TRAINING NEED IDENTIFICATION AND COMPETENCY MAPPING A CASE STUDY

Dr.B.Ratan Reddy, Professor & Training Coordinator Institute of Public Enterprise Hyderabad A.G.Jayashree, Facutly Badruka College PG Centre Hyderabad Abstract The present article is presented in two parts. The first part explains the conceptual framework of the term Competency, giving the meaning definition, process and its benefits. The concepts are supported by a few case examples picked from secondary source to be able to give the reader a best understanding of the concept in the first instance. The second part of the article elaborates on the various steps used in the implementation of the Competency Mapping process in a real life company which is presented as a case study. This case study is based on a research and consultancy project carried out by Centre for Research Training and Development*, a consultancy engaged in providing training, consultancy and research services for organizations across various sectors in India. The case study is based on implementation of Competency Mapping process for its client organization Vijai Electricals which is a manufacturing concern. A methodology for implementing the process of CM was tailor made to perfectly suit the requirement of the client organization. Reliable, valid and simple tools and techniques of research were used so as to enable other organizations to learn from the article and be

able to replicate the model at their end.

A. Introduction
Competency Mapping (CM) is one of the emerging processes making a whole lot of difference in the way Human Resources (HR) are being managed in todays organizations. This concept is being used as a way to align the HR processes (like recuritment, training , appraisals etc) to the job requirements and the business strategy. HRs best practices would ultimately revolve around the orgnanization s ability to attract, nurture and retain the best talent from the the available pool of supply. Hence Competency Mapping is one such HR practice which identifies, nurtures and develops the competencies in employees. What are Competencies? Although competencies have been considered as critical for various HR processes, it is thus observed that many authors have tried to explain it in many different ways though the essence remains the same that competency is a key trait or characteristic for best performance. [Boyatzis 1982] and [Spencer and Spencer 1993] define competencies as the capacities that exist within a person and which predict superior performance. They are usually seen to encompass a persons knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviours which predict competent performance in a certain job. [Lucia and Lepsinger 1999] differentiate competencies as aptitudes, personal characteristics, skills and knowledge from the actual behaviours that people need to perform at the workplace. [Wikipedia.org] Competencies are characteristics which drive outstanding performance in a given job, role or funtion. A compentency model refers to a group of competencies required in a particular job. The number and type of competencies in a model will depend upon the nature and complexity of work along with the culture and values of the organization in which the work takes place. Thus Competencies can be explained as traits or characteristics covering components like an individuals knowledge, skills, attitudes, personality aspects like self esteem, self efficacy and social roles. It is used for the successful and best performance related to the job. Thus an individuals competencies are not only a key driving element of their

performance, achievement and potential career path but also most important competitive advantage for the organizations to succeed. The definition of a competency includes three elements: 1.A title 2. A brief high-level definition 3. One or more key behavioral statements Below is a sample definition for one competency - Motivating Others, which is an example of an important organization competency at a sales promotion agency. Title: Motivating Others Definition: Facilitating increased commitment, effort and results from others. Key Behaviors Empowers others by inviting input to decisions and requesting [Behavioral Indicators]: appropriate assistance. Acknowledges the effort, achievements and contributions of others. Uses active listening skills regularly. Assesses each persons hot buttons and adjusts style to get the best out of them. Encourages others to set challenging goals, give their best efforts and work to their potential. Helps others to feel important and respected

Competencies used by Satyam Computer in its Manufacturing verticle [satyam.com] Domain Competency Technology Competency Progam and Project Management Competencies

Competency Assessment/ Identification Competency Assessment involves diagnosing competencies in organizational settings, or

the identification of the same among employee. Basically the identification of competency levels is done through a top-down approach. It starts with identifying organizational level competencies which other wise are called core competencies of an organization. Examples of Organizational Core competencies [Dave Ulrich 1998] Its core competency in engines and power trains gives it a distinctive advantage in car, motor cycles, lawn mower and generators Core competency in optics, imaging and micro processor controls have enabled it to enter into diverse markets like copiers, laser printers, cameras Philips and image scanners Competency in Optical Media (laser disc) leading to products of video recording These organizational core competencies have to be distinguished from competencies of individual employees. In order to ensure that employee competencies are managed in line with the future needs of the organization, an analysis of future developments, markets and customer needs have to be defined as a part of the CM process. The next step is to define required individual competencies, which is usually done for a single job or a family of jobs. The requirements are defined in terms of required technical skills and knowledge, management skills and social and personal skills. They are derived from job requirements and are influenced by the core competencies defined earlier. As a result, a number of job profiles, sometimes also called competency models [see Lucia and Lepsinger 1999], are obtained. The required skills are then taken as a basis for assessing existing skills of the workforce. This can be done by self-assessment or within the typical appraisal process.

Honda Canon

Case example of Competencies Model at Automatic Data Processing Inc.(ADP) At ADP, job families are broken into job categories (e.g, the human resources job family is broken into several job categories including: compensation, benefits, recuritment,

training, etc.) The teams mapped competencies to jobs as follows:

1 Core competencies four competencies that apply to all ADP Jobs 2 Management competencies six competencies that apply to all ADP managers 3 Job family competecies competencies that apply to all ADP associates in a
particular job family

4 Job Category Competencies- competencies that apply to everyone in a particular

job category 5 Professional/technical competencies specific, job related competencies that managers assign to their associates.

Dubois and Rothwell (2000) noted that competencies could be easily categorized as technical or functional competencies and personal competencies. They wrote that technical competencies are the specialized primary and highly related knowledge and skill competencies that employees must posses and use in appropriate ways on the jobs. Personal functional competencies are not associated with any functional or technical speciality. They include the characteristics that employees call upon and consistently use along with their technical competencies to be successful performers with members both inside and outside the organization. Competency definitions and profiles are then being centrally stored in a database either manually or electronically. This ensures that the same definitions are used throughout the company and that profiles can be made transparent. Transparency of skills profiles is usually seen as a means for managing and developing employee capabilities in an active and goal directed manner.

Overview of Competency Assessment /Identification Identifying Organizations core competency Defining standard/optimum individual competencies for jobs Assessing the existing competency levels of individuals

Competency Mapping Competency Mapping is a process of identifying key competencies for a company or institution and the jobs and functions within it. Competency mapping can be better understood in three other definitions: 8 Competency Map: A competency map is a list of an individuals competencies that represent the factors most critical to success in given jobs, departments, organizations, or industries that are part of the individuals current career plan. 9 Competency Mapping. Competency mapping is a process to identify and describe competencies that are the most critical to success in a work situation or work role. 10 Top Competencies. Top competencies are the vital few competencies (four to seven, on average) that are the most important to an individual in their ongoing career management process. Importance to the individual is an intuitive decision based on a combination of three factors: past demonstrated excellence in using the competency, inner passion for using the competency, and the current or likely future demand for the competency in the individuals current position or targeted career field Thus CM can be explained as a process of identifying key competencies for a particular position in an organization, and then using it for various HR functions like job evaluation, recruitment, training and development, performance management, succession planning, etc. The competency framework serves as the bedrock for all HR applications.

Process of Competency Mapping Organization carry out the process of competency mapping using the following steps: Step 1: A job analysis is carried out using a questionnaire that asks employees to describe their

jobs, skills, attitudes and abilities required. It would ask the employees to list the potential attributes needed to make it to the next level of the job. Step 2: Using the information from the questionnaire, a competency based job description is crafted and presented to the personnel department for their agreement and additions if any. Step 3: The competency list is converted to a survey questionnaire and respondents of the rating process are asked to rate how the individual employee uses each of the competencies for their daily job performance. Step 4: Then mapping starts by benchmarking the capability of the employees as obtained from the survey questionnaire against the benchmarks. The results of such analysis will be used in the processes like recruitment and selection or training need identification etc. Uses of Competency Mapping - Benefits to Organizations: Organizations are using competency assessment results in a variety of ways to improve employee and organization performance. However the benefits obtained by the organization on implementing the Competency mapping process are:11 Target specific employees as high potentials for future assignments. 12 Match the right and best employees to the projects and ensure an exemplary success of the project. 13 Provide managers and individuals with information needed for managing the performance of employees by creating and implementing individual development plans. 14 Provide managers with insights needed to effectively coach employees on the application of key job competencies. 15 Provide employees with information on their competency strengths, which they can use for their own career planning and management. 16 Identify employees performance improvement and competency development need.

17 Make futuristic plan for the organization based on the available competency levels of employees. 18 Competency mapping helps organization focus individual efforts towards achievement of output and goals 19 Aligning competencies to organizational culture, values and vision helps make drastic improvements in productivity 20 As CM helps achieve a goodness of fit between the employee capability and the job the results are bound to be in favor of the organization. Benefits to Individual employees: 21 Here are major ways that individuals can use the results of competencies mapping to their long-term, life-career advantage: Identify or map their key competitive competency strengths for marketing their capabilities to obtain career opportunities. 22 Identify areas for essential or preferred competency development. 23 Identify potential occupation options that require ones competency strengths. 24 Prioritize potential occupational options based upon ones identified competency strengths. 25 Base ones career marketing strategies upon known and documented competency strengths. 26 Use and acquire competencies that will improve upon ones effective daily living and life-career satisfaction. 27 It seems clear that individuals are well advised to place major focus and emphases upon identifying, assessing, and acquiring new or different competencies that will lead to greater life-career satisfaction.

B. Competency Mapping for Training Need Identification - A methodology and case study
In this section, we describe a case study in which we have applied the ideas stated so far relating to Competency identification and assessment together called as Competency

Mapping. The case study was conducted by Center for Research, Training and Development (CRTD) a consultancy which carries out training, consultancy and research projects for organizations across various sectors in India. The client organization for which the project was carried out is Vijai Electricals. Client Profile: Vijai Electricals Vijai Electricals (VE) is one of the largest and leading manufacturers and exporters of Electrical Power and Distribution Transformers up to 10000 KVA and 66 KV class in India. Established in 1973, today it stands as one of the most trusted and reputed brand name among all the customers in the Transformer industry worldwide. Substantial percentages of the sales are constituted by exports to countries such as Bangladesh, Cyprus, Philippines, Vietnam, Zimbabwe, Nepal, Ghana, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, UAE etc. With ISO-9001 certification and marching towards ISO 14000, it has a well-established Quality Policy in place. It has also earned recognized Export House status from Ministry of Commerce, Government of India. It has 1000 plus strong dedicated work force consisting of highly qualified, experienced and well trained Engineers & Technicians. It has complete and integrated plants in the Asian subcontinent and an in-house developed world-class design to meet the customized design demands. An overview of the methodology employed for implementing the Competency Mapping Process at Vijai Electricals is given below followed by an brief explanation of each of the steps. Steps of a competency Mapping process 28 Examining the purpose and setting of Competency Mapping 29 Selecting a position and a group of employees 30 Development of Competency based Job Descriptions

31 Development of Competency Framework 32 Preparation of Competency Directory 33 Assessment of Individual competencies 34 Preparation of Competency Matrix 35 Assessment of employees competencies using the 360 Degrees approach 36 Preparation of Competency Assessment Charts 37 Training Need Identification for employees based on CM 1.Examining the Purpose and Setting for Competency Mapping The primary requirement for implementing the process of Competency Mapping is to understand the business environment and the strategy of the company. Vijai Electricals being the leading player in the Industry its current challenge emerges from aiming to become the number one player. After three decades of operation and rapid growth, VE was confronted with the need to consider available competencies in the light of the new goal, design a coherent strategy and align projects and processes to this strategy. One purpose of the study was to provide an input on what kind of knowledge and skills are available with the managers and project leaders and identify what is additionally required to be able to support the strategy for the goal. The company aims to further expand and diversify into new projects, backward integration projects. It also aims to strengthen customer base by capturing new growth strategies and reduce manufacturing costs. This required that competencies needed for the same be identified and developed much in advance. CM can create a healthy organization culture by indicating the work related expectations of the organization from its employees and supporting them to grow along with the organization. It can provide better transparency of the available expertise in the organization To reach the number one position in the Industry the organization should aim at having the best practices. CM can provide the basis for development of needed expertise by forming the bedrock of all HR functions like recruitment, performance management, compensation and benefits, career planning, training and development and succession planning

MODEL OF COMPETENCY MAPPING AT VIJAI ELECTRICALS LIMITED

Why Competency Mapping at VE? 38 Competency Mapping can identify and predict the required competencies for achieving the goals of the company. 39 It can assess and indicate the present levels of competency in the existing employees and thus help plan for the training and development programmes 40 It can provide the gap analysis i.e. present competency levels in employees and required competency levels 2. Selecting a position and a group of employees

A small group of employees were selected initially so that if the results were positive it could be replicated for the entire organization. The CM process was carried out for the positions of the Senior, Middle and Junior Management cadres which included the General Manager, Deputy General Manager, Senior Manager, Manager, Deputy Manager and Assistant Manager. The range of experience was from 15 years to 3 years and covered all possible functional areas both technical and non-technical. Totally the sample covered about 52 employees in these positions, which is about 25% of the entire organization workforce. 3. Development of Competency Based Job Description Job description/ Specification is a very important document for the entire functioning of the HR system. It determines the purview and scope of a particular job. As a first step job analysis was conducted using the questionnaire method. Information was collected from the employees on various aspects of the job in a questionnaire called the Position Information Questionnaire (PIQ). Information on the individual jobs included: 41 Position summary 42 Important responsibilities 43 Knowledge skills and abilities required 44 Communication 45 Supervisory responsibilities 46 Working environment 47 Physical attributes 48 Tools of work Workshops were conducted in helping the employees fill up the detailed questionnaire. The summarized information from the questionnaires was sent to the HR department and the concerned reporting officers for their opinion and additions. Then Delphi technique was used to finalize on the each of the Job description/specification for all categories in the sample. . 4. Development of Competency Framework Based on the job description generated and secondary sources a list of competencies was

developed. A simple three level competency framework was generated as given below:The Three Levels Competency Model of Vijai Electricals Ltd: Competency Level 1. Generic/ Meta Competencies Sub categories of Competency v1 Communication v1 Team Building v1 Leadership v1 Soft Skills v1 Managerial Skills 1 History and growth 1 Corporate culture and values 1 Vision 1 SWOT of company 1 Goal Congruence Function-related (Marketing/Human Resources/Finance/Productions/ quality etc) The Generic or Meta competencies are those, which are common to any industry, firm or job. They are the most vital competencies required by people to work effectively and efficiently for organization. They are basically conceptual and human relation skills to deal with people, ideas and symbols and complex problems. The Organizational competencies deal with the Organization. They are highly organization specific and applicable to any jobholder across the company. The Functional competencies are highly job specific as they deal with the skills of the functional area, which the employees is handling. Each of these competencies has sub categories of competencies to explain the scope and meaning of them. 5. Preparation of Competency Directory A Competency Directory is an exhaustive list of competencies along with the description of each competency. The competencies vary in degree with the level and cadre of employees. For example, communication skills may be a competency listed for the top management as well as junior management but the description and degree of expertise in communication skills will differ. Therefore it is a must for the organization to develop a

2. Organizational Competencies

3. Functional Competencies

competency directory for all its cadres and functional areas by conducting brainstorming sessions with experts in the field. A Competency Directory was designed for each level specified in the sample containing the Generic and the technical competencies. A process for preparation of the Competency Dictionary was suggested to VE for all future requirements. 6. Assessment of Individual Competencies. The Competency assessment questionnaire consisted of the Likert 5-point scale and data was obtained from the employees under two series. The two series of data represented the level of Competency present and the level of Competency required for the job. Employees were asked to self assess their competencies and choose a level which correctly represents their competency levels present and required for the job. The first series of data can be used to assess the competency present in the employees as per his self-assessment. The second series of data will help understand requirement of such competency in the present job according the employee and the difference will help analyze the training need of the employees 7. Preparation of Competency Matrix. The Competency mapping process conducted for the employees of VE revealed very interesting facts, which can be of great use to the company in designing future employees and business development programmes. The data collected on the level of competencies in the employees has been presented to the company in the simplest format. A Competency Matrix presents in a birds eye view of what competencies are present in what degrees among which employees. COMPETENCY MATRIX SUMMARY CHART LEADERSHIP SKILLS Employee level E-8 &E-7 Competency Degrees Competency/ Number of * X ? Employee level E-6 * X ?

No % No % No % No % No % Employee and Percentage LEADERSHIP Credibility: 1 20 4 80 0 0 0 0 0 0

No % No % No % No % No % 4 40 4 40 2 20 0 0 0 0

Role Model: Values: Motivation: Creativity: Goal Oriented:

4 4 1 2 2

80 1 80 1 20 1 40 2 40 1

20 0 20 0 20 2 40 1 20 1

0 0 0 0 40 1 20 0 20 0

0 0 0 0 20 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0

2 5 3 5 2

20 5 50 2 30 4 50 2 20 4

50 3 20 2 40 3 20 3 40 4

30 0 20 0 30 0 30 0 40 0

0 0 0 0 0

0 1 0 0 0

0 10 0 0 0

* STAR is the symbol used to depict that the competency present in the employees is equal to that required in the job TICK MARK is the symbol used when the employee is showing 80% of the competency required by him on the job UPWARD ARROW indicates that the employee is just above the 50% danger mark. He possesses 60% of the competency required for the job. X CROSS indicated that the employees is showing less than 50% of the competency required for the job ? QUESTION MARK indicates that the employee is possessing more than the required competency for the job The final analysis for each employee was done as show in the above matrix and the summary containing results of all employees was presented in an excel sheet called the Competency Matrix, which will give in a birds eye view as to how stars or question marks are present in each category of competency across all employees in the organization. 8. Assessment of Competencies using 360 Degrees approach After the employee has assessed himself the same questionnaires were sent to his boss, peers and subordinates who gave the rating using the same icon of star, tick, arrow, cross and question mark. An average of the scores of all the raters were taken to give a final score on the employees competency. This constituted the complete 360-degree assessment of the competencies present in the employees. 9. Preparation of Competency Charts The information obtained from the Matrix was again presented in the form of graphical charts showing clearly the deviation between the present level of competency and the required level of competency. Hence the gap analysis was presented through a line graph

for each competency. A sample graph is shown below in which the Y-axis gives the individual employees who are coded by giving them a number and being called as Respondent (numbers). The X-axis gives the degree of competency, which consists of the same numbers, used as the scale in the questionnaire. Charts like these were provided for all the competencies across the sample size. GAP ANALYSIS chart LEADERSHIP SKILLS

Leadership Skills
Degree of Competency 6 4 2 0
R 7 R 1 R 3 R 5 R 9 R 13 R 11 R 15 R 17

Respondents - Corporate Office Competency Present Competency Required

10.Suggesting Training Needs for employees based on CM The competency Matrix made in the second phase will give a clear indication of the levels of competency present in each employee. This will further help in the training Need identification for each employee. The training needs were identified in three levels: Vital training needs Where the employees received a Cross Mark (X) Essential training needs - Where the employees received a Arrow Mark Desirable Training needs where the employee received a tick mark Employees with star mark were considered to become trainers in their competencies and

employees with a question mark were suggested to go for a counseling session. Conclusion Formalization for employee competencies, which are based on a set theoretic approach of human competencies and performance and a methodology of how to assess employee competencies in dynamic work domains, is presented. We have shown how the resulting structures can be used for development planning like identification of training needs and validated in an organizational setting. The methodology described is useful for the case where no existing competence-performance structures are available, that is when a company is just engaging in a competency management effort for the first time. However, different methods would be required for updating the structures. It is an important feature of this approach that in the case of updating the structures the task would be much easier than the initial effort. The entire exercise was done manually, but using of software can make the process much more dynamic and will involve less effort. The competency dictionary developed can thus be very useful to VE for various processes like recruitment, selections, performance appraisals, identification of Key performance and key result areas, designing career path etc. However for implementing the process of CM there are certain other organizational variable, which have to be in the right place. At VE the dynamic and value oriented leadership style, supportive top management, a Learning culture of nurturing talents and grooming performers, a committed HR department with practices aimed at employee development and a strong commitment to the training and development needs of employees gave a real boost to the success of the process and employees positive attitude to the entire process by extending support and cooperation rather than feeling resistant to the changes taking place were some of the factors which helped in successful implementation of competency mapping.

References: [Boyatzis 1982] Boyatzis, R. E.: "The Competent Manager: A Model for Effective Performance"; John Wiley & Sons, New York (1982)

[Dave Ulrich 1998], Dave Ulrich, Delivering Results by CK Prahalad and Gary Hamel Harvard Business Review Book Series, USA, 1998 [Lucia and Lepsinger 1999] Lucia, A. D., Lepsinger, R.: "Competency Models: Pinpointing Critical Success Factors in Organizations"; Jossey-Bass, San Francisco (1999). [Spencer and Spencer 1993] Spencer, L. M., Spencer, S. M.: "Competence at Work: Models for Superior Performance"; John Wiley & Sons, New York (1993). www. careertrainer.articles .com www. infocenter.skillsoft. com www. msalliance. Satyam.com/ manufacturing.htm www. en. Wikipedia.org/competency_model

Contact: *CRTD: Head Office:SC 1 Krishna Regency, KR Road, Baswangudi, Bangalore, 560004 Ph: E-mail: Website: Dr.Ratan Reddy: E-mail: ratanreddy@ yahoo.com. Ph: A.G.Jayashree: E-Mail: jayashreevenkatesh@ rediffmail.com