Meta-competences in complex environments: An interdisciplinary perspective

Abstract

In an increasingly complex and uncertain environment, disciplinary knowledge alone is no longer sufficient and advanced thinking skills and creative mindsets are a necessity. Meta-competences, that include advanced thinking skills and creativity, go beyond domain-specific competences and are needed to cope with these new societal challenges and real-world problems. However, the methodological question arises how such a complex phenomenon can be investigated and how it can be adequately described. In this paper we applied the method of proposition-based Expert Round Tables, that was developed to analyze complex real-world problems. In a two-year project, eight experts from the University for Continuing Education Krems collaborated following an interdisciplinary perspective including system and innovation research, management science, engineering, arts and humanities as well as higher education. Each expert proposed what meta-competences entail from their own perspective. The different knowledge was subsequently reviewed, analyzed and integrated in a collaborative approach over the course of several iterative discourses. The result is an integrative model with four interdependent readiness factors: (1) Iterative learning to continuously expand one's own competences, (2) Resilient improvisation to deal with unexpected events, (3) Dynamic viability to cope effectively with volatile environments and (4) Sustainable innovation to co-creatively innovate. They interact and reinforce each other and should, ultimately, enhance readiness to continually apply one's learning in new contexts and to communicate it accordingly. Meta-competences have, thus far, been discussed only in distinct scientific disciplines. In this study, we took the approach of Expert Round Tables to continuously generate in-depth interdisciplinary knowledge, that can also be applied to other complex real-world phenomena. The result shows a first interdisciplinary model that offers a more comprehensive view of the meta-competences required in our increasingly complex environment.