DR. SOLOMON EDIRIVERERE ESOMU DEAN, FACULTY OF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, POMA BUSINESS UNIVERSITY, REPUBLIC OF BENIN

1. COMPETENCE
MANAGEMENT
AND
COMPETENCE
SOURCING
DR. SOLOMON EDIRIVERERE ESOMU
DEAN, FACULTY OF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND
ENGINEERING, POMA BUSINESS UNIVERSITY,
REPUBLIC OF BENIN
www.esomu.faithweb.com
www.solomonesomu.com

2. Abstract
This paper focuses on competence management in organizations and highlights the potential
support and benefits related to the implementation of IT-supported strategic competence
management as part of a human resource management system. Also, the types and aspects of
competencies are elaborated and duly scrutinized as it affects both personal and company
development.
Introduction
Through the years, human resources have drifted away from focusing on individual contribution
of an employee and are now more interested in the strategic management, knowledge
development, and competence management within the company. However, Competence
management has proven to be of great importance as it is the process used to determine what is
required and vital for the survival of an organization. Competence management (CM) involves
the planning, implementation, and evaluation of initiatives to ensure sufficient competencies of
the employees and the company to reach the objectives of the organization (Nordhaug,1993).
Regrettably, competency is often measured based on predetermined criteria and denoted with
numeric values as opposed to understanding the dynamic, holistic, cognitive and systematic vista
of organizational competence. As a result, employees are made to follow a certain historical
procedure to seem efficient and important to the operations of a company. Nevertheless, IT has
proven helpful in creating simulations and applications to ease the process of competence
management.
Background
There are two types of competencies in Competent Management System - the Position
Competencies and Employee Portfolios.
Position competencies serve as the primary competency that is most utilized; it identifies the
competency needs of each position to meet the organization's mission, regardless of the
incumbent. This form of competence is commonly assigned by supervisors and managers for the
positions of their direct reports.

3. Employee portfolios are tied to an individual's skills, knowledge and expertise. This category of
competency focuses on the knowledge that one can readily apply without extensive refresher
training. However, in some cases this competency does not specifically relate to a current job
position, it can include skills and personal experience from previous jobs or education.
Competency Management is a methodology that integrates workforce planning, employee
development, and budget management to enable the Agency to manage its workforce by
expertise, instead of by trying to manage by the job position. The Competency Management
System (CMS) was created to better understand the full capabilities of the workforce to more
effectively plan and meet the needs of the Agency's mission.
Competencies attempt to describe a base-level knowledge area that is needed to accomplish the
duties of a job, but that can also be considered standard or common across job positions,
regardless of the organization, the Center, the specific project, or business line. Positions are
accounted for by assigning one or more competencies, including a "primary", or dominant,
competency.
Aspects of Competence
For over three decades, the accumulation of the various productive activities within the firm has
become an imperative research by economists and strategic management researchers. However,
several conclusions have been made as to how a firm can acquire the highest level of
competence.
Firstly, an organization must be able to respond to the dynamic nature of both the internal and
external environment. Increasing globalization implies tougher competition and more dynamic
markets, but also offers the possibility of increasing the capabilities of an organization through
utilizing competence from different geographical locations in the global workforce (Borghoff
and Pareschi, 1998). Dynamic thinking skill attempts to look at the problem as pattern of
behavior over time rather than isolated events. Consequently, an organizations competence must
pay attention to the market place and be readily flexible to the changing demands of its
environment. Also, attention should be paid to the changing level of productivity within the
company. This may be as a result of procedures such as downsizing, outsourcing and expansion.
However, through these phases, an organization’s competence would only be maintained if quick

4. adjustments are made to create a balance between these procedures. The central point here is the
understanding of the vital changes, which affects a firm, by the human resources.
Secondly, the resources within the company are most vital to the operations and productivity of
the company. It is therefore, pertinent for these resources to have a systematic nature of
operation. Hence, competence management requires the ability to coordinate organizations
resources to correspond with the goals and target of the organization. In addition, the supply
chains of a firm with other stakeholders are required to follow a certain criteria in line with the
operations of the company. Competence involves accessing and coordinating the external system
which includes the suppliers, distributors and customers.
Thirdly, competence must also focus on the cognitive value of the firm. The resources that have
been systematically put in place must now be allocated in the pattern that exhibits its most
efficiency. It is one thing for a firm to acquire as much resources- human power, capital,
technology, natural resources- but it is most significant when these resources are efficiently used.
This however, places a great deal of responsibility on the managers as they are to establish a
strategy that would produce the greatest efficiency of the acquired resources. In other words,
managers are responsible for both the efficient and effective use of an organization’s resources.
Finally, competence must include the ability to manage the holistic nature of an organization as
an open system. Holistic thinking is viewing a system in terms of a whole instead of parts or sub-
systems (Team competence comes to play here). This competence tackles the coalition of the
individual and institutional interests of the organization. This would require the managers be able
to define organizational goals that promise a satisfactory level of goal achievement for all
individual and institutional providers of the essential resources the organization needs. Thus, the
definition of organizational competence recognizes the existence of multiple stakeholders and
the importance of meeting the expectations of all providers of essential resources in sustaining
the value-creating processes of an organization.

5. IT support competence
Because the temporal boundaries of our mental models tend to be narrow, thereby making them
dynamically deficient, omitting feedbacks, time delays, accumulations and nonlinearities; It is
important for us to use tools and techniques that would expand our mental models by
encouraging people to identify the elements of dynamic complexity usually absent in these
models. Regardless of the form or method used, the results of the elicitation and mapping
process must be tested. Simulation is the only practical way to test these models. Typical
conceptual models such as causal loops are too complex to simulate mentally. Even the best
conceptual models can only be tested and improved on by relying on feedback through the real
world, but feedback can be slow and ineffective in dynamic complexity, time delays, inadequate
and ambiguous feedback, poor reasoning skills and costs of experimentation. Hence, simulation
becomes the only reliable way to test the hypotheses and evaluate the likely effects of policies.
Consequently, the next generation of Human resource management has begun with the
introduction of the E-wave. This involves the use of Web technologies for redistributing Human
Resource activities to the entire organization, and integrating these with other corporate
processes such as finance, supply-chain management, and customer service (Karakanian,2000).
E-wave centers on the various aspects of the Human Resources Management. It focuses on the
operational part of the Human Resource Management, which involves publishing information,
administering payroll, general logistics and much more. Also, the higher-level form involves
automation of basic processes such as recruiting, training, outsourcing, downsizing and
performance management. Furthermore, the e-wave concentrated on a more transformational
aspect which is the strategic character of the human resource management. Thus, the web
technologies that is involved in the E-wave, helps managers of competence intensive firms to
plan strategic procedures. This helps them find the problem, simulate a solution and hence
commence with the implementation of control. (Hustad; Erik 2005)
Another package was designed to also maintain an organizations competence management
system called the INTEROP EC Network of Excellence, a project focused on enterprise
interoperability that involved about 60 research and industrial institutions in Europe. One of the
main objectives of INTEROP has been to build a so-called “Knowledge Map” (KMap) of partner
competences. In the KMap, information is indexed and classified according to a domain

6. ontology, which was created using a semi-automated methodology, aimed at minimizing manual
effort and maximizing the individual contribution of users. (DSI) by using the Knowledge map,
current interoperability research within INTEROP and in Europe would be easily diagnosed.
Users would be able to receive an overview of all European research activities on interoperability
and organizations and experts as well. The Knowledge map would help with finding information
quickly and efficiently.
IT-supported competence systems may also contribute to the knowledge management processes
in an organization, through supporting identification and distribution of knowledge and
competence (Davenport and Prusak, 1998)
Implementation
Managers and CEOs need to ask some questions such as
“In an increasingly global marketplace how can we remain competitive?”
“If our competitors are more efficient and use more competent employees to produce their products or
provide their services will we survive?”
“Can we afford not to do anything about the competence of our employees,and will delay prove to be an
error of judgment with very serious consequence?”
In the quest to answer these questions, Many companies have implemented a Competency
Management System (CMS) since the use of these systems may bring behavioral guidelines,
performance standards, and consequently, improved communication between employer and
employee. CMS provides a quantitative measurement of an institution’s knowledge and
functions as:
 A communication tool across functional business processes.
 Data needed to analyze the actual utilization of workforce competencies
 A mechanism to forecast and monitor future needs
 Continuity of workforce capability across programs and projects
 Alignment of workforce competencies to strategic Drivers. (Verladi, 2)
Therefore, managers should
 Hold structured meetings with Senior Managers to raise level of awareness of the project,
 Establish Steering Committee for project and its terms of reference

7.  Appoint the “champion” for the project and the terms of reference
 Hold communications meetings with Supervisors and team leaders
 Communicate with the individuals involved in the pilot program and ensure
communication to rest of workforce is also effective
 Learn from the pilot program and ensure all aspects of learning process are recorded and
reflected upon
 Roll-out the competence management system covering the remaining jobs covered by the
pro
 Measure and quantify the savings made and the improvements in efficiency.
While the manager is putting such communication channels in place, it should be emphasized that
the involvement of individual employee and the responsibility they would have for their own
development and the improvement of the company as a whole. (Grice, 7)
Conclusion
The future of Competence Management System is meant to go beyond the conclusion of the
INTEROP project or E-wave technology, thus allowing further Improvements and investigations
for new projects are package to fall into place so as to maximize skills, talent and knowledge in
the organizations.
However, there is often a temptation to take on too much too quickly, to try and cover as many
jobs as possible, but the best way is to launch a pilot-a leading project at the center point. In this
way the organization has a chance to learn and be successful with each of the jobs that form part of
the project. The organization has the opportunity to practice double loop learning; that is they learn
what went well or not, and how long it really took. This learning process is valuable because it is
then possible to plan accurately and allot suitable and adequate resources. The most important
aspect of the learning process is the acceptance of the organization that the transition is not just
desirable but achievable and readily understood. However, if the pilot program was successful then
it will encourage others who may have had their doubts about the efficacy of the project.
“A competent workforce is a safe workforce”

8. Reference
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Springer.
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