ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to diagnose and cluster competency information garnered from previous studies done by the authors on healthcare administration competence. The objective is to cluster competencies into groupings that would be useful for healthcare organizations to use in human resource management systems strategically in pursuing competitive advantage in the industry. Corporate skills have been described as strategic combinations of individual competencies, "hard" organizational factors and "soft" organizational factors. The chapter focuses on the development of competence models in healthcare industry. It describes the encouragement for competence models in healthcare, and discusses competency models and the development of core competencies for hospital staff and for healthcare administrators. Certain interventions designed to enhance competencies among healthcare administrators is explained. The "pros and cons" of two methods are presented for assessing healthcare competencies: standard performance appraisal methods using multiple sources and portfolio methods. The chapter discusses the implications for management, future research directions, and study limitations.
