MPOII: May 9: Defining Competencies and Acquiring Talent

Gain and transfer technical/administrative knowledge

Respond to host government insistence

Gain local knowledge

Gain rapid market entry and expand total market

Capture increased economies of scale

Obtain raw materials

Spread risk

Improve competitive advantage in the face of global competition

Support organization’s internationalization goals

Relative importance battles

Divergent objectives

Control problems

Comparative contributions and appropriations

Cultural issues

Embodies normative values and beliefs

Provides a sense of identity

Socializes members

Can be coded into official documents

Can create a barrier of changeCan create conflict between merged firms

competitors rather than parent company.

1.Senior management is not convinced and shows little commitment.

2.The Scorecards are developed by ‘the happy few.’

3.The internal/external project members have limited or only theoretical knowledge.

4.The Balanced Scorecard is only used by top management.

5.The Balanced Scorecard stays too long at the development stage before being launched and used.

6.There are not enough links to the strategy and planning processes.

7.The content (measures, objectives, targets and initiatives) of the Balanced Scorecard is unrealistic.

8.The Balanced Scorecard is only used for pay purposes NOT hypothesis testing or even strategic alignment.

The universe of employee skills that the organization must have to achieve its strategic plans.

The measurable or observable knowledge, skills, and abilities, critical to successful performance in a particular job.

Defining capabilities or advantages that distinguish an enterprise from its competitors. Core competencies represent the combination of pooled knowledge and technical capacities that allow a business to be competitive in the marketplace. Core competencies cannot be easily imitated.

Competency Modeling

Competency models can be the foundation of HRM systems.

They can readily foster achievement of strategic goals, implementation of change, and performance down to the job level.

Competency models can be of all HR and Talent Management practices.

In short, competency models provide a systematic way for us to have the right people in the right place at the right time.

A competency model is a collection of competencies that together define successful performance in a particular work setting. Competency models are the foundation for important human resource functions such as recruitment and hiring, training and development, and performance management.

-Tie competency model to business objectives

-Gain and publicize support by senior leadership-Commit HR and manager time and effort

-Communicate with and get buy-in from employees

-Start somewhere and expand-

• For the organization:
• Employee retention
• Develops employees for the succession plan
• Identifies relevant training for job levels
• Provides measures for performance required to meet organizational goals
• Ensure effective employee selection (Hire for attitude, train for skill)

• For employees
• Knowing clearly what the job requires
• Know what skills they would need to develop to move up
• Identifies whether a performance issue is attributable to an employee or organizational factors
• Brings fairness
• During hiring, employees know what the job truly entails

1.Determine the organizational challenge(s) that competency modelling may be able to help solve.

2.Determine line involvement and competency model approval process.

3.Determine the target jobs for analysis.

4.Identify effective and ineffective behaviors from below average, average and “star” performers in those jobs.

5.Collect data using several approaches (measures, past evaluations, observation, customer feedback, etc.).

6.Analyze the data and draft an interim competency model.


7.Validate the model with job incumbents and managers within and across departments/functions/locations.

8.Design/utilize HR processes/systems using the competency model.

six times base salary for a sales rep, 15 times base salary for a manager, and as much as 27 times base salary for an executive.

The process of searching for prospective employees and stimulating and encouraging them to apply for the job.

The process of differentiating between applicants in order to identify and hire those with a greater likelihood of success.

the work of finding young people who are good at sport, music, etc. (This definition now gets applied to any number of positions requiring special talent or skills).

the identification, relationship building and selection of people who possess special, creative/technical skills and who can influence, contribute to and/or drive our business by exerting extraordinary effort and exercising strong relationship management both in the role we need to fill and in future roles.

1. Anticipate the need (practice area, geography, demography)

2. Specify the job (w/ competencies for short term and potential for long term)

3. Develop the pool (leveraging traditional and nontraditional sources)

4. Assess the candidates (via triangulation and multiple, primarily structured behavioral interviews)

5. Close the deal (using relationship-based closer; don’t pressure but don’t be complacent)

6. Integrate the newcomer (via work practices, expectations, and connections)

7.Audit and review (strengths and flaws; selection and onboarding)

learn, do and become and should be inspiring and motivating while focusing on results and performance (i.e., strategy execution).

1) Consult the entire team;

2) Distinguish among credentials (knowledge), skills, and attributes;

3) Take your time;

4) Ensure compliance with all legal restrictions;

5) Describe your company’s culture;

6) Write the description for an external audience;

7) Reveal the salary of the job.

• The Canadian Human Rights Act (CHRA) and the Employment Equity Act (EEA) entitle all individuals to equal employment opportunities without regard to:
• race or colour
• national or ethnic origin religionage
• family or marital status
• gender
• pardoned conviction
• disability, or sexual orientation

Provincial labour law provides other stipulations: minimum wage, overtime rules, paid holidays, vacation days by tenure, emergency leave, pregnancy and parental leave, and severance pay provisions

The structured behavioral interview has several strengths that contribute to reliability, validity, legal defensibility, and perceptions of fairness. On the other hand, the unstructured interpersonal interview can be one of the most unreliable and invalid methods of selection available. The validity of the unstructured interview has been reported to be lower than most other types of selection systems. Due to the potential for subjectivity and bias, an unstructured interview process leaves an agency particularly vulnerable to legal attack. The structured behavioral interview also greatly enhances the quality and honesty of information gathered from employment interviews.

• Ø“Past performance predicts future performance”
• ØHigher validity and reliability
• ØMust get the candidate to recount what they did rather than what they think you want to hear

1.Describe your experience in understanding and predicting the needs of your customers.


2.What steps would you (do you) take to stay informed about our firm’s competitive market and what new products will help us stay ahead of the competition? What information is important to understand competitors? Give me an example of a nontraditional competitor you would want to learn about in this role.

3.Give me an example of how you have addressed customer or partner segmentation. What were some of the more interesting findings? Which dimensions were more or less important? How do you apply the lessons learned to business outcomes and what was the result?

#1Identify what you are looking for by completing a job analysis and/or reviewing a recently updated position description.

#2. Write behavioral questions to gather information.

#3. Identify what constitutes successful demonstration of the competency.

#4. Create/use a user-friendly rating guide.

#5. Prepare the interview panel members before interviewing candidates.