Review and Assessment of Personnel Competencies and Job Description Models and Methods

Abstract : Competencies can be defined as observable and measurable patterns of knowledge, abilities, skills, and other characteristics that individuals need to be successful in their position for an organizations. There is inconsistency in how competency systems are developed and used by organizations, which may lead to confusion over what competencies are and how competencies can be used. IDA reviewed multiple organizations that are using some form of competency system to determine the state of the practice. This review revealed a set of issues for using competency systems or job descriptions, which include the use of different competency taxonomies that were not comparable, inconsistency in level of specificity with competencies, few empirical validations of systems, difficulties with tailoring competencies to specific organizational requirements, and little automation in processes. Based on the issues identified, a set of research propositions for next steps to advance the use of competencies are proposed.