One of the most common modern uses of job analysis information is in the generation of competencies that define the behaviors, skills and abilities that an individual needs to display for effective performance within a role. An example of this process, and some tools that can be used, is given in this section.
Data collection
SHL tends to use a combination of four methods:
Visionary Interviews, Repertory Grid, Critical Incidents and The Work Profiling System. This method has the advantage of capturing different types of job information from a variety of perspectives.
Data integration
The information from these techniques is then combined, by distilling it down to the key themes (competencies) for the role. There are no hard-and-fast rules for competency generation that can be applied in all situations. Instead it depends upon the judgement of the job analyst who understands the purpose of the analysis, the role being analysed and the techniques involved.
In order to be most useful, a set of competencies will usually need to be:
Manageable: Too many competencies will tend to become unwieldy and inefficient.
Defined behaviorally: They should be defined in terms of identifiable behaviors as opposed to desired outcomes, e.g. they need to be specific and observable.
Independent: Any important behaviour should be included in one and only one competency. They should not overlap.
Comprehensive: No important behaviours should be omitted.
Accessible: They should be regularly reviewed in response to organizational change.
Compatible: They should fit in with an organization’s visions, goals and culture.
Generic versus tailored competency models
Although job analysis is the key step to defining specific competencies for an organization, there is much research to show that often managerial roles contain many common components, and this has given rise to the use of bought in generic models of “meta” or “core” competencies. These models are easily available off the shelf, but may not fit precisely into a given organization. Examples of such models are “The Inventory of Management Competencies”, “Perspectives on Management Competencies” (both published by SHL) and work done by Hay McBer, M.C.I. and Professor Schroder.
Advantages of bought in generic competency models
- They are usually comprehensive
- They save time and money by not needing job analysis
- They are produced by experts
- They are usually well researched.
Advantages of tailoredcompetency models
- They capture the language of the organization
- They encourage ownership of the model
- They reflect the culture of the organization
- They can be weighted for different functions
- They are manageable in number.
In practice, the choice of which of these approaches to adopt will depend on the resources and the credibility of the HR function in an organization, since these factors will necessarily preclude the use of the generic approach in some situations.
From the Guidelines for Best Practice in the Use of Job Analysis Techniques of SHL