Competency Mapping in detail for UGC NET, COMMERCE, BBA & MBA Students

Hello Everyone, 

Lets a have a detailed deep study on competency mapping.

What is competency mapping? 

Firstly, Give answer to this question by your own. Then compare your present knowledge & after completion of this detail study. If you find it helpful then comment down with a tumbs up. 

Lets Get started, 

Lets discuss it with a diagram,

Introduction to Competency 

Competency mapping is a way of assessing the strengths and weaknesses of a worker or organization. It is about identifying a person’s job skills and strengths in areas like teamwork, leadership and decision making. Thus, it is about identifying a person’s job skills and strengths in the areas like teamwork, leadership and decision-making.

Competency Mapping is a process to identify key competencies for an organization and/or a job and incorporating those competencies throughout the various processes (i.e. job evaluation, training, recruitment) of the organization. A competency is defined as a behavior (i.e. communication, leadership) rather than a skill or ability.

Competency is your ability to do something successfully or efficiently. Therefore, competency mapping is simply a process of matching your competence with the job role and/or organization. Additionally, it is also about matching people to the job role and hence used even in selection, training, and appraisals.

Competency mapping is the process of identifying the specific skills, knowledge, abilities, and behaviors required to operate effectively in a specific job or organization. Competency maps are often also referred to as competency profiles or skills profiles.

Understanding key steps of the Competency Mapping process

Steps in Competency Mapping Process

There are 5 key steps in any competency mapping process

These are not simply the steps but also the construct of the competency map. Each one of the step also from the elements in the competency map that you develop into a framework.

1. Classification of Competencies

Generally, the competencies are classified into two categories. Functional and Behavioral. However, the competency can be classified into more categories depending on the overall objective of developing a competency framework through the process of competency mapping.

For example, an organization that has decided to focus on enhancing customer experience may classify a category of competency as Customer Centricity.

2. Definition of Competencies

It is very important that competency is defined well. This helps in providing a clear picture of what exactly is the detail about the set of skills and abilities required to do the job. You can see the below example, where for a sales team the competency has been classified as functional and it has been clearly defined.

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCY	DEFINITION
Drive for Sales Results	The ability to achieve results by focusing on the formulated sales objectives

Please note that it is not necessary that the mentioned competency ‘Drive for Sales Result’ will always be a functional competency. It may very well be a behavioral competency for other organizations. Still, competencies like ‘Knowledge in advanced MS Excel’ is clearly a functional competency and are easier to identify.

3. Identifying Behavioral Indicators (BI)

The key element of any competency mapping process and developing a competency framework is the set of behaviors that defines that competency. In the above example, we have already classified the competency as functional. Also, we have defined the competency, now the behavioral indicators will be assigned.

It typically says that you need to demonstrate these behaviors to show that you have the competency of ‘Drive for Sales Results’. Behavioral indicators are also called Behavioral Descriptors (BD) or simply BI, so don’t get confused is you see any other way BI is mentioned.

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCY	DEFINITION	BEHAVIORAL DESCRIPTOR(S)
Drive for Sales Results	The ability to achieve results by focusing on the formulated sales objectives	A. Establishes personal sales objectives that are Highlighted clearly, Ambitious, Realistic, and Directly applicable (HARD) B. Is proactive and takes the required initiatives to achieve personal sales objectives C. Can identify the concrete results of the sales activities undertaken D. Takes personal responsibility for achieving sales goals E. Monitors the progress of own sales results F. Thinks out of the box to achieve sales goals G. Is able to manage and overcome objections and resistance from other departments H. Helps Sames Managers to sell into key outlets

Well, that looks like a detailed listing of behavioral indicators for the competency ‘Drive for Sales Results’ and provides a very clear-cut understanding to the individual, manager, and his/her HR team about what constitutes ‘Drive for Sales Results’ for an employee.

4. Identifying Proficiency Levels (PL)

Not every person in a department will be at the same level of expertise or in the context of competency mapping, at the same level of proficiency. Therefore, it is critical that within a job role, department, level or grade of employees the desired proficiency levels are defined.

Notice the term ‘desired’, in the competency mapping process the proficiency levels are desired proficiency levels (DPL) as at this moment you don’t know what proficiency levels your employees actually are.

Once you assess and measure proficiency levels then you would arrive at actual proficiency levels (APL). We have added the DFL for Level 2 managers in salesforce to give you an insight. A scale of 1 to 5 is used where 5 is the maximum level of proficiency as 1 is the minimum.

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCY	DEFINITION	BEHAVIORAL DESCRIPTOR(S)	DPL
Drive for Sales Results	The ability to achieve results by focusing on the formulated sales objectives	A. establishes personal sales objectives that are Highlighted clearly, Ambitious, Realistic, and Directly applicable (HARD). B. is proactive and takes the required initiatives to achieve personal sales objectives. C. can identify concrete results of the sales activities undertaken. D. takes personal responsibility for achieving sales goals. E. monitors the progress of own sales results. F. Thinks out of the box to achieve sales goals. G. Is able to manage and overcome objections and resistance from other departments H. Helps Same Managers to sell into key outlets	3

5. Definition of Proficiency Levels

As seen in the example above, we have a DPL of 3 that is just two below the maximum. But we do not know what would define a DPL of 4l. Therefore, it is extremely important that we clearly define the meaning of each level of proficiency from 1 to level 5 in DPL.

Proficiency Level	Meaning
Level 1 = Novice	Is struggling in demonstrating relevant behaviors of competency
Level 2 = Learner	Knows and understand, however, may commit mistakes in applying sometimes
Level 3 = Practitioner	Knows, Understands and applies with a fair degree of consistency
Level 4 = Expert	Knows, Understands and applies and innovates with a fair degree of consistency
Level 5 = Master	Role model a competency, often quoted when looking for a standard, can coach others

Pretty simple and objective, isn’t it? You have just seen the competency mapping process in real-time for a real organization by going through an example of one competency being mapped, in this case to one job role.

Methods of Competency Mapping

Job and Role Analysis

This is the most crucial stage in competency mapping. In this stage, the job that the employee needs to perform is critically analyzed and this is broken down into four stages. This stage can also include a competency-based questionnaire to find out the following.

1. Tasks the employee needs to perform
2. Behaviors that he or she need to demonstrate to achieve these tasks
3. Behavioral indicators that would lead us to ascertain that these behaviors are being demonstrated
4. Defining proficiency for each behavior

Let us take understand by an example. If we are doing competency mapping for a job role of team leader for a software development firm. One task that a team leader has to perform is to ensure the productivity of all his team members. Accountability towards the team results and ensuring the productivity of each individual in the team is the behavior that he or she needs to demonstrate.

Now we may identify behaviors that would lead to the productivity of the employees. The behaviors that would lead to this competency can be his or her ability to set goals, ability to provide direction, ability to coach and so on. This is the identification of indicators that would lead to the final behavior and thus are called behavioral indicators.

Interview

It involves face to face interaction to determine and fine-tune behaviors and behavioral indicators. The interview at this stage can involve the individual already in the job role, his or her supervisor, HoD or even the project manager in case of projects.

Develop a Competency-based job description (JD)

A competency-based job description is then arrived at. For e.g in case of the team leader, the job description will mention all the behaviors required to be successful in the job role. It can include accountability for productivity, the efficiency of work, quality of work, adherence to timelines and more.

Map the competencies

In this stage mapping the competencies and behaviors to the job role happen. Also in this stage, the proficiency for each role is also determined. For e.g a team leader has to have a proficiency of 3 out of 5 for ensuring the productivity of his or her employees. A top leader may need to exhibit a proficiency of 4.5 out of 5 for the same.

Look how competencies and behaviors may remain the same but proficiency may vary across various levels in the organization.

Identify critical competencies for further development

Identifying critical and key competencies can help create detailed role directories that can guide organizations when making hiring or promotion decisions specific to that position.

In the present economic environment, employee performance is a primary concern of HR managers and the best way to recognize performance is to observe key characteristics of high performing employees that distinguish them from less productive employees.

SOME OF THE TOOLS USED FOR COMPETENCY MAPPING

1. INTERVIEWS
2. COMPETENCY-BASED QUESTIONNAIRES
3. ASSESSMENT AND DEVELOPMENT CENTERS
4. CRITICAL INCIDENTS TECHNIQUE
5. PSYCHOMETRIC TESTS

Objectives and Purpose of Competency Mapping

The concept of competency mapping now exists in organizations with well-developed HR practices. HR directors and their top management have always paid attention to consider competencies and incorporated them in the appraisal forms in order to improve the performance management system. Companies such as Larsen & Toubro, National Dairy Development Board, Life Insurance Corpora­tion of India, Hindustan Lever Ltd (presently Hindustan Unilever Ltd), NOCIL Ltd, Bharat Petroleum, and so on, have felt the utmost need for management of competencies and revised their performance appraisal systems.

Some of their objec­tives while performing their competency mapping are as follows:

1. Identifying the key success factors

2. Pinpointing triggers for each role

3. Laying direction for superior performance

4. Setting defined expectations from employees

5. Serving means for communicating performance expectations

6. Ensuring that the employees obtain greater transparency about their roles

7. Providing opportunities for development

8. Creating a more empowered workforce

9. Employing the workforce effectively

Therefore, from the discussion, it is clear that competency mapping is important.

Purpose:

The main purpose of competency mapping is to ensure effectiveness of an organization in terms of having a clear idea regarding the summation of the required competencies.

This facilitates further:

1. Gap analysis in competencies

2. Role clarity

3. Selection, potential identification, growth plans.

4. Succession planning.

5. Restructuring

6. Inventory of competencies for future planning.

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6 Important Approaches to Competency Mapping – Expert Opinion, Structured Interviews, Workshops, Critical Incident Techniques, Repertory Grid Analysis and More

Competency analysis is concerned with behavioral dimensions of roles while competence analysis considers what people have to do to perform well. In an organization a tailor-made competency schedule is carried out by specialists or management consultants or both. Line managers may be consulted but the frameworks are issued to them in accordance with procedures laid down for such processes laid down for such processes as performance management. Although the first draft may be developed in-house but when practiced the suggested changes can improve it further.

There are 6 approaches to competence analysis:

1. Expert Opinion

2. Structured Interviews

3. Workshops

4. Critical Incident Techniques

5. Repertory Grid Analysis

6. Job Competency Assessment

Approach # 1. Expert Opinion:

This method involves an expert member of the HR dept. possibly discussing with the other experts and referring to the published list to draw up “What counts”. The major drawback of this method is that it lacks detailed analysis and the line managers have not been involved at any step so it may be unacceptable.

Approach # 2. Structured Interviews:

Here we require the list of competences prepared by experts and the job-holders. The key result areas of a particular are identified to analyze the behavioral characteristics, which distinguish performers at different levels of competence.

The positive and negative indicators required for achieving high levels of performance can be analysed as:

i. Personal drive (achievement motivation)

ii. Analytical power

iii. Creative thinking

iv. Team Management

v. Interpersonal skills

vi. Communication skills

This approach relies too much on the experts.

Approach # 3. Workshops:

A team of experts (knowledge and experience holders), managers, job-holders along with a facilitator (not from personnel department) or a consultant work together in a workshop. The activities of workshop initiate with defining job related competence area. Then the members of the group develop examples of effective and less effective behavior recorded on flipcharts. The facilitators’ job is to help the group to analyze its findings and assist generally to set competency dimensions which can be identified by behavior.

Approach # 4. Critical Incident Technique:

This is a means of eliciting data about effective or less effective behavior related to actual events- critical incidents.

The technique is used with groups of job holders, their managers and expert in following ways:

i. Explain what the technique is and what are its uses. This helps to gather the real information regarding the behaviors constituting good or poor performance

ii. Listing the key areas of responsibilities for a particular job.

iii. Each area of job can be discussed and relating to critical incidents

iv. Collect information about the critical incidents under the following headings-

a. What were the circumstances?

b. What did an individual do?

c. What was the outcome of the efforts of the individual?

v. Same process is repeated for each area of responsibility and various critical incidents are recorded.

vi. On referring to the flipchart, analyzing the critical incidents, the recorded behavior is marked on a scale from one to five.

vii. These ratings are discussed and re-discussed for reducing errors.

viii. Final analysis-It lists the desired competence, performance indicators for each principal accountability or main task.

Approach # 5. Repertory Grid:

Repertory grid can be used to identify the dimensions that distinguish good from poor standards of performance. This technique is based on Kelly’s personal construct theory. Personal constructs are the ways in which we view the world. They are personal because they are highly individual and they influence the way we behave or view other people’s behavior. The aspects of the job to which these ‘constructs’ or judgements apply are called ‘elements’.

A group of people concentrate on certain elements (work or task of job holder) and develop constructs for them. This helps to define the qualities which indicate the essential requirements for successful performance.

The procedure being followed by an ‘analyst’ is called ‘triadic’ method of elicitation and involves following steps:

a. Identify the elements of the job to be analyzed.

b. List the tasks on cards.

c. Draw three cards randomly from the pack of cards and ask the group members to select the odd one out from the point of view of the qualities and characteristics needed to perform it.

d. Try to obtain more specific definitions of these qualities in the form of expected behavior.

e. Again draw three cards from the pack and repeat step c&d. Repeat the process unless all the cards have been analyzed.

f. List all the constructs and ask the group members to rate each task on every quality using a six or seven point scale.

g. Collect and analyze the scores in order to assess their relative importance.

The repertory-grid analysis helps people to articulate their views by reference to specific examples. It is easier to identify behavioral competences required in a job by limiting the area through the triadic technique. This method of analysis is quite detailed and time- consuming.

Approach # 6. Job Competency Assessment:

The job competency assessment method as described by Spencer & Spencer (1993) and offered by Hay/McBer, is based on David Mc Clelland’s research on what competency under six clusters-

i. Achievement Cluster

ii. Helping/Service

iii. Influence

iv. Managerial

v. Cognitive

vi. Personal Effectiveness

The competency assessment method is used to model the competencies for a generic role i.e. for a position which is similar to many job holders and basic accountabilities are same. The method begins with assembling a panel of expert managers to express their vision of the job, its duties, responsibilities, difficult job components, likely future changes to the role and the criteria against which the job-holders performance is measured. The members do nominate some members to be outstanding or satisfactory.

The next step is to conduct ‘behavioral event interview’ with nominated job-holders to focus upon the distinction between a person’s concept and what a person actually does. This employs a structured probe strategy rather than a standard set of questions. This investigative interview helps to gather most accurate performance data.

Following this analysis, differentiations can be made between superior and average performers in the form of the:

(a) Competencies possessed by superior performers

(b) Activities undertaken by average performers

(c) Competency and average criteria for both superior and average performers.

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