Exploring high-performers’ required competencies

Competency development and management are widely regarded as vital tools to enhance competitiveness for organizations. A number of studies have suggested a variety of competency models, including a list of required competencies for use by organizations that wish to enrich their employees’ competencies. However, all these required competencies do not necessarily share the same importance. To effectively implement competency development, it is desirable to distinguish the differences of perceived competency levels between high-performers and others. In doing so, a large number of required competencies can be reduced into a compact set that focuses on significant competencies of high-performers. To this end, this paper proposes a method based on the rough set theory to explore high-performers’ required competencies. An empirical study is presented to illustrate the application of the proposed method. Based on our findings, conclusions and implications for management are presented.