how standards and vqs can benefit your organisation

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

How standards and VQs can benefit your orgamsation

Improving the bottom l i e he CBI publication ‘Quality assessed- the CBI review of NVQs and SVQs’ T quoted L.G.G. Charlesworth Ltd., a

small but already successful polymer engineering company, as achieving the following benefits over two years, primarily from implementing vocational qualifications (VQs):

22% increase in output 9% increase in productivity per person 7% fall in unit costs 45% increase in targeted sales

together with a marked growth in the sense of involvement of the workforce, and a much greater awareness of the importance of issues such as quality and on-time delivery.

This article describes how such benefits can

Many organisations prefer to let the future take care of itself and are unwilling to develop the benefits offered by standards and vocational qualifications for their human resources.

by Colin L. Dunbar

be obtained using standards and vocational qualifications in a creative manner. Some further comments on the CBI report, and benefits achieved by other organisations, are included later.

Introduction to vocational qualifications and standards

The use of standards developed from functional analysis may well be seen, in a few years time, as a quantum leap in human resource development and a significant contri- bution to the more effective use of human resources. This may seem to be a sweeping statement to the manager faced with the complexities of National or Scottish Vocational Qualifications (NVQs or SVQs-themselves derived from functional analysis), but under- lying the hype surrounding them there are

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HUMAN R ESO UR CE DEVELOPMENT

some very solid benefits to be attained by the organisation from the use of pure standards alone, or as vocational qualifications.

First, what are functionally derived standards? A standard is a framework through which to look in detail at an element of a job. When derived from functional analysis the standard represents not what people do in the job, but the outcomes of their activity. Going about something in the right way does not always guarantee a successful outcome, but what ,is important to the organisation is the outcome, not the activity itself.

Most of us have come across very well educated and trained people, even profession- als, who somehow do not manage to use their undoubted knowledge and skills successfully in the working situation. It may be due to lack of ability in the organisation and planning of their own work or, even more likely, it may be due to lack of those qualities of personal effectiveness needed to deal with others inside and outside the workplace. Bridging the gap between skills and knowledge and competent performance is critical to human resource development, and the first stage in accomplishing this is to measure, or at least assess, competence at work.

Vocational qualifications are a very effective way of doing this because they are based on functional analysis, i.e. they look at the outcomes of work performance rather than the activities carried out. Knowledge and skills contribute to, and underpin, the activities but do not necessarily guarantee successful outcomes.

Standards, then, are a framework for looking at the outcomes of work, and vocational qualifications are a development of pure standards designed to provide a process for assessing competence in work.

Use of standards and VQs in organisations In considering the broader aspects of the use

of standards, or vocational qualifications, in human resources development, we will deal with only three of the many areas:

the manager as a human resources developer the annual appraisal process creating a culture of organisational learning.

The manager as 4 human resource developer Managers have clear responsibilig for the

development of the people they manage. They will hopefully use a variety of ways of doing this; internal or external training activities,

personal coaching, graduated job experience etc., hopefully planned and discussed with the subordinate and selected in accordance with recognised needs and required objectives. In real life, the pressure on managers means that the planning and objective setting are skimped, if not omitted completely.

Standards and VQs provide help in this process. They enable assessment of current competence and identification of areas of need. They provide a framework for setting objectives in competence development, the discussion of what competent performance really is, and what is necessary to achieve it. If vocational qualifications are in use, then there is already a statement of what broadly competent performance should be, though an organisation may well decide to aim for a higher level. Where VQs are not in use, performance targets can be established towards which the subordinate can work.

Where a subordinate is working for a VQ the manager and the subordinate agree on what constitutes competent per-

Bridging the gap between skills and knowledge and competent performance is critical to human resource development

formance and what evidence will demonstrate it. The latter develops his or her evidence of competence, using the manager as a mentor as necessary. The process of developing evidence forces the subordinate to think through everything he or she does, and in the case of a professional, to examine critically the intellectual process behind decisions and actions. The subordinate looks at his or her activities in terms of their outcomes and the value to the organisation. This reflection on practice is a strong component of the learning process (Kolb).

The process of being mentor to subordinates has considerable benefits for managers. It provides managers with much greater knowledge of the work being carried out by the subordinate and also enables them, working with the subordinate, to identify and rectify barriers to improved performance in the workplace itself.

The net result of this development activity is that subordinates increase their competence and understanding of their jobs in a self-

ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT JOURNAL OCTOBER 1995 207


The manager who leads a

subordinate in change will

inevitably be developing himself or

herself at the same time

determined manner. However, managers improve their knowledge of the work of the subordinates and the usefulness of the outcomes. Working as mentors actually develops managers themselves, and the workplace itself is often improved as a result.

The annual appraisal process The purpose of appraisal must be to improve

performance and the first requirement is to be able to measure, or at least assess, competence. Standards, or VQs, provide a framework through which to look at present performance in terms of the value of its outcomes. They enable self recognition by the subordinate of areas where improvement is needed and, because of the way standards are designed, provide the subordinate with effective guidance on how to achieve improvement.

Many appraisal processes are fairly subjective and assessment of performance may be influenced by factors other than competence. It is all too easy for the manager to lay the blame for incompetent performance on personality or attitudes. The use of the standards framework allows the accent to be on improving competence in performance, and necessary changes can be seen in terms of jointly understood performance indicators.

The appraisal process can now be turned into an appraisee-driven two-person workshop on how to improve performance in the job. The benefits of this in terns of the understanding and motivation of the subordinate are considerable.

The existence of standards or VQs does not, of itself, bring about these changes. The manager must understand the principles of functionality and the use of standards, and will need to exercise his or her own interpersonal skills in dealing with, and encouraging, the subordinate. However, standards, or VQs, enable the manager to direct and influence the subordinate’s self development activity in an extremely effective manner. Change in any human being rarely occurs in isolation and the manager who leads his or her subordinate in this way will inevitably be developing himself or herself at the same time.

Development of a learning organisation In ‘Future shock’, Alvin Toffler illustrated

the increasing rate at which life is changing and predicted that this would continue to accelerate in the future. The human reaction to change is either to reject it totally, or to attempt

to surmount it. As with human beings, organisations may reject the need to change, or may meet it as a challenge. In the first case the inevitable outcome is eventual failure, but those organisations that can adapt to change are the leaders of the future.

Encouraging employees to acquire VQs demonstrates that people of any age can develop their competence in work to an acceptable level. Creative use of standards or VQs by managers can encourage employees to take responsibility for their development on an ongoing basis. Over a period, employees accept their own ability to make changes in the light of the changing needs of the organisation. A culture of acceptance of change has begun to develop.

The framework provided by standards or VQs can be used to view the effectiveness of the organisation in the current changing business environment, and to identify areas for improvement of technology and personnel. The framework can also be used to assist the prediction of potential future changes needed in the organisation. That same framework enables targets for improvement or development to be set, and mechanisms to be designed for monitoring that improvement or development. The organisation culture accepts change, employees are familiar with and practised in self development, and management can use standards or VQs to monitor and control the development necessary to meet the current and future requirements of the business environment.

The organisation has become a learning organisation, capable of identifying needs for change both reactively and proactively, and possessing the skills and attitudes in management and employees to achieve that change.

The depth of implementation of standards and VQs

Superficial use of standards and particularly VQs will undoubtedly bring some benefits. Competence of employees must improve, even if only by a few percent. Quality of work is likely to be higher and more consistent, and attitudes more positive because of greater understanding of jobs. The result of all this appears in the bottom line-higher profits.

However, if standards and VQs are used in a holistic manner by an organisation, and its management understands their power for development, the benefits are more funda- mental:



increased organisational awareness in management, greater understanding of the degree (or absence) of integration in the organisation’s operations, and greater understanding of the barriers to performance improvement a workforce (both managers and employees) empowered through self development an overall increased competence at work and in the management of work greater control over health and safety and quality aspects of work an ability to identify and rectdy the overlaps and gaps in work methods and work organisation

*an ability to retain production levels with maximum economy of effort and resource expenditure a solid base for effective, continuing organisational and human resource planning and development.

The organisation becomes proactive in responding to the need for change. It develops a culture of acceptance of change, together with the mechanisms for implementing it easily and quickly. It has the ability to plan effectively for the future, and it is likely that management and employees will get greater job satisfaction from working in this manner.

These benefits have to be won, they do not occur simply because an organisation adopts standards or VQs blindly. Like most management techniques, true understanding and commitment by managers and eventually by employees is the first requirement for achieving these benefits, and this represents a significant implementation cost.

Such understanding, and the resultant commitment, can only be attained by wide- spread use of teams and working parties taking part in the development of standards and VQs under the guidance of knowledgeable co- ordinators. These groups are then able to look critically at ways to utilise standards and VQs in the process of managing and developing the organisation and its resources. However, a key factor in this is the perceived commitment, support, and interest of senior management- and this must s t a n at the very top. The greater the involvement of managers at all levels, and even employees themselves, the greater will be their understanding, interest and commitment, and the greater the benefits achieved.

The price for achieving this is not small, but the benefits to the Organisation in financial

ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT JOURNAL

terms could be monumental!

Standards or VQs? A standard is a framework for examining the

functions in an occupation in terms of their outcomes. VQs are only standards modified to provide a specification for a national competence assessment process, to be applied to the work of a defined level of individual in an occupation.

VQs are very effective in bringing the competence of employees up to national standards-and for many organisations this is a significant improvement. There are benefits to the morale of employees through achieving a nationally recognised level of competence, and this may help them to move to other employment of course. They will probably develop a greater understanding of their job and perhaps more job satisfaction. They will also have dispelled the concept that they cannot learn and develop themselves. These are not insignificant benefits to the employee and have useful spin-offs for the organisation.

While the organisation may see the greater mobility of its employees as a disadvantage, it has the added advantage of being able to use the national qualifications itself as an accurate assessment of competence in recruiting new employees. Clearly, if the organisation uses VQs itself, it will know what possession of a VQ really means. The organisation without experience of VQs is unlikely to be able to judge their value so accurately.

An organisation not wishing to implement VQs as such, can certainly introduce standards and use them to improve its human resource development in the ways mentioned earlier in this article. Similarly, an organisation already using VQs will almost certainly develop them for broader use as standards in that manner.

The benefits of taking the VQ approach are mainly that the quality of competence assessment through the VQ system is controlled by an effective internal quality control process, verified by an external awarding body. This means that those managers involved in mentoring and assessing are doing so under careful control and are likely to develop their understanding and commitment more fully.

Where an organisation uses standards alone, this external control does not exist and the quality of the use of the standards is very much in the hands of individual managers. The quality can obviously be controlled through the

OCTOBER 1995

VQs are only standards modified to provide a specification for a national competence assessment process

209


normal chain of command, but in practice the control may not be so effective as through the external verification process of an awarding body.

However, it must be said that the verification process is only concerned with assessment of competence against the industry agreed perception of competent Performance. The use of standards in overall human resource development is much wider, and some organisations may feel that the need for the discipline imposed by external verification is unnecessary.

The CBI review The CBI review was produced in mid 1994

after extensive consultation on VQs. As might be expected with a radically new approach to developing human resources, there are many areas where improvements in the VQ system are needed and some suggestions made in the review have already been implemented. How- ever, even in the present stage of development organisations using them perceive distinct benefits, though not always as measurable as those achieved by L. G. G. Charlesworth. For example:

Vauxhall Motors: Vauxhall is satisfied that the introduction of NVQs has contributed to continuous quality improvements through a more qualified and motivated workforce in the section in which the NVQ has been initially introduced.

-operational staff turnover fell by 23% -increased skills levels, job satisfaction,

team working standards and consistency of depot training

Booker Cash and Cany:

-increased staff flexibility - o v e r 93% of managers and assessors

questioned stated that NVQs were highly relevant to improving standards and training within the depot.

London Fire Brigade: The LFB did not use the NVQs themselves but used functional standards developed internally. The benefits to them were: -the Brigade is not tied to the prescriptive

five level approach adopted by NCVQ -the focus remains on quality training

and competent performance rather than attaining a qualification

-the analysis has provoked a much deeper understanding of organisational functions and stmcture

-the Brigade is not bound to an onerously prescriptive evidence gathering or port- folio building system.

In the period since the review was written the number of qualifications has increased from 565 000 (December 1993) to 649 000 (Novem- ber 1994), a 14% increase in the year.

In conclusion Clearly, the use of standards and VQs is here

to stay. The benefits to be attained are not yet capable of precise definition but are potentially very significant to those organisations prepared to implement them.

There will undoubtedly be many organisations which prefer to let the future take care of itself and will be unwilling to expend the time and resources necessary to develop the benefits to the full. They may not be around to see the benefits attained by those who do invest in the future in this way!

Bibliography MA”. I?: ‘VOs: gettina the best out of

. I I

competence assessment’, Training G Develop- ment, September 1992 to February 1993 JANES, J., and BURGESS, C.: ‘Applying management standards within organisations’, Employment Department, Methods Strategy Unit ‘Guide to the business case framework‘, Employment Department DUNBAR, C. L.: ‘Maximising the potential from vocational aualifications’. Ann. OCC. Hyn., 1994,

_I. . 38, (l), pp.6-102 LLOYD, C., and COOK, A.: ‘Implementing. standards of competence’ (Kogan Pag;, 1993)

- ‘Quality assessed-the CBI review of NVQs and SVQs’ (Confederation of British Industry)

0 IEE: 1995 After an initial career in marketing and sales in the chemical industry with two multinational organisations, Colin Dunbar joined PA Management Consultants as a marketing/production consultant. During his time with them he also became involved in training consultancy and after four years joined the Chemical and Allied Products Industry Training Board as a Senior Training Adviser to large companies. In the last three years of his employment there he became involved in managing and delivering CAPITB training courses and promoting the services of the Board. Since CAPITFi was disbanded in 1981, Colin Dunbar has been back working in human resource development and risk management consultancy, and safety Training. During the last six years his time has been almost exclusively devoted to the development and implement.. tion of vocational qualifications and competence-based standards. This has covered a variety of industry sectors including banking, waste management, libraries and information, engineering, and, for the last three years, occupational health and safety.


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