Agile PLM - The CIO's Guide to Oracle Products and Solutions - page 33

It is clear that the competence-based model has much potential if it is
implemented properly and is generally accepted by all employees within
the company. The development of a competence-based model is necessar-
ily time consuming, and a great deal of attention to detail is a prerequisite
for its success. This requirement alone might be sufficient to railroad its
success. However, there are other weaknesses:
1. The person or persons creating the competence description might
create an inaccurate description. They might not be privy to all of
the requirements of the job or not be familiar enough with the job to
provide an adequate level of detail.
2. The same job titles within different divisions might require different
competence descriptions.
3. Job descriptions do change, leading to the possibility of an out-
of-sync or out-of-date situation with the competence database.
Maintaining a skills-competence database is an expensive and time-
consuming job.
4. It is sometimes difficult to assess and gauge implicit competencies
among employees.
5. Online access to the competence database might enable managers to
raid existing teams for members with desired competencies.
6. Individuals might feel that this information would be a violation of
their privacy and/or limit their potential within the company.
here has been some controversy among researchers about compe-
tence mapping as well. According to Lindgren et al. (2001), descriptions
of competence are fragmentary and atomistic. Competence is usually
categorized beforehand in an ad hoc way with weak connections to both
empirical data and theory. This serves to confirm the model of compe-
tence itself rather than a worker's competence. Finally, regardless of the
number of categories, competence profiles are static, indirect, and gen-
eral descriptions concerning human competence. Competence profiles
do not demonstrate whether a worker actually uses the competence in
accomplishing work, i.e., the competence profiles may not be rooted in
actual work practice.