Competency-Based Human Resource Management [Hardcover]

William J. Rothwell (Author), David D. Duboise (Author), Deborah Jo King Stern (Contributor), Linda K. Kemp (Contributor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0891061746 | ISBN-13: 978-0891061748 | Publication Date: January 20, 2004

This book describes a new model of performance management that matches employee talents to the work that must be done. By focusing on the critical competencies that distinguish star performers, HR professionals can transform the way they recruit, train, develop, and compensate top-performing employees.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Explains how fitting employee talents to the work is more effective method. This comprehensive guidebook shows how to do it. -- Soundview Executive Book Summary, August 2004

HR helps organization get the best out of its workforce. This book presents a new method for managing that talent. -- HR Magazine, July 2004

This comprehensive, applied handbook will be of significant interest to HR professionals, professors, and students alike. -- Choice, September 1, 2004

Thorough, honest, solid, and especially useful if YOU are the one called upon to explain all this to everybody else! -- Training, August 2004

getAbstract recommends this innovative take on human resources management to those staying abreast of changes in the field. -- getAbstract, April 2004

From the Inside Flap

The traditional HR emphasis on job descriptions shortchanges both the employee and the organization, according to authors David Dubois and William Rothwell. The more effective method is to fit employee talents to the work that must be accomplished.

Moving beyond industrial-age notions of work, COMPETENCY-BASED HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT describes how to reinvent the HR department so that job competencies--rather than job descriptions--become the foundation for all HR efforts. By isolating and focusing on the key competencies that distinguish top performers, HR departments can unleash the power of exemplary performers across all job categories and see significant gains in productivity.

This comprehensive handbook shows organizations how to make the transition from a work-based environment to a competency-based foundation. It includes planning tools, checklists, worksheets, and other practical aids that guide HR professionals as they transform their organizations into world-class performers.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 376 pages
• Publisher: Nicholas Brealey Publishing (January 20, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0891061746
• ISBN-13: 978-0891061748
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,234,306 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars STRONGLY COMMENDED TO ALL HR PROFESSIONALS!, April 11, 2005

By 

Gerry Stern "Stern's Management Review Online" (Culver City, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Competency-Based Human Resource Management (Hardcover)

Competency-based HR management focuses first on the person and then on his or her outputs or results. With all aspects of HR integrated through competencies, rather than through jobs and work activities, the organization has a competency-based HR system. Competencies are enduring while work activities and tasks are transitory, therefore, the book proposes that a person- versus job-oriented perspective makes good sense. Additionally, the authors present a strong business case for taking the competency-based approach to HRM. Driven by six macro economic, technology and business trends, the competency needs of most organizations are discussed. In response to these trends, HR practitioners must assume responsibility for leading the way in their organizations to add value; the competency-base approach is the single most useful approach to achieving this central goal. For planning and implementing a customer-driven competency-base HR management project, a nine-step model is presented. This is the first of several action-oriented models the authors have developed.

Six chapters (representing nearly 55% of the book) are devote to competency-based
1) HR planning, 2) employee recruitment and selection, 3) training, 4) performance management, 5) rewards, and 6) development. Each of these six chapters presents a multi-step model to serve as a guide for implementing the competency-base approach in these six HR areas.

The penultimate chapter that presents a 12-step model for transforming to a competency-based approach to HR management . The final chapter takes a brief peek into the future of competency-based HRM.

This book is highly successful in offering the big picture; in the process it covers a great deal of ground in a very well organized manner, without delving deeply into details that would distract from the theme. We at Stern's Management Review (HRconsultant.com) very strongly commend this book to all HR professionals.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Insightful!, April 21, 2004

By 

Rolf Dobelli "getAbstract" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Competency-Based Human Resource Management (Hardcover)

Traditionally, human resources departments and organizations have existed to fill jobs and manage the people who do jobs. Authors David D. Dubois and William J. Rothwell suggest a different approach: recruiting and managing competencies instead. The distinction is important, the authors say, because thinking of an organization as an aggregation of jobs makes it difficult to change quickly in response to new opportunities and threats. Much of what the authors suggest is plausible; some of it is even persuasive. On the other hand, their guide is as much an academic text as a manual for corporate use. Multiple references to other sources and dense definitions impede the clear path to practical, actionable advice. In that quest, the reader is grateful for the authors' useful planning tools, checklists, worksheets and other task-related aids, which compensate for the jargon and repetition. While wishing for a slightly less academic approach, We recommend this innovative take on human resources management to those staying abreast of changes in the field.