Copyright © 2018 Authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. International Journal of Engineering & Technology, 7 (4.9) (2018) 132-136 International Journal of Engineering & Technology Website: www.sciencepubco.com/index.php/IJET Research paper The analysis of competency based for indonesian construction labourers Mohd Fahmi Jaes1*, Khairunesa Isa2, Abd Rahman Ahmad3, Rosman Md. Yusoff4, 1 Faculty Science, Technology and Human Development, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, 86400 Parit Raja, Batu Pahat, Johor 2 Centre for General Studies and Co-Curricular, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, 86400 Parit Raja, Batu Pahat, JohoR 3 Faculty Technology Management and Business, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, 86400 Parit Raja, Batu Pahat, Johor 4 Centre for General Studies and Co-Curricular, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, 86400 Parit Raja, Batu Pahat, Johor *Corresponding author E-mail: fahmijaes@yahoo.com Abstract Competency is considered a crucial factor for an organisation to compete in a challenging construction environment. From an organi- sation perspective, it becomes a competitive advantage for a company. For the labourers, it becomes an advantage to compete in get- ting a job and earning a higher salary. The objective of this study is to identify what are the job specifications of Indonesian construc- tion labourers in terms of KSAo (knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics) elements and to identify competency levels among 300 samples by using questionnaire as an instrument of research. Results showed that most of them are experienced, able to contribute by giving ideas, able to communicate in Malay, as well as competent. However, majority of them do not have a green card, having little to no education background and difficulties in communicating in certain languages. This reflects in their low salary. Keywords: Competency; Construction Workers; Performance 1. Introduction Competency is a way of how a person put into practice their knowledge in a specific context of jobs. From a scientific view, knowledge is defined as what a person learns through observation and experience, which can be translated into skills (1). Further- more, learning new skills and knowledge are acquired. There are different definitions on the concept of competency. Jacobs (2) defines competency as a required skill or ability in order to complete any managerial jobs successfully. Strebler (3) define competency as an essential task to define what sort of train- ing are required. However, all definitions are similar and agreed on the three fundamental characteristics which are resources, con- text, and objective (4). According to Harzallah & Vernadat (4) , there are three main categories for resources; knowledge, know- how, and behaviours. Knowledge is something that is acquired through study or experience and kept as intellectual knowledge. Know-how involves personal experience and work place condi- tions. Lastly, behaviour are personal characters that make one to react under certain conditions. Competency has been seen as an advantage as it can makes a job more dynamic, flexible and always changing the organisational environment (5). Furthermore, Agut, Grau (6) highlighted that competency mapping should be crucial analysed as the require- ment of training which was to identify the gap between current performance and required performance (7). This gap is illustrated in the diagram below: Required performance – Current performance = Gap competency Fig. 1: Gap Analysis However, a study conducted by Wright and Geroy (8) highlighted that further training is not a requirement when the gap between required performance and current performance have been identi- fied. Nonetheless, there are some authors who affirm that when performance gap is widened because of skill deficiency, training is required (8-10). 2. Literature Review 2.1. Competency and Performance Competency is a common practice in any organisations. In the United States of America, competency approach is vital in human resource management (11, 12). According to Gangani et. al., (13), competency encompasses of knowledge, skills, behaviour, person- al characteristics, and motivation, which resulted in success when doing a particular job. Therefore, it can be said that the more com- petent employees an organization has, more productivity can be achieved. According to Hoffmann (14), elements of the human performance model can be used to define competency as illustrated in Figure 2: Fig. 2: A Situation-specific Model of Human Performance Based on the above model, a job situation takes place when certain expected performance or action is required to achieve any given task. Competency is determined when we need to act and other- wise based on circumstances. In the meantime, individuals depend on characteristics such as knowledge, skills or attitudes to respond depending on the situation. At the stage of providing feedback, it depends on situational well-identified observations. In addition, the person needs the necessary underlying attributes to deliver the