Competency Analysis: The Bartram Model In The Airline Industry

Introduction
We are aware that an organisation’s most important resource is its people and as the airline industry faces rapidly expanding competition (PwC US, 2014), one way of keeping the competitive advantage reasonably lies in the talent they can acquire and retain (Woods & West, 2010). Psychologist have found that workers differ in productivity and therefore in value (Schmidt & Hunter, 1981). A good assessment and selection process can add a great amount of value to an organisation, or if not done correctly, the differences in value per employee can amass to a loss in billions (Schmidt et al., 1981). In this case, the unstructured interview, a poor selection method, is used. The company also relies on external recruitment services and has difficulties retaining its staff, as there is a high turnover. Long tenure employees are underperforming and

The competency analysis reveals the specification of competencies that need to be demonstrated by the applicant (Woods et al., 2010). Managers are likely to analyse and interpret, organise and execute, enterprise and perform and lead and decide, competencies which are all highly related to overall job performance (OJP) (Bartram, 2002). Following the trend, this suggests that OJP ratings are primarily influenced by task performance, rather than by the contextual competencies, and therefore task-focussed assessment by a competency framework is recommended. However, it is very important that the personnel who conduct the assessment are properly trained, so that a clear link to the competencies is evident and each criterion is assessed more than once. Using a combination of tools is recommended to achieve an accurate assessment: an application form, a SJT and a GMA test are suggested for pre-selection and a competency-based panel interview for the final decision making