Meta‐Competence: A Recipe for Reframing the Competence Debate

Seeks to explore the boundaries of managerial competence and takes as its point of departure the distinction between competence and meta‐competence. The Management Charter Initiative (MCI) defines competence as the ability to perform effectively and suggests that competence is the outcome of using knowledge and skills appropriately. The concept of management is problematic and the process of management is difficult to separate from its context. Burgoyne has used the term meta‐competence to distinguish the higher‐order abilities which have to do with being able to learn, adapt, anticipate and create. The concept of competence as used in the MCI is illustrated in the equation:knowledge + skills = competence. Suggests that a distinction could usefully be drawn between managerial processes which are competence based and those which are based on meta‐competences. Presents a number of typologies of knowledge and relates these to the concept of meta‐competence. Examines knowledge in relation to judgment, intuition and acumen.