A symbolic approach to competence development

Abstract

A deep-lying assumption nested in the civil service culture is that of competence. The article illustrates the research project carried out in a municipality over a period of three years, using a symbolic approach to competence development. Competence is defined as a symbolic field, an imaginary territory comprising the ideas, projects and emotions that subjects attribute to their organization within a metaphorical map which represents the texture of organizing. Possessing competence or being competent is the dilemma which provides the key to the analysis of the symbolization processes which took place during the consultation. The social representation of competence highlights the relationships between organizational actors (the competent civil servant, the competent boss, the competent politician, the competent administration, the competent citizen) and their mutual image. Competence therefore becomes a relational concept.