Competency Modeling

Introduction

Front Solutions LLC was asked to develop a white paper on competency modeling that provided an insight into everything from the academic background of the concept to its implementation in the field. This paper seeks to define competency modeling, reveal findings on best practices, and provide guidance on how to make it a relevant tool in an organization. It will also highlight the differences between the model and traditional job analysis. Though this analysis is not as exhaustive as other studies done on the subject, it is certainly a good starting point for anyone seeking to understand its definition and applications in the private sector and the government.

Background

In order to begin to understand the rudimentary definition of competency modeling, it is necessary to know what is meant by competency. Competencies are the successful attributes, beyond the basic knowledge, skills, and abilities, which serve as a prerequisite for superior performance in a job or task. These traits are observed in individuals who are highly successful and go beyond the basic requirements of a task. Competencies are building blocks that contribute to increased efficiency and output in an organization. These competencies can “emerge through learning, experience, innate predisposition, or a combination of these determinants (Hoge)”

In the academic arena, competencies refer specifically to the aggregation of knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs). Knowledge is considered the understanding about concepts necessary to complete a task.

A skill is capacity to perform mental or physical tasks with a specified outcome (Hoge). Finally, ability is understood to be the cognitive ability to perform a task with many possible results.

            A competency model is the framework in which KSAOs apparent in successful individuals performing a task or job are aggregated and used as a baseline to inform decisions about the direction of an organization which can include decisions ranging from hiring and recruitment to the strategic course that needs to be taken. Competency models are much more than just lists of KSAO’s. A competency model can be as broad as to cover desired qualities to be applied throughout the entirety of an institution or as specific to a unique job. The purpose of competency models is to foster success and it is designed to guide individuals in key management roles as well as those who are not on a management track. In that sense, it is not a uniquely human resource tool but can be use be management and senior executives to craft strategic guidance. A model can be used to mold employee behavior in those who aren’t quite up to par and need to narrow down on what to improve. All in all, a competency model will help align human capital assets with an organization’s strategy to create value and drive performance forward in both the private market place and in government.

Findings

A properly resourced competency model coupled with traditional job analysis, as will be discussed, are invaluable in an organization’s repertoire of tools to increase performance. 

Difference Between Traditional Job Analysis and Competency Modeling

            The general consensus in the industrial organization (IO) psychology field is that competency modeling has the potential to make up for the shortcomings of traditional job analysis as it relates to setting and implementing a strategic vision in daily employee behavior. The linking between results to business goals is notably absent in job analysis however, proponents of job analysis note, and subject matter experts concur, that it is a more rigorous approach to data collection than competency modeling. Many argue that competency modeling is simply a watered-down version of job analysis. To clarify the differences between competency management and job analysis refer to the table below:

Description of Competency Models an Key Differences Between Competency Models and Job Analysis (Campion ET AL 227)

Executives typically pay more attention to competency modeling.   Competency models frequently include descriptions of how competencies change or progress with employee level.   Competency models often attempt to distinguish between top performers from average performers.   Competency models are usually directly linked to business objectives and strategies.   Competency models are typically developed top down (start with executives) rather than bottom up (start with line employees).   Competency models may consider future job requirements either directly or indirectly.   Competency models may be presented in a manner that facilitates ease of use.   Usually, a finite number of competencies are identified and applied across multiple functions or job families.   Competency models are frequently used to align the HR systems.   Competency models are often an organizational development intervention that seeks broad organizational change as opposed to a simple data collection effort.

            Whereas job analysis is a compilation of employee data and analysis of requirements needed for average completion of a task, competency modeling helps create a clear understanding of the key characteristics that are expected for success and will consequently be rewarded. At a basic level, competency modeling opens up a conduit for strategy execution, “so that the employee learns how to incorporate strategic concerns into day-to-day behavior (Sanchez 54).”Furthermore, traditional job analysis deals with KSAOs that are singularly job-specific and fail to convey what dimensions individuals should be developing to move upwardly in an organization. Finally, traditional job analysis is positive in that it describes things as they are while competency modeling is normative in that it describes things as they should be, thereby informing strategic decisions.

Best Practices in Competency Modeling

            The development of a competency model can be divided into three broad categories including: analyzing competency information, organizing and presenting competency information, and using competency information. All three will be addressed below. Take caution that the progression of the best practices might appear to be clear cut from an academic perspective; it may not be the case in real-world application where the human factor plays a role.

Analyzing Competency Information:

In order to begin developing a model, it is necessary to consider the organizational context. There are two types of competency models. One that is highly tailored to the organization and another that can be applied universally without regard to organizational context. However, the more successful models tend to be more tailored to the organization’s strategy as it is intended to create a competitive advantage that differentiates an organization from the competition. Secondly, it is essential to link competency models to organization goals and objectives. Creating this linkage will capture the attention and interest of management. As discussed earlier, this linkage distinguishes competency models from job analysis. A third best practice is to ensure the model considers future-oriented job requirements. According to Michael A. Campion ET AL “both by definition and by methods used, job analysis captures the requirements of the current job (status quo) but does not explicitly consider the requirements of the future.” Organizations can analyze a wide range of strategies in relation to future and use subject matter experts to identify key competencies needed to implement those strategies.

Organizing and Presenting Competency Information

A fourth best practice is to define the anatomy of a competency. As exemplified in figure 2, “competencies are usually described very thoroughly by including several parts: (a) a descriptive label or title; (b) a definition, usually describing how the competency appears on the job in detailed behavioral terms; and (c) a detailed description of the levels of proficiency on the competency (Campion ET AL 239).” This is in contrast to job analysis in which the information portrayed is usually simply a label a short definition. It is also important to include both fundamental (cross-job) and technical (job-specific) competencies.

Anatomy of Competency

Competency name: A brief description of behaviors the competency addresses

Project Management Project Management is the art of creating accurate and effective schedules with a well-defined scope while being personally accountable for the execution and invested in the success of the project. People who exhibit this competency exhibit this competency effectively and continuously manage risks and dependencies by making timely decisions while ensuring the quality of the project.

Proficiency Level 1	Proficiency Level 2	Proficiency Level 4	Proficiency Level 4
Identifies risks and dependencies and communicates routinely with stakeholders	Develops systems to monitor risks and dependencies and report changes	Anticipates changing conditions and impact risks and dependencies and takes preventative action	Proactively identifies implications of related internal and external business conditions to risks and dependencies
Appropriately escalates blocking issues when necessary	Works effectively across disciplines and organizational boundaries to gain timely closure on decisions that impact own project/solution/portfolio	Effects timey, mutually beneficial outcomes on decisions that impact the whole product, multiple projects or portfolios	Instills a system and culture that facilitates effective decision-making across organizations, product lines, or portfolios
Understands project objectives, expected quality, metrics, and business case	Develops methods to track and report metrics, gains agreement on quality, and relates it to business value	Evaluates quality and metrics based on return on investment and ensures alignment to business need	Evaluates project results against related examples and incorporates best practices and key learnings for future improvements
Champions project to stakeholders and articulates business value	Asks the right questions to resolve issues and applies creative solutions to meet project objectives	Proactively inspire others to take actions on issues and implications that could prohibit projects success	Champions business value across multiple organizations and gains alignment and commitment to prioritization to ensure long-term project deliverables

Proficiency levels: Behavioral descriptions representing demonstrated level of mastery. They are additive, building in complexity across the proficiency levels.

 

Using Competency Information

Organizational development techniques need to be used to ensure a competency model is accepted and used. Organizational development defined as the widespread involvement of organizational employees in the creation of the competency model. According the Michael A. Campion ET AL, competency modeling fits the definition of an organizational development intervention in the following ways:

• It is based on behavioral science
• It is an adaptive and iterative process
• There is extensive stakeholder involvement
• The project includes model implementation, as well as model development

It is also important maintain the currency of competencies over time. Organizations make an investment to develop competency models and to ensure they are implemented and efforts should be made to make sure the model is maintained current and relevant. Many aspects of competency models can change over time, such as organizational objectives, senior management, environment, likely future, and language; so having a plan for updating is critical (Campion ET AL 257).

Competency Modeling in Government

            In government, competency models have played a key role since 1990 when the U.S Office of Personnel Management (OPM) delved into developing a government-wide competency model. The resulting effort, titled the Leadership Effectiveness Framework (LEF), combined traditional job analysis with competency modeling with the objective of developing a framework that would be cross-functional and relevant across several occupations. “OPM envisioned a uniform, competency-based language that would enable federal agencies to describe jobs in the same way, eliminating inconsistencies across agencies and HR functions (e.g., staffing, performance appraisal, training, (Rodriguez et al 311).” It is important to note that competency modeling did not replace traditional job analysis but the two were merged to create a model that aligned specific employee behavior with broad strategic goals.

            The initial competency modeling effort constructed by OPM focused on leadership and management competencies. Leadership competencies specifically describe the characteristics of high performing leaders to produce results. However, for broader competency modeling, the Federal Competency Assessment Tool (F-CAT) was created. It can be accessed online and allows for assessments based on “observable behaviors, performance, feedback, and demonstrated results (opm.gov).” The tool assists supervisors in establishing performance plans that mark differences in performance based on measurable results in an effort to link competencies to performance.

            It cannot be said that OPM has succeeded in creating a model applicable across the federal government. There remain setbacks to having a centralized competency system. Federal agencies are diverse and so are their needs and strategic goals. Competency modeling in specific agencies is largely decentralized and dependent on OPM. “If competency management were prioritized across federal agencies, the ability to conduct studies at the federal level is constrained by existing capacity within the US Department of Personnel Management (Getha-Taylor 4). The challenge is that the variation in missions across federal agencies makes an overarching competency model difficult to construct and implement. A second challenge is the constantly changing context of agencies and the need to revisit existing models to identify incongruence between the models and the changing needs of the agency. It is necessary to have a strategy for keeping competency models up to date and ready to account for the future.

Making Competency Models Relevant

To ensure that competency models remain relevant in the future they need to be complemented by novel approaches such as creating future scenario workshops. In these workshops, potential future scenarios are imagined and the relevance of alternative competency models can be determined by subject matter experts. “A central concept in this approach is that future cannot be predicted with accuracy, so it may be better to define a range of possible future scenarios and then either base strategic decisions around the common requirements across multiple future scenarios or invest in pursuing multiple scenarios in parallel (Campion ET AL 236).”

A recent example of this future planning approach is an initiative called “Project Horizon” where hundreds of subject matter experts were interviewed to develop five potential future scenarios including a future where terrorism remained a vital concern and where American economic superiority was challenged by China and Asia. The United States State Department used these scenarios to revise their competency models and make them relevant. The U.S Army also undertook a similar planning effort. The study they conducted considered the future of weapons and equipment and surmised future battlefield conditions to develop competencies that will be needed in the soldiers of the future. It is essential in all future-oriented competency modeling to have “individuals who will be helping mold the future in the discussions around what the critical competencies are for those occupying the positions (Campion ET AL 237).

Conclusion

Competency modeling is not a new concept. In fact, the term has been used in applied psychology for nearly 40 years. What is novel about competency modeling is the fact that it brings together best practices in job analysis into one program. As a result, competency modeling has been characterized as a better tool than traditional job analysis to gauge the strategic direction of an organization as it relates to human capital. Government entities such as the US Army and the State Department have utilized competency models to set the direction they will take in the future. There is no doubt that the investment of time and resources that goes into competency modeling pays dividends for an organization seeking to chart a strategic course.

Works Cited

Campion, Michael, Alexis Fink, Brian Ruggeberg, Linda Carr, Geveva Phillips, and Ronald Odman. “Doing Competencies Well: Best Practices in Competency Modeling.” Personnel Psychology 64 (2011): 225-62. Print.

LaRocca, Maggie. “The Competency Modeling Approach.” The Competency Modeling Approach. San Diego State University, n.d. Web. 05 Sept. 2012. <http://edweb.sdsu.edu/people/arossett/pie/interventions/career_1.htm&gt;.

Marrelli, Anne F., Janis Tondora, and Michael A. Hoge. “Strategies for Developing Competency Models.” Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research 32.5-6 (2005): 533-61. Print.

Rodriquez, D., Patel, R., Bright, A., Gregory, D. & Gowing, M.K. (2002) “Developing Competency Models to Promote Integrated Human Resource Practices”, Human Resource Management, 41 (3), pp. 309-324.

Sanchez, Juan I., and Edward L. Levine. “What Is (or Should Be) the Difference between Competency Modeling and Traditional Job Analysis?” Human Resource Management Review 19.2 (2009): 53-63. Print.