The direct reason for writing this article was noticing the gap in the theory of management science which directs the prevention activities in enterprises on the state of competences. Though literature and ISO 9000 standards signal the impact of human resource management on quality, the authors notice lack of proposals concerning applying of methods and tools improving the state of competences in quality management. Due to the resourceful nature of competencies, their states have an impact on the quality of the results of the activities (including products). The objective of the article is to identify methods whose use in the quality management will allow to widen the possibilities to improve the state of competences at workplaces. As it is shown in the article, it may be helpful to use the achievements in the fields of competence management, which mostly is not associated with quality management but with knowledge management. In this article selected methods of competence diagnosis are reviewed, which can be included in the repertoire of preventive, research and evaluation activities. The advantages and disadvantages of these methods were analyzed.