Date of Award

2010

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Applied Engineering and Technology Management

First Advisor

Mansour, Bassou El||McMannus, David

Abstract

The purposes of this study were to identify how Ivorian HRD professionals in banks perceived their current expertise levels of the HRD competencies, and how these professionals perceived the importance of these competencies needed to be successful in their occupations. In addition, this study determined competencies that are perceived to have the most needs for training and development, and investigated any differences in perceptions on competency expertise and importance according to the study subjects' work disciplines, years of professional experiences and the highest education completed. This study will contribute to the profession in several ways: provide direction and a conceptual foundation for Ivorian HRD professionals, and will be used to develop and promote the profession in Cote d'Ivoire. The results of this study can be used for self-assessment to identify and address professionals training and developmental needs. Banks can use the study results to design programs for selection and professional development for their professionals. And lastly, colleges and universities can apply the results of this research to develop programs and courses in order to prepare students to become HRD professionals in the workplace. The target population for this study was HRD professionals who were involved in and responsible for HRD programs or activities in various banks in Cote d'Ivoire. The target population size of this study was 200. 132 individuals were randomly selected to receive the research questionnaire. The questionnaire was adapted from the original 2004 ASTD Competency Study Mapping the Future. The survey was modified, revised, validated and iv translated into the French language, and then distributed. Descriptive statistics (frequencies, percentages, mean values and mean rankings), paired-t tests, simple analysis of variance (ANOVA) and post hoc tests of multiple comparisons were used to answer the four research questions. The overall expertise levels for the top two competencies, Designing Learning and Improving Human Performance, were higher than the competent level. The overall expertise levels for the remaining seven competencies were below the competent level. However, when examined across the three demographic groups, the rankings of the competencies show some differences in expertise levels. In terms of importance degrees, all the competencies were important (that is, having an average importance rating of 3.0 or higher). The top four important competencies were: Designing Learning, Delivering Training, Career Planning and Talent Management, and Measuring and Evaluating. The rankings of the competencies showed also some differences in importance across the demographic groups. Because the rankings of the competencies indicated some differences in expertise levels and importance across the three demographic groups, the researcher determined whether these differences were significant, and also narrowed down the findings regarding exactly where differences existed. Finally, the findings of this study revealed that for all of the nine competencies, the ratings for the competency importance were higher than those for expertise levels. The top three most-needed competencies among the nine HRD competencies were: Measuring and Evaluating, Designing Learning and Delivering Training. By contrast, Coaching, Managing the Learning Function and Improving Human Performance were ranked as the three least-needed competencies. Recommendations for practice and for future research were made.

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