Customer Reviews

Competency-Based Human Resource Management

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.