Organizational competency mapping
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Contents
- 1 Definition
- 2 Summary
- 3 Description
- 4 Description
- 5 References
- 6 Related articles
Definition
Organizational competency mapping is A tool for competency management
Summary
One paragraph
Description
Why should organisations map organizational competencies?
The purpose of mapping organizational competency is to inform the decisions and actions necessary to manage organisational competencies. It enables an organization to identify its needs and its current stage in order to identify an action plan to align competency with mission.
Competency mapping can be done at any organisational level: whole organisation, department or team based on priority and importance. The selected mapping technique has to be appropriate, in balance with the effort and return and fit for the purpose and the organisation for which it is intended.
Representation of the result - Competency map
Understanding the context of mapping organizational competencies
As the role of competency mapping is to support Competency management, it is important to understand the context where the mapping is to be performed. Even inside one nuclear organization, different organizational units have different roles and scopes and thus different type of core competences, and the mapping approach may need to be adjusted accordingly.
The role and goals of an organization as well as the nature of the typical work tasks affects the choice of a suitable approach to the organizational competency mapping. Fig 1 illustrates possible forms of organizational competency depending on the novelty of the problem solving needed in an organization and on the interdependency of different tasks and roles. This type of quadrant model is a typical approach in KM literature [12,13].
If the typical tasks of an organisation can be specified before-hand or are routine and there is not much interaction between the roles (the second quadrant in Fig 1), it is possible to describe the tasks and roles based on pre-described processes. In this case, the organisation can be seen as a sum of its individual roles. Here, organizational competency is mainly individual competencies applied in the organisation’s context and mainly human capital. In an organisation with this type of work tasks, the way in which the organisation manages and utilises its individual competencies can be one of the areas where competency mapping should focus.
In organisations belonging to the first quadrant of Fig 1, the tasks are routine or can be pre-described, but they require collective effort of several roles. Here the organization is not just the individuals, but also the communication and collaboration play a major role. In addition to management of individual competencies, mapping of organisational competency should focus on communication and the collective competencies that enable the required collaboration. This can, for example, be overlapping competencies in different design areas. The requirement for collaboration should be visible in the individual competencies.
From the competency mapping point of view, the lower row of Fig 1 is fundamentally different from the upper row. Here, the tasks of the organisation don’t repeat themselves in the same form every time and the organisation has to constantly solve novel problems. Although the responsibilities of the organisation can be clearly defined, the tasks and problems that the organisation has to deal with in order to fulfil these responsibilities are novel and cannot be exactly defined before-hand. Most tasks of TSO’s, R&D and design organisations typically belong to the lower row of Figure 4. In an organisation where the roles are mainly independent, the key experts and their competency can be an essential part of the organisational competency and even the organisation's strategic core competency. In organisations where the collaboration is needed to complete the tasks, structural capital and informal networks can be an important part of the organisational competency.
Methods for mapping competency
The following table identifies the essential components of competency management (column1), typical methods of managing each component (column 2) and the information required to construct a competency map that informs the method above (column 3). For more discussion on column 1 see the article on competency management.
| Components of good competency management: (What do you need to do in order to manage competence well) | Typical Methods of managing each component (practical solutions to competency management components) | Information requirements for constructing the map that informs methods and solutions |
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| Align competencies with the mission, vision, strategy and business processes of the Organisation. |
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| Align competencies with external requirements and regulations |
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| Support the process of organisational change or transformation. |
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| Understand organisational capability |
Human capital index |
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| Manage competency risk |
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Manage the externally sourced competencies
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| Develop management , technical and functional competency |
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| Build teams |
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| Develop a recruitment strategy |
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| Improve organisational competency through benchmarking |
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| Develop organisational performance metrics |
Performance assessment and evaluation methodology |
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Examples of competency mapping
Case study:Competency team builders and the integrative competency model
Case study:Maintaining organisational competency – ‘Intelligent customer’ capability
A hierarchical competency map
Managers should make an analysis of the functions of the organization or part of the organization, and determine the tasks related to those functions. This may involve a collective judgement by the manager and others involved, who identify the individual competences (KSAs) associated with each task and assigns relative weights to the level of competence necessary for a specific task. This may be a collegiate activity.
Competence profiles can be produced as a management aid, to link the function to the collection of competences needed and a weight of the competence category is synthesized from the individual tasks’ competence weights. Competence profiles can also be accumulated together to form a competence profile, for example, at divisional level or of the organization as a whole. This accumulation requires the computation of the workload in terms of the number of tasks and the number of times tasks need to be carried out. In addition to a profile of the current needs, a profile for future needs and aspirations of the organization can be established. The assessment of competence needs should be informed by the outcome of the organization’s governance process.
The next step is for managers, with the help and support as necessary from those involved in competence management, to analyze the existing competences of the individual or organizational subdivision in a similar manner to the analysis above and then to carry out gap analysis. A source of information to estimate the existing competence is personal performance reviews as they necessarily examine each individual’s competence and discuss proposed competence development. The numbers and competences of staff which are needed to fill each gap can then be determined. It should be considered a competence gap if a critical competence is vested in only one person. A profile of competence gaps can be produced at any organizational level or for the organization as a whole and the gaps prioritized taking into account their importance to the regulatory functions. The Prioritization so decided should inform the planning process.
Competency mapping in different type of organizations
Competency mapping approaches suitable for different work tasks are depicted in Figure 5. If the tasks can be described before-hand and they don’t require much communication (the second quadrant in Figure 5), the existing regulatory requirement, processes and work descriptions are sufficient sources for competency mapping. The competency mapping could start from the tasks and business goals of the organisation which leads to processes, tasks for groups and roles and finally to competency needs for groups and roles. It is essential for the organisation to map which roles are required by which process and what type of individual requirements has to be set for each role. This mapping approach mainly sees organisational competency as a sum of the individual competences and mapping focuses on human capital. This type of mapping approach is described in [14].
If the work tasks are routine, but the communication between the roles is essential (the first quadrant in Figure 4 and Figure 5), the competency mapping should, in addition to the existing processes, include also analysing the need for communication between the teams and roles. This can include e.g. input/output requirements of the processes, coordination of work tasks or competencies that are needed for collaboration between roles and teams. This mapping approach focuses on human and formal structural capital.
When the typical tasks of the organisation include solving novel problems (the lower row in Figure 4 and Figure 5), they cannot be completely pre-described using existing processes and thus the explicitly described processes do not provide a sufficient starting point for mapping of the organisational competency. To maintain and develop competencies in this type of work, constant learning and acquisition of new knowledge is needed. In addition to mapping approaches described in the previous paragraphs, competency mapping that focuses on organisational learning and areas where competencies need to be developed are needed. These mapping approaches start with identifying the expertise areas where novel problems are most likely to occur. After this the current and past success factors and general problem solving approaches are identified. Finally, the organisational learning is addressed.
In organisations where the tasks include novel problems but the roles are mainly independent, (third quadrant in Figure 4 and Figure 5) the existing individual competencies can be the basis of some of the organisation’s core competencies. In these cases, the organisational competency mapping should also address the human capital imbedded in the individual experts. The mapping should address how the individual competencies are connected to collective competencies and to core competencies and if some individual competencies are critical enablers for upper level competencies.
In organisations where the tasks include novel problems and require collaboration (fourth quadrant in Figure 4 and Figure 5), in addition to individual competencies, also the formal and informal networks are an important part of the organisational competencies. The organisational competency mapping should thus address the enablers of effective problem solving in expert networks and learning processes in these networks. The enablers of networking can be, for example, experts how have wide experience that allows them to collaborate over expertise areas and recognise the areas where collaboration is needed.
Description
Competences mapping
This step focusing on collecting initial information is needed for the following competency loos risk assessment. The phase includes determination of key elements:
- Business goals of the organization;
- Processes (sub-processes) supporting business goals;
- Competences needed for successful running processes;
- Available HR.
Nuclear organizations managers create competency mapping shown in Figure 8 on the basis of identification of organization structure, organizational processes, sub-processes and required competences for them. Competence map defines connections between business goals of the nuclear organization and individual knowledge of employee through processes, sub-process, competences and available workforce positions. While creating competence mapping it is useful to take into account any information helping to identify organizational competences (organizational functions, guidance, responsibilities, workforce positions, job descriptions, etc.). On this stage mapping approach will help managers to understand the most important and even critical competences of nuclear organization without deep analysis implementation.
Competences matrix development
On this step nuclear organizations managers create competency matrix in compliance with available HR (staff). The matrix shows demand on competences on the rate of one person covers one competence. Though the practices usually are different, at the same time employee can possess several competences, which are overlapping. This gives nuclear organizations reserve of competences what is very important for successful performance. Managers should take into account all available staff and determine their competences, define which are overlapping. Such approach will provide reflection of current situation, helps to identify competences gaps in specific areas and answered what kind of HR staffing needed for covering them, taking into account new demands. Providing the correction actions on the early stage is proactive response to future risks. It is important to underline that employees can possess knowledge, skills and experience which cover several organizational competences.
Source: Practical Approaches to Risk Management of Knowledge Loss in Nuclear Organizations
References
[12] Bhatt, G.D., Management Strategies for Individual Knowledge and Organizational Knowledge, Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 6, Iss. 1., pp. 31-39 (2002).
[13] Blackler, F., Knowledge, Knowledge Work and Organizations: An Overview and Interpretation, Organisation Studies, Vol 16, No. 6, pp. 1021-1046, (1995).
