Title: Functional Competencies Can Improve Organizational Capabilities
1Functional Competencies Can Improve
Organizational Capabilities
- Nancy E. Abrams, Ph.D.
- The Partnering Group, Inc.
2Introductions
- Me
- You
- Jurisdiction
- Agency
- Your job
- Expectations for this presentation
3Functional Competencies Can Improve
Organizational Capabilities
- Introductions
- Job Analysis The Traditional Approach
- General Competency Modeling
- Functional Competencies
- Competency Modeling with General Functional
Competencies - Case studies
4Job Analysis
5Why do we do Job Analysis?
- To understand the work and worker needed to do
work - To establish the job relatedness/validity of a
selection procedure - To fairly compensate individuals
- To appropriately assess job performance
- To train and develop in areas that will improve
job performance - To plan for the development of capabilities
required in the future
6Traditional Job Analysis
- Collect background information
- Gather information from Job Experts
- Duties Work Focused
- Tasks Work Focused
- Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, Personal (Other)
Characteristics Worker Focused - Ratings
- Importance (Criticality)
- Frequency, time spent
- Required at entry
- Differentiate peformance
- Narrow the list to focus appropriately
7How successful are we in using our traditional
job analyses for all of these purposes at one
time?
8General Competency Modeling
9What are Competencies?
- Not one answer
- SIOP tried to answer this question
- See report of task force
- Schippmann, J.S. et al. Personnel Psychology,
2000. - Some common elements
- Knowledge, skills, abilities, personal (other)
characteristics - Broader than traditional KSAPs often look more
like constructs - Focused on workers rather than work
- Associated with high levels of job performance or
job success
10Where did competencies come from?
- In 1973, David McClelland called for
organizations to test for competence rather than
intelligence. - Focused on those factors that lead to success
- In 1990, Prahalad Hamel published an article in
Harvard Business Review - Called for people-embodied skills necessary to
building core competence for an organization
11Why have competencies become so popular?
- As compared to the knowledge, skills, abilities
and personal (other) characteristics identified
in traditional job analysis, they tend to be
broader apply to more jobs. - Most competency models have been designed to
capture how the organization, as a whole, defines
success or the roadmap to success - Reflect organization values
12General Competency Models
- Competency models often define a conceptual view
of leadership for the organization - Apply to all parts of the organization
- Provide a common terminology for communicating
people capabilities across all parts of the
organization - Serve as the basis for the entire Human Resource
system - Define multiple proficiency levels
- Often with behavioral indicators
13Human Resource Management Revolves Around
Competencies
Organizational Competency Development
JOB
Competencies
Reward Recognition
Recruitment Selection
Performance Management
Succession Planning
Training Development
14Sample General Competencies
- Problem Solving - Identifying and solving
problems, using and adjusting tactics as
appropriate to the situation. - Interpersonal Communication - Communicates
effectively both orally and in writing to ensure
complete support and understanding
15Sample General Competency with Proficiency Levels
Problem Solving Identifying problems and
developing and implementing logical solutions
consistent with business objectives.
16Limitations of General Competency Models
- Usually not linked to work behaviors in the
traditional job analysis sense - May be difficult to use as the basis for content
validation - Because they are very general, they often miss
some key aspects of particular jobs or groups of
jobs, e.g. knowledge and skills. - Often come from pre-existing, off-the-shelf
models
17Functional Competencies
18What are Functional Competencies?
- Competencies associated with success in one part
of the organization, department, group of
departments or job family associated with high
levels of job performance or job success. - Do not apply broadly across the organization or
are of less importance in other parts of the
organization. - Usually broad knowledge and skills.
19Competency Modeling Incorporating General
Functional Competencies
20The Process
- Identify the scope
- Job Family
- Department
- Agency, etc.
- Identify competencies
- Keep focused on most important
- Keep list contained, e.g. 10-15
- Avoid overlap
21The Process (continued)
- Define competencies to provide common
understanding and language - Identify proficiency levels (usually 3-5)
- Define proficiency levels
- Identify behavioral indicators for each
proficiency level Competency Dictionary - Link jobs to competencies proficiency levels
22Sample Competency Dictionary Page
Product and Category Knowledge Understanding of
the tire industry, categories, brands, portfolio
of products and related consumer insights.
23Sample Competency Job Linkage
24Competency Modeling Case Studies
25Case Study The Situation
- Private Sector not all problems may apply to
your situation - Problems
- Lack of clear understanding of job performance
expectations - Focused on results not how to get them
- Lack of clarity on how career advancement could
be achieved - Lack of alignment of training to real needs
26Case Study The Situation (continued)
- Was using broad Leadership Competency Model 67
competencies!!! - Sales needed to know what worked for their area
- More focus for General Competencies
- Addition of Functional Competencies
-
27Case Study What was done
- Identified and defined 13 competencies
- Four levels of proficiency
- Undeveloped to expert
- Each defined for each competency
- Behavioral indicators for each
- Linkage of competencies and proficiency level
expectations to each job
28Case Study How Competencies were used
- Individuals were assessed through manager
assessment of behaviors observed - Other clients have used assessment centers or
written tests - Comparison of proficiency level observed to that
expected in job - Where level was below expectation Competency Gap
- Four of five Competencies with largest gaps were
Functional
29Case Study Changes Made
- New hires given 90 day development plan based on
competencies required for job - Performance assessed against competencies
- Competency proficiency level definitions used as
the basis for discussions - Competency-based career paths established
- Training focused on competency development
- Development plans focused on competencies
- More demand for training
- Managers focused on both remedial training and
preparation for advancement
30Case Study Results
- Five years after this work was done
- Sales went from 6,133 million to 7,867 million
- Net earnings per share went from 1.28 to 2.16
- Obviously not all because of this work
- Employee engagement rating went from 51 to 76
31Results Across Clientsn733