achieve in a particular job, and such characteristics differentiate the potential perform-
ance of one person from another. The Aristotelian philosophy of ‘for every effect there
is a cause’, can be seen in a job situation, that good or bad job performance is caused by
individual jobholders who possess specific characteristics related to the job requirement.
Therefore, competency is related to the outcomes that define effective performance.
These are the aspects of the job where a person is competent; this involves things such
as preparing an audit or chairing a meeting. People demonstrate competence by apply-
ing their competencies within the work environment. This means that competency is
observable behaviour carried out in order to achieve the desired outcomes. In other
words, it is this behaviour that underpins successful performance. For example, a suc-
cessful artist should be able to entertain the audience. The ability to entertain in a spe-
cific manner constitutes ones competencies. Therefore, competence can be described as
a mixture of skills, related to knowledge, qualifications and attributes in order to do a
job or task. A competence will have standards that can be described as generally ac-
cepted levels or specifications of performance which set out those skills, knowledge and
attitudes required to operate effectively.
Spencer & Spencer (1993) distinguish five characteristics of competences under
what they call the ‘Iceberg Model’ that are critical for understanding the whole of com-
petency based human resource management. The core competencies are invisible while
the rest are visible. The invisible competencies are motives and traits and self-concepts.
The motives are the distinctive behavioural drives that explain why an individual takes
certain actions related to performance, which are not necessarily taken by another indi-
vidual. The most successful leaders and managers tend to possess an urge for continu-
ous improvement through setting demanding strategic objectives and constantly striving
to achieve them. The key driving force is a sense of achievement and fulfilment. Traits
are inborn physical characteristics that are required in certain jobs more than others. For
example, physical appearance and eye contact matters for employees working on a cus-
tomer care desk more than shop floor workers who may require more physical strength.
Self-concept is what determines what we think and our own value judgement. It in-
volves perceptions, attitudes, values and feelings. Positive self-concept is a characteris-
tic defining successful job holders in terms of confidence, creativity, decision making,
risk taking and team leading. The second category of competencies is knowledge and
skills, which are visible because they are usually developed through education, training
and development and can be assessed by examinations, unlike the first category, which
is more intrinsic.
The desired attribute is typically what is required to provide a professional service to
the citizen - client. Proficiency levels for technical and functional competencies describe
the output and outcomes produced according to a proficiency scale (scale of expertise)
that describes what is needed on the job using a range of designated proficiency indica-
tors, such as quality, speed, efficiency and application etc. These exist within certain
work and organisational constraints (e.g. equipment and other job aids).
The behavioural indicators for each proficiency level will include what the person
does when displaying the competency. It is behaviour, action or psychomotor response
that an observer can see or expect to see. Although the genesis of the concept of compe-
tence is not very clear, it started to appear more often in the 1970s when, in 1973, a psy-
chologist David McClelland published his article in the American Psychologist Journal
‘Testing for Competencies rather than for Intelligence’. In his article, the author postu-
lates that behavioural traits and characteristics were much more effective than aptitude
marcin
(Marcin)
#1