THE IMPORTANT OF COMPETENCY AT YOUR ORGANIZATION

Figure 1: Everything You Need To Know About Workplace Competencies!

What is a competency?

A competence is a set of specific skills or abilities required to do a job. It’s the ability to complete a task effectively. A person should be able to perform various tasks at a target proficiency level to achieve competence in something. The term ‘competency ‘refers to an underlying characteristic of a person that results in effective or superior performance.

The leading figure in defining and popularizing the concept of competency was Boyatzis 1982. He conducted research that established that there was no single factor but a range of factors that differentiated successful performance. These factors included personal qualities, motives, experience and behavioural characteristic. Since his contribution, three types of competencies have been identified: behavioural competencies, technical competencies and NVQs/SNVQs. (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014)

Types of competencies

1.Behavioural Competencies

Behavioural competencies help you define an employee’s behavioural strengths that can contribute to organizational success. They define not just the ability to do something, but how something should be done.

 2.Technical  Competencies

Technical competencies are more like technical skills of an employee that contribute to overall organizational productivity. It is more about skills that employees need to possess to perform technical operations in an organization

3.NVQ/SNVQ Competency

NVQ/SNVQ competences specify minimum standards for the achievement of tasks and activities expressed in ways that can be observed and assessed with a view to certification

Benefits of competency based system

• Having a competency based system allows you to eliminate recruitment bias and selection stages.
• Provides a way to create a more consistent and structured hiring process.
• Gives the ability to provide clear and justifiable candidate feedback.
• Help to lower employee turnover rates and raise employee retention.
• Gives you a way to predict the future Performance candidate.
• Creates a way to map out candidate skills, Knowledge, and more.
• Helps management plan performance objectives and clarify expectations.
• Puts in place a succession plan for those top key positions.
• Very cost effective: Less time wasted, means less money wasted.
• Helps to increase productivity and higher job satisfaction.
• Reduces risks as it creates more structure and cohesion.
• Aids supercharging your training and onboarding programs.  

Reference

Armstrong, M. & Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice. 13th ed. London: Kogan Page

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COMPETENCIES, W., 2018. EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT WORKPLACE COMPETENCIES! [Online] Available at: https://engagedly.com/workplace-competencies/ [Accessed 2 October 2019].

Group, T.C., n.d. The Competency Group. [Online] Available at: https://www.thecompetencygroup.com/competency-services/discover-the-benefits-of-a-competency-based-approach/ [Accessed 2 November 2019].