e and that this involvement contributes to bottom line business performance, the empirical evidence provides a different view. They contend that human resource management is not achieving integration with business strategy and that their role in improving business performance has not been clearly demonstrated. Human Resource Competencies Human resource management is undergoing a significant transformation as a result of extensive changes in business functions, the workforce and influences such as globalisation as has previously been identified. These transformations has required that human resource management, like other professional groups, be required to identify and articulate the skills and attributes of their specialist area and demonstrate what it is that they bring to an organisation. Tempe et el (1996, p. 49) describe this as akin to assessing and diagnosing and that human resources as a group have not been involved in this in the past. Their belief is that human resource management needs to develop a new set of skills and competencies to meet the new challenges. Hofrichter and Spencer (1996) view competencies as one of the most authoritative approaches to improve performance. Competencies are defined to include knowledge and skills as well as other behaviours that better-quality performers demonstrate.Numbers of authors have looked at the core competencies of human resource management. In a review of these Tempe et el (1996, p. 51) developed a four-domain model which identified skills generalised to all areas of human resource management, such as knowledge of general business, effective communication, credibility and an ability to have an organisational perspective of issues. They also identified competencies that are unique to different organisational environments such as leadership and consultancy skills. Their studies indicated that only 10 – 35% of HR managers currently have the competencies required today. Som...
