Skill and work experience in the European knowledge economy

Introduction.

The concept of skill has been ubiquitous in industrial sociology, human resource
management and development and vocational educational and training. Yet, as
Attewell (1990) has noted, different theoretical traditions are often blind to their own
preconceptions as regards the complexities and ambiguities of their definitions of skill.
This can be seen clearly as regards the eclectic way that the concept of skill has been
defined and used. Traditionally, it has served two purposes (Darrah 1994). The concept
of skill has provided the basis for an analysis of both the characteristics of jobs (e.g.
task demands and role requirements) and the qualities of people who perform them
(e.g. abilities, talents and capabilities). As a result, the social scientific and educational
studies literature has shared certain common assumptions about the relationship
between work and individuals.

The traditional view of skill.

One of the main assumptions that underpinned traditional or occupationally-specific
conception of skill was that jobs were fairly stable, that they could be broken down
into constituent parts, and that the resulting bundles of characteristic ‘skills’ were
essential for the performance of certain forms of work. Another assumption was that
the ‘skills’ that have been identified are required and that in some direct, obvious way,
if they were absent, the work would not get done. Thus, as Darrah (1994) points out,
there is a particular individualism implicit in the traditional concept of skill
requirements. It presumes that workers not only possess the requisite skills, but also
that individual jobs have to be performed by skilled incumbents if they are to be
accomplished successfully. Furthermore, it was also assumed that people could be
separated from the contexts in which they work. Consequently, models of skill and/or
competence development that emanate from radically different traditions such as,
cognitive psychology (Dreyfuss & Dreyfuss) and vocational education and training
(Jessup 1991), have been inclined to treat the workplace as a backdrop to the actions of

17

<<   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   >>

More intriguing information