Scientific discourse on the concept of competency
ENSome research (D. Deardorff, A. Whales, K. Davis et al.) in the area of multicultural competency could be distinguished as a separate, narrower component of research on general competencies, extensively studied by D. McClelland, R. Boyatzis, L. Spencer, S. Spencer and many others. Other scholars, such as Hofstede or Trompenaars, who analysed a similar phenomenon, take somewhat different position and search for general concepts, called dimensions, which reflect the whole culture rather than concepts that reflect the individual level. However, it is possible to view Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory as an individual case of general theory of competencies, where dimension correlates with one the types of competencies defined by L. Spencer and S. Spencer as “Personal attitudes, self-perception”, which is applicable at a higher level – state or nation. In any case, some research results, despite their limitations, do not contradict others. The dynamics of individual competencies, including intercultural ones, can be represented as re-evaluations of competencies, which is a common practice in many organisations. However, Hofstede and Trompenaars’s models of general competencies for all cultures, otherwise referred to as dimensions, represent only a static aspect of cultural dimensions. The addition of dynamic aspects to these researchers’ models, such as the dimension of development vector and pace, would provide a lot of useful information on the direction in which different cultures evolve, how their dimensions change, and what factors influence these processes. [From the publication]
