Skills and Competencies in Human Resource Management Essay

Skills and Competencies in Human Resource Management - Essay Example HR departments are not designed to provide corporate therapy or social or health and happiness retreats. HR professionals must create the practices that make employees more competitive, not more comfortable. (1999). Competencies help organisations to focus on the characteristics their employees must possess in order for them to be successful. Competencies also provide a way to measure employee’s performance and to align performance with business strategies. Competency may be grouped as â€Å"the underlying characteristics of skills, knowledge, self-concept, traits and motives.† (Tucker and Cofsky, 1994) But one cannot ignore at the myriad of problems that the HR Managers confront. Among them health related incompetence bear the most serious implications, for part of it lies in the individual affiliation for lifestyle and food habits. Therefore, it gives rise to a question â€Å"Do companies have the right to get involved in peoples’ eating and exercising habits? The obesity epidemic is robbing our youth of their future and our generation of their leisure years in retirement. What can be done about it? Is it a pubic or private matter?† (Smith, 2006) http://www.cfib.ca. From the sphere of being totally a private matter the issue has reached an insurmountable proportion that needs proper mechanism in place to tackle it. It concerns the companies mostly as it is a human resource issue rather than being a result of private individuals’ eating habit. Needless to say all companies are earmarking huge amounts for the health issues of the employees and much of this outl ay are eaten away by obesity related problems. An efficient workforce is the backbone of all companies and efficiency is relied on the health of the employees. If the wrong life style and food habits get the better off the employees, their negative implications are manifold. All concerted efforts at modernization, and