Creating competence: perspectives and practices in organizations

Creating competence has become a major issue in organizations. Various authors contend that competency management has the potential of integrating organizational strategy, human-resource instruments, and human-resource development; that competency development can lead to performance improvement; and that it can help Human Resource Development (HRD) professionals in aligning their practices to the needs of the changing organization. A study was designed with four objectives. The first objective was to analyze the concept of competence, seeing what definitions are brought forward and how the concept is perceived in practice. The second objective was to evaluate the dissemination of the concept. The third objective was to evaluate the potential of competency development for vertical integration, and for HRD programs and practices. The fourth objective was to analyze the contribution of the concept of competency development for the HRD profession. Data collection for the study involved telephone interviews with 80 for-profit and nonprofit organizations, 35 telephone interviews with directors of Human Resource Management (HRM) in large organizations, and questionnaire responses from 130 HRD managers. Finally, an analysis was undertaken of the critical views of organizations that have introduced competency development systems. Based on the findings, recommendations are given for other organizations that want to introduce competency development systems.