HI shimit,
i read this entire discussion and ur dilemma on understanding what competency mapping is...
i did, rather am doin a project on Identification of Trng needs.. i m doing my mba hr too...
when i started out, i tried different methods to understand what to do.. i read up on a lot of sites, saw the questionnaires, bt none of it made any sense how to go about it practically,because it was all theory..
well what i did understand its a process, it should ideally begin with a job description, that states the KSAs, these are nothing but your competencies, so KSA = Competencies (this is my understanding, since HR uses a lot of jargons)
well its nt easy to decide on technical competencies if ur nt frm d bkground, either it will require a lot of wrk from ur side, or a lot of support n patience frm the managers, usually its the former, but i was lucky coz my managers in d cmpny r vry helpful...
anyway once you get the list of competencies per position per department in your orgn u set out to map it... what do u undrstnd by "mapping"? i see it as a school child whn we used to locate a city on the map of India.. that is mapping..
so nw u have to map the KSA of the employee, ie nthng bt rating him on a scale... u cn hv 2 ratings his proficiency and the other of the importance of the KSA to his job, when u multiply the 2 u get a number that indicates his competency level...
I used the gap betweent the standard and the current to identify whrere he requires trng.. therre are other uses of this method too.
all my reading on various sites help me undrstnd all this...
i think its right.. Seniors who read this post may possibly agree with it, or help me correct it....
Regards,
Divya Naidu