COMPETENCY FRAMEWORKS

Acompetency framework contains definitions of all the behavioural competencies used in the whole or part of an organization. It provides the basis for the use of competencies in such areas as recruitment, employee development and reward. The 2003/4 Competency and Emotional Intelligence survey established that the 49 frameworks reviewed had a total of 553 competency headings. Presumably, many of these overlapped. The most common number of competencies was eight.

Competency headings 

The competency headings included in the frameworks of 20 per cent or more of the organizations responding to the survey are shown in Table 11.1. The first seven of these are used in over 50 per cent of the respondents.

REASONS FOR USING COMPETENCIES

The two prime reasons for organizations to use competencies, as established by Miller et al(2001) were first, that the application of competencies to appraisal, training and other personnel processes will help to increase the performance of employees; and second, that competencies provide a means of articulating corporate values so that their requirements can be embodied in HR practices and be readily understood by individuals and teams within the organization. Other reasons include the use of competencies as a means of achieving cultural change and of raising skill levels.