Course Title

1. Introduction to Competency Analysis

• Definition of competency and its components including (knowledge — what a person knows, skills — what a person can do, and behavioural attributes — how a person applies knowledge and skills in context)

• The role of competency analysis in organizational performance management including (linking individual capability to strategic objectives, reducing performance gaps, informing succession planning, and supporting regulatory compliance in safety-critical roles)

• Overview of ISO 10015: Quality Management — Guidelines for Competence Management and People Development including (the four-stage competency development cycle — defining competence needs, designing and delivering development solutions, evaluating outcomes, and continual improvement)

• Key frameworks used throughout the course including (the Iceberg Competency Model, Bloom's Taxonomy, Job Task Analysis — JTA, and Training Needs Analysis — TNA)

• Common pitfalls in competency analysis including (confusing activity with competency, relying on self-assessment alone, generic framework application without role specificity, and failing to link analysis findings to measurable development outcomes)

2. Competency Framework Design

• Structure and components of a competency framework including (core organizational competencies applicable to all roles, functional competencies specific to job families, and role-specific technical competencies aligned to position requirements)

• Applying the Iceberg Competency Model (Spencer and Spencer) to framework design including (visible competencies — knowledge and skills — and hidden competencies — social role, self-image, traits, and motives — and their relative impact on performance and development difficulty)

• Defining competency levels and proficiency scales including (awareness, working knowledge, practitioner, and expert level descriptors — and applying consistent scaling across all competencies in the framework)

• Writing measurable competency statements including (using action verbs aligned with Bloom's Taxonomy to describe observable and assessable performance at each proficiency level)

• Competency framework validation methods including (subject matter expert review panels, role incumbent input sessions, line manager validation workshops, and benchmarking against industry competency standards)

• Maintaining and updating competency frameworks including (trigger events for framework review, version control, stakeholder communication on updates, and integration with job descriptions and performance management systems)

3. Job Task Analysis and Role Profiling

• Principles and purpose of Job Task Analysis (JTA) including (identifying the critical tasks performed in a role, determining the knowledge and skill requirements for each task, and establishing the performance standards against which competency is measured)

• JTA data collection methods including (structured task observation, subject matter expert interviews, incumbent focus groups, work instruction and procedure review, and critical incident technique for identifying high-stakes performance requirements)

• Task criticality rating and prioritization including (frequency of task performance, consequence of error, difficulty of task execution, and the combined criticality score used to prioritize competency development focus)

• Translating JTA outputs into role competency profiles including (mapping identified tasks to competency clusters, assigning required proficiency levels per task, and producing a structured role competency matrix)

• Applying Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives to define performance standards including (using cognitive domain levels — Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyze, Evaluate, and Create — to describe the depth of knowledge required for each task)

4. Competency Gap Assessment

• Designing a structured competency gap assessment process including (defining the assessment scope and population, selecting appropriate evidence sources, developing assessment instruments, and establishing inter-rater reliability procedures)

• Competency assessment methods and their application including (structured competency-based interviews — using the STAR technique: Situation, Task, Action, and Result — direct observation checklists, written knowledge tests, portfolio evidence review, and 360-degree multi-source feedback)

• Conducting competency gap analysis including (comparing current proficiency levels against required proficiency levels, calculating gap magnitude by competency, and distinguishing between knowledge gaps, skill gaps, and behavioural attribute gaps)

• Avoiding common assessment bias and error including (halo effect, recency bias, assessor leniency or severity error, and cultural bias in behavioural competency assessment — particularly relevant in multicultural Middle East organizational contexts)

• Documenting gap assessment findings including (individual competency gap profiles, team-level gap summaries, and organizational competency gap reports structured for management decision-making)

5. Individual Development Plans and Training Needs Reports

• Translating competency gap findings into Individual Development Plans (IDPs) including (identifying priority development areas, selecting appropriate development interventions — formal training, coaching, mentoring, on-the-job learning, and self-directed study — and setting SMART development objectives with timelines)

• Development intervention selection criteria including (gap type — knowledge, skill, or behavioural — gap severity, role criticality, time available, budget constraints, and learning preference considerations)

• Writing organizational training needs analysis reports including (executive summary of workforce competency status, priority gap findings by role family, recommended development interventions with resource implications, and proposed success metrics for development program evaluation)

• Prioritizing development investments including (risk-based prioritization of safety-critical and operationally essential competency gaps, return on development investment analysis, and sequencing of interventions across short, medium, and long-term planning horizons)

• Communicating competency analysis findings to stakeholders including (presenting gap data to senior leadership, facilitating IDP discussions with individual employees and their line managers, and managing sensitive findings with professionalism and confidentiality)

6. Quality Assurance and Continuous Improvement in Competency Analysis

• Applying the ISO 10015 quality management principles to the competency analysis process including (defining process inputs and outputs, establishing quality checkpoints, documenting procedures, and maintaining evidence records for audit purposes)

• Evaluating the effectiveness of competency development interventions including (pre- and post-development assessment comparison, on-the-job performance observation follow-up, and stakeholder feedback on development program relevance and quality)

• Continuous improvement of the competency analysis process including (Plan-Do-Check-Act — PDCA application to competency framework and assessment tool refinement, lessons learned integration from completed analysis cycles, and benchmarking against industry best practice)

• Competency analysis documentation and record management including (maintaining assessment records, IDP documentation, training completion evidence, and gap closure verification in compliance with ISO 10015 quality management requirements)

7. Case Studies and Group Discussions

• Analysis of competency analysis successes and failures in Middle East organizational contexts including (safety-critical role competency programs in oil and gas operations, workforce nationalization competency development initiatives, and competency framework implementation challenges in rapidly growing regional organizations) and the importance of proper competency analysis training in ensuring development investments deliver measurable performance improvement

• Group discussion on competency analysis challenges in professional environments including (managing line manager resistance to structured competency assessment, addressing cultural sensitivities around performance gap identification in hierarchical organizational cultures, and maintaining assessment objectivity across multicultural and multilingual workforce populations)

• Applied competency analysis case study workshop including (teams receive a role profile and a set of workforce assessment data, conduct a structured gap analysis, develop priority IDP recommendations for three individual profiles, and produce a concise training needs summary report for a simulated management audience)