© Copyright BANKSETA · BANKSETA – REPORT ON SECTOR SKILLS AUDIT OUTCOMES, ANALYSIS AND...

BANKSETA – REPORT ON SECTOR SKILLS AUDIT

OUTCOMES, ANALYSIS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

© Copyright BANKSETA

REPORT STRUCTURE

1. Executive Summary ....................................................................................................... 3

2. Introduction and background ......................................................................................... 5

3. Objectives and scope of this report ............................................................................... 9

4. Project planning process .............................................................................................. 14

5. Methodologies, tools and procedures .......................................................................... 17

6. Data collection ............................................................................................................. 26

7. Findings and conclusions ............................................................................................. 29

Andersen priorities table ......................................................................................... 31

Statistics on competency validation ........................................................................ 34

Outcomes of competencies where samples were valid .......................................... 38

8. Recommendations ....................................................................................................... 54

9. References ................................................................................................................... 56

Appendices:

Appendix A – Competency Framework

Appendix B – Andersen Process Validation

Appendix C – Sample of Electronic Questionnaire used

Appendix D – Statistics on Responses and Sample Sizes

Appendix E – Job Families and Competency Profiles

Appendix F – Comparison of Competencies Required versus Competence

Appendix G – Detailed Statistical Information on the Audit (as a CD)

Appendix H – Amplixs Survey data (as a CD)




1. Executive SummaryThis report reflects the outcomes of a skills audit conducted across the South African bankingsector in 2005/6. The skills audit was a BANKSETA initiative to determine the level of skills,and possible skills shortages, within the sector. The audit will also assist the Bankers’ Associationin addressing concerns around the availability of skills in the sector and especially the potentialscarcity of skills amongst black employees. Digital Avalanche SA (DASA), was appointed byBANKSETA as the service provider to conducted the audit.

1.1 Participating OrganisationsThe participating organisations from the sector included Nedbank, CitiGroup, SA ReserveBank, FirstRand and Absa. From these participating organisations a research population of 79613 employees were invited to participate in the audit. A response rate of 29% (23 481employees) was achieved.

1.2 Project ApproachThe approach adopted in the audit was to utilise job profiles/job families as the basis ofdetermining the skills profiles for all jobs in the sector. Due to the uneven nature of job profiles,particularly in respect of competencies associated with jobs, a generic competency menu wasformulated. The menu of competencies included functional specialist, functional non-specialistand interactive competencies for both managerial and specialist staff within banking. TheProject Steering Committee made up of representatives from the participating banks,BANKSETA and DASA, conducted a high level validation of the menu.An electronic self-assessment was conducted.

1.3 Project ResultsThe outcome of the survey is as follows:

The findings of the Andersen Wholesale and Retail Banking Research Project (2002)were found to be valid in respect of the process used to conduct the research. Theskills sets identified in the study were also deemed to be valid.

The population sample return of 29% is statistically acceptable at the level of validationof competencies surveyed.

The population sample, when broken down to its constituent job family / job level isdeemed too small to report on skills levels with a 95% degree of certainty in all casesexcept four.

The interpretation of the data from these small samples is further complicated by anapparent anomaly in the findings concerning the levels of competence reported. Thismay have been caused by individual respondents not being fully aware of the need fora specific competence.

Development solutions for all competencies assessed are available within or throughthe participating banks.

1.4 ConclusionsArising from the skills audit a number of conclusions have been drawn:

The process adopted in the audit does suggest that a picture of skills levels within alljobs across the sector can be provided. Future audits should achieve a greater degree




of participation from the sector in keeping with sector imperatives of this nature, so asto provide reliable data, and position the sector for effective HR decision making.

The competency menu utilized in the audit is potentially a valuable tool in creating acommon language of competence for future skills audits.

Refinement of the menu, with its supporting definitions and indicators of degrees ofcompetence is proposed thus enhancing future initiatives of this nature.

Job profiles with their concomitant importance in effective human resourcemanagement should receive serious review in respect of their technical correctnessand application.

The data provided in the survey does point to areas of skills shortages albeit un-validated. Further research supported by suitable sample populations directed bythe detail provided in the audit can yield more certain results in respect of skillsshortages.

Marketing of training and development offered by participating banks may not beachieving the desired levels of awareness within respective banks, resulting inemployees not accessing the development they may require.

Evaluation of the impact of training and development currently offered by banks willincrease confidence as to the effectiveness of these training and developmentinterventions currently available.




2. Introduction

In recent years the banking sector in South Africa has increased its focus on human resource

development in order to meet a series of radical global and regional challenges which have

had an impact on its competitiveness. A key factor in determining current and future

competitiveness is the availability of skills within the sector and it was with this issue in mind

that BANKSETA contracted the services of Digital Avalanche South Africa (DASA) to investigate

this concern. The project was supported by five banking sector participants, who together with

the SETA and the Banks’ expert groups made up the project steering committee.

Figure 1

The purpose of this report is to provide BANKSETA and the participating banks with the results

of an audit of skills across the sector. It also seeks to build on foundational research conducted

by other consultancies, including the Andersen Business Consulting 2002 investigation into

global best practice in the wholesale and retail banking environments, which linked its findings

to training implications. Other pertinent sources include the survey conducted by KPMG (also

2002) to investigate the extent of training provision within the banking sector and the sector

skills plan which identify “critical strategic skills priority areas” and their links to learning content.

In terms of the broader development context, the National Skills Development Strategy (1 April

2005 to 31 March 2010) has as its primary objective the “Prioritising and communicating (of)

critical skills for sustainable growth, development and equity” and this audit can be seen as

part of the banking sectors initiative to ensure that skills development supports national and

sectoral growth, development and equity priorities.

This integrative study provides baseline data to guide training and development strategies

and is designed to assist stakeholders in identifying areas where training needs require further

investigation. The use of a customised generic competency framework as a foundation should

facilitate the clarification of training needs, given that the competency definitions speak fairly

directly to the categories which normally inform training architectures, particularly in the arena

we have defined as ‘interactive’ managerial/leadership competencies.




2.1 Background

This research report builds on a range of previous interventions which have investigated the

issues of capacity and skills in the banking sector. Three reports which generated information

on this topic are dealt with briefly below as background to the current study.

2.1.1 The Andersen Study

In 2002 Andersen Business Consulting researched best practice in the banking sector with

the objective of identifying skills deficiencies associated with these practices. They made a

distinction between primary and secondary skills requirements, based on their investigation of

best practice.

Primary skills were defined as areas where the gap between current practice and best practice

can be narrowed or closed through skills development, directly.

A secondary skills requirement exists where closing the gap between current and best practice

requires other interventions besides training. Training might be required to support the

introduction of best practice but changes could include such options as re-engineering of

processes, introduction of new IT platforms or innovative systems etc. In this instance training

and development supports systems change. This reflects current thinking on competency

frameworks which takes a contextual approach with emphasis on management of the working

environment, as well as people and competencies. These interventions generally require the

development of additional skills and management competencies. This issue is covered in

more detail in the report and recommendations, but needs to be emphasised as it has a

profound impact on addressing any imbalances effectively.

The Andersen report generated a broad profile of skills development requirements, covering

both categories described above, but it lacked specificity about the actual competencies which

needed to be developed. As one can see from the table on the following page, which summarises

the findings, leadership and management are used as an umbrella to account for a myriad of

competencies and this level of generality proved to be short of specific information about

training needs. The Digital Avalanche study has used a set of competency menus to sharpen

the focus and provide a more detailed assessment of the skills.




1.0 Understand markets and customers

Continuously measure customer satisfaction with existing products and services s

2.0 Understand markets and customers

Maintain a clear division between revenue generating activity and operationalsupport activities s

Centralise banking processing functions sOutsource business function support services that have limited opportunities forproductivity gains s

3.0 Design products & services

Continuously innovate new products p

Re-engineer customer facing operations s

4.0 Market & sell

Leverage technology to develop new distribution channels s

Maximise cross selling of banking products to customers p

8.0 Develop & manage human resources

Establish a flexible work force scalable to international business cycles pLeverage scale in order to implement comprehensive staff training programmedrawing on organisational wide knowledge base s

Empower staff to identify opportunities and act as entrepreneurs p

Provide staff with exposure to the global financial marketplace s

Develop a strong proficiency within the organisation to perform credit assessment p

Fast track assimilation into the organisational culture of a diverse employee base p

10.0 Manage financial and physical resources

Automate and integrate banking processes s

Utilise a centralised banking payment system s

Centralise non-customer facing processes s

Centralise risk management sContinuously update existing operational risk control systems to manage newproducts and channels s

12.0 Manage external relationships

Encourage the development and support of industry bodies to ensure that anenvironment of continuous professional development exists within the industry s

Info

rmatio

n tech

no

log

y

Back o

ffice & su

pp

ort

Fin

ancial

Sp

ecialist finan

cial

En

d-to

-end

pro

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Kn

ow

ledg

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ankin

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Pro

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no

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Cu

stom

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Man

agem

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Lead

ership

Prim

ary/Seco

nd

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Skills Development Requirement

BEST PRACTICES IDENTIFIED

Table 1. The Andersen Report’s summary of training needs1.

1Andersen Business Consulting: Wholesale and Retail Banking Research Project Page 8 March 2002

Table 1




2.1.2 The KPMG Study

A further source of comparative data can be found in a survey conducted by KPMG in August

2002 to identify the extent of training provision in the banking sector. They found that skills

needing training and development included:

Micro finance;

Bank specific customer interface training;

Back office processes and support; and

End-to-end processing skills.

2.1.3 The BANKSETA 2005/2010 Sector Skills Plan

Through its 2005/2010 sector skills plan compilation BANKSETA has identified its critical

strategic skills priority areas for 2006/20072. These are skill areas, which need to be addressed

through training and development

They are summarised in Table 2 below:

Critical Strategic Skills

Priority Areas Typical examples of learning content

Customer Interface Related Call centre training, client care, account management, com-

Skills Development munication skills, problem solving, telephone etiquette, etc.

Information and Technology Software package training, network engineering and IT support

Related Skills Development services training, hardware training, Internet based solutions

training, electronic banking, etc.

Legislation Implementation Compliance training, Skills Development Facilitator Training,

Skills Exchange Control Regulatory Compliance training, Money

Laundering training, Financial Advisory Intermediary Services

training, etc.

Management and Leadership Supervisory training, MBA, teamwork skills training, strategic

Skills Development leadership, diversity management training, etc.

Specialist Financial Skills Risk management, Accounting, Financial management, credit

Development control etc.

Source: www.bankseta.org.za

As can be seen from these studies, specialist functional skills are clearly identified (e.g. know-

ledge of end-to-end processing) but managerial competencies are very broadly defined. This

survey seeks to provide more information on the competencies which are in short supply as

well as on the job families which require these skills.

2 Quoted in the Executive Summary of the BANKSETA Sector Skills Plan 2003 page 5.

Table 2




3. The Objectives and Scope of this Report

The envisaged scope of this skills audit was to obtain relevant information from a representative

sample of employees across the banking sector. Ideally, the tools developed (in particular the

competency menus)3 should be refined and used repeatedly over a ten year lifespan to track

capability and enable the sector to build a clear picture of evolving needs and broader trends,

thereby assisting the sector to focus its development more effectively.

Included in the scope was a validation of the needs identified by the Andersen report and their

inclusion into the competency framework, as well as the investigation of needs arising out of

new legislation governing national skills development and qualifications.

Initially the SOC codes were seen as an adequate framework for assessing needs but given

their level of generality, a more detailed approach was adopted to provide better information.

As a result the evidence has been presented as it pertains to the various levels of ‘job families’

since this will provide more detailed information about development needs. Future requirements

of the technologies used in this audit will need to keep abreast of new developments in best

practice and channel these into the competency menus.

Working in conjunction with the expert committees which had been identified, co-ordinated

and mustered for this purpose by BANKSETA, DASA guided and facilitated the validation of

skills identified as critical in the 2002 Andersen Report, as well as identifying and validating

any possible new priority areas. These included skills requirements that have arisen as a

result of the current legislation governing national skills development and qualifications as

well as the related reporting requirements and the issues required for the Sector Charter.

Other skills requirements that have emerged since the original report as the result of

technological developments, new product areas or changing circumstances within the industry

or the broader economic context were also included.

As mentioned, the work entailed conducting a skills gap analysis for all Job Families within the

banking sector. Recommendations for addressing the findings of the skills audit were a part of

the original brief and are included after the statistical analysis of the audit. An outline of the job

families is included as Appendix D.

3.1 Project objectives

Digital Avalanche SA has been retained to assist the BANKSETA to conduct research into

skills availability and distribution in the banking sector and to clarify what skills might need to

be developed in order to build competitive capabilities across the sector. The project required

that Digital Avalanche SA conduct the following activities in order to achieve the terminal

objective described above.

Collect a comprehensive set of role profiles/job descriptions which would be used to

capture information on the competencies/skill requirements associated with the effective

performance in each of the roles/jobs;

Develop an integrated set of customised generic competency menus, which together

cover the range of knowledge and skills required to be effective in any particular role/job.

3 The full Competency Menu with definitions and descriptors is contained in Appendix A




These would be used to enrich job profiles where competency information is missing or

sparse and to create the survey instrument.

Use the customised competency menu to ensure comprehensiveness, where collected

profiles lacked clear descriptions of the competencies required to discharge the role

outputs effectively, and to validate the competency enriched profiles by referring them

back to the incumbents to be checked for accuracy and signed off.

Design and administer an electronic survey to capture employee self-assessments of

their own current competency levels, using the competency menu.

Analyse the patterns emerging across the sector in order to generate a detailed picture

of competencies, which could be reported on in the context of job families and/or individual

job profiles.

In pursuing the objectives outlined above, care was taken to accommodate best practice

considerations by incorporating the competencies identified by previous research into the

customised menu. An example of this would be the incorporation of training needs arising out

of the move to end-to-end processing which was identified by Andersen as a best practice

with development implications.

3.2 Roles and responsibilities of the participants

Summing up the participation of the various stakeholders in the process, the role players

could be classified in a number of ways, but broadly categorised they can be defined as:

the banking sector itself;

BANKSETA (including the skills audit project steering committee);

Digital Avalanche SA, as the appointed service providers; and,

the sectoral organisations participating in the project.

It should be noted that while this document refers to the specific roles of the various

organisations and individuals involved in implementing the project as the main stakeholders,

there are numerous other stakeholders and people who were not directly involved in the

implementation process, but whose support was important in making the audit project

successful. These would include employees at the constituent sites, internal learning and

development practitioners, and those trade unions and representative staff organisations which

supported the process.

3.2.1 Role of the Banking Sector

The Banking Sector through its constituent bodies and organisations had a largely strategic

and promotional role in supporting the skills audit within the industry.

While many of the practical, day-to-day sectoral issues were handled by BANKSETA as

project manager, the perceived attitude of the industry’s leaders towards the sectors skills

audit was important and this is one of the factors accounting for the wide variance in the

response to the process. Where top management enthusiastically supported the process the

results were excellent. Where it did not the results were poor.




3.2.2 Role of BANKSETA

BANKSETA was responsible for ensuring that the participating sites received adequate support

and appropriate resources to pursue the audit. Naturally each participating audit site had to

assume responsibility for its own successful execution of the skills audit, within the context.

The main role of the SETA as project owner of the sector skills audit was to:involve stakeholders and promote clarification, ownership and execution of stakeholderroles; and,assist DASA with the implementation of the skills audit within the sector.

This involved acting in a project management capacity for the implementation of the auditprocess across the sector. The responsibilities of the Seta included, but were not limited to,the following activities:

providing leadership and direction for the overall delivery of high quality service duringimplementation to maximize the number of organisations participating in the audit;

working with employers to gain their commitment to the process and to support theirmovement towards completion of the audit; and,

working to influence all role-players at organisation level to accommodate and assist

in the project.

3.2.3 Role of the BANKSETA Skills Audit Steering Committee

The BANKSETA Skills Audit Steering Committee consisted of representatives from each of

the five participating banks, and was chaired by the SETA General Secretary. The Steering

Committee assumed the following responsibilities:

acting as a representative for sector interests in respect of the skills audit, by seeking

to ensure that BANKSETA’s understanding of sector needs was clear and consolidated,

and was founded on the basis of individual bank representations made in the project

management process;

facilitate the entry of DASA into the respective banks of each participating organisation

so as to support the effective execution of the audit;

undertake responsibility for the establishment of the requisite project team and expert

panel’s availability within their respective organisations so as to facilitate the effective

execution of the skills audit; and,

review, evaluate and ratify findings and proposed recommendations emerging from

the Sector skills audit.

3.2.4 Roles of the Participating Individual Banks’ Expert Panels

It was originally envisaged that the participating banks would establish a skills audit project

team to ensure the effective execution of the audit within their own organisation, with

representation of members from HR and the IT as the successful completion of the project

was dependent on both accurate human resource information and electronic delivery of the

bulk of the audit. Working within the Project’s timelines, the project team was responsible for

the establishment of an expert panel to assist in the work study exercise. Within the participating

banks an expert panel is deemed the most effective process for ensuring accurate personnel

data, and in the event, the expert panels assumed the project management role as well, which




helped to streamline the management of the process, but in some cases may inadvertently

have given the project an “HR specialist” flavour and inhibited wider management participation.

In addition to the project management aspects, the key role of the expert panel was to

ensure the integrity of the work-study exercise. Expert panel members were responsible for:

The provision of current job profiles for all jobs within their organisation in preparation

for the audit. The content of the profiles in respect of future skills requirements within

the roles.

Alerting the Project to current initiatives within the organisation having a bearing on

the roll out of the skills audit tool within their domains.

Alerting the Project to any obstacles that arose and had an impact on the execution

of the audit, and,

Working with the timelines set by the Project Steering Committee.

3.2.5 Role of Digital Avalanche South AfricaDASA was the responsible service provider for the execution of the skills audit. Working with

BANKSETA and through the Project Steering Committee, DASA’s responsibilities included,

but were not necessarily limited to, the following:

Reporting to the Project Steering Committee on all project related matters.

Providing project management as outlined in the Project proposal and adjusting the

process as circumstances changed.

Conducting the validation of the findings of the original BANKSETA Wholesale and

Retail Banking Research Project (the Andersen Report).

Executing the skills audit across all participating banks, with their assistance.

Communicating on aspects of the Project as determined by the Project Steering

Committee;

Providing a link between the BANKSETA Project Steering Committee and the sector;

Develop a Project Report including recommendations for the banking sector; and,

Facilitating the handing over to BANKSETA all project related tools and technology so

as to ensure the SETA’s continued use of the audit.

3.2.5 Communications The communications process adopted for the Project included:

weekly Project updates with the BANKSETA Project Manager;

monthly Project Steering Committee meetings for the duration of the Project; and,

ongoing communication with participating banks, and their respective expert panels.

3.3 Overview of risk factors identified in project implementationIn preparing for the project, a number of risk factors were identified as possible hinderances to

effective implementation, and preventive or supporting measures were suggested as outlined

in Table 3 on the following page.




Problem definition Preventive action/supportive measures

Low number of surveys returned Involve steering committee in increasing number

of returns

Use response monitoring facility to determine

returns and feedback to participating banks

Send reminders and inform relevant management

around outstanding respondents

Participants do not have access Send out hard-copy to relevant employees and

to computer capture in system afterwards

Time frames unrealistic Set realistic time frames in the project imple-

mentation plan and monitor deadlines with the

steering committee

Respondents have varying Support the skills audit tool with suitable defini-

interpretation of audit criteria tions and background information accessible

to all respondents

Skills audit survey cannot be Steering committee member to ensure that the

conducted on schedule due to survey is ‘announced’ timeously and can be

survey priorities of banks implemented according to schedule

Absence of documented job Development of a bank of generic competencies

profiles in banks and templates to facilitate the development

of job profiles

Delays in establishment of expert Internal prioritization by steering committee

panels members

Focus on established expert panels in initial

phases of project

Sector report may be delayed due Steering committee to apply internal pressure

to individual banks not meeting to meet deadlines

deadlines BANKSETA to continue without input of all

participating banks (worst case scenario)

IT-departments of participating Detailed explanation/presentation on the function-

banks do not allow use of ality of AMPLIXS and the implications for the IT

electronic tool due to security infrastructure during initial phases of the project

measures

Table 3




4. Project planning processThe project was planned and implemented in three phases and the process generally followed

the original project plan fairly closely. The one exception was the issue of job profiles, where

the wide disparity in approaches used by the various participanting organisations, required

the development of a generic competency framework in order to achieve a suitably consistent

approach.

The aim of this framework, which was assembled and validated with the assistance of the

banks, was to ensure a survey-wide understanding of exactly what was meant by each of the

competencies. It was felt that this was essential if the audit was to have real validity, even if it

did delay the implementation of the process somewhat. The full rationale for the competency

framework and the details of the individual competencies with their indicators are dealt with in

more detail in section 5 below and in Appendix A.

4.1 Phase 1: Guide and facilitate validation and possible adjustment of the skillsidentified as critical

During this phase the deliverables and related activities shown in Figure 2 were implemented:

Figure 2

The following input was obtained from the participating banks during this phase:

Project planning included:

The details of all the expert panel and project team members

Overview of the general project implementation constraints envisaged

Identification of the specific communication and planning requirements with the expert

panel and the project teams

Overview of reporting requirements clarified

Bank infrastructure and IT-accessibility:




Total number of employees per job profile and geographical distribution

Access to e-mail i.e. number of employees with personal e-mail addresses

Expert panel Role:

An overview of all available current job profiles and a gap analysis to determine the

development requirements

Allocation of individual job profiles to sector SOC codes

Validation of general competencies and allocation to job profiles

Validation of job profiles for skills audit purposes

This phase was scheduled for completion by May 20th, 2005.

4.2 Phase 2: Development of a skills audit toolDuring this phase the deliverables and related activities illustrated in Figure 3 were implemented:

Figure 3

The following input was required from the participating banks during this phase:

Project planning:

Details on all respondents including benchmarking criteria in an electronic format

Consultation on and confirmation of the suggested survey distribution

Assistance in survey pilot to eliminate any IT-system restraints

Identification of respondents who needed to receive a hard-copy format survey

This phase was completed on July 08th, 2005, as scheduled

4.3 Phase 3: Analysing sector skills gap and formulation of recommendationsDuring this phase the deliverables and related activities in Figure 4 were implemented:

The following input was provided by the participating banks during this phase:

Project planning:

Follow-up on outstanding surveys

Collection and return of manual surveys

This phase was completed by April 3rd, 2006.




Figure 4

4.4 Activities of the steering committeeThe list (Table 4) provides an overview of the detailed activities involving the individual steering

committee members and/or expert panels in the periods between steering committee meetings:

Number Activity Responsible

1 Distribute project brief to all steering committee members DASA

2 Set-up meetings with SCM of selected banks BANKSETA

3 Preparation of information requirements as indicated in SCM

section 4:

Total number of employees per job profile and their

geographical distribution·

Access to e-mail i.e. number of employees with

personal e-mail address·

Overview of all available job profiles and a gap analysis

to determine development requirements

4 Meetings with SCM of all participating banks discussing DASA/

detailed approach BANKSETA

5 Distribution of project brief to internal stakeholders SCM

6 Establishment of Expert Panels within banks SCM

7 Schedule (and conduct if possible) project briefs with

Expert Panels SCM/DASA

8 Project Steering Committee Meeting including presentation

of detailed project plan ALL

Abbreviations:DASA – Digital Avalanche SA; SCM – Steering Committee Members

Table 4




5. Project Methodologies and Tools

5.1 Role/Job Profiles

The approach initially adopted by DASA for the identification of appropriate knowledge and skills

areas relevant to jobs in the sector was to draw on the knowledge and skills profiles identified

within job profiles for all current jobs or positions found in each of the participating banks.

However, the approach to job profiling across the banking sector emerged as varied and

uneven. The extent of the variation was such that some job profiles offered very few details in

respect of the knowledge and skills required for effective performance in the particular job, while

others included well populated profiles reflecting detailed requisite knowledge and skills for each

job described. In other instances the existing job profiles were being updated as a result of them

becoming out of date.

The primary task of DASA was to provide BANKSETA with a skills profile that was grounded

in relevant and complete information in respect of most, if not all, knowledge and skills

requirements for all jobs across the sector. However, the prevailing job profile situation in the

sector was such that providing a skills profile for the sector to BANKSETA that has integrity was

not easily possible, given the time available.

To overcome the circumstances described above, it was deemed appropriate by the project

Steering Committee to formulate a competency menu with supporting definitions that are

generic to jobs at all operational/strategic levels across the sector. The menu has been used

for the population of job profiles/job families/skills profiles, thus offering the sector a basis for

consistent skills auditing. The skills audit project plan provided for the establishment of expert

panels within each participating bank. The role of the expert panels included the endorsement

of the competency menu and its supporting definitions; and, once DASA had drawn up the skills

profiles for each role, these profiles were validated by the respective participating banks’ expert

panels prior to embarking on the audit.

Ideally, current role profiles should exist for all roles in banks across the sector and this

was the envisaged state of affairs when the project was planned. As a result of deficiencies in

this domain, the process evolved to a point where participating banks could choose to collect

their data, using individual role profiles, or do so using job families. SOC codes were

investigated in this respect but were deemed to provide too little specificity vis-a-vis possible

training needs. In reporting back to the sector as a whole, the data collected using role profiles

has been organised into job families, but is still available on the data base in its original format,

should the banks involved need to access it and draw more detailed conclusions.




Our objective is to use a competency menu, listing the competencies that are important for thesuccessful delivery of the entire range of jobs across the banking sector, in order to assessthe availability of requisite knowledge and skills and to provide a foundation for determiningdevelopment needs. The menu of competencies is a dynamic, changing compendium whichreflects “what it takes to be effective across the sector and in this instance we have focused onthe types of competency indicated in the table on the following page:

In the absence of a comprehensively validated competency framework for the banking industry

it was decided to customise a set of generic menus which covered the following four domains

of knowledge and skill:

Functional specialist competencies;

Functional non-specialist competencies;

Interactive competencies (managerial); and

Interactive competencies (non-managerial).

The competencies are described in such a way as to capture the following information:

5.2 The Competency Menu

For the purpose of this audit the following definition of competency has been adopted: “a job

competency is an underlying characteristic vested in a person which results in effective and/or

superior performance in a job. It may be a trait, skill, motive, aspect of one’s self image or

social role, or a body of knowledge which he or she uses” (Saville and Holdsworth after Boyatzis).

Competencies provide a “golden thread” running through HR practices and as the Hay Model

(Figure 5) demonstrates, they are able to link these practices through the foundations they

provide.

Figure 5




a definition of the competency;

the organisational level at which the competency is required and how this influences

its character; and

Functional competencies, whether specialist or non-specialist are described using the same

format which focuses on knowledge and skills domains, whereas the interactive competencies

are underpinned by behaviourally anchored scales.

Figure 6

Main Competency Groupings

Competency Menu Overview

Values

Determined bythe organisation

Functional non-specialistcompetencies

Areas such as finance,marketing, HR etc. in whichpeople are required to have acertain level of non-specialistknowledge in order to workwith or manage thesedisciplines.

Personalcompetencies

Functional specialistcompetencies

Specific to the technical natureof a particular type of work

Interactive competencies

Skills relating to people andsystemsNote: Definitions are provided formanagerial and individual contri-butor roles.

Organisationspecific

Organisationnon-specific

Cognitivebased

Personalitybased

Not part of this project.




5.2.1 The Main Categories of the MenuThe competency menu consists of key categories of knowledge and skills required to give

effect to the ability to perform in the workplace. A tight definition of competence is necessary at

this stage, as the language of competence is often confused. The following definition is

proposed: Competence is the psychologically verifiable discreet constituents of individual human

competence. This definition recognizes distinction in competence such as organisational

competence and other factors such as attitude. Competencies are about “can he/she perform”

while attitudes are about “will he/she perform”. Technology and work design are also about

“can he/she perform”, but these factors are not resident in the individual and are not psycho-

logically verifiable for that reason. Because of the practical implications of the requirement of

psychological verification, competencies are also defined as factors consistently and

differentially related to performance across representative samples.

Definitions and indicators of competence support the competence menu with its various

categories of competence. It must be noted that these definitions and indicators are defined at

a threshold level of competence. Threshold competencies are defined as those required by

anyone at a minimum level in a particular job and are distinguished from differentiating

competencies, which distinguish the best performers from those possessing only requisite,

threshold levels of competence.

Whereas it is appropriate at organisational level to optimize differentiating competence, at a

sectoral level the concern obviously must be with the more generic threshold competencies.

The menu includes a category of personal competence. This category accounts for the cognitive-

based and personality-based competencies. These personal competencies are typically

considered to be those competencies which are not generally thought to be capable of

acquisition and enhancement using conventional training and education methodology, but

whose presence or absence are associated with greater or lesser amenability to conventional

training and education methodology in relation to other competencies.

Acknowledgement of this category of competence must be made in view of the crucial

importance that personal competencies play in competitive advantage at the recruitment stage.

The personal competencies category of the menu was not covered in the audit. The focus of

the menu will be on the remaining categories of the menu.

APPENDIX A provides an overview of the competency menu.

5.2.2 Values

Organisation values are those important principles that guide behaviour and culture within the

organisation. These values are a point of competitive advantage, and, as such, are not part of

the competency menu. The skills audit did not address this component of the menu.

5.2.3 Functional Specialist competencies

Functional specialist competencies refer to the competencies of specialist knowledge and

skills relating to a particular work function. These competencies are considered to be threshold

competencies relating to the technical and functional work required by the organisation and its

business. The functional specialist competence category is underpinned by two broad sub-




classifications, namely organisation specific functional competence and organisation non-

specific functional competence.

Organisation specific functional competencies refer to the knowledge and skills required to

support the organisation’s unique products, systems and procedures. In order to be effective

in these unique aspects of its business, the organisation will need to concern itself with the

task of developing the necessary knowledge and skills required. This component of the

competency menu was not addressed in the skills audit.

Organisation non-specific functional competence refers to those generic competencies that

inform specialist knowledge and skills relating to a particular work function. In developing a

menu specific to the business of banking, generic functional competency areas have been

included in the menu that was used.

In 2002, BANKSETA commissioned Andersen Consulting to conduct a research project

addressing banking best practice comparing South African banking practice with international

practice. A resultant finding of the research project was the identification of certain generic

functional competencies relevant to best practice banking. In formulating the competency

menu, inclusion of these competencies has informed the population of the menu. A key

deliverable of the sector skills audit is the validation of the findings of the Wholesale and

Retail Banking Research Project conducted by Andersen and reported on in March 2003.

The objectives of the research project were the following:

Determine best practice utilized in wholesale and retail banking by competitive international

banking institutions and evaluate these practices in terms of how skills development and

training can be utilized to enable them; and

Benchmark these international best practices against the current practices prevailing in

the local banking sector and determine what skills training and knowledge management

is required to enable the South African banking and related sectors to implement the

necessary best practice.

The research identified a number of project results. Pertinent to the current sector skills audit

was the identification of skills analysis and best banking practice. More specifically, the

implication that best practice has on future skills development. In categorizing the findings

into two areas, namely primary skills requirements (gaps between best practice and extant

practice that can be narrowed by skills development) and secondary skills requirements (gaps

between best practice and extant practice that cannot be addressed directly through skills

development).

The skills components of these categories were identified and clustered into ten high-level

skills development categories. These ten high-level categories were used to inform the generic

functional specialist competencies within banking.

5.2.2 Functional Non-specialist Competence

Functional non-specialist competence refers to the knowledge and skills required to understand

those other functions of an organisation in which staff themselves are not employed as

specialists. By understanding these other functions of the organisation, staff developed in




these competencies will potentially be more effective through having an appreciation of these

functions of the business.

5.2.3 Interactive Competence

Interactive competence refers to the requisite knowledge and skills for effective interaction

with the organisation’s people; its people management; and task management systems. This

category of competence is supported by three broad groups of interactive competence, namely

working with people; working with systems; and managing performance and development.

Each of these competency groupings drills down to specific sub-competencies.

5.2.4 Managerial and Specialist Competence

In formulating the competency menu, consideration has to be given to the way in which the

world of work is structured. Two streams of accountability, namely managerial and specialist

work characterize the hierarchical structure of organisations. The purpose of the exercise is

not to predispose matters of seniority and accountability, and therefore competencies are

classified into managerial and specialist categories, the former tending to be generic across

the functions and the latter being generic within functions. In considering interactive

competence, further consideration must be given to the context in which interaction with

people and work systems takes place. As is often the case, interactive competence for both

manager and specialist is labeled the same. However, the context in which these competencies

are expressed differs. To accommodate these differences, the menu proposed includes both

managerial and specialist interactive competencies. In order to further differentiate these

similar competencies, definitions with associated indicators of competence have been provided.

Degrees of Competence (level at which competence is expressed)

In describing the functional specialist competencies and functional non-specialist competencies,

one needs to consider whether the competence reflects knowledge, skills and experience in

relation to the following levels:

Basic concepts (operator/team leader), competence relating to the functional or

technical activities of the individual and his/her own tasks in the organisation. This level

knowledge, skills and experience reflects an ability to get results through individual or

work-team contribution and effort, with a strong focus on quality, compliance and

adherence to established standards and procedures. When an obstacle is encountered,

the prescribed pathway, with an alternative partway, is founded by applying methods in

which the person has been trained.

Best practice (manager of managers / technician), competence relating to the activities

and outputs of the work-team or department for which the subject is a member of, or

responsible for. The application of functional knowledge, skills and experience represents

active participation and engagement, with ongoing reassessment and development of

own skills. It includes displaying professional and productive work practices and the

application of the functional expertise required in the position, and a commitment of

professional value-adding service provision. In order to complete work, including both

the overcoming of obstacles and performing diagnostic accumulation, the person must




first consider the situation and work out alternative pathways by which problems might

be resolved.

Strategic implementation (manager of business unit / specialist), competence relating

to the mobilisation of relevant functional concepts and contingencies in the postulation of

policies and procedures. This degree of competence is characterized by the optimal

competitive positioning of the business unit. Specialist work at this level will have a strategic

operational and direction setting impact on the business unit as a whole. Problem solving

at this level requires parallel processing to generate integrated and viable strategic

operational pathways.

Competitive advantage (enterprise manager/expert), competence relating to the

mobilisation of relevant concepts and contingencies in the postulation of organisational

strategy and policy, thereby contributing to the optimal competitive positioning of the

organisation. This includes taking accountability for the success of others and focuses

on output achievement through appropriate resources, as well as strategic and change

management. Problem solving at this level requires an understanding of how knowledge

changes in the environment are likely to affect the future of the whole organisation.

5.2.5 Personal CompetenciesPersonal competencies were likewise considered to be outside to ambit of this intervention

given that they amount to individual characteristics / attributes and that they cannot be readily

translated into training needs. Where competencies were seen as organisationally specific

and could not be generalised across the sector, they were also excluded.

5.3 Additional theories impacting on the Competency MenuBesides the competencies defined and included from the best practice study completed by

Andersen, a variety of other theories have had an impact on the formulation of the menu.

5.3.1 Levels of Work

In keeping with competence theory, recognition of the empirical evidence of generic degrees

of competence within a competency must inform the composition of the competency menu.

There is evidence that it is generally true but not inevitably true that possession of certain

elements of competence are foundational to the acquisition of certain other elements, suggesting

an acquisitional sequence. Specialist seniority in organisations is claimed to be based on

degrees of competence in related specialist competencies, and managerial seniority is claimed

to be based on degrees of competence in related managerial competence.

Thus, it is deemed appropriate to accommodate these degrees of competence in both specialist

and managerial competence within the supporting definitions and indicators of competence.

5.3.2 Leadership

It is a vexed question in what degree a generic model can address a matter such as leadership

that is tackled so very differently across organisations. The purpose of the competency menu

is to provide a model or framework for identifying generic competencies within the world of

work that will assist in the population of job templates. A key aspect of the challenge in the




selection of such a menu is its applicability to the current reality of banks, namely that they

are strongly hierarchical, but at the same time the menu must avoid intrusion into or

predisposition of the existing structure of any bank.

In tackling the aspect of leadership and how it is to accommodated into the menu, consideration

must be give to the points raised above. Having tabled the recognition of degrees of competence

and the acquisitional sequencing of competence previously, a non-intrusive model of leadership

must be considered.

A model for leadership currently enjoying consideration within the banking sector is the

Leadership Pipeline.

The Leadership Pipeline developed by Charan, Drotter and Noel conveniently offers a sound

model for the requisite duties and qualities associated with effective leadership in organisations.

The model does recognize degrees of competence within competence, hence its selection.

Acknowledgement is made as to banks and their individual preference to select alternative

models.

The thinking of the Leadership Pipeline has been considered in the development of the

competency menu.

5.3.3 People management and development

The important managerial accountability that requires consideration in the development of a

competency menu is the set of competencies required for effective people management.

DASA SA endorses the view that individual performance management is the accountability of

managers of people. Staff is responsible for ensuring their effective performance. Contained

in the accountability for performance management is the development of staff. The development

accountability for managers is to ensure that the staff reporting to them has the competencies

in place for effective performance.

5.3.4 Competency definitions

Each competency entered in the competency menu is supported by a generic definition of

what is typically required in discharging the relevant competence under consideration. The

functional specialist definitions have been informed by the Andersen project referenced above.

The interactive competency definitions provided are the amalgamation of a number of

competency definitions available in the public domain. To give further insight to a reader of

any particular competency definition under consideration, a set of behavioural indicators are

also provided. These indicators are articulated in a manner that supports the hierarchical

nature of the work context used to inform the construction of the menu.

The nature of the formulation of the competence menu for the skills audit is such that limitations

in respect of the competency definitions and supporting indicators must be tabled. The

supporting information provided is designed to be illustrative and should be sufficiently

representative for a survey constrained by a need for relative brevity, but are not meant to be

exhaustive andIor eternal. Relevant unit standards for the banking sector also provided a

important source of information.




5.4 Validation

In developing the competency menu, we were mindful of the need to address the validation of

the menu and its competency definitions. The project time frame available was such that a

complete validation of the menu could not be addressed prior to the audit. The adopted

approach to validation has been through a process of sharing the proposed menu and

framework for drawing up competency definitions with HR consultants from the participating

banks. The consultants were charged with sharing the content of the menu with their respective

colleagues and reporting back to the project Steering Committee for ratification. To a great

extent, the validation of the detail of the menu has been addressed through the audit itself.

Respondents have been asked within the audit whether the identified competences are in

fact relevant to their jobs.




6. Data CollectionIn order to collect data which could shed light on skills distributions across the banking sector,

the following process was followed:

6.1 Competency menu (see Appendix A)

A competency menu was developed which could reflect the underlying knowledge and skills

which underpin effective performance in the full range of jobs across the sector. This menu

was then validated by the project steering committee in order to ensure that it did provide a

comprehensive foundation for investigating both functional and interactive competencies.

6.2 Job families/Profiles/SOC codes (see Appendix E)

An approach was developed to situate these competencies within the context of job families

or individual role profiles. Banks were given the choice between reporting on the basis of

either profiles or job families. (SOC codes were originally seen as a feasible set of referents,

but were omitted due to inadequate specificity). Three of the participating banks (The Reserve

Bank; Citi Group and Nedbank) provided information at the level of profiles, whereas two

banks (ABSA and FirstRand) provided data at the level of job families. Both job families and

role profiles were enriched from the customised generic menu and once this was completed

the profiles/job families were submitted to the project steering committee for validation.

6.3 Electronic survey instrument (see Appendix C)

An electronic survey instrument was designed using the competency enriched profiles/job

families and used as follows:

The electronic element of the survey was conducted using a specialised software programme

called AMPLIXS. This is a web-based survey tool that interacts with the respondents via e-

mail and a web-link. The simplified process for survey distribution and data-collection is shown

below and is then explained in further detail.

6.3.1 Questions were generatedEach participating bank was required to provide specific details of all respondents per

job profile in an electronic format. These details included name, identification number,

job profile, SOC-code, e-mail address and any other details required to provide specific

reporting, such as division, branch, race, gender, years of employment.




DASA opened accounts for each participating bank with secure access in order to

ensure data-security.

Based on the validation of critical skills and the development of the job profiles, detailed

audit surveys per job profile per participating bank were developed. These audit surveys

were ‘uploaded’ into AMPLIXS in the specific accounts.

6.3.2 Respondents were invited to participateThe respondents information was uploaded into AMPLIXS to match the specific job

profile and information was validated prior to distribution.

After conducting a pilot with each participating bank for each job profile, personalized

e-mail invitations were sent to all respondents inviting them to participate in the survey.

The e-mail invitation contained a link (url) to the personalized survey with an unique

identification code. By clicking the url the respondent was able to open the survey and

was asked to do the self-audit. The process was structured in a way that a respondent

could only submit a survey once in order to ensure data-integrity.

At the same time the manual audits were distributed by the participating banks to

respondents who did not have access to e-mail.

6.3.3 Respondents completed the surveyAfter completing the audit, the results submitted by the respondents were saved in the

AMPLIXS database.

In cases where a respondent did not reply prior to a set date, an e-mail reminder was

sent. If the respondent still failed to reply, the project team was informed on the status

so that further action could be taken.

The manually completed surveys were uploaded by DASA into AMPLIXS to incorporate

all the results into the database.

6.3.4 Results were collated and analysedOnce the surveys were completed, the data was analysed and reports were generated to

identify scarce skills areas.

6.4 Representivity of data collectedResponse levels differed widely from bank to bank and the overall picture looked like this:

DEMOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS OF RESPONSES

Bank White Coloured Black Asian Total

SARB 747 161 645 96 1649

Nedbank 3872 1145 1386 1157 7560

CitiGroup 99 9 24 29 161

ABSA 1657 411 420 198 2666

FirstRand 5122 2182 2839 1282 11416

Total 11497 3908 5314 2762 23481

Percentage 48.94 16.66 22.62 11.78 100

Table 5




The 23 481 respondents constituted 29 percent of the total sample population. Where

the sample sizes were small for particular job families, the level of competence was

obviously lower; this was generally due to the relative paucity of people in executive

positons (For a complete breakdown of respondents by category see Appendix D).

6.5 Reporting categoriesIt was agreed by the Project Steering Committee that job families would be used as a

basis for reporting to be sector as a whole; where participating banks used profile-based

data, reports using only their own data can be made available at the level of job profiles.

Reporting on skills has been done in a competency specific manner.




7. Findings and conclusionsThe findings of this survey are intended to investigate the distribution of skills across the

banking sector and to integrate and thus validate previous research into this field. In exploring

the distribution of skills we have sought to provide insight into the levels of competence across

the full range of jobs within banking.

7.1 The Survey Population

A total of 23 481 people responded to the electronic survey

These returns constituted roughly 29% of the entire population of people in the participating

institutions.

The data is spread across 30 job families which are differentiated across as many as eight

organisational levels, resulting in 221 level-specific data capture categories.

These job family strata in turn reflect a total of 106 level differentiated competencies which

are divided into:

Functional specialist competencies;

Functional non-specialist competencies;

Interactive/managerial competencies; and

Interactive non-managerial (specialist) competencies.

The initial brief was to provide detail on the above within the SOC code categories, typically

used in the sector and which are used to inform workplace skills plans. However, some of

the SOC code categories for example ‘senior manager’ cut across a wide variety of job

families and may obscure the details when dealt with at this level of generality in reporting

results.

A further requirement within the brief is to report findings at a sector level thus necessitating

a basis for reporting which is common to the participating banks. Hence we have used job

families as the primary reporting categories. Individual banks and their respective job

profile/family details are available within the data bases generated in the survey.

It is worthwhile to remember that the findings of the survey are based on a self-assessment

methodology. The survey instrument was informed by six questions:

1. Do you agree that this competency is required in your position?

2. To your knowledge, are development opportunities offered to you in this competency?

3. Have you received any development in this competency?

4. Was the development offered by your organisation?

5. Has your level of competency increased as a result of the development?

6. Are you competent in this competency?




The purpose of question one was to validate the competencies from the perspective of

the respondent (bearing in mind that the competency menu and the electronic survey

instrument had already been signed off by the participating banks prior to implementation).

Questions two to five provide insight as to the availability and effectiveness of training

and development within the participating banks.

Question six provides detail as to the respondents’ evaluation of their own competence.

This section of the report seeks to provide the outcome of the competency validation

exercise pertaining to the Andersen Report and to describe the results arising out of the

valid sample data contained in the survey responses.

7.2 The Competency Menu

The initial brief was to collect information pertaining to knowledge and skills required for

effective performance and was to be drawn from job/role profiles vested with participating

HR departments. However the uneven quality and availability/currency of the competency

information contained in the job profiles necessitated an alternative approach. This led to

the decision to generate a customised generic competency menu in order to adequately

describe the requisite competencies contained in most jobs in banking and support

functions.

The Andersen Report proved germane in establishing the functional specialist competencies

which were incorporated into the menu.

Andersen’s managerial/leadership competencies were fleshed out and used to inform the

interactive competencies for both managers and specialists.

Functional non-specialist competencies reflect the degree of competence required by non-

specialists in this domain.

As indicated above, question one of the survey was used to validate the accuracy of the

allocation of competencies to specific job family levels.

In order to validate the competencies, we have clustered the levels within each competency

so as to provide a sample per type of job rather than level and thus assessed our sample

against what would constitute a statistically valid sample.

The brief also contained an undertaking to validate the research process used by Andersen

Consulting in their Wholesale and Retail Banking skills study. The process was found valid

and a full explanation of this evaluation is contained in Appendix B.

The Andersen Skills development priorities table is included as a reference on the following

two pages (Table 6).




Table 6

Innovation

Creativity

Visioning

Cross-cultural! Diversity

skills

Mentoring and coaching

skills

Socialisation skills

Networking skills

Leadership skills are aimed at leaders and future leaderswithin the industry. Training is required to develop thecapability to be innovative and creative and to think laterally.Visionary skills enable people to think strategically, withinthe broader macro- and micro-environment of the business.Diversity skills are essential for leaders to manage within adiverse workforce as well as building client relations in adiverse environment. Leaders also need to develop futuremanagers and require mentoring, coaching and influencingskills. Socialisation skills will enable leaders to socialise newpeople into the organisation.

Managementdevelopment

Specialist financial skills in the banking industry. Enablingskills to develop and manage specialist financial productsin the banking environment. Assessing and managingrisks.

Understanding of business management and businessprinciples. Entrepreneurial development.

Developing financial skills around financial management,budgeting, understanding and interpreting financialstatements.

Developing the skill to manage change in the organisation.Understanding the intricacies involved during any form ofchange and the impact a change intervention is likely to have.

Building the capacity to understand the vision and creation ofthe vision, and interpret it into logical strategic objectives forthe business.

Analytical and financial skills to calculate the costs to actionand the benefits that can be realised through the intervention.

Inter-personal skills and intellectual capacity to find a win-win solution at a deadlock and the ability to convince andinfluence the other party.

Verbal and written communication.

Innovation and continuous development requires more andmore skills from managers to also manage short-term projects.

People management skills includes behavioural interviewingskills, training needs analysis, managing discipline etc.required by managers to attract, retain and develop theirhuman resources.

Components Objective Target

Skills area: Leadership

Analytical ability

Knowledge of regulatory

requirements

Risk management skills

Credit management skills

Derivatives

Capital markets

Equity

Credit assessment skills

Treasury risk

management skills

Credit risk management

skills

Business acumen

Financial acumen

Change managementskills

Strategy skills

Cost/benefit analysis skills

Negotiation skills

Communication skills

Project management skills

People management skills


Skills area: Management Skills

Banking professionals

Skills area: Specialist Financial




Front line staff


Components Objective Target

Skills area: Customer Interface

BusinessIntelligenceprofessionalsAll staff

Skills area: Information Technology Skills

Selling skillsCommunicationRelationship managementMarketing skillsCommunicationListening skillsCross culturall/Diversity skills

Analytical abilitySystems development &implementation skillsPC LiteracySpecialist skills in bankingsystems (e.g. Hogan)Project management skillsInformation management skillsKnowledge management skills

Skills area: Financial Skills

Analytical skillsBusiness acumenBusiness modeling skillsScenario planning skills

Skills area: Back Office and Support Skills

ManagementdevelopmentBusiness Analysis

Bankingprofessionals

Banking process skillsBusiness acumenEconomic understandingBusiness management skillsBusiness accounting skillsUnderstanding consumerbehaviourKnowledge of banking lawCommunication skills

Knowledge of legislationKnowledge of regulatoryrequirements

Process understandingRisk awarenessInternal customer interfacePC Literacy

Business acumenSystem understandingProcess skillsAnalytical ability

Skills that will enable effective customer relations,for both external and internal customers.

Business analysis and understanding how toleverage technology to improve efficiencies.Knowledge management relates to skills indeveloping processes and systems to ensureshared learning within the organisation. Basicliteracy to empower staff to apply technology toimprove efficiency.

Mathematical ability as well as development ofscenarios and building business models.Application of systems to enable modeling.

To develop efficiencies of support staff.

Understanding the business processes as well asa sound understanding of the technology utilised irall processes.

Knowledge and understanding of the productsoffered, generically at all banks as well asspecialised products in individual banks.

Knowledge and understanding of the bankingenvironment.

BankingpersonnelBack Office staff

BankingprofessionalsBanking systemspecialists

Skills area: End-to-end Processing Skills

Skills area: Product Knowledge

Skills area: Business of Banking Skills

Front line staffBankingprofessionals

Newcomers tothe bankingindustryIT professionalsworking in thebanking industry




7.3 Competency Validation

Having aligned the Andersen categories with the competency definitions used in the electronic

survey, we can conclude that the Andersen findings on functional specialist competencies are

valid with the possible exception of the areas where sample size resulted in lower levels of

competence. With regard to the balance of the menu, the evidence suggests that all of the

interactive competencies are valid inclusions. In the case of functional non-specialist competen-

cies, a number of competencies did not reach the required sample size, thus it is not possible

to provide reliable confirmation of these competencies.

These conclusions are substantiated Table 7 on the following pages.




FUNCTIONAL SPECIALIST

Specialist financialAnalytical ability 6381 3002 914 2088 91%Knowledge of regulatoryrequirements 2270 911 726 185 89%Risk management skills 3029 958 789 169 85%Credit management skills 1592 716 638 78 82%Derivatives 117 16 106 -90 63%Capital markets 128 26 114 -88 85%Equity 358 24 268 -244 79%Credit assessment skills 552 408 364 44 90%Treasury risk management skills 756 337 443 -106 78%Credit risk management skills 478 247 330 -83 82%

Customer interfaceSelling skills 12879 6472 986 5486 86%Communication 8709 3798 951 2847 98%Relationship management 13024 6501 986 5515 96%Marketing skills 13220 6565 987 5578 84%Listening skills 9747 3771 962 2809 99%Cross cultural / diversity skills 9848 3854 963 2891 97%

Information technology skillsAnalytical ability 3103 1339 794 545 96%Systems development &implementation skills 3107 1337 794 543 83%PC literacy 3109 1336 794 542 98%Specialist banking systems skills 3107 1331 794 537 69%Project management skills 3103 1322 794 528 81%Information management skills 3111 1334 795 539 92%Knowledge management skills 3107 1324 794 530 83%

Financial skillsAnalytical skills 6381 3436 914 2522 96%Business acumen 7239 3310 930 2380 91%Business modelling skills 4863 3326 875 2451 71%Scenario planning skills 7244 3317 930 2387 72%

Back office and support skillsProcess understanding 4905 3371 877 2494 70%Risk awareness 5531 3368 895 2473 70%Internal customer interface 5415 5121 892 4229 98%PC literacy 5112 3382 883 2499 98%

End-to-end processing skillsBusiness acumen 7080 2405 927 1478 87%System understanding 7309 3491 931 2560 89%Process skills 7183 3465 929 2536 70%Analytical ability 7396 3598 933 2665 93%

‘Yes’ responseCompetency groupings Invites Responses Required to surveyand specific titles extended received sample size Difference question 1

STATISTICS ON COMPETENCY VALIDATIONTable 7





Business of banking skillsBanking process skills 10012 2895 964 1931 92%Business acumen 7229 2409 930 1479 90%Economic understanding 7292 2691 931 1760 81%Business management skills 9534 2410 960 1450 87%Business accounting skills 7115 2342 928 1414 81%Understanding customerbehaviour 8772 2983 951 2032 92%Knowledge of banking law 8767 3375 951 2424 76%Communication skills

Group management and support functionsIT Management 158 30 138 -108 83%Finance management 1801 853 670 183 86%Marketing management 224 65 185 -120 77%Sales management 268 77 214 -137 82%HR management 858 239 476 -237 95%HR development 420 214 302 -88 95%Regulatory compliance 5758 2522 900 1622 92%Engineering / maintenanceLogistics 47 18 45 -27 89%Property asset management 17 9 17 -8 67%Property management 37 27 36 -9 96%Clerks

Back Office & Processing 4824 3251 874 2377 94%Frontline 11457 4797 976 3821 96%Head Office & Research 843 356 471 -115 92%Other Clerical Employees 2201 741 719 22 97%Secretarial & Typists Clerks 729 89 433 -344 99%

Catering Services 38 31 37 -6 94%Security ServicesTravel / Tourism 32 2 31 -29 100%Transportation 25 5 24 -19 100%Valuer 81 36 75 -39 100%Librarian 2 2 2 0 100%Business communications

FUNCTIONAL NON-SPECIALIST

Commercial contextual understanding 11647 6906 978 5928 94%Strategy 48305 22693 1044 21649 92%Operations management 47 10 45 -35 60%IT management 158 30 138 -108 83%Finance management 3631 2054 825 1229 82%Marketing management 5289 2370 888 1482 92%Sales management 388 156 285 -129 61%HR management 7282 4148 931 3217 90%Industrial relations 62 35 59 -24 83%Project management 8165 3783 944 2839 78%Regulatory compliance 34257 17265 1035 16230 93




INTERACTIVE MANAGERIAL

Managing peopleManaging relationships 8274 4796 945 3851 95%Peer Networks 8565 4814 949 3865 92%Customer Supplier Relationships 8565 4799 949 3850 88%Managing differences 8068 4795 943 3852 94%Team skills 8565 4787 949 3838 95%Leadership 8565 4814 949 3865 94%

Managing processesAdministrative skills 8295 4805 946 3859 91%Business communication skills 8295 4782 946 3836 92%Change management 8295 4773 946 3827 87%Problem-solving 8258 4787 945 3842 95%Recruitment 8258 4784 945 3839 80%

Managing performancePerformance management 8572 4796 949 3847 89%Managing development 8060 4790 942 3848 91%Organisational learning 8160 4785 944 3841 90%

INTERACTIVE SPECIALIST

Working with peopleInterpersonal Relationships 40758 17823 1040 16783 95%Peer Networks 40883 17712 1040 16672 91%Customer Supplier Relationships 41146 17758 1040 16718 90%Dealing With Differences 41148 17775 1040 16735 94%Team skills 40686 17723 1040 16683 95%Leadership 40878 17797 1040 16757 94%Working with Diversity 40630 17927 1040 16887 96%

Managing processesAdministrative skills 40715 17810 1040 16770 92%Business communication 41020 17819 1040 16779 93%Change management 41020 17771 1040 16731 88%Problem-solving 40532 17782 1040 16742 93%Recruitment 41435 17609 1040 16569 58%

Managing performancePerformance management 41183 17764 1040 16724 88%Managing development 40763 17766 1040 16726 92%





7.4 Availability and Effectiveness of Training and Development

The interpretation in this section of the report is based on evidence contained in questions

two to five in the electronic survey instrument.

The picture emerging from responses to questions two to five suggests the following:

Development opportunities are available for all competencies contained in the menu;

People are exposed to training in these competencies across the participating banks;

Training and development for most of the respondents is available from their own

training and development departments;

Most participants consider that their competence has been improved through exposure

to training and development in the competencies deemed relevant to their jobs.

At a sector level the questions above were deemed to reflect the extent to which training is

available and effective across the sector.

We can conclude on the basis of the evidence contained in the responses that training

and development is available and is deemed effective by the respondents.

For the individual participating banks the data generated by questions two to five will

provide useful insight into the availability and effectiveness of their own training and

development.

7.5 Assessment of Competence

In considering the conclusions which can safely be drawn from the available data, the

following points are relevant:

The overall sample size of 23 481 is considerable and represents a 29% return on all

surveys sent out.

Once this sample is differentiated into its many constituent parts, one can assert with

less statistical confidence that the findings are completely reliable. A complete

breakdown of these job families (with levels), the required sample size for statistical

validity and the actual sample size is tabled in Appendix D.

In relation to the above, four categories of jobs within two families emerged with statistically

significant results:

Administration/Sales Support: Technical; and

Administration/Sales Support: Clerical

Customer Service: Technical; and

Customer Service: Clerical.

As can be seen from the graphic representations that follow, questions one and six provide

a basis for assessing whether a competency is required and present.




Job Family Name / Report Title: Admin / Sales Support - ClericalNumber of Invites: 9925Number of Responses: 2843% of Responses: 28.64%

Required in the job ? Competent ?

Not Not yetFunctional Specialist Competencies required Required competent Competent

Back Office Processing Clerk 5% 95% 18% 82%

Average Functional Specialist Competencies 5% 95% 18% 82%


Not Not yetFunctional Non-Specialist Competencies required Required competent Competent

Strategy 9% 91% 35% 65%

Regulatory Compliance 6% 94% 23% 77%

Average Functional Non-Specialist Competencies 8% 93% 29% 71%


Not Not yetInteractive Competencies required Required competent Competent

Interpersonal Relationships 5% 95% 22% 78%

Customer Supplier Relationships 10% 90% 25% 75%

Establishing Peer Relationships 10% 90% 28% 72%

Dealing with Differences 5% 95% 22% 78%

Team Skills 6% 94% 23% 77%

Leadership 6% 94% 26% 74%

Admin Skills 7% 93% 23% 77%

Business Communication Skills 6% 94% 25% 75%

Change Management 11% 89% 33% 77%

Problem solving 9% 91% 30% 70%

Recruitment 40% 60% 58% 42%

Performance Management 8% 92% 23% 77%

Managing Development 8% 92% 31% 69%

Working With Diversity 4% 96% 20% 80%

Average for Interactive Competencies 10% 90% 28% 73%

Table 8




Job Family Name / Report Title: Admin / Sales Support - TechnicalNumber of Invites: 4909Number of Responses: 1037% of Responses: 21.12%



Process Understanding 41% 59% 52% 48%

Risk Awareness 42% 58% 53% 47%

Internal Customer Interface 2% 98% 13% 87%

PC Literacy 3% 97% 19% 81%

Selling Skills 32% 68% 48% 52%

Communications 20% 80% 20% 80%

Marketing Skills 35% 65% 54% 56%

Business Acumen 21% 79% 45% 55%

Systems Understanding 16% 84% 36% 64%

Analytical Ability 0% 100% 40% 60%

Average Functional Specialist Competencies 21% 79% 38% 63%



Strategy 10% 90% 35% 65%


Average for Functional Non-SpecialistCompetencies 10% 90% 30% 71%





Dealing With Differences 6% 94% 23% 77%

Team Skills 6% 94% 24% 76%











Table 9




Job Family Name / Report Title: Customer Service - Clerical

Number of Invites: 8001Number of Responses: 2833% of Responses: 35.41%



Frontline Clerk 3% 97% 15% 85%

Average: Functional Specialist Competencies 3% 97% 15% 85%







Team Skills 4% 96% 19% 81%













Strategy 3% 97% 18% 82%


Average: Functional Non-Specialist Competencies 4% 96% 22% 78%

Table 10




Job Family Name / Report Title: Customer Services - Technical

Number of Invites: 10692Number of Responses: 1442% of Responses: 13.49%







Team Skills 4% 96% 20% 80%













Strategy 5% 95% 29% 71%


Average:Functional Non-SpecialistCompetencies 4% 97% 23% 78%



Process Understanding 28% 72% 49% 51%

Risk Awareness 29% 71% 47% 53%

Internal Customer Interface 2% 98% 13% 87%

PC Literacy 5% 95% 24% 76%

Selling Skills 22% 78% 42% 58%

Communications 10% 90% 30% 70%

Marketing Skills 26% 74% 47% 53%

Understanding Customer Behaviour 15% 85% 35% 65%

Average: Functional Specialist Competencies 17% 83% 36% 64%

Table 11




In reviewing the data available, an observation is offered of possible skills shortages affecting

two areas within the survey sample. In the area of interactive competence, particularly at

the level of team leader/supervisor, specialist and individual contributor the sample

populations do constitute a large number of respondents in the survey. The high levels of

‘not comptent’ responses across all of the interactive comeptencies, do suggest a skills

shortage.

In conclusion we need to stress the following:

Where sample sizes are sufficiently large and statistically valid, meaningful information

can be extracted from the data at a high level of statistical validity.

There is an apparent anomaly in the statistics which may be blurring the extent of the

need for specific competencies. Interpretation of this issue is compounded by the

small sample sizes, but there appears to be a correlation between the number of

respondents who, in response to Question 1, said they did not need a particular

competency, and then in response to Question 6 stated that they were not competent.

The relevant statistics are included as Appendix F. This may stem from an automatic

assumption by the repondents that since they did not need the competency, a lack of

competence was the natural response. Since the job profiles have been soundly

validated, there may also be a degree of lack of awareness by a number of respondents

about the need for the competency in their jobs. This lack of awareness may lead to a

skills shortage that might not be reflected in future.

Detailed information is available for all remaining families, with levels (this is included

on a CD as Appendix G.

For participating banks who achieved high levels of participation, information can be

extracted from the data relating to all job families/job titles in the format shown above.




8. RecommendationsBy way of introduction, it should be noted that the sector skills audit has been positionedas an ongoing and evolving process which can be used going forward to provide greaterclarity in respect of skills development needs across the banking sector. From the outset itwas acknowledged that this would be a learning process for all the stakeholders whichwould inform the refinement of future audits. Insights which have arisen as part of theprocess include the following:

The sector’s readiness to participate in such an exercise was not ideal for many banks.The influence of mergers at an organisational level, internal restructuring, revisions toexisting job profiles, availability of representative resources and the December periodwith its own challenges, are just some of the events which impacted on the audit.

The IT platforms and internal protocols of some of the participating banks requiredalignment which impacted on the timing of the roll out of the audit.

What emerged during the process of collecting competency data was the uneven natureof the information contained in job profiles. The significance of this finding on the audit hasbeen addressed elsewhere in this report, but given the extent to which role/job profilesunderpin a variety of HR processes, one should stress that we now have available acompetency menu which can be used to enrich profiles.

To reiterate a point made earlier, competency based role profiles provide the golden threadwhich links HR processes, as indicated below in the Hay model.

For some of these processes, such as recruitment, the model may require further validation,but from the perspective of the participating institutions the competency menu was

sufficiently validated to cover the analysis of development needs. The legal requirement

that one has an adequately described role would provide further motivation for technically

sound job profiles.




In view of the anomaly referred to the the previous section concerning job profiles and a

full understanding of the competencies required, the participating banks should perhaps

use this opportunity to review the issue and where appropriate consider a process of

actively communicating a clearly defined set of competency requirements to employees,

as this has major implications in terms of performance management aimed at sustained

improvement.

In the survey data, many respondents have answered ‘No’ to Question 1 in the survey (Is

this competency required in your job?). This response does suggest that a gap exists

between a competency required in a particular job and the incumbent’s awareness of it

and hence, competence to perform effectively. An exercise of ensuring understanding of

an agreement between management and the incumbent employee as to the requisite

competencies in the job concerned and the employee’s level of competence should be

considered by the particpating banks.

With regard to the competency menu, the audit has demonstrated the benefit of a sector-

wide menu of competencies which has been partially customised around banking sector

requirements.

Recommendations must be made as to the opportunity to refine the menu so as to ensure

greater relevance and definition of generic competence required in most jobs in the sector.

The functional specialist or core competencies do require further definition informed by

direct involvement from sector functional specialists in the specific areas of banking and

support services. Investigation into missing core competencies should be considered.

The interactive competencies should be drilled down so as to provide greater clarity in

respect of specific skills that can be aligned with a training architecture. For example, the

interactive competency ‘managing differences’ can be drilled down to reveal its sub-

competencies – managing conflict, negotiating skills and managing diversity. These would

be pertinent since they more closely reflect conventional training architecture categories.

The changing nature of work within organisations and the workplace, for example:

the increased reliance on fewer people to achieve competitive advantage;

continual change, blurred boundaries, transformation etc.;

the need to facilitate increased social and interactive competence informed by, for

example, teamwork and collaboration, relationships, development and networking and

learning and growth;

suggests an increasing importance for interactive competence. The audit findings indicate

that increased competence in the domain is required and that recommendations be made

to incorporate reporting on the development of interactive competencies and the reflection

thereof in sector skills plans, etc.

Alignment of training architecture with the skills competency menu. Regardless of whether

one adopts the audit menu or not, the development of an organisational specific menu of

competence and its eventual alignment with the training offered by the individual bank

should be considered.




The audit has provided insight into the perceived effectiveness of training across the

participating banks. Many participants’ responses do suggest that this effectiveness could

be improved. The need for internal training departments to evaluate the effectiveness of

what is being trained, is required. A rigorous evaluation of training model and practice

should be incorporated into the delivery process if such a model does not exist.

The marketing of training and development offered by the participating banks may require

investigation as to its effectiveness. Many survey respondents seem unclear as to what

training and development is offered by their respective banks.




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