Collective competencies and strategic people management: a study carried out in federal public organizations

Abstract

Purpose: To identify whether public organizations that adopt the competency-based management model consider the collective component of competencies in their management practices.Originality/value: The academic literature highlights the potential of collective competencies to achieve organizational objectives, but there is a mismatch between the theoretical perspective and people management practices, which was confirmed throughout the study.Design/methodology/approach: The field research was carried out in three federal public organizations. Evidence was collected from documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews with ten employees from the respective Personnel Management areas.Findings: There was an isolated presence of attributes and sources of creation of collective competencies, which proved to be insufficient to determine their presence in the organizations under analysis.