38. How is the concept of labour competency applied to human resources management?

Apart from the experiences of labour competencies applied to vocational training, there is another possibility of application of this approach: human resources management.

Many enterprises in the United States, Europe and lately in Latin America, have incorporated competency-based human resources management as a tool to improve productivity and to foster a positive atmosphere in the relationships with their collaborators. These efforts are justified by the attempts of the organisation to improve productivity and competitiveness levels by means of knowledge and learning ability. Thus, it becomes evident that there is tendency to revalue human contributions to organisational competitiveness.

This application of the competencies approach comprises the traditional areas of human talent management at the organisation: selection, remuneration, training, assessment and promotion. Several experiences of applications of standardised competency systems have taken place in England, Ireland, Scotland and Australia. These experiences are framed within national systems of training and certification. In these cases, the main characteristic is their national projection and the articulation of training institutions with the needs of enterprises through training based on competency standards.

In addition, several enterprises motivated by the pressures of change and reorganisation of work have set about implementing competency-based systems of human resources management in order to maintain their competitiveness.

The implementation of these systems goes through the process of defining the key competencies for the organisation. Then they are discussed with the participation of workers, but not necessarily all of them, and then applied to selection, determination of training needs, performance assessment and personnel remuneration and promotion.

The experiences that confirm this answer are based on applications of the behaviourist approach on labour competency, according to which the competencies shown by the best workers are determined and then taken as a reference of best performance.

Below there are some definitions of labour competency that are typically based on behaviour and best performance:

A competency is an ability that may be subject to measurement and that is necessary to do a job efficiently, that is, to produce the results expected by the organisation. Competency analysis has the aim of identifying the knowledge, skills, abilities and enabling behaviours that employees are supposed to demonstrate for the organisation to fulfil its goals and objectives. To have a competency, it may just be necessary one type of knowledge, skill, ability or behaviour, or it may require a combination of all of them.(1)

An underlying characteristic of the individual, which is causally related to an effective or high-level performance in a working situation and defined by a certain criterion.(2)

Groups of knowledge, abilities, aptitudes and behaviours that a person possesses and that enable him to carry out an activity successfully.(3)

A skill or a personal attribute of an individual’s conduct, which may be defined as a characteristic of his behaviour, and, according to which the task-oriented behaviour may be classified in a logical and reliable manner.(4)

Group of knowledge, abilities, skills and attitudes in terms of observable behaviour, required to perform in the assigned roles in the processes of the organisation (Electricidad de Caracas).

Measurable and observable knowledge, abilities and skills, as well as characteristics associated with an excellent performance at work and the achievement of results (Buck Consultants, Inc.).

Group of knowledge, abilities, skills, attitudes and values whose application at work is translated into a high-level performance, which contributes to the achievement of the key objectives of the business (Petróleos de Venezuela).

Competency-based human resources management has the following characteristics:

Enterprise-focused: One of the main features of these experiences is not placing the emphasis on the problem of training as a national problem; such experiences simply take place at an enterprise level. The premise that facilitates this methodological attitude derives from considering that the competencies of one occupation may be different in two different organisations. The organisational philosophy, of manufacturing and customer service, varies from enterprise to enterprise. In this case, each organisation needs to find its key competencies so that its collaborators can achieve the expected results.(5)

The best ones as reference: Behaviourist competency-based management models identify the best workers, i.e. those who are obtaining the best results. From there the profile of competencies is derived, based on the assumption that if the best performance becomes a standard, then the whole organisation will improve its productivity.

Designed competencies, rather than consulted ones: Some of the competencies that are required by the organisation cannot be obtained by consulting workers. This is not enough; it is necessary that the management office defines the types of competencies expected from their collaborators in order to achieve their goals and that those competencies are included within the standards so as to facilitate knowledge and training. With this idea, workers are not the only element to define competencies; it is necessary to consult them but that is not enough.

 

 

 

 

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1 Marelli, Anne, Introducción al análisis y desarrollo de modelos de competencias, 2000.
2 Spencer, L. M.; Spencer, S. M.; Competency at Work, New York, John Wiley and Sons, 1993.
3 Rodríguez T., Nelson; Feliú S., Pedro, Curso Básico de Psicometría.
4 Ansorena Cao, Álvaro, 15 casos para la Selección de Personal con Éxito, Barcelona, Paidós Empresa, 1996.
5 Cubeiro, Juan Carlos, Cómo sacarle fruto a la gestión por competencias, Training and Development Digest, 1998.

 

 

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