Core Competencies
In the first part of an extended feature, Joe Hanley simplifies competencies and competency frameworks.
The terms competencies and competency frameworks have a tendency to evoke confusion or a lack of understanding in the minds of many line managers and HR practitioners. This need not be the case.
The concept underpinning competencies/competency frameworks is simple and should be kept simple and utilised in the following context - i.e. competencies/competency frameworks are directly related to the terms compete, competitiveness, competitive advantage. They are inextricably linked and the essence of competencies is that they enable an organisation to compete. When looked at through this lens it enables us to describe competencies in an integrated format i.e. their use in the key People
Management functions of staffing (recruitment and selection), probation, induction, performance management, reward, development (to include management development and succession planning), and exiting. In fact Paul Sparrow (University of Manchester Business School) has referred to competencies when used in a strategic HR context as being “the magic glue”. It is with good reason that he says this as we shall see in the following article.
Just What Are Competencies?
“…managerial behaviours which are positively associated with superior organisational unit performance” (Cockerill and Schroder).
“…overt, manifest behavioural repertoire that people bring to a job in order to perform competently” (Woodruffe).
“…underlying characteristics of a person which results in effective and/or superior performance in a job” (Boyatzis).
“…deep and enduring part of a person’s personality which causes or predicts behaviour against a specific performance criterion or standard in a job situation” (Spencer and Spencer/McBer).
Three Main Categorisations
Competencies/competency frameworks could be divided into three main categories:
Core competencies – i.e. the three or four pillars for sustaining competitive advantage in your marketplace e.g. innovation, cost leadership, customer satisfaction etc.
Management competencies – the specific technical and people management competencies associated with the job of the manager in managing within the core competencies as referred to above.
Behavioural competencies – these are the soft skills and behavioural repertoires which our staff members possess and should practice within the core competencies as referred to above. These behavioural competencies tend to be in-house specific.
Why are competencies/competency frameworks becoming popular?
In practice the term competency is a broad umbrella term that allows us to describe how we want a staff member to perform a function utilising particular skills, aspects of knowledge, attitudes, styles and motivations. In addition a properly constructed competency framework can provide an accurate tool for the measurement of critical work behaviours. It is in this context that competencies have really become popular. Why? Because they are behaviourally based in work terms they allow us to express how we want to see all of our corporate and individual work behaviours in action. A framework for the proper development and planning of these behaviours allows us to design and define organisational culture. Any tool that assists in providing this capability of getting underneath organisation culture has immense potential value for organisations and hence the popularity of competencies/competency frameworks.
The Link to Business Strategy
Normally, organisations express their business strategy in terms of specific results, or the “WHAT” (profitability, growth, market-share etc.). The business strategy, which is a medium-term statement of corporate intent, is normally broken down into a series of annualised plans, which when realised, should deliver the strategy. However, this assumes that the organisation possesses a vehicle to deliver the “WHAT”. This may be a dangerous assumption. Delivery of the “WHAT” does not happen by chance. It only happens when our managers and staff are capable within the specific organisational competencies (the “HOW”) required to deliver the results Therefore the author contends that delivery of the business strategy may be contingent on a key variable whose existence up to now may have been assumed to exist already within the organisation, i.e. people-competency.
As stated, this may be a dangerous assumption to make. It is nearly akin, before commencing a long journey, to assume that there is fuel already in your expensive and high-powered car. Both are required
to complete the journey. In fact this “assumption” trap may well explain why some strategic business initiatives fail. Did we take into account the competencies and work behaviours required of our people
prior to embarking on trying to implement the initiative?
The Link to Strategic Human Resource Management
Dreher and Dougherty refer to the fact that human work behaviours may not change unless we direct “powerful forces” at the specific work behaviours which are required to execute the strategy. What is meant by his? It means that as organisations we must purposefully set out to define and determine our required work behaviours (culture) through the use of powerful prompting mechanisms. These powerful prompting mechanisms are given expression through the effective deployment of congruent and aligned people-management systems and processes. In this context then we can surmise that Strategic HRM provides the key business link to normal HRM activities by defining clearly in advance exactly what are the work behaviours required to implement the business strategy and furthermore how an organisation goes about this. It goes about this, from a HR perspective, by ensuring that we focus the intent of all our HR systems and processes on evoking required work behaviours. (The MAGIC GLUE) This can be achieved through developing specific systems and processes in the broad areas of Staffing, Performance Management, Reward, Development, Communications and Exiting.
