular circumstances’ (Burgoyne and Stuart 1976).

Level Three

Competence One: Creativity

This is the ability to come up with unique ideas or solutions, and to have the insight to take up useful ideas—either your own ideas or ideas from another source.

Competence Two: Mental Agility

This competence is concerned with being able to grasp problems quickly, to think about several things at once, to understand the whole situation quickly and to ‘think on one’s feet’. ‘Given the hectic nature of managerial work these are particularly necessary qualities for success,’ explain Burgoyne and Stuart (1976).

Competence Three: Balanced Learning Habits and Skills

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Successful managers according to Burgoyne et al. exhibit independence as learners rather than depending on an authority figure capable of abstract thinking. Such managers have the ability to use a range of learning processes including use of inputs like teaching, discovery from one’s personal experiences and reflection, a process of analysing and reorganizing pre-existing experiences.

Competence Five: Self-knowledge

The final competence concerns the extent to which managers are aware of their own beliefs, goals, values, feelings, behaviour and the part they play in influencing their actions. ‘The successfulmanager therefore needs skills of introspection,’ explain Burgoyne and Stuart (1976).

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Assessment & FeedbackBased On Competency Mapping

A competency model can address many of the issues related to performance appraisal. This ensures agreement on performance criteria, what is accomplished and what is not accomplished, collecting relevant and sufficient data. It also ensures opportunity to supervisors to observe behaviour, specificity and concreteness in discussions about performance deficiencies and handling of large amounts of data in a structured manner.

Provides a shared understanding of what will be monitored and measured—A competency model integrated with performance appraisal ensures a balance between what gets done and how it gets done. The concern is not only with results but with the behaviour and manner with which those results are attained. It provides a shared picture of what is considered relevant and important to effective performance. Models aligned with the business objectives specifically outline the performance criteria that will be used to measure effectiveness and success in that position.

Focuses and facilitates the performance appraisal discussion—Organizations face the challenge of discussing a person’s behaviour in a manner that is focused and useful and does not put the individual on the defensive. The skills, knowledge and characteristics that are important to success are clearly described. It provides a roadmap of where to begin the discussion and what areas to focus on.

Provides focus for gaining information about behaviour—An appraisal process includes a simple, accurate method for a boss

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to assess job performance. But what happens when the boss is new or he/she controls a number of different locations? By identifying the specific behaviours crucial for effective performance, competency models offer bosses a starting point.

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360-Degree Feedback Process

The 360-degree Feedback Process is being increasingly used in organizations for development, appraisal and compensation purposes. It involves a collection of perceptions about an individual’s behaviour and its impact on bosses, colleagues, subordinates as well as internal and external customers. Competency Mapping help to ensure that such feedback relates specifically to the competencies crucial to individual or organizational success.

The 360-degree feedback aligned with the competency model is an important component for promotion. This includes the competency description of behaviours and the ability required for the current job, along with the ratings indicating the current level of ability.

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Tools For Developing Competencies

Literature Review. A preliminary approach for defining job content and identifying required competencies is to conduct a review of the literature to learn about previous studies of the job or similar jobs.

Focus Groups. In focus groups, a facilitator works with a small group of job incumbents, their managers, supervisees, clients, or others to define the job content or to identify the competencies they believe are essential for performance.

Structured Interviews. In structured interviews, carefully planned questions are asked individually of job incumbents, their managers, or others familiar with the job. Benchmarking interviews with other organizations are especially useful in achieving a broader view of the job or determining which competencies are more universally deemed necessary for a particular job.

Behavioral Event Interviews. In behavioral event interviews (BEI), top performers are interviewed individually about what they did, thought, said, and felt in challenging or difficult situations. The competencies that were instrumental in their success are extrapolated from their stories. Often, average and low performers are also interviewed to provide a comparison.

Surveys. In surveys, job incumbents, their supervisors, and perhaps senior managers complete a questionnaire administered either in print or electronically. The survey content is based on previous data collection.

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Observations. In this data collection method, the research team visits high-performing incumbents and observes them at work. The more complex the job and the greater the variety in job tasks, the more time is required for an observation.

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Case Analysis

Once a buyer has decided what to look for in a car, he or she must decide how to assess specific cars to identify the one best suited to his or her needs. There is a number of assessments the car buyer can make to help with the selection decision:

Look at its general appearance

Use a checklist of essential characteristics

Ask how good the owner thinks the car is

Question previous owners on the history of the car

Look at the handbook and service history

Ask for specific examples of the car’s performance

Take it for a test-drive

Make predictions based on technical characteristics of the car.

The car buyer may undertake more than one of the above assessments before making a decision on whether to purchase the car or not. Some assessments will not provide the best measure of a car’s suitability. For example, buying a car because it looks OK and the owner says it is a great car to drive is at best going to leave the car buyer unprepared for what is wrong with the car, and at worst leave him or her having made a very expensive mistake.

Short of taking a car away for a few months to try it out, a test-drive is probably the most accurate means of assessing of its suitability. It enables the car to be driven in realistic situations while undertaking

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tasks that represent the everyday operations the car will be required to perform. For example, if the car is to be used for long motorway journeys with a full load as well as for trips around town, then these conditions should be part of the test-drive.

There are some assessments that a buyer may wish to make before he or she undertakes a test-drive. These assessments will prevent the buyer from viewing a car which does not meet certain basic

requirements. For example, he or she may wish to check that the car has a certain number of seats because, however suitable the car is in other ways, without the right minimum number of seats there would be no point in viewing it.

There are also some assessments the car buyer may wish to make after taking it for a test-drive. For example, the car buyer may wish to check the car’s history by looking at the service book.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Handbook of Competency Mapping, Understanding, Designing & Implementing competency models in Organization, Seema Sanghi, 2004,pg.20-28, Response Books.

http://www.iqpc.com/uploadedFiles/Training/ Asia_Training/The_Gateway/competency.pdf

[Accessed on 25th February, 2012]

www.citehr.com

The Competencies Handbook, 2005, Steve Whiddett & Sarah Hollyforde, Jaico Publishing House

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