Conclusion. Competence in the workplace: A synthesis of issues for reflection and action

Abstract

This conclusion provides a synthesis of the main tensions, both in principle and practice, raised by the contributors to this book. The tensions, the differences, and diversity that these international perspectives on competence in the workplace represent, add new insights and support more critical reflection on workplace practice. The other main interest of this conclusion is to search for common ground about the notions of competence and the way it is perceived and experienced in the different workplace contexts exemplified in this book. One of the principal intentions and innovative features of the book is precisely to explore the learning that can accrue from these ‘cross-boundary’ and ‘international’ perspectives. This chapter is not so much a conclusion, but a ‘way forward’ to help fuel future debate and to create a change in thinking about the meaning of competence, its relationship to labour and work, and its interpretation in global workplaces. Arguably, some may view the rhetoric of enhancing competence in the workplace as essentially one of worker empowerment. Some believe that competency-based education and training, and its impact in the workplace, reduces, demeans, and impoverishes the worker. Others may argue that as the contours and conditions in the workplace continue to change dramatically, so competence can be viewed in terms of the flexibility and responsiveness of workers to cope with the new demands of the global knowledge-based era, and the relationship between these demands and their experiences of the world in which they live. Whatever we may wish to support or whatever concerns about competence in the workplace we may have, this conclusion will attempt to show that competence in the workplace is intimately bound with the lives and experiences of each worker, and with the processes of power and struggle within workplace cultures. It also needs to be considered within the context of ‘culture’, because it naturally influences workers’ lives, experiences, and their ‘life-world’.