A job competency could be defined as the ability, real and demonstrated, to successfully perform a specific job activity. Below is a bibliographic exploration that will allow to expand this concept.
Definition
And it explains that:
- Underlying characteristic means that competence is a deep part of the personality and can predict behavior in a wide variety of work situations and challenges Causally related means that competence originates or anticipates behavior and performance Standard of effectiveness means that competence it really predicts who does something well or poorly, measured on a general or standard criterion. Examples of criteria: the volume of sales in dollars for sellers or the number of customers who buy a service.
In addition, following Spencer and Spencer, he concludes that competences are, ultimately, fundamental characteristics of man and indicate "ways of behavior or thinking, which generalize different situations and last for a long period of time."
Blanco (p.22) cites McClelland defining them as the personal characteristics that are the cause of efficient performance at work, which may be reasons, thought approaches, skills or the set of knowledge that is applied. Competencies, therefore, rather than making a reference to what a person habitually does in any situation, focus their objective on what a person would be able to do when it is demanded. It also points out that, referring to Boyatzis and Spencer and Spencer, competencies refer to any individual characteristic that can be reliably measured and that allows predicting the excellent performance of a person in a job.
characteristics
Sagi-Vela (p.88) refers to the following as the distinctive characteristics of labor competence:
- It is a multidimensional concept. It is important to understand that a competence is not an attitude, a knowledge or an isolated skill, but the integration of all of them in the context of a specific profession and its scope of action. Each observable behavior that occurs in the performance of a certain competence is the result of the combination of the knowledge, skills and attitudes associated with it. This characteristic has important implications on how to describe and evaluate competences, as we will see later. Thus, each competence will have associated a set of indicators (observable behaviors) and a list of associated knowledge, skills and attitudes that will facilitate the understanding of the competence, the evaluation of it and the establishment of professional development objectives.It reflects the contribution rather than the activity or function itself. Competition is written in terms of the worker's contribution to the company. It is not intended to reflect how you do things, but what you do in terms of contribution and the result of that contribution. For example, the important thing is not that a product manager handles Nielsen data, but that he is researching or analyzing the market. Today it does so through the information provided by Nielsen and tomorrow the data sources may vary. In the same way, the important thing is not to manage a panel, but rather that a production process is being controlled. Stay in time. As we see in the previous example. the competition has a character of permanence in time. The means used to make the contribution may vary, but it is difficult for the contribution itself to vary. As we are going to define the competencies based on the processes, it would only be considered that there is a new competence if the process on which the contribution is made changes, if the contribution made changes or if. keeping the same contribution to the same process, a "technological break" would occur in the means used to make the contribution that knowledge would totally change. associated skills and attitudes. Its application implies the achievement of an achievement. Applied competition always produces a positive result. You do not have a competence if, when applying it, you do not achieve what you wanted; in that case you are not competent. Therefore, it can be said that someone is good, very good or excellent in that competition, but it would not be totally correct to say that you have insufficient competition, since if you have it it will always be in a positive degree. This has implications also, as we will see, in the evaluation scale used. Is measurable. Competition is manifested through a series of behaviors observable in daily work. By observing and analyzing these behaviors we can get to measure the competencies of a person. The description of the competencies that we will carry out will include competency indicators to facilitate their understanding and evaluation.
Classification
For Spencer and Spencer there are five main types of competencies (Alles, p.60):
- Motivation. The interests that a person considers or wants consistently. Motivations "direct, lead and select" behavior towards certain actions or goals and away from others. Characteristics. Physical characteristics and consistent responses to situations or information Self-concept or self-concept. The attitudes, values or self-image of a person. Knowledge. The information that a person possesses about specific areas. Skill. The ability to perform a certain physical or mental task.
Bunk (p.10) says that the competition contains the following:
- Technical competence: it is the expert domain of the tasks and contents of the work environment, as well as the knowledge and skills necessary for it. Methodological competence: it involves reacting by applying the appropriate procedure to the tasks entrusted and the irregularities that arise, finding solutions and transfer experiences to new work situations Social competence: collaborate with other people in a communicative and constructive way, show group-oriented behavior and interpersonal understanding Participatory competence: participate in the organization of the work environment, both immediate and the environment ability to organize and decide, as well as to accept responsibilities.
Defined according to the strategy of each organization, they are classified as (Alles, p.24):
- Cardinal competencies: those that all members of the organization must possess Specific competences: for certain groups of people, with a vertical cut, by area and, additionally, with a horizontal cut, by functions. Usually both groups are combined.
Competency models
Saracho (p.28) distinguishes three models:
(1) Model of distinctive competencies, created by David McCleland; (2) Generic competencies model, created by William Byham; and (3) Functional Competencies Model, created by Sydney Fine.
All three models agree that competencies imply "knowing," "power," and "wanting" to do, or in other words, all competencies include knowledge, skills, and attitudes. However, each of these three models includes these aspects by combining them differently. The components of these aspects vary in the three models.
The distinctive competencies model considers a combination of cognitive skills, interpersonal skills, leadership skills, motivations, attitudes, traits, and applied knowledge or know how.
The generic competencies model basically emphasizes behaviors and therefore interpersonal, cognitive and leadership skills; while it only includes some specific knowledge on rare occasions, and takes motivation as an aspect of the person that supports the behaviors but is not modifiable or developable, so it is only identified as an attached data.
In the functional competencies model, technical and applied knowledge, specific abilities or skills are mainly taken into account; while the attitudinal aspects are taken into account as support for certain modes or ways required to do the job well.
Below is a table that illustrates the aspects considered by each model:
| TO KNOW | POWER | WANT | |||||||
| Technical knowledge | Applied knowledge / Know How | Leadership skills | Specific Skills / Skills | Interpersonal skills | Cognitive habilyties | Attitudes | Motivation | Personality traits | |
| DISTINCTIVES | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||
| GENERIC | X | X | X | X | |||||
| FUNCTIONAL | X | X | X | X |
Competency assessment
Del Pozo (p.24) states that evaluating competencies requires, first of all, the definition of the content of the competency, describing behaviors, skills and evaluation indicators. In addition, it is necessary to establish the data collection instruments that allow obtaining the necessary evidence to determine the degree to which competition has been achieved in comparison to an established standard.
The evaluation of labor (professional) competence is the systematic procedure by which evidence or evidence of the professional performance of a worker, or the learning results achieved by a student, is collected, from which it is reliably inferred, what this is able to perform against the standards established in a Dictionary of Competencies or in a Catalog of Professional Qualifications.
Competency assessment should be based on the following principles:
- Effectiveness. Be agile in its application, using reasonable times to obtain evidence, and economically profitable in terms of costs arising from the logistics necessary for its development. Flexibility. Being able to obtain evidence of competence that individuals possess, combining the application of a series of methods with different characteristics. Validity. Being able to obtain and show sufficient and reliable evidence regarding the references used in each case (Dictionary of competences, Catalog of qualifications, etc.). The purpose of a competency evaluation process is to obtain evidence that shows behaviors under specific conditions, so that it can be inferred that the expected performance has been adequately achieved.It includes the results or products required to demonstrate efficient performance in a productive environment.
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To finish we leave you with the following couple of educational videos by Professor Almudena García, from the School of Business and Management. The first presents a fairly complete definition of competence and the second contains the different types of competencies. Good complement for learning this important subject of human capital management in organizations.
Bibliography
- Alles, Martha Alicia. Strategic management of human resources: management by competencies. Grupo Editorial Norma, 2000. Blanco Prieto, Antonio. Competent workers: introduction and reflections on human resource management by competencies. ESIC Editorial, 2007.Bunk. GP The transmission of skills in the training and improvement of professionals in the FRG. Cedefop. 1994 Del Pozo Flórez, José Angel. Professional skills: assessment tools. Narcea Ediciones, 2012, Sagi-Vela Grande, Luis. Management by competencies: the shared challenge of personal and organizational growth. ESIC Editorial, 2004 Saracho, José María. A general model of management by competencies. Models and methodologies for the identification and construction of competencies. RIL Editores, 2005 - 278 Vargas, F.; Casanova, F. and Montanaro, L.The labor competency approach: training manual. Cinterfor, 2001.
