Page 178 - Global Project Management Handbook

8-4 COMPETENCY FACTORS IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Although we all have a general idea of what we mean by competence, it is helpful to
be able to break it down into component parts as a basis for assessment and develop-
ment, so the chapter begins with a discussion of what constitutes competence. The next
section of the chapter presents the components of generic project management compe-
tence, identifying standards, guides, and qualifications that are available for use, both
globally and locally. Finally, guidelines are given for comprehensive assessment and
development of project management competence that satisfies both local and global
requirements.

UNDERSTANDING COMPETENCE

When we say that someone is competent, we generally mean that he or she has the ability
to do a job or task, and our opinion is often based on evidence such as qualifications or
observation of the person over a period of time. Competency tends to cover anything
that might contribute to job performance.
Traditionally, in selection and promotion, employers have looked for the “right” tech-
nical qualifications and a proven track record of doing the same job in a similar organiza-
tion. This does not always work for a number of reasons, including the following:

● Demand for such people may exceed supply.
● The new environment may differ from that which fostered past successes.
● There may be factors in the individual’s private life—health, family, or other commitments—
that have an impact on performance.
A number of factors have driven the search for a new way of selecting and develop-
ing people. With downsizing and pressure on organizations to do more with fewer
resources, the link between business performance and the skills of employees has been
emphasized. Changing demands in the marketplace and new ways of working often
require changes in behavior. Technological changes mean that there are many jobs that
have not been done before and for which there are no qualifications, so traditional meth-
ods of selection are not applicable. In developing countries, there may be very few peo-
ple who have the qualifications and experience to fill the jobs that are being created.

In response to these pressures, competence over time has acquired new layers of
meaning through use for specific purposes. It has come to mean different things to dif-
ferent people and has different purposes in different parts of the world. When people
in North America and human resources managers talk about competence, they are
generally thinking in terms of competency models and the attributes and behaviors that
lead to superior performance in the workplace. In the United Kingdom, South Africa,
Australia, and New Zealand, discussion of competence often refers to competency
standards that are the basis for national qualifications frameworks in these countries.
The competency standards approach involves the inference of competence based on
evidence of performance in the workplace and is concerned primarily with threshold
rather than superior performance.

The Competency Model Approach
The competency model approach is based on the work of McClelland and McBer in the
1
United States beginning in the 1970s and reported by Boyatzis in the early 1980s.
Followers of this approach define a competency as an “underlying characteristic of an