Valorizing the Human Capital Within Organizations : A Competency Based Approach

Changes in the business environment and in the nature of work itself require the implementation of integrated and flexible methodologies in competencies’ definition in order to valorize the human capital and achieve organizational targets in a future-oriented perspective. However, extant research suggests that the available approaches to competency definition are more focused on describing past behaviors than on anticipating future requirements. Therefore, this study endeavors to provide a competency-based model that supports the top management in the identification of the competencies employees should posses, highlighting crucial competencies that can translate the strategy and vision of the organization into behaviors, skills, and terms that people can easily understand and implement. The results of our explorative case study led us to identify a set of competencies (digital/analytical/technical/adaptive/combinative/proactive), classified following the Knowledge Skills Attitudes (KSA) model, that collectively lead to a successful definition of future-oriented competencies.