Competence (competency)
# Competence (competency)

Competence (or competency) is a polyseme indicating three different notions. The first notion is that of general competence (or general competency), which is someone's capacity or ability to perform effectively on a specified set of behavioral attributes. The second notion refers to someone's capacity or ability to successfully perform a specific skill, activity or talent like learning a language, reading a book or playing a musical instrument. In both notions, someone may be qualified as being competent. In a third notion, behavioral attribute and competence (or competency) are synonymous. One may for example excel at the competence of baking or the competency of ceramics.

The pluralized forms of competence and competency are respectively competences and competencies. According to Boyatzis (2008) competencies are part of a behavioral approach to emotional, social, and cognitive intelligence. Moreover, competency is measurable and can be developed through training. In the context of human resources, practice may enable someone to improve the efficiency or performance of an activity or a job.

Concepts like knowledge, expertise, values or desires are not behavioral attributes but can be contained in behavior like skill, attitude, aptitude, performance or roles once executed. Take for example sharing knowledge or actualizing a desire.

## Etymology

The term 'competence' first appeared in the article Motivation reconsidered: The concept of competence authored by R.W. White in 1959. The term gained traction in 1973, when David McClelland wrote a seminal paper entitled Testing for Competence Rather Than for Intelligence. It has since been popularized by Richard E. Boyatzis in relation to job performance, and many others including Thomas F. Gilbert (1978), who used the concept in the context of engineering.

Its uses vary widely, which has led to considerable misunderstanding. Studies on competence indicate that competence covers a very complicated and extensive range of fields and domains, ranging from human resources to psychology and from science to education, with various scholars holding different interpretations of the term.

