Jörgen sandberg. Stockholm School of Economics. A classic managerial problem, страница 17

Another issue is the extent to which the identified conceptions reflect the entire variation of competence in engine optimization among the group studied. Since not all 50 optimizers employed at the Volvo Car Corporation participated, there is no guarantee that all conceptions of engine optimization were described, although Theman's (1995) study also indicated that no additional conceptions existed. Moreover, it should also be acknowledged that additional research might illuminate further aspects of what constitutes competence in engine optimization.

My primary tool for obtaining empirical data about workers' conceptions of work was interviews based on observations of work. However, other ways of obtaining data, such as making video recordings and collecting what workers say when they "talk aloud" about what they are doing when they accomplish their work, would provide more detail about how competence is constituted through workers' ways of conceiving of their work. Obtaining such data could be of particular importance in assessing work in which the physical body plays an important role, such as various crafts.

Another question that needs further attention concerns the possible sources of variation in conceptions. In the present study, the sources of variation were investigated in terms of formal education and length of work experience, but no clear links emerged between those sources and the three conceptions identified. However, other sources, such as the type of work experience particular workers have gained, may provide insights. The need for further research also relates to competence development as changing conceptions. In particular, there is a need for research that highlights how changes in conceptions take place and how such changes can be facilitated in organizations to enhance competence at work.

A focus on workers' conceptions of work for developing competence has many further implications for a range of managerial activities, including recruiting, staffing, appraising employee performance, and managing careers, pay systems, and motivational strate-• gies for improving performance. All these activities can facilitate or constrain the competence that is developed and maintained in organizations. The results suggest that such managerial activities should be designed and conducted in a way that actively promotes changes in workers' conceptions of their work. Moreover, since how workplaces are organized also has an impact on the competence that is developed and maintained at work, implications for the organization of work need to be addressed.

Conclusion

In the introduction to this article, I pointed to the issue of what constitutes human competence at work as a fundamental managerial problem. It was argued that understanding what constitutes competence is crucial to managing competence development effectively in organizations. The aim of this study was to investigate what constitutes human competence at work. An interpretative approach, phenomenography, was adopted as an alternative to the prevalent rationalistic approaches. The study makes two contributions: (1) presenting a new understanding of competence at work and (2) suggesting a method for identifying and describing such competence. These contributions are achieved by identifying and describing competence in a particular context—automobile engine optimization. The most central implication emerging from the findings of this study is that conceptions, rather than attributes, should be the point of departure both for efforts to identify and describe competence and for efforts to develop competence in various jobs and professions. For identifying and describing competence, this shift makes it possible to capture how certain atfributes are delimited as essential and organized into a distinctive structure of competence at work. For developing competence, such a shift makes it possible to actively promote the development of a particular conception of work and its specific attributes. It is my hope that the findings and the approach adopted here will prove useful as an interpretative understanding of, and method for, identifying and describing what constitutes human competence at work. Hopefully, such descriptions of competence will provide an alternative approach to managing competence development in organizations.