Competency Profile

International University Of Business Agriculture & Technology

Competency Profile for Academic Staff

Introduction: What are Competencies and why use them at IUBAT?

A competency is a synthesis of the knowledge, skills and abilities a person needs for successful job performance. IUBAT has identified a set of core competencies that forms the foundation for its performance management system, competencies that underpin the duties and tasks of all jobs at the organisation, regardless of level. These are designed to embody the University’s vision, values and strategies. All employees will be held accountable for fulfilling these competencies in the performance of their jobs.

A competency profile is a set of competencies, attitudes and behaviours that connect directly to a job, as well as the levels of proficiency required for each post. There are up to ten (but at least five) competencies for any given position. With transparent and fair competency profiles, IUBAT can recruit, train, develop and reward employees in transparent ways that are consistent with its vision and objectives.

There are ten competencies in IUBAT’s academic competency profile, measured at five ascending developmental stages. Each stage is incremental and cumulative, implying that the postholder can perform all the duties pertaining to development stages below her own.

Teaching:

Investigates, experiments with and implements a range of learner-centred teaching techniques that encourage and inspire students to enquire and research independently through enjoyable and challenging lessons so that learning is not confined to the campus.

Starting Out:

• Understands that university teaching is not only about subject content but also pedagogical methodologies.
• Observes more experienced faculty and critically reflects on their teaching styles and materials.
• Investigates a range of media to heighten student engagement with the subject.
• Pays attention not only to able students but also to those who are struggling with the subject, encouraging and motivating them.

Functional:

• Creates imaginative lesson plans with SMART learning outcomes.
• Reflects on her own classroom performance, sifting useful techniques from those that do not work so well.
• Uses a range of methodologies to engage students with different learning styles and keep them interested, including group work.
• Encourages students to investigate areas of the subject outside the classroom and enquires of them as a group and individually how they are progressing.
• Learns from her own practice as a teacher.

Operational:

• Involves all students in classes, both individually and in groups, actively encouraging stronger ones to challenge themselves and weaker ones to seek help from her and their peers.
• Seeks feedback from students on her classroom performance and incorporates suggestions in future lessons.
• Sees the classroom as only one of the many avenues from which students can learn.
• Engages students in a variety of tasks that interest and challenge them so that they think for themselves.

Advanced:

• Conducts invigorating lessons with students, involving them in classroom teaching as well as learning, so that they think for themselves.
• Shares her knowledge and experience with her colleagues in ways that do not intimidate but encourage and inspire.
• Sets up action research projects in her classes that inform her own teaching and offer new insights to colleagues, perhaps publishing these.
• Keeps up to date with the latest perspectives and research in pedagogy and experiments with these where appropriate.

Expert:

• Encourages department-wide research into teaching practice and encourages effective implementation.
• Leads students to think, question, critique and create.
• Seeks to publish action research, involving other faculty and, perhaps, students.
• Acts as an exemplar for other teachers, actively involving them in her classes, and supports those in need of development in non-judgemental ways.
• Breaks down subject barriers by stressing the artificiality of such borders.

Material Design:

Uses existing materials in imaginative ways that engage students and encourage them to learn more. Creates materials that build on textbook knowledge, allowing students to apply theory to practice, and which enliven subject content, making it relevant to students’ own experience. Shares these with colleagues. Uses familiar topics in unusual ways so that students’ thinking skills are developed.

Starting Out:

• Tries to use existing materials in exciting ways, illustrating complex subject areas with everyday examples familiar to students.
• Tries to use every-day affordable resources to explain difficult concepts in the classroom.
• Uses the board clearly to simplify and elucidate issues.

Functional:

• Uses visual and audio cues, the Internet and other resources to prompt thinking skills.
• Creates materials to elicit information which students already know and to encourage problem-solving.
• Encourages students to create materials themselves and share these with their peers so as to encourage learning.
• Shares materials with colleagues along with lesson plans on how to use these.

Operational:

• Uses many sources – including electronic, paper-based and specially designed materials – to present topics in ways that relate to students’ lives and fully engage them.
• Is aware that different materials will appeal to different learners with diverse learning styles and tries to take advantage of these varied media.
• Encourages students to engage in project work as a means to understand complex concepts better, using home-grown materials.

Advanced:

• Uses academic texts and pedagogic self-help books to generate new ideas on material use in the classroom.
• Shares such ideas with colleagues without making them feel inferior or unimaginative.
• Has a detailed knowledge of websites that may help to illuminate aspects of her course and refers to these regularly.
• Uses electronic media and LMS to encourage collaboration and self-discovery. Does not feel threatened by this.

Expert:

• Learns from students about popular social media and actively engages with this in order to present new concepts and information in interesting ways.
• Encourages students to use flipped classrooms, group work and presentations to engage with their peers both in and outside the classroom.
• Contributes to the professional development of her department and of the outside academic community through sharing of materials and of guidelines on how most effectively to take advantage of these, thereby enhancing the reputation of the University.

Assessment:

Sees assessment as an integral part of each and every lesson in order to measure how much students have understood. Uses it in ways that are formative and unthreatening, so that students are not scared of being questioned. Creates ‘tests’ which can be done in groups, so that weaker students learn from stronger ones. Provides sufficient practice in conventional exam techniques and question types in order for students to excel in their qualifications.

Starting Out:

• Explores texts, seeks advice from colleagues and elicits feedback from students on their preferred assessment mechanisms that do not only rely on easily calculable results, such as multiple choice.
• Is aware that coming up with a correct answer is not the same as recognizing one.
• Realises that quantifiable responses may not be as rich or as useful as qualitative ones but can identify potential challenges here with replication.
• Is not afraid to seek advice from colleagues on appropriate assessment techniques.

Functional:

• Can use a variety of question types to elicit both quantitative and qualitative responses from students.
• Includes many different kinds of assessment in lesson plans so that learning outcomes are measurable but does so without creating an atmosphere of fear or tension.
• Uses assessment not only to evaluate student learning but also to teach and reinforce learning.
• Ensures that students are fully aware of subject content to be examined and are conversant with question types which typically recur in exams.

Operational:

• Uses a wide variety of question types with confidence in order to appeal to students’ different learning styles, to reinforce different kinds of learning (memorization, repetition, analysis, etc.) and to promote independent thinking.
• Gets students to create their own tests, thereby ensuring that they are familiar with exam techniques and question types.
• Attempts to make grade descriptors to limit subjectivity in marking and seeks feedback from more experienced colleagues to refine these.
• Puts students into carefully considered groups, adopting grading mechanisms to encourage stronger learners to help weaker ones to perform to the best of their ability.

Advanced:

• Can use assessment strategies that are integral to measuring learning outcomes without students seeing these as ‘tests’, but just as another means of learning.
• Conducts pilot tests with control groups in order to ascertain that tests are actually monitoring the learning that they purport to monitor.
• Involves students in assessing their peers, offering feedback and mentoring, closely supervised by the teacher.
• Writes grade descriptors which are precise enough for standardization of examiners to yield valid and reliable results.

Expert:

• Involves students in constructing grade descriptors and ensures that stronger ones can use these with some degree of accuracy.
• Shares her expertise with colleagues to improve the quality, validity and reliability of departmental examinations.
• Can assess examinations from other universities and offer feedback to improve these.

Research:

Seeks to enhance her subject knowledge by conducting research individually or in collaboration with colleagues. Involves herself in action research on effective learning and teaching techniques with her classes, sometimes in cooperation with her students and other faculty. Shares knowledge about research methodologies with her students and colleagues, carefully considering the theoretical foundations on which these are based. Publishes regularly in peer-reviewed journals so as to contribute knowledge either to her subject area or that of pedagogy, and to enhance the reputation of IUBAT.

Starting Out:

• Enquires about research methodologies, weighs up their various strengths and weaknesses and speaks informatively about these.
• Is keen to collaborate with more senior colleagues in their fields of research, when these coalesce with her own interests.
• Can critique research methods and assumptions used in published research and reflect on their pitfalls, thus preparing for her own research at a later date.
• Can delineate research proposals in precise and manageable ways, so that it is clear where research is heading.

Functional:

• Can use the more common research tools to explore areas of her own field of interest, including those relating to the effectiveness of her own teaching and her students’ learning.
• Can manipulate statistical data in ways which conform to conventional practice.
• Is aware of observer bias and can take steps to reduce its impact on qualitative research, including FGDs and individual interviews and questionnaires.
• Is fully conversant with issues related to plagiarism and guides her students as to ethical use of others’ opinions and research in their own work.
• Executes small-scale research, seeking advice from more experienced colleagues.

Operational:

• Can explain complex methodological issues in research methodologies to her students, alerting them to common failings they might not fully have considered.
• Encourages students to use research methodologies and to reflect on their shortcomings in small-scale research of their own.
• Actively uses action research in her own classroom (or with colleagues in theirs) to inform and improve the effectiveness of classroom learning and teaching.
• Seeks opportunities either individually or in collaboration with colleagues to publish, but this in order to add to extant knowledge, rather than publishing for its own sake.

Advanced:

• Actively pushes the research agenda in her own department ahead, thereby contributing to the reputation of IUBAT.
• Engages colleagues and students in research either in her own subject area or in effective learning and teaching methods, encouraging reflection, ethical treatment of others’ work and of the subject group being studied, with a view to publication.
• Challenges peer-reviewed articles with courtesy but also academic rigour.

Expert:

• Attracts funding from outside sources for research within her department, thereby contributing to the reputation of IUBAT and to its revenue streams.
• Works to set IUBAT up as an exemplar of principled, rigorous and useful research so that it is recognized as a leader in her field in the academic context of Bangladesh and further afield.

Analytical Thinking:

Deconstructs complex issues into their component parts and so analyses risks and opportunities they present. Evaluates and makes logical conclusions, anticipates challenges and evaluates different approaches to solving problems.

Starting out:

• Gathers and links information relating to the risks, benefits and opportunities of a situation.
• Identifies cause and effect relationships.
• Breaks down tasks into their component parts.

Functional:

• Collates and reports information relating to the risks, benefits and opportunities of a situation.
• Identifies trends and exceptions. Identifies possible causes and effects of potential courses of action.
• Prioritises information according to its importance or seeks guidance on this. Refers information which is of urgent or great importance to colleagues.
• Identifies the relations between components.

Operational:

• Coordinates information gathering and reporting of the risks, benefits and opportunities of a situation through research.
• Reviews trends and can evaluate these against organizational expectations. Can identify and prepare organisational responses to expected questions and issues.
• Prioritises many issues and opportunities simultaneously.
• Identifies and anticipates issues that may not be immediately evident but are likely to occur in future.

Advanced:

• Determines criteria by which risks, opportunities and benefits are assessed and evaluated.
• Identifies links between different sources of data and analyses fundamental causes and effects of actions and situations.
• Can anticipate consequences of issues that have not yet arisen and plan action to manage these.
• Builds teams in order to evaluate issues and come up with diverse solutions. Shares knowledge and analytical insight with her teams and fosters development of this skill in others.
• Presents concise, well-reasoned and researched reports and PPTs to senior managers so that they are fully informed of issues.

Expert:

• Determines organizational goals and priorities from synthesizing large volumes of unorganized data. Creates frameworks for the review and analysis of data and shares these with her teams.
• Delves deeply into subtle and complex issues and evaluates potential solutions and their consequences in the short-, medium- and long-term. Informs senior managers of her findings in detailed and yet concise reports.
• Trains her teams to apply analytical systems to solving issues and ensures succession management in her department.

Initiative and Innovation:

Has the core knowledge, skills, willingness and imagination to be able to innovate. Understands the organizational culture of IUBAT and is aware of the sensitivities that change processes may impinge upon. Carries through on projects until they are complete. Can work both individually and collaboratively to ensure successful design, implementation and evaluation of projects.

Starting Out:

• Is open-minded and prepared to try out new solutions that are different in attitude and approach from more traditional and usual ones. Is not made insecure by new approaches and ideas.
• Seeks clarification where she does not understand the implications of new ideas or solutions. Asks questions to elucidate her understanding.

Functional:

• Applies new information to challenges at work. Shares information with managers and discusses its potential.
• Is not too heavily influenced by current practice and traditional ways of operating but can call on others’ and own previous experience and reading to consider new approaches.
• Actively contributes to team brainstorming on the potential of new approaches but also listens to others’ perspectives with an open mind.
• Researches evidence to support and challenge both traditional ways of operating and new approaches.

Operational:

• Recognises when the customary way of doing things needs modification and researches new approaches, using her previous experience and that of others to modify her opinions, even if this comes from outside IUBAT.
• Synthesises different ideas and approaches to contribute to the framing of suitable strategy for change specific to IUBAT, its staff and organizational culture and values.
• Thinks independently but shares her ideas with others and is openly supportive of others’ initiatives when these coalesce with her own views.
• Researches evidence for and against current and prospective practice and analyses impact on the University from different perspectives.

Advanced:

• Generates ideas through information gathering and analysis, whether these are developed within or outside the organization.
• Actively promotes her own ideas and those of her team if she believes these will benefit the University. Defends her position against criticism but is open to improvements suggested by others to her innovations.
• Presents succinct and informative reports on her and others’ ideas with senior managers.
• Leads and supports others to consider and generate new ways of doing things, encouraging creativity in her team.

Expert:

• Generates ideas through information gathering and analysis, whether these are internal to the University or external, and plans for their successful implementation with senior managers.
• Leads by demonstrating innovation that advances the efficiency and effectiveness of the organization and acts in ways that encourage others to generate fresh perspectives and new opportunities.
• Takes calculated risks in trying something new and commits personal investment to innovation even though outcomes may be uncertain.

Communication Skills:

Expresses considered, rational and concise messages verbally and in mail and reports in accurate and fluent English and Bengali, taking her audience or readership fully into account. Listens with empathy and is sensitive to unexpressed motivations and feelings. Uses non-verbal communication (such as hand gestures, eye contact and movement) to emphasise the message she wishes to deliver. Is persuasive. Understands when to disseminate and withhold information from specific listeners and readers.

Starting Out:

• Consistently tries to improve the accuracy and fluency of her English language skills. Is proactive in seeking out correction and tips for improvement. Understands that the effectiveness of her spoken and written English and Bengali depends on changing register to take account of the audience and readership.
• Listens to what people have to say and records the information accurately. Separates main points from supporting examples and evidence.
• Understands when communication needs to be referred to a higher authority and is quick to act on this.
• Is polite, informative and honest both to internal and external customers and always seems to have time to deal with them.
• Writes basic reports (although these need checking both for content and language) for internal consumption.

Functional:

• Improves her English language skills both in terms of accuracy and fluency with effort and perseverance. Welcomes correction and advice on ways to improve. Makes an effort to adapt her use of English and Bengali to her audience and readership.
• Listens actively and reads between the lines of what people say or write to grasp underlying feelings and motivation with intelligence and sensitivity. Shows empathy but can also be firm.
• Deals with communication both from internal and external customers promptly, efficiently and informatively. When she refers a communication to others, she chases up to ensure that it is being dealt with.
• Has good customer care skills and puts clients’ needs above her own ‘to do’ list when dealing with them.
• Checks that others have understood her meaning by asking discreet questions and clarifies when this is necessary.
• Writes informative and researched reports for internal dissemination (although these may need checking for content and language) and seeks feedback on how to improve them.
• Generally understands which information should be disseminated or withheld. Can be relied upon not to gossip or divulge confidential information.

Operational:

• Has adequate language skills to communicate fairly fluently with listeners and readers with some accuracy, employing largely appropriate register in both formal and informal contexts. Still perseveres with her studies in English for further improvement and seeks feedback to do so.
• Listens empathetically and asks probing but sensitive questions to elicit relevant information, also noting her interlocutor’s body language and judging any unspoken feelings and motivations.
• Shows her interlocutors that she cares, is knowledgeable and efficient. Inspires confidence and acts so as to confirm this impression.
• Seeks ways in which to make the customer’s visit or call as useful and speedy as possible. Does not ask for people to return unless essential and then has all the information they require. Suggests to her line managers ways in which customer care can be improved.
• Writes researched, concise reports for internal dissemination and can respond to the public or colleagues by email without her text needing checking.
• Knows what information should be withheld or disseminated and does not gossip or release confidential information.

Advanced:

• Has good language skills in both speaking and writing and can adapt her vocabulary and syntax to her interlocutors, whether individuals or large groups. Has excellent presentation skills. Can be concise and also elucidate. Actively improves her English language skills through home study.
• Can deal with any internal or external customer, regardless of their status, with politeness and empathy but also with firmness when needs be.
• Can represent the University at fairly high level meetings and be relied upon to create a good impression.
• Writes well-researched and argued reports which are full but concise and which can be shared both within and outside the organisation.
• Knows when to speak and when to listen. Can be trusted with confidential information and maintains close but professional relations with staff and stakeholders.

Expert:

• Has excellent language skills but wears these lightly, although she still reads and listens to maintain and improve these skills. Is an experienced, interesting and informative presenter and negotiator.
• Can represent the University at the highest levels both privately and publicly or in the media.
• Judges when to disseminate information and fosters this skill in others.
• Writes informative and persuasive reports in highly accurate and fluent English and is seen as a mentor and guide in this field by other staff.

Team work:

Contributes ideas and effort to team projects so that her contributions complement others’. Is encouraging to shy or more junior members of staff and convinces them that their ideas are sought and valued. Concentrates on colleagues’ skills, rather than their weaknesses. Encourages whole team participation. Knows when to lead and when to let others do so. Welcomes opposing viewpoints to her own and is not defensive about her opinions.

Starting Out:

• Works best with those she gets on well with but tries to collaborate with others too.
• Shares information with colleagues in her team.
• Offers support and advice to those who request it.
• Respects others’ skills and perspectives and makes this explicit to them.
• Acknowledges others’ contributions and does not seek to portray these as her own.

Functional:

• Works well with all members of the team and contributes to brainstorming sessions. Expresses her own initiatives but also helps others’ elaborate on theirs.
• Actively disseminates useful information to other members of the group and relates this to other aspects of the project. Uses others’ ideas to enrich her own plans and acknowledges their contributions.
• Offers support and advice to others without being asked.
• Encourages others by stating admiration and respect for their abilities, opinions and contributions.

Operational:

• Actively builds relationships with other members of the team by demonstrating respect for their strengths and offering support in other areas. Contributes enthusiastically to the group verbally and in writing.
• Seeks input and information from others in the group and outside it so that projects might be enriched by diverse viewpoints.
• Encourages all members of the group to contribute according to their strengths but is quietly supportive of those who find this hard.

Advanced:

• Actively builds relationships with other members of the group by valuing their contributions and involvement and supporting them. Also involves others outside the team so that they become interested in the group’s projects and support their efforts, despite differences in interests and job role.
• Collaborates with others with different agendas, interests and perspectives to enrich the project, rather than pushing her own idea at the expense of others’ contributions. Creates systems and channels by which others outside the team can share its knowledge and offer their own perspectives.
• Manages conflict within the team which might be impeding its progress by bringing it out into the open and dealing with it sensitively but firmly.
• Empowers others, whatever their status, to contribute ideas and innovations, whether these are in line with her own opinions or conflict with them.

Expert:

• Sets priorities to meet IUBAT’s mission and vision and ensures that these are handled punctually and fully.
• Champions decisions and solutions that benefit the wider organization, even when at the expense of her team or when these are unpopular. Makes sacrifices for the overall benefit of IUBAT, rather than being territorial.
• Is able to evaluate ideas that impinge on the welfare of the entire institution and come up with solutions that might fall outside the purview of her team or are detrimental to its interests.

Customer Service Orientation:

Makes time to find out others’ opinions, feelings and priorities. Is equally concerned with internal and external stakeholders’ perceptions and satisfaction. Demonstrates interest in and care for others’ as people, not just as students, parents or employees. Shows empathy and inspires confidence and trust.

Starting Out:

• Puts the customer’s needs before her own work schedule. Adapts her priorities to reflect customer needs.
• Listens carefully and tries to put herself in the customer’s place in dealing with her queries and concerns.
• Adheres to organizational standards in responding to mail courteously and punctually. Keeps her promises to visitors about providing information in a timely manner.
• Records conversations and mail so that records exist and can be referred to in future as a situation demands.

Operational:

• Customer satisfaction is at the core of her job role and she does not lose sight of this when preparing to deal with both internal and external customers.
• Takes time to understand customers’ feelings and priorities and puts herself in the customer’s place better to understand his perspectives. Demonstrates empathy and concern.
• Filters peripheral issues out from central concerns and focuses on these. Does not confuse symptoms with causes.
• Recommends changes to organizational procedures when these are no longer suitable to the effective functioning of the University.
• Records all dealings with internal and external customers and documents her recommendations as to courses of action to take.

Advanced:

• Never loses sight of the central role of students, parents, colleagues and other stakeholders in her job role.
• Differentiates between peripheral issues and central concerns and responds to causes, realizing that the symptoms will disappear when the underlying causes are dealt with.
• Ensures that complaints are dealt with fairly, promptly and efficiently, even when these need to be dealt with by other departments.
• Brings about changes in procedures when customary ways of doing things no longer meet customer expectations about quality.
• Organises documentation about customer service by cross-referencing issues.

Expert:

• Ensures that high standards of customer service are employed by all members of staff in her department. Brings breaches of these standards to the notice of individual officers and recommends training where necessary to remedy staff deficiencies. Refers examples of poor customer service in other departments to their heads.
• Monitors the frequency and gravity of individual complaints, reports back on these to senior managers and implements changes in procedures and policy to deal with them.
• Tackles organizational deficiencies at their root. Does not only deal with rectifying symptoms.
• Insists on accurate, up-to-date records and encourages staff to refer to these frequently when dealing with the public.
• Empowers staff to recommend alterations in procedures and policies where they believe these fall short of high institutional standards.

Leadership:

Embodies organizational values and vision in her thinking and actions. Inspires others to follow suit. Consults, delegates, and supports. Encourages involvement in decision-making but accepts overall responsibility for departmental shortcomings. Sees these as learning opportunities for her team and herself. Knows when to let others take the lead. Is active in ensuring succession management.

Starting Out:

• Tries to lead her classes, to establish class contracts, to engender a learning atmosphere and to encourage independent learning.
• Sets an example as a keen student herself.
• Tries to set her stamp on the class through essential classroom management.
• Leads by encouragement, not coercion.

Functional:

• Knows when to lead from the front and when to step back to allow others to do so. Appreciates that leadership sometimes means following those more knowledgeable than herself.
• Is not defensive of her role as a some-time follower. Understands the importance of brainstorming and sharing responsibility for decision-making.
• Attempts to involve all members of her classes in decision-making, assigning to each tasks that are achievable and accord with their personal preferences.
• Knows when to challenge students and when to boost their confidence.

Operational:

• Manages her own anxieties and appears confident to others. Is aware of her own feelings and manages her reactions and responses carefully.
• Behaves consistently and according to her own values and beliefs. Models optimism and a ‘can do’ attitude to tasks.
• Keeps staff informed of developments relevant to their job roles and welfare. Communicates what needs to be done and why. Explains the reasons for decisions and how these might affect the department and individual job roles.
• Actively seeks contributions on decision making from all members of the department. Encourages the expression of different perspectives, even if these conflict with her own.
• Focuses the team on key priorities and sees things through to the end. Always responds promptly and fully.
• Obtains resources for the team so that they can do their jobs efficiently and well.

Advanced:

• Takes action to nurture staff commitment and involves them in decision-making. Encourages them to take responsibility and does not blame when things go wrong but supports staff in learning from their mistakes.
• Leads by example and models the vision and values of IUBAT. Works towards getting others to buy into these and consistently explains how the team’s work supports wider strategies and aims.
• Makes sure that different departments are acting harmoniously in accordance with the vision and values of the institution.
• Portrays her team in a positive light to others and promotes its successes. Builds on the team’s reputation.
• Nurtures a climate of frankness, trust and solidarity among staff by treating groups and individuals with respect, honesty and sensitivity.
• Allows staff to do their jobs without constantly intervening but is available to guide when support is requested or needed.

Expert:

• Inspires others by her example and promotes buy-in to IUBAT’s vision and values. Presents herself as ultimately accountable. Takes action to modify the vision according to changing social needs.
• Involves external stakeholders in the University and communicates institutional vision to them. Builds on IUBAT’s reputation by consistently promoting it and emphasizing its commitment to the highest quality and standards.
• Anticipates changing needs and frames the University’s response to these.
• Demonstrates personal courage and integrity in promoting issues which may be unfashionable or unpopular but are the right thing to do. Publicly challenges the status quo when the situation demands.
• Has confidence in others and demonstrates this by giving them responsibility. Nurtures others’ development.

Author: Dr Mark Bartholomew

1. Phil in Economic History

University of Oxford

 IQAC of IUBAT/June 2018