Competence (human resources)
Competency in human resources is an organizational criterion for excellence that encompasses the behaviors, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities that enable employees to perform their roles effectively and reliably.
[1][2] Some scholars see "competence" as an aspect that can be developed through training because it is a combination of practical & theoretical knowledge which involves cognitive skills, behavior, and values used to improve performance.
Competency is the state or quality of being adequately or well qualified, possessing the ability to perform a specific, measurable job.
For instance, competency needed for management, depending on the sector, might include system thinking and emotional intelligence, as well as skills in influence and negotiation.
The term gained traction in 1973 when David McClelland wrote a seminal paper entitled, "Testing for Competence Rather Than for Intelligence".
The term, created by McClelland, was commissioned by the State Department to explain characteristics common to high-performing agents of embassy, as well as help them in recruitment and development.
Competency has multiple different meanings, and remains one of the most diffuse terms in the management development sector, and the organizational and occupational literature.
When properly defined, competencies, allows organizations to evaluate the extent to which behaviors employees are demonstrating and where they may be lacking.
Competencies that align their recruiting, performance management, training and development and reward practices to reinforce key behaviors that the organization values.
They are most effective if they meet several critical standards, including linkage to, and leverage within an organization's human resource system.
For a university student, for example, the primary tasks could be handling theory, methods or the information of an assignment.
One of the most common pitfalls that organizations stumble upon is that when creating a competency model they focus too much on job descriptions instead the behaviors of an employee.
