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Securing a Competent Workforce! A Comparison of How Tech Companies and Municipalities Work With Competency Management.

Berg, Lisa LU and Paradis, Heidi LU (2020) MGTN59 20201
Department of Business Administration
Abstract
The society has gone from production equipment being the most valued asset in the organizations, to today, having the human asset and their competencies as a valuable and critical contributor to business profit. Competency Management has, therefore, received much attention and been a common Human Resource practice in the past decades. However, it is still an unexplored process in many private and public organizations. Partly because it is complex, and it can be challenging for organizations to establish a framework for how to work with Competency Management. We were, therefore, intrigued to explore how private and public organizations work with Competency Management. Thus, the purpose of this study is to compare how tech companies and... (More)
The society has gone from production equipment being the most valued asset in the organizations, to today, having the human asset and their competencies as a valuable and critical contributor to business profit. Competency Management has, therefore, received much attention and been a common Human Resource practice in the past decades. However, it is still an unexplored process in many private and public organizations. Partly because it is complex, and it can be challenging for organizations to establish a framework for how to work with Competency Management. We were, therefore, intrigued to explore how private and public organizations work with Competency Management. Thus, the purpose of this study is to compare how tech companies and municipalities work with Competency Management.

An abductive and qualitative approach was chosen by conducting 12 virtual and semi-structured interviews with six municipalities and six tech companies. The result of this research shows that Competency Management is a strategic initiative for the majority of the organizations, and it is, therefore, a clear connection between the Competency Management strategy and the organizational strategy. The municipalities and tech companies had a similar purpose with working with Competency Management, but different focuses were identified. The findings show that very few have structured Competency Management processes. However, one of the main findings of this research is that both sectors, regardless of employee size, can establish a Competency Management process and execute it. Further, mainly similarities and a few differences in how the sectors worked with Competency Management was identified. The research also revealed several positive effects of working with Competency Management and that it can create a competitive advantage. (Less)
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author
Berg, Lisa LU and Paradis, Heidi LU
supervisor
organization
course
MGTN59 20201
year
type
H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
subject
keywords
Strategic Human Resource Management, Competency Management, Competency Management Processes, Effects with Competency Management and Competitive Advantage.
language
English
id
9021226
date added to LUP
2020-06-25 10:27:14
date last changed
2020-06-25 10:27:14
@misc{9021226,
  abstract     = {{The society has gone from production equipment being the most valued asset in the organizations, to today, having the human asset and their competencies as a valuable and critical contributor to business profit. Competency Management has, therefore, received much attention and been a common Human Resource practice in the past decades. However, it is still an unexplored process in many private and public organizations. Partly because it is complex, and it can be challenging for organizations to establish a framework for how to work with Competency Management. We were, therefore, intrigued to explore how private and public organizations work with Competency Management. Thus, the purpose of this study is to compare how tech companies and municipalities work with Competency Management. 

An abductive and qualitative approach was chosen by conducting 12 virtual and semi-structured interviews with six municipalities and six tech companies. The result of this research shows that Competency Management is a strategic initiative for the majority of the organizations, and it is, therefore, a clear connection between the Competency Management strategy and the organizational strategy. The municipalities and tech companies had a similar purpose with working with Competency Management, but different focuses were identified. The findings show that very few have structured Competency Management processes. However, one of the main findings of this research is that both sectors, regardless of employee size, can establish a Competency Management process and execute it. Further, mainly similarities and a few differences in how the sectors worked with Competency Management was identified. The research also revealed several positive effects of working with Competency Management and that it can create a competitive advantage.}},
  author       = {{Berg, Lisa and Paradis, Heidi}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Securing a Competent Workforce! A Comparison of How Tech Companies and Municipalities Work With Competency Management.}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}