A Framework to Develop Competency Profiles Using Online Collaboration

Abstract

North American businesses and corporations invest heavily in the ongoing training of employees. Unfortunately, that investment rarely yields expected returns. One reason for this shortfall is that organizations frequently develop and implement training with only a superficial grasp of the skills employees need to perform their jobs. The absence of rigorous competency analysis in corporate training environments typically results in reduced training effectiveness and minimal return on effort and investment. This research was based on an overarching research question: How can a competency analysis profile be conducted online, in a way that is cost-effective in both human and financial resources, and provides results of comparable rigour and quality as a competency profile developed face-to-face? The tool created as part of this research is called an OCAN, an acronym for Online Competency ANalysis. Two OCANs were completed over the course of the project. While they took longer than initially planned, each OCAN chart fell within the parameters expected of face-to-face DACUMs, and was achieved at a quarter of the cost. The lessons learned from this research indicate that that the efficiency of the OCAN process can be substantially increased, leading to a form of workplace competency analysis that is effective, relatively inexpensive, and fast. It is hoped that the availability of such a tool will increase its use in workplace training, and lead to better training outcomes.