The concept of competency-based human resources has gone from a new technique to a
common practice in the 35 years since David McClelland (1973) first proposed them as a
critical differentiator of performance. Today, almost every organization with more than
300 people uses some form of competency-based human resource management. Major
consulting companies, such as The Hay Group, Development Dimensions International,
and Personnel Decisions Incorporated and thousands of small consulting firms and
independent consultants have become worldwide practitioners of competency
assessment and development. And yet, the academic and applied research literature
has trailed application. This has resulted in continued skepticism on the part of many
academics and some professionals, and less guidance to practitioners from on-going
research than is helpful. Some of this is due to the observation that many of the
competency validation studies have been done by consultants who have little patience
for the laborious process of documenting and getting the results published.