Towards a Data Driven Competency Management Platform for Industry 4.0 Kadri-Liis Kusmin Tobias Ley Peeter Normak Tallinn University Tallinn University Tallinn University Narva mnt. 25 Narva mnt. 25 Narva mnt. 25 Tallinn, Estonia Tallinn, Estonia Tallinn, Estonia +372 529 8776 +372 5684 0534 +372 640 9423 kusmin@tlu.ee tley@tlu.ee pnormak@tlu.ee ABSTRACT that supports innovation through inclusion of workers into Technological and social advancements have brought us to the workplace development processes [8]. Looking at the realities brink of the 4th industrial revolution. With the rapid expanse of today, it is clear that we are still far away from this vision. The automation and intelligent machines, the workplace as we know it inclusion of all stakeholders into the shaping of Industry 4.0 is not is changing. This could lead to greater inequality and massive a reality today. Particularly, inclusion of workers into their personal recruitment challenges as societies are simultaneously facing an and wider workplace development is not the usual case in increase in unemployment as well as growth of talent shortage. The companies today. It seems digitization is rather seen as a threat to development of a unified competency management platform is workers, putting pressure on them to adapt to new demands of the proposed that serves as a communication layer between the labor market. The responsibility for upskilling and “lifelong stakeholders interested in retraining and upskilling of the workforce learning” appears to be shifting more and more from educational in light of these challenges. To provide the basis for companies to institutions and companies to individual workers. employ this platform and implement a competency framework, an In this paper, we would like to make one step into this visionary instrument for the initial competency gap mapping was created and future. We present a case study of an Estonian ICT company a case study is presented where the instrument was used to gain (Proekspert) in which some of the ideas of worker inclusion into insight into stakeholder perceptions about and interactions around workplace development have already been realized. We use the competency definition and management in the context of an ICT case study to explore, how in such a setting workers can be included company. into the future planning process. We use the definition of competencies needed in the context of Industry 4.0 as a case to CCS Concepts examine how such planning could be conducted. In the long run, Applied computing ➝ Education ➝ Learning management experiences gained in this and other case studies should inform the systems design and development of a unified platform for competency definition and planning around which a fruitful dialogue of all Keywords stakeholders can happen. Industry 4.0; competency management; lifelong learning The paper is structured in the following way. First, the background 1. INTRODUCTION of the research is provided, including an overview of the social At the brink of the 4th industrial revolution, Intelligent machines are challenges brought about by the new industrial era, previous studies getting smarter and cheaper, enabling the human workforce to on competencies in Industry 4.0, and existing approaches and focus on less repetitive and more challenging tasks [1]. This shift technologies for novel competency management methods. Based will introduce new risks and demands by triggering changes in the on the background information, a common platform is proposed for core competencies of certain professions [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. The shelf new-age competency management. The second part of the paper life of these employees' skill sets is rapidly decreasing which leads gives an overview of a case study carried out in an ICT company to massive recruitment challenges: societies are simultaneously with the objective to prototype an instrument to map the perceived facing an increase in unemployment as well as growth of talent competency gap in the context of an organization and thus help shortage [1, 6]. Preventing a labor force crisis requires decisive companies to initialize a competency framework. Finally, findings steps to be taken regarding the education, including retraining and from the case study are provided and the limitations of the current upskilling, of the workforce and restructuring education systems [1, study and plans for further studies are discussed. 5]. To support the continuous education of the workers, the 2. BACKGROUND development of new standards for assessing formal and informal The corresponding term “technological unemployment” dates back learning is critical [4]. If the concurrent high skills instability is not to the First Industrial Revolution in the 19th century. Regardless of dealt with in time, industries will be led to massive recruitment the fears at the time, economies have adapted to these massive challenges and talent shortage, already happening now and changes in labor markets. For the current changes, it is near expanding rapidly over the next five years [1]. impossible to predict the long-term impacts but it is clear that policy Summarizing from the above, it means that the education system makers are facing a race between technology and education. To win needs to shift from preparing students for a job to preparing them this race, it is important to encourage the necessary retraining and for a career [2] and their development should cover the full life- upskilling of the workforce. [2] cycle from professional onboarding until retirement [7]. This can This requires the continuous cooperation of all stakeholders: be achieved by establishing an organization and cooperation culture individuals, employers, governments, policy makers, education and training providers, and unions [9]. Schools and companies need to Table 1. Set of aggregated Industry 4.0 competencies by their collaborate to devise and implement new formal and non-formal categories [3] programs, and also promote informal learning [4]. In order for this Category Required competencies process to be sustainable, it is important to keep the qualification profiles of occupations up-to-date with new emerging Technical State-of-the-art knowledge, technical skills, requirements. For this, business organizations can provide valuable process understanding, media skills, coding input, such as requirements forecasts and labor force evaluation skills, understanding IT security feedback. Besides helping develop curricula, this gives Methodological Creativity, entrepreneurial thinking, opportunities to create additional projects for upskilling existing problem solving, conflict solving, decision workforce to meet the new requirements. Meanwhile, it is the making, analytical skills, research skills, governments’ and policy makers’ task to establish a supporting and efficiency orientation enabling environment [9]. Social Intercultural skills, language skills, 2.1 Studies on Competencies for Industry 4.0 communication skills, networking skills, The term Industry 4.0 (Industrie 4.0) was initially introduced at the ability to work in a team, ability to be Hannover Fair in April 2011 and thus the research regarding compromising and cooperative, ability to Industry 4.0 is at its very early stage, and the scientific resources transfer knowledge, leadership skills rather scarce. Although even scarcer, the existing research on Personal Flexibility, ambiguity tolerance, motivation competencies in Industry 4.0 provides a solid basis for further to learn, ability to work under pressure, development. sustainable mind-set, compliance [1] is one of the first reports to estimate the changes to As can be seen in the table, many competencies required in the competencies and worker development in light of the industrial context of Industry 4.0, are not technical skills usually found in the advancements. The report is based on a large-scale survey that was curricula of vocational schools or universities. In addition, each carried out with the aim of getting a deeper understanding of the competency in the table could have a different notion in different expectations regarding future jobs, work and skills to provide companies that may itself change in time. For example, in one guidance to businesses, governments and civil society company coding skills may mean proficiency in the C++ organizations, including education providers. Over the course of programming language while in another it may be the ability to the first half of 2015, the survey was responded to by 371 individual compose instruction sets for a particular device. Thus, the companies, with the sample representing over 13 million competencies in the table serve as abstract groups that can have employees across nine industry sectors. [1] multiple values. Another, easier example can be drawn with natural [2] emphasizes the role of digital skills in new-age competency languages instead of programming languages: one company may development and proposes changes to the core principles of today’s require fluency in Estonian while another in English, but both of education. They argue that educational organizations should focus these belong under language skills. Such general frameworks are on building foundational cognitive and socioemotional skills and helpful because they can guide competency definitions for Industry ensuring that the students acquire basic ICT literacy and problem- 4.0, but they are not sufficiently detailed to help stakeholder solving skills, as opposed to learning certain skills required for a inclusion into the process. However, they can be used as the initial job. As labour markets are changing rapidly, the latter risk basis to define an organization’s competency requirements and map becoming obsolete. The skills students learn should provide a the existing competencies in more detail. strong basis for continuing learning while already employed. [2] [10] analyzed employee competencies for employees with higher A study carried out by the European Parliament states that Industry education in Industry 4.0 and created an Industry 4.0 competency 4.0 workers would most possibly be graduates from a STEM model based on the SHL Universal Competency Framework (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) background but (UCF). They argue that for a successful transformation towards in addition to strong domain-specific competencies they will also Industry 4.0, the needed competencies need to be clearly defined, be required to excel in general competencies, such as managerial and the job profiles for engineering, information technology and skills, understanding of the specific industries and the information systems employees need to be adjusted and updated interrelatedness of different industries across value chains, supply [10]. The final competency model comprises of 64 competencies chains, and processes. There will also be a higher demand for and differentiates between Information Systems, Computer Science excellent communication skills to promote team work and customer and Engineering curricula graduates. Some competencies were relations. All these new competency requirements advocate the seen important for only a specific group of graduates, however, development of entirely new qualifications that comply with the many competencies were seen as interdisciplinary, including but interdisciplinary nature of the work. This means that new learning not limited to decision making, leadership skills, teamwork, content and didactic methods need to be established and included problem solving and creativity. into professional education and lifelong learning. To support the To establish a common language for ICT competences, skills and continuous education of the workers, the development of new proficiency levels across Europe, the European Commission has standards for assessing formal and informal learning is critical. [4] developed the European e-Competence Framework (e-CF) To help stakeholders meet the arising challenges, authors in [3] classifies 40 competences for ICT professionals. The most recent have carried out an extensive literature overview and used the version, e-CF 3.0 was finalized in 2014 and consists of 40 PESTEL framework to analyse the macro-environmental competencies that are allocated into five ICT areas: plan, build, run, challenges and considered their political, economic, social, enable, and manage. [11] Although thorough, the framework only technical, environmental, and legal factors. Based on this analysis, focuses on technical competencies and the “soft” competencies they developed a holistic Industry 4.0 competence model with 4 identified through Industry 4.0 research are not in the scope of e- major categories: personal, social, methodological, and technical CF. Another aspect to consider is that the framework was released competencies. in 2014, only 3 years after the first introduction of the term eDidaktikum is not bound to any university or school. This means “Industry 4.0” and thus it is reasonable to assume that the term was that even after receiving her or his qualification, the user can not widespread during the research and development phases of the continue using the system and participate in courses. This is an framework. example of true lifelong learning that prepares one for a career, not The current study is based on the competency model by [3] due to a job. Another interesting aspect of eDidaktikum is that it is tied to its focus on Industry 4.0 and compact scope. Although [10] also national qualifications. The teacher competency model used for provide a strong basis for further work, the number of the pilot is distributed into logical sub-sections and based on that, competencies in the model exceeds the capacity of the current teachers and students can mark down, which competencies a study. Another reason is that the model focuses on three specific learning activity or evidence covers. [14] Thus, eDidaktikum ICT curricula: Information Systems, Computer Science and provides opportunities for continuous development towards the Engineering. Our study, however, focuses on competency competency aspirations of an individual. development that takes place during employment and includes The Learning Layers Project is directed toward developing employees with less specific academic background: in addition to technologies that support informal learning in the workplace with engineers we are also interested in the competency requirements for the focus on Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs). Drawing designers, user experience specialists and other novel professions on a large-scale stakeholder-driven co-design approach [15] within in ICT. Regional Innovation Clusters, they have developed modular and Due to rapid changes in the core competencies triggered by recent flexible technological layers for supporting workplace practices technological and social advancements, labour market competency that induce and facilitate mass collaboration within and across these gap is growing ever faster. This can only be relieved through the enterprises. The concepts and technologies developed help to cooperation between all stakeholders. It is critical that academic bridge the gap between scaling and adaptation to personal needs. organizations, training providers and entities responsible for [16] The tools that Learning Layers provide encourage and professional standards receive constant and up-to-date input from facilitate the development of many worker competencies, not just business organizations. This way the competency development of technological, but also the “soft” competencies, including but not workers can be supported throughout their careers by multiple limited to communication, teamwork, knowledge transfer, problem stakeholders in an integral manner. solving. APOSDLE, Advanced Process-Oriented Self-Directed Learning, is 2.2 Technologies and Approaches for a project focused on work-integrated learning (WIL) in which case Competency Management learning is an intentional or unintentional by-product of the time Industry 4.0 is causing a shift from traditional industrial spent at the workplace performing work tasks [17]. APOSDLE engineering methods to data-driven functions and cyber-physical focuses on empowering workers to learn while carrying out their systems [5]. Based on this principle, also the human resource work-related tasks, through task learning, task execution and management in Industry 4.0 context could adapt their methods to domain-related support, and competency-gap based support [18]. introducing novel or implementing new technologies for The resulting APOSDLE environment provides learning guidance connecting learning more directly with job demands [1]. Some through its components. For example, it uses smart algorithms to companies have already adopted this approach and through help users find resources relevant to their work and previous cooperation with universities they have built and implemented experience, including potential other users who might have novel technologies to support worker learning and knowledge advanced knowledge in the area the current user is working in [17]. management. When looking at these four examples in a unified system, IntelLEO For example, IntelLEO, an ICT research project was initiated with would provide the basis for planning and organizing the the aim of developing intelligent technologies that support learning competency development of workers while considering the and knowledge-building (LKB) activities in Intelligent Learning objectives of both the individual and the employer. IntelLEO also Extended Organization (IntelLEO). The main objective of the includes other important stakeholders, such as the academic project was to enhance motivation of learners by employing organization which promotes communication between the technological tools that utilize the synergy between services for interested parties. APOSDLE environment and the underlying efficient management of collaborative LKB activities and access to theoretical principles can be used to model competency gap directly and supply of shared content, and harmonization of individual and connected to worker task execution, and promote work-integrated organizational objectives [12]. Motivation is one of the primary learning through semi-automated tools. Learning Layers and factors that affect an individual’s engagement in learning and eDidaktikum would provide the tools for informal and formal knowledge sharing [13] and thus it is important to align the learning respectively. In addition, eDidaktikum provides the competency development objectives of the individual and her/his functionality to map employee competencies against competency organization. Another important aspect of IntelLEO is its structure models. If used in combination, the different systems and principles that combines different business and educational communities and would provide a good basis for a more holistic competency organizational cultures: industrial, research and educational [12]. development. This means that in an IntelLEO, several stakeholders are included at the same time, advancing and strengthening their communication 2.3 Towards a Competency Management eDidaktikum is an environment initially intended only for teacher Platform for Industry 4.0 education with the objective of facilitating the exchange and To advance a data-driven approach to learning and competencies collection of didactic information within and across universities. the existing systems could be integrated through a common The main aspects of achieving this are the systematization of communication layer and supplemented with additional information, cooperation and social learning, and personal functionalities. This would result in an integral and unified development and evaluation. competency management platform that would serve as a central service for all the stakeholders involved in competency development processes. The platform would provide a standard human and computer readable list of categorized, grouped and governing teams (Figure 2). Each team serves their own customer versioned competencies for stakeholders to use in their competency and is in many aspects autonomous. In terms of Industry 4.0, such management systems. They would be provided with a toolset to flat structure increases the employee participation and the speed of assess whether them or their employees possess certain communication, thus contributing into innovation processes and competencies to help map their competency gaps. Based on this worker learning [19]. data it would be possible to visualize labor market competency gap. Proekspert was selected as a suitable case because it is an ICT For example, business organizations could have a clear overview company that has prior knowledge about Industry 4.0 and thus the of available (existing) competencies mapped against needed or employees have already formed a partial understanding of the aspired competencies. In addition, the data gathered from changes that it will trigger. Another reason for choosing Proekspert recruitment portals would give a clear overview of the needed is its innovative attitude towards the workplace. For example, the competencies and trends. Academic and training organizations company does not have a managerial level. Additionally, the could supplement this data to visualize future competency company has adopted a holistic view on employees’ lives: it is a availability estimations and trends. Based on their personal common belief at Proekspert that employees perform the best when competency aspirations, the competency gap of the stakeholders, their work and personal lives are in balance. In this sense, the and the labor market need, stakeholders would be given suggestions company fits very well our focus on worker inclusion. on their personal development. All this helps to plan future activities. For example, smaller companies can cooperate when We interviewed the workers to get a deeper understanding of how developing niche competencies: order joint trainings, and organize they perceive the competencies identified by [3] and the gap workshops and seminars. Governments can identify which between a competency’s importance and availability. This is vital competencies they should support through their initiatives. input when choosing or creating methods for identifying the Therefore, the competency management platform can be competency levels of workers and finding out the gap in the market considered as a hub connecting through different services various or an organization. stakeholders and communicating with other relevant information 3.2 Methodology of the Case Study systems as depicted on the following Figure 1. The participants of this study were a convenience sample of employees from the company. The group consisted of nine people of different age and professions. While the exact age of participants was not asked, their ages fell in the range of 21-40. From the gender perspective, participants were almost equally balanced with four female participants. When asked for how long the participants had been working in their area of expertise, most of them selected the range of 2-5 years. There were also participants who had been working for 1-2 years and those with experience for 10-20 years. The participants were either developers, designers, analysts or product owners, or engineering excellence specialists. The researcher responsible for data collection is employed at Proekspert. The data was analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative methods. For qualitative data, content analysis was carried out Figure 1. Exemplary platform communication diagram where keywords were drawn from the free text entered by the participants and notes written down by the researcher. The When compared to the examples drawn in the previous chapter, a keywords were collected using Annotations software by Balcony number of the elements that would constitute the platform have Production. Based on keywords, themes were composed to help already been conceived. The main challenge, however, will be to interpret quantitative results. Quantitative analysis was done using conceptualize it as a “central” platform that all stakeholders agree IBM SPSS Statistics software. While multiple methods were used to use, and around which stakeholder dialogues and negotiations to gain insight into the data, the findings provided in the current can happen. We have conducted a case study in which these article are based on means comparison through T-tests. stakeholder interactions around competency definition and management have been studied. In this case study, we concentrate 3.3 Conducting the Case Study on the Workers and the Business Organizations as a first set of stakeholders. In subsequent studies, we will address other 3.3.1 Analyzing the Context of the Case stakeholder groups as well. Each Proekspert employee is provided with a training budget that is mostly used for professional training, but there have been cases 3. CASE STUDY: COMPETENCY where employees have taken courses not directly related to their DEVELOPMENT IN PROEKSPERT professions. The philosophy of the human resources team regarding worker development is that promoting competences that the worker 3.1 Selection of the Case needs in non-professional life will go a long way to improve the We carried out the first case study in Proekspert, a software design person’s contentment with both her/himself and the employer. and development company. Being founded in 1993, only two years Emotional intelligence development is promoted, to increase a after the Estonian independence was re-established, Proekspert is person’s ability to identify, assess and manage the emotions of one of the oldest software development companies in Estonia. The one’s self [20]. This will, in Proekspert’s philosophy, result in a company focuses on multiple areas, one of them being future more motivated worker who is enthusiastic and willing to manufacturing. The key characteristic of Proekspert is its contribute to the company culture and community. Albeit hierarchical flat structure – there are no managers or departments Proekspert strives to be a company of engineering excellence, the in this company but instead the company is divided into self- “soft" competencies of workers are not neglected. The company provides various trainings for social empowerment and emotional data to the central competency management platform. Statistics of intelligence empowerment, encourages self-development and this information may prove valuable for companies who are mentoring other workers. Employees are viewed as the most actively recruiting as it gives a good insight into what workers valuable resource of the company and thus they are included in the mostly value in their employers. These are but a few examples of core processes of the company strategy. novel internal tools that are used in Proekspert to advance the For example, employees are encouraged to participate in long-term competencies and overall work life of the organization. Thanks to strategy planning. When planning the strategy for 2020, a series of its openness and interest in continuous improvement, Proekspert workshops was held that focused on the strategic factors that would makes an engaging case for studying and propagating a new-age help towards the next level in company development, and organization culture. employees were invited to nominate, prioritize and describe these 3.3.2 Application of the Competency mapping factors. instrument An interactive instrument based on Poll Everywhere software was created to map Proekspert’s competency gap. The mapping takes place in a seminar format where participants are asked to bring their own devices: laptops, tablets or mobile phones. The questions are displayed on a large screen together with real-time results. Discussion is encouraged and in case of participant consent, sessions are recorded on audio. There were 5 types of questions: multiple choice questions, Likert scale questions, freeform questions, rank order questions, and clickable image questions. The questions were divided into five logical categories. The first category of questions was used for warm-up. As the Poll Everywhere environment was new to all participants, it was decided to practice different question types. For Figure 2. The hierarchy of a manager-free team-centered example, to practice clickable image questions, the participants organization. AM – account manager, HR – human resources, were asked to click the circle that represented their mood in the IT – IT support, QM – quality management. Source: following Figure 3. Proekspert AS internal documentation Another example of inclusion is the recruiting culture of Proekspert. When a team finds they need additional resources, they contact the human resources specialist who will find out whether there are any available employees in-house who could join the team. When there are no available resources, the HR specialist finds Figure 3. Example of a warm-up question to practice the data- potential new recruits who are then interviewed with at least one collection instrument. Image source: Poll Everywhere team member present. Although there are many parties included in the process, it is usually the team that makes the final decision. The second category comprised of personal questions. Participants were asked about their profession, gender, age and track record in Proekspert has developed several internal tools to create the field of ICT. The third questions category focused on how transparency regarding employee competencies and the skill sets participants perceived competency development. This included needed for existing and potential new projects. For technical competency mapping, Proekspert has developed the internal questions about the frequency of having to learn new competencies; product Pulse that provides the functionality to enlist oneself for different difficulty levels of developing “soft” and “hard” new challenges, and spread information about potential new competencies; stakeholders of competency development; the projects. In a way, the tool acts as an in-house recruitment portal competency gap of the organization and labour market. The where users can specify their competencies and past experience. questions from the last two categories were asked alternately: the first one was a freeform question where participants were asked to Project leads can then filter employees with the required skill-sets elaborate on what indicates that a person has the respective and invite them to participate in new projects. At the same time, competency. Again, discussion was encouraged and in some cases employees can search through the projects and apply for the team if they find it interesting. The ultimate goal for developing internal the corresponding competency description from [3] was read to HR tools is to provide a better overview of worker competencies, clarify the term. The second question was a clickable image existing projects and resource allocation, which in turn improve the question where participants were asked to map the importance and sales process, financial estimations, and provide a better basis for their self-assessed level of a competency. The image depicted a 3x3 grid matrix that can be seen in Figure 4. developing organization strategy [21]. If integrated with the proposed platform, Pulse could be used to collect data to visualize Although there were nine distinct areas mapped onto the image, the the real-time technical competency gap in Proekspert. location of clicks was tracked in pixels and percentages. This For “soft” competencies, Proekspert uses another internal tool feature in the software was quite useful as the scale of the grid proved to be too small: in some cases, the click was deliberately HappyMe that allows users to assess their own and their team made in a very extreme corner of the corresponding area to show members’ competencies, set goals and give feedback. These data strong conviction. This was taken into consideration when are compared and visualized to users. This tool is also used to gather data about employee satisfaction towards the company and interpreting data. It is also important to point out that during the overall values of the employees. This data is used to align the quantitative analysis the scale of these types of questions was from company strategy to the overall culture of its employees. Similarly “low” to “high” (1...3) and that there was no option for the to Pulse, HappyMe could be used to gather real-time competency respondents to mark that they lacked the competency entirely. This was due to the belief of the researchers that everyone possesses indicate that for the participants, teamwork skills incorporate some low-level proficiency in every competency. several other competencies. The competency gap of teamwork was 0,2 as the average perceived importance was 2,8. The lowest priority for the participants were intercultural skills with the importance assessment of 1.8. While the interpretations of this competency were unanimous with the themes being awareness and empathy, there are two explanations to this this low assessment. First, the sample only consisted of Estonians who have not met intercultural issues. On the other hand, the working language of the company is English, which helps avoid language and communication barriers. The self-assessed level of intercultural skills was 2.0, making the competency gap -0.2. It was one of the three competencies where the perceived level was higher than importance, the other two being process understanding and efficiency orientation. The competency with the lowest self-assessed level was Figure 4. Competency importance and self-assessed level networking with an average level of 1.5, while its importance was matrix deemed medium, with a score of 2.2. The highest competency gap between average importance and average level was understanding 3.3.3 Results and feedback IT security with a gap of 1.1. Only one participant assessed her/his The participants were asked whether they feel that their employer IT-security understanding skills to be high. The interpretations of supports the development of their competencies. Out of 9 understanding IT-security were closely tied to the three participants 4 agreed and 5 said that they agree in most part. When fundamental aspects of cyber security: availability, confidentiality asked about the benefits that the employer gets from worker of integrity. The average importance levels and self-assessments of competency development, one of the main keywords was competencies can be seen in the following radar chart (Figure 5). efficiency, but some softer aspects were also considered. For example, it was suggested that through competency development As can be seen in the figure, all categories have competencies of the employer will have a worker who is in a better place with her/his different priority levels. The category with the highest average life and through this will be a stronger contributor to the company competency priorities is the methodological category that also has culture. According to participants, the additional entities that the highest cumulative competency gap. This kind of visualization benefit from their competencies include themselves, their families, could be beneficial for the organization when planning new friends and colleagues, and hopefully the future. On a professional trainings or deciding between potential recruits. Coming back to level the beneficiaries include the clients of the employer, the the competency management platform, these visualizations could society, local municipalities and the government. be used for generic competency gap as was presented in the current study, but also to visualize the gap in very specific competency The highest competency priority for the participants was problem areas. If enough organizations would provide their data, it would be solving, which was unanimously evaluated to the highest possible to visualize future trends and plan how to mitigate importance level (3.0). It was also one of the cases where potential competency shortage issues. It would also give participants clicked in an extreme area of the grid: three participants individuals good indications on which competencies to develop to had placed their markers in the high top border of the area. The be more valuable in the labor market. interpretations followed four major themes: understanding the problem, finding suitable solutions, creativity and persistence. While perceiving problem solving as the most important competency, the participants also evaluated their own problem solving level as the highest, along with teamwork skills – both competencies were evaluated to an average level of 2,6. Thus, the competency gap of problem solving is 0,5. The reasoning of such high prioritization and self-assessment of problem solving skills may lie in the nature of day-to-day work in ICT domain. The issues that ICT workers tackle on a daily basis are not limited to only coding and computer issues. As the company focuses mainly on client projects, the employees are working to solve problems inherent to the domains of their clients which in itself raises several other issues, for example finding a common language between business and technical people. The high self-assessment of teamwork skills amongst participants Figure 5. Compiled competency importance and self- can be explained with the company hierarchy described earlier: assessment levels of participants. The different categories are self-governing teams as central units of the company. When visualized with colors: blue – personal, green – social, red analysing the interpretations of teamwork skills, it became evident – methodological, yellow – technical. that most participants had their own unique understanding of teamwork, for example cooperation, understanding the objectives, 3.3.4 Results feedback motivating people, honesty, leadership, cooperation, knowledge The participants and additional stakeholders from Proekspert were sharing, taking responsibility, and empathy. These interpretations shown the compiled competency importance and self-assessment levels diagram shown in Figure 5. The participants’ feedback development. First, this information would help compose well- revolved mainly around recruiting and composing the teams: based balanced teams where members know which competencies are on the competency priorities and levels it would be easier to needed from them. Secondly, it would help the company plan the determine whether a person is suitable for a team or not. It would competency development strategy to be aligned with the needs of also provide both the individual and the team with information of current projects and future leads, while considering the competency what is expected from them – in reality they may possess these aspirations of employees. This would simultaneously mean that competencies but it may very well be that they are not aware that individuals can plan their competency development to be more they need to employ them in the new context. Another aspect that valuable for the company. Finally, all competency development was suggested was to draw correlations between the competency stakeholders would have an overview of the overlap of the strategic priorities and levels, and personality types, for example the Myers- and actual competency priorities and levels, to ensure that the same Briggs Types. values are shared by those responsible for company strategy, and Participants also suggested integrating the functionality of the other employees. It was pointed out by many people that the instrument with the existing internal tools, Pulse or HappyMe. A instrument could be integrated with one or several of the existing concern was brought up in regard to automating the data internal tools of Proekspert. collection: it is important to ensure that the data is frequently 4. FUTURE WORK updated, and therefore the data collection process must be as While the findings of this study may prove a good basis for convenient as possible. To fully employ these data, role profiles developing an instrument to help Proekspert implement a should be created that reflect, which competencies are important in competency framework, many additional aspects still need to be which context. These requirements may differ across professions considered. The instrument created for the study will be improved and are different, for example, for designers and developers. At the based feedback from participants and other stakeholders, and the same time, it also depends on the context of the project. For study will be repeated on a larger scale with the improved example, it may not be necessary to be very innovative in a instrument. For the large-scale study, a more detailed Proekspert- maintenance project whereas in an R&D project innovative mindset specific competency model needs to be developed based on the is crucial. current study, to describe the competencies on a far more specific The board members that were provided with the results focused on level. the company strategy. They deemed it helpful if it were possible to Future work will also include similar case studies in other ICT or similarly visualize the competencies derived from strategic Industry 4.0 companies. As every company has their own nuances, objectives and compare them against the importance, self-assessed competency modelling is different in the context of each company. level, and also the competency aspirations of employees. This This means that the instruments created for this purpose need to be would help in several ways. First, employees would have a clear adaptable to different circumstances. After establishing the visualization of the company’s competency need concerning foundational base for implementing a competency modelling existing and potential projects. This is valuable information when framework in ICT companies, the research will shift to the design planning self-development and aligning one’s interests with the and development of the common competency management ones of the company. It would also help prepare for future sales and platform. deciding on which leads to follow. Finally, the board would have a better understanding on how the importance of competencies is 5. CONCLUSION seen by the board itself, employees specifically working on Industry 4.0 is bringing along a shift in the core competencies strategic planning, and all other employees. In order for the needed in workers. To prevent a labor force crisis, all stakeholders company strategy to work, its values must be aligned with those of must participate in the retraining and upskilling of the workforce. the employees. Based on this visualization, Proekspert could align To promote cooperation and fast movement of competency-related its strategy to conform more to the common values of the information, the development of a common, data-driven employees, or recruit new people that already share the values competency management platform was proposed. The platform derived from the strategy. would serve as a communication layer between stakeholder competency management systems while including several existing 3.4 Results and Implications from the Case systems that provide functionalities for data-driven competency Two concerns were found regarding the instrument. First, the management. competency list based on [3] proved to be too exhausting for the participants. Due to a large number of questions, the seminars To conceptualize it as a “central” platform that all stakeholders lasted over three hours and the participants felt tired at the end. To agree to use, the stakeholders have to be provided with instruments alleviate this, similar future seminars could be divided between to properly initialize the competency framework in their specific multiple sessions. The seminars were held at the end of work days, context. A series of studies will be carried out to understand the so another solution would be to ask the employer to allow different nuances of stakeholders’ perception and assessment of the employees to participate during working hours. The second importance of these competencies in their own contexts. As the first concern is related to the interpretations of competencies. While study, we have conducted a case study in the context of Proekspert, most competencies were interpreted very similarly, some a software design and development company. The study focused on competencies struck a different note in the participants. To help an instrument to map the perceived competency gap in Proekspert overcome these “translation” issues, similar instruments in the by mapping the major themes that become evident when workers future should include some pre-written indicators or guidelines to are asked to explain the indicators of a person’s proficiency in a explain the competency. One option would be to provide some competency. These themes were used to interpret the numerical examples of activities carried out by proficient employees, before importance and self-assessed level of the corresponding asking for participants to provide their interpretations. competencies which in turn were be aggregated into the perceived competency gap in the context of the organization. The resulting data and visualizations were mostly deemed helpful by the participants and other stakeholders of competency Some weaknesses were discovered when testing the instrument [8] D. Buhr, "Social Innovation Policy for Industry 4.0," developed for Proekspert. For example, the competency list, Division for Social and Economic Policies, Friedrich-Ebert- although chosen for its small size, proved to be too exhausting for Stiftung, Bonn, 2015. one session. Another issue arose when interpreting competencies – while some competencies were understood unanimously, some [9] L. Ilie and I. Bondrea, "Changing Labour Market Needs and were seen very differently by participants. the Challenges for Academic Leadership," in Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Management, Leadership When combined with data collected from internal tools, such as the and Governance ECMLG, Bucharest, 2016. aforementioned Pulse and HappyMe, the visualized competency gap can be used to plan future trainings across all employees or [10] L. Prifti, M. Knigge, H. Kienegger and H. Krcmar, "A different profession groups. Integrating the tools with the proposed Competency Model for “Industrie 4.0” Employees," in competency management platform and collecting similar data from Wirtschaftsinformatik (WI), St. Gallen, 2017. other ICT companies would help provide insight into the current state of the labor market. This could be done through visualization [11] European Commission, "The European e-Competence of the overall competency gap across profession groups, overview Framework 3.0," 2014. 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