Showing papers on "Competence (human resources) published in 1987"

Knowledge and Competence as Strategic Assets

Abstract: An asset , my dictionary says, may be defined as “a useful thing or quality.” Among commentators on corporate strategy, it is widely accepted that knowledge and competence are useful things for a company to have. At times, particular approaches to the acquisition and profitable exploitation of productive knowledge—such as the experience curve—have been the central focus of strategic discussion. At other times, explicit attention to the place of knowledge considerations in the strategic picture has waned, perhaps to the point where such issues have “dropped through the cracks” of strategic analysis (see Peters 1984: 115). But they certainly cannot drop very far below the analytical surface because any discussion of innovation and indeed the activity of strategic analysis itself implicitly concedes their importance.

The 1987 Presidential Address Learning In School and Out

Abstract: opular wisdom holds that common sense outweighs school learning for getting along in the world-that there exists a practical intelligence, different from school intelligence, that matters more in real life. As is often the case, this wisdom is difficult to assess directly from a base of scholarly research. But recent research on the nature of everyday, practical, real-world intelligence and learning is beginning to provide a basis for understanding what distinguishes practical from formal intelligence. Drawing on this work, I want to explore in this essay four broad contrasts which suggest that school is a special place and time for people-discontinuous in some important ways with daily life and work. Then, in light of these contrasts, I will consider where and how the economic, civic, and cultural aims of education can best be pursued and whether schooling itself should be reorganized to take account of what we are learning about the nature of competence in various aspects of our lives.

An exploration of climates for technical updating and performance

Abstract: Rapid technological innovation has made updating the knowledge and skills of technical professionals, such as engineers, a key concern for many organizations. The facilitation of performance and updating activities to prevent obsolescence is thought to require the development of a congruent organizational climate. To date, this issue has received some theoretical but little research attention. This study assessed the efficacy of the concept of updating climate. It was hypothesized that the technical updating climate construct would (1) be able to distinguish among organizations under different pressures for technological innovation, (2) evidence interobserver consensus within organizations, and (3) be associated with relevant organizational context features and affective, performance, and updating responses. Data gathered from 447 engineers and their 218 supervisors drawn from 10 diverse organizations provided support for the hypotheses. It was concluded that the concept of updating climate provides a useful framework for understanding factors that facilitate technical competence and performance.

The Imposter Phenomenon: An Internal Barrier to Empowerment and Achievement

Abstract: In 1978, Clance and Imes developed the term Imposter Phenomenon (IP) to designate an internal experience of intellectual phoniness that seemed to be particularly prevalent among a select sample of high achieving women. They worked with 150 highly successful women from a wide range of professional fields such as law, nursing, medicine, social work, and university teaching, plus students at g raduate and undergraduate levels. Clance and Imes had worked with their subjects in clinical settings such as individual psychotherapy or theme-centered interactional groups or small discussion-oriented college classes. These subjects had obtained earned degrees, high scores on standardized tests, or professional recognition from colleagues or organizations, yet they did not experience an internal sense of success. They were afraid they were "impostors" who did not belong "here with all these bright, competent people." They were very frightened that others would discover that they were not as competent as they appeared to be, and dreaded such discovery. They attributed their success to hard work, luck, knowing the right people, being in the right place at the right time, or to their interpersonal assets such as charm and the ability to relate well, rather than to ability or competence. For instance, students often said the admissions committee had made an error. One student expressed her feelings by s aying, "I walk around thinking I'm the Michigan mistake." A highly respected professional woman explained, "I just got my job as a fluke. They needed someone at mid-year and so very few qualified applicants applied." The reality was that the students who were feeling like impostors were among the highest ranked students and the search committee for the woman professional had selected her out of a pool of many highly qualified candidates. These subjects were ingenious at negating objective external evidence that indicated they were indeed very bright. They had tremendous difficulty in accepting compliments or positive feedback. If they received an excellent quarterly evaluation they might think, "This agency or institution does not have very high standards if they think I'm good." Yet, if they received any negative feedback they belied it and tended to remember it as evidence of their deficits. These women often experienced a terror of failure. They thought if they made a mistake or failed at something, they would feel foolish and be humiliated. Consequently, they went to great lengths to avoid any mistakes or failures.

Appropriateness and Effectiveness Perceptions of Conflict Strategies

Abstract: This study investigates how conflict strategies and communicator gender affect two properties of communicative competence, appropriateness and effectiveness, and how these properties are associated with interpersonal attraction. In total, 361 participants read one of 12 randomly distributed conflict scripts that operationalized one of three conflict strategies (i.e., integrative, distributive, or avoidance), communicator gender, and episode type (i.e., same- versus opposite-sex situation). The impact of strategy type, gender, and episode on measures of general appropriateness, specific appropriateness, and effectiveness is reported. While all of the competence properties varied due to strategy inductions, specific appropriateness was the most sensitive to strategy differences. In addition, both appropriateness variables correlated strongly, and effectiveness correlated moderately with social and task attraction. Discussion focuses on the implications of the results for communication competence research.

Perceived Competence and Motives for Participating in Youth Sports: A Test of Harter's Competence Motivation Theory

Abstract: One of the most important issues facing youth sport researchers and practitioners is an understanding of why children participate in sport programs. The participation motivation research, however, has not been linked to an existing theoretical model. Thus the purpose of this study was to test the notions, based on Harter's (1978, 1981) competence motivation theory, that perceptions of competence are related to particular motives children have for sport participation. Sixty-seven children involved in youth gymnastic programs were administered the physical, social, and cognitive subscales of Harter's (1982) Perceived Competence Scale and a motives for gymnastic participation questionnaire. Discriminant function analyses revealed support for competence motivation theory as a viable explanation for the relationship between competence perceptions and motives for participation in sport. Specifically, children high in perceived physical competence were more motivated by skill development reasons, and gymnasts hi...

Parents' responses to the emotional distress of their children: Relations with children's competence.

Abstract: Although investigators have proposed in various theories that the socialization of emotions has important implications for children's general competence, very little empirical data exist. In the present study, parents' responses to the emotional distress of their preschool children were examined in the context of more general dimensions of parenting (warmth and control), and the relation of these responses to children's competence was assessed. Data on parent-child interactions were collected for 30 families, using home observations, parent self-reports, observer ratings, and child interviews. Children's competence in preschool was assessed by teacher ratings. Effective, situationally appropriate action was the most frequently observed parental response to children's upset, and children's attributions to parents of such pragmatic responses was positively related to their competence in preschool. Parental encouragement of emotional expressiveness was also positively associated with child competence. Variables assessing positive responses to upset, although related to warmth (as expected), also contributed independently to children's competence. This research was designed to investigate parents' responses to emotional distress in young children (i.e., to their expressed anger, fear, and sadness) and to assess the relation of these responses to children's competence outside the home. Parental responses to distress were conceptualized as lying along a dimension of suppression to encouragement of active emotional expression. These responses were assessed in the context of parental warmth and control because children's competence is affected by these aspects of parenting (Baumrind, 1971; Maccoby & Martin, 1983; Martin, 1975) and because the effects of parents' responses to emotional distress may be moderated by parental warmth and control. In everyday language, competence refers to the ability to meet the demands of a given situation (Webster & McKechnie, 1978). There is substantial agreement in the literature that for children these abilities are generally manifested as goal-oriented, planful behavior (Baumrind, 1971; Block & Block, 1980) and include in social situations the skills to initiate and sustain nondisruptive social interactions (Ainsworth & Bell, 1974; Baumrind, 1971; Lamb, Easterbrooks, & Holden, 1980; Waters, Wippman, & Sroufe, 1979). Whereas the distinction between social activities and purely task-oriented activities is clear in theory,

Socialization of perceived academic competence among highly competent children.

Abstract: A sample of 81 academically competent third graders and their parents were studied (1) to determine whether the illusion of incompetence documented for fifth graders appears in younger children, (2) to examine whether parents' competence-related perceptions significantly distinguish children with varying levels of perceived academic competence, and (3) to develop a predictive model of the association between parent and child competence beliefs. More than 20% of the children--equal proportions of girls and boys--had self-perceptions that seriously underestimated their actual high abilities, and displayed a corresponding pattern of disparaging self- and other-achievement attitudes. Mothers' and fathers' perceptions of their children's abilities varied significantly with the perceived competence status of the children, as did the children's perceptions of their parents' appraisals. Using path analysis, preliminary support was found for a model in which children's perceptions of competence are influenced more by their parents' appraisals than by objective evidence of their achievements. The results are discussed in the context of research on the socialization of math attitudes and new work on parental belief systems.

In Search of Multicultural Competence within Counselor Education Programs.

Abstract: The authors examine the current status of multicultural training in counselor education. Leading multicultural training programs are identified and described, and specific guidelines for improving multicultural training are provided.

Perceptions of Physical Competence, Motor Competence, and Participation in Organized Sport: Their Interrelationships in Young Children

Abstract: This study examined the interrelationships among perceived physical competence, motor competence, and participation in organized sport in young children. Males and females in Grades K through 4 (n = 250) were given The Perceived Competence Scale for Children (Harter, 1979) or The Pictoral Scale for Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance for Young Children (Harter, Pike, Efron, Chao, & Bierer, 1983), a 9-item motor competence assessment battery, and a questionnaire regarding their participation in sport. Results revealed that perceived physical competence for children in these grade levels was not significantly related to their participation in organized sport programs. Motor competence was significantly related to participation in that participants in organized sport programs performed selected gross motor tasks better than did nonparticipants. Further, children's reported perceptions of physical competence were significantly related to their demonstrated motor competence. Discussion focused ...

Physical Competence and the Development of Children's Peer Relations

Abstract: One factor that appears to have significant influence on peer relations, especially for boys, is physical competence. Children gain peer acceptance by excelling at something valued by other children, and there is much evidence that athletic skills are valued by other children. Literature on physical competence and peer relations illustrates that children with competent motor skills appear to be popular not only in formally organized competitive sport settings but also in informal “pick up” games. The inferior status of low ability children is clearly evident when they attempt to gain entry into playground games. It is concluded that physically competent children acquire more status and enjoy greater social success than do physically inept children. In conclusion, the article suggests that physical education may be used as an intervention strategy to enhance the peer status of physically incompetent children by improving their motor skills.

Two conceptions of maturity examined in the findings of a longitudinal study.

Abstract: The third vector score (competence) of the revised California Psychological Inventory (CPI) and ego level as assessed by the Loevinger Sentence Completion Test (SCT) are measures of alternative ways of conceptualizing maturity: as the ability of the individual to function effectively in society or as the degree of intrapsychic differentiation and autonomy. A longitudinal study of women (for the CPI, N = 107; for the SCT, N = 90) provides these two measures of maturity at age 43. Competence and ego level were correlated with antecedent and concurrent measures selected from inventories and life history material concerning work, marriage, relations with parents, and so forth, to assess aspects of maturity adapted from Allport: self-extension in significant endeavors, reality orientation in perception of self and others and in the conduct of one's activities, capacity for intimacy, emotional security, and individuality of personal integration. Results from the age-21 data indicate that competence and ego level are enduring trait complexes. Despite considerable overlap, they differ conspicuously in the greater emphasis of competence on emotional security and of ego level on individuality of personal integration. Analysis of the patterning of competence and ego level in the whole sample and in homogeneous groups high on one or both measures suggests psychological reasons why the two types of maturity diverge and why the relation of ego level to adjustment seems to be curvilinear.

Concept of Agency in Educational and Career Development

Abstract: The present study was designed to develop and evaluate prototypical measures of behavioral competence and perceived self-efficacy with respect to a complex domain of behavior summarized as agency in educational and career pursuits. The domain, originally suggested to be important in a previous study of career competencies in professional women (Hackett, Betz, & Doty, 1985), referred to the tendency of the individual to respond proactively to situations representing educational and career opportunities. Subjects, 109 undergraduate students, were administered measures of competence and level and strength of perceived self-efficacy in response to 18 situations with potential to elicit agentic behaviors. Results indicated that, on the average, college students gave only minimally competent responses to the situations presented, although competence varied considerably across situations. Levels of perceived efficacy were relatively high, tint the strength of (or confidence in) efficacy beliefs was relatively weak. Male and female students were similar in both agentic competence and self-efficacy. Implications for further research and for using the concept of agency as a focus of counseling interventions are discussed. Bandura (1977) and others (Bandura & Adams, 1977; Bandura, Adams, & Beyer, 1977) developed a theoretical explanation of therapeutic change in which the concept of perceived self-efficacy plays the central mediational role. The concept of perceived self-efficacy refers to beliefs concerning one's capability of successfully engaging in a target behavior; strong perceived efficacy is postulated to lead to behavioral approach, and weak efficacy to lead to avoidance. Thus, the modification of perceived self-efficacy is thought to strongly

The measurement of interpersonal skills in instructional contexts

Abstract: Interpersonal skills are not currently being assessed in many basic communication courses. A major reason for this may be the lack of a valid and flexible assessment format. An extensive review of social skills research and the data from a previous study were used to generate a sample of 25 molecular behavioral items relevant to the domain of conversational skill. These items were then selected for use in developing an instructional version of an interpersonal skills assessment form. In the first study, the behavioral items were used in self‐report recalled conversation format, and were found to substantially and positively relate to motivation, knowledge, and molar impressions of self‐competence in communicating. In all, the behaviors themselves explained 36 percent of the variance in self‐rated competence. In the second study, the behavioral items were used by instructors to rate the performance of subjects observed in dyadic get‐acquainted conversations. The behavioral items explained over 64 percent o...

Ensuring the Clinical Competence of Medical School Graduates Through Standardized Patients

Abstract: • There are substantial problems with the clinical training provided to medical students and with the assessment procedure used by medical schools to ensure that students have acquired the clinical skills necessary for graduate medical education. These skills are not evaluated carefully nor systematically at any point in training or licensure. This article describes the use of standardized patients to help resolve some of these shortcomings. Standardized patients are nonphysicians highly trained to function In the multiple roles of patient, teacher, and evaluator while realistically replicating a patient encounter. They are effective teachers of Interviewing and physical examination skills. They can help to provide a controlled exposure to common ambulatory and difficult patient communication situations. Initial studies indicate the promise of this approach for ensuring the competence of medical school graduates. ( Arch Intern Med 1987;147:1049-1052)

Cognitive training and everyday competence.

Abstract: This chapter will be divided into three major sections, with each section fwusing on an issue associated with cognitive training research with the elderly. In the first section, we examine what are some major questions or goals addressed by cognitive training research and consider the appropriateness of age-comparative research &signs in addressing these questions. In the second section. we discuss the implications of cognitive training for enhancing competence in real-life tasks. In the third section, the findings of cognitive training are related to current models of intellectuaI aging.

Psychological Characteristics and the Criteria Children Use for Self-Evaluation

Abstract: Theory and research from the developmental psychology literature Indicate there is a developmental progression in the particular criteria or informational sources children use to evaluate their performance competencies. The present study was designed to test the possibility that certain psychological characteristics (i.e., perceived competence and perceived performance control) may also affect children's preference for the various sources of competence information that are available in the sport environment. Three psychological questionnaires were administered to 229 young soccer athletes to assess the variables of Interest. Multivariate regression and canonical correlation analyses revealed support for the predicted relationships. Children with external perceptions of performance control exhibited a greater preference for external information, while children with high perceived competence and an internal perception of control exhibited greater reliance on self-determined standards of performance and comp...

The Non-narrative Writing of Young Children.

Abstract: This study examined the structure of 100 pieces of non-narrative writing composed by students in Grades 1, 2, and 3. Using a two dimensional diagramming system, the researcher examined the coherence in each of the pieces and the hierarchical ordering of information. Eight basic discourse structures were identified and the 100 pieces were reliably sorted into these categories. The distribution of discourse structures by grade level indicates that the younger writers in the sample wrote labels and lists with little coherent connection between items. By third grade 49 percent of the pieces were classified as paragraphs. The results suggest the inadequacy of the term "expressive writing" to describe the initial writing students in the sample did, and they suggest that early non-narrative student writing is strongly tied to the drawing students do. Anyone reading the literature on young children's writing development could well arrive at two mutually incompatible conclusions: 1 . Exposition is particularly difficult for children and for that reason the first extended writing children do will be in the narrative mode. 2. Children, even before they enter school, are attuned to the uses of writing in their environments and explore a variety of non-narrative forms. The first conclusion is embedded in the most widely accepted developmental schemes (Moffett, 1968; Britton et al., 1975). Skill at exposition is viewed as a late-developing competence or, as Moffett writes, "children must, for a long time, make narrative do for all (p. 49)." Similarly Britton (1982), Wells (1986), and Mayher, Lester, and Pradl (1983) claim that children naturally begin to write by writing stories. Bereiter and Scardamalia (1982) provide considerable evidence for the difficulty of exposition in their report on a series of experiments. They found that fourth graders generally were unable to do the global planning necessary for expository writing and instead used a "what next" strategy resulting in writing that was a chain of memories or associations. This study was partially supported by a grant from the Central University Research Fund of the University of New Hampshire. I would also like to express thanks to Elizabeth Chiseri Strater, Russel Durst, Suzanne Jacobs, and Tom Hilgers for their assistance. Research in the Teaching of English, Vol. 21, No. 2, May 1987 121 This content downloaded from 157.55.39.136 on Thu, 19 May 2016 06:33:38 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 122 Research in the Teaching of English Yet researchers who have looked at the writing young child do in home settings (e.g., Bissex, 1980; Collerson, 1983; Gundlach, 1982; Newkirk, 1984; Taylor, 1983) have found that children attempt a variety of non-narrative forms, including lists, letters, signs, alphabet books, quizzes, and certificates. Heath (1983) has shown that while bedtime reading usually consists of stories, the kind of writing children see adults doing is primarily nonnarrative. If one accepts the semiotic perspective of Harste, Woodward, and Burke (1984) and views children as attuned to the "signifying structures" in their environments, one would expect that children's writing would not be limited to one particular form. The recent work of Langer (1985, 1986) also suggests that researchers like Bereiter and Scardamalia have overestimated the difficulty children have with exposition. She found that the report writing of third graders does have an overall structure although one dominated by the topic and not by a thesis concerning the topic. In her more recent study she reports 53 percent of the third graders' comments in composing aloud and retrospective conditions dealt with global text units. This concern with overall structure is startling even if one acknowledges that Langer's third graders were probably a more select group than Bereiter and Scardamalia's fourth graders. Of course, some of the conflict in claims results from differing meanings given to "exposition." If one defines exposition as any written form used to convey information in a non-chronological way, there is little doubt that children can write exposition. If, like Moffett, one sets the "essay" with linked hierarchical assertions as the model, that form is surely beyond the capability of young children. The key question, though, is how (or whether) children move from these initial forms of exposition to those more commonly required in school writing. Moffett claims that exposition builds upon narrative competence as the writer generalizes from "what happened" to "what happens." This study will examine an alternative possibility: that competence in exposition develops as students build upon early labelling and list-making. The study will attempt to identify intermediate forms that children attempt as they move toward the more integrated forms of exposition required in the later school years. Collection of Sample The student texts used in this study were drawn from 6 elementary school classrooms, two first grade, two second grade, and two third grade. The texts were collected at the end of the academic year and were produced as part of the writing program in each classroom. While other studies (most notably Britton et al., 1975) have used classroom samples to explore writing development, the basic problem with such a sample is the possible lack of This content downloaded from 157.55.39.136 on Thu, 19 May 2016 06:33:38 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms The Non-narrative Writing of Young Children 123 comparability between work collected at different grade levels. For example, if the second grade writing was done early in the year and the third grade late in the year, this discrepancy would distort any developmental trend. For that reason, special attention was taken to ensure comparability. The samples were drawn from the cumulative folders of student work done during the entire year and from the "books" students published throughout the year. The researcher and an associate selected 170 pieces from 100 students; any piece of writing that was "predominantly non-chronological" was selected. Fifty percent of the pieces were dated, and these dates suggest an average completion date of December 1984 for the first and second grade pieces, and January 1985 for the third grade pieces. While the entire sample of 170 was used to develop the categories of nonnarrative forms and to establish reliability, it was necessary to reduce the sample to 100 so that no student was represented by more than one piece of writing. If a student had multiple pieces in the large sample his latest piece was selected if his pieces were dated; otherwise a random piece was selected. This smaller sample included 34 first grade pieces, 31 second grade pieces, and 35 third grade pieces. In all, 73 percent of the children in the six classes were represented and the percentage of representation was approximately the same for each grade (74 percent Grade 1, 70 percent Grade 2, 74 percent Grade 3). Instructional Context The sample was drawn from two schools in a middle to upper-middle class community where the parents of many of the children have some connection with the University of New Hampshire. The six teachers involved in the study had each received extensive training in a "writing process" approach (Graves, 1983). All had either taken courses or been part of regular study groups which explored ways to create a workshop approach where students regularly choose topics of interest to themselves and their peers and where they regularly receive response. The principals of each school had taken courses emphasizing this approach to teaching writing and each had given presentations to other teachers and administrators. At one of the sites a major research project conducted by Jane Hansen and Donald Graves was concluding at the time the samples were collected. In each classroom students wrote regularly. They were not taught prescribed forms or formats for their expository writing, although it is likely that they were influenced by the writing of their classmates. (Blackburn, 1985, offers a good description of peer influence on writing forms.) During the writing period the teacher would confer with individual students, and, as the year progressed, students would share their writing with other students. Conferences generally involved praising portions of the writing that This content downloaded from 157.55.39.136 on Thu, 19 May 2016 06:33:38 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 124 Research in the leaching of English were effective, asking for additional information and clarification, and focusing selectively on spelling and usage errors. While the teacher might make suggestions for revision, the writer made the final decision about any changes to be made. In addition to one-to-one conferences students would regularly meet as an entire class, and individual students would read their work aloud and receive reactions from the class. Once pieces were finished they were placed in a cumulative folder and students could choose their best work to be published. The books were typed by an aide, illustrated by the student, and placed in a classroom library where they might be read by other students.

State Mandated Testing and Educational Reform: Context and Consequences

Abstract: In response to 20 years of educational growth, shifts in the locus of school control, and politicization of educational decision making, new forms and uses of standardized testing have arisen. In particular, policy-oriented tests that are mandated and controlled by agencies external to the local school have become widely used to certify student and teacher competence. It is the use of such certification tests that is at the root of most current debate and controversy regarding educational testing. This article describes the social trends that have spawned the new testing programs. It considers the characteristics and the educational consequences of the new state-mandated tests. A set of propositions to guide understanding of testing debate and controversy is provided.