Competency-based human resources management

A.B. Susanto, Consultant, Jakarta Consulting Group

To undertake Human Resources Planning in the ever-changing and highly competitive business environment is not an easy enterprise as it involves anticipating the future business environment.

These forecasts include projecting volumes of products and services, evaluating expansion plans, personnel requirements and the qualifications personnel should possess.

Basically, Human Resources Planning is translating a business target into a specific job requirement and, as Human Resources Planning is actually an expansion of strategic planning, it is therefore inseparable from corporate strategy and strategic planning.

Human Resources Planning determines job qualifications, encompassing the knowledge, skills and attitude (KSA) desired to satisfy the company's core competencies. The KSA needed to achieve high performance in a business is called competence.

In Competency-Based Human Resources Management (CBHRM), competence is an elaboration of the corporate target and strategy, allowing target achievement and corporate strategy to be bridged on the one hand, and the development and maintenance of competence on the other.

In other words, the development and maintenance of human resources means developing the company's core competencies.

Consequently, all functions in human resources management are directed toward improving the company's competency, which is expected to be able to shape the company's competitive edge.

Various functions in human resources management can be integrated here -- from competency-based selection, competency- based training and development, competency-based performance management to competency-based reward.

This approach is in line with Human Resources Planning, as the latter not only deals with the quantity of human resources but the specific qualifications required. Thus, information that only outlines quantity will be of little value.

In CBHRM, the competence of employees should be well documented and developed in line with enhancement of the company's core competencies. Discrepancies between an employee's competence and the job qualifications can be identified so that the employee's scope of development can be determined.

This development should be under the guidance of good human resources and career planning so that the model of employees' development and competencies will fit the needs of the company as well as the career goal of each individual in the future.

CBHRM will make the process of Human Resources Planning easier as it is basically the elaboration of the corporate strategy in utilizing human resources. Transforming the company's competence into individual competence is akin to translating the company's objectives into a specific job requirement, a duty which is performed by Human Resources Planning.