The Competencies Handbook

Citation

Whiddett, S. and Hollyforte, S. (1999), "The Competencies Handbook", Career Development International, Vol. 4 No. 7, pp. 400-402. https://doi.org/10.1108/cdi.1999.4.7.400.5

The Competencies Handbook concentrates on the practical design and use of competencies in all aspects of human‐resource management. It moves on from the theory of competencies and explains how they can be used to help managers to find staff, review performance, organize training and development and determine pay and grading.

The book describes a competency framework as “in some ways similar to the foundations that underpin a house … Get it right, and future activity can concentrate on general housekeeping. Get it wrong,and future activity will be papering over cracks and shoring up structural problems”.

The authors state: “Competencies, often misunderstood, differ from competence in that they are concerned with the behaviour needed to fulfil a task, rather than the outcome. They consider motives,traits, skills and knowledge. A properly‐produced framework can be used as a common language across all departments and levels”.

Translating this into practice, the book includes a sample competency framework to guide human‐resource managers through the process.