Competence Mapping
Competence mapping is an utility to manage the competence of the employees. In todays corporate scenario competency mapping is very important tool in the hands of the HR Manager. Over the past 10 years, human resource and organizational development professionals have generated a lot of interest in the notion of competencies as a key element and measure of human performance. Competencies are becoming a frequently-used and written-about vehicle for organizational applications such as:
• Defining the factors for success in jobs (i.e., work) and work roles within the organization
• Assessing the current performance and future development needs of persons holding jobs and roles
• Mapping succession possibilities for employees within the organization
• Assigning compensation grades and levels to particular jobs and roles
• Selecting applicants for open positions, using competency-based interviewing techniques
1. How do competency-based human resource management methods of defining and measuring human performance impact individual workers? What impact does an organization’s use of competencies have on individual employees’ career management planning and actions in the long-term?
2. How can career management professionals help prepare their individual clients to identify and present their competency strengths in various work or job search situations?
Competencies include the collection of success factors necessary for achieving important results in a specific job or work role in a particular organization.
Competencies in organizations tend to fall into two broad categories:
- 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).
- Functional/Technical Competencies. These competencies include specific success factors within a given work function or industry.
• 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.
• Top Competencies. 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.
Research is ongoing about the nature of competencies that are important for success across many organizations. There are a number of sources that describe some very common personal functioning competencies found to be important for employees at all levels across organizations. 6 competencies would differentiate the top quartile of performers from the rest in most positions in an organization: Initiative, Influence, Results Orientation, Teamwork, Service Orientation, and, Concern for Quality.”
Key Behaviors [Behavioral Indicators]:
• Empowers others by inviting input to decisions and requesting appropriate assistance.
• Acknowledges the effort, achievements and contributions of others.
• Uses active listening skills regularly.
• Assesses each person’s hot buttons and adjusts style to get the best out of them.
• Encourages others to set challenging goals, give their best efforts and work to their potential.
• Helps others to feel important and respected.
Notice that the behavioral statements all begin with an action verb worded in present tense. This format is important for completing the implied-but-not-written beginning to each statement, “The superior performer…”.
How Do Competencies Relate to Individual Career Development?
First and foremost, competencies must be demonstrated by individuals. Perhaps the most common place where they are demonstrated is within the scope of a particular job or project involvement. However, competencies are also developed and demonstrated by individuals in the following settings: volunteer roles in the community, professional associations, school projects, sports participation settings, and even within one’s own home life.
One of the first encounters with competencies for most individuals is in securing employment with a new organization. Organizations that are purposefully using cutting-edge methods to choose talent for positions or project roles are engaging in what is called “competency-based interviewing and selection”. These interviewing and selection methods are being used not only for hiring external applicants, but also for staffing internal roles, as described later in this article.
Many organizations that use competency-based interviewing and selection are also later using the same competencies to assess performance, to encourage future development plans from individuals, and to plan for succession in the organization. Therefore, the individual employees in such an organization will have an ongoing need to use and map their competencies.
Up to this point, I’ve implied that the main need for identifying and mapping competencies is for individuals who may be pursuing full-time employment with an organization. However, the need for mapping of competencies also extends to independent contractors seeking project work with those organizations that broker their services.
Why Should Individual Employees Map Their Competencies?
A list of compelling reasons includes, at a minimum, the following. An individual:
• Gains a clearer sense of true marketability in today’s job market; once the individual knows how his/her competencies compare to those that are asked for by the job market in key positions of interest.
• Projects an appearance as a “cutting-edge” and well-prepared candidate, who has taken the time to learn about competencies, investigate those in demand, and map his/her own competencies prior to interviewing.
• Demonstrates self-confidence that comes from knowing one’s competitive advantages more convincingly, and from being able to articulate those advantages in specific language.
• Secures essential input to resume development - a set of important terms to use in describing expertise derived from prior career experience.
• Gains advanced preparation for interviews, many of which may be delivered using a competency-based approach called “structured behavioral interviewing” or “behavioral event interviewing.” (See the section below titled “How Does Competency-Based Interviewing
and Selection Work?”)
• Develops the capability to compare one’s actual competencies to an organization or position’s required/preferred competencies, in order to create an Individual Development Plan.
Many organizations today are using the process of 360 degree feedback to compare an individual’s self assessment of his/her own performance against key position and organization competencies to the assessment of key “stakeholders” that the individual interacts regularly with. The 360 feedback received is then used as input to the Individual Development plan. That prerogative implies the importance of competency-based self presentation: in one’s resume, in interviews.
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Vasudevan P.K | Manager- HR & Admin |
Mindlogicx Infotech Ltd
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