Managerial competencies identification and development are important tools of human resources management that is aimed at achieving strategic organizational goals. Due to current dynamic development and changes, more and more attention is being paid to the personality of managers and their competencies, since they are viewed as important sources of achieving a competitive advantage. The objective of this article is to identify managerial competencies in the process of filling vacant working positions in knowledge-based organizations in the Czech Republic. The objective was determined with reference to the Czech Science Foundation GACR research project which focuses on the identification of managerial competencies in knowledge-based organizations in the Czech Republic. This identification within the frame of the research project is primarily designed and subsequently realised on the basis of content analysis of media communications such as advertisements -a means through which knowledge-based organizations search for suitable candidates for vacant managerial positions. The first part of the article deals with theoretical approaches to knowledge-based organizations and issues on competencies. The second part evaluates the outcomes of the survey carried out, and also summarizes the basic steps of the application of competencies. The final part summarizes the benefits and difficulties of applying the competency-based approach as a tool of efficient management of organizations for the purpose of achieving a competitive advantage.

Employee performance appraisal is one of the most important human resource management tools. The first part of the article concentrates on the theoretical background. The second part evaluates the results of the quantitative survey. The aim of the article is to evaluate the use of formal appraisal of employees in agricultural organizations in the Czech Republic and to test dependencies between selected qualitative characteristics. The results of the survey show that only 12.3% of agricultural organizations (n = 332) use formal appraisal of employees. They also confirm that the application of the formal appraisal of employees in agricultural organizations depends on the size of the agricultural organization (p-value 0.006, Phi coefficient 0.151) and the existence of a personnel department (p-value 0.000, Phi coefficient 0.210). 49.1% of agricultural organizations did not consider formal appraisal important. Only 5.8% of agricultural organizations that do not use any system of formal employee performance appraisal plan its implementation, despite the fact that currently people are considered to be the most important strategic asset of any organization for achieving a competitive advantage.

The study focused on the relations between the partial evaluation and the final grade. The investigation has been done on a group of 269 students of the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague, in the course of Mathematical Methods, who have to go through a strictly defined evaluation scheme. The results of statistical analysis confirmed that there is no influence of gender and branch of study to the final grade. The analysis of the relations between the final grade and the partial evaluation during the semester and by the examination test showed that the final grade is mostly dependent on the oral exam, i.e. the face to face evaluation of the student is deciding for passing or failing the exam. The research proved that the partial evaluation including on-line testing does not replace the deciding role of the teacher.

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The article focuses on the relationship between the use of employee training and development and the competency-based approach. The objective of this article is to evaluate the use of the competency-based approach in employee training and development in organisations in the Czech Republic based on long-term research (n = 1,360) since the year 2013. The results showed that the competency-based approach in the management of organisations is utilized by only 21.8% of the organisations. An important finding is that 93.2% of organisations using the competency-based approach support employee training and development. The results confirmed that there is the relationship between the use of the competency-based approach and training and development in the organisation (p < 0.001, Cramer’s V = 0.178) and also between the use of the competency-based approach and evaluation of training and development efficiency in the organisation (p < 0.001, Cramer’s V = 0.299).