Human Capital Management

5th Lecture
Temat: Competency management
as an important element
of Human Resource Management
Agnieszka Knap-Stefaniuk
MBA, Ph.D.

AGENDA:
Introduction
Competence - introduction
Competence - definitions
Competences and qualifications
The components of competence
Types of competence
Social, functional and business competences
Stages of competence development

AGENDA:
Methods of competence development
Competency Management
Stages of competency management
Competency management functions
Factors affecting the management competence
Identification of functional competencies
Identification and evaluation of individual competences

Reading list
1.
2.

3.
4.
5.

6.

Compulsory reading list:

Michael Armstrong, Armstrong's Handbook of Strategic Human Resource
Management, 5th Edition, Kogan Page 2011
Dave Ulrich, Jon Younger, Wayne Brockbank, Mike Ulrich, HR from the Outside
In: Six Competencies for the Future of Human Resources Hardcover, McGrow
Hill Education 2012
Gary A. Yukl, Leadership in Organizations, (8th Edition), Prentice Hall 2012
David E. Guest, Jaap Paauwe, Patrick Wright,HRM and Performance:
Achievements and Challenges, 1st Edition; Wiley 2013
Michael Armstrong, Stephen Taylor, Armstrong's Handbook of Human
Resource Management Practice: Building Sustainable Organizational
Performance Improvement 13th Edition, Kogan Page 2014
Clare Anne Francis, HRM Sample Materials: Cases, Problems & Designs on
Human Resource Management (HRM) Topics, CreateSpace Independent
Publishing Platform 2015

Reading list
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

6.
7.
8.

Supplementary reading list:

Jon Ingham, Strategic Human Capital Management, 1 edition, Routledge, Oxford
2006
Angela Baron, Michael Armstrong, Human Capital Management: Achieving
Added Value through People, Kogan Page Limited, London-Philadelphia 2008
James M. Kouzes, Barry Z. Posner, The Leadership Challenge, 4th Edition,
Jossey-Bass 2008
Sally Coleman Selen, Human Capital: Tools and Strategies For the Public
Sector; 1st Edition, CQ Press 2008
Wiliam H. Macey, Benjamin Schneider, Karen M. Barbera, Scott A. Young,
Employee Engagement: Tools for Analysis, Practice and Competitive Advantage
(1st Edition), John Willey and Sons Ltd., Oxford 2009
Michael Armstrong, Armstrong's Essential Human Resource Management
Practice: A Guide to People Management, Kogan Page 2010
Gary Dessler, A Framework for Human Resource Management, 6 edition,
Prentice Hall 2010
Shawn Smiths, Rebecca Mazin, The HR Answer Book: An Indispensable Guide
for Managers and Human Resources Professionals Hardcover, 2nd edition,
AMACOM 2011

Reading list
Supplementary reading list:
9. Dennis Briscoe, Randall Schuler, Ibraiz Tarique, International Human Resource
Management: Policies and Practices for Multinational Enterprises (Global HRM),
4th Edition, Routledge 2011
10. Barbara Mitchell, Cornelia Gamlem, The Big Book of HR, (1st edition) , Career
Press 2012
11. Wayne Cascio, Managing Human Resources, (9th Edition), McGraw-Hill
Education 2012
12. Gary Dessler, A Framework for Human Resource Management (7th Edition),
Prentice Hall 2012
13. Stephen P. Robbins, Timothy A. Judge, Organizational Behavior (15th Edition),
Prentice Hall 2012
14. Joan E. Pynes, Human Resources Management for Public and Nonprofit
Organizations: A Strategic Approach, 4th Edition; Jossey-Bass 2013
15. Robert L. Mathis, John H. Jackson, Sean R. Valentine, Study Guide for
Mathis/Jackson/Valentine's Human Resource Management, 14th Edition, SouthWestern College Pub 2013

Lecture 5 - Introduction
Lecture 3 concerns issues connected with competency
management as an important element of Human Resource
Management in the contemporary organizations.
During the lecture you will learn answers to the following questions:
What are the competences?
What are the ingredients of competences?
What types of competences can you distinguish?
What are the stages of competence development?
What is competency management?
What are the stages and functions of competency management?
What factors affect the competency management in the contemporary
organizations?

Competency management
as an important element
of Human Resource Management

Competencies - introduction
Already Frederick Taylor wrote about competences
(Principles of Scientific Management, 1911). At first
mainly managerial skills were discussed (at present skills
are treated as one of essential elements of competence).
Almost from the beginning of the research on sources of
the professional effectiveness, it was assumed that the
qualities of employees such as intelligence,
temperament, morality or charisma influence their
occupational activity, as well as their success or failure.
Competences - equated with skills - were also noticed in
the research on behaviours of leaders, although for a
long time it was mainly personality features that were
studied.

Competencies - definitions
In other definitions researchers explain:
Competencies relate to an education, experience and skills,
talents and predispositions and (other) psychophysical
features, such as behaviour expected by the employer, and
important in the workplace. (T. Oleksyn)
Competencies include knowledge used at work, experience,
abilities and predispositions to work in a team towards
attaining company goals, ability to act professionally, ethical
cultural values.(A. Sajkiewicz)
Competencies can be defined as a set of behaviours which
are learnt better by some people, which means that in a given
situation those people act more effectively"(C.Levy-Leboyer)
Competencies denote a cluster of behaviours which are
essential for appropriate performance of tasks and functions.
(Ch. Woodruffe)

Competencies and qualifications

The notion of qualifications is sometimes used interchangeably
with that of competence or is used alongside it, which usually is a
mistake as these two terms do not denote the same thing.
Competencies result from an individual experience of an employee
and they are linked with certain knowledge and skills, integrated in
such a way that a competent person is able to use them at the right
moment.
Whereas qualifications include only theoretical knowledge of
individuals, complemented with their ability to do a given job. So
competencies are not synonymous to the colloquial meaning of
qualification, neither are they the same as a formal education or a
diploma.

Competencies and qualifications

Qualifications involve theoretical knowledge of an individual
or skills required to do tasks at a given professional position.

Competencies also include an ability to cope well in new

situations in which it is necessary to take initiative and get
involved.
Competencies are rooted in individual experience, they
constitute a cluster of related abilities, commitments,
knowledge and skills which a competent person can use at
the right moment to achieve perfect results at work. (R.
Boyatzisem).

Types of Competency
In specialist literature different classifications of
competency are described:
Professional competencies, characteristic for various
professions.
Organisational, management, employee, social and
technological competencies (they include knowledge
and collective memory, as well as outside licences
or patents).
Functional competencies, job-specific competencies
that drive high-performance, quality results for a
given position.
Individual competencies:
Real (that an employee already has),
Potential (that an employee can gain).

Stages of Competence Development

There are four stages of competence development:
Unconscious incompetence experienced at the beginning of
career. Optimism in evaluating ones abilities is characteristic
for this stage. Individuals do not necessarily recognize the
deficit as they do not know what skills are necessary to do a
job. The individual must recognize their own incompetence,
and the value of the new skill, before moving on to the next
stage.
Conscious incompetence at this stage confrontation with
reality takes place and the individual recognizes the deficit, as
well as the value of a new skill in addressing the deficit. The
making of mistakes can be integral to the learning process at
this stage. Depending on the individual and determination this
can be a very creative time or it may lead to discouragement.

Stages of Competence Development

Conscious competence - The individual understands or knows
how to do something. However, demonstrating the skill or
knowledge requires concentration. It may be broken down into
steps, and there is heavy conscious involvement in executing
the new skill and making sure it conforms to accepted
standards.
Unconscious competence (mastery) - The individual has had
so much practice with a skill that it has become "second
nature" and can be performed easily (often without
concentrating too deeply). As a result, the skill can be
performed while executing another task. Using the best
solutions is not a problem. Decisions are always made with
ease and are spot-on. Upgrading of qualifications and skill
development play an important role at the mastery stage.

Methods of Competence Development

Situations which foster competence development:
change in the job description,
new challenges at work,
opportunities for continuous learning and professional
development,
opportunities for undertaking unconventional, creative
activity,
help with building the career of employees and honing of
competencies; ensuring that employees career
development is accepted by employees while at the
same time consistent with the direction of development
of a company.

Stages of Competnecy Management

The concept of competency management in organizational
practice requires taking action in a certain sequence:
Stage one to formulate the mission statement and action
plan.
Stage two to analyse the needs of an organization with
particular reference to the requirements concerning
competencies needed in the company and for individual
positions.
Stage three to analyse competencies of an organisation at a
given moment (defining talent available).
Stage four to determine organizational areas with the
insufficient level of competence, competence deficiencies
(critical skills gap analysis) or competence surpluses.

Stages of Competency Management

Stage five to create a plan for the human resources
development within an organisation in the form of a practical
plan including among other things: recruitment, evaluation,
training and professional development, career paths.
Final stage taking measures to develop existing
competencies and to create new competencies by appropriate
allocation of labour from internal labour market, retraining and
training of employees, recruitment and selection of employees
from external labour market, outsourcing and outplacement.

Factors Influencing
Competency Management
Competency management is conditioned both by internal and
external factors:
Main internal factors affecting competency management
include: the quality of management, the quality of regulations
concerning work and pay, the type of organisational culture,
personnel department competencies, the quality of
communication in the company, the flexibility of employment,
the mission statement and the strategy of a company, the size
of a company and the quality of its social potential.
External factors affecting competency management include:
availability and cost of education and external training, the
quality of competency management in other companies, the
state of the external labour market, economic policy, legal and
tax systems.

Identification and Evaluation

of Individual Competencies
In order to identify and evaluate individual competencies of employees
the following tools are used:
behavioural observation scales (self-observation, participant
observation),
competency assessment tests (for example: psychological or vocational),
interviews with individual employees,
periodic performance evaluation (in particular 360 degree employee
evaluation),
references (opinions of other people about employees),
Assessment Center (an integrated evaluation of behaviour - multifactor
appraisal done by multiple trained observers using special diagnostic
techniques).
Competency resources (knowledge, skills, experiences) and the level of
energy, motivation, health and other economically relevant attributes of
employees constitute human capital of every company.