Quantifying the contribution of competencies toward performance

• Published in: International journal of productivity and performance management Vol. 67; no. 4; pp. 693 - 716
• Main Authors: Poovathingal, James Sebastian, Kumar, Deepti V
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bradford Emerald Publishing Limited 09.04.2018; Emerald Group Publishing Limited
• Subjects: Adequacy; Behavior; Corporate culture; Effectiveness; Employees; Human capital; Human resources; Intelligence tests; Literature reviews; Management by objectives; Organizational aspects; Performance appraisal; Performance management; Product development; Production planning; Productivity; Research management; Supervisors; Surgical instruments; Training; India; Performance evaluation; Human capital valuation; Individual efficiency ratio; Performance management; Contribution of competencies; Result areas
• ISSN: 1741-0401; 1758-6658
• DOI: 10.1108/IJPPM-12-2016-0267

Purpose Performance management (PM) is an important tool to enhance productivity. However, its Achilles heel is its lack of future orientation. The main reason for this is that PM systems fail to empirically link competencies to results. The purpose of this paper is to address this gap. Design/methodology/approach This study uses literature review and deductive logic to evolve the concept of “Contribution of Competencies (CC)” and proof tests it quantitatively. Findings The impact of a level of competency on the results of a job can be determined by CC. The gap between expected and actual CC can predict future performance, determine the training needs with precision and measure individual efficacy and human capital adequacy of a department/an organization. Research limitations/implications This is single organization research for proof of concept. Multi-organizational research using empirical study linking CC with demonstrated performance can make the concept of CC more robust. Practical implications CC helps to: prioritize training for competencies that would impact performance with surgical precision, fix responsibility for failure to perform on individual/organizational factors, compare individual employees across functions, determine interdepartmental/inter-firm human capital efficacy, and evaluate human capital of a firm. Originality/value Empirical expression of the nature of relationship between competency levels and results through CC and its byproducts, individual efficacy ratio, and human capital adequacy ratio are original contributions.