iwishihad comments on competency assessment

Friday, April 25, 2002:

iwishihad comments about 'Competency Assessment':

As a Consultant Competency Assessor you have been hired to assess an individual for a particular job. Please consider the following and judge for yourself: (NOTE the Company names and the 'Person' are hypothetical and should not be construed as existing)

ASSESSMENT OF MR P SPENCER AS A COMPETENT MICROWAVE RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT ENGINEER

FOREWARD:

The Yuggi Company (Australia) is engaged in improving a microwave device loaned to them by Yuggi (UK). The current device is extremely heavy, difficult to manufacture (only 4 per month can be made from the solid billet used to mill the device from.) and requires extensive heat removal due to its size.

Mr. SPENCER, employed on a yearly renewable contract has applied to renew his contract and Yuggi have requested you, a Competency Assessor, to assess his suitability for re-employment.

THE CANDIDATE:

Mr. Spencer is an unqualified, self-taught engineer who has been working with the engineering research Team for the past five years.

YOUR ASSESSMENT PROCESS WAS:

Define parameters to judge applicant against:

There is no NTIS document defining an assessment benchmark for an ‘Engineer performing microwave research and development’.
The discipline is both specialized and commercially fragile. The ‘experts’ in the field, work for Yuggi competitors so are unavailable.
Academic experts are available but may not have the required ‘state of the art knowledge’ to advise.
UK experts (who developed the device) are available but the cost of transporting one to Australia is prohibitive.
The Yuggi Team will not be objective in formulating the assessment parameters.

YOUR ADOPTED SOLUTION WAS:

Request the UK Company experts to define the parameters.

YUGGI UK DEFINED PARAMETERS FOR THE REQUIRED ENGINEERING FUNCTION:

YOUR BRIEF TO UK COMPANY:

Define the requirements for a person to join the Yuggi Team working on the microwave device.

THEIR RESPONSE:

An Australian / British / USA Citizen, Naturalised.
Cleared to ‘Top Secret’ or prepared to undertake the process.
Qualification in electronic engineering specializing in the microwave field with an extensive mathematical understanding of electromagnetic wave transmission theory.
A Team ‘player’.
Creative.

YOUR ASSESSMENT PROCEDURE:

1.0 Define interview questionnaire based on UK expert parameters supplied forming definitions of units of competency.
2.0 The candidate will be required to: - Orally, or by other methods of communication, answer questions.
3.0 Receive applicant, make at ease and explain procedure including fairness and his appeal process if he requires to action this. Tape record, explain reason for this.
4.0 Commence interview, tape record event.
5.0 Close interview.
6.0 Lexically transcribe taped recording and compare record against defined parameters.

YOUR INTERVIEW WITH CANDIDATE:
(Note: only important assessment parameters documented below)
1.0 Is Candidate Nationality compliant: YES
2.0 Is Candidate cleared to top secret: YES
3.0 Candidate’s Qualifications: SELF-TAUGHT
4.0 Candidates Mathematical Ability: SELF-TAUGHT
NO FORMAL QUALIFICATION KNOWLEDGE OF MICROWAVE COMPLEX MATHEMATICS. SELF-TAUGHT CALCULUS AND OTHER MATHEMATICAL DISCIPLINE CLAIMS.
(COMMENT: Mr Spencer comments that the engineering Team are too wrapped up in theory to see the ‘wood for the trees’)
5.0 Team Player: YES & NO
6.0 Creative: YES.
Candidate reports that he has suggested many ideas in the past that were not adopted by the design Team.
The latest idea is how to reduce the weight of the current device. This idea was rejected by the Design Team as being theoretically impractical. He has observed that when working on the microwave device his chocolate bar in his pocket melted. The Design Team had experienced this happen and had given theoretical reasons for it based on the radiated thermal energy from the active device.

YOUR OBJECTIVE ASSESSMENT:
(Note: As you are non-technical and as an Assessor only an ‘Expert’ on ‘Process’ not ‘Content’ some of the applicants responses were discussed with the design Team, especially the melting of chocolate bars. The design Team said this to be a known problem of working around high power devices that got very hot. This heat tended to melt chocolate bars if placed to close to the device.
This discussion was subsequently made known to the assessed Candidate and the reasons thereto
(As a result of your assessment the Yuggi Company O.H. & S Procedures are being updated to eliminate this apparent problem.)

YOUR CONCLUSION OF COMPLIANCE OF CANDIDATE AGAINST STATED PARAMETERS:
1.0 Assessment was not ‘fair’ as Candidate was the sole Candidate. (Q: Could ‘open advertising’ achieve better results for the Company?)
2.0 Assessed Candidate assessed ‘Compliant’ in all but the following:

No qualification in electronic engineering specializing in the microwave field with an extensive mathematical understanding of electromagnetic wave transmission theory.
‘Self-taught’ claim needs assessment.
Not a Team player. Candidate egotistical and self-opinionated but has been working with the design Team for the past 5 years. (After deliberation assessed YES due to the length of ‘Workplace Proof’ of ‘working in a Team’.)
Although not a specified parameter the Candidate, as well as the Design Team, were not ardent in applying current OH&S requirements.

YOUR CONCLUSION:
Assessed Candidate not competent to undertake the job for the following reasons:

Lack of relevant formal qualifications in extensive mathematical understanding of electromagnetic wave transmission theory.

YOUR RECOMMENDATION:

Assessed Candidate to undertake further training / assessment in mathematics and microwave electromagnetic wave transmission theory. Upon gaining formal certification / assessment, validation to be considered again.

ANALYSIS:
Is this assessment correct?

YES

NOT ASSESSABLE

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