HR Competencies and

Their Relationship to
Organizational Practices
by Sunil J. Ramlall, PhD

esearchers in the field of strategic human resource management

have emphasized the view that
systems of human resource
(HR) practices may lead to higher firm
performance and be sources of sustained
competitive advantages (Wright, Dunford,
& Snell, 2001). Competing in todays
tumultuous global economy provides
additional challenges to the HR function
in creating the expected value to create
and sustain competitive advantages.
Brockbank, Ulrich, and Beatty (1999)
argue that for HR to be a profession, HR
professionals must master the necessary
competencies, and that mastery of HR
knowledge comes from knowing the concepts, language, logic, research, and
practices of HR. Furthermore, mastery of
abilities comes from being able to apply
the knowledge to specific business settings.
With growing emphasis being placed on
HR competencies as a means to increasing HRs effectiveness, this research
study seeks to do several things:
Determine if competencies are predictive of success in the HR profession.
Understand how competencies vary by
type of position within HR (entry level,
manager, director, and executives).

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Determine if there is a relationship

between specific competencies and
particular responsibilities of HR professionals.
Determine the relationship among
education, years of HR experience,
competencies, and compensation.
Competence of an individual is the knowledge, skills, abilities, or personality
characteristics that directly influence
ones performance (Becker, Huselid, &
Ulrich, 2001).

Literature Review
To sustain the transformation of the HR
function, HR professionals must develop
and demonstrate a new set of competencies to fulfill their changing roles and
responsibilities (Yeung, Woolcock, &
Sullivan, 1996). In the widely cited
Michigans HR Competency Research
(Brockbank, Ulrich, & James, 1997),
the researchers identified five major competencies expected of HR professionals:
strategic contribution, personal credibility, HR delivery, business knowledge, and
HR technology. Becker et al. (2001) suggested adding strategic HR performance
management as a sixth competency.

According to Becker et al. (2001), the strategic performance

management strategies are probably a little different and
support the notion that HR managers must think differently
about HR. The core dimensions of this competency are (1)
critical causal thinking, (2) understanding of the principles
of good measurement, (3) estimation of causal relationships,
and (4) communication of HR strategic performance results
to senior line managers. It is argued that with a stronger
competency in strategic performance management that an
HR professional would be better able to show correlation
and causal relationships between HR systems and financial
outcomes, customer value proposition, and even competitive advantages.
The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), the
University of Michigan Business School, and the Global
Consulting Alliance have since developed the HR
Competency Toolkit, which is in part designed to enable HR
professionals to assess and improve their HR skills
(Brockbank & Ulrich, 2004) and is now used by many HR
professionals across the world. According to SHRM, competencies have emerged that range from being a specialized
and narrow application to being a leading method for diagnosing, framing, and improving most aspects of HR.
Furthermore, the research by Brockbank et al. (1999)
showed that HR activities positively impact business performance (defined as the financial performance of the business
over the last three years compared to major competitors) by
approximately 10%. Strategic contribution accounts for
43% of HRs total impact on business performance, which is
almost twice the impact of any other domain. These are all
reasons why competencies are being discussed by academicians and practitioners as ways of creating sustainable
competitive advantages.
Many other research findings have pointed to the relationship of HR and HR competencies to increasing profitability
and creating competitive advantages. Competencies are needed
to enable an organization to achieve strategic, creative outcomes and to maximize productivity.
In addition to traditional HR disciplines, the HR function is
now looked to for expertise in designing organizations and
organizational systems and for managing major changes to
increase competitiveness. Such outcomes require competency
in strategic contribution and ability to deliver HR services.
As cited in Patterson (2004), the following actions are being
taken by HR professionals in response to these respective
trends:
Increasing the use of technology to perform transactional HR functions80%
Increasing HRs role in promoting corporate ethics
67%
Increasing investment in training for HR staff57%

Building people management or human capital components into key business transactions (change management,
mergers, and acquisitions)54%
Encouraging certification for HR professionals54%
Measuring human capital52%
Increasing use of specialized HR practitioners31%
Increasing HR outsourcing21%
Decreasing HR outsourcing10%
Decreasing use of specialized HR practitioners9%

The increasingly global nature of competition requires that

firms use all their available resources to survive and succeed. Wright, McMahan, McCormick, and Sherman (1998)
concluded that this phenomena has resulted in an emphasis on the alignment of all functional activities of a firm
(e.g., finance, marketing, operations, etc.) toward the
achievement of strategic objectives. One consequence of
this trend is that many have called for a new strategic role
for the HR function.
This role entails two major aspects. First, the HR executive
should provide input into the firms strategy to ensure that
the firm has the human resource capabilities to implement
the strategy. Second, the HR function needs to ensure that
the HR programs and practices are in place to effectively
implement the strategy. Given this requirement, it is quite
obvious that HR professionals must be fully competent in
strategy development, implementation, and evaluation.
An approach within the strategic perspective on human
resources management (HRM) pertains to how the overall
set of HRM practices is generally associated with firm performance and competitive advantage (Ferris, Hochwarter,
Buckley, Harrell-Cook, & Frink, 1999). Central here is the
resource-based perspective (Barney, 1991) such that, collectively, a firms human resources are believed to have
implications for firm performance and provide a unique
source of competitive advantage that is difficult to replicate
(Wright, McMahan, & McWilliams, 1994).
In another study, business knowledge, customer orientation,
effective communication, credibility and integrity, and systemic perspective were identified as competencies
corresponding to structures and needs in organizations
(Yeung et al., 1996).
A competency model can serve as an integrative framework
for an organizations entire HR system. It can help align the
HR system vertically with the organizations strategic objectives or horizontally with other HR functions to ensure
harmony and consistency across the many facets of HR
activities that impact human performance (Rothwell &
Wellins, 2004). Moreover, taking talent management expertise forward is central to the future success of the entire HR
profession (Boudreau & Ramstad, 2003). The authors reiterate
that the HR profession can evolve into a true decision science

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of talent and aspire to the level of influence of disciplines

such as finance and marketing.
With the shifting role of HR, organizations must establish
new covenants with customers, manage disruptive technologies, create new forms of engagements with employees, and
face the scrutiny of investors who determine a firms market
value by assessing its intangibles, not just its present or past
earnings (Ulrich & Beatty, 2001). Tied to the changing
demands of the HR professions are the new competencies
enabling HR to be effective in driving firm performance and
creating sustainable competitive advantages.

Methodology
The study used a cross-sectional design collecting data at
one point in time versus a longitudinal research where data
are collected from a sample at different points in time to
study changes or continuity in the samples characteristics
(Gall, Borg, & Gall, 1996). The target population was HR professionals in the upper Midwest region of the United States.
HR professionals for the purpose of this study include individuals who practice in the field of HRM and who hold
full-time exempt positions.
Survey Design
Based on theories, concepts, and frameworks discussed in
the literature review, the author designed a survey as the
primary means of data collection for the study.
The instrument was compiled to include multiple sections. The first section sought information on the
participants position classification (job title), industry,
years employed in HR, years in current position, and highest educational attainment. The second section of the
survey had the participant identifying the competencies,
skills, and attributes HR professionals should possess and
the competencies the participants employers emphasize
in various employment practices. Compensation information was also included in this section. The third section of
the survey listed 12 specific strategies and activities
(Becker & Huselid, 1998; Brockbank et al., 1999;
Giannantonio & Hurley, 2002). A scale of 15 was used to
indicate the level of competence needed in ones job and,
second, the level of the employees competence for the
specific HR activity; 1 represented least competent and 5
represented highest level of competence.
As a way to determine the construct validity of the instrument and to enhance its effectiveness, a pilot study of the
survey was conducted on a stratified sample of 12 HR professionals including senior executives, HR managers, and
HR generalists. Respondents were asked to review the
instrument and provide feedback on the utility of the questions, recommend additional questions, eliminate questions,

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and determine if the questions were able to collect the

appropriate data needed to fulfill the purpose of the study.
Items that were consistently identified by the focus group
were included in the final survey.
Sample
The target population for the study was HR professionals in
the upper Midwest United States belonging to professional HR
associations. Surveys were sent to 224 HR professionals at 66
different companies. The 66 companies were selected through
stratified random sampling as a means to ensure population
validity. The 66 companies represented Fortune 500 companies, other large and medium-sized companies in retail,
banking and finance, state and city government, agriculture,
education, manufacturing, and transportation industries.
According to Bracht and Glass (1968), one of the criteria for
judging experiments is population validity, which is the
extent to which the results of an experiment can be generalized from the sample that participated to the population.
Stratified random sampling ensured that companies were
randomly chosen but included samples from multiple
industries, size of companies, and financial performance,
among other factors. The reason for taking a stratified sample is to have a more efficient sample than could be taken on
the basis of simple random sampling. Another benefit is the
assurance that the sample will accurately reflect the population on the basis of the criterion used for stratification
(Zikmund, 2003).
Given that this study used correlational and causal-comparative research among other statistical tools, it was
imperative to include at least 30 companies in the research.
Using statistical power analysis, 224 employees from 66
companies were selected, enabling higher levels of reliability, validity, and generalizability. The sample included vice
presidents of HR, HR directors, HR managers, HR generalists, and HR specialists. The sample only included exempt
level HR professionals.
Reliability Test
To determine the reliability of the data collected, the author
used Cronbachs alpha to test the responses received. The
quest was to determine the proportion of the variability in
the responses that was the result of differences in the
respondents. The result was 0.668. Under the assumption
that the item variances are all equal, this ratio simplifies to
the average interitem correlation, also resulting in standardized item alpha of 0.662.
Although an alpha of at least 0.8 would have been preferred,
0.7 would be acceptable given the multidimensional nature
of the data, and, hence, a satisfactory measure of how well
the variables measure the respective constructs.

Results
Responses were received from
108 of the 224 participants for a
response rate of 48%. There were
three surveys that were undeliverable. Of the 108 participants who
returned their surveys, approximately 18% were HR directors,
34% were HR managers, 25%
were HR generalists, 17% were
HR specialists, and 6.5% were
vice presidents. Table 1 provides
the specific numbers of individuals by job category.

Table 1. Participants by Job Category.

Years of Experience
The average number of years of experience for the overall
sample was 10.45 years. Not surprisingly, vice presidents
had the highest years of experience within HR. HR generalists and managers had relatively similar years of experience,
with HR specialists showing more years within the HR profession, as illustrated in Figure 1.
Education
Of the 108 participants, 13 had a high school diploma/GED
as the highest educational attainment, 60 had a BA/BS
degree, and 35 had an MBA/MA/MS. Of the 19 HR directors, six possessed an advanced degree, eight had an
undergraduate degree, and five had a high school diploma
or equivalent as the highest educational attainment. Among
the vice presidents, six of the seven participants had earned
a graduate degree and one had an undergraduate as the
highest educational attainment. Among the HR generalists,
seven had an advanced degree, eighteen had an undergraduate, and two had a high school diploma or equivalent as
the highest educational attainment (see Figure 2 and Table 2).
Relationship Between Specific Competencies and Success
in the HR Profession

Figure 1. Years of Experience by Job Category.

The average annual salary for HR directors in this study was
$95,395. HR generalists had an average salary of $74,075; HR
specialists averaged $55,178; and, as expected, HR vice presidents averaged significantly higher at $162,857. Table 3
provides the descriptive statistics for the compensation data.
Based on the findings of Brockbank et al. (1997), the frequency of participants citing knowledge of the business,
strategic contribution, personal credibility, HR delivery, HR
technology, andas added by Becker et al. (2001)measurement as competencies HR professionals should possess
to effectively function as strategic business partners were
listed as some as the core competencies of HR professionals.

For purposes of this study, it was assumed that a higher

level of compensation was correlated with relatively more
success in ones position. The exception may be in a union
environment, where pay
may be based in part on
longevity and not solely
on performance. Thus,
one of the dependent variables used in this study is
annual base compensation
as a measure of success in
ones position.
Table 2. Overall Educational Attainment.

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Only 6.5% of the respondents felt that

they had an extremely high level of expertise in strategic contribution. A majority of
the respondents (74.8%) indicated an
average level of expertise in this area.
More than 80% indicated a relatively low
level of expertise in measuring HRs efforts
and showing how HR contributes to the
overall bottom line of the organization.

Figure 2. Summary of Education.

As Table 4 shows, the participants of the study did not all
agree that the listed competencies were seen as critical to
success in the HR profession. The results showed that
knowledge of the business, HR delivery, and strategic contribution were viewed as the most important competencies.
Quite surprising, especially given the emphasis on ethical
standards and emphasis on gaining respect in organizations,
personal credibility was cited with relatively low frequency
compared to the other measures.
When asked if they understand the business in which they
worked, 57.4% of the respondents stated a level of 4 on a scale
of 15, with 5 being the highest level of expertise. Another
18.5% stated that they had a perfect understanding of the business, and 24.1% evaluated themselves at either 1 or 2. More
than 80% indicated a 4 or 5 level of expertise in delivering HR
services, with similar results for managing change.

Table 3. Descriptive StatisticsCompensation.

Table 4. Frequency of Self-Identified Core Competencies.

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It has been frequently recommended by

many scholars that HR professionals
should understand the different perspectives of a business and be able to converse
using accounting, marketing, and other
functional areas terminology. More than
70% of the participants perceived themselves to have a high level of expertise in
these functional areas and in staying
abreast with HR research findings; however, approximately 30% were reading
professional and academic journals and magazines on a
fairly regular basis. This finding supports previous studies
citing significant gaps between HR self-perception and perceptions from scholars and organizational executives. For
example, Wright, McMahan, Snell, and Gerhart found that
line executives seem to view HR as being best at providing
basic HR services but are not quite as impressed with HRs
effectiveness in contributing to the business (2001).
Based on the regression analyses with annual base compensation as the dependent variable and predictors as HR
measurement, knowledge of the business, HR technology, personal credibility, strategic contribution, and HR delivery, one
can infer that there is a direct relationship between an
employees annual compensation and the above-listed competencies. Figures 3, 4, 5, and 6 provide a graphic display of the
results of the respective regression analyses. As the results indi-

cate, the higher the level of ones expertise in

the respective competencies, the higher the
annual compensation.
Competencies of Various HR Position
Classifications
As identified in Table 5, participants identified their ability to deliver HR services,
technical competencies in HR, ability to
manage change, self-assessment of knowledge of the business, and ability to manage
an organizations culture as the highest
ranked competencies. In contrast, HR professionals did not report high expertise in
accounting concepts, marketing strategies,
strategic contribution, or HR metrics and did
not report spending a lot of time reading
journals or staying abreast with recent HR
research findings.

Figure 3. Relationship Between Compensation and Ability to Deliver HR Success.

As described in Figure 6, vice presidents listed all of the

core competencies at 100%, except personal credibility; two
of the seven did not list in their respective responses competencies necessary to effectively serve as strategic business
partners and players in organizations. In this study, HR
directors viewed HR delivery as the most important competency to possess. Almost 74% cited HR delivery as a
necessary competence. Only 37% of the HR directors
viewed measurement as an important competence.
For HR generalists, knowledge of the business was cited
most frequently (49%). Compared to the literature, this finding shows a highly significant disparity for the
competencies HR generalists view as being significant to
effectively functioning as strategic business
partners. The results show that among the
HR generalists in the research sample, many
of the generalists said they were lagging in
their awareness or belief of the established
competencies ability to enhance their
performance as HR professionals and subsequently the performance of the HR function.

Activities HR Professionals Spend Time On and the Link

with Competencies
It is of critical importance to understand what activities HR
professionals are spending their time on and if these activities are value added. Ulrich (1998) stated that HR cannot
expand its role in an organization without the requisite
expertise. Becoming a strategic partner demands a degree of
knowledge about strategy, markets, and the economy. In
addition, Ulrich said, To meet the increased expectations
of their organizations, HR professionals must begin to act
professionally. He emphasizes that they must focus more
on the deliverables of their work and less on just getting
their work done.

One of the encouraging results of the study is

that even though HR directors, managers,
generalists, and specialists may not report
that they possess all of the competencies
within one particular classification, as an HR
function the core competencies are all
viewed as important and as a function HR
professionals possess the competencies identified by the literature to enhance firm
performance.

Figure 4. Relationship Between Compensation and Ability to Manage Change.

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HR scholars have continually advised

that to be effective as strategic business
partners, HR professionals must be able
to partner with senior executives on
strategy formulation. So why arent
more HR professionals spending more
time on this critical activity? This study
did not specifically address this question, but a comparison could be drawn
between competencies of performing
tasks where HR professionals are spending most of their time as compared to
competencies of performing tasks such
as strategy formulation.

Figure 5. Relationship Between Compensation and Expertise in Strategic Contribution.

Table 5. Descriptive Statistics: HR Competencies (Overall).

Regardless of this profound advice and many echoing similar thoughts, HR departments in global organizations still
appear to be overwhelmingly preoccupied with transactional issues, according to a survey from Price Waterhouses
Global Human Resource Solutions. Survey respondents say
that 59% of their energy is absorbed by administrative matters and only 6% is spent on strategic concerns
(McShulskis, 1998).
The results of this study suggest that, on average, HR professionals spend most of their time functioning as internal
consultants, on staffing activities, and on implementing
HR strategies. On the other spectrum, the least amount of
time is spent dealing with legal issues, labor relations,
and partnering with senior executives on strategy formulation. Table 6 provides a complete list of the activities
where HR professional are spending their time and other
investments.

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The results showed that 6.5% of the

sample self-reported their level of
expertise on how to do strategic planning at a 5 on the scale. Given that
HR professionals are viewed or would
like to be viewed in such manner, it is
clear that much more emphasis has to
be put on developing
this competency. Another
32% indicated a level 4
expertise in strategic
contribution. So one
possible explanation
for their not spending
more efforts on strategic contribution might
be the lack of expertise
to perform this core
task in organizations.

A Pearson correlation
of strategic contribution
and partnering with senior executives showed a value of 0.451 establishing a
relationship between these two factors. Although not an
extremely strong relationship, in a practitioner world, such information proves extremely helpful in decision-making processes.
The Relationships among Education, Years of HR
Experience, Competencies, and Compensation
In trying to determine if there were any relationships among
multiple organizational issues, this research sought to determine
the impact of education and HR experience on salary, the relationship between education and core HR competencies, and the
relationship between HR experience and core HR competencies.
The regression equation (see Figure 7) basically shows that
with additional education and more years of experience in
HR, ones salary will increase. Although there is a relatively
lower R-sq, the p values are highly significant. A separate

sample of nine HR professionals was taken to test this

equation. Eight of the nine
employees salaries came
within $3,000 of the amount
calculated using the equation as compared to their
actual salaries.
In addition, correlations
were done among education, salary, and each of the
respective HR competencies used as measures in
this study. The results are
provided in Table 7.

Figure 6. Identification of Core Competencies by Job Classification.

The regression equation is

Salary = 4014 + 2880 Education + 2548 HR Experience
Predictor
Constant
Education
HR Experience
S = 26010.8

Coef
4014
2880
2547.9
R-Sq = 27.5%

SE Coef
22834
1363
419.9
R-Sq(adj) = 26.1%

T
0.18
2.11
6.07

P
0.861
0.037
0.000

Figure 7. Regression Analysis: Salary versus Education, HR Experience.

Based on these correlations,

the ability to deliver HR
services had the most significant relationships with the
ability to manage change
and manage culture, the
ability to effectively participate in strategic contribution, and HR technical competence.
Experience positively related with compensation, knowledge
of the business, ability to deliver HR services, ability to manage change, ability to effectively participate in strategic
contribution, and HR technical competence.
The factors that most significantly related with strategic
contribution were HR technical competence, accounting
skills, marketing skills, and HR metrics. The ability to effec-

Table 6. Descriptive Statistics of HR Activities (Percentage of Time Spent on Particular Activities).

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tively manage change was most closely related with strategic contribution, HR technical competence, marketing
skills, HR metrics, and reading academic and practitioner
journals. The factors that most significantly correlated with
the ability to manage culture were staying abreast with new
research and reading academic and practitioner journals.

Discussion
As cited in Lawler & Mohrman (2003), articles, books, and
studies have all argued that HR professionals need to become
more effective strategic business partners. Given that numerous
studies have shown a positive relationship between strategic
HRM and firm performance, this study sought to identify the
competencies that lead HR professionals to becoming effective
business partners and players in organizations.
In todays global economy, HR professionals are continuously
challenged to show how their function is creating value.
Much emphasis is being paid on the competencies necessary
to enable HR to be successful in helping create sustainable
competitive advantages. Over time, many have written and
spoken of the importance of HR spending time on issues that
add value and less time on the transactional activities that are
not very value-added. The results of this study suggest that
there is still a significant amount of time being invested in the
traditional transactional activities rather than the transformational HR activities that have been proven to add more value
to the bottom line of the organization.

player, HR professionals and other executives of organizations have the opportunity to focus on developing the
critical competencies necessary to enhance HR effectiveness and, hence, maximize shareholder value. As has been
established by the International Society for Performance
Improvement, one of the keys of strategic interventions is
to improve performance, guide the change management
process, and evaluate the results. Furthermore, the partnership in strategies between HR and human performance
technology (HPT) enforces the need to emphasize outcomes
that enhance organizational effectiveness, measure strategies, and ensure that employees possess the necessary
competencies to improve performance at the individual,
process, and organizational levels. In the end, both HR and
HPT strategies are focused on adding value, and without
key measurements one is quite unlikely to determine the
value created.
Implications for Practice
Given that there is a growing need for HR and HPT professionals to provide significant input into the firms strategy,
the core competency of being able to contribute strategically
appears to be one that needs continual improvement. Ulrich
(1998) reiterated that strategic contribution accounts for a
significant portion of the total impact of HR on the business
performance. With a self-identified expertise mean of 3.2 for
strategic contribution, HR professionals in this study clearly
perceive gaps here.

The results provide a reminder to HR professionals of

the value of graduate degrees, professional certification
through the Human Resource Certification Institute, and
other means of developing higher levels of HR technical
competence. Of additional importance are understanding the benefits of accounting, marketing, and other
different functional areas to effectively develop and
implement HR strategies. Understanding the impact of the
competencies on the various organizational practices
could contribute to a more directed strategy in developing
expertise among HR professionals, leading to a more credible and effective function.

From the results, other business subject matters such as

accounting and marketing have proven to be key contributors to strategic contribution. A high level of HR technical
competence is evident in higher levels of strategic contribution. This can frequently be obtained through formal HR
education, on-the-job training, or professional certification. Regardless of the source, the data show a relatively
strong correlation between HR technical competence and
strategic contribution. HR and HPT professionals without
the relevant technical competence need to develop the
appropriate expertise to ensure HRs contribution to business success.

With a growing emphasis on HR metrics, the results of this

study suggest a lack of time and expertise on this strategy.
There is clearly a need for more emphasis on measuring
HRs contribution to the business strategy and the effectiveness of the respective HR strategies. The findings of this
study support notions of Ramlall (2003) and Becker et al.
(2001), who emphatically stated the need for metrics as a
core component of the HR strategy.

Implications for Future Research

Although there are many positive results for the HR profession in general from this study, there are clearly many areas
that seem to be lacking. To be a true strategic partner and

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Given that this study was a cross-sectional research, it

would be beneficial for HR or HPT professionals to conduct longitudinal research examining the impact on
organizational practices and outcomes as competency levels change. Another major opportunity for research is an
examination of the effectiveness of undergraduate and
graduate HR programs across the United States in developing
the competencies necessary for HR professionals to adequately contribute to a firms success and in their
respective careers.

HR Experience

Education

Salary

Understands Bus.

Education

-0.060
0.537

Salary

0.494

0.146

0.000

Understands the Bus.

0.307
0.001

-0.063
0.518

0.327
0.001

Delivers HR

0.438
0.000

-0.081
0.402

0.238
0.013

0.404
0.000

Manages Change

0.341
0.000

-0.088
0.367

0.456
0.000

0.364
0.000

Manages Culture

0.166
0.085

-0.064
0.511

0.140
0.148

0.364
0.000

Strategic Contri.

0.302
0.001

0.056
0.563

0.437
0.000

0.241
0.012

Technical Competence

0.345
0.000

-0.099
0.308

0.090
0.354

0.069
0.480

OD Skills

-0.057
0.556

0.119
0.220

0.089
0.359

0.107
0.271

Accounting

0.247
0.010

-0.127
0.190

0.220
0.022

0.067
0.492

Marketing

0.186
0.054

0.082
0.399

0.521
0.000

0.165
0.087

Metrics

0.146
0.132

-0.039
0.686

0.132
0.172

-0.146
0.132

Stays abreast w/res

-0.131
0.178

-0.018
0.852

-0.076
0.434

-0.099
0.308

Reads journals

-0.054
0.576

0.057
0.558

0.095
0.327

0.242
0.012

Delivers HR

Manages Change

Manages Culture

Strategic Contrib.

Salary

0.494

0.146

0.000

0.133

Manages Change

0.279

0.003

Manages Culture

0.310
0.001

0.198
0.040

Strategic Contri.

0.404
0.000

0.276
0.004

0.077
0.428

Technical Competence

0.394
0.000

-0.212
0.028

0.041
0.673

0.297
0.002

OD Skills

-0.145
0.135

-0.253
0.008

-0.012
0.902

0.067
0.488

Accounting

0.300
0.002

-0.045
0.644

0.077
0.426

0.368
0.000

Marketing

0.099
0.310

0.286
0.003

0.178
0.066

0.197
0.041

Metrics

0.010
0.914

-0.271
0.005

0.036
0.711

0.219
0.023

Stays abreast w/res.

0.136
0.161

-0.291
0.002

0.334
0.000

0.157
0.106

Reads journals

0.079
0.418

0.313
0.001

0.335
0.000

0.135
0.165

0.133

Table 7. Correlations: HR Experience, Education, Salary, and Competencies.

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Technical Co

OD Skills

Accounting

Marketing

OD Skills

-0.005
0.955

Accounting

0.242
0.012

0.145
0.134

Marketing

-0.286
0.003

0.138
0.154

0.182
0.060

Metrics

0.301
0.002

0.034
0.729

0.381
0.000

0.222
0.021

Stays abreast w/res.

0.180
0.062

-0.053
0.588

0.467
0.000

0.085
0.383

Reads journals

-0.126
0.195

-0.161
0.096

0.040
0.684

0.231
0.016

Metrics - 2
Stays abreast w/res.

0.241
0.012

Reads journals

0.019
0.846

Stays abreast w/research

0.379
0.000

Cell Contents: Pearson correlation

P-Value

Table 7. Correlations: HR Experience, Education, Salary, and Competencies (continued).

Conclusion
It is hoped that HR and HPT professionals will be able to
use the information from this research to enhance practices
in organizations, to enhance firm competitiveness; it is also
hoped that researchers will be able to build on this knowledge base to create additional new knowledge on HR
competencies and the impact on firm performance.

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Sunil J. Ramlall, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of

Management at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. He earned his PhD
from the University of Minnesota. His primary research interests include identifying and understanding HR competencies and the impact on individual and
firm performance, HR metrics, linkages between HR strategy and the
impact on firm performance, positive organizational behavior, employee
training and development, and HR technology. Sunil may be reached
at sjramlall@stthomas.edu.

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