COMPETENCIES THE FIRST

BUILDING BLOCK OF TALENT

MANAGEMENT
 COMPETENCY
A competency is reliably measurable,relatively
enduring characteristic of a person,team or
organization that causes and statistically
predicts a criterion level of performance.

It is about identifying preferred behaviours and

personal skills which distinguish excellent and
outstanding performance from the average.A
Competency is the ingredients (skills,
knowledge, attributes and behaviours) that
contribute to excellence.
RELIABLY MEASURABLE

Reliably measurable means two or more

independent observers or methods agree
statistically that a person demonstrates a
competency.
PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS
LEGAL REQUIREMENT
 RELATIVELY ENDURING

Stable measurements are relatively enduring.This

means that competency measured at one point
in time is statically likely to be demontrated at a
later point in time.
 COMPETENCY
CHARACTERISTICS

Competency charateristics are content

knowledge,behaviour skills,cognitive
processing,personality traits,values,motives and
ocasionally other perceptual or sensorimotor
capabilities that validly predicts some level of
performance.
 CRITERION LEVEL OF
PERFORMANCE
Criterion level of performance is a point on a normal
distribution of the performance results for all
employees in a job.

Minimally acceptable- Performance below the

organisational tolerance.MISFIT

Average performance – The mean of bell

curve.SOLID CITIZEN

Superior performance – One standard deviation

above the mean.SUPERKEEPERS
THE CONCEPT OF VALIDITY

Validity means that a reliably measured

competency predictor that is independent
variable and dependent variable.

According to William James “A 'competency'

which doesn't predict measurable performance
is no competency”
When should Competencies be used?

The use of Competencies can include: assessment

during recruitment, assessment during further
development; as a profile during assessment to guide
future development needs; succession planning and
promotion; organisational development analysis.
 TYPES OF COMPETENCIES

i. THRESHOLD COMPETENCIES-
Knowledge,Skills and personality
charateristics required for minimally
acceptable performance.

i. DIFFERENTIATING COMPETENCIES-
Charateristic that predict superior performance
are differentiating competencies that
differentiate superior from average performer.
 STEPS IN DEVELOPING A
COMPETENCY MODELING

The steps to develop a competency model are:

1.Define performance criteria.

2.Analyze criterion sample.
3.Collect data.
4.Develop competency model.
5.Validate competency model.
6.Application.
7.Evaluation.
 DATA COLLECTION TOOL

 Behavioral Events Interview

 Expert Panels
 Surveys
 Expert Systems
 Job Analysis
 Role Analysis

Direct Observation
Behavioral Events Interview
Advantages:

 Empirical Identification of competencies

 Precision about how competencies are

expressed

 Freedom from gender, cultural, bias

 Generation of data for assessment, training

etc.
Behavioral Events Interview

Disadvantages:

 Time & Expense

 Expertise requirements

 Missed job tasks

Alternate ways of choosing the
Competencies in your job
models
Traditional approaches involve studying superior
performers, & identifying the traits, characteristics, and
behaviours that differentiate them from average
performers:-


First approach- follow superior and average performers
as they go about their workday

 Second approach- Perform interviews and organize

focus groups of managers and superior performers