II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter presents the literature and studies that

are pertinent to the present study. In this aspect, the

researchers made some readings and surfing to the Internet

regarding the relevant articles and studies that is very

helpful in gaining a broader background and knowledge and

have bearing on the study.

RELATED LITERATURE

Foreign literature

The analysis of how individuals obtained and are paid

for their skills is fundamental to labor economics. The

basic idea of human capital theory is that workers and firms

invest in workers’ skills in order to increase their

productivity, must as persons invest in financial or

physical assets to earn income. Workers develop many skills

through formal education not tied to an employer, but an

important part of their skills are learned on the job.

Employees acquire skills on the job in a variety of ways.

They may train formally in classes, informally by co-workers

27

or supervisors, or they may become more productive without

direct training as a result of learning by doing.

“H. Francis and M.A. Loewenstein, Foundations and Trends in

Microeconomics, Now Publishers, Inc., Hanover MA, USA, 2006,

pp. 1-2.”

One of the features of working life today is that

whatever education and trainings obtained at the start, it

will almost certainly become redundant or obsolete during

one’s working lifetime. The need to train, and to acquire

new knowledge, new skills, and new attitudes has become an

everyday aspect of each individual’s working life. In some

cases, these may merely be an updating process, but in

others, it will require a change from one occupation to

another.

“Boella, Michael, & Gross-Turner, Steven, Human Resources

Management In The Hospitality Industry: An Introductory

Guide, Elsevier (Singapore) Pte Ltd., p.119”.

Most people have faced the challenge of learning new

knowledge and skills as part of their job. Training programs

are designed to make this learning easier and less

threatening. Yet, training is not meant to benefit

28

individual employees only. The organization expects benefits

from employees’ training. In fact training helps insure that

employees can do what the organization asks of them. Thus,

training is ultimately about the issue of developing high

levels of employee and expertise.

“Ronald L. Jacobs, Structured on-the-job Training, Berret –

Koehler Publishers, Inc., 235 Montgomery Street, Suite 650,

San Francisco, California, 2003, p.3”

According to Elippo, “Training is a continuous process

of increasing knowledge and skills for doing a particular

job. It is processed to which employees learn knowledge and

skill and the purpose of training is basically to bridge up

the gap between job requirements and competence of

employees.”

“Shipra Sharma, Functional Management, Think Tanks Biyani

Group of Colleges, 2009, p. 89”

In simple terms, a competency is a tool that an

individual can use in order to demonstrate a high standard

of performance. Competencies are characteristics that we use

to achieve success. These characteristics or traits can

include things like knowledge, aspects of leadership, self-

29

esteem, skills or relationship building. There are a lot of

competencies but they are usually divided into groups. Most

organizations recognize two main groups and then have

numerous sub groups which competencies can be further

divided into. There has been a lot written about

competencies. It is easy to see how people can become easily

confused by what a competency actually is. It is also

essential that people in the world of business have a clear

understanding of what different competencies are and, in

particular, which competencies are of interest to them –

either as an individual interested in self-development – or

as an employer looking for the best candidate for a job.

Competencies can be divided into two distinct types;

technical competencies (sometimes referred to as functional)

and personal competencies. As the name suggests, technical

competencies are those which are related to the skills and

knowledge that are essential in order for a person to do a

particular job appropriately. An example of a technical

competency for a secretary might be:“Word processing: able

to word process a text at the rate of 80 words per minute

with no mistakes.”  Personal competencies are not linked to

any particular function. They include characteristics that

30

we use together with our technical competencies in order to

do our work well. An example of a personal competency

is: “Interpersonal Sensitivity: Demonstrates respect for the

opinions of others, even when not in agreement.”

“https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/business-

magazine/introduction-competencies, para. 2-3”

It can be difficult to form a clear and cohesive

picture of what training or internship is like, especially

if you never participated in such experience before. One

factor that contributes to its difficulty is the fact that

internship can take many forms. Students work full days,

five days per week in their placements, and their curriculum

is arranged so that no other coursework interrupts the day.

“Pamela Myers Kiser, The Human Services Internship: Getting

the Most from Your Experience, Third Edition, 2012, p.2”

Various researchers investigate the expectations of

students and employers towards the internship program.

Tackett et al. mention four specific areas, namely, ethics,

oral and written communication skills, office conduct and

technical skills where interns and employers have

conflicting perceptions. Students hope to receive monetary

31

rewards and be treated as regular employees. However,

employers are not willing to treat interns’ employees and

thus, normally assign duties that are more appropriate for

college.

“Tackett, J., Wolf, F., & Law, D. (2001), Accounting interns

and their employers: conflicting Perceptions, Ohio CPA

Journal, 60, pp. 54 – 56”

The Four Stages of Learning provides a model for

learning. It suggests that individuals are initially unaware

of how little they know, or unconscious of their

incompetence. As they recognize their incompetence, they

consciously acquire a skill, and then consciously use it.

Eventually, the skill can be utilized without it being

consciously thought through: the individual is said to have

then acquired unconscious competence.

The four stages are:

Unconscious incompetence

The individual does not understand or know how to

do something and does not necessarily recognize the

deficit. They may deny the usefulness of the skill. The

individual must recognize their own incompetence, and

32

the value of the new skill, before moving on to the

next stage. The length of time an individual spends in

this stage depends on the strength of the stimulus to

learn.

Conscious incompetence

Though the individual does not understand or know

how to do something, he or she does recognize the

deficit, as well as the value of a new skill in

addressing the deficit. The making of mistakes can be

integral to the learning process at this stage.

Conscious competence

The individual understands or knows how to do

something. However, demonstrating the skill or

knowledge requires concentration. It may be broken down

into steps, and there is heavy conscious involvement in

executing the new skill.

Unconscious competence

The individual has had so much practice with a

skill that it has become "second nature" and can be

performed easily. As a result, the skill can be

performed while executing another task. The individual

33

may be able to teach it to others, depending upon how

and when it was learned.

“Flower J (1999). "In the Mush". Physician Exec 25 (1): 64–

6”

Dreyfus and Dreyfus introduced nomenclature for the

levels of competence in competency development. The

causative reasoning of such a language of levels of

competency may be seen in their paper on Calculative

Rationality titled, "From Socrates to Expert Systems: The

Limits and Dangers of Calculative Rationality". The five

levels proposed by Dreyfus and Dreyfus were:

Novice: Rule-based behavior, strongly limited and

inflexible

Experienced Beginner: Incorporates aspects of the

situation

Practitioner: Acting consciously from long-term

goals and plans

Knowledgeable practitioner: Sees the situation as

a whole and acts from personal conviction

Expert: Has an intuitive understanding of the

situation and zooms in on the central aspects

34

“Dreyfus, Stuart E.; Dreyfus, Hubert L. (February 1980). ”A

Five-Stage Model of the Mental Activities Involved in

Directed Skill Acquisition”

The process of competency development is a lifelong

series of doing and reflecting. As competencies apply to

careers as well as jobs, lifelong competency development is

linked with personal development as a management concept.

And it requires a special environment, where the rules are

necessary in order to introduce novices, but people at a

more advanced level of competency will systematically break

the rules if the situations require it. This environment is

synonymously described using terms such as learning

organization, knowledge creation, self-organizing and

empowerment.

Within a specific organization or professional

community, professional competency, is frequently valued.

They are usually the same competencies that must be

demonstrated in a job interview. But today there is another

way of looking at it: that there are general areas of

occupational competency required to retain a post, or earn a

promotion. For all organizations and communities there is a

35

set of primary tasks that competent people have to

contribute to all the time. For a university student, for

example, the primary tasks could be: Handling theory,

Handling methods, and Handling the information of the

assignment.

“wikipedia.org/wiki/Competence_(human_resources), May 2010,

para. 12, 13”

The four general areas of competency are:

Meaning Competency: The person assessed must be

able to identify with the purpose of the

organization or community and act from the

preferred future in accordance with the values of

the organization or community.

Relation Competency: The ability to create and

nurture connections to the stakeholders of the

primary tasks must be shown.

Learning Competency: The person assessed must be

able to create and look for situations that make

it possible to experiment with the set of

solutions that make it possible to complete the

primary tasks and reflect on the experience.

36

Change Competency: The person assessed must be

able to act in new ways when it will promote the

purpose of the organization or community and make

the preferred future come to life.

“iosrjournals.org/iosr-jhss/papers/ICIMS/Volume-1/8.pdf, pp.

1”

Local Literature

Group of business organizations in the Philippines

defines competencies as the measurable or observable

knowledge, skills, abilities, and behaviors (KSABs) critical

to successful job performance.

They provide a list of choosing the right competencies

allows employers to:

Plan how they will organize and develop their

workforce.

Determine which job classes best fit their

business needs.

Recruit and select the best employees.

Manage and train employees effectively.

Develop staff to fill future vacancies.

37

According to them, Competency types have developed:

Knowledge Competencies - practical or theoretical

understanding of subjects.

Skill and Ability Competencies - natural or

learned capacities to perform acts.

Behavioral Competencies - patterns of action or

conduct.

They also define competencies in different manners:

In Job Descriptions 

Job descriptions explain the duties, working conditions,

and other aspects of a job, including the competencies

needed to perform the job's essential functions. Position-

specific competencies are determined through the process

of job analysis, and are documented in the Position

Description (PD) form. These competencies form a basis for

recruiting, hiring, training, developing, and managing the

performance of employees.

  In Recruitment, Assessment, and Selection

38

Describing desired competencies in recruitment

announcements gives job seekers a clearer picture of what

jobs entail. Competencies also provide the foundation for

assessment and selection techniques, including exams,

interviews, and reference checks.

In Employee Performance Management 

Competencies allow supervisors to more fully describe

to employees their performance expectations. Competency

descriptions show employees what level of knowledge and

skill mastery is required to successfully perform job

duties, and what behavioral standards must be consistently

demonstrated. Washington State's Performance and Development

Plan includes competencies in both the expectations and

evaluation sections.

In Training and Development

Done well, competencies allow supervisors to choose and

prioritize training courses and other learning opportunities

for employees. Training courses often describe the

competencies students should be able to demonstrate by the

end of the class. Likewise, most on-the-job and other

39

developmental assignments are designed to build certain

knowledge and skills. Knowing how class content and

developmental activities build mastery helps supervisors to

'map' each position to a specific training and development

plan that fosters growth in required competencies.

 

In Career and Workforce Planning 

Competencies play a key role in workforce

planning efforts. Knowing which competencies the future

workforce must possess to achieve business goals and

deliverables helps organizations plan and design:

o Organizational structure.

o Recruitment strategies.

o Training budgets and development plans.

o Job assignments and individual performance plans.

 

Employees can also use competencies to plan a career

path. Knowing which competencies are critical for certain

promotions allows employees to request training and

development opportunities and seek out specific feedback and

coaching.

40

“hr.wa.gov/WorkforceDataAndPlanning/WorkforcePlanning/

Competencies/Pages/default.aspx”

According to Philippine Human Resource your competence

is what interests your present or future employers. Do not

build your career on too narrow competence. Keep an eye on

what happens in your field of technology to prepare in

advance for changes.

Learn to live with uncertainty. It is very difficult to

know for certain today what kind of competence will be

usefulfive years from now.

Do not forget that in addition to your technical

competence, other types of skills and knowledge are also

important in the working life. Learn about the world,

society and people – that will make a better-rounded

person. In the working life, successful completion of tasks

often requires a multidisciplinary approach. Examples of

useful skills are business, financing, management,

leadership, sales & marketing, communication skills,

interpersonal skills, negotiation, organising, foreign

languages, teaching / training / coaching, project

41

management, customer relationship management, writing

(project /research reports, articles), legislation, foreign

cultures, patents, quality. Age is not an obstacle. You are

never too old to start to learn. Learning can be hard work –

at any age - because learning is not just doing, listening

or reading. Learning requires thinking and processing what

you have done or read. People like to process things in a

different way. Someone reflects best alone. Another one else

likes to have a livelygroup discussion. A third person gets

a clearer picture and deeper understanding through writing

or drawing mind maps.

Sharing experience and knowledge with your colleagues

is an important way of learning. It is also often a

requirement since many projects are complicated and multi-

faceted – impossible for just one person to manage.

Gopinoy.com provides some ways to develop your

competence. Find how you can develop your competence to keep

employers interested in you. Below there are some ways. On

the job learning and training is an important way of

developing competence.

42

Participate in new projects / working groups in your

workplace.

Attend training courses / seminars / conferences in and

outside your company.

Pursue doctoral studies.

Study for another complementary degree.

Read and study on your own, use e-learning

possibilities.

Do web research on specific professional items.

Write articles in magazines, scientific periodicals or

on the web to make you known as a professional.

Learn through networking and discussion groups inside

and outside your company / organisation.

Join expert groups of technical organisations.

Reflect on what you have done and learned. That will

deepen the knowledge and help you look at things from

new angles. Share and communicate your knowledge and

expertise in professional groups, engineering

associations by giving lectures, coaching or training.

“feani.org/site/index.php?id=157”

RELATED STUDIES

Foreign Studies

43

The generic skills needed for the new economy were

identified through a review of research studies. First, the

development of sets of key competencies/key skills in Great

Britain, the United States, and Australia were examined. The

U.S. model, which involves a broader, more flexible, and

more holistic set of generic skills, was contrasted with the

Anglo-Australian model, which has resulted in a more

narrowly focused and instrumental set of key skills/key

competencies that are broadly similar. Next, the

implications of key contextual shifts for generic skills

were considered. The following topics were discussed: the

emergence of the new knowledge-based economy and the impact

of new technologies; the consequent pressures for lifelong

learning and maintaining employability; changes in the

workplace; and initiatives to foster an enterprise culture

and innovation. The following were among the key

conclusions: (1) there is no international consensus

regarding identification of the essential generic skills;

(2) fostering generic skills requires active learning

strategies in which learners assume responsibility for their

own learning; and (3) direct and indirect evidence of the

impact of generic skills on business performance exists.

44

”Kearns, Peter (2001), Generic Skills for the New

Economy.Review of Research.”

In the last decade, the need for change in accounting

education has been extensively written about and discussed.

Fifteen years ago, the chairmen of the Big Eight Firms

issued a white paper entitled Perspectives on Education:

Capabilities for Success in the Accounting Profession. This

paper was intended to focus attention on the need for

accounting education to emphasize broad skills, to identify

knowledge required to understand public accounting, to

suggest changes in the manner in which accounting education

was delivered and to become competitive globally. One of

their recommendations was that students should be active,

independent learners and problem solvers rather than passive

recipients of information.

This study is based on two related premises. First, we

believe that the stronger the business and professional

background possessed by students, the more confident and

motivated they will be to take an active, independent role

in their education. However, it is also our belief that the

typical 18-23 year old accounting student brings little

45

profession or business context to the study of accounting.

Taken together, these two beliefs suggest that a significant

benefit of an internship experience is that, by

strengthening the professional and business context of

accounting students, the internship experience will

facilitate more active, independent learning and problem

solving by the students.

“The Accounting Educators’ Journal, Volume XVI, 2006, pp.

129 – 130”

Supelveda in his research investigated the role of

formal training programs in productivity growth. He

conducted research on US manufacturing industries from 1988

to 1997 to investigate the factors affecting the formal

training on – the – job training on productivity. It was

found out that it depends on the skills possessed by each

respondent which gives him the factors affecting the

training like – teacher factor, in developing students

unprogressively skills.

“Supelveda, F. (2005), “Training and Productivity: Evidence

for US manufacturing industries”

46

Preparing faculty for teaching in a variety of

technology settings with a variety of communication media

requires both common and unique methods. While traditional

faculty roles have included course conceptualization, course

delivery, course management and evaluation, it is not

necessary that all faculties perform all these tasks.

Collaborative effort, focused on differentiated staffing

emphasizing individual strengths may indeed be one advantage

of technology-facilitated education. Moreover, too many

expectations for faculty, without appropriate training and

support, can create a significant barrier to faculty use of

technology. From the review of some available faculty

development systems, it clearly stands out that there is

still a need for well organized, living, interactive

environment, where teachers are encouraged and supported in

becoming technology-used, in being able to retrieve

pertinent information, in being able to set up and organize

effective instructional activities and resources. So faculty

should participate as learners, observers and active

practitioners in setting the educational strategies, then

contribute with information or lessons, in order to go

through all the steps involved in the instructional design.

However, such a system cannot be the result of private

47

initiatives; institution should provide convenient and

supportive faculty development opportunities aimed at high

quality educational experiences. The discussion of this

paper has led to identify some new skills and roles required

to perform effective activity in educational technology.

These new roles have already found their professional

opportunities in the new emerging job market, as is seen by

the presence of the job opportunities in IT field already

available on the Internet. In this paper, we also treated

the issues of staff development for the use of Information

Technologies in education, which has proved to be an

essential starting point, for the educational technology

applications. The argumentation hassled to a referential

model for the staff involved in the development of networked

based courses or activities. This model highlights a schema

of potential modules, to train the team following a schedule

time-line. The aim of this training is to cover all the

necessities of a networked-based course development,

including real team working and on-the-field experiences.

“Department of Electronics and Telecommunications University

of Florence, Information Technology and Staff Development:

Issues and Problems Related to New Skills and Competence

Acquisition”

48

Local Studies

According to the study of Morales, business firms

provide practically unlimited opportunities for individuals

to find gainful employment and to reap rewards commensurate

with their own establishment a much greater number prosper

as employees. Although career opportunities are widespread,

the problem to most young men and women in selecting

suitable employment is just complex as the economic system

that provides their jobs.

“Oliver H. Morales, Employment Requirement of Selected

Business establishment in the Santiago City.”

According to Nicholas, to inform the employment office

about the existence of a vacancy to be filled, the line

supervisor or the department head concerned should

accomplish a formal acquisition form, indicating the facts

and the information about the vacancy to be filled, such as

the date when the new employee will be needed, his rate of

pay, the required qualification of the employee, approval by

the responsible official of the firm and other data.

49

Recruitment is the process by which prospective

applicants are induce to apply to the company in order that

their qualification for present and anticipated vacancies

can be evaluated through sound screening and selection

procedures to make the selection truly discrimination, there

must be several qualified applicants from whom the final

choice can be made. The change of finding the individual

most qualified for the jib can be better achieved if there

are several applicants to select from.

“Edilberto M. Nicholas, The Recruitment, Selection and

Placement Practices in the Philippine Coconut Authority,

Region 2.”

According to Cabarong, that majority of those who

applied for jobs in business firms learned about the

vacancies through former employees and from their relatives.

The applicants were made to fill up forms and went through

all steps of the selection process and procedure. Most often

preliminary interviews were not undertaken. The applicants

were made to have employment test. Also the business

corporation as found out offered very limited type if

50

training program for job enrichment and there was specific

assignment of responsibilities.

The National ICT Competency Standards (NICS) define the

knowledge and skills an individual must possess at a

recognized level of competence in specific ICT fields/areas.

Knowledge and skills in competency areas are presented

generally with specifics on essential areas of learning and

performance indicators, but avoid reference to specific

vendors, versions or equipment. Thus, it allows flexibility

in the adoption of the standard while preserving the general

requirements for competence.

”ncc.gov.ph/nics/index.htm, n.d., para. 1”

Synthesis

Job preparation includes the characteristics earn in an

organization such as skills which involve social skills like

communication skills and learning skills. Developments in

society and economy require that educational systems equip

young people with new skills and competencies, which allow

them to benefit from the emerging new forms of socialization

51

and to contribute actively to economic development under a

system where the main asset is knowledge. These skills and

competencies are often referred to as 21st century skills

and competencies, to indicate that they are more related to

the needs of the emerging models of economic and social

development than with those of the past century, which were

suited to an industrial mode of production.

It is important to have skills and competencies that a

company needs for job employment and preparation to adjust

on a working environment. We need to train ourselves and

develop our skills before internship so we can cope up with

the characteristics that are required in a certain job

because it will serve as an edge or advantage for more

effective and efficient work.

Competencies are also what people need to be successful

in their jobs. Job competencies are not the same as job

task. Competencies include all the related knowledge,

skills, abilities, and attributes that form a person’s job.

This set of context-specific qualities is correlated with

superior job performance and can be used as a standard

52

against which to measure job performance as well as to

develop, recruit, and hire employees.