The Art and Science of Competency Models: Pinpointing Critical Success Factors in Organizations

For those looking for a practical, insightful walk-through on establishing competency models - this book is it! The authors not only clearly have mastery of the subject matter, but they are quite skilled in positioning the material in an easy-to-read, logical format. The sample sheets and models are very usable and easily adaptable. It serves as a great reference tool to be used repeatedly throughout one's career - not just a one time read at all.Perhaps most importantly, the strategic emphasis, planning for contingencies throughout the project and project planning tools in the book are extremely helpful and should focus the reader on setting a competency model initiative up for complete success.

"Competency models that identify the skills, knowledge, and characteristics needed to perform a job have been in use for more than three decades. In the last five years, interest in them and their potential to help staffing and development efforts has increased dramatically among our client group. We believe this interest will continue to grow over the next few years due to three key, related trends-intensified competition, aggressive cost management and downsizing, and the proliferation of 360-degree feedback system (A. D. Lucia & R. Lepsinger / Preface xiii)."In this invaluable study authors* define what a competency model is, describe its components, and discuss some of their broad, general applications.* examine how competency models can be applied within selection, training and development, appraisal, and succession planning systems to support an organization's business objectives.* discuss establishing the performance criteria with which your organization measures success to better focus your data collection and analysis.* describe specific action steps to follow during the development of the competency model from scratch.* discuss various methods of data collection and how they can be used to increase the likelihood of identifying the knowledge, skills, and characteristics required to succeed in the job.* describe the process of creating competency-based selection, training and development, appraisal, and succession planning systems.* discuss the methods for converting the model into the necessary formats or tools to integrate the competencies into each step of human resource management.This study is a "must" reading guide for HR professionals and line managers. I highly recommend.See also :* The Competency Casebook/D. Dubois* Strategic Human Resource Leader/W.J.Rothwell et.al.

This is a perfect choice for the novice reader who is trying to get a basic understanding of the whys and wherefores of compentency models. It's very readable book and not nearly as dry as I might have expected. In particular, the authors' copious use of real-world examples, cases and models is extremely helpful. I even got some great ideas for project management that I'll be able to apply broadly in my work, regardless of whether or not my organization undertakes a competency modeling project.My only criticism is that the book focuses exclusively on CMs in a HRM context; there is no real discussion of industry-scale models, which was my main reason for reading the book. Nevertheless, a very good resource for a beginner.

If you are new to this topic, you will get a good grounding of why and how you should go about developing a competency framework for your organisation. This book is thorough, to the point and easy to follow.

good introduction -- a little dated and expensive. Wish it was updated with new thinking and technology. Not a lot of other chices for Kindle.

Too much theory, but its not practical at all

Competency modeling is a mature methodology, a groundbase for implementing HR management and development. The authors draw from their large experience to highlight in simple and practical way how to deal with the methodology, providing plenty of useful tips and samples, step by step along the process. The book covers pretty well the process, whereas doesn't dig deep enough in how to detect and describe the underlying competencies.

But not in details