“ Competency Mapping: A Pre-requisite for HR Excellence”

Dr. Lovy Sarikwal, Ms. Princy Vij, IMS, Ghaziabad

Abstract:

People and their competencies have become the most significant factors that give a competitive edge to any corporation. The future is going to be that of competent people and competency based organizations. HR professionals and HR practices can contribute a great deal to develop competency-based organizations. The aims and objectives of the paper are to provide conceptual knowledge and; more importantly; practical skills on competency mapping with following criteria:

1. To develop professional competence (knowledge and skills) to map the competencies for one’s own role

2. To design and conduct competency mapping exercise for a set of roles in one’s own organization

3. To learn to design competency model for one’s organization

4. To learn to design to various interventions based on competency mapping to build a Competency-  focused organization

Introduction:

At the heart of any successful activities lies a competence or a skill. In today’s competitive world it is becoming particularly important to build on competitive activities of business. There has been much thinking about business strategy over the last three decades particularly regarding what competencies a business needs to have in order to compete in a specific environment. Top Management is identifying corporate core competencies and working to establish them throughout the organization. Human Resource Development builds competency-based model that drive business results.

Competencies comprise the knowledge, skills, values and attributes demonstrated through behavior that results in competent and superior performance. Competency describes what superior performers actually do on a job that produces superior results. Armed with this information, selection, retention, training, succession planning and performance management systems can be integrated and designed to attract, develop and retain top performers.

Competency-based HR is considered the best HR. In India however competency development and mapping still remains an unexplored process in most IT organizations despite the growing level of awareness. After all, PCMM (People Capability Maturity Model) is focused on the competency framework in an organization. An organization achieves a new level of PCMM when a system of practices has been established or transformed to provide capabilities and results the organization did not have at the previous level.

Competency mapping is a process of identifying key competencies for a particular position in an organization, and then using it for job-evaluation, recruitment, training and development, performance management, succession planning, etc. Is the underlying principle of competency mapping just about finding the right people for the right job? As a result of competency mapping, all the HR processes like talent induction, management development, appraisals and training yield much better results," states well-known HR consultant Ullhas Pagey.

Methodology for designing Competency Framework:

Stephen Martin, an international authority in the field who is also the president of ITAP Europe, suggests the following methodology for designing and developing competency frameworks. In his opinion, the most effective route is to employ recognized best-practice internal research methodology using behavioral event interview (BEI) techniques to selectively sample the target population (supplemented with expert panels and 'Competency Requirement Questionnaires' to engage wider population samples) and so build up the models from the data that emerges. This data should be triangulated against clear top-down input in terms of organizational strategy and business objectives, and also against external research relevant and analogous to the organization’s situation-not as a driver, but as a reference point.

Once the behavioral data is collected, it should be sorted, categorized and leveled carefully to create models that are concise and comprehensive, simple and sophisticated. Developing BEI skills within the organization has the added benefit that once the model is complete, it can be used more effectively by transferring these skills to selection interviewing, development assessments, and so on. International organizations must ensure that the methodology does not screen-out those competencies that do not match the culturally influenced pre-conceptions of the head office (wherever it is situated) of what high-performance competencies are.

Competency Mapping based Learning and Development programme at Zensar Technologies:

Zensar has a behavioral competency model, which is based on various job roles in the organization. Lynette D’Silva, Manager Learning & Development, describes the process of implementation:

• Having defined the various job roles, a focused study was initiated where job role holders were interviewed on the critical incident method and the data of success-critical factors was collated.
• The job roles and deliverables were finalized on the basis of the competencies derived from the data. This data was further analyzed, and on the basis of this competencies that had an impact on the job roles and deliverables were finalized.
• After identifying the competencies, a job analysis exercise was carried out where the importance level of every competency was ascertained before freezing the competency model.

For team leaders and project managers, the company also runs development centres in-house; here, individuals are profiled on behavioral competencies required for their position. "This process creates awareness in the individual about his behavioral traits in detail, and helps him chalk out an individual development plan. Development centres help map an individual's potential, which is useful to both the individual and the organisation. All management development programmes are also fine-tuned to address the specific competency needs at different levels," explains D'Silva, adding that the 360-degree feedback has also been designed on the competency model, enabling managers to get feedback from their teams. This feedback is based on the rating of the competencies, which are an integral part of their managerial skill-set.

L&T InfoTech is one of the ten companies in the world to get the PCMM level 5 certification. The company currently has a workforce of more than 4,000 professionals. “L&T has always been focused on HR,” states Dr Devendra Nath, executive vice president of L&T InfoTech. The organization believes that there are four major pillars of HR—acquiring talent, enabling talent, grooming talent and building ‘the culture’. Nath asserts that competency-based HR is the essence of good HR.”

Training emphasis at L & T InfoTech

As a group, L&T has always believed in a life-long association with its people. “Most of our top brass have joined at junior levels and risen through the ranks. The organization provides continuous learning opportunities to its people to develop competencies,” points out Vinod Khisty, associate vice president, Human Resources, L&T InfoTech.

There is a lot of emphasis on training. It is believed that all those people who have been recruited in the organisation after the stringent hiring process are already champions; consequently the entry-level training is called ‘Enabling the champions’. This includes 100 days of focused training in classrooms. The modules range from technical to voice modulation to team management, etc.

The soft skills training for L&T InfoTech professionals are conducted at the group’s Rs 10-crore training centre at Lonavala, near Mumbai. The e-learning channel called Gyanpeeth provides just-in-time technical as well as soft skills training. “A person in Sweden might have to make a presentation to the customer the next day. What he has to do is to just log in and learn from the programme on presentation skills. Furthermore, based on responses the course will keep getting updated to the next higher level. The sense of satisfaction with training is very high in the company and is a great motivator,” adds Khisty.

Innovative HR initiative at L & T InfoTech

The HR department has recently made an innovative initiative of inducting non-engineering graduates (BSCs) in the company, trained them for four months and then put them on the job (primarily coding work). “The loyalty of these recruits will be much higher as this offers them an opportunity to be a part of the IT industry. The first batch of 30 people have just completed their training, and have done exceptionally well,” states Nath. The quality of training can be gauged from the fact that many project heads are now asking them to be included in their team.

Every quarter, an SBU-based skills portfolio is published. Nath says that it has been a very rewarding experience. As far as training and development is concerned, instead of asking people to attend classes, they themselves get pulled to the classes. Introduction of competency mapping has also involved introducing skill appraisals in performance appraisals. This has also led to training people on how to assess subordinates on competencies. Notes Nath, "The best human resources development is when people in the line department do HR. Where the HR department is the enabler, the line people see the advantage and drive us." Competency-based HR makes this almost-utopian dream attainable.

L & T does a lot of innovation within the scope of HR. And, this culture is prevalent throughout the organization. This results in a belief that every employee can contribute. Money is important but is not the end-all. What contributes to satisfaction in the workplace is a feeling that you have made a difference.  The rate of attrition in the company is 9 percent for confirmed employees. For project managers and above, the turnover rate is less than 7 percent.

Competency Enhancement at Bharti Airtel Limited:

Bharti Airtel Limited is India’s largest integrated and the first private telecom services provider with a footprint in all the 23 telecom circles. Bharti Airtel since its inception has been at the forefront of technology and has steered the course of the telecom sector in the country with its world-class products and services. The businesses at Bharti Airtel have been structured into three individual strategic business units (SBU’s) - mobile services, broadband & telephone services (B&T) & enterprise services.

The company aims to enhance competencies at all the three SBU’s in the following manner:

Airtel Broadband & Telephone Services

·        Designing and implementing benchmarked learning delivery solutions and systems

·        Facilitating delivery of branded customer experience

·        Enhancing productivity through training and on-the-field coaching of employees engaged in multiple roles including Sales, Technical and Customer Service Delivery

·        Enhancing frontline supervisory capabilities

·        Rationalizing frontline manpower by evaluating roles, eliminating redundancy and enhancing productivity

Airtel Mobile Services

·        Launching a national initiative to achieve consistent standards of productivity and customer service

·        Facilitating rural penetration of the Airtel’s mobile business

·        Developing direct sales force for post paid mobile business

·        Enhancing productivity through training and on-the-job coaching, of large no. of employees, across roles including ARC Store Managers, ARC lobby staff and customer service delivery teams

·        Enhancing key performance indices by impacting financial & non-financial parameters, distribution and team effectiveness

Airtel Enterprise Services

·        Facilitating AES restructuring along the lines of a key account management company

·        Facilitating in achievement of organizational goals through requisite training required for servicing corporate and other large accounts

·        Enhancing productivity through on-the-job coaching of customer interfacing employees engaged with Corporate and Carrier Services

·        Enhancing key performance indices by impacting productivity and non-financial parameters like acquisition of new accounts, managing customer churn etc.

·        Enhancing customer service through launching ‘Customerism’ movement across the country

Conclusion:

The key to gaining competitive edge is the ability of the workforce of an organization to maximize the advantages of state-of the art technology, superior products, and steady source of capital to enter into the marketplace. A company’s technological tools are only as useful as it’s employer’s ability to employ them; they are perceived in terms of how effectively the benefits are communicated. (McLagan, 1989)

Competency mapping alone may not produce accurate results unless one is able to detach from the results in analyzing past successes and failures. Many studies find that people often overestimate their abilities, making self-competency mapping results dubious. Usually, a person will find themselves with strengths in about five to six areas. Sometimes an area where strengths are not present is worth developing. In other cases, competency mapping can indicate finding work that is suited to one’s strengths, or finding a department at one’s current work where one's strengths or needs as a worker can be exercised.

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