Building Robust Competencies: Linking Human Resource Systems to Organizational Strategies [Hardcover]

Paul C. Green (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0787946494 | ISBN-13: 978-0787946494 | Publication Date: April 9, 1999 | Edition: 1

Competency development is one of the hottest topics in the HR profession. Still there is much confusion among managers about what a competency is and how to use it effectively. Here, author Paul Green draws on twenty-five years of training, consulting, and employee assessment experience to establish a behavioral language that describes, guides, and links actions at work. This is the foundation for developing clearly defined competencies that help executives, managers, and HR professionals communicate performance goals through every step of the HR process--including interviewing, appraisal, coaching, and training-in ways that directly support an organization's mission, vision, and values.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"There is no doubt what this books says: behavioral competencies are the way to link human resources to mission, vision, and values. It is big on description and cautious on theory. Most managers can read it, understand it, and apply it." —James Perkins, senior vice president and chief personnel officer, Federal Express

"In this book, Paul Green shows why the competency approach is proving to be such an effective tool for organizational and individual development. He also provides a practical guide to using behavioral competencies effectively." —Robert Most, CEO, Mind Garden

From the Inside Flap

Human Resources is rapidly becoming the engine of organizational direction and change. Through organizational core competencies, core values, and individual skills, it is possible to link what people say and do every day at work to their organization's mission, vision, and values. However, this opportunity will be lost if we don't translate abstract performance concepts into behavioral language that describes the specific actions people must take in order to do their jobs well.A robust competency is practical-it works even though individuals aren't perfect. Because, by using behavioral descriptions throughout human resource systems, managers and HR professionals can get everyone in the organization speaking the same language. This common language helps employees understand how their competencies affect the efficiency of the organization and creates a direct link between the company's human resource systems and its overall mission, vision, and values.After first explaining what competencies are, HR expert Paul Green shows readers how to describe them in ways that capture the unique characteristics of an organization and its associates. He then shows how those descriptions can be used to encourage observable actions and bring associates into alignment with the organization's strategic objectives. Finally, he demonstrates ways to create job-related methods for interviewing, appraising, coaching, and training that support those objectives. Pull-outs throughout the text highlight key ideas. Examples show how real-life organizations have put those ideas to work. Exercises get readers thinking about larger business goals and how to tie them to the competencies of each associate. The book also includes sample interviews, a task-based appraisal form, and answers to commonly asked competency questions. It provides the practical tools executives, managers, and HR practitioners need to consistently identify and elicit desired behavior to produce results.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (April 9, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787946494
• ISBN-13: 978-0787946494
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,317,354 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exceptional linking of behavioral elements in HR System, October 31, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Building Robust Competencies: Linking Human Resource Systems to Organizational Strategies (Hardcover)

Dr. Green demonstrates that the job analysis which is the basis of behavioral interviews, is also the cornerstone upon which competencies, PD's, interviews, coaching, performance measurement, and training are all built. Once the use of behavioral thinking is understood by the manager, the development of the tools and methods for selecting, developing, and managing successful people will flow from the analysis of the behaviors needed for success in any specific job.

Dr. Green goes beyond the individual in applying behavioral understandings and tools, taking them to the organizational level as well. He clearly demonstrates the linkage between high performing individuals, and high performing organizations.

A must read for any manager using Behavioral Interviewing, any trainer teaching Behavioral Interviewing, or any manager tired of spending a disproportionate share of their time and energy dealing with poor performance, low productivity, and poor morale.

While you can easily read it in a few days, you will want your own copy to highlight, make notes in, and refer to from time to time as you grow as a manager.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Linking HR systems to organization's identity, September 11, 2001

By 

Turgay BUGDACIGIL (Istanbul, Turkey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Building Robust Competencies: Linking Human Resource Systems to Organizational Strategies (Hardcover)

"This book explains how to use behavioral competencies to link human resource (HR) systems to an organization's purpose. This linkage will help organizations better communicate to associates about how they can effectively guide their own actions...The book is written for human resource professionals, who strive to link their organization's core competencies, capabilities, values, and priorities to its human resource applications...You can expect this book to recognize and reinforce important distinctions between an organization's strategic core competencies and its individual competencies and skills. Although these distinctions are obvious to business strategists, they are a source of confusion for many in human resources who want to use competencies to reflect vision, culture, and values" (from the Preface).

In this context, Paul C. Green divides his book into two main parts:

I. Clarifying Competencies: In this part;

* He argues that "robust competencies help you define what was done, what is being done, and what needs to be done." And hence, he sets the stage for building robust competencies by identifying the ambiguities, challenges, and rewards of using competencies.

* He explores the different meanings of competencies that are used in organizations and research. And he argues that "HR competency system must be job related and should reflect core competencies, capabilities, core values, and priorities."

* He discusses operationalizing performance skills to enable you to use behavioral observation, description, and inference to communicate clearly what a person needs to do to do a job well. Here he says that "a behavior is an action that you can observe, describe, and verify."

* He explores how the identity of an organization can become the target for alignment, and discusses how an organization's identity can be reflected in and reinforced by interviews, appraisal, coaching, and training.

II. Linking Competencies to Human Resource Systems: In this part, after briefly discussing perception-driven, experience-driven, attribute-driven, and behavior-driven approaches, he offers behavioral approach to link interviews, appraisals, coaching, and training to the identity of an organization. It emphasizes a systemic, job-related approach to support the effectiveness and defensibility of an HR system. He argues that "the linkage of HR applications is easier when the organization consistently uses a behavioral approach. Once behavioral language is used in one part of an HR system, it can be expanded to other applications."

Finally, he says that "the best answers to questions about core competencies, capabilities, core values, and priorities come from real experiences in applying them. Today, each answer is just an opinion at one point in time. However, the big question for the future will be: How can I link HR systems to my organization's identity? At present the most useful answers are those that emphasize a behavioral approach, job relatedness, nimbleness, and open mindedness."

Highly recommended.