39. How are key competencies defined by behaviourist human resources management?

Behaviour-oriented definitions of key competencies tend to concentrate on the success factors of performance. Some examples are provided below:

“The initial objective was to determine the critical or key competencies, understanding as such the knowledge, attitudes, skills, abilities, values, behaviour and personal attributes that are more directly related (in a causal way) with the successful performance of individuals at work and in their functions and responsibilities” (Arión Consultores).(1)

“Personal key characteristics that promote and maintain efficiency at a high-performance enterprise. They define what the person is and they are reflected in everything the person does. They are personal characteristics that go from deep and profound aspects of the individual to quite easily observable and modifiable features” (Electricidad de Caracas).

“Personal characteristics that make a difference between correct performance and excellent performance in a specific position, enterprise or culture. They are certain ways of doing things; they are the behaviours and skills that people show when carrying out work with excellence” (Mavesa).

The above definitions focus on the personal characteristics that define high performance and they are strongly linked to McClellands remarks. He says that in each job some people perform much more efficiently than others because they use different ways and behaviours to carry it out. Therefore, the best way to identify the competencies that lead to high performance is to observe the most successful workers.(2)

When defining the competencies model for the organisation it is fundamental to find those behaviours that best contribute to the achievement of objectives. The steps that are usually followed when setting up the model are:

Considering the strategic objectives of the enterprise.

Analysing the capacity of the organisation and its resources.

Studying the economic and financial feasibility of the model.

Devising and adopting the principles and structure of Human Talent Management.

Designing their own competencies model.

Applying competencies profiles in the different stages of Human Talent Management.

A delicate point when implementing the competencies model lies precisely in their identification and definition. To that effect, enterprises have a number of possibilities; there are methodologies that foster workers’ participation in the identification of competencies and those which offer catalogues and dictionaries to entrepreneurial executive bodies.

Some authors defend the idea that competencies should be defined by the executive body of the organisation.(3) Others consider that when facing the competencies approach based on the best performance (behaviourist) with the approach based on labour functions and results (functionalist), two different concepts are being discussed: the first one focuses on the person’s competencies and qualities; the second one, on the requirements of the occupation.(4) Others, on the contrary, build up the concept of competency from two large groups: personal competencies, associated with attitudes and behaviour and, on the other side, technical competencies, associated with the knowledge, abilities and skills involved in labour performance.(5)

From the point of view of a global analysis, there are some important differences between the approach on training and that of competency-based human resources management. Basically, competency-based training takes into account results and the application of knowledge, skills and attitudes to achieve them. To the behaviourist approach, knowledge and behaviour seem to be enough to achieve a “high-level” performance.(6)

 

 

 

 

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1 Muñoz, Julián, Implantación de un sistema de selección por competencias, Training and Development Digest, May 1998.
2 Spencer, Lyle; McClelland, David, Competency Assessment Methods:History and State of the Art, 1984.
3 Cubeiro, Juan Carlos, op. cit.
4 Moloney, Karen, ¿Es suficiente con las competencias?, Training and Development Digest, 1998.
5 Buck Consultants, Competency-Based Performance Management, Washington D.C., 1998.
6 This aspect is treated with more depth in: Vargas, F., Competencias en la formación y competencias en la gestión del talento humano: Convergencias y desafíos, Cinterfor/ILO, 2000.

 

 

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