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This volume begins with a literature review of the different approaches to the management of competences in interorganizational relations. In Frédéric Prevot's paper, “The management of competences in the context of interorganizational relations,” the existing literature is structured in a two-dimensional model based on the nature of the relationship (cooperation or competition) and the actions taken on the competences (leveraging or building). Four objectives for the management of competences in the context of interorganizational relationships are thus derived: (1) sharing of competences, (2) protection of competences, (3) creation of competences, and (4) acquisition of competences. Each competence objective then requires specific management approaches to achieve.

Healthcare providers are under pressure due to increasing and more complex demands for services. Increased pressure on budgets and human resources adds to an ever-growing problem set. Competent leaders are in demand to ensure effective and well-performing healthcare organisations that deliver balanced results and high-quality services. Researchers have made significant efforts to identify and define determining competencies for healthcare leadership. Broad terms such as competence are, however, inherently at risk of becoming too generic to add analytical value. The purpose of this study is to suggest a holistic framework for understanding healthcare leadership competence, that can be crucial for operationalising important healthcare leadership competencies for researchers, decision-makers as well as practitioners.

In the present study, a critical interpretive synthesis (CIS) was conducted to analyse competency descriptions for healthcare leaders. The descriptions were retrieved from peer reviewed empirical studies published between 2010 and 2022 that aimed to identify healthcare services leadership competencies. Grounded theory was utilised to code the data and inductively develop new categories of healthcare leadership competencies. The categorisation was then analysed to suggest a holistic framework for healthcare leadership competence.

Forty-one papers were included in the review. Coding and analysing the competence descriptions resulted in 12 healthcare leadership competence categories: (1) character, (2) interpersonal relations, (3) leadership, (4) professionalism, (5) soft HRM, (6) management, (7) organisational knowledge, (8) technology, (9) knowledge of the healthcare environment, (10) change and innovation, (11) knowledge transformation and (12) boundary spanning. Based on this result, a holistic framework for understanding and analysing healthcare services leadership competencies was suggested. This framework suggests that the 12 categories of healthcare leadership competencies include a range of knowledge, skills and abilities that can be understood across the dimension personal – and technical, and organisational internal and – external competencies.

This literature review was conducted with the results of searching only two electronic databases. Because of this, there is a chance that there exist empirical studies that could have added to the development of the competence categories or could have contradicted some of the descriptions used in this analysis that were assessed as quite harmonised. A CIS also opens for a broader search, including the grey literature, books, policy documents and so on, but this study was limited to peer-reviewed empirical studies. This limitation could also have affected the result, as complex phenomenon such as competence might have been disclosed in greater details in, for example, books.

The holistic framework for healthcare leadership competences offers a common understanding of a “fuzzy” concept such as competence and can be used to identify specific competency needs in healthcare organisations, to develop strategic competency plans and educational programmes for healthcare leaders.

This study reveals a lack of consensus regarding the use and understanding of the concept of competence, and that key competencies addressed in the included papers are described vastly different in terms of what knowledge, skills and abilities they entail. This challenges the operationalisation of healthcare services leadership competencies. The proposed framework for healthcare services leadership competencies offers a common understanding of work-related competencies and a possibility to analyse key leadership competencies based on a holistic framework.

This paper aims to examine how organisational values affect diversity in terms of different competencies in rural family Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). Recruiting a diverse workforce in rural family SMEs can be particularly difficult due to the prevalence of internal family values and the lack of available local specialised competencies. A deficiency of diversity in employment and competence acquisition and development can create problems, as it often prevents rural family SMEs from recruiting employees with a wide variety of qualifications and skills.

The study takes on a multi-case method of Swedish rural family SMEs, applying a qualitative content analysis approach. In total, 20 in-depth structured interviews are conducted with rural family SME owners and 2 industries were investigated and compared – the tourism and the manufacturing industries.

Rural family SMEs lack long-term employment strategies, and competence diversity does not appear to be a priority for rural family SMEs, as they often have prematurely decided who they will hire rather than what competencies are needed for their long-term business development. It is more important to keep the team of employees tight and the family spirit present than to include competence diversity and mixed qualifications in the employment acquisition and development.

Contrary to prior research, our findings indicate that rural family SMEs apply short-term competence diversity strategies rather than long-term prospects regarding competence acquisition and management, due to their family values and rural setting, which strictly narrows the selection of employees and competencies. Also, a general reluctance towards competence diversity is identified, which originates from the very same family values and rural context.

Although the need for cultural competence in clinical care has been well articulated for over four decades, the goal of integrating and addressing cultural issues in care remains elusive. The challenges can be attributed to a lack of clarity on definitions and a lack of understanding of what constitutes cultural competence. What to know and what to do are questions that are frequently raised in discussions of cultural competence. Previous literature has described cultural competence in terms of affective, behavioural, and cognitive domains. The purpose of this paper is to build on this discourse by discussing key attributes within each domain and extending the framework to highlight the dynamics of difference, clarify the goal of equity, and recognise the importance of practice environments in the development of cultural competence in clinical care.

Although widely used, the concept of business competence is not well defined. Proposes a hierarchical model which integrates the different types of competence which have appeared in the operations and general management literature in recent years. Proposes two new types of competence to complete the model, with illustrative examples from the Management Today/ Cranfield Best Factory Awards database.

The literature on managerial competences has not sufficiently addressed the value contents of competences and the generic features of public managers. This article presents a model of five competence areas: task competence, professional competence in substantive policy field, professional competence in administration, political competence and ethical competence. Each competence area includes both value and instrumental competences. Relatively permanent value competences are understood as commitments. The assumptions of new public management question not only the instrumental competences but also the commitments of traditional public service. The efficacy of human resource development is limited in learning new commitments. Apart from structural reforms that speed up the process, the friction in the change of commitments is seen as slow cultural change in many public organisations. This is expressed by transitional tensions in task commitment, professional commitment, political commitment, and ethical commitment of public managers.

The “competence” movement as an approach to education, training and development is based on a belief in defining purpose and outcome in standardized, measurable terms. It parallels other concerns for control, such as performance indicators and standards, and returns to many of the features of the behavioural objectives movement in the 1960s which similarly paralleled management by objectives and various forms of scientific management. The competence movement is contentious but the nature of the debate is not clear. Suggests that the debate can be mapped in three dimensions: micro to macro issues, theoretical to practical issues, and technical to political issues. Explores this by examining the position of the main stakeholders who have an interest in the competence movement. The competence movement tends to attempt to impose a simplifying model of education, training, learning development and work and organizational process, and many of its problems can be seen to result from this simplification such as the reduction of all learning to a single stairway of levels.

Considers competence – what the competence‐based approach means, how it has developed, and how it can be used in the long‐term evaluation of training and development. Focuses on defining what criteria are used for assessing competence; how such criteria are measured; which criteria are most apt in each particular instance; why certain forms of behaviour are thought to be competent; where the approach can prove most useful; who determines competence; and when is individual competence (as opposed to team competence) the thing to aim for. Considers how competence‐based qualifications can be incorporated with knowledge‐based qualifications and draws examples from the British Aerospace experience. Concludes by questioning whether the political debate is coming full circle, with the pendulum swinging back to knowledge‐based qualifications.

We hear and read much about managerial competence and competence based approaches to management education and development (Albanese 1989) but what is competence in managers? Much of the literature and company practice in developing management competence treats competence as an unproblematic concept. Competence is just competence. Everyone knows what competence is, don't they?

Challenges the popular myth that businesses’ ills are easily cured by training. Argues that training is frequently misused as propaganda, distracting from searching analysis of organizations’ real problems. Uses examples of misapplied training initiatives which leave a warm feeling but miss their target. Contrasts training with education: training pursues an outside‐in agenda aimed at instilling learner compliance with external standards. Education, by contrast, works inside‐out, offering choice and challenging the status quo. Advocates leadership which favours the values of education more than training. Proposes a more balanced equation between the supply of talent and its intelligent and healthy utilization. Shows how a creative, multilevered approach to change develops corporate competence.