COMPETENCY MANAGEMENT
Business goals are a crucial part of business planning, in other words it highlights what the company
wishes to achieve in a specified period of time. But what ensures that the human talent is sufficiently
equipped to meet these goals? This is where ‘Competency Management’ comes into the picture.
Competencies can be viewed as a combination of skill, ability, behavior, values and knowledge
(practical/theory), they are ‘how’ an organization leads its human resource towards achieving ‘goals’.
Competencies defines in behavioral terms what employees need to do in order to produce what the
company requires, or put another way, all business strategies revolve around competencies.
Competency management is one of the oldest and most efficient ways of ensuring employees and
organization’s high performance. An effective competency management is essential for the smooth
functioning of an organization due to:
1. It would help the employees and the organization to analyse where they lack and improve.
2. The need for potential resources, training and skill development for employee development can
be detected.
3. They support organizations strategic goals and are essential for success in the industry.
4. Represents organizations culture.
5. Better competency management can set ones organizations apart from the competition and
give it an edge in the market place.
Different organizations have varied business goals and descriptions of the requirements of human
beings in their organizations, and so, different core competencies. Competencies such as innovation,
safety, quality and hard work are few of the core competencies organizations can have. But for different
job roles, companies can define job specified competencies. Earlier, competency management model or
framework was designed by the organizations themselves. However, over the past decade, numerous
companies and software have been developed to help organizations manage, categorize and search
employees with the desired skill set.
For instances, NASA uses its system to anticipate human resources needs and manage recruitment
activities. The system is a Web-based tool that allows users to edit their own information and to search
for others. NASA publishes its own “Workforce Competency Dictionary,” which defines specific
categories of skills. For instance, it describes “Partnership & Business Development” as requiring
“Knowledge, capabilities and practices associated with the effective targeting and acquisition of external
partnerships and business opportunities, including funding opportunities for projects and programs.”
Similarly, the Coast Guard’s system maintains an online dictionary of competencies.
Or sometimes, organizations hire companies known as competency management systems, which are
developed to help organization with their competency management. These solutions help by designing
the core competencies and competencies for each and every job description by analyzing company’s
culture and business goals. Competency management systems (CMS) help organization by storing,
searching, analysing competency related data such as use of a specific application for coding employee.
These specified skills are used to define the competencies of each job.
Even though competency management technology is relatively new, it makes it easier for organizations
to accomplish their business goals and smoother for companies to function. No organization can deny
competency management’s importance in an organizations growth and prosperity. Strong competencies
is one of the key factors that drive an organizations needs towards enjoying global leadership.
