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Agile manufacturing is largely dependent on the capabilities of its people to learn and evolve with change. However, while agile manufacturing uses e‐commerce enabled technology in a decentralized organizational setting, it remains unclear how these individual capabilities should be linked to other organizational resources to create an agile organization. Another important modern management research perspective is the internal resource‐based perspective, resulting in a phenomenon called competence‐based competition with renewed attention for competence management. Competence management comprises the management, building, leveraging and deployment of strategic and operational competencies, the causal relationships and linkages between them, and the way competencies are embedded in organizational and individual resources. In this paper, we explore the relation between agile management and time‐based competence management, and study its adoption in small batch discrete parts manufacturing environments with the help of a coarse fact‐finding survey research.

In general, software development work environments involve many different tasks and have high demands on efficiency and quality of performance at both individual and team levels, which depend on the competencies of employees. However, the literature does not provide satisfactory evidence as for the characteristics and competencies of individuals. Especially, the employers’ expectations of new graduates have not been investigated in detail for different work environments. The purpose of this paper is to examine employers’ expectancies regarding technical, personal and educational competencies among IT-graduated employees to provide a comparison between individual and team work settings.

A survey approach was used for this purpose, and the research model was tested using multiple regression.

The results revealed that significant diversity exists in individual and team work settings regarding employers’ expectations for new graduates’ competencies in terms of adapting to new software development methods and approaches, using time effectively and experience gained in undergraduate projects.

The results of this study will yield insight to computer-related departments in curriculum development by providing a comparison between the varying competencies required in individual and team work settings from the employer’s perspective. In the long run, the aim is to meet employers’ demands of the new graduates’ competencies, resulting in better individual and team performances in information technology companies, thereby leading to successful software development.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact that the level of individuals' intercultural competencies has on their satisfaction, trust and affective commitment and assessment of their work team.

An intercultural competencies classification system is developed in which the cognitive, affective and behavioural intercultural competencies predicted to impact upon individuals' responses toward, and assessments of, their work team are identified. The results of quantitative survey research providing support for the classification system are subsequently described.

Competencies identified as being related to individuals' responses toward, and assessments of, their work team include cognitive complexity, goal orientation, dissimilarity openness, tolerance for ambiguity and emotion, and conflict management skills.

The research provides sound evidence for the important role that intercultural competence plays in facilitating positive individual level outcomes which it is theorised will lead to positive team level outcomes.

The key contribution of the research is the development of an intercultural competencies classification system which ties together in a single but multifaceted framework the intercultural competencies required for employees working in culturally diverse teams.

This chapter introduces the concept of “competency labor” and illustrates its important role in organizational life for both researchers and practitioners. In the contemporary workplace environment individuals face increasing expectations of competence. However, demonstrating competence is no simple task – rather, to demonstrate competence requires a concerted effort in terms of individuals’ affect, cognition, and behavior. Accordingly, new models are needed that can explain these emergent processes. The present work integrates the literatures related to emotional labor and impression management, and builds a theory-based framework for investigating the processes (affective, cognitive, and behavioral) of making desired impressions of competency at work and how these processes impact critical individual and organizational outcomes. Our conceptual model proposes how growing demands in the workplace for individuals to display competence affect how they think, feel, as well as act. In sum, our work advocates that a new research stream is needed to better understand the “competency labor” phenomenon and its theoretical as well as practical implications.

This study examines the accuracy of individual perceptions (self‐estimates) of acquired competence. A concept of relative competence is introduced to account for variation in rater elevation and differences in importance (significance) of specific competencies. The results indicate that the self‐estimates of job‐specific competencies are well executed. Because the distortion in elevation and stereotype accuracy is largely associated with general constructs, the findings suggest that we should focus on modeling competencies to the job. The results also show that even without a correction for interrater differences or a correction for the importance of different competencies, the competency model carries value‐relevant information.

The process of global leadership development remains a challenging theoretical problem in the field of global leadership. To help address this issue, we develop a theoretically grounded process model of global leadership competency development that addresses the dynamics involved in the adoption and enhancement of intercultural competencies associated with global leadership. We do this by integrating theoretical constructs associated with competency development from the adult learning and development, cognitive-behavior therapy, global leadership development, leadership development, organizational development, and social learning theory literatures. The resulting model includes testable propositions – a critical feature that existing global leadership development process models currently lack. Our chapter concludes with a discussion of the implications of the model for future research and practice.

The purpose of this paper is to extend the understanding of supply chain management (SCM) competencies by splitting them into individual and organizational components and measuring their impact on SCM performance.

Hypothesized relationships are tested using structural equation modeling and bootstrapping mediation analysis based on a multi-national survey with 273 managers while drawing on the theory of knowledge management and literature streams of individual competencies in the fields of SCM and human resource management (HRM), respectively.

The analysis reveals that individual SCM competencies and organizational SCM knowledge positively influence SCM performance to a similar magnitude. Moreover, organizational learning enhances individual competencies and organizational knowledge significantly and equally while corporate training programs fall surprisingly short of expectations. The disentanglement of SCM competencies renders HRM’s contribution to SCM visible by revealing the impact of HRM and learning practices on competencies, knowledge, and performance.

To validate the findings, future research could apply different research methods such as case studies and focus on more countries to reduce potential methodological and regional biases.

The results suggest that corporate training programs need further development. Organizational learning’s strong direct and indirect effects have two main implications: first, it should serve as motivation for organizations to constantly improve their learning capabilities. Second, these only tap its true potential for enhancing SCM performance if they first elevate individual competencies and organizational knowledge.

This is the first paper to distinguish between individual competencies and organizational knowledge on finely nuanced levels. While the organizational knowledge level effect on performance has been studied before, this paper extends this effect to also hold true for the individual level.

Focusing on an international trainee- and internship programme, this paper aims to propose a new framework that links organisational strategies regarding ethnic diversity with career competencies of the programme participants.

The paper adopts a case study design. It examines the interplay of the perspectives of the organisation, which is an Austrian bank, and of the programme participants, who are university graduates from South-Eastern Europe. It draws on the typology of diversity strategies by Ortlieb and Sieben (2013) and the categorisation of individual career competencies by DeFillippi and Arthur (1994).

The bank benefits from the programme participants’ competencies with regard to South-Eastern Europe and increased legitimacy gained from the public. Programme participants acquire many knowing-how, knowing-why and knowing-whom competencies, especially if the bank pursues a so-called learning strategy towards ethnic diversity. On the other hand, individual knowing-how competency supports an organisation’s antidiscrimination strategy, whereas knowing-why and knowing-whom competencies benefit the organisational learning strategy.

Although the paper builds on a single case study and the ability to generalise is limited, the findings imply that future human resource development concepts should jointly consider the perspectives of both organisations and individuals.

Owing to their high strategic relevance, organisations should look into the competencies of skilled migrants and evaluate the critical resources they offer. Both organisational learning and an organisation’s strategic development are key concerns. The proposed framework helps to effectively design trainee- and internship programmes and simultaneously anticipate organisational and individual consequences thereof at an early stage.

The proposed framework concerning the interplay between organisational and individual perspectives as well as the regional focus on South-Eastern Europe present novelties.

Introduces the special issue “Human resource development: sectoral and invention‐level evidence of human capital accumulation”. Reviews the concepts and definitions of intellectual and human capital. Considers human capital from individual (employability, performance and career development) and organization (investment, ownership, skills and knowledge management) perspectives. Looks at each of the papers in the special issue, relating them to its theme. Highlights the implications for human resource development, both at individual and organizational levels.

The critical nature of diffusion in understanding the link between individual competency and collective competency is often underconceptualized. Organizational learning involves diffusion of knowledge and/or skill from the individual to members of the collective, and expansion of the collective's capacity to take effective action. Three types of individual and collective competency are identified, ranging on a continuum from explicit‐and‐quickly‐diffused to tacit‐and‐slowly‐diffused Patterns of diffusion can occur in stages: by critical mass, in cycles, or in a synthesis of styles. A model illustrating these dynamics is presented. Criteria for evaluating successful collective learning are introduced.