Skill Deficiency - Definition & Meaning

Published in Human Resources Terms by MBA Skool Team

What is Skill Deficiency?

Skill deficiency at the workplace is if a person lacks the necessary & basic skills & business knowledge, which are necessary to carry out the mandatory duties required at the workplace to reach the organizational goals (which are based on the learning ability of an individual). Skill is defined as the ability of an individual to learn or acquire things through deliberate and sustained efforts and with it carry out the job functions be it cognitive, technical or interpersonal.

Skills are broadly categorized into: Cognitive (ideas), Interpersonal (people), Technical (things). Deficiency is a lack or shortage of something. 


Why is it Important?

The pace of the workplace is changing rapidly with the implementation of new technologies, to move ahead and be at a competitive edge it’s very important that the employees are in sync with the newest technology and latest trend so as to make themselves competitive. Having a good skill set is required at each and every level in an organization be it the managerial level or the labor class. It’s very important for the HR people to understand the implications of changing trends like globalization, downsizing, re-engineering, workforce diversity employee engagement etc. Having the right skill set leads to higher productivity, quality management etc. Since with the increase in the number of jobs will require the employees to have higher education level and better skill set, it’s the job of the HR folks to communicate the same to the community so that when these people join the workforce they contribute significantly to it. The gap between the skill shortage and deficiency needs to be addressed quickly.

 

How Business gets affected because of this?

Having a workforce which lacks the necessary skills to carry out a job affects the business and profitability in a severe manner, it leads to

(a) Low productivity

(b) Poor quality of products

(c) Errors which are an expense the business

(d) Accidents and injuries at workplace

(e) Time loss for the management as well as the workers

(f) Increased customer complaints.


Following can be done to cater to the problem of skill deficiency:

(a) Skill testing which will serve as a benchmark to determine the current skill set of the employees and accordingly the problem can be addressed.

(b) Investing in T&D (training and development) to equip the employees better.

(c) Providing the right environment and right tools to develop themselves.

 

Hence, this concludes the definition of Skill Deficiency along with its overview.

This article has been researched & authored by the Business Concepts Team. It has been reviewed & published by the MBA Skool Team. The content on MBA Skool has been created for educational & academic purpose only.

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