How does the HR department avoid making the mistake of hiring a round peg for a square hole? By using competency mapping, says Sudipta Dev
Competency-based HR is considered the best HR. In India however competency development and mapping still remains an unexplored process in most IT organisations despite the growing level of awareness. After all, Level 3 of PCMM is focused on the competency framework in an organisation. Is the underlying principle of competency mapping just about finding the right people for the right job? The issue is much more complex than it appears, and most HR departments have been struggling to formulate the right framework for their organisation.
Competency mapping is a process of identifying key competencies for a particular position in an organisation, and then using it for job-evaluation, recruitment, training and development, performance management, succession planning, etc. "The competency framework serves as the bedrock for all HR applications. 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. He however points out that the competency movement has caught on much better in the non-IT sector than the IT sector. Only a few IT organisations which are at the higher end of the HR value chain are known to be doing some work in this area; most are more busy handling recruitment and compensation-related matters. "Unless managements and HR heads have holistic expectations from their HR departments, the competency movement is unlikely to succeed as it requires lot of time, dedication and money," he adds, pointing out that before an organisation embarks on this journey it has to be very clear about the business goals, capability-building imperatives and core competencies of the organisation. The competency mapping process needs to be strongly integrated with these aspects.
References: DEFINITION: According to Boyatzis(1982) “A capacity that exists in a person that leads to behaviour that meets the job demands within parameters of organizational environment, and that, in turn brings about desired results”