Assignment Of Human Resource Management (512)

Topics: Competency Based Job Analysis

Submission Date: 08.06.2013
Submitted To: Dr. Serajul Hoque Professor, Department of Marketing, Faculty of Business Studies Dhaka University

Submitted By: Shakib Shoumik Haque ID: 41119026, 19th Batch, Department of Marketing, EMBA Dhaka University

Competency Based Job Analysis

1. Introduction
The job analysis process allows employers to better determine which positions within their company are effective in their current state and which are in need of overhauling. When a company performs a job analysis, they analyze the job position -- not the quality of the worker who fills the position - determining if the current duties connected to it are appropriate or if they need revamping.

2. Competency Definition
Competency is the combination of knowledge, skills, abilities, values and interest. The use of the term competency as applied to the world of work is most commonly thought to have been first used by David McClelland, a psychologist in the early 70s. At that time, he argued that conventional tests of intelligence and abilities did not predict job performance or success in life and that they were biased against different groups. He invited the term competencies to overcome these defects, suggesting that they made possible the development of valid and unbiased predictors of performance. His approach included interviewing superior performers, identifying what they did differently from average performers and using the competencies identified for selection purposes. Competencies included motivation such as achievement, orientation, traits and specialized knowledge or skills.

3. Job analysis
Job analysis is the basic and important part of human resource management (HRM). It covers the job analysis activity under the sub process of human resource planning. Job analysis is conducted after work-force analysis and availability analysis. It also indicates what activities and accountabilities the job entails. It is an accurate recording of the activities involved. Every job is multifaceted and there are several methods in preparing job analysis. Most organizations prepare job analysis, statements of performance and expectations of employee at floor and at the managerial level. The content of these statements varies considerably from one company to another, depending in large part on the uses to which the information is put. People performing a job may be observed and questioned. Various training manuals and other job-related materials may be made available to job holders, supervisors, and others who are knowledgeable may be interviewed or asked to complete written questionnaires. On occasion, photographs and films of the work, examination of tools and equipment, and actual performance of the job is analyzed by a job analyst.

4. Competency Types Competencies can fit into an assortment of different categories. Common competencies include oral communication skills; a competency that would be highly important for someone for whom making presentations was a requirement. Customer service is another common workplace competency, particularly when the position involves dealing in a face-to-face manner with customers.

5. Job Analysis Process During the job analysis process, competencies are ranked from most to least important. Generally after identifying the competencies, those conducting the job analysis rank each competency and use these rankings to determine which competencies the individual who holds the position must possess and which are more optional in nature and, as a result, are simply preferable, not completely requirements.

6. Purpose Companies can elect to perform job analysis for an assortment of reasons. The most common reason a company may elect to perform an analysis of this type is to determine if duties that an individual who holds a certain position currently has should be tied to this position or if, instead, they should be attached to another position. For example, if a job analysis shows that the person who holds a set position doesn't necessarily need to possess customer service skills, duties that involve dealing directly with customers may not be appropriate for the individual who holds this job.

7. Why Use Competency Analysis?

There are three reasons to describe jobs in terms of competencies rather than duties. First, traditional job descriptions with their lists of specific duties may actually backfire if a high performance work system is the employees goal. The whole thrust of these systems is to encourage employees to work in a self-motivated way, by organizing the work around teams, by encouraging team members to rotate freely among jobs (each with its own skill set) by pushing more responsibility for things like day-to-day supervision and by organizing work around projects or processes in which jobs may blend or overlap. Employees here must be enthusiastic about learning and moving among jobs. The important thing is to ensure that each worker has the skills he or she needs to more among the jobs. Second, describing the job in terms of the skills, knowledge, and competencies the worker needs to be more strategic. For example, Canons strategic emphasis on miniaturization and precision manufacturing means it should encourage some employees to develop their expertise in these two strategically crucial areas.

Third, measurable skills, knowledge, and competencies are the heart of any companys performance management process. As at Canon, achieving a firms strategic goals means that employees must exhibit certain skills and competencies. Performance management means basing employees training, appraisals, and rewards on fostering and rewarding the skills and competencies he or she needs to achieve his or her goals. Describing the job in terms of skills and competencies facilitates this.

8. Examples of Competencies
In practice, managers often write paragraph-length competencies for jobs, and organize these into two or three clusters. For example, the jobs required competencies might include general competencies such as reading, writing, and mathematical reasoning, leadership competencies such as leadership, strategic thinking, and teaching others and technical competencies which focus on the specific technical competencies required for specific types of job and/or occupations.

9. Illustrations Some technical competencies for the job of systems engineers might include the following: 1. Design complex software applications, establish protocols, and create prototypes. 2. Establish the necessary platform requirements to efficiently and completely coordinate data transfer. 3. Prepare comprehensive and complete documentation including specifications, flow diagrams, process patrols, and budgets. Similarly, for a corporate treasurer, technical competencies might include: 1. Formulate trade recommendation, by studying several computer models for currency trends, and using various quantitative techniques to determine the financial impact of certain financial trades. 2. Recommend specific trades and when to make them. 3. Present recommendations and persuade others to follow the recommended course of action.

10. Conclusion A competency is a measurable skill. In the job analysis process, a competency is a specific and measurable quality that an individual who performs a role must possess. Generally, identifying the competencies tied to each job is the first step in the job analysis process. Often, both the individual who currently holds the job as well as the people who oversee the worker within the position work together to determine which competencies are necessary for success in the position.