Literature Review (Topic may be decided by writer) Research Paper - 1

Literature Review (Topic may be decided by writer) - Research Paper Example This paper tends to identify factors that limit the competency of workforce in an organization and suggests ways in which the competency of workers can be enhanced. The needs of workers, if fully met, can play a fundamental role in improving their competency at work. Competency is a very broad term and has been interpreted by philosophers in different ways. Some people have categorized competency into different types; â€Å"The competences required of an occupation include both conceptual (cognitive, knowledge and understanding) and operational (functional, psycho-motor and applied skill) competences† (Deist and Winterton, 2005). Others have resorted to defining the competency itself without any reference to its types. There is little to no consensus upon a unique definition of competency, and people generally vary in their interpretation of competency. Nonetheless, for the scope of this literature review, one definition of competency needs to be chosen from among a vast major ity of sources. In their book, Stern and Kemp (2004) have referred to competency as a product of three traits, which are an individual’s skill or knowledge, motivation and qualities in the personality. For the scope of this research, this definition will be taken forward and factors affecting workers’ competency will be analyzed with respect to their skill, motivation and personality traits. Workers develop their skill as a result of their years of schooling and training that they receive upon a specific field of their choice, that later becomes their profession. Different students get educated in the same educational setup but vary in their knowledge of the subject. This essentially tells that there are one or more than one factors in addition to the years of schooling and training that play a decisive role in the development of skill in an individual. Such factors include but are not limited to a student’s interest in the studies, conflict between the environm ent of school and that of the home, willingness of the parents to get their child educated, affordability of parents, the extent of time a student can dedicate to studies given the responsibilities towards family, and the psychology of the student. All of these factors and many more mutually shape a student’s level of association with studies. In order to make sure that a company benefits from the services of a highly knowledgeable and skilled workforce, the first step management can take is to be very critical in the selection of employees. This requires great contribution of the human resource department in the organization. The selection procedure needs to be very well developed so that a highly skilled workforce is made part of the organization at the outset. Once the workers have been hired, managers can improve their skill by providing them with on-job education and training. This practice has become common in a vast majority of world class enterprises. Development of t he employees’ skill is considered vital in order to gain competitive advantage over contemporaries in the market. A lot of companies make their employees undergo regular training session on the job. Although it does incur the owners some cost in the start, yet the loss is made up in the long run as workers’ competency in work is enhanced and they are able to perform in a better way. Motivation, like competency is also a very broad term. It can be