According to Rankin "Competencies are definitions of skills and behaviors that organizations expect their staff to practice in work". Competencies refer to the characteristics required to perform the given job role, activity or task. The competency of an individual is identified with Knowledge, Skills, Abilities and Attitude (KSA). It is also inclusive of operational excellence, attitude, strategic thinking and personal accountability.
Types of Competencies
Competencies are an amalgamation of both functional along with behavioral aspects of an individual. These are explained below.
1. Behavior Competency:
It is used to enhance the competency of employees at all the positions in the business. It comprises of characteristics which a person has or should have to be effective. These comprise of the soft skills that deal with not only the ability to do a task, but also how the work is performed by the individual. It is crucial for people to have healthy relations with folks across different departments.
The various forms of behavioral competencies are presented below:
Inter-personal Competencies: They involve characteristics such as handling problems, persuasiveness, teamwork and high energy levels, communication skills.
Motivational Competencies: They comprise of attributes, e.g. leading by example, motivating others, taking initiatives, including other members in taking additional initiatives and being a motivator.
Analytical Competencies: The key attributes here, comprise of expertise in technical know-how, working with numbers, dealing with data analytics and abilities to solve problems with data set.
Managerial Competencies: They comprise of those abilities that should be possessed by individuals specifically working at managerial levels. Some of these attributes are strategic planning, analytical skills, quick decision-making, skills of managing team and handling conflicts, communication skills along with leadership skills.
Individual Competencies: Here, the personal qualities and traits of the individual have importance. These include traits such as self-motivation skills, optimism, technical know-how, confidence, amiability and ability to work with teams.
2. Functional Competency:
It refers to the technical or functional handling abilities of the employee. These are with regard to the specific job or the functions which are to be performed by the individual. Thus, they are restricted to the functional area of the person.
Hence, these comprise of the skills, abilities and knowledge required to perform a specific task. These competencies differ from job to job. An employee working in finance department must have ability to deal with numbers, analytics and forecasting.
Employees in human resource and marketing must have good observations skills to learn about their clients and employees. Thus, functional competencies differ with nature of job.
However, both functional and behavioral competencies are required in order to be effective.