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Public Personnel Management

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DOI: I O.I 177/0091026013487124

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The Study of Competency-Based Training andStrategies in the PublicSector: ExperienceFrom Taiwan

Jui-Lan Wu'

AbstractIn the private and public sectors, competency-based training is a popular methodthat focuses on improving employees' knowledge, abilities, skills, and organizationalperformance. Yet, v^orking in complex organizational environments, trainingpractitioners often neglect certain steps and principles. This article examinescompetency-based training and strategies in Taiwan's public sector, from theconcept to the critical success factors in competency-based training. It then suggestssome practices for training practitioners in the public sector.

Keywordscore competency, competency gap, competency-based training

"Competent employees don't remain competent forever. Skills deteriorate and canbecome obsolete. That's why organizations spend billions of dollars each year on for-mal training" (Stephen, 2001, p. 480). The term training, according to The ASTDReference Guide to Workplace Learning and Performance (American Society forTraining & Development, 2000), "is intended to build on individual knowledge, skillsand attitudes to meet present or future work requirements." Competency comprises thespecification of knowledge and skills. The application of knowledge and skills to thestandard of performance requires completing a task.

'Civil Service Protection and Training Conrimission, Taivi/an, Republic of China

Corresponding Author:Jui-Lan Wu, Civil Service Protection and Training Connmission, No. I -3, Shihyuan Rd., Wenshan District,Taipei 11601, Taiwan, Republic of China.Email: juilan_wu@yahoo.com.tw

260 Public Personnel Management 42(2)

In the 1980s, human resource development (HRD) infroduced competency-basedfraining, which was implemented worldwide later. Competency-based fraining aims tonot only improve employees' knowledge, abilities, and skills, but also upgrade theirorganization's performance. In both the private and public sectors, competency-basedfraining is a popular method. However, since fraining often takes place in complexorganizational environments, it is common for fraining practitioners to neglect certainsteps and principles, especially in the public sector.

Purpose and Statennent of the ProblemBased on a literature review and content analysis, this article examines four researchproblems related to competency-based training and strategies in the public sector:

Research Question 1: Why is competency-based fraining important? Why not fra-ditional fraining?

Research Question 2: What are the critical success factors in competency-basedfraining in the public sector?

Research Question 3: What are the sfrategies for competency-based fraining in theTaiwanese public sector?

Research Question 4: How can critical success factors and competency-based frain-ing strategies be linked in the public sector?

The purpose of this article is to provide some practical suggestions for trainingpractitioners in the public sector by examining competency-based fraining and sfrate-gies in Taiwan's public sector. It consists of four sections: The first presents the con-cept and critical success factors of competency-based fraining, the second sectionexamines competency-based fraining and sfrategies in Taiwan's public sector, thethird section demonsfrates the research findings concerning the link between criticalsuccess factors and practice sfrategy, and the last section elaborates research sugges-tions for fraining practitioners in the public sector. Future research is also discussed inthis section.

Method and DataThis article is based on a literature review and the government documents that it usesto analyze competency-based fraining and sfrategies in the public sector. The literatureused in this article was identified through a search of previous related studies.

The data selected from government documents comprise (a) official documents inCenfral Personnel Adminisfration' (CPA) websites, (b) interviews with two practitio-ners in Taiwan's public sector who deal with government training affairs, (c) internalmeeting data provided by meeting participants, and (d) research reports commissionedby the CPA and available in the library.

Wu 261

Literature ReviewThe Concept of Competency-Based TrainingAs the concepts and practices of competency-based training have recently been appliedto HRD policies in the private and public sectors, it is first necessary to understand thedefinition of "competency-based." When searching for the origin of competency,researchers generally cite McClelland's (1973) "Testing for Competence Rather Thanfor Intelligence," an article that appeared in American Psychologist (pp. 423-447).McClelland's concept of competency has been the key driver of the competencymovement and competency-based education. The term competency comprises thespecification of knowledge and skills, and the application ofthat knowledge and skillto the standards of performance required in the workplace (Electrotechnology TrainingPackage [UEE07], 2011). In other words, it is important to know that "competency-based training" not only improves employees' knowledge, abilities, skills, and atti-tudes, but also prepares employees for reaching their organization's goals, and alignstraining and strategies with performance intervention.

To understand the differences between competency-based training and traditionaltraining, this paragraph introduces the definitions of both kinds of training. Trainingdiffers fi-om education and employee development, both of which prepare people forwork and daily life. There are various types of training, including remedial/basicskills, orientation, qualifying, second-chance, cross-training, retraining, and outplace-ment. Training may be unplanned or planned. According to Dubois and Rothwell(2004), when training is unplanned, it is rarely effective, because people cannot learnhow others perform. When training is planned, it probably follows an approach basedon tbe instructional systems design model (ISD). The ISD model, which is a tradi-tional training approach, has several important features in common with competency-based training. There are nine steps in ISDStep 1 : applying the ISD model to analyzethe performance problem, seeking to determine the underlying cause; Step 2: involv-ing only problems that are rooted in a lack of individual knowledge, skills, or attitudes;Step 3: conducting a thorough training needs assessment; Step 4: writing instructionalobjectives; Step 5: deciding whether to make or buy training content to achieve theinstructional objectives; Step 6: deciding how to deliver the training; Step 7: conduct-ing a formative evaluation; Step 8: delivering the training, also known as the imple-mentation phase; and Step 9: conducting a summative evaluation. The ISD model oftraditional training "has been proven to be effective in getting results in improved jobperformance. Unfortunately . . . learners and their supervisors may lack ownership ofthe training offered" (Dubois & Rothwell, 2004, p. 50).

Besides these definitions, the differences between competency-based training andtraditional training are also important to know. According to Naquin and Holton(2003), competency-based training, which is built around the fimdamental principlesof demonstrating capability, usually requires employees to first demonstrate their abil-ity to perform specific tasks. Competency-based training focuses on behaviorallystated and meastxrable objectives. Competencies are gained in multiple ways, such as

262 Public Personnel Management 42(2)

life experience, on-the-job fraining, and fraining and development programs. Duboisand Rothwell (2004) state that competency-based fraining is an "attempt to makefraining a joint venture or place greater responsibility on the learner for taking initia-tives." Yet, fraditional fraining is attentional to work requirements, not to discoverdifferences between exemplary and successful performers. Basically, these frainingapproaches are not mutually exclusive, but they do represent different emphases.Competency-based fraining takes a broader view. This means that competency-basedfraining is more than just to provide knowledge, build skills, or improve attitudes.There are two different emphases: (a) competency-based fraining to guide self-directedfraining and development, emphasizing an individual's duty to accept increasedresponsibility for his or her ovm learning, and (b) competency-based fraining forwork-team development (Dubois & Rothwell, 2004).

Critical Success Factors of Competency-Based TrainingThe development and implementation of competency-based fraining is merely onefacet of ensuring the success of the fraining program. But Hyland's (1994) critique isthat competency-based fraining is a "theoretically and methodologically vacuous sfrat-egy." Also, Collins (1983), in his critical analysis of competency-based fraining as asystem in adult education, argues that competency-based fraining is excessively reduc-tionistic in attempting to explain complex phenomena through discrete standardizedconcepts (Kosbab, 2003). Despite confradictory views on the effectiveness or other-wise of competency-based fraining, it continues to be used as an approach to learning(Smith, 2000). In studying competency-based fraining, five factors have been identi-fied as critical success factors in competency-based fraining processes (Figure 1):

1. aligrunent with the organization's sfrategic goal and plans,2. based on a high performance system,3. competency model development,4. individual competency gap, and5. fraining on the gaptraining package.

Ignoring any of these factors can significantly impair success or produce failtire. Toassess a person's competence, a department needs to demonsfrate the ability to per-form tasks and duties to the standard expectation in employment. Competency-basedfraining focuses on the development of the skills, knowledge, and attitudes required toachieve that competency standard. The competency standard needs to align with theorganization's sfrategic goal and plans, and be based on a high performance system.One of the primary competency-based fraining features is that each learner's achieve-ment is measured to see whether they reach the competency standard. Under thecompetency-based fraining approach, each learner is assessed to find the gap betweenthe skills they need (as described in the fraining package) and the skills they alreadyhave. The difference between the two is called the competency gap. A fraining pro-gram is then developed to help the learner acquire the missing skills and close the gap.

Wu 263

StrategieGoal & Plan

HighPerformance

CompetencyModel

264 Public Personnel Management 42(2)

High level (e.g.-Grade 12) =

Middle level (e.g.-Grade 9)!=

'^

' ^

StrategicOriented

ForesightPlanning

High

Low /

PersonalInteraction

// Middle

Middle /

/

ExecutivePractice

/,' Low

High

OperationOriented

Figure 2. Duty anal/sis for middle- and high-level civil servants.

Setting principles. Although extemal experts provided some suggestions, in prac-tice, the CPA's executive meetings suggested that some principles still needed tobe defined, (a) Competency includes personal attitudes and management skills forachieving the organization's goal, (b) To focus on the importance of competency, theCPA requires that competency should be no more than five to six items, (e) Thereshould be a focus on duty analysis for middle- and high-level civil servants.

Duty analysis for middle- and high-level civil servants. There are 14 grades in Taiwan'scivil service system. Grade 14 (e.g.-Viee Minister) is the highest and Grade 1 is thelowest. At a high duty level (Grade 12, Director General level), civil servants are morestrategic oriented, while at the middle level (Grade 9, Section Chief level), they aremore operation oriented, as shown in Figure 2.

Questionnaire investigaton. All middle- and high-level civil servants and their col-leagues are to investigate the opinions and views on management competency cognition.

Dynamic competency analysis. For reaching the organization's goal, the competencyneeds dynamic adjustment.

Competency Items. The CPA's vision is to maintain an honest, competent, and fairadministrative team, as well as to provide citizens with first-class public service.Based on this vision and the principles set out above. Table 1 summarizes the corecompetency items for high- and middle-level civil servants, as defmed in 2004 andedited in 2009.

Competency Gaps Between the Civil Servant and Competency. Gaps are defined on anorganizational level as well as at an individual performer level. The organizational

Wu

Table 1 . Competency Items for

2004

High- and Middle-Level Civil Servants

2009

in Taiwan.

265

High level (Grades 10-14)

Middle level (Grades 6-9)

1. Modeling vision withcreativity

2. Strategy analysis3. Change and crisis

management4. Team stimulation and

leadership5. Interdepartmental

coordination6. Performance management

1. Customer-orientedservice

2. Knowledge managementand utilization

3. Process and timemanagement

4. Conflict mediation andcommunication

5. Coaching and passing onexperience

6. Goal setting andexecution

1. Foreign-domestic environmentaland situational analysis

2. Goal visualization and strategicthinking

3. Leadership and coordinatedcooperation

4. Risk management and crisismanagement

5. Performance management6. Cultivating legal capability7. Cultivating Humanism quality1. Goal and performance

management2. Knowledge management and

passing on experience3. Innovative service and process

management4. Question tracing and solving

ability5. Expressional ability6. Emotions management7. Cultivating legal capability8. Cultivating humanism quality

level helps to target what is needed across the enterprise to create the right skill sets.The individual level helps each employee develop important skill sets for their currentrole, as well as with career planning, which increases their understanding of wherethey stand and precisely what is needed to serve in other roles. "Competency" helpsorganizations understand and focus on the key factors that actually drive performance.Competency-based frahiing needs to identify the gap between the civil servant andcompetency in the public sector, and then carry out fraining to close that gap.

In Taiwan, there are about 900 agencies in the public sector. For investing needs,the CPA (2004) designed a management core competency scale and online evaluationsystem for high- and middle-level civil servants. This scale enables these agencies toevaluate their employees' competency. All middle- and high-level civil servants, theirsuperintendents, colleagues, and subordinates, take part in the system and then receiveindividual competency evaluation results. The evaluation methods include 360-degreefeedback, focus groups, and assessment centers.

Competency-Based Training and Strategies. Annual fraining needs and plans weredevised, based on the conclusions of the evaluations made at the 900 agencies, andthen the CPA (2009) designed a general management plan as shovra in Table 2. All theworkshops are open to civil servants attending, if their agencies agree.

266

Table 2.

Workshop

2009 General Management

Objectives

Public Personnel Managennent 42(2)

Plan and Competency Related List.

Target audience

Competency related

Workshop Objective Audience

GovernmentServiceInnovation

Service for People

To strengthen the innovativemanagement capacity ofmiddle- and high-level civilservants, help them understandthe real practices involvedin government serviceinnovation, and also find feasibleapplications through casediscussion.

To understand the concept ofserving people sympathetjcall/and the practice of servingpeople with convenienceto improve the quality ofgovernment service.

Executives with juniorrank and Staff withsenior rank in centraland local governmentunder Executive Yuan.

Civil servants whodirectly serve thepublic at central andlocal governmentdepartments underExecutive Yuan.

Project Planningand Management

Policy Planning andPerformanceManagement

Risk and CrisisManagement

Leadership andMotivation

CommunicationandCoordination(executives withjunior rank andstaff with seniorrank)

To understand the processof project planning andmanagement To study howthis should be considered inproject planning and execution.To increase practical training toenhance knowledge and projectmanagement ability.

To understand the meaning ofKPi and the practical concept ofKPI application in performancemanagement to guide theintegration of policy planning,budgeting, evaluation, andperformance. To reach the goalof government effeaiveness.

To understand the theory andapplication of risk and crisismanagement and to enhancethe ability to handle risk andcrises.

To make executives understandtheir key management ability,management style, andcommunication ability. Alsoto motivate subordinatesto improve the efficiency ofadministration.

To strengthen the communicationcapacity of middle- and high-level civil servants and increasetheir ability in coordination andcross-division cooperation.

Civil staff at central andlocal governments.

X X

Civil servantsresponsible for policyplanning, performancemanagement,and budgetingmanagement andrelated work atthe central andlocal governmentdepartments underExecutive Yuan.

Civil staff of juniorrank or higher atthe central and localgovernments.

Executives with juniorrank and Civil staffwith senior rank atthe central and localgovernments underExecutive Yuan.

Executives with juniorrank and Staff withsenior rank at centraland local governmentsunder Executive Yuan.

@

@ @ @

CconDnued)

Wu

Table 2. (continued)

Workshop Objectives Target audience

267

Competency related

Workshop Objective AudienceCommunication

andCoordination(gnerai civiiservants)

Coaching

BenchmarkLearning

Team Buiiding

Time Management

Briefing Skilis

Press ReieaseWrit ing

Bargaining andNegotiationSkilis

Prcbiem Anaiysisand Soiving

To understand the principies andpractice of communication andcoordination, and know theobstacies and solutions to them.

To iearn the concepts andskiiis of coaching and use theappropriate coaching behaviorat the right time.

To understand the meaningof benchmark learning. Toimprove the efficiency ofthe organization's operationthrough sharing experiences ofexcellent organization.

To understand the importanceof team building. To respectthe differences betv^een teammembers, and use the differentroles and contributions ofmembers to create teamperformances.

To understand the principiesof time management andtake advantage of timeresources to set priorities forenhancing vtrork efficiency andeffectiveness.

To understand the basiccomponents of a successfuibriefing. To improve thepresentation of briefing contentand oral skilis for briefing.

To understand the principlesand methods of press reieasev/riting and to improve writingskiiis.

To learn the theory andpractical skiiis of bargainingand negotiation, and createa win-win situation betweengovernment and the generalpublic.

To identify probiems andunderstand the processes andmethods of problem analysis.To study and use all kinds ofstrategies to solve probiems toenhance the abiiity to make theright decisions.

Civil staff at the centraland local governments(executives withjunior rank and civiistaff with senior rankexcluded).

Executives at junior rankat iocal governmentsunder Executive Yuan.

Civil staff at thecentral and localgovernments.

Executives with juniorrank and civii staffwith senior rankat centrai and localgovernments underExecutive Yuan.

Civil staff at thecentral and locaigovernments.

Civil staff at thecentrai and iocalgovernments.

Civil staff at thecentral and iocalgovernments.

Civii servants withjunior rank whoneed to improvetheir bargaining andnegotiation skilis ~at the centrai andiocal governmentdepartments underExecutive Yuan.

Civii staff with juniorrank or higher atthe centrai and iocalgovernments.

@

@

@

@

(continued)

268

Table 2.

Workshop

(continued)

Objectives

Public

Target audience

Personnel Management 42(2)

Competency related

Workshop Objective Audience

Project To understand the process Civil staff at the @ @ >*Management of project management, to central and local

explore issues that should governments.be considered during projectplanning and execution, and touse practical drills to enhanceproject management capability.

File Management For the implementation of File New staff in file x x xof Central Law and related law, to improve and informationGovernment the understanding of file management at central

management and professional government underability through practical learning Executive Yuan.and experience exchange.

Note: KPI = key performance indicate. " @ " means "competency related" and "*

Wu 269

high- and middle-level civil servants. This scale enables about 900 agencies to evalu-ate their employees' competency. Yet, when the CPA interviewed practitioners in thepublic sector, these agencies could not understand the function of the evaluationmethod because the competency concepts and skills were new and difficult. The CPAdid not double cheek whether the agencies had completed the evaluation properly. Inaddition, the CPA did not integrate its checking of the competency gap with assess-ment of individual differences.

Annual Training Plan Without Effective Linkage With CompetencyModel

In the Taiwan govemment, there is a Govemment Employees Training andReorientation Law, which legislates that each agency must set an annual training plan.The CPA deals with annual training for middle- and high-level civil servants. Withoutidentifying individual differences in the competency gap, the CPA annual trainingplan requires all civil servants to attend, regardless of whether they have a gap.Moreover, while the annual training plan has 18 workshops, only 4 of them exactly fitthe competency model and the designs for middle- and high-level civil servants. Someworkshop objectives are not management competencies but general competencies,such as "Briefing Skills" and "Press Release Writing." This means that the annualtraining plan does not consider the association between competency and individualcompetency deficiencies properly.

Research SuggestionsFor Training Practitioners in the Public SectorCompetency-based training is not a fashionable term. However, as shown in this arti-cle, competency-based training is an effective training approach for both the privateand public sectors. Because there are so many govemment employees who need train-ing, it is difficult to manage class design and time schedules to meet every individual'sneeds. With reference to Dubois and Rothwell's (2004) emphasis on "increasedresponsibility for his or her own leaming," here are some suggestions concemingcompetency-based training: (a) understanding what high performance in the publicsector is, (b) identifying the best civil servants and their attitudes, (c) evaluating differ-ent individual training needs, (d) designing training packages for individual gaps,and (e) developing a training roadmap for self-directed leaming.

For Future Research

In fact, human resource management and development in Taiwan's public sector doesemphasize competency setting and competency-based training, and revised compe-tency items were issued in July 2009. But in the implementation period, the CPA isstill meeting obstacles. Suggestions for future research to address these are as follows:(a) conduct research on the obstacles and why these obstacles occur, (b) focus on other

270 Public Personnel Management 42(2)

countries' implementation period, (c) design a fraining package and roadmap that iseffective for those agencies that have too many civil servants to operate the frainingsuccessfully, (d) conduct an experimental study to understand the results aftercompetency-based fraining has been given.

Author's NoteThis paper was presented at The 8th International Conference of the Academy of HumanResource Development (Asia Chapter), Manama, Bahrain, in December 2009.

Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship,and/or publication of this article.

FundingThe author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication ofthis article.

Note1. In 2012, Central Personnel Administration changed its name to "Directorate-General of

Personnel Administration." But its function and work did not change. The Directorate-General of Personnel Administration is still responsible for the training of civil servants.

ReferencesAmerican Society for Training & Development. (2000). The American Society for Training

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Central Persormel Administration. (2004). Core value and core competency in middle and high-level civil servant. Retrieved from dpa.mofgov.tw/public/Datay610101654746.doc

Central Personnel Administration. (2009). General management plan. Retrieved from http://www.hrd.gov.tw/e_content/public/Public02in.aspx?Pid=4

Collins, M. (1983). A critical analysis of competency-based systems in adult education. AdultEducation Quarterly, 33, 174-183.

Dubois, D., & Rothwell, W. (2004). Competency-based or a traditional approach to training?T+D, 58,46-57.

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McClelland, D. C. (1973). Testing for competence rather than for intelligence. AmericanPsychologist, 28, 423-447.

Naquin, S. S., & Holton, E. F. (2003). Redefining state leadership and management develop-ment: A process for competence-based development. Public Personnel Management, 32,23-46.

Smith, P. I. B. (2000). Preparing for flexible delivery in industry: Learners and their work-places. Geelong, Australia: Deakin University.

Stephen, P. R. (2001). Organizational behavior (9th ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Author BiographyJui-Lan Wu, PhD, graduate institute of human resource management of National CentralUniversity, Taiwan, is the director of the Department of Training Assessment, Civil ServiceProtection and Training Commission, R.O.C. (Taiwan).

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