Competence and Discipline in Professional Formation

Correspondence to Dr C Clark, Department of Social Work, The University of Edinburgh, Adam Ferguson Building, George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9LL. Summary This paper argues that ‘competence’ is inadequateas the founding principle of professional knowledge, and consequentlythe attempt to build professional training on it is misguided.Besides the unresolved conceptual issues, the competence approachis radically undermined by the absence of an adequate researchbase necessary to validate concepts of competence and measuresof individuals' competences. Drawing on the author's researchon how practitioners use knowledge and theory in practice, itis shown that the attempt to reduce good professional practiceto a codified set of competences is mistaken; it does not properlyrecognize the constant need for creative solutions to poorlyunderstood problems. The idea of professional discipline isexplored, which, it is argued, better describes the characterof the knowledge and skills which practitioners should aim tomaster.     

RATING SCALES NUMERIC VALUES MAY CHANGE THE MEANING OF SCALE LABELS

Three experiments indicate that the numeric values providedas part of a rating scale may influence respondents' interpretationof the endpoint labels. In experiment 1, a representative sampleof German adults rated their success in life along an 11-pointrating scale, with the endpoints labeled "not at all successful"and "extremely successful." When the numeric values ranged from0 ("not at all successful") to 10 ("extremely successful"),34 percent of the respondents endorsed values between 0 and5. However, only 13 percent endorsed formally equivalent valuesbetween –5 and 0, when the scale ranged from –5("not at all successful") to +5 ("extremely successful"). Experiment2 provided an extended conceptual replication of this finding,and experiment 3 demonstrates that recipients of a respondent'sreport draw different inferences from formally equivalent butnumerically different values. In combination, the findings indicatethat respondents use the numeric values to disambiguate themeaning of scale labels, resulting in different interpretationsand, accordingly, different subjective scale anchors.     

Models,methods and tools for interorganizational logistics operations

Enterprise modelling is today one of the key techniques to improve the performances of an enterprise. This paper first defines enterprise modelling techniques as compared to BPR techniques. Then the latest developments in GRAI methodology are presented. Finally, examples of industrial applications are presented for three methods: GIM (GRAI Integrated Method) for re-engineering, GIMSOFT for the choice of an ERP software package and ECOGRAI for the design and implementation of performance indicator system.     

The Effects of Prevailing Wage Laws: A Comparison of Individual Workers'' Wages Earned on and off Prevailing Wage Construction Projects

I evaluate the effects of prevailing wage laws using a unique data set that shows the wages paid to workers on prevailing wage projects and the wages paid to the same workers during the same time period for work on projects not covered by prevailing wage regulations. The wage comparison shows that workers are generally paid more for work on prevailing wage projects than they are for work on non-prevailing wage projects. Thus, prevailing wage laws likely do increase the cost of public construction. In addition, to the extent that the quality of construction is improved, prevailing wage laws appear to be an inefficient mechanism by which to achieve additional quality, as the regulations often result in workers being paid more than they earn in the private market.     

CROSS-COUNTRY EVIDENCE ON LONG-RUN GROWTH AND INFLATION

While inflation is generally inversely related to growth, I show that estimates of the relationship seer two robustness problems which plague a variety of model specifications. First, growth-inflation results are highly sensitive to modifications to the country sample, limited from the start to low- and moderate-inflation countries. Second, results are also sensitive to modifications in the time period of analysis. In conjunction with the regression specification sensitivity documented by Levine and Renelt [1992], these results should further discourage the practice cf quantifying inflation's effects with cross-county growth regressions.     

RANDOMISATION AND THE 1975 SENATE BALLOT DRAW

“So the last shall be first, and the first last; for many be called, but few chosen.” Matthew 20:16 The “random” draw for positions on the Senate ballot papers in the 1975 election resulted in an apparently non-random ordering, to the possible advantage of one particular party. This paper assesses the statistical significance of the 1975 draw and looks at possible causes of the evident non-randomness. A simplified yet realistic mathematical model is used to describe conditions under which the so-called donkey vote can have an effect on the final outcome of the election, thereby confirming the widely-held belief that the order of parties on the Senate ballot paper is relevant. We examine other Senate elections between 1949 and 1983 for the existence of relevant non-randomness similar to the 1975 result. Finally, we report briefly on our submission to the 1983 Joint Select Committee on Electoral Reform, which led to an improvement in the randomisation procedure.     

Trust after the Global Financial Meltdown

Over the last decade, and culminating in the 2008 global financial meltdown, there has been an erosion of trust and a concomitant rise of distrust in domestic companies, multinational enterprises, and political economies. In response to this attrition, this article presents three arguments. First, we suggest that trust is the “glue” of any viable political economy, and we propose that the stakes of violating public trust are particularly high in light of the asymmetry between trust and distrust. Second, we identify a constellation of key barriers to overcoming distrust that companies face in the current environment: (1) corporate mind‐sets that promote a preoccupation with quantification, hierarchical leadership models, and “blind trust” in authority; (2) the anonymity of core stakeholders; (3) the agency of the media as a driver of the political economy; and (4) firm‐centric models of stakeholder relationships. Third, we argue that, notwithstanding these challenges, these phenomena are not fatal and can be addressed through a holistic transformation in corporate culture. Such a transformation might include a shift to collaborative leadership models and replacing authority models with responsibility, a “names and faces” approach to stakeholders through cases and stories, more egalitarian communication exchanges with external stakeholders, and a reprioritization of the firm as a vital element among others within a system rather than the central core of a network. We conclude that the value of trust at the individual, institutional, national, and global levels cannot be overstated. Without a reinvigoration of trust in our political economies, at all levels, the future of an economically vibrant planet is indeed bleak.