Hi Mohamed,

For relations between competencies and HRM, you can see:

Brandão, H. P., Borges-Andrade, J. E., Puente-Palacios, K. E., & Laros, J. A (2012). Relationships between learning, context and competency: a multilevel study. BAR. Brazilian Administration Review, 9(1), 1-22. doi. 10.1590/S1807-76922012000100002.

Durand, T. (2000). L’alchimie de la compétence. Revue Française de Gestion, 127 (1), 84-102.

Gilbert, T. (1978). Human competence: engineering worthy performance. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company.

Gonczi, A. (1999). Competency-based learning: a dubious past - an assured future? In: D. Boud & J. Garrick (Orgs.). Understanding learning at work (pp. 180-194). Londres: Routledge.

Heene, A., & Sanchez, R. (1997). Competence based strategic management. Chichester, England: John Wiley& Sons Ltd.

Hertel, G., Konradt, U., & Voss, K. (2006). Competencies for virtual teamwork: development and validation of a web-based selection tool form members of distributed teams. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 15(4), 477-504. doi. 10.1080/13594320600908187.

Ienaga, C. H. (1998). Competence based management. São Paulo: Dextron Consultoria Empresarial.

Levenson, Alec R., Van der Stede, W. A., & Cohen, S. G. (2006). Measuring the relationship between managerial competencies and performance. Journal of Management, 32 (3), 360-380. doi. 10.1177/0149206305280789.

Le Boterf, G. (1999). Competénce et navigation profissionnelle. Paris: Éditions d´Organisation.

McClelland, D. (1973). Testing for competence rather than intelligence. American Psychologist, 28 (1), 01-14.

McLagan, P. A. (1997). Competencies: the next generation. Training & Development, 51 (5), 40-47.

Mulder, M., Lans, T., Verstegen, J., Biemans, H., & Meijer, Y. (2007). Competence development of entrepreneurs in innovative horticulture. Journal of Workplace Learning, 19(1), 32-44. doi. 10.1108/13665620710719330.

Prahalad, C. K., & Hamel, G. (1990). The core competence of the corporation. Harvard Business Review, 68(3), 79-93.

Raub, S. P. (1998). A knowledge-based framework of competence development. In Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Competence-Based Management. Oslo: Norwegian School of Management.

Sanchez, R. (1997). Managing articulated knowledge in competence-based competition. In. R. Sanchez, & A. Heene (Orgs.). Strategic learning and knowledge management. (pp. 163-187). Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons.

Sansone, C. (1986). A question of competence: the effects of competence and task feedback on intrinsic interest. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51 (5), 918-931.

Sparrow, P., & Bognanno, M. (1994). Competency requirement forecasting: issues for international selection and assessment. In C. Mabey, & P. Iles (Orgs.), Managing learning (pp. 57-69). London: Routledge.

Ţuţu, A., & Constantin, T. (2012). Understanding job performance through persistence and job competency. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 33, 612-616.doi. 10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.01.194.

Whiddett, S., & Hollyforde, S. (1999). The competencies handbook. London: Institute of Personnel and Development.

Zarifian, P. (1999). Objectif compétence: pour une nouvelle logique. Paris: Editions Liaisons.

In my doctoral thesis (only portuguese and french) you see the relations between organizational values and practices, organizacional and professional identity on individual performance measured by competencies.

Best regards,

Thiago.

Hi Thiago

Thank you very much for the documents. 

AOA Dear Muhammad Hdhili,

In simple words, people capability refers to people inherent capacity to perform. When these capacitated and capable people are recruited by the organizations, these organizations identify their competence needs and prepare the necessary development plans to improve their capacity to perform and make them competent to work alone. People with higher competence become icons of the organizations and are always in demand. Capable and competent people create healthy work community and exhibit leadership. Capability and competency are inter-related and synergetic. capability is the first requirement and competency is the later. I think this stance will clarify your thought. Please see the following link. Wssalam

http://www.academicjournals.org/journal/AJBM/article-abstract/40DDB9B42182

dear Muhammad,

thank you a lot. I t is clear enough to understand the link between the two concepts.

Thanks to Thiago and Muhammad for their excellent posts!  I agree with both posts but over the years I have become more cynical in that while firms may hire based upon capability and then train/develop hires to improve their competence, the story does not end there.  That is, those employees who are most competent seldom achieve power and/or rewards based upon performance.  This is because firms base reward and power decisions on more political than competence criteria.  Likewise, firms adopt policies that actually discourage or penalize workers from doing the right thing!  For example, a customer service worker who is evaluated on their ability to solve a customer's problem in less than 3 minutes!  Or, in my field, a firm tells a salesperson to sell X dollars of product per week even when the product does not solve a buyer's need!  While HR can recruit highly capable people and develop them into highly competent people it is in fact the manager who must allow these people to act in a way that satisfies the needs of customers at a profit for the firm.  Otherwise firms act in ways seen everyday in Dilbert!  Thank you for allowing me to comment on this area.

Dear Earl,

I agree with your comment. Especially when you say: "That is, those employees who are most competent seldom achieve power and/or rewards based upon performance".

Best regards,

Thiago. 

Dear colleagues,

I always make an analogy to differentiate those two words.

We can gather many people who are 'capable' of playing football, but we have to choose selected few who are 'competent' enough for a football match.

Therefore in quality HRM, we need to develop the competency of all of our staff to improve our levels of competitiveness.

Capability is the product of Knowledge and Skill, while the Competence is the product of Capability and Attitude. Hence the three factors : Knowledge, Skill and Attitude are very important for job performance. HRM's strategic functions are Knowledge management, Skill development and effecting attitudinal changes for excellence in job performance, exploring creativity for innovation and creating competitive advantage for the organization.

Two simple but difficult words,

Capability is something which I can do

Competency is something at which I am BEST

Lets  take an example,

I am capable of singing but I am not competent at singing.

Hope I answered it clearly.

And talking about the role of HRM in the both,

HRM can play a very vital role in this.

Developing capabilities and competency can be through training & Development, employee participation, proper career development initiatives, clear goal setting, mentoring and coaching (a recent concept in Indian organizations). As an HR manager, considering my employees I can select as many approach as suitable for competency and capabilities development.

Take a look on the  Boyatiz approach. Down is the part of the Journal that I recommend you to  consult : Journal of Management Development” Competencies in the 21st century” Guest Editor: Richard E. Boyatzis. Volume 27 Number 1 2008

What is a competency?

A competency is defined as a capability or ability. It is a set of related but different sets of behavior organized around an underlying construct, which we call the “intent”. The behaviors are alternate manifestations of the intent, as appropriate in various situations or times. For example, listening to someone and asking him or her questions are several behaviors. A person can demonstrate these behaviors for multiple reasons or to various intended ends. A person can ask questions and listen to someone to ingratiate him or herself or to appear interested, thereby gaining standing in the other person’s view. Or a person can ask questions and listen to someone because he or she is interested in understanding this other person, his or her priorities, or thoughts in a situation. The latter we would call a deonstration of empathy. The underlying intent is to understand the person. Meanwhile, the former underlying reason for the questions

is to gain standing or impact in the person’s view, elements of what we may call

demonstration of influence. Similarly, the underlying intent of a more subtle

competency like Emotional Self-Awareness is self-insight and self-understanding.

Nice handovers!

Complementing the great perspectives and points of view: Hase, S., & Davis, L. (1999). From competence to capability: the implications for human resource development and management. Graduate College of Management Papers, 163.

This author is attuned with the concept of something that intended to achieve... not assuming an actual perspective but a desired one...

Stephenson (1998) suggest that a capability is a broader concept than a competence...

Stephenson, J. (1998). The concept of capability and its importance in higher education. Capability and quality in higher education. London: Kogan Page, 1–13.

If we think competences as actual state... and capability as an intended one... this could be interpreted as correcting a GAP improving the organization to achieve a to-be according a business strategy creating a context.

Saxena provides a clear definition of the term. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20141123155439-7430899-capabilities-versus-competence-how-are-they-different