International Journal of Innovative Research in Engineering & Management (IJIREM)

ISSN: 2350-0557, Volume-9, Issue-4, August 2022

https://doi.org/10.55524/ijirem.2022.9.4.16
Article ID IJIRD-1198, Pages 97-103
www.ijirem.org

Employee Competencies Interrelation of Workforce Agility

Attributes
Meera Jyothirmai.K1, Dr. Satish Kumar.R2, and Dr. Sowdamini.T3
1
Research Scholar (FT), GITAM School of Business, GITAM University, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India
2
Associate Professor, School of Management Studies, Maharajah’s Post Graduate College (AU), Vizianagaram,
Andhra Pradesh, India
3
Assistant Professor, GITAM School of Business, GITAM University, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India
Correspondence should be addressed to Meera Jyothirmai.K; [email protected]
Copyright © 2022 Made to Jyothirmai.K et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

ABSTRACT- Organizations must be able to evaluate the while the behavioral competencies refer to personal
performance of their digital efforts quickly to know where to attributes or characteristics.
channel human resources and when to pull the plug if The employee competencies-behavioral and agility of the
necessary. In a demand-based banking services environment workforce are integrated, it influences on performance of the
the organization need to build agility and competencies to employee at the end. These researches pave a unique track to
adapt to shift and act on it with speed. The workforce evolve the gaps and relationship of organizational practices,
sharpens the behavioral competencies to meet the agility behavioral competencies-agility lead performance implicate
dimensions is an answerable to stay strong in business for better business sustenance. In current scenario of
operations. This research is to understand the relationship of business banking in India under enormous changes,
behavioral competencies and workforce agility attributes. It considered to be the lifeline of the economy and the third
gives the insight of knowledge on employee behavior at largest in the world by 2025. The banks are essentially
workplace to find out the research model. Further, empirical catalytic in activating technologically advanced, transparent
results significant that behavioral competencies of and efficient quality banking system is a need of the hour.
motivation, commitment, analytical reasoning and employee Strategic human resources and workforce agile practices are
foresight were found to be strongly associated with imperative to focus.
workforce agility attributes of adaptability, developmental
A. Research Aim
and competent. Moreover, the paper opens up discussion for
a strategic managerial implication. The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of
employee behavioral competencies influence on workforce
KEYWORDS- Employee Competencies, Workforce agility, its determinants, interventions in the banking
Agility, Motivation, Adaptability, Developmental organizations face, when developing it.
B. Statement of the Problem
I. INTRODUCTION
The success and the failure of the organization depends upon
There is a growing understanding about the importance of the human resource practices, competencies of the human
the fact that competency development and management are workforce. The 85% of the employee behavior is rooted with
critical instruments to boost competitiveness for the work how he engaged. The organizations are to be sustain
organizations. The dynamic core competencies of an in competition the agility is the sense of strategy.
organization are defined as a set of problem-defining and Organizational agility is not into force of action without
problem-solving insights, and that these insights, which are workforce agility. The workforce inner drive is the behavior
developed from organizational learning, foster the strategic what they exhibit connected to the performance of an
growth of an organization [1]. individual and the organization. The problem of the
The competencies are now commonly conceptualized as managerial staff is not able to detect the competencies of
measurable patterns of knowledge, skills, abilities, behaviors, behavior of the employees and aligned with the
and other characteristics (KSAs) that differentiate high from organizational goals appropriately. Until or unless the
average performance [2]. Competencies in organizations can alignment and detection of the behavioral gaps is not
be classified as either employee-level or organizational-level strategic the performance of the organization is in question
[3], Furthermore, organizational-level competencies are mark. In a banking service environment employee behavior,
embedded in the employee-level competencies, and the agility relationship is a mere significant to study and strategic
employee level competencies can be further divided into to understand for apt outcomes.
technical competencies and behavioral competencies. The
technical competencies are job-related skills and knowledge,

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C. Objective of the Study which later expanded into the following four: 1) Technical
To establish the relationship among the, behavioral or Functional expertise to perform the role 2) Managerial
competencies and agility attributes of the employee to skills required to plan, organize, mobilize and utilize various
interpret the results for managerial implications for further resources 3) Human ability to motivate, utilize and develop
research. human resources and 4) Conceptual abilities to visualize the
invisible, think at abstract levels and use the thinking to plan
D. Review of Literature future business.
Competencies involve the collection of success factors Carrol and McCrackin grouped abilities into three main
necessary to achieve a key result in a particular job or in a categories. The one is core competencies which is the basis
particular organizational role. It has to do with intellectual, of strategic direction [12]. It represents behavioral elements
business, social and emotional abilities. People are rewarded for all employees, such as the 'results/quality oriented. The
for their abilities and this is influenced by some personal second important is leadership/managerial competencies
histories [4,5]. includes competencies related to leading organizations and
Although the meaning and definition of the term people “visionary leadership,” “strategic thinking,” and
``competence'' is still controversial[6], for the purposes of “talent development. “The third categorized as functional
our study the definition proposed by Bartram, Robertson, and competencies of job-specific skills required to perform a
Callinan adopted [5,7]. A competency is a set of actions that particular job or occupation [13].
help deliver a desired result or outcomes. Competencies
G. Workforce Agility
conceptualized in this way are things that people can actually
do and observe [8]. Competencies are the ability to apply or The agility concepts can be just as easily applied to various
use knowledge, skills, abilities, behaviors, and personal business functions [14]. The term agility ‘quickly widened to
characteristics to successfully perform an important work emerge as a broader business idea from which sprung others
task, a specific function, or a specific role or position. such as agile business relationships. Workforce agility has
Competencies are, therefore, underlying traits of people that come to be understood an aspect of organizational agility
exhibit behaviors and ways of thinking that are generalized [15]. It could be in reality viewed as the spine of
in many contexts and persist over time. organizational agility [16]. A single definition of workforce
agility has not been shaped yet in the few research that have
E. Components of Competency been carried out about it. It has been described from two
Competence has five main components [9]. One is perspectives: the ability standpoint and the capability
knowledge refers to information and learning that exists perspective. Those who have defined it from the capability
within banking employees on financial instruments. Second perspective emphasize people as having the capability no
is skill or ability of an employees to perform a particular task. longer only to respond to change in a well-timed manner
Third is self-confidence, which is an employee's belief that however additionally to take advantage of its rewards.
they can succeed in certain situations, to perform complex Workforce agility as a capability is derived from Dyer &
tasks. Fourth is traits relate to physical characteristics and Shafer ‘s framework used for the classification of workforce
consistent reactions to situations or information. Good agility behaviors and attributes [17]. It contains three
eyesight is a necessary trait for an employee, as is the ability dimensions specifically proactivity, adaptability, and
to stay calm under stress, as well as self-discipline. Fifth is generative behavior. Proactivity is in addition subdivided
motivation, which is the emotion, desire, physiological need, into initiation and improvisation. Workers are proactive
or similar drive that prompts action. Motives and traits can when they search for and courageously pursue opportunities
be said to be the initiators of what people do in the workplace that will possibly lead to the success of the organization [18].
without close supervision. As shown in Figure 1, significant The workforce is agile when it shows proactiveness in form
behavior results in improved performance. Proficiency (low, of improvising when unforeseen situations occur using their
medium, high) is always determined by knowledge, ability, knowledge to arrive at the best result for the firm. The
and attitude. proactive dimension of workforce agility as the situation in
which a person initiates programs or processes that impact
F. Classification of Competencies the changing environment positively [16].
The focus of this research is on the behavioral competencies. The adaptivity entails changing oneself in order to better fit
Prior to application of the behavioral competencies, a new environment [19]. This requires for interpersonal and
competency models are needed. A competency model is a set cultural adaptability [16]. Professional flexibility is also
of success factors, and includes the key behaviors required warranted by adaptable behavior. Professional flexibility is
for excellent performance in a particular role[10]. the ability to take on a variety of duties and quickly switch
To set the context for the theoretically derived competency roles within teams or tasks. Resilience is asserted to be a
classes, here's a quick overview of some classification further feature of the workforce agility behavior [18].
patterns. Various models for the classification of abilities are Positive attitudes toward novel concepts, technology, and
presented in the literature. Most commonly, researchers other changes, like process modifications, tolerance of
define classifications based on their own theories and unexpected situations, differing of opposing viewpoints, and
research objectives. coping with difficult conditions, are signs of resilience.
Katz and Kahn [11] grouped competency into three areas Continuous skill development and participation in
based on knowledge, attitude and skills of the employee,

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knowledge-sharing and information-gathering activities are H3: Employee analytical reasoning is significantly and
two aspects of generative behavior [17]. positively related to workforce agility
H4: Employee foresight is significantly and positively
H. Conceptual Framework for Behavioral Competencies
related to workforce agility
and Workforce Agility
H5: Employee leadership is significantly and positively
The framework for the empirical investigation is built using related to workforce agility
the review studies that have been discussed. The conceptual H6: Employee emotional stability significantly and
structure shown in figure 5 is based on the theoretical positively related to workforce agility
concepts of behavioral competencies of workforce agility. H7: Employee communication significantly and positively
The conceptual framework summarizes the ideas covered in related to workforce agility
this study and acts as a roadmap for the research's subsequent
phases, which aim to provide a more comprehensive II. METHODOLOGY
knowledge of workforce agility.
The scope of agility research is enormous and young filed to
investigate. This study is focused on banking sector, very
specifically ahead with the behavioral competencies with the
agility effect of the employee. The research gap of variables
is selected after proper reviewed of the available early
studies.
This study is proposed to know the selective employee
competencies influence on agility attributes concern with
measurable key aspects that determines the opinion of the
respondents. More over this study focused on to evolve the
behavioral competency factors influencing the agility
attributes of the banking employee. This investigation finds
out the relationship of competencies and agility are covered:
Motivation, Commitment, Analytical reasoning, Foresight,
Leadership, Emotional stability, Communication skill and
agility attributes of Flexibility, Adaptivity, Developmental,
Collaborative, Competent, Speed, Informative.
Respondent opinion has collected through structured
Figure 1: Conceptual framework of the study questionnaire. Secondary data is viewed through published
papers; review and applicable journals etc. substantially to
I. Hypothesis accent the conceptual analysis of competencies and agility
Generic concerns about transferrable performance elements relationship model. The sampling technique involved is
have led to the adoption of the discourse of behavioral convenient sampling. The data of the survey categorically
competencies, defined as employee characteristics, rather confined to 298 Indian banking employees, in view Indian
than competence, which is presumptively also accompanied banking is more transformative with mergers, acquisitions
by more context-specific knowledge and skill. Furthermore, and digital then ever at present economical and global
the following constructs of motivation, commitment, context.
analytical reasoning, foresight, leadership, emotional
stability, communicational skills are taken under behavioral III. ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
perspective for this study. In Indian contextual understanding The analysis of results is calculated with the SPSS
of agility dimensions of flexibility, adaptivity, descriptive and factor analysis to know the behavioral
developmental, collaborative, competent, speed and competencies of the employee influence on workforce agility
informative have chosen to build the frame work of this study. attributes of the banking employees. To know the
This proposed empirical investigation the hypothesis have relationship of the variables correlation and regression
framed with behavioral competencies and agility analysis are tabulated. The questionnaire is constructed with
dimensional relationship. These are vital force to understand the scale of five-point Likert scale. In a reliability check of
the performance of the workforce. consisting items of the questionnaire (fourteen items)
H1: Employee motivation is significantly and positively Cronbach’s Alpha calculated value is .704. It shows good
related to workforce agility reliability and consistency of the variables for further
H2: Employee commitment is significantly and positively analysis.
related to workforce agility

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Table 1: Descriptive Statistics

Scale Statistics
Mean Variance Std. Deviation N of Items
45.50 54.338 7.371 14
St. Deviation
Variables Mean
(N 298)
Motivation 3.24 1.171
Commitment 3.10 1.274
Analytical reasoning 3.53 .982
Foresight 3.45 1.041
Leadership 3.11 1.160
Emotional stability 3.51 1.229
Communication skill 3.16 1.205
Flexibility 3.19 1.192
Adaptability 3.24 1.206
Developmental 3.21 1.162
Collaborative 3.22 1.205
Competent 3.13 1.240
Speed 3.10 1.279
Informative 3.17 1.214

From the table 1 descriptive statistics of mean and standard communication skill and work force agility attributes
deviation of 14 variables are calculated. Total mean of 45.50 flexibility, adaptivity, developmental, collaborative,
and standard deviation 7.371 and variance 54.338 are competent, speed and informative is have good positive and
observed of the variables. In a correlation coefficient negative correlation and observed the significant relation
analysis, the relationship between the employee behavioral (.000) among the variables. Pearson Correlation is
competencies of motivation, commitment, analytical significant at the 0.01**, 0.05* level (2-tailed). N 298
reasoning, foresight, leadership, emotional stability,

Table 2: Regression Analysis

Change Statistics
Adjusted Std Error of the R Square Sig. F
Model R R Square F Change df1 df2
R Square Estimate Change Change
1 .687 .472 .460 .827 .472 37.073 7 290 .000

Table 2 represents human behavior of competencies tend to skills have shown less influence on dependent variable
have adjusted R2 values less than 50%. that is .460. The workforce agility attributes of flexibility, adaptivity,
reason behind this is that predicting employee behavior is a developmental, collaborative, competent, speed and
more difficult task. From the table 2 drawn the essential informative. It implies that 54% of other factors are playing
conclusion independent variables of employee competencies significant role of influence on workforce agility. The
of the model motivation, commitment, analytical reasoning, Durbin Watson test statistic is 1.888 < 2 (lower than critical
foresight, leadership, emotional stability, communication value) detected positive auto correlation in the residuals.

Table 3: ANOVA
ANOVA
Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
1 Regression 177.563 7 25.366 37.073 .000
Residual 198.423 290 .684
Total 375.987 297
a. Dependent Variable: Workforce agility
b. Predictors: (Constant), Motivation, Commitment, Analytical reasoning, Foresight, Leadership, Emotional stability,
Communication skill

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In a table 3 an ANOVA was performed to compare the agility employee attributes (DV) implies there is a statistical
influence of behavioral competencies of (IV) on workforce significance (F value 37.073 and p-value is .000).

IV. FACTOR ANALYSIS

Table 4: KMO and Bartlett's Test
KMO and Bartlett's Test
Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy. .714
Approx. Chi-Square 888.521
Bartlett's Test of Sphericity df 91
Sig. .000

From the table 4 denotes the KMO value is respectable that the correlation matrix has significant correlations among
(0.714). also, Bartlett’s test rejects the null hypothesis that at least some of the variables in a dataset, a prerequisite for
the variables aren't related as the approximate chi-square factor analysis to work. thus, the factor analysis is considered
value is 888.521 at 91 degrees of freedom which is as an applicable technique [20].
significant at five percent level. The test provides probability

Table 5: Communalities
Communalities
Initial Extraction
Goal oriented behavior 1.000 .646
Dedicated to a cause and activity 1.000 .360
Following a sequence of numbers 1.000 .363
The ability to predict the needed in the future 1.000 .553
Ability to inspire a team to achieve a certain goal 1.000 .751
Capacity to maintain balance in stress 1.000 .567
Able to communicate and understand effectively 1.000 .752
The ability to willingness to change 1.000 .461
The capacity to be modified for a new use or purpose 1.000 .771
State of achievements 1.000 .790
Work together in a joint intellectual effort 1.000 .581
Capable of performing the job effectively 1.000 .702
Multiple tasks completed in specified time 1.000 .532
Providing useful information 1.000 .612
Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

From the table 5 Communalities are calculated sum of square communicate and understand effectively as a factor (F2)
factor loadings. Generally, an item factor loading is communication skill (.752) and workforce agility attributes
recommended higher than 0.30 or 0.33 cut value. All of the capacity to be modified for a new use or purpose
fourteen factors are of employee competencies and agility named the factor (F3) as a adaptability (.771), state of
factor values are recommended for the next level. achievements as a factor (F4) as developmental (.790) and
In a factor loadings employee behavioral competencies capable of performing the job effectively the skill stated as
named as, ability to inspire a team to achieve a certain goal factor (F5) competent (.702) are observed from the
as a factor (F1) leadership (.751), employee ability to extraction method (PCA) loadings.

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Table 6: Total Variance Explained

Table 6 leftmost section shows the variance explained by the result is about 60%, a difference of 10% from the initial
initial result. Only five factors in the initial result have eigen result. therefore, about 10% of the variation explained by the
values greater than 1. Together, they regard for nearly 60.294% initial result is lost due to latent factors unique to the original
of the variability in the original behavioral competency variables and variability that simply cannot be explained by
variables of leadership, communication skills, and workforce the factor model. The rightmost section of the above table
agility attributes of adaptability, developmental and shows the variance explained by the extracted factors after
competent of the employees. This suggests that five latent rotation. The rotated factor model makes some small
influences are associated with the operation, but there adaptations to factor 1, but factor 2 to 5 is left nearly
remains room for a lot of unexplained variation. unchanged. Look for changes between the unrotated and
The section of this table 6 shows the variance explained by rotated factor matrices to see how the rotation affects the
the extracted factors before rotation. The cumulative interpretation of the first and other four factors. The rotation
variability explained by these five factors in the extracted matrix gathered in seven iterations.

Table 7: Coefficients
Coefficients
Standardized
Unstandardized Coefficients
Model Coefficients t Sig.
B Std. Error Beta
(Constant) .002 .370 .006 .995
Motivation .496 .046 .539 10.875 .000
Commitment .171 .044 .192 3.908 .000
Analytical reasoning .147 .063 .105 2.325 .021
1
Foresight .148 .055 .125 2.688 .008
Leadership -.091 .065 -.069 -1.397 .164
Emotional stability -.022 .054 -.020 -.414 .679
Communication skill .063 .037 .076 1.714 .088
a. Dependent Variable: Workforce agility

V. DISCUSSION associated with workforce agility attributes. The findings of

this study conclude the focus on leadership, emotional
Table 7 depicts that employee behavioral competencies are stability and communication skills of the employee is a need
more influenced on workforce agility. In this study is to of the concern to improve.
reveal that the motivated employee is highly committed and
well-analytically reasoned have foresight to solve the
problems and agile to do work more effectively in the
VI. MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS
organization. Hypothesis (H1: Motivation .000>.05, H2: Based on empirical understanding the following managerial
Commitment.000>.05, H3: Analytical reasoning .021>.05, implications are drawn under.
H4: Foresight 008>.05) are positively significant influence • The motivated employees are good at reasoning and
on agility attributes of adaptability, developmental and have commitment and foresight towards the work to
competent. Similarly, the result shows the competencies of perform. These competencies relate with agility of
employee leadership (H5), emotional stability (H6) and adaptability prepared the employees for the new
communication skills (H7) are not in positive direction to changes in internal and external system.
influence workforce agility. • The required skills of technical and managerial
It also observed that behavioral competencies of motivation competent skills are essential to perform the job and
(β =.539), commitment (𝛽 =.192), were found to be strongly achieve desired job results.

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