knowledge and skills alongside attitudes, behaviors, work habits, abilities, and
personal characteristics (Gangani et al. 2004 ; Lucia and Lepsinger 1999 ; Naquin
and Wilson 2002 ; Nitardy and McLean 2002 ; Russ-Eft 1995 ).
AdiVerent approach was developed during the 1980 s in the UK when a compe-
tence-based, uniWed system of work-based, vocational qualiWcations (National
Vocational QualiWcations in England and Wales, Scottish Vocational QualiWcations
in Scotland) was adopted. Occupational standards of competence, grounded in
functional analysis of occupations in a variety of contexts, identify key roles,
broken down into units of competence and further subdivided into elements
with associated performance criteria and range indicators for assessment. The
emphasis is on functional competence: the ability to demonstrate performance to
the standards required of employment in a work context. While this is still the
dominant approach in the UK, some employers developed their own competence
frameworks or adopted other generic models combining functional and behav-
ioural factors to create hybrid competence models.
The competence movement started later in France (Klarsfeld and Oiry 2003 ) and
became particularly inXuential from 1993 when the Agence Nationale Pour
l’Emploi (National Employment Agency) adopted a competence framework and
HRM professionals began replacing the logic of qualiWcation with competence. In
the 1990 s, the state introduced a right for individuals to have abilan de compe ́tences
(assessment of competences) undertaken by educational organizations to provide a
basis for personal development. Competence featured increasingly in HRM prac-
tice from the mid- 1990 s, further encouraged by the initiative,Objectif compe ́tences
(Objective: competence), of the employers’ association MEDEF (Mouvement des
Entreprises de France) in 2002. The French approach makes an analytical distinc-
tion betweensavoir(compe ́tences the ́oriques, i.e. knowledge),savoir-faire(compe ́-
tences pratiques, i.e. functional competences), andsavoir eˆtre(compe ́tences sociales
et comportementales, i.e. behavioral competences).
While competence (Kompetenz) was implicit in the German system, the main
emphasis is on the concept ofBeruf QualiWkation, the mastery of all the tasks
speciWc to an occupation. In the 1980 s, ‘key qualiWcations’ (Schlu ̈sselqualiWkatio-
nen) were introduced, relating to individual characteristics, experience, and
knowledge. In 1996 , the German education system moved from subject (inputs)
to competence (outcomes) and curricula specifying learningWelds (Lernfelder).
Kompetenzis concerned with capacity to act (Handlungsvermo ̈gen) and, in the
occupational sense, this is expressed as vocational action competence (Handlungs-
kompetenz). A standard typology of competences now appears at the beginning of
every new vocational training curriculum, elaborating domain competence (Fach-
kompetenz), personal competence (Personalkompetenz), and social competence
(Sozialekompetenz). General cognitive competence (Sachkompetenz), the ability to
think and act in an insightful and problem-solving way, is a prerequisite for
developingFachkompetenz. A balance of subject, personal, and social competence
training, development, and competence 335