Competencies in Human Resources refer to the knowledge, skills, abilities and other qualities that an individual possesses which influences their performance at work. These competences are typically assessed during a job analysis where the appropriate competencies for the role are identified and included in the position specification.
Performance Management refers to an ongoing process of establishing goals, evaluating the processes and outcomes within an organization. This process allows management to assess the performance of individuals and allows the organization to drive towards the fulfilment of established goals.
When applied to Performance Management processes for employees, competencies can serve as key criteria in assessing the performance of the individual at work. Typically, these competencies are assessed through behavioural indicators that are related to the competency being assessed. For example, a customer service role would require an individual who is customer oriented and provide good service. Therefore, the competency of “customer orientation” could be assessed by a key behavioural indicator such as client feedback regarding the quality of services that they have been provided by that individual.
It would be ideal that the performance management of employees is carried out with clearly defined competencies along with the associated key behavioural indicators that have been demostrated to be related to performance in the work role as these would provide an accurate measure of an employee’s performance.
