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THIS NARRATIVE CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING SECTIONS:
Copyright © 1971-2006 by
M. Bryce & Associates
Palm Harbor, Florida, USA
All rights reserved.
The purpose of this paper is to provide guidelines for the assignment of proficiencies to resource skills. Proficiencies and skills are an important consideration in EEM, particularly when preparing an "Organization Analysis." The following IRM resource relationships are used to perform the "Organization Analysis" in Phase 3 of EEM:
INTRODUCTION
Skills and proficiencies are not synonymous, although they
are complementary. A skill is a developed aptitude or ability
for performing a certain task. Proficiency refers to the degree
of knowledge or experience someone or something possesses for
performing the task. There are actually three proficiencies
to consider:
For all three, we suggest using a scale from 1 (low) to 9 (high)
to rate proficiencies.
In many organizations, the establishment of any
proficiency rating is a highly sensitive subject. In this
situation, most people will use an "average" proficiency
rating (5). Unfortunately, this will not help in analyzing
the strengths and weaknesses of the enterprise.
Of the three proficiencies mentioned, the first two are
based on a judgmental evaluation of the resource from a
personnel or equipment point of view. However, the last one,
"Skill Proficiency Code," can be treated less personally.
For skill specific proficiencies, the objective is to
inventory the knowledge and experience available in the
enterprise. To gather this, skills must first be precisely
defined. They can be developed by analyzing the
responsibilities of each function and determining the tools
and techniques that will probably be used to implement it.
For example:
Some customers also identify the phases of the "PRIDE"
methodologies (EEM Phase 1, 2, 3, etc.) as skills to evaluate
the use of resources on "PRIDE" related projects. As an aside,
this also serves as an excellent vehicle for career path
planning.
After the list of skills has been prepared, they should be
developed into a survey for each resource. Although the survey
could be circulated, it is recommended the resources be inter-
viewed individually to clarify intent and responses. Here,
the resource is not asked how well they know a specific skill
(Good or Bad). Instead, they are asked to qualify their
response. For example:
This approach is much less intimidating to employees and
tends to produce honest results. When the survey has been
completed, a "Skills Inventory" can be developed to
show the skills and proficiencies of each resource. Also, an
average resource proficiency rating can be calculated for each
skill which may indicate the need for additional training.
For "Organization Analysis" purposes, when a skill is
attached to a Function, the assigned proficiency should denote
the minimum level required to perform the function. When
compared to the average skill proficiency of resources, it may
be discovered that a function may not be adequately fulfilled.
MACHINE PROFICIENCIES
Determining machine skills can be far less painstaking.
Depending on the equipment, an operator or product manual can
usually describe the capabilities of the equipment.
For computers, some people have found it of value to
inventory such things as languages supported, program utilities,
compilers, and various other attributes about the operating
systems.
REVIEW
Whether human or machine related, skills and proficiencies
will change over time, they will not stagnate. Because of this,
they should be reviewed on a routine basis to keep them up to
date.
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