Rothwell W.J. - Beyond Training and Development[c] The Groundbreaking Classic on Human Performance Enhancement (2004)(2-e)(en)

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worth doing? What prompted it? Who wants it, and why do they want it?

2.Articulate the questions to be answered or the objectives to be achieved. Part of this step is establishing the study’s parameters. Will the entire organization be assessed? Will only one division, department, work team or work group, or job category be the focus?

3.Collect available information about the question to be answered or the objectives to be achieved for the focal group under investigation. What information already exists, inside and outside the organization, about the job category and the people in that job category? Is it possible to obtain information about the job or the people in it from job descriptions, job evaluation studies conducted for the purpose of establishing compensation levels, or earlier competency studies conducted in the organization or outside it? In other words, where can information be obtained, and what light does it shed (if any) on the underlying competencies of successful performers in one corporate culture?

4.Plan the study. Write out a detailed description of the purpose, the questions or issues to be investigated, targeted groups or individuals, sample selection methods, data collection methods, and data analysis methods. In short, put on paper why the competency identification effort is worth conducting, what results are sought from it, for what group those results are intended, who will use the results, how the results will be used, how the subjects of the study will be selected, how the identification study will be conducted, how the results will be analyzed and interpreted, how the results will be reported, and how they will be used.

5.Gain acceptance for the plan from key stakeholders, develop a schedule for conducting the competency identification, and identify who will conduct the study. At this point it is usually wise to circulate the plan among stakeholders for comment and modification. This helps build support and lets people know about the study. It also builds realistic study expectations. One approach is to ask external consultants to visit the organization to present their ideas about conducting the identification study. When key stakeholders attend such presentations, they learn about competency identification and begin to decide how they would like to see the identification effort carried out.

6.Conduct the study itself. This may involve sending mail (or electronicmail) questionnaires to the targeted exemplary performers who are to

serve as study subjects. They may also be interviewed face-to-face, by phone, or by videoconference. Most competency identification studies rely on a method called behavioral events interviewing.4 The aim of this method is to isolate the characteristics of exemplary performers in the group targeted for study. For instance, exemplary senior executives would be interviewed in the development of an executive competency model. A sample behavioral events interview questionnaire that can be sent to participants is provided in Exhibit 13-2.

An alternative approach to conducting competency identification, called Rapid Results Assessment,5 relies on a group format. Exemplary performers and one or more of their exemplary organizational superiors are assembled in a large room for one or two days. During that time three facilitators help the group. One facilitator prompts participants to list as many daily activities or responsibilities as possible. A second facilitator writes those activities, responsibilities, or behaviors on 81/2-by-11-inch sheets of paper with a broad-tip marker. A third facilitator posts them on the wall with masking tape. Participants are thus able to see what they have identified. Such group meetings usually begin with identifying and then sequencing observable behaviors, activities, duties, or responsibilities. These are placed on a Rapid Results Assessment (RRA) Chart, which can be refined after the group meetings by eliminating overlapping duties. (A draft chart still requiring refinement is depicted in Exhibit 13-3.) Follow-up questionnaires after the meetings help to identify the underlying competencies that allow exemplary performers to carry out those activities, responsibilities, or behaviors.

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Exhibit 13-2. A sample behavioral events interview questionnaire (to be mailed).

Directions: The HPE specialist should send copies of the following questionnaire to identified exemplary performers in the organization. The results can then be subjected to content analysis as a starting point for developing a list of common themes or competencies underlying the events.

1.What is the most difficult work situation that you have ever encountered in your career? (Describe what happened, who was involved, and when it happened. Do not provide names, although you may supply job titles.)

2.Why do you consider this situation the most difficult one you have ever encountered?

Exhibit 13-3. A draft rapid results assessment chart.

7.Prepare a competency model and plan how to use it. At this point, the model is described to stakeholders. A competency model may be used to integrate all facets of human resources, such as recruiting, selecting, orienting, training, cross-training, retraining, developing, transferring, promoting, and compensating employees.

What Are Some Problems with Using Competency Identification?

There are three key problems with using competency identification as an HPE strategy.

First, definitions of competencies and competency identification vary considerably. It is important to clarify the meanings of these terms early in a competency identification effort. Otherwise, a competency identification may be counterproductive in the same way as a false argument in which people needlessly quarrel over different underlying issues.

Second, approaches to competency identification run the gamut from the quick and dirty to the rigorous, valid, and reliable. Managers sometimes demand rigorous results without allocating sufficient time for a thorough study. In fact, however, quick-and-dirty competency identification efforts may actually do more harm than good because they can be misleading. To conduct a rigorous study, most organizations have to invest considerable time, money, and staff. Key questions to consider are these:

What is the reason for conducting the competency identification effort?

How much rigor is necessary, and why?

How quickly are the results needed, and why?

Who will use the results of the competency identification study, and how will those results be used?

Internal HPE specialists are frequently unable to perform rigorous competency identification studies on their own and require expert external consulting assistance, mainly because the process is time-consuming to do right.

The third problem with competency identification is that some managers view it with suspicion. Some managers wonder how they can cultivate such seemingly vague competencies as ‘‘customer service ability’’ or ‘‘intellectual flexibility’’ when these characteristics are described in ways that cannot be easily measured. To overcome this problem, HPE specialists usually have to lead an

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organizational effort to go beyond mere competency identification and focus attention on ways of measuring what the competencies are and how they are demonstrated. Like competency identification itself, such an effort may involve balancing the speed and rigor of various approaches.

Improving Employee Selection Methods

Employee selection is the process of choosing employees to do the work. While competency identification helps ensure a match between work and individual, selection is a first step to make that match a reality. Why is selection important? When is employee selection an appropriate focus for an HPE strategy? How are employee selection methods improved? What problems can affect employee selection? This part of the chapter addresses these questions.

Why Is Employee Selection Important?

Employee selection is important for one major reason: It is cheaper and faster to pick people who can perform right away than it is to train them. Everyone wants to pick a winner. However, it is not always clear who a winner is or what competencies are required of an individual by an organization. In recent years, employee selection has become more complicated due to increasing use of contingent workers and consultants and a simultaneous increase in outsourcing and offshoring.

Errors in employee selection are costly and time-consuming to correct.6 Correcting a selection error may mean transferring or terminating a worker or changing the worker’s responsibilities. Stressful to the manager, correcting a selection error can also demoralize the misplaced worker and his or her coworkers. It also requires the manager to spend unexpected time on recruiting, selecting, and training a replacement or restructuring the way the work is performed.

When Is Employee Selection an Appropriate Focus for an HPE Strategy?

Selecting good performers is never an optional HPE strategy, as some others are. However, special attention should be directed to employee selection methods when the organization makes a radical change in strategy, when a pattern develops in which individuals chosen for work assignments or positions are unable to

Exhibit 13-4. A worksheet to guide an audit of employee selection practices.

Directions: Use this worksheet as a starting point for examining employee selection practices in an organization. For each question appearing in the left column, collect information about the issue within the organization and then answer the question in the space at right. Also use the space at right to take notes about possible areas for improvement.

How are the needs for positions or assignments identified and justified?

What information about the work must be provided by the organization and by the immediate supervisor?

Who acts on that information?

How does he or she act on the information?

How is information about work vacancies communicated?

How widely and how effectively is that information communicated?

From what sources is the organization presently attracting talent? What percentage of new hires is coming from internal sources? external sources? Are some recruitment sources (such as certain schools or companies) predominant?

How often and how widely are flexible staffing methods used? How are they used? How are temporary employees selected? How are participants recruited and selected for job sharing, flextime, flexplace, or other flexible staffing methods? How often is offshoring used?

How much have existing recruitment and selection methods served to encourage diversity in the organization?

What evidence exists about the frequency and location of selection errors?

Is it possible to improve selection methods by any of the following methods:

Training interviewers?

Introducing multiple steps and raters in the decision-making process?

Communicating and training on selection policies and practices?

Broadening strategies for recruitment so that qualified applicants are more likely to learn of vacancies?

Providing feedback to unsuccessful applicants about ways they could improve their knowledge or skills so that they would be more likely to be accepted in the future?