COMPETENCY BASED MANAGEMENT

Contents
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY: .................................................................................................................... 2
INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 3
INDUSTRY SELECTED FOR STUDY: CHEMICAL INDUSTRY .................................................................... 5
BENEFITS OF USING COMPETENCYAPPROACH ................................................................................... 6
JOB DESCRIPTION:............................................................................................................................... 9
METHODOLOGY: ............................................................................................................................... 10
JOB DESCRIPTIONS ................................................................................................................................ 14
INTERPRETATION .................................................................................................................................. 17
SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS: .......................................................................................... 20
CONCLUSION:........................................................................................................................................ 20
BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................................................... 21
APPENDIX .............................................................................................................................................. 22

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OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

1. To understand the concept of competency mapping, its utility and scope.

2. To list the competencies against individual roles and responsibilities in production department
at Vasant chemicals.
3. To measure the knowledge, skill and attitude with the help of ranking method.
4. To identify the competence gap between the required performance and actual performance.
5. To suggest the best competency based training and development programs.

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INTRODUCTION

In today‟s competitive market, companies are aware that their workforce must be properly trained and
fully competent over a range of tasks within any given work discipline. Large organizations
frequently employ some form of competency mapping to understand how to most effectively employ
the competencies of strengths of workers. They may also use competency mapping to analyze the
combination of strengths in different workers to produce the most effective teams and the highest
quality work.

Competency mapping is a process through which one assesses and determines one‟s strengths as an
individual worker and in some cases, as part of an organization. It generally examines two areas:
emotional intelligence or emotional quotient (EQ), and strengths of the individual in areas like team
structure, leadership, and decision-making. Competency mapping can also be done for contract or
freelance workers, or for those seeking employment to emphasize the specific skills which would
make them valuable to a potential employer. Any underlying characteristic required performing a
given task, activity, or role successfully can be considered as competency. Competency may take the
following forms: Knowledge, Attitude, skills and other characteristics of an individual including
motives, values, self concept etc.

Competency mapping also requires some thought, time, and analysis, and some people simply may
not want to do the work involved to sufficiently map competencies. Competency mapping alone may
not produce accurate results unless one is able to detach from the results in analyzing past successes
and failures. Many studies find that people often overestimate their abilities, making self-competency
mapping results dubious. The value of competency mapping and identifying emotional strengths is
that many employers now purposefully screen employees to hire people with specific competencies.
They may need to hire someone who can be an effective time leader or who has

In competency mapping all details of the behaviours (observable, specific, measurable etc.) to be
shown by the person occupying that role are specified.

There is difference between the words „competence‟ and „competency.‟ „Competence‟ means a skill
and the standard of performance reached while „competency‟ refers to the behaviour by which it is
achieved. In other words, one describes what people can do while the other focuses on how they do it.
Competencies can be identified by one of more of the following category of people:
Experts, HR Specialists, Job analysts, Psychologists, Industrial Engineers etc. in consultation with:
LineManagers, Current & Past Role holders, Supervising Seniors,Reporting and Reviewing Officer,
Internal Customers, Subordinates of the role holders and Other role set members of the role (those
who have expectations from the role holder and who interact with him/her).

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INTERNAL ACTION OUTCOME

PERSONAL BEHAVIOR
CHARACTERISTICS • SKILL
JOB
• MOTIVE
PERFORMANCE
• TRAIT
• SELF CONCEPT

MODEL DEFINING COMPETENCY

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. Competencies in organizations tend to fall into two broad categories:-

1. Personal Functioning Competencies.

These competencies include broad success factors not tied to a specific work function or
industry (often focusing on leadership or emotional intelligence behaviors).
2. Functional/Technical Competencies.
These competencies include specific success factors within a given work function or industry.
Three other definitions are needed:

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.

Top competencies are the vital few competencies (four to seven, on average) that are the most
important to an individual in their ongoing career management process.

“Importance to the individual” is an intuitive decision based on a combination of three factors:

past demonstrated excellence in using the competency, inner passion for using the
competency, and the current or likely future demand for the competency in the individual‟s current
position or targeted career field.

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Although the definition above for “competency mapping” refers to individual employees,
organizations also “map” competencies, but from a different perspective.

Organizations describe, or map, competencies using one or more of the following four strategies:

1. Organization-Wide (often called “core competencies” or those required for organization

success)
2. Job Family or Business Unit Competency Sets
3. Position-Specific Competency Sets
4. Competency Sets Defined Relative to the Level of Employee Contribution (i.e. Individual
Contributor, Manager, or Organizational Leader)

INDUSTRY SELECTED FOR STUDY: CHEMICAL INDUSTRY

COMPANY: VASANT CHEMICALS

Vasant Chemicals was established in 1978 to full-fill the ambition and dream of an young
entrepreneur. In 27 years of its existence, Vasant has achieved various mile stones along the
way. From being a start up in 1978, it graduated to be the largest manufacturer of Stilbene
Intermediates and was able to create value for all the stakeholders like customers, suppliers,
employees and investors.

Vasant group is a global multi-dimensional organization, enjoying a leadership position in its

operations, while living up to the demanding expectations of customers by providing
innovative solutions, adopting environment-friendly state-of-art technology fulfilling hopes
and aspirations of its employees and shareholders, in addition to discharging its social
obligations to the fullest.

Vasant Chemicals is now poised to take off as a manufacturer of Specialty & Performance
Chemical Products. The focus for the next decade will be to create Value for the Customers
by offering niche products and services while broadening the investor and employee base.
Vasant will continue to dedicate itself for “customer success” while adopting environment
friendly technologies to re-cycle, re-use and conserve the resources.

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BENEFITS OF USING COMPETENCYAPPROACH

There are some useful benefits of using competency approach for the company, managers, and
employees as well.

FOR THE COMPANY

 Reinforce corporate strategy, culture, and vision.

 Establish expectations for performance excellence, resulting in a Systematic approach to
professional development, improved job satisfaction, and better employee retention.
 Increase the effectiveness of training and professional development programs by linking them
to the success criteria(i.e., behavioral standards of excellence).
 Provide a common framework and language for discussing how to implement and
communicate key strategies.
 Provide a common understanding of the scope and requirements of a specific role.
 Provide common, organization-wide standards for career levels that enable employees
to move across business boundaries.

FOR MANAGERS:

 Identify performance criteria to improve the accuracy and ease of the hiring and selection
process.
 Provide more objective performance standards.
 Clarify standards of excellence for easier communication of performance expectations to
direct reports.
 Provide a clear foundation for dialogue to occur between the manager and employee
about performance, development, and career-related issues.

FOR EMPLOYEES:

 Identify the success criteria (i.e., behavioral standards of performance excellence) required to
be successful in their role.
 Support a more specific and objective assessment of their strengths and specify targeted areas
for professional development.
 Provide development tools and methods for enhancing their skills.
 Provide the basis for a more objective dialogue with their manager or team about
performance, development and career related issues.

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Five types of competency characteristics

Motives-

The thing a person consistently thinks about or wants that cause action. Motives “Derive and
Select.” Behavior towards certain actions or goals and away from others.

Eg: Achievement motivated people Consistently set challenging goals for themselves, take
personal responsibility for accomplishing them and use feedback to do better.

Trait-

Physical character and consistent response to situation or information

Eg: Reaction time and good eye sight and physical trait competencies of combating
pilots. Emotional self-control and initiative are more complex.“Consistent responses to
situations.” Some people don‟t “blow up” at other and do act “above and beyond the call of
duty” to solve under stress. These traits competencies are characteristics of successful
manager. Motives and competencies are intrinsic operant or self-starting “master traits” that
predicts what people will do on their jobs lon gterm without close supervision.

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Self-concept-

A person‟s attitude, values or self image.

Eg: Self confidence (a person‟s belief that he or she can be effective in almost any situation)
People‟s values are respondent or reactive motives that predict what he or she will do in the
short term and in situation where others are in charge. For e.g. some one who values being a
leader is more likely to exhibit leadership behavior if he or she is told a task or job will be “a
test of leadership ability” people who value being, “in management” but do not intrinsically
like or spontaneously think about influencing others at the motive level often attain
management position but then fail.

Knowledge-

Information a person has in specific content area. Eg: A surgeon‟s knowledge of nerves and
muscles in the human body.

Job descriptions are a basic tool in communicating to organizational members

The specific duties, responsibilities, and competencies that are required for successful
performance on the job both at job-entry and at full-performance level. By being a complete
description including competencies, the job description is a more useful tool for
communicating job duties to candidates, serving as a tangible guidepost for employees by
providing greater role clarity and a well defined level of performance expectation based on
competency proficiency levels made visible on the job description.

Recruitment

Using competencies in recruitment can be as simple as including a list and a brief description
of the required competencies in the job posting, providing important information to the
candidates both in terms of what the organization expects of its employees and
for candidates to self select for jobs that match their set of competencies based on self-
assessment.

Selection &Testing

It is important to ensure that those selected for a job meet not just the minimum technical
requirements, but also have the essential "soft skills" (e.g. relationship building, teamwork,
communication, etc...) that are vital to sustain successful performance on the job overtime.

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Creating a competency-based interview question bank and developing competency-

based validated selection measures will enable an organization to better predict the success of
job candidates on the job.

Training &Development

A conceptualization of a competency is that it is observable, measurable, and can be learned

to achieve desired performance levels.

Hence, an assessment and evaluation of competency proficiency levels either during a

selection interview or as part of performance management process can be used to identify
appropriate developmental training opportunities necessary to achieve desired competency
proficiency levels.

Major tasks of the company

The major task of the company is to identify the competent employees and finding the
competence gap to achieve organizational goals.

JOB DESCRIPTION:

Possible competencies can be readily determined from well written job description. Job
description is a written statement of what a jobholder does, how it does, and why it is done.

Components of job description:

● Job title: it defines and designates the job properly. The department, division, etc. indicates
the name of the department. From the job title we can easily identified the basic competencies
needed for the job. For e.g. the designation computer operator.

We can identify that here a basic computer knowledge is the competency which a person
must require.

 Responsibilities: it gives a comprehensive listing of the duties together with some

indication of the frequency of occurrence or percentage of time devoted to each major
duty. It is regarded as the heart of the job.
 Authorities: it includes which are the authorities within the employee and how and
why he has to use for the betterment and development of the organization.

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 Abilities: abilities refer to an individual‟s capacity to perform various tasks in the job.
It may be physical or intellectual. Both abilities are required for adequate job
performance depends on the ability requirement of the job.
 Job knowledge and skills: knowledge and skills are the basic necessity of any job. All
the jobs are defined in the form of Job Description which includes Job Responsibility
and authorities required to perform that particular job.

We analyzed the following basic information from the Job Description:

 What level of knowledge do employees need to know and how is that skill acquired?
 How should the employees process that knowledge and skill?
 What is the scope of the responsibilities as far as decisions are concerned?
 What is the flow of interpersonal communication?
 What is the impact on results when employees make an error?
 What are the control mechanisms to prevent error?
 What is environmental level of stress and exposure on job?

METHODOLOGY:

 Listing down the departments.

 Listing down the positions of sectional heads.
 Understanding functions of departments.
 Understanding process of departments.
 Understanding job responsibilities and authorities of employees.
 Understanding the competencies skills required to individual employees.
 Identifying the gap between the competence required and actual competence of the
employee.
 Suggestions and recommendations for improvement

Methods of competency identification are used in identifying competence skills:

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Job description

The merits and demerits of job description are given below:

Advantage of job description:

 Produces very complete job description useful for job design, compensation analysis,
and by inference, some competency analysis.

For e.g. specification of the technical tasks required in a job can be used to deduce
cognitive skills needed for the job.

 Provides data to meet uniform guidelines on employee selection procedure

regulation which some interpret to require survey information on the frequency
and importance job tasks.

The basic knowledge, skills, ability and tasks need to be possessed by the middle management in a
production department

Knowledge

1. Raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for
maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
2. Business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource
allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and
coordination of people and resources.
3. Arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
4. Machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
5. Principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction
for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
6. Principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation
and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
7. Structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of
words, rules of composition, and grammar.
8. Principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes
customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of
customer satisfaction.

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9. Practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying

principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of
various goods and services.

Skills

1. Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the
points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at
inappropriate times.
2. Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most
appropriate one.
3. Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
4. Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative
solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
5. Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people
for the job.
6. Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to
make improvements or take corrective action.
7. Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
8. Managing one's own time and the time of others.
9. Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and
evaluate options and implement solutions.
10. Talking to others to convey information effectively.

Ability

1. Listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and
sentences.
2. Communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
3. Read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
4. Tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the
problem, only recognizing there is a problem.

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5. Combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding

a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
6. Apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
7. Speak clearly so others can understand you.
8. Arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or
set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical
operations).
9. Identify and understand the speech of another person.
10. See details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).

Tasks

1. Direct and coordinate production, processing, distribution, and marketing activities of

industrial organization.
2. Develop budgets and approve expenditures for supplies, materials, and human
resources, ensuring that materials, labor and equipment are used efficiently to meet
production targets.
3. Review processing schedules and production orders to make decisions concerning
inventory requirements, staffing requirements, work procedures, and duty
assignments, considering budgetary limitations and time constraints.
4. Review operations and confer with technical or administrative staff to resolve
production or processing problems.
5. Hire, train, evaluate, and discharge staff, and resolve personnel grievances.
6. Initiate and coordinate inventory and cost control programs.
7. Prepare and maintain production reports and personnel records.
8. Set and monitor product standards, examining samples of raw products or directing
testing during processing, to ensure finished products are of prescribed quality.
9. Develop and implement production tracking and quality control systems, analyzing
production, quality control, maintenance, and other operational reports, to detect
production problems.
10. Review plans and confer with research and support staff to develop new products and
processes.

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JOB DESCRIPTIONS

1. Department : Production

Designation : Operation executive

Responsibility:

 Overseeing the production process, drawing up a production schedule.

 Ensuring that planned efficiency and performance are met.
 Ensuring that the production is cost effective.
 Develop and track improvement.
 Coordinate, set up and implement standard operating procedure for all production operations.
 Making sure that the products are produced on time and are of good quality.
 Manage the adherence to prescribed procedures to ensure first pass quality meets or exceeds
planned goals.
 Working out the human and material resources needed.
 Ensure prescribed line parameters are completed timely.
 Drafting a timescale for the job.
 Estimating costs and setting the quality standards.

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2. Department : Production

Position : Production Engineer

Responsibility:-

 Supervises employees at different stages of product to ensure safety, quality and productivity.
 Planning – including developing /maintaining a viable plan incorporating hiring, training,
capacity, modelling, efficiency/yield assumptions etc
 Implements existing production recipes and makes adjustments as necessary to produce
products within specifications.
 Liaising with ware-housing, quality assurance, packaging areas to ensure prompt shipment of
product.
 Fills in process sheets containing instructions for all employees.
 Maintaining / Housekeeping at a high level within the department through the involvement of
all team members.
 Monitors quality of incoming raw materials and finished products by reviewing lab data.
 Cross-functional management of QA, materials and HR support for the team.
 Interacting and liaising with the other manufacturing teams and Logistics to prioritize back
orders.
 Develops and recommends improvements of facilities, equipment, or procedures to improve
safety, quality, and efficiency.
 Managing process and material flows, space management, and working with the Engineering
group to maximize utilization of space designated for specific operations area.
 Oversees and or conducts training of new or existing employees.

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3. Department : Production

Position : Ass. Production Engineer

Responsibility:

 Schedules and coordinates flow of work within or between departments of manufactur

ing plant to expedite product.
 Coordinate schedules and other activities.
 Coordinate the scheduling of meetings, and the assigning of responsibility for specific
tasks.
 Reviews master production schedule and work orders
 Assist in day-to-day department operations.
 Reschedules identical processes to eliminate duplicate machine setups.
 Distributes work orders to departments, denoting number, type, and proposed
completion date of units to be produced.
 Maintain digital and paper file systems.
 Confers with department supervisors to determine progress of work and to provide
information on changes in processing methods received from methods or engineering
departments.
 Maintaining attendance records of team-mates.
 Produce detailed reports, meeting notes, and notifications.
 Examine documents for completeness and latest version.
 Maintains inventory of materials and parts needed to complete production.
 Coordinate with production head and production officers.

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INTERPRETATION
Ranking Criteria: 1=Basic appreciation, 2= Proficiency level, 3=Competent;

Note: We have taken five employees (e1-e5) for assessment with the above profiles.

Sr COMPETENCIES Expected Actual rank Gap = expected- actual

no REQUIRED rank e1 e2 e3 e4 e5 e1 e2 e3 e4 e5
1 Machine operation (MO) 3 3 2 3 2 2 0 1 0 1 1
2 General maintenance (GM) 3 1 1 2 1 1 2 2 1 2 2
3 Safety knowledge (SF) 3 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1
4 Component knowledge (CK) 3 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 2

5 Instruments knowledge (IK) 3 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 2

6 Communication skills (CS) 3 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1

7 Commercial judgement (CJ) 3 3 2 3 2 2 0 1 0 1 1

8 Material handling (MH) 3 3 3 3 2 2 0 0 0 1 1

3.5
ACTUAL RANK
3 3 3 3 333
3

2.5
2 22 2 22222 222 222 22222 2 22 22
2

1.5
11 11 11 11
1

0.5

0
MO GM SK CK IK CS CJ MH

e1 e2 e3 e4 e5

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2.5

22 22 22 22 GAP
2

1.5

1 11 1 11111 111 111 11111 1 11 11

1

0.5

0 0 0 0 000
0
MO GM SK CK IK CS CJ MH

e1 e2 e3 e4 e5

ASSIGN OF WEIGHTAGE POINTS for 1= 20 marks, 2= 30 marks, 3= 50 marks taking

averages of the ranking of competencies

After identifying gap between actual and expected competency level, following programs are
suggested to employees on the basis of their score

GENERAL ASSESSMENT

1 Communication & presentation skills

2 Intellectual improvement training
3 Leadership and motivational program
4 ISO Awareness

PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT

1 Chemical operator training

2 Chemical safety training

3 Material handling

4 Advance Knowledge & New techniques

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RATING DETAILS

GAP REMARK
0-30 Excellent
30-50 Very good
50-70 Good
70-90 Average
90 Poor
&above
Department: Production

Employee No: Ranking Actual ranking Gap Suggested

Training
1 400 290 110 GA-1,2,3,4
PRO-2,3,4
2 400 300 100 GA-2,3
PROD-1,2,4
3 400 300 100 GA-1,2,3
PRO-2,4
4 400 210 190 GA-1,2,3
PRO-1,2,3,4
5 400 210 190 GA-1,2
PRO-1,2,3,4

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SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS:

1. We have understood that the GAP is higher so there is a need of good training.
2. We have also studied through observation thus we came up with the above
suggestions.
3. They should also hire talented employees to reduce this gap from the start.
4. The technical skills are higher when compared to the soft skills so all employees need
to be trained in communication skills and leadership skills.
5. While we are observing the enthusiasm was lacking in the employees.
6. We did a study only on the middle management of production department due to time
constrain. They should identify this competency gap for all other departments for the
continuous improvement of the company.

CONCLUSION:

Competency mapping helps to analyze the combination of strengths in different workers to

produce the most effective teams and the highest quality work. Competency mapping alone
may not produce accurate results unless one is able to detach from the results in analyzing
past successes and failures.. The value of competency mapping and identifying emotional
strengths is that many employers now purposefully screen employees. Competency mapping
is need to be regularly carried out in any organization in order to take the organisation
towards continual improvement.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Essentials of human resource management and industrial relations by D. Subba Rao
2. Human Resource Management by Ashwathapa
3. The hand book of competency mapping by Seema Sanghi
4. Materials and Logistics management by L.C. Jhamb

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APPENDIX
QUESTIONNAIRE

Name : Designation :

Department : Length of service :

Sr COMPETENCIES REQUIRED Expected Actual rank

no rank 1 2 3 4 5

1 Machine operation (MO) 3

2 General maintenance (GM) 3
3 Safety knowledge (SF) 3
4 Component knowledge (CK) 3

5 Instruments knowledge (IK) 3

6 Communication skills (CS) 3
7 Commercial judgement (CJ) 3
8 Material handling (MH) 3

1. Recently which trainings you have attended? .................................................................

..........................................................................................................................................

2. What are the up gradations that you need in the training sessions? ................................

..........................................................................................................................................

3. Is the training session effective? ....................................................................................

..........................................................................................................................................

4. How do you structure your time in the organization? .....................................................

..........................................................................................................................................

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