Practicing Organization Development: A Guide for Leading Change: A Third Edition

COMPETENCIES AND THEIR IMPORTANCE

In the simplest business sense, a competency refers to—according to an often-cited definition—“an underlying characteristic of an employee (that is, motive, trait, skill, aspects of one’s self-image, social role, or a body of knowledge) which results in effective and/or superior performance in a job” (Boyatzis, 1982, pp. 20-21). A competency is thus associated with an individual’s characteristics in performing work and includes anything that leads to successful performance and results. It is not tied to work activities (as job descriptions are) or to the minimal entry requirements sufficient to qualify for a job (as job specifications are). In short, competencies are characteristics of people doing a certain ...