Competency%20Framework%203G:%20The%20vocabulary%20of%20job%20performance

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Competency Framework 3GThe vocabulary of job
performance
Los Angeles County Office of Education PERSONNEL
COMMISSION
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Outline

• Competencies and competency modeling
• Competencies as a common language for
  transformational HR and OD
• The LACOE methodology (and example)
• Historical background and professional opinions
• LACOE Competency Framework 3G as a modeling
  framework for job performance and personnel
  assessment
• Discussion

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What is a Competency?

• A hypothetical construct
• A category, characteristic, or label of related
  work behaviors
• Enact the strategies, goals, values, culture of
  the organization
• Account for substantial variability in job
  performance
• Observable, measurable, and malleable (can
  develop or atrophy)
• Transferable across a wide range of occupations
  and organizational levels
• Often explicated in a dictionary or model
  tailored to the organization

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Competencies are

• Prescriptive of desired/expected behavior rather
  than descriptive of established ways of working.
• Defining of excellence in performance rather than
  typical performance.
• Focused on the job holders role and contribution
  in the larger organization or the system rather
  than the job in isolation.
• Enablers of organizational effectiveness,
  development, and change rather than maintenance
  of the status quo

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Competency Modeling
Systematic approach to identifying the
competencies that enable goal achievement

• LEVELS OF ANALYSIS
• Organization
• strategic workforce planning and change
  management
• Job/Role
• performance expectations and performance
  management
• Individual
• career development

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• So, what problems do Competencies and Competency
  Modeling
• help solve?

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ProblemTraditional HR Functional Silos

• Classification and Compensation
• Employee Selection Procedures
• Performance Appraisal and Feedback
• Training Needs Analysis and Program Development
• Leadership Development
• Succession Planning
• Career Planning
• Workforce Planning

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High Variability in Terminology

• Across Functions
• Worker requirements in job descriptions
• Abilities and other characteristics in selection
  analysis
• Factors and dimensions assessed with ratings
  (interviews, performance appraisals, 360
  feedback, performance tests)
• Training areas in training needs analysis

• Across Occasions
• Across job classifications
• Within job classifications over time
• Among analysts within the same functions
• With the same analyst from analysis to analysis

Are we reinventing the same constructs over and
over? Confusing those we serve?
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Why Competencies?
Workforce Needed To Meet Organizational
Objectives (now and for the future)
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TJA vs CM
Traditional Job Analysis Competency Modeling
Task level breakdown (100) Duty/Job Component breakdown (10/-)
Micro-KSA listing (100) Macro-level competency selection (10/-)
KSAs specifically defined for job Competencies pre-defined
Task and KSA groupings for manageability Task and KSA specifics drilled down later as need
Huge linkage matrix (1000 cells) Manageable matrix (100 cells)
SME driven (JA amateur) Analyst-SME collaborative
Varying levels of abstraction Controlled levels of abstraction
Low reproducibility High reproducibility
Jobs studied in isolation (Industrial Psychology) Jobs studied as part of a system and organizational culture (Organizational Development)
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What is LACOE Competency Modeling

• Identifying the essentially duties and objectives
  of a job classification
• Identification of a parsimonious set of
  competencies that drive performance
• Linking the competencies to the duties and
  objectives of the job
• Weighting the competencies in proportion to their
  contribution to overall performance
• The end result is the competency model

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Benjamin Franklin (only slightly paraphrased)

• Tell me and Ill forget.
• Show me and Ill remember.
• Involve me and Ill understand.

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Ocean Lifeguard Duties
CRIT FREQ POJ
Monitor beach activity for unsafe or illegal activity 3 3 26
Administer first aid to public 3 2 18
Identify and remove or isolate hazards 2 3 18
Coordinate safety and law enforcement activities with local law enforcement agencies, fire protection, and coast guard 2 2 12
Provide public with information related to beach activities, resources, and weather/surf conditions 2 2 12
Rescue swimmers in distress 3 1 9
Maintain watchtower and rescue equipment 1 2 6
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Lets do it!

• Pick a dealer
• Shuffle cards and deal them out
• Evaluate your hand
• Play your best card
• Decide as a group which is the high card
• Put it aside and do another round
• Stop at 5 rounds

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• Where did competency models come from?

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Understood for some time
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Modern Roots (50s 90s)

• Early worker-oriented job analytic methods PAQ,
  Fleishman Taxonomy, Synthetic/Job Component
  Validation
• McClelland, David (1973). Testing for competence
  rather than for intelligence. American
  Psychologist.
• McClelland, D.C. Boyatzis, R.E. (1982).
  Leadership motive pattern and long term success
  in management. Journal of Applied Psychology,
• Prahalad, C.K and Hamel, G. (1990) The Core
  Competencies of the Corporation. Harvard Business
  Review.
• Goleman, Daniel, (1995) Emotional Intelligence

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Zeitgeist of the 90s

• 80s - 90s Propelled by several trends such as
  TQM, BPRE, SHRM, EIQ, End of the Job, War for
  Talent, core competencies of the corporation,
  360 feedback, assessment centers, etc.
• O-NET Replaced Dictionary of Occupational
  Titles with Worker-oriented rather than
  task-oriented job analysis -- behavioral
  dimensions
• Adopted by consulting firms (e.g., PDI, DDI, AON,
  Hay, CCL, Mercer) as an alternative to more labor
  intensive duty task based analysis linkages
  to business strategies
• Going strong and evolving in 2000s several
  SIOP IPAC presentations include CM.

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SIOP Task Force Findings (Pearlman,1997, SIOP
Symposium)

• Somewhat sceptical view
• Term competency has no widely recognized
  definition. Varies by whoever is deploying a
  framework.
• Traditional job analysis is likely to be more
  rigorous on 9/10 variables that can impact the
  quality of the resulting information.
• But
• Competency modeling has stronger links with
  business goals and strategies

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SIOP Task Force follow-up (Schippmann,et al
2000, Personnel Psychology)

• What the future might hold is a blurring of
  borders as the competency modeling and job
  analysis approaches evolve over time. Thus the
  next generation of approaches in each case may
  result in a blending of best practices such that
  there are more similarities than the differences
  that exist today.

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2004 SIOP Principles (4th Edition)

• Organizations that experience rapid changes may
  find traditional jobs no longer exist. In such
  cases, considering the competencies or broad
  requirements for a wider range or type of work
  activity may be appropriate. When competency
  models are intended to support the underlying
  validity or use of a selection procedure these
  Principles apply.
• The focus for conducting an analysis of work may
  include different dimensions or characteristics
  of work including work complexity, work
  environment, work context, work tasks, behaviors
  and activities performed, or worker requirements
  KSAOs

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Themes In the Professional Literature

• Despite all the hype surrounding the practice of
  competency modelingit appears to be a form of
  worker-oriented job analysis that focuses on the
  broader characteristics of individuals and on
  using these characteristics to inform HR
  practice. (Sackett and Laczo, 2003)
• Blending competency modeling efforts and
  task-related information increased both
  inter-rater reliability among SMEs and their
  ability to discriminate among jobs (Lievens, et
  al., 2004)
• A competency model must be developed from a job
  analysis and a content validation process based
  on an organizations strategic goals with the
  competencies defined at the behavioral level and
  including criteria for differentiating between
  different levels of expertise (Catano, et al,
  2007)

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Themes In the Professional Literature

• Sanchez Levine, 2009
• Contrary to the claim that CM does not achieve
  anything that TJA cannot accomplish, we believe
  that CM is much better suited to the task of
  influencing employee behavior along strategic
  lines than TJA is.
• Competency models should be easy to understand
  and communicate to anyone in the organization,
  regardless of job title. In contrast. TJA is
  usually burdened with long lists of tasks and
  psychologically-wordedKSAOs

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Professional Consensus

• Competency modeling is a legitimate alternative
  or supplement to traditional job analysis.
• To be professionally defensible, the basic
  conditions of the Uniform Guidelines on Employee
  Selection Procedures and the SIOP Principles for
  the Validation and Use of Employee Selection
  Procedures must still be met.

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• How we started

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A Roughly Right Competency Set

• LAUSD was the starting place.
• Project Team of 5 I/O psychologists
• Selected the Best of the Breed
• Conceptual clarity and distinctiveness
• Relevance to the organization
• Comprehensive
• Paraphrased/restated for relevance
• Developed descriptive behavioral statements
• Reviewed by PC analysts for relevance and
  practicality
• Use -gt Feedback -gt Improvement Cycle

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Source Material and Best Practices

• For Example
• Competency Architect Card Set (Lominger LTD.,
  Inc.)
• Polaris Competency Card Set (OSI)
• Profilor (Personnel Decisions Inc.)
• Hay Group Competencies Framework
• Assessment Center Dimensions (e.g., DDI)
• SCANS (Department of Labor)
• O-NET
• State of Georgia
• State of Montana
• Sempra Energy
• Numerous 360 degree feedback models (Upward
  Feedback Forum)
• LAUSD Job Analysis/Exam Plan Folders, Class
  Descriptions, Etc.

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Evolution Through Continuous Improvement
2003 Roughly Right Version 1.0
2007 Behavior and Task Levels
2010 Version 2.0
2014 Version 3G
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• Where we are now
• 3G

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54 Competencies in 7 Groupings

1. INFORMATIONAL Competencies that enable the use
   of information, data, or stimuli to make a
   response suitable to an objective, problem, or
   situation
2. OCCUPATIONAL The knowledge and skills of an
   occupational group acquired through education,
   training, and experience
3. PERSONAL EFFECTIVENESS Competencies that enable
   the effective application of ones skills and
   abilities
4. COMMUNICATION Competencies that facilitate the
   exchange of information
5. INTERPERSONAL Competencies that establish and
   maintain effective working relationships
6. GROUP Competencies that facilitate group
   effectiveness and contribute to teams and
   workgroup performance
7. ORGANIZATIONAL Competencies that help make whole
   organizations and systems effective

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Competency List (3rd generation)
Informational (7) Analyzing and Interpreting Data Critical Thinking Decision Making Fact Finding Mathematical Facility Mechanical Insight Reading Comprehension Occupational (9) Design Sense Environmental Exposure Tolerance General Physical Ability Industry Awareness Legal and Regulatory Navigation Manual Dexterity Professional/Technical Expertise Using Technology Safety Focus Personal Effectiveness (8) Action Results Focus Adaptability Attention to Detail Handling Stress Innovation Integrity and Ethics Learning Agility Self Management Communication (6) Bilingual Facility Informing Listening Oral Communication Presentation Skill Writing Interpersonal (7) Customer Focus Handling Conflict Influencing Involving Others Negotiating Professional Impact Relationship Building Group (8) Assessing Talent Delegating Developing Others Group Facilitation Leadership Managing Performance Teamwork Valuing Diversity Organizational (9) Allocating Resources Leveraging Technology Managing Change Organizational Design Organizational Savvy Org. Systems Thinking Business Process Analysis Project Management Strategic View
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Pyramid Hierarchy
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Pyramid Theory

• Widening Scope of Impact Vertical position
  represent broader scope of direct and indirect
  effect.
• Cumulative Foundation competencies are
  implicated in upper ones. (built on lower tier
  elements Informational is the cornerstone)
• Structural Integrity Strength, degree,
  complexity of foundation competencies increases
  to support the higher ones

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Structure of a Competency

• Group Personal Effectiveness
• Name Attention to Detail
• Tag Focusing on the details of work content,
  work steps, and final work products
• Effective Shows a high level of care and
  thoroughness in handling the details of the job.
  Selects critical details to focus on. Checks work
  to ensure completeness and accuracy. Makes few,
  if any, errors. Maintains focus and quality under
  distracting working conditions, high workload, or
  opportunities to take shortcuts. Detects and
  addresses errors and omissions in others' work or
  team projects.
• Ineffective May be careless, making numerous
  mistakes when working. May not check work before
  passing it on to others. May be overwhelmed with
  trivial details. Work may need to be regularly
  reviewed for accuracy and completeness. May not
  detect errors, flaws, or omissions in the work of
  others when reviewing or observing it. May
  struggle to maintain attention to one's work. May
  show ridged perfectionism sacrificing timeliness
  for excessive checking and review.

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Competency Levels

• BEHAVIOR LEVEL
• Action Something one does
• Instance of the competency
• What may be learned, trained, or practiced
• Upper levels required mastery of lower levels
• 4Ds
• Discipline Development
• Discernment Discretion

• TASK LEVEL
• A characteristic of the subject matter, situation
  or people involved.
• What one has to deal with, act upon, or respond
  to
• Span of influence or scope of impact
• Job evaluation indicators
• 4Ss
• Subject Matter Stimuli
• Situation Scope

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Dimensionality of Levels(Underlying continua)
Behavior Processes (4D) Task Characteristics (4S)
Discipline Development Ad-hoc ? Mastered, skilled techniques Common sense ? Formal learning Quick study ? Life-long, cumulative learning Comprehension ? Synthesis, integration Subject Matter Stimuli Concrete ? Abstract Few stimuli or factors ? Many factors Repetitive/cyclical ? Unique/unpredictable Simple, sequential ? Complex, simultaneous Homogeneous ? Diverse Complete data ? Missing, ambiguous data Closed domain ? Open domain
Discretion Discernment Rule-based, rote ? Judgment, weighing the odds Linear thinking and action ? Contingency and recursive thought and action Externally Regulated ? Self-directed Application ? Adapt and create Recognition ? Insight/Foresight Reaction ? Anticipation Situation Scope Strong behavior cues/structure ? Weak cues Structured ? Unstructured Short cycle/focus ? Long cycle/sustained focus Convergent ? Divergent forces Rational/dispassionate ? Emotional/chaotic forces Tractable ? Entrenched forces Direct control ? Indirect control (Multi-layered with accountability through others) Individual role ? Representative role Minor impact/consequences ? Major impact/consequences
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Competency Levels
Behavior Levels
Task Levels

1. May show ongoing vigilance to review work,
   observe, detect, and correct errors or flaws. May
   minimize introducing errors or flaws in work.
2. May show care and thoroughness in adhering to
   process and procedures that assure quality. May
   apply knowledge and skill in recognizing and
   evaluating details of work.
3. May differentiate between important details and
   trivial ones. May apply judgment and insight in
   discerning and evaluating details of work. May
   put skilled, artful, or insightful final touches
   on products or performances that differentiate
   fine quality from acceptable quality. (Also see
   Design Sense)

1. Details may be observed through use of the senses
   through comparison to a physical or objective
   standard. Imperfections or errors may be
   objective. Material may be structured and
   consistent in type and complexity.
2. Details may be embedded in complex text,
   calculations, tables, images, objects, etc. which
   makes them difficult to discern or detect.
   Materials may show variation in kind, size, and
   complexity. Opportunities for error may be
   numerous and varied. Context of details may
   involve tight deadlines, high workload,
   distractions, multi-tasking, or interruptions.
3. Details may show subtle variation and nuance.
   There may be no physical or objective standard
   for determining errors or imperfections. The
   quality of final products may on the basis of
   impact, utility, or overall aesthetics rather
   than absence of errors. Context may be
   continuously multi-tasking with interruptions,
   very high pressure and consequence.

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Lens Model OF Work Behavior (Stimulus
-gtProcess -gt Response)
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9 Possible Combinations of Levels
Behavior Requirements Behavior Requirements Behavior Requirements Behavior Requirements
3-Higher 3 6 Level 9
2-Middle 2 4 6
1-Lower Level 1 2 3
1-Lower 2-Middle 3-Higher
  Task Demands Task Demands Task Demands
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May Peak at Various Career/Organizational Levels
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Exam Development
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Enhances Exam Development

• Interview question database
• Searchable by competency
• Pre-set forms and instructions (Rater App)
• Framework for developing parallel forms
• Deep structure
• Theory for Situational Judgment and Performance
  test development.
• Performance variation in situations is in the
  application of the wrong competency or the wrong
  level.

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Extended Applicability

• Class Comp
• Listed in our Class Specifications (Name and Tag)
• Complementary data for Factor Evaluation System
• Benchmark levels with prototypical jobs or
  benchmark jobs in occupational hierarchies
• Performance Management
• Link Competencies to Duties
• Evaluate Duty Performance directly
• But use competencies to diagnose poor
  performance, explicate performance expectations,
  and coach for excellent performance
• Enable capacity-building feedback
• Focus for development objectives and development
  opportunities

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Applicability

• Training and Development
• Top-level level learning objectives for needs
  analysis and instructional design
• Benchmark levels with existing and future courses
• Career planning
• Succession planning
• Leadership Development
• Leadership profiles
• Succession Planning
• Coaching
• Lessons from experience (target competencies and
  task levels)
• Culture development e.g., safety-focus culture
  (Exxon) customer-focused culture (Ritz-Carlton)
  innovation culture (3M)

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Here to stay?
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Table Talk

1. What are you now doing in this area?
2. What are the possibilities?
3. What are the obstacles or critical issues?