First there were some amoebas.

Deviant amoebas
adapted better to the environment, thus becoming
monkeys. Then came TQM.
I am leaving out some details, but the theory itself also
has a few holes that are best left unquestioned.
- Scott Adams

Beginning of the twentieth century - work brought complex skills
to the job. Business process required specific competencies for
the task at hand.
Era of scientific management Taylors and Fords use of
assembly line shifted focus from competency to time and motion
study.
World War II (mid century) enforced management centric views
where officers gave orders to subordinates who obeyed without
questions.


1960 David McClellands landmark article in the American
Psychologist asserted that companies should hire people
based upon competencies rather than test scores.
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.
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 accessed 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.
Any underlying characteristic required for
performing a given task, activity or role successfully
can be considered as competency.

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.

Observable
Behavior
Motives, Values , Traits, Self Concept
Attitudes
Knowledge
Skills
Competency may take the following forms:

Knowledge
Attitude
Skill

Other characteristics of an individual including
Motives
Values
Traits
Self Concept
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
individuals competencies that represent the factors
most critical to success in given jobs, departments,
organizations, or industries that are part of the
individuals 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.
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
Training and
Development
Recruitment
and Selection
Career
Planning
Performance
Appraisal
Succession
Planning
Compensation
Replacement
Planning
Competency
Mapping
The following steps may be followed in competency
Mapping:
1) Decide the positions for which the competencies need
to be mapped.
2) Identify the location of the positions in the
organizational structure. This needs the clarity of
organizational structure, defining the position
relationships (reporting authority, subordinates, peers
etc.).
3) Identify the objectives of the function or the
department or the unit or section where the position is
located.

4) Identify the objectives of the role. Why does the
position exist? What are the main purposes of the
role etc. details.
5) Collect the Key Performance Areas (or KRAs,
Tasks, etc.) of the position holder for the last two
to three years from the performance appraisal
records. Alternately, collect the job descriptions of
any of the position to make a list of all tasks and
activities to be performed by that position holder.

6) Interview the position 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
positions and as Competency Mapping few as
five to six for other positions. There is no rigid rule
about the number of tasks. It depends on how
complex the position is. It is useful to start with as
many tasks as possible.
7) Interview the position holder to list the actual
knowledge, attitude, skills, and other competencies
required for performing the task effectively. The position
holder should be asked questions like: If you are to recruit
some one 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 all the position set members.
9) Consolidate the list of competencies from all the
position holders by each task.
10) Edit and finalize. Present it to the supervisors of the
position holder and the position holder for approval and
finalization.

Effects on the following HRD systems:-
Recruitment & Selection
Performance Management System
Training
Development
Compensation Management
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.

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 to
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


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.

Integrating competency with PMS helps:-
i. Employees in understanding performance expectations and
enhancing competencies.
ii. To provide a mechanism for providing positive feedback about an
employees training achievements and on-the-job performance
iii. To provide job standards for performance appraisal
iv. To provide clear direction for learning new job skills

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 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.
All businesses are based on some key competencies. The main
reason for an organization to create a competency-based
development 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.

Advantages of competency based development:-
i. Improvement in productivity, performance and profitability
ii. Identify employees capabilities for an organizations future
needs
iii. Analyzing capability gaps


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.
The 11 qualities separated into three groups, as
shown in the following slide, it 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
A Competency Mapping 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
Provides a shared understanding of what will be
monitored and measuredA Competency
Mapping integrated with performance appraisal
ensures a balance between what gets done and
how it gets done.
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
behaviourAn appraisal process includes a
simple, accurate method for a boss 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
Mapping offer bosses a starting point.
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 individuals 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.
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
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.
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 cars 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 cars 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 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.
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 cars 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 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 cars history by looking at the
service book.
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 25
th
February, 2012]
www.citehr.com
The Competencies Handbook, 2005, Steve Whiddett &
Sarah Hollyforde, Jaico Publishing House