Please explain in detail the difference and connection between qualifications and competencies.

Analysis of similarities and differences between competency and qualifications

With the expansion of enterprise scale and the increase of personnel, the original empirical management is far from meeting the needs of existing management. " Small companies look at people, medium companies look at systems, and large companies look at culture." Similar to this, companies must introduce corresponding career development plans for employees based on the principle of fair competition. Don't focus on the "job title". Everyone Everyone has their own variety of choices. To this end, more and more human resources managers and related workers have begun to build competency-based human resources construction. However, they are not clear about which one to choose between competency and qualifications. To be more precise, the theoretical connotations of the two are different from those of competency and qualifications. Little understanding of practical uses. This article will explain the differences and uses between the two from a theoretical and practical perspective for the benefit of readers.

1. Definition of competency and qualifications

(1) Competency

In 1973, Professor David McClelland, a psychologist at Harvard University He proposed the concept of "competence" for the first time. As shown in the figure below, he vividly described competency as an iceberg floating on the water. The parts of the iceberg that are exposed above the water are skills and knowledge, which are superficial competencies that are easy to observe and change; while the parts hidden deep below the water are social roles, self-image, traits and motivations, which are not easy to observe. They are not easy to change. They are the main part of personal driving force and the central ability of personality, which can predict the long-term performance of personal work.

In the process of helping the U.S. government select foreign information officers, McClelland discovered that potential deep-seated characteristics such as individual attitudes, values, self-image, motivations and traits can be better than knowledge and intelligence. These characteristics that predict a person's performance in a certain job (or organization, culture) are called competencies. On the basis of his research results, other management researchers and practitioners have enriched and improved the concept of competency, forming the current competency-based human resources management system.

(2) Qualifications

Qualifications are still an application of the competency model, but they are designed to effectively improve the professional work of all types of personnel in the enterprise. level, by establishing a set of standards or management systems to promote the improvement of professional capabilities of all types of personnel. To this end, the British NVO (National Vocational Qualification) has made an attempt. They focus on the explicit part above the level of the "quality iceberg", that is, knowledge and skills and corresponding behaviors. In the UK, on ??the one hand, the education and training industry has formed its own relative stability and independence in the development process. On the other hand, modern technological economy and labor market demands are developing very rapidly, so they pay more attention to "how to train people." .

From the perspective of competence, qualifications grade employees' abilities, behaviors and contributions, standardize the training and selection of employees with the qualification standard system, establish career development channels for employees, and guide employees to continue learning. At the same time, it provides important basis for human resources work such as promotion and salary.

2. Similarities and differences between the two

(1) Establishing purpose

1. Select people or train people? The basis for the application of competency is that there must be professional employees. The company saves the cost of training and basically selects the best from the best. This is suitable for employees in the West who have experienced the baptism of industrialization, but for domestic employees, it is not yet up to the standard. With this kind of foundation, there are still very few people in China who can be called "professional managers", let alone professional ordinary employees. Therefore, the purpose of establishing a hierarchical system for job qualifications is to stimulate employees' enthusiasm for self-learning and meet the standards set by the enterprise (enterprise characteristics). It is a process that values ??results.

2. End point or road sign? Competency examines the ability and quality of a certain position in a more detailed and diverse manner. For example: a certain position requires communication skills, leadership skills, self-confidence, adaptability, sensitivity, etc. In my opinion, it is like KPI, which should meet the 20/ According to the 80 principle, you only need to grasp the important 20% of the qualities required for the job. Why are there so many quality terms? It seems like management by objectives. It is inaccurate to seek perfection and blame.

Many companies have established enterprise-based competency quality models, but they cannot be used because they only tell you the end point, but not how to get there! On the other hand, job qualifications are like road signs, telling you one stop after another, guiding you to success, and telling you what to do at this stop and what to do at the next stop, which is more practical.

3. Let’s work together to destroy Peter’s Heights! Both competency and qualifications are designed to break the dilemma that may arise after promoting employees based on their feelings or pure performance. It should be said that the risk of job qualifications is very small. It is more accurate through the inspection of abilities, behaviors and results over 1-2 years. Competencies are often used for cadre promotion and immediate results, so the evaluation methods are often very diverse. Evaluation Center Technology Application is very frequent.

(2) Scope of knowledge

1. Concept definition

Many people say that qualifications include competency or that qualifications and competencies are separate systems. However, through research, I think both of these statements are worthy of discussion. Competency and qualifications are intertwined but not inclusive. The difference is shown in the figure below:

A, B, and C in the left figure are respectively Represents the behavioral standards of different levels of a certain occupation. D1 under it represents the required ability requirements, E1+D2 under B represents the required ability requirements, and F1+E2+D3 under A represents the required ability requirements. Ability shows horizontal expansion and vertical strengthening at these three levels, which means that the B behavioral standard has higher requirements for the C behavioral standard at the D level, and D3>D2>D1, and E1 is a new ability. Requirements, E2>E1. In the picture on the right, a, b, and c respectively represent the high performance of the position. Within the rectangle are the ability requirements, which are more comprehensive than the ability requirements for the job qualifications.

2. Inverted Pyramid of Success

This article constructs an inverted pyramid model of success that integrates qualifications and competencies, as shown in the figure below.

(1) Qualifications include explicit knowledge, skills, behavioral aspects, performance contributions and some ability requirements based on job standards. These elements themselves contain a certain causal relationship, namely:

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For different levels, the qualification requirements are different. The higher you go, the more specialized your employees become, becoming experts in this field.

(2) Competence is the key to success. It is the difference between high-performing employees and ordinary performance employees. It is the key element that builds the top of the inverted pyramid. It is mainly a deeper understanding of the iceberg model below the surface. of excavation. In fact, it is more like dissecting a person, not just the body, but the soul.

(3) Implementation steps

The analysis of organizational strategy in the competency model follows the top-down rule, taking strategy as the starting point, analyzing the organizational capabilities required to achieve the strategy, and then Develop company-level general competencies. Different job categories and positions should be formed based on the decomposition and corresponding analysis of the organizational capabilities required to achieve the strategy. Qualifications also focus on whether career development channels can meet corporate strategy needs for talent.

In the enterprise application process, the specific implementation steps are shown in the following table:

Competency and Qualification Action Table

Steps

Competencies

Qualifications

1

Strategic analysis

2

Job responsibilities review

3

Select samples

Interviews, questionnaires

4

BEI interviews, questionnaires

Job classification, design Channel

5

Quality coding

Determining levels and standards

6

Validity test

Qualification Certification

7

Communication Confirmation

Salary Incentives

In terms of separate terms, there is actually no particularly standardized procedure. Instead, we should consider solutions based on the actual situation of the enterprise, as follows:

1. Competency model construction

(1) Clearly define performance standards, generally using job analysis or Decision is made through expert group discussion;

(2) Select effectiveness standard analysis samples and randomly select a certain number of employees from outstanding and ordinary employees for investigation according to job requirements;

(3) To obtain competency data, many methods can be used to obtain competency characteristic data of standard samples, such as focus interview method, external data method, group multi-level inspection method, expert survey method, etc., but only the behavioral event interview method is the most effective in collecting data. Comprehensive and accurate, ensuring the effectiveness of the competency structure to a certain extent;

(4) Analyze the data, draft a model, analyze the frequency of occurrence of various competency characteristics, and analyze the occurrence of factor indicators of the excellent group and the ordinary group Compare the frequency and correlation statistical indicators to find out the consistency and difference characteristics. Classify according to different themes and define according to frequency concentration and performance. Definition means determining the importance of these capabilities. Importance can define capabilities and also divide capabilities into different levels;

(5) Validate the model. To confirm the validity of the model, regression method or other related verification methods can be used, and existing excellent and average relevant standards or data can be used for testing. The key lies in what performance standards the enterprise chooses for testing.

2. Construction of qualification system

(1) Design channel. First of all, it is necessary to sort out the positions of the company, mainly based on the job description. At the same time, it is also necessary to have in-depth conversations with the current employees and their superiors to ensure that the documents are consistent with the actual work; secondly, it is necessary to define the job types, and define the nature of the work and any knowledge and skill requirements that they should be responsible for. Identical or similar positions and different departments are all merged together to form several position sets; finally, in fact, a career development path should be formed when a job type is determined, but the actual situation is not the case, because some job types do not have strong professional and technical requirements. , social substitutability is very good, so there is no need to set up professional career development channels, such as office occupations. At the same time, it should also be examined from the perspective of corporate strategy whether setting up career development channels based on the company's existing job types can meet the company's strategic needs for talents;

(2) Define the ladder. After determining the career development path, it is necessary to design how many ladders are needed for each job type. Some job types may have a five-step ladder, while others may have a three-step ladder. But the prerequisite for doing this is to establish the standards for determining the content of the ladder. As mentioned above, the qualification standards in this article include two parts, one is the ability standard, and the other is the behavioral standard. The ability standard also includes necessary knowledge, professional skills and Experience results. I will not go into details here. In short, a good model can be constructed for the development of enterprise qualification standards. As for the quality of the model, that is a matter for later;

(3) Determine the position. After establishing the channels and ladders, what you need to do next is which step of the ladder you are on now, which is the graded evaluation. The evaluation needs to clearly define the evaluation elements, evaluation methods, evaluators, etc. The evaluation elements are mainly based on competency dimensions, including knowledge, skills and experience results. In terms of evaluation methods, knowledge requires a written test or training knowledge assessment to determine whether the points meet the requirements of that level. Professional skills and experience results need to be evaluated through an evaluation meeting. The evaluator should try to be a person or person from the field of the job. It is composed of external experts and maintains stability to unify the evaluation scale;

(4) Adjust the rules. The rules mentioned here are how to adjust the qualification level after the level is designated.

The qualification system is oriented to the improvement of abilities. As we all know, the improvement of abilities does not happen overnight. Therefore, the qualification evaluation cycle is generally based on years, once every one or two years. Qualification adjustment is divided into four levels: qualification promotion, qualification maintenance, qualification downgrade and exception promotion;

(5) Implement incentives. Incentive means to effectively connect the qualification level and salary level, and to establish a functional work system oriented by employees' skills. As the qualification level increases, his position in the job category will rise accordingly, and his salary will naturally increase.

3. Conclusion

I believe that the relatively outstanding domestic companies are building human resources systems based on competency. Most of them have a competency model that is common to the company, but they are just wondering how to apply it. Something went wrong. I have participated in the application of GF Securities' competency model in campus recruitment. Through research on communication ability, response ability, sense of responsibility and other competency elements on college students, I have determined the scope, assessment methods, structured interview questions, etc. of each element. , so that it finally comes to fruition. For most companies that are experiencing rapid development, job qualifications are more valuable because they drive employees' independent spirit, break a single development path, and are responsible for the company and the future of employees.