Professional Documents
Culture Documents
To be effective the development of workplace and managerial skills must reflect the current and
projected needs of the organization. It is a critical responsibility of senior management to identify
the core competencies of the enterprise and to ensure that the competencies required by
managers, specialists and the workforce in general are adequate and appropriate. The
development of an effective competencies framework and a complimentary performance
management program provide an opportunity for enterprise and individual growth, and in the
longer term, can also increase shareholder value. The following article illustrates how this is
accomplished through training and development, a supportive and motivating culture and
management competence.
The current and future success of an enterprise is a reflection of the effectiveness of the senior
management team, their vision and leadership, and the combined knowledge and skills of the
organization's workforce. This means that the identification of critical management and specialist
competencies that will enable enterprises (and countries) to meet the demands of the future has
assumed an even more important place as a key responsibility of senior business executives,
human resource practitioners, educationalists, public administrators and government leaders.
A major survey of global organizations conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit found that
61 percent of the respondents from the Asia-Pacific area indicated that there was a need to
improve management competencies. They also expressed concern about the need to improve
organizational structure, to better utilize corporate strategy to drive change and to strengthen the
link between strategic intent and day-to-day implementation.
To be effective the development of workplace and managerial skills must reflect the current and
projected needs of the organization. It is a critical responsibility of senior management to identify
the core competencies of the enterprise and to ensure that the competencies required by
managers, specialists and the workforce in general are adequate and appropriate. Competent
people are the key to future success and offer organizations their only sustainable competitive
advantage.
The development of an effective competencies framework and a complimentary performance
management program provide an opportunity for enterprise and individual growth, and in the
longer term, can also increase shareholder value.
Training and development activities play a most significant role in achieving the objective of
attaining a high performance workplace. This means that the human resource function must
actively participate in the development of workplace activities that are directly in accord with the
strategic direction of the enterprise.
Management Competence
Management competency programs are used to improve organizational results by ensuring that
critical core competencies required to effectively perform a role are identified. The knowledge and
skills of people must be developed and matched with their current and projected future roles in
the organization.
Competency frameworks are also used to assist in the alignment of human resource activities
with the needs of the organization. The most common current applications of competencies
include individual and team development forming an integral part of the performance appraisal
system, recruitment and promotion. Projected high growth areas include the use of competencies
to bring about cultural change and to increase their application as part of the remuneration
process.
The most common reported results of managerial competency programs include an improvement
in staff performance and achievement, an increase in staff motivation, development of a more
flexible and highly skilled workforce, higher levels of customer service and improved quality
levels.
Some enterprises set out to link competencies to their business strategies. This has proved to be
more complex and challenging with only around fifteen percent of the enterprises reporting
satisfactory achievement at this stage. This indicator needs to be considered in the context of the
long-term nature of such an initiative.
A number of organizations have achieved satisfactory progress in using their competency
initiative to support their business objectives and have reported increased company growth. The
support and growth is linked to effective human resource development programs and to the
employees personal growth.
Success Factors
Key factors identified as contributing to the success of managerial competency projects include:
Common Problems
The most common problems confronting organizations endeavoring to introduce competency
programs include:
While the competencies were intended specifically for application in the context of vocational
education and training they also provide some helpful guidelines for people who may be called
upon to lead or participate in a competency identification and development project.
Expressed as an Outcome
An outcome is the result of an activity, not the method or procedure used to achieve it. Specifying
procedures can hide a number of complex skills and processes.
When will you start and when will you complete the management competencies program?
How will you introduce the initial program?
How will you launch the outcomes of the competency study?
What internal communications processes will you use?
Who will be responsible for the oversight of the project?
Who will conduct the work required to develop the competency profile?
Do you need external assistance or can your internal staff cope without any significant disruption
to their day to day activities?
What obstacles need to be addressed?
Do you intend to develop your own competency profiles or to utilize and adapt an existing
framework?
required, in the future. The number of participants and composition of these groups needs to be
determined.
By Les Pickett,