competence

Gen Mgt, HR

an acquired personal skill that is demonstrated in an employee’s ability to provide a consistently adequate or high level of performance in a specific job function. Competence should be distinguished from competency, although in general usage the terms are used interchangeably. Early attempts to define the qualities of effective managers were based on lists of the personality traits and skills of the ideal manager. This is an input model approach, focusing on the skills that are needed to do the job. These skills are competencies and reflect potential ability to do something. With the advent of scientific management, people turned their attention more to the behavior of effective managers and to the outcomes of successful management. This approach is an output model, in which a manager’s effectiveness is defined in terms of actual achievement. This achievement manifests itself in competences, which demonstrate that somebody has learned to do something well. There tends to be a focus in the United Kingdom on competence, whereas in the United States, the concept of competency is more popular. Competences are used in the workplace in a variety of ways. Training is often competence based, and the U.K. National Vocational Qualification system is based on competence standards. Competences also are used in reward management, for example, in competencebased pay. The assessment of competence is a necessary process for underpinning these initiatives by determining what competences an employee shows. At an organizational level, the idea of core competence is gaining popularity.