What does the skills approach contribute?
The competencies approach, while not new, has recently been adopted to replace the traditional personality traits approach. How are the two approaches different?
• Trait Approach
Basic approach: The characteristics (underlying traits) that people must have to occupy a certain position are defined. Its main drawbacks are:
Different people attribute different traits to the same behavior. For example, behaviors that some consider to be assertive, for others may be aggressive, or a sign of stubbornness or courage…
• Consequently, it is difficult to predict specific features associated with a position and to define them objectively.
• They do not predict behavior at work, since they are based on the evaluation of one variable (personality trait) to make predictions about the performance of the subjects in another (performance of their own work tasks).
• By extension, the evaluation tests used (mainly tests) are not usually related to the tasks that people have to perform at work, they have biases (among others, cultural and temporal), sometimes they touch intimate aspects of the person and, as with academic training, do not predict success in work or in personal life.
Given that in Human Resources Management it is important to predict who will perform more and better in the jobs, it seems that this approach is not very suitable, all the more when there is a superior alternative: the skills approach.
• Focus of Competences
Basic approach: The observable behaviors of people who carry out their work effectively are studied and the position is defined based on them. In contrast to the previous one, the skills approach:
By focusing on observable behaviors rather than underlying traits of the person, it facilitates the use of more objective, operational, and shared concepts in the organization.
Consequently, it is easier to establish the profiles of demands of a position and to objectively define the observable behaviors required.
It facilitates the comparison between the profile of job requirements and the profile of people's competencies and, therefore, predictions are more secure, valid and reliable.
It allows the use of diverse evaluation tests (for example, based on behavioral observation), more objective, related to work activities and with greater predictive power of success in the same.
Other contributions of the skills approach are:
• It is results-oriented: excellent performance is sought, although there are also those who raise the possibility that performance may simply be satisfactory.
• They are considered a good predictor of the future behavior of people in organizations: competent behaviors that have occurred in similar situations in the past, are very likely to occur again. In any case, if this has not happened, the possibility is left open that those who have not acted in an excellent way in the past may do so later; Consistent with the approach, the possibility of learning for individuals is admitted (and encouraged).
• It is more understandable for all involved and clearly shows what is expected of each one: what skills and what results.
How is it being applied?
The skills approach is not only very useful, but also characterized by its high potential: its development paints a bright and encouraging picture of the possibilities for personal and professional improvement of individuals.
When analyzing, however, the way in which it is being put into practice, a series of problems are observed that prevent precisely extracting all that it can give. These problems are both theoretical or conceptual, as well as practical or methodological. Among the most frequent are:
• Terminological confusion: the same component is called differently or, worse, different components are assigned the same label. For example, "attitudes", "abilities", "traits", etc., are usually used as interchangeable labels when, in fact, they are referring to different aspects of people. And this problem is not limited only to the terrain of the theoretical; each one of these elements is manifested, evaluated, trained in a different way.
• Disparity of criteria: largely derived from the previous problem, as well as from the diversity of contexts in which it is applied.
• Inappropriate use of the available methods, techniques or tools: the possibilities, characteristics or limitations of the different methods and techniques are not always known, nor are they always applied under ideal conditions. For example, use of situational assessment tests without adequate records of conduct, abusive use of tests, training of skills in adverse conditions, etc.
• Use of inadequate methods, techniques or tools: there is also a certain proliferation of techniques "created for the occasion" but with significant deficits in reliability and validity (for not following a rigorous procedure in their elaboration), use of techniques for purposes other than those for which they were created (for example, abuse of the questionnaire to assess behaviors) or, ultimately, the use of poorly contrasted methods and techniques.
• In general, there is a scarce incorporation and integration of the basic principles and the most current knowledge about human behavior that modern psychology contributes.
All this suggests that, on occasions, a "fashion" phenomenon is taking place in the most superficial sense: the new terminology is adopted but the basic principles are not assumed or applied in depth.
For detailing only one of the above problems, although without pretense of exhaustiveness, it is possible to say that the concept of competence has become, in some cases, a "tailor's box" in which everything has a place: behaviors, cognitions, personal traits, attitudes, motivations, knowledge,…, all of them elements that, although having a precise meaning and implications in the framework of Psychology (although not so much in everyday language), simply become redefined as competences.
Consequently, "competency profiles" are developed that include diverse elements that operate at different levels, that are evaluated and improved with different techniques and that, contrary to the very essence of the concept of competence, receive hardly operative names: "spirit" analytical, interpersonal "sensitivity", conceptual "capacity", interpersonal "capacities", etc. Rather, there seems to be, in this case, a "facelift" of traditional concepts, but without reaching the final consequences in adopting the new approach; In other words, in the end, approaches based on the traits approach continue to be used, despite the fact that the competencies approach was developed precisely as an alternative to it3.
What are the competitions?
The problem remains unresolved, so it will continue to be debated in the near future. In any case, the meaning most coherent today with the philosophy of the competency approach is the one that considers these as a set of observable behaviors causally related to a good or excellent performance in a given job and organization4 or in a personal situation / determined social. By extension, for a person to show the behaviors that make up the competencies included in the required profiles (due to their work or the personal situations they face), the presence and conjunction of the following elements is necessary:
• To know:
Set of knowledge related to the behaviors involved in the competition. They can be technical in nature (task oriented) and social in nature (interpersonal relationship oriented).
Experience plays an essential role as "knowledge acquired from perceptions and experiences, generally reiterated" 7. Among other psychological disciplines, Cognitive Psychology currently offers important developments aimed at improving learning strategies; Under names such as «learning to learn» or «learning to think», resources are provided whose application facilitates the acquisition of new knowledge, its integration into those that we already possess, its practice-oriented use and the possibility that we become managers of our own learning.
• Know to do:
Set of skills that allow you to put into practice the knowledge you have. You can talk about technical skills (to perform various tasks -for example, make a brick wall, operate on a patient or make an accounting balance-), social skills (to relate to others in heterogeneous situations -work in a team, exercise leadership, negotiating, public speaking,… -), cognitive skills (to process the information that comes to us and that we must use to analyze situations, make decisions,…), etc.
Typically, these different skills interact with each other; for example, giving a talk in public can involve not only the act itself of addressing an audience and talking about some topic (social skill), but also, analyzing their reactions, anticipating questions or criticisms, mentally structuring the content,… (cognitive skills), reduce the anxiety created by the situation (through strategies that involve motor and cognitive skills) and use audiovisual media to support the talk (technical skills).
The aforementioned about learning knowledge also serves to learn skills; likewise, disciplines such as Social Psychology or Behavior Modification, and guidelines such as Social Learning, among others, provide sufficient knowledge and procedures regarding the conception, evaluation and training of these skills.
• Know to be:
Set of attitudes consistent with the main characteristics of the organizational and / or social environment (culture, norms, etc.). In a broad sense, it is about taking into account our values, beliefs and attitudes as elements that favor or hinder certain behaviors in a given context.
Attitudes are a classic topic in Social Psychology that has a wide development and application, both on a more macro level (for example, in the media), and on a micro level (for example, in multiple interpersonal relationships), and in which issues such as the origin, evaluation and change of attitudes (with a prominent place for persuasion) are the main focus of interest.
• Want to do:
Set of motivational aspects responsible for whether or not the person wants to perform the behaviors of the competition. These are factors of an internal nature (motivation to be competent, identification with the task, etc.) and / or external ("extra" money, days off, social benefits, etc.) to the person, which determine that the person strives or not for showing competence.
Motivational Psychology provides guidelines for analysis to understand human motivation, the variables involved and possible strategies to address it.
• Power to Do: Set of factors related to:
• From an individual point of view: personal capacity. The aptitudes and personal traits, two themes of great tradition in Psychology, are considered here as potentialities of the person, as variables that can provide information regarding the ease with which someone will display a certain behavior, or about their learning potential. Unlike traditional conceptions, more recent developments (for example, the concept of "multiple intelligences" or the interactive approach to personality) provide a more flexible and operational vision of these elements, and place them in line with their role as mere components of the competitions.
• From the situational point of view: the degree of "favorability" of the environment. Different situations can mark different degrees of difficulty to show a given behavior; for example, the presence of a group that "pressures" us, the interaction with an authoritarian boss or occupying a hierarchical level or a specific role. Social Psychology, Group Psychology and Organizational Psychology offer a wide range of knowledge regarding the influence of situations on our behaviors. Likewise, it should be noted the availability or not of means and resources that facilitate or hinder the performance of the competition.
All these elements lead us, as a whole, to the competence, to «doing», which is observable for others and which allows establishing different levels of performance (regular, good, excellent,…) of people in their personal sphere and / or professional, either during the performance of various tasks or in their social interactions.
These different elements can be evaluated and improved. However, it remains to be seen how they interact with each other, a task that requires a significant research effort in the immediate future
Provided by UCh RR.HH. portal for HR students www.uch.edu.ar/rrhh
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