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Abstract
Deficiencies in workplace basic skills (Froeschle & Theis, 2009) is said to generatebarriers to entry-level, experienced, and dislocated employees entering organizations; yet little
literature exists on identifying skills required to fill vacant positions. The purpose of this study
was to engage stakeholder dialog to explore, identify, and compile the required fundamental
competencies of logistics warehouse workers and to add to the contemporary literature regarding
those competencies in the warehouse industry, which is currently scarce. A three-round Delphi
method, a technique that uses a series of questionnaires and first-hand knowledgeable
participants was used for this study beginning with an open-ended question in which participants
identified 116 competencies. The competencies were presented to the participants in Round 2
and where they were asked to use a Likert-type 5-point priority scale to rate the items “4”
essential to “0” not a priority. Consistent with Delphi studies, the median and the interquartile
range (IQR ≤ 1) were used to indicate the level of agreement for each item (Ab Latif et al., 2016;
Hasson et al., 2000; Hsu & Sandford, 2007). Quartile deviation (QD) was used to determine the
dispersion on the middle 50% of the data. Items with an IQR=1, while considered to have
consensus were submitted back to the participants on the Round 3 questionnaire with those having an IQR>1. The identification of required fundamental competencies can guide an
organization in the alignment of job duties, descriptions, and announcements which can provide
job applicants with the required skills expectation and assist the organization in attracting the
right talent to fill vacancies. The data collected in this study revealed that only 31 of the 116
identified required competencies from Round 1 remained “essential” in priority by the end of
Round 3. These findings are not an all-inclusive list of essential competencies for all industry,
including the warehousing industry. This study may facilitate ongoing communication and
inspire additional studies on competency identification that may assist organizations with job
alignment, alignment between supervisors and upper management expectations, potential
employee expectations, and areas of training and development.