Skills Management

New Applications, New Questions

Alain Roger, Didier Vinot, Alain Roger, Didier Vinot

• Publisher: Wiley-ISTE
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN:
  9781786303882
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781119579229
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Human Resource Management
• Index: Business

Managing skills is at the core of Human Resources Management. Based on previous literature and realized with researchers from Magellan, the Research Center in Management of iaeLyon, Skills Management examines how skills can be analyzed at the individual and collective levels, and investigates the focus on different types of skills – including technical, soft, learning, leadership and emotional skills.

The book examines how skills management is applied in various contexts and for various populations, cultures and profiles, with examples ranging from middle managers having to develop organizational skills in a changing environment, to engineers having to develop soft skills beyond their technical skills; from police officers developing emotional skills, to the new skills that are needed when a hospital introduces a new approach to shared leadership.

In the concluding chapter, this book also investigates how it is sometimes difficult to focus on skills development when organization needs are focused on flexibility.

Part 1
Varieties of Skills

1
Skills Development at the Heart of the Mentoring Relationship

Given the natural character of change, the development and transfer of skills is proving to be a recurring challenge for organizations. Maintaining and controlling these resources is a competitive advantage and contributes to ensuring flexibility in order to adapt to market developments (Cazal & Dietrich, 2003). Individuals’ support and the enhancement of their skills become, consequently, a crucial need. Our research is in line with this framework of ideas. This chapter focuses on the issues of support practices – in particular mentoring – in the development and dissemination of skills.

Mentoring is classically defined as: “A relationship based on mutual respect between an experienced, recognized and credible person (mentor) and a younger person (mentee)” (Guay, 2002). It allows the mentees to consolidate their professional identity and to benefit from support in order to develop their career. This assistance and learning relationship is at the heart of our question. In this sense, the main objective of our research is to study mentoring through the prism of competence. A literature review will allow us to better apprehend competence, beyond its polysemic notion. The idea is to establish the distinction between the three levels of analysis (individual, collective and organizational) that are linked to it.

Then, we will present the characteristics and challenges related to mentoring practice that constitutes an opportunity for the development and transfer of skills (Fredy-Planchot, 2007). The issue which feeds our thinking is based on the following question: How does mentoring contribute to the development of individual skills and the emergence of collective skills within a company?

1.1. Competence: a “portmanteau” word

Several researchers have lent themselves to the exercise of identifying the notion of competence. The number of scientific writings on the subject leaves little hope to those who would like to advance other simpler formulations. Koebel’s census work (2006) reveals a numerical presentation: “The catalogue of the Institut de l’information scientifique et technique (INIST) is part of the CNRS whose mission is to collect, process and disseminate the results of scientific research and lists, in 2002, 2726 articles containing the word competence in the title”. On the basis of this observation, it should be noted that the plurality of definitions has inspired multiple changes in professional practices (development of competence standards, manpower planning, recruitment and personal assessment, identification of key skills and strategic management, etc.) (Coulet, 2016).

In France, this concept has been the subject of various negotiated agreements, such as manpower planning (2005), senior measures (2010), generation contracts (2013), employment agreements (2014), jobs management, career paths and mix of trades (2015) and so on. In this sense, it would be pointless to go into criticism of the definitions identified in the literature. We will endeavor to shed light on the context of emergence of the notion of competence our wish being, at first, to establish a state of discourse places and of practices using this concept and second, to identify the challenges and the types of skills observed within businesses.

1.1.1. Latest developments

Let us recall first of all that the etymological origin of the term, “competence” derives from the Latin word competens, which means “that goes with”. Thus perceived, competence basically implies a dynamic interaction process (White, 1959). However, the variety of definitions in the literature reveals that it is a term with different facets, which means only what the author wants to say (Zemke, 1982; Le Deist & Winterton, 2005; Murray & Donegan, 2003; Wright et al., 2001).

A semantic identification of the competence concept stresses that this term has been used in varied disciplinary fields: sociology, psychology, education and training sciences, ergonomics as well as management sciences (Murray, 2003). The first literature review around this subject designates the word competence as a sponge-word, which absorbs numerous meanings: “As the sponge absorbs little by little the substances it comes across, the word competence is enriched by all the meaning attributed by those who use it” (Gilbert & Parlier, 1992).

Other authors still highlight its protean aspect by stating that “the plasticity of this term is an element of the social force that it constitutes and of the ideas that it conveys” (Ropé & Tanguy, 1994). The term is sometimes defined as a specific skill, but more often, mainly in sociology, as a set of skills owned by a person in a specific context. This being the case, it should be noted that the introduction of the notion of competence depends largely on national contexts, whether cultural, institutional, legal or economic, in which it is registered.

After presenting the normative definition of this concept, as it is suggested in the English dictionaries, we will present the definitions institutionally proposed by AFNOR, MEDEF and ROME (French operational directory of trades and jobs). Finally, we will refer to the scientific literature on the subject.

1.1.1.1. Standardized common framework – monolingual dictionaries

The first reference that we identify is that of normative dictionaries, which provide a global acceptance of the term competence. In this regard, Larousse proposes the following definition: “In commercial and industrial business, competence is the set of knowledge, qualities, abilities, aptitudes which enable us to discuss, consult and decide on everything that concerns a profession” (Larousse Commercial, 1930).

Petit Robert presents skills as follows: “In-depth, recognized knowledge, which confers the right to judge or to make decisions in certain matters” (Petit Robert).

These first definitions show that skills are similar to knowledge and implicitly depend on the context in which they develop. These meanings – certainly clear – remain very limited.

1.1.1.2. Institutional framework

1.1.1.2.1 MEDEF

In the French context, Zarifian (2009) mentions that the first institutionally established definition of the word “competence” was proposed by the Mouvement des entreprises de France (MEDEF): “Professional competence is a combination of knowledge, know-how, experience and behaviors, exercising in a specific context. It is expressed during its implementation in the professional situation from which it is valid. It is therefore up to the company to which it belongs to locate, evaluate, validate and evolve it”. This definition has undoubtedly influenced the management of enterprises, which are embarked on what, at the time, was called “skills logic”, an expression replaced today by “skills approach” and supported by laws on vocational training, which assigns skills development as the major objective of training policies.

1.1.1.2.2 AFNOR

According to the Association française de normalisation (AFNOR), competence is the “implementation, in the professional environment, of capabilities that allow us to properly exercise a function or an activity” (AFNOR, 1996). It is therefore the ability to mobilize knowledge (practical or theoretical) allowing us to deal effectively with a work situation in a given context. This definition makes explicit the relationship between competence and action. An employee is competent only to accomplish something, for a task or a function. There are no universal skills.

1.1.1.2.3 ROME

According to the Opérationnel des métiers et emplois (ROME), competence is identified as the set of knowledge, know-how and social skills, which are manifested in the exercise of a job/profession, in a situation of a specific activity. Depending on the nature of the activity, ROME distinguishes three types of skills:

• – basic technical skills that translate into the principal know-how required to carry out the job/profession. They serve as a base for the construction of professional mobility areas;
• – associated skills that are a set of knowledge and know-how that are not indispensable for the job/profession, but which constitute an asset for accessing or advancing in the job/profession;
• – common skills that bring together basic technical skills, associated skills and job-related capabilities.

1.1.1.3. Emergence of the notion of competence in academic research

1.1.1.3.1 Competence, a defined construction adapted to a context

Competence is a “portmanteau” word that cannot be reduced to a single context. In fact, this notion has gained a particular visibility since the 1990s and continues to evolve (Le Deist & Winterton, 2005). This concept was originally introdu...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Foreword: When Collective Skills Produce an Added Value for the Reader!
• Introduction: For a Renewed Approach to Skills Management
• Part 1: Varieties of Skills
• Part 2: The Development of Skills to Respond to New Strategic Directions
• List of Authors
• Index
• End User License Agreement