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WHAT IS A COMPETENCY?
There are various definitions given for the term competency. Combining
the basic ideas embedded in all definitions, competency can be defined
as:
1. Motives: the things a person consistently thinks about or wants that cause action.
Motives “ drive, direct, and select” behavior toward certain actions or goals and away
from others.
E.g. Achievement-motivated people consistently set challenging goals for themselves and
use feedback to do better.
The type or level of a competency has practical implications for human resource
planning. Knowledge and skills tend to be visible and relatively surface, characteristics of
people. But attitude, trait and motive competencies are more hidden “deeper” and central
to personality. Surface knowledge and skills are relatively easy to develop. But core
motive and trait competencies are at the base of the personality iceberg and are more
difficult to assess and develop as shown in the figure on the next page:
visible
hidden
A competency model is a set of success factors (competencies) that include the key
behaviors required for excellent performance in a particular role excellent performers on
the job demonstrate these behaviors much more consistently than average or poor
performers.
A Competency model provides a “road map” for the range of behaviors that produce
excellent performance.
They make explicit the clusters of knowledge, skills, and personal attributes that
lead to high performance in specific jobs and roles. This information can be
transmitted to employees.
They embody the core values of a business, aiding in the communication of these
values throughout the organization and helping to shape a business culture and
identity worldwide.
Competency models are behavior-based performance standards against which
people and units can be measured. They provide a behavioral vision for the kinds
of performance necessary to successfully implement worldwide business
strategies
Competencies are used as the “key criteria” for implementing each application.
Therefore, competencies can be used as a tool to produce results in each of the above
areas. All the Integrated Human Resource Practices can be based on competencies.
WHAT IS COMPETENCY MAPPING?
Competency based selection can be a way to gain competitive advantage. The market for
human talent is imperfect. A firm that knows how to assess competencies can effectively
hire the best at a reasonable price, for example hire under priced but highly
entrepreneurial MBA’s from lesser-known business schools.
There is a need for competency based selection because:
The person employed performs poorly in a critical job for he lacks the
competencies required for that role.
There is high turnover due to high failure rate among new hires.
The organization needs to identify new hires with the potential to become future
managers or leaders.
A gap between the competencies needed and what the organization can hire for
indicates the training new hires will need.
A lengthy training period may transpire before new hires become productive.
New hires with the competencies to do a job become fully productive faster.
Therefore if the selection is based on competencies i.e. if the selection interviews are
competency based then the above mentioned, commonly faced problems by
organization can be taken care of.
Competency based PMS shift the emphasis of appraisal from organization results to
employee behaviors and competencies demonstrated and hence help identify
development gaps.
If the training programs can be aligned to the development needs emerging out of the
appraisal system and to the market led training needs they can contribute better to both
individual and business objectives.
For Managers
Identify performance criteria to improve the accuracy and ease of the selection
process
Provide more objective performance standards
Easier communication of performance expectations
Provide a clear foundation for dialogue to occur between the managers and
employees and performance, development and career-oriented issues
For employees
Identify the behavioral standards of performance excellence
Provide a more specific and objective assessment of their strengths and the tools
required to enhance their skills
More clear on career related issues
WIPRO CONSUMER CARE AND LIGHTING (WCCLG), BANGALORE
METHODOLOGY
The data to form the competency model for the three positions of Stockist’s Salesman,
Sales Officer and Area Sales Manager at WCCLG were collected from various
sources. The sources included:
1. OBSERVATIONS
4. QUESTIONNAIRES
OBSERVATIONS
Observations were made in the form of SALES VISITS. These market visits were done
to understand the nuances of the sales process followed at WCCLG and the behaviors
displayed by an SO and SSM in the market while making a sales call.
During the visits the behaviors of superior as well as average performers were observed,
which helped determine the behaviors required for a particular position.
BEHAVIORAL EVENT INTERVIEWS
The Behavioral Event Interview is the heart of the Competency Assessment Process
A behavioral event interview is a method to identify the competencies to do a particular
job well. The objective of the BEI is to get very detailed descriptions of how a person
goes about his or her work. The interviewer asks the interviewee to focus on the most
critical situations they have faced to describe the specific behaviors, thoughts and actions
he has shown in actual situation.
The main reason why behavioral interviews were conducted for the following reasons:
To come out with behaviors demonstrated which were later clustered to form a
competency
Precision about how competencies are expressed i.e. how they have been used at
work
Empirical identification of competencies beyond or different from those generated
by other data collection methods
The interview included questions like “Can you cite an incident which has led to an
improvement in your performance?”
A copy of the questions asked during the BEI is given in the annexure
An extract of one of the interviews and how it was used to identify behaviors is given
below:
Statement made by a SO
“I show my team the outlets they can go to and help them sell”
On the same lines, other behaviors, which were similar, were clustered together to form a
competency.
OTHER INTERVIEWS (BEST VS WORST)
In this method of collecting data the respondent was asked to identify the best and an
average employee under him at that level and then asked to compare both in terms of
what differentiates the two.
Through this approach we were again able to identify the behaviors of the best and the
average employees at each level.
An extract from one of the interviews for the level of an ASM is given below:
BEST WORST
Able to handle strong team members, They love to work with yes men
strong in terms of independent kind of people; nobody
challenging
thinking – able to work with them their authority
QUESTIONNAIRES
Made a few SOs, RMs and ASMs fill a questionnaire where they were asked to rate
certain competencies in the order of importance for a particular position.
This approach was used to identify top competencies for the levels mentioned below and
later use them to validate the competencies arrived at in the competency model that was
developed.
Behaviors from the above mentioned sources were clustered and leveled for three levels:
Area Sales Manager, Sales Officer and Stockist’s Salesman.
The following competencies were identified:
Client service
Team Building
Specialist Knowledge
Planning
Initiative
Problem solving
Self Confidence
Achievement Orientation
Drive
Persuasiveness
Oral Communication skills
Innovation
Few of these competencies have been described below with definitions, positive and
negative indicators.
CLIENT SERVICE
DEFINITION
Understands client’s needs, their expectations by building good interpersonal relationship
with them and provides them with regular service and reasonable solutions to address
their needs.
Complaining customers
Low frequency of visiting the market
Getting into fights with distributors
Not responsive to client issues and requests
Leaves the retailers uninformed of changing schemes
DEFINITION
Clearly delegates responsibilities to the team; provides the team with proper assistance,
resources, feedback and training to achieve targets; invites ideas, suggestions from the
team; and promotes excellence in the team by rewarding performers and setting high
standards for the team.
DELEGATES
1. RESPONSIBILITIES CLEARY TO
THE TEAM
DESCRIPTION SO ASM
Delegates Assigns duties clearly to
responsibilities SSMs
clearly to the
team
Personally monitors teams Provides the team with the
performance resources required to meet
Gives them practical support the targets
Helps the team and assistance Takes responsibility for
under pressure Sensitive to individual issues the team’s performance
Gives them regular feedback
Keeps their morale high
Sets examples for the team Tries to implement
Invites ideas from the team suggestions given by the
Shares information with the team
team Respects and gives them
independence
Empowers the Open to ideas from the
team team
Includes the team in
decision making
Able to handle strong team
members
Shares the credit for
success with the team
DEFINITION
Is assertive in approach and has the ability to influence others opinion and ideas; is
skillful at negotiation.
NEGATIVE INDICATORS
QUESTIONNAIRE
COMPETENCIES MODEL COMPETENCIES
INITIATIVE INITIATIVE
INTEGRITY PERSUASIVENESS
PLANNING
Therefore it was found that most of the competencies identified in questionnaires did
appear in some form in the model developed
This competency framework has been put in the Recruitment Manual of WCCLG,
which is used by them as a guide to select employees on the basis of the competencies
defined for each level.
They are working to include the concept of competencies in other HR processes so that
they are aligned to each other and speak to each other using a uniform language called
COMPETENCIES.