Do Competency Frameworks Influence Business Performance? An Empirical Study of the Nigerian Banking Sector

The competency-based management system has grown to become one of the most influential HRM tools of the 21st century. However, there remains limited empirical data addressing the relationship between the adoption of a competency framework and organizational performance. The study reported upon in this paper is based within the Nigerian banking sector. A qualitative methodological approach was adopted, employing interviews with employees of the top ten high street banks in Nigeria. The result of the field data was subsequently analyzed using NVivo in order to achieve the aim of the research. The findings revealed that competency-based management frameworks are being used and that indeed they are a key management tool within the selected Nigerian banks. Importantly, the findings clearly suggest the adopted competency frameworks are having a positive impact on the banks’ performance

An Ontological-based Model for Competences in Sustainable Development Projects: a Case Study for Project’s Commercial Activities

The paper presents a project management competencies model, using an ontological approach. The ontology, named PMCatalog, was developed in the framework of the project CONTO, financed by Romanian through the grant 91-037/2007. PMCatalog is consistent with the competence definition and PM competence elements included in the International Competence Baseline, the competency standard of the International Project Management Association. The main PMCatalog’s use cases for commercial activities in sustainable development projects are described. Ontology was developed using the Protégé editor.competence, project management, sustainable development, commercial activities

The role of numeracy skills in graduate employability

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to explore the role and importance of numeracy skills in graduate recruitment within a diversity of employment sectors. Design/methodology/approach – The results of a mixed-methods study, involving three online surveys (including an employer survey), student focus group sessions and interviews with tutors, are presented. Findings – The results reveal the importance that employers attach to graduates’ numeracy skills and the extent to which employers use numeracy tests in graduate recruitment. They thus highlight the potential for poor numeracy skills to limit any graduate's acquisition of employment, irrespective of their degree subject; especially since numeracy tests are used predominantly in recruitment to the types of jobs commensurate with graduates’ career aspirations and within sectors that attract graduates from across the diversity of academic disciplines, including the arts and humanities. Research limitations/implications – Since participants were self-selecting any conclusions and inferences relate to the samples and may or may not be generalisable to wider target populations. Practical implications – The paper highlights what actions are necessary to enhance undergraduates’ numeracy skills in the context of graduate employability. Social implications – The vulnerability of particular groups of students (e.g. females, those not provided with any opportunities to practise or further develop their numeracy skills whilst in higher education, those with no (or low) pre-university mathematics qualifications, and mature students) is highlighted. Originality/value – The article is timely in view of national policy to extend the graduate employability performance indicators within quality assurance measures for UK higher education

Enrollment, Attendance and Engagement → Achievement: Successful Strategies for Motivating Students - Evidence of Effectiveness from Comparisons of 50 States and 45 Nations

The purpose of the educational enterprise is LEARNING. Engagement is essential to achieving this purpose. How do we increase the proportion of our young people who enroll in and attend school while simultaneously setting high standards and inducing them to become engaged and effective learners? This paper proposes an agenda of reform to achieve these two goals. Each of proposal has a research literature behind it that makes a good case that the policy simultaneously raises the achievement of existing students and encourages them to stay in school or alternatively achieves one of these goals without sacrificing the other. Strategy # 1 says “Do a better job of convincing adolescents that learning and schooling pays off big time.” Strategy # 2 proposes a variety of ways of making secondary schools both more attractive and more effective. Expand the offerings of and access to career-technical education. Stop building large high schools. Create a new set of small high quality schools of choice: KIPP Academies and Career Academies. In Strategy # 3 I propose that end-of-course exams [not minimum competency exams or standards based exams] be the primary mechanism (along with teacher grades) for signaling student achievements to colleges and employers and for holding high schools accountable.High quality end-of-course exams that reliably measure achievement over the entire A to F range would need to be developed. Exam grades would appear on the student’s transcript, be part of the final grade in the course and be factored into college admissions and placement decisions. The exam would be a spur for everyone in the class to try harder, not just those who are struggling to pass the course. This strategy brings the interests of students, parents and teachers into alignment, encourages a pro-learning culture in the classroom and makes it easier for teachers to be rigorous and demanding. Universal curriculum-based external exam systems—as they are called--work remarkably well in Europe, Canada, North Carolina and New York and there is every reason to expect them to be equally successful when implemented in other SREB states

Pathways and Progress: Best Practices to Ensure Fair Compensation

What are the most common barriers to fair compensation, and what are the most effective ways that organizations can overcome them? This cutting-edge report on compensation practices outlines flexible approaches and proven solutions that work for businesses and nonprofits of all sizes. Learn how leading employers have used these approaches to improve their compensation practices and obtain tools that are applicable to any organization.More reports like this one are available on WE's website under Media Center > Publications > Making Workplaces Fairer

Kecenderungan kerjaya sebagai usahawan di kalangan pelajar bumiputera di Politeknik Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah, Kuantan, Pahang

Usahawan memainkan peranan penting dalam pembangunan ekonomi sesebuah negara. Walau bagaimanapun, jika dilihat senario sekarang, masih ramai Bumiputera yang kurang berminat untuk menceburi bidang keusahawanan. Justeru itu, kajian ini bertujuan untuk menyelidik tentang tahap kecenderungan keijaya sebagai usahawan di kaiangan pelajar Bumiputera tahun akhir Diploma Akauntansi Politeknik Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah, Kuantan (POLISAS). Secara khususnya, kajian ini akan menyelidik sejauh mana cita-cita pelajar Bumiputera untuk menjadi seorang usahawan dipengaruhi oleh ciri-ciri peribadi pelajar, faktor keluarga, faktor pengajian, pengalaman keija dan faktor persekitaran. Responden kajian terdiri daripada pelajar Bumiputera POLISAS iaitu seramai 51 orang. Data dikumpul menggunakan soal selidik dan dianalisis dengan menggunakan prosedur Ujian T, Crosstabs dan Korelasi Pearson melalui perisian SPSS (Statistical Package For Social Sciences). Dapatan kajian menunjukkan hanya faktor persekitaran (iaitu faktor pihak yang paling mempengaruhi pelajar untuk berniaga) yang dapat menarik minat pelajar untuk melibatkan diri dalam perniagaan. Faktor-faktor lain didapati kurang memberikan sumbangan dalam menarik minat pelajar untuk cenderung kepada bidang keusahawanan. Oleh itu, beberapa cadangan telah dibuat bagi menangani masalah ini agar kaum Bumiputera tidak jauh ketinggalan berbanding kaum lain dan seterusnya memenuhi hasrat kerajaan dalam merealisasikan matlamat Dasar Ekonomi Baru (DEB) yang masih belum dicapai sepenuhnya hingga ke hari ini

What\u27s Wrong With American Secondary Schools: Can State and Federal Governments Fix it?

[Excerpt] The poor performance of American students is sometimes blamed on the nation\u27s diversity . Many affluent parents apparently believe that their children are doing acceptably by international standards. This is not the case. In Stevenson, Lee and Stigler\u27s (1986) study of 5th grade math achievement, the best of the 20 classrooms sampled in Minneapolis was outstripped by every single classroom studied in Sendai, Japan and by 19 of the 20 classrooms studied in Taipeh, Taiwan. The nation\u27s top high school students rank far behind much less elite samples of students in other countries. In mathematics the gap between Japanese and Finnish high school seniors and their white American counterparts is about twice the size of the two to three grade level equivalent gap between blacks and whites in the US (NAEP 1988b; IAEEA 1987). The learning deficit is pervasive