Organizational Excellence Through an Effective Competency Framework

1© Rajesh Naik, 2010

Released under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License license

Organizational Excellence Through an Effective Competency FrameworkHyderabad SPIN

22 June 2010

Rajesh Naik

Consulting Partner

QAI India Ltd.



Agenda/ Topics

• What is competency?

• Design of a Competency Framework– Job Clusters, Roles, Competencies, Proficiencies, Competency Dictionary

and Competency Assessments

• Competency Framework in Action– Hiring, Performance Management, Training

• Refining the Competency Framework



What is Competency?

• In other words– Whatever make us do our job better

• This characteristic is usually a combination of – Knowledge, skill, attitude/ traits and process abilities

• Required for a job/ role/ objective

• Possessed by an individual doing the job

Underlying characteristic of an individual that is causally related to effective or superior performance in a job

-Competence at Work, Spencer and Spencer



What is Competency?

Role Based Competency

an underlying characteristic of an

individual that is causally related to

effective or superior performance

(Spencer 1993)

Organizational/ workforce

Competency/ Job Clusters

a cluster of knowledge, skills and

individual should develop to perform a

particular type of work in the

organization

K,S &ProcessAbilities




Organizational/ workforceCompetencies (Job Clusters)

Core Competency

the combination of technology and

production skills that create a

company’s products and services and

provide its competitive advantage in

the marketplace (Prahalad & Hamel

1990)



Design of a Competency FrameworkBrought to you by

Identify

Job Clusters

Identify

Roles

Identify

Competencies

Define

Competencies

Define

Proficiencies

Create

Assessment Tools

Create

Role-Competency- Proficiency

Mapping

Assessment Framework



Job Clusters

• Similar kind of work (e.g., same department) requiring similar competencies

• For example, Job Clusters in a typical IT Services organization

Executive Management

HR

and L

earn

ing

Sal

es &

Mar

ket

ing

Busi

nes

s A

nal

ysi

s

Soft

war

e D

evel

opm

ent

Pro

ject

Man

agem

ent

Fin

ance

& L

egal

Fac

ilit

ies

& A

dm

in

IT I

nfr

astr

uct

ure

Soft

war

e T

esti

ng

Qual

ity M

anag

emen

t



Roles

• Roles within a Job Cluster require similar competencies with different proficiencies

• For example, roles in the “Software Development” Job Cluster could include

– Programmer

– Senior Programmer

– Designer

– Senior Designer

– System Architect



Competencies

• Each role would require a set of competencies – typically all roles within a job cluster will require fairly similar set of competencies

• The difference could be in the proficiency levels

• Types of competencies could include– Functional, technical, domain

– Behavioral

– Process Abilities

Competencies

Expected Results

Tasks

Role



Types of Competencies - Examples

• Functional, technical, domain competencies– Accounting, HR, Legal, Training, Recruitment, Software Design, Programming, Testing– SAP, Oracle, Mainframes, Seibel, Microsoft Technologies– Pharma, Hospitals, automobiles, telecommunication, Oil and Gas

• Behavioral– Achievement Orientation, Creativity, Service Orientation, People Orientation, Flexibility,

Ability to Communicate, Assertiveness, Quality Orientation

• Process Abilities– This is the ability to apply the functional and behavioral competencies using the

organization’s processes (Knows “how things are done here”

• Process abilities are built within an organization, functional competencies are built with work experience in an industry/ type of job, and behavioral competencies are built from childhood



Proficiencies

• Extent of the competency

• Typically on a scale (e.g., 0-5), where– 0- Not At All

– 5- Subject Matter Expert / Master/ Guru



Competency Dictionary

• Description of all competencies, proficiencies

• Mapping of Competencies and Proficiencies for various roles (Role Profiles)

Flexibility Flexibility is the ability to adapt seamlessly to changes.

Flexible people recognize the multiple viewpoints and can

flexibly apply the most suitable solution in a given situation

in the context of a larger objective

0 Not flexible at all; Rigid

1 Able to defer the decision till other viepoints are heard

2 Able to appreciate others viewpoints

3 Able to appreciate others viewpoints and generate alternate

viewpoints himself/ herself

4 Able to change one's behaviour dynamically, depending on

the situation

5 Able to coach and train others to adapt flexible behaviour

Expected

ROLE : PROJECT MANAGER Proficiency

Behavioral

Achievement Orientation 3

Creativity 2

Service Orientation 4

People Orientation 3

Flexibility 3

Ability to Communicate 3

Assertiveness 4

Quality Orientation 3

Functional/ Technical

Estimation 4

Project Monitoring 4

Managing Finances 2

Scheduling 3

Metrics and Reporting 4



Competency Assessments

• At hiring time

• While promoting a person (in the same Job Cluster)

• While shifting a person from one job cluster to

another

• To identify competency gaps and development

needs on a periodic basis

Note:

• Some competencies (technical) can change at a

fast rate

• Some competencies (behavioral) change very

slowly



Competency Framework in Action – Hiring

Short Description

NA Under

Guidance

Indepen-

dent

Guiding

Others√

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NR Novice Productive Master√

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NR Learning Average Excellent√

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Initiative

Support to Seniors

JOB PROFILE

Project Manager

Customer Focus

Helpfullness to Peers

Problem Solving

Support to Juniors

English-Written Communication

English-Oral Communication

English-Presentation

Education & Training & Qualifications

Attitudes

At least one of the following:BSc (or equi) with 9 yrs experiece in IT

BE (or equi) with 5 yrs experience in IT

ME (or equi) with 3 yrs experience in IT

Technology Knowledge (one of client server, IBM

mainframe, Web Based, eCommerce)

Rational Rose or System Architect

One Language Skills (C++, JAVA, etc.)

One Test Tool (Team Test or Segue or Mercury)

One of SSAD/ OOAD Techniques

Requirements Management with DOORS

One CM Tool (VSS or PVCS or Clearcase)

Domain Knowledge (one of Hospital, Hotel, Airline,

Metrics Tool

MPP

Project Management Techniques

Estimation Method (IFPUG or FFP)

Statistical Methods (7 QC Tools)

Industry Quality Standards (ISO & CMM)

Knowledge Mgmt

Quality Management

Main Tasks

Knowledge/ Skills

Plan & execute projects / modules within pre - determined

People Mgmt that includes mobilization, motivation and

Takes part in sales process with new prospect

Proposal / Contract Mgmt

Our QMS

Leading and managing large projects or multiple small projects with the aim

of completing projects on time and on budget to the desired quality,

economically, successfully and to the satisfaction of the customer. Also,

developing repeat business from exis

Business responsibility with P & L responsibility

Customer Mgmt (Develop and Manage existing customer

Analyze, Design and Implement software solutions

Short Description

NA Under

Guidance

Indepen-

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Guiding

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Initiative

Support to Seniors

JOB PROFILE

Project Manager

Customer Focus


Problem Solving

Support to Juniors





Attitudes













Metrics Tool

MPP





Knowledge Mgmt

Quality Management

Main Tasks

Knowledge/ Skills





Our QMS








Short Description

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Indepen-

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Guiding

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Initiative

Support to Seniors

JOB PROFILE

Project Manager

Customer Focus


Problem Solving

Support to Juniors





Attitudes













Metrics Tool

MPP





Knowledge Mgmt

Quality Management

Main Tasks

Knowledge/ Skills





Our QMS








Short Description

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Initiative

Support to Seniors

JOB PROFILE

Project Manager

Customer Focus


Problem Solving

Support to Juniors





Attitudes













Metrics Tool

MPP





Knowledge Mgmt

Quality Management

Main Tasks

Knowledge/ Skills





Our QMS








Short Description

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Indepen-

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Guiding

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Initiative

Support to Seniors

JOB PROFILE

Project Manager

Customer Focus


Problem Solving

Support to Juniors





Attitudes













Metrics Tool

MPP





Knowledge Mgmt

Quality Management

Main Tasks

Knowledge/ Skills





Our QMS








Identify a vacancy

in terms of the

Role Profile

Add specific

competencies required

for:

•the project/ dept

•long term org. needs

0

20

40

60

80

Hospital Hotels Airlines Education

Domain Competency Projection Present

Reqd by Dec '03

0

20

40

60

80



Reqd by Dec '03

0

20

40

60

80



Reqd by Dec '03

Use Role Profiles during

selection



Competency Framework in Action – Performance Management

Short Description

NA Under

Guidance

Indepen-

dent

Guiding

Others√

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Initiative

Support to Seniors

JOB PROFILE

Project Manager

Customer Focus


Problem Solving

Support to Juniors





Attitudes













Metrics Tool

MPP





Knowledge Mgmt

Quality Management

Main Tasks

Knowledge/ Skills





Our QMS





Business responsibility with P & L responsibil ity



Job Profile for

Current RoleSet objectives to close

competency gaps

Identify action plans to help

close the gapsTraining, education,

certification, job rotation,

mentoring/ coaching

Development

Plan

Performance

Appraisal;

Goal Setting

Evaluate for competencies required

for the current role

And desired role



Competency Framework in Action - Training

• Link Training Programs to the Competency Framework

Training Program Competencies Addressed

Minimum Pre

Prociency

Level

Expected Post

Prociency

Level

# CS-101 Creating Customer Delight Integrity 2 3

Service Orientation 2 4

Interpersonal Skills 1 2

# EX-390 Insurance Basics Insurance Domain 0 2

# PM-445 Negotiating Skills Negotiating Skills 0 3

Interpersonal Skills 2 3

Service Orientation 2 3

Listening Skills 1 3

• Training programs become more focused

• Overlapping training programs can be merged/ dropped

• Identification of participants is sharper



Refining the Competency Framework

• New roles will get added

• Definitions of competencies/ proficiencies will get refined

• Role requirements will change based on results achieved



SEI’s People CMM® Project

• Mission– To help the readiness of organizations to undertake increasingly complex work by

helping them attract, grow, motivate, deploy, and retain the talent needed to improve

their capability

Authors of the P-CMM:

Bill Curtis

William Hefley

Sally Miller



Maturity Levels

© Software Engineering Institute

Basic HROperational

Practices

Competency Based

Practices

Measured &Empowered

Practices

ContinuousImprovement

Level 1Level 1InitialInitial

Level 2Level 2ManagedManaged

Level 3Level 3DefinedDefined

Level 4Level 4PredictablePredictable

Level 5Level 5OptimizingOptimizing



Process Areas



“LearningOrganization”

Source: TeraQuest



“CultureOf Teamwork”

Source: TeraQuest



“Performance

Orientation”

Source: TeraQuest



Source: TeraQuest

“Workforce to Strategy”



References

• The Core Competency of the Corporation by CK Prahlad and Gary Hamel (HBR May-June 1990)

• Competency-Based Human Resource Management by David D. Dubois

• Competence at Work: Models for Superior Performance by Signe M. Spencer, Lyle M. Spencer

• The Art and Science of Competency Models: Pinpointing Critical Success Factors in Organizations by Anntoinette D. Lucia and Richard Lepsinger



About this Presentation

More resources on the subject are available from the creator of this presentation at:

http://www.rajeshnaik.com© Rajesh Naik, 2010

This work is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License license. This means you can use it for non-commercial purposes so long as you include the copyright line “© Rajesh Naik, 2010". If you create derivative works using this work, they should also be made available under a similar license. For further information go tohttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ For uses outside the scope of the license, contact Rajesh Naik at [email protected]

Author: Rajesh NaikConsulting Partner

QAI India Limited

[email protected]

[email protected]

+91 9845488767



Thank YouRajesh Naik

Consulting PartnerQAI India Limited

Email

[email protected]

[email protected]

Mobile

+91 9845488767

Website

www.rajeshnaik.com

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