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ISSN 0975 – 5942 Vol.II(2), July-December 2010, pp.144-154 Visit: http://www.socialsciences-ejournal.org © International Society for Asia-Pacific Studies (ISAPS), www.isapsindia.org
Identification of HR Competencies of Senior and Middle Level Managers Ajai Pratap Singh Department of Applied Psychology VBS Purvanchal University Jaunpur, UP, India Email-
[email protected]
Abstract The aim of the present study is to identify HR competencies of senior and middle managers. A purposive sample of 120 senior and middle managers from service and manufacturing sectors from north India were selected. Mean values were ranked in descending order of prevalence. The results reveal differences across hierarchical level and sector on HR competence. The results have implications managing training and development programmes for HR managers. Keywords: Human Resources Competencies, Definition, Managers
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Introduction The role and competencies of HR professionals are more critical today because of increasing performance requirement in organizations and their changing roles. The changing need of management expertise to face the contemporary challenges of management requires development of competencies for various functions of HR in changing business scenario (M A Mamun & A B Mohamad, 2009). Corporations are facing pressures from different stake holders of business environment. Competencies are specific to the organizations. A given organization has its own competency requirements, which may depend on the kind of business it is in. It is a business strategy decision. It is really a difficult task for the company to deal with values, capabilities, competences and skills. So, the process of identifying and developing competencies must start at the highest level in the organization. Top management must be clear about the competencies company requires and define them. Companies have to identify their competencies by interviewing the key people. Our ability to deliver effective services depends not only where we focus our resources, but also on the individual competence of the staff. If they do not have the required competence in the key services areas required by customers, they will not be able to provide effective services as individuals. In evaluating staff competence it is important to assess the effectiveness of function as a whole. This will enable us to compare the results both on an individual and organizational level and thereby identify the gaps. Definitions of HR competencies Any analysis of HR competencies requires careful definition because of the considerable variance in the use of the term ‘competencies’ in the literature. For the purpose of this study, the numerous definitions of competency can be summarised effectively as a collection of technical and cultural capabilities (Brockbank 1997). However, it is obvious throughout the literature that different authors advocate different approaches to competency definition. For example, one particular approach to modelling competencies advocated by Ulrich et al (1995) and Boyatzis (Yeung 1996) includes the integration of areas of competence into groupings. Ulrich et al’s (1995) model combines various aspects of competence into three primary elements: knowledge of the business, HR functional expertise and management of change. They argue that
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management of change is critical, as the organisation’s external rate of change (e.g. globalisation, information flow, customer expectations, technology, etc.) must be matched by the internal rate of change for the organisation to remain competitive. Irrespective of job role or job title, the elements of competence remain in the same order of importance, with any variation manifesting itself in weighting alone. In defining HR competencies, Ulrich and Boyatzis, argue that it is necessary to consider the specific job roles of HR practitioners in order to differentiate between possible variations in requirements. The roles of human resource staff have been extensively discussed in the literature and in textbooks of human resource management (Schuler and Huber, 1993; Purcell, 1995). One work by Tyson and Fell (1986) defined three dominant personnel management models based on an analogy from the building and civil engineering profession: clerk of works, contracts manager and architect. In essence, the clerk of works role focuses on the day-to-day operations carried out by the personnel department, and is often the support or administrative HR practitioner role. The contracts manager is the expert ensuring that every aspect of policy and procedure and hence the personnel department’s ‘contract’ with the organisation is fulfilled. This role equates to that of the professional or specialist HR practitioner. The architect is the long-term designer and planner, coordinating the activities of other members of the department,otherwise known as the senior or strategic management HR practitioner. In the definition of these models it is already clear how individuals carrying out different models of personnel management will require different degrees of competence in different areas. This is also relative to the environment in which the organisation is operating. Traditionally, HR staff have had a relatively limited involvement in the organisation’s affairs and goals, with activities being targeted mainly at the operational level. Consequently, the justification of the presence of human resource staff is mainly to enjoy economies of scale and specialisation. However, the HR function is currently having to respond to major changes in its environment: lowering costs, enhancing quality, ensuring that the organization is tapping into the full potential of its employees and creating stronger business links, hence becoming a business partner. With the growing importance of human resource management to the success of the organisation, human resource
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departments have become involved at the medium-term level (for example, in the development of recruitment marketing plans) and at the strategic level (for example, a relocation of the organisation). The designated senior ‘architects’ predominantly perform HR activities at the medium-term and strategic level within the organisation. Clearly, the skills to perform these roles are quite different from those skills needed to perform at the administrative clerk of works level. The challenge for the future for HR appears to lie in sustaining a balance between strategist and technical roles, and shifting from being a provider to being an enabler in personnel management. This includes facilitating change and being an innovator in the face of change and may involve the use of core HR staff whilst outsourcing appropriate activities and devolving responsibilities to the line and to employees themselves (Bell et al 1999). The HR functions’ contribution to organisational performance can be seen from the perspective of the HR practitioner him or herself, and that of the line manager. Many HR activities can be implemented by either human resource management specialists or by line managers provided the individuals have the appropriate levels of competence. On average across Europe, three out of ten organisations have increased responsibilities of the line for HRM.The most common responsibility devolved is for training and development (43% of organisations across Europe), followed by recruitment and selection (35%), pay and benefits (29%), workforce expansion/reduction (28%), with the lowest being industrial relations issues (23%). This information should influence our analysis of future competency needs of HR practitioners. Concentrating on HR’s direct influence on the organisation, Ulrich et al (1995) carried out a large-scale survey in the US looking at specific competencies in HR in order to produce benchmarking standards. One of the recent developments they identified was the emergence of HR ‘business partners’ resulting in a need for the professional growth of HR practitioners themselves, and the need to contribute to the organisation’s competitive stance as a whole. Ulrich et al define competence as the ability to add value to the business; competence must focus on the process leading from changing business conditions to achieving sustainable competitive advantage. This can be done by generating sources of uniqueness and hence developing unique organisational capability. And fundamental to this
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is ensuring that HR practices are central to the creation and maintenance of this organisational capability. Review of Literature Many studies focused on hierarchical and functional differences in managerial work. Pinto (1975) identified through factor analysis 13 independent dimensions of managerial responsibilities and found that upper level managers have undertaken more of planning, public and customer relations, advanced consulting and broad personnel responsibilities when compared to middle and begin level managers. Whitley (1989) concluded that managerial work is closely linked to industrial context and cannot be easily isolated from their context and standardized across enterprises and industries. Studies comparing managers from different nations and environmental conditions reinforce this view. The content of managerial work across nations were found to be similar but actual performance seem to be context dependent. Rankin (2002) carried out an analysis of the core competency frameworks of 40 employers showed that 433 competencies were named in total. The top 22 competencies include in 18 per cent or more of the frameworks are set out and ranked in descending order of prevalence. 1.Team orientation (78%), 2. Communication (65%), 3. Customer focus (65%), 4.People management (58%) 5.Results orientation (58%), 6.Problem solving (55%), 7.Business awareness (38%), 8.Decision making (35%), 9.Technical skills (35%),10. Developing others (33%), 11.Initiative (33%), 12.Creativity (30%), 13.Influence and persuasion (30%), 14.Quality focus (30%),15. Relationships (30%), 16.Change orientation (25%), 17.Information management (25%), 18. Interpersonal skills (25%), 19. Strategic orientation (25%), 20.Self-development (23%), 21.Commitment (20%), 22.Self-confidence and assertiveness(20%). Suar & Dan (2001) identified 47 competencies for different jobs. These competencies were relating to nine broad categories Aptitudes, Skills and abilities, Communication, Leadership, Knowledge, Physical competency, Personality, Principles and values and Interests. Parveen (2002) established organizations with an expanded role for HR, ranked advising on HR issues as the most important competency, while the emerging ones ranked it seventh. Most respondents felt that HR should add business value to the company. Emerging companies ranked ‘team building skills’ as a number one priority. In contrast,
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‘team building skills’ was ranked fifth by established organizations.’ Organization diagnosis’ as a required skill was ranked third by established companies, ‘Competencies mapping skills’ was ranked high by emerging companies. Both types of organizations agreed that ‘people interaction skills’,’ performance counseling skills’ and ‘appreciation of business and technical activities’ is important for them. Companies should have HR systems that promote employee empowerment, creative thinking, and cement feeling of belongingness. Role clarity and enrichment, a well defined career path, an informal work ambience and a democratic work culture and the reorganization and rewards of achievements are the significant work culture components a company should ensure. Both established and emerging companies ranked the significance of each of the concerned HR systems. The ranking was based on the mean average scores. Narang (2002) competence areas of an HR head were Performance appraisal, Time management, Team building, Personnel policies, Transparency, Assertivity, Selection, HR services, Training and development, Recruitment, Succession planning, Organisation development, Competency mapping, Reward management, Performance management system, Industrial relations, Business processes and HRIS. Further each of these competencies possesses specific activities also. These 19 competencies are the core competencies needed by an HR professional to perform successfully in the position of ‘Head of HR’. Since the last few years, the HR profession is beginning to evolve faster. New competencies are beginning to emerge and integrate themselves into the HR competency map. The two such competencies are related to 'catalyzing organization strategy formulation' and 'catalyzing organization process changes'. This competency map indicates that a decision such as transferring any body from any part of the organization to HR is a royal road to disaster and a sad state of HR affairs leading to the low credibility of HR in most organisations. Ranjekar (2003) portrayed the relationship between possession of HR competencies and credibility. The list of important HR competencies for being credible is suggested, which includes; -1.Sound subject knowledge, 2.Personal work habits and productivity, 3.Fearlessness,4.Care and sensitivity,5.Playing it low key and 6.Comfort with dilemmas and ambiguities, there are three components of credibility for a function or an organization, personal credibility, group credibility (how many members in that group have high personal credibility) and most importantly the consistency of
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such credibility. HR has to keep creating and depositing positive strokes in their account all the time to retain credibility. Richard (2003) competencies related to success in the role of HR, which includes 1.Networking and internal consultancy, 2.Interpersonal sensitivity, 3.Theoretical basis, 4.Strategic perspective, 5.Systems and process orientation, 6.Quantitative analysis and 7.Project management. Objectives of the Study and Hypotheses This study has been designed to identify the HR competencies and skills of Government and Private sector managers of senior and middle level managers in the Indian context. It has the following objectives: • To identify the HR competencies and skills of senior and middle level managers. • To identify the he HR competencies of government and private sector managers. Methodology Sample A sample of 120 managers were selected by purposive sampling technique from 5 public and 5 private (service and manufacturing) organizations from National Capital region Delhi. Tools Used H.R. Competence Questionnaire was developed by Jonathan Smilansky(1997), to study the importance of HR skills to each staff member and their current capability. The instrument covers the six dimensions of HR skills i.e. Strategy and organization, Resoursing, Development, Reward management, Relation with employees, and Work processes. Responses were received on five-point scale for each column. The aggregate score for each dimension was calculated by adding the responses on the each dimension. Result and Discussion The study was conducted to provide an insight into the HR competence and skills of the managers. In order to identify the HR competencies and skills mean values were computed and ranked in descending order of prevalence.
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Table 1. HR competencies of senior managers HR Competence Strategy and organization Resourcing development Reward management Relations with employees Work processes
Senior Managers(Govt) N=30 Mean Rank 3.82 1 3.07 6 3.78 2 3.20 5 3.48 3 3.36
4
Senior Managers(Pvt) N=30 Mean Rank 3.47 4 3.24 5 3.67 1 2.92 6 3.55 3 3.58
2
Table1 reveals that senior managers of government sector are giving foremost importance to strategy and organization followed by development, relations with employees, work processes, reward management and resourcing.While senior managers of private sector are giving highest preference to developmental activities followed by work processes, relations with employees, strategy and organization, resourcing and reward management. On the same line Pinto (1975) identified through factor analysis 13 independent dimensions of managerial responsibilities and found that upper level managers have undertaken more of planning, public and customer relations, advanced consulting and broad personnel responsibilities when compared to middle and begin level managers. Narang (2002) competence areas of an HR head were -Performance appraisal, Time management, Team building, Personnel policies, Transparency, Assertivity, Selection, HR services, Training and development, Recruitment, Succession planning, Organisation development, Competency mapping, Reward management, Performance management system, Industrial relations, Business processes and HRIS. Richard (2003) competencies related to success in the role of HR includes 1.Networking and internal consultancy, 2.Interpersonal sensitivity, 3.Theoretical basis, 4.Strategic perspective, 5.Systems and process orientation, 6.Quantitative analysis and 7.Project management.
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Table 2. HR competencies of middle managers HR Competence
Strategy and organization Resourcing Development Reward management Relations with employees Work processes
Middle Managers (Govt) N=30
Mean 3.11 2.82 3.03 2.94 2.96 3.58
Rank 2 6 3 5 4 1
Middle Managers (Pvt) N=30
Mean 3.31 3.06 3.36 3.11 3.25 3.25
Rank 2 5 1 4 3 3
Table 2 reveals that middle managers of government sector are giving foremost preference to work processes followed by strategy and organization ,development, relations with employees, reward management and resourcing .While middle managers of private sector were giving highest importance to developmental activities followed by strategy and organization, relations with employees and work processes and resourcing.It exhibits differences in preference of the importance of the different competencies. As the managerial work is more context dependent, the sectoral differences may exist in the managerial work of different sectors. It is clear from above results that strategy and organization, development ,work processes and relations with employees have been identified as most important and required competencies for HR managers. This study identified competencies which are perceived as important by Managers in them. The results show that industry attaches lot of importance to competencies such as development, strategy and organization.The results of the present study have implications for designing training and developmental programmes for different categories of HR managers. Important and required Competencies should be developed as per the need gaps.
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References Bell, D. et al. (1999). Mapping the employment occupations. UK: ENTO. Brockbank, W. (1997). HR's future on the way to a presence. Human Resource Management, 36, no. 1: 65-69. M A Mamun & A B Mohamad,( 2009), “challenges of management requires the development of competencies for various functions of HR in changing business scenario”. McConkey, Richard(2003). Who’s perfect for HR? Human Capital, vol-7, No-1, June, pp .30-32. Narang, S.(2002). Armed with the skills, Competency map for a ‘Head of HR’, Human Capital, Vol-5, No-8, pp.52-54. Parveen, N.(2002). Smart Enough for IT, Human Capital, Vol-5, No-10, pp.56-60. Pavett, C.M., and Lau, A.W. (1983). Managerial Work: The Influence of Hierarchical Level and Functional Speciality. Academy of Management Journal, 26, 1, 170-177. Pinto, P.P. (1975). Job Descriptions for Executives-Revisited. Academy of management Proceedings, 228-230. Purcell, J. (1995). Corporate strategy and its link with human resource management strategy, in Human resource management: a critical text, edited by J. Storey, Routledge, London. Ranjekar, D. (2003).Got to build Faith, Human Capital, Vol-7, No-1 ,pp.42-44. Rankin, N. (2002). Raising performance through people: The ninth competency survey, Competency and Emotional Intelligence ,pp 221. Schuler, R S and C H Huber. (1993). Personnel and Human Resource Management, Fifth edition, West Publishing Company, Minneapolis/St. Paul. Smilansky,J.(1997).The New HR. International Thompson Business Press,London.
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Suar, D. & Dan, A. (2001). Competency Assessment and Need Identification for Training, IJTD Journal, XXXI: 4, pp. 68-76. Tyson, S, and A Fell. (1986). Evaluating the personnel function. Hutchinson. Ulrich, D, W Brockbank, A K Yeung, and D G Lake. (1995). Human resource competencies: and empirical assessment. Human Resource Management ,34, no. 4: 473(23). Whitley, R. (1989). On the Nature of Managerial Tasks and Skills: Their Distinguishing Characteristics and Organization. Journal of Management Studies, 26, 3, 209-224. Yeung, A K.(1996). Competencies for HR professionals: an interview with Richard E. Boyatzis. Human Resource Management, 35, no. 1: 119(13).
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