MANAGEMENT COMPETENCY MODELS AND THE LIFE-LONG LEARNING PROJECT: WHAT ROLE FOR ABSEL? Developments in Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 13, 1986 122 MANAGEMENT COMPETENCY MODELS AND THE LIFE-LONG LEARNING PROJECT: WHAT ROLE FOR ABSEL? Donald S. Kline, Bloomsburg University ABSTRACT Over the past seven years or so two models have been developed pertaining to a competency-based approach to business/management education, training and development. Some of the foundations to this approach resulted from a three year joint task force project by the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) and the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) 117; 18; 191. The two models, those of the American Management Associations (AMA) and the AACSB, provide a list of specific competencies which are thought to be relevant to above-average managerial performance. Early research by McBer and Company has led to the development of a validated competency model which has been used by the AMA. Several competencies in the McBer model are performance-relevant at the entry (supervisory) level of management. These and additional competencies from the AACSB model provide a rich area for future ABSEL research endeavors. The AACSB Model The first model arose out of efforts of the Accreditation Research Committee of the AACSB to develop an alternative “track” to accreditation/reaccredidation. The traditional track, labeled “research,” is input oriented, sets standards as to number of terminally qualified faculty, volumes in the library, etc., and is costly for accreditation. The alternative and emerging track may be labeled “teaching” and is output based--that is, documented skills and competencies of graduates determine the quality and accredibility of the program. The competencies of the AACSB model are classified as being either “cognitive” (the knowledge areas of Accounting, Finance, Marketing and ten other areas) or “non-cognitive” or “behavioral.” The behavioral competencies are shown in Exhibit 1* as a ladder of six categories. Those indicated at Levels 1 and 2 can be more readily taught. Those at higher levels (e.g. the values of business at Level 6) can be more effectively learned by the creation of conducive classroom environments via experiential exercises and simulations of various types. Such exercises and simulations can be aimed at a specific single competency or a cluster of competencies. Exhibit 2 lists, by cluster and on a preliminary basis, defines the twenty-one competencies of the AACSB model. The AMA Model Based on research by McBer and Company and later commentary by Boyatzis [1] and Winter, McClelland and Stewart [15] , the American Management Associations began the delivery of a graduate level, competency- based management program in the fall of 1980. More recently, Powers [12] has viewed the model within the developmental process as related to people and organizations. Exhibit 3 shows the competencies of the AMA model using the analogy of a tree. The trunk of the tree represents the competencies of the Individual and the three secondary roots are goals, values, and beliefs. The taproot of values is the * All Exhibits will be presented at the Conference and can also be obtained by contacting the author directly. central concept, is linked to the AACSB competency of “values of business,” and lends itself most directly to ABSEL endeavors. The Life-Long Learning Project In 1982 the Wingspread Conference, as reported by Walton [13], re-iterated the need for business/ management programs to increase the emphasis on those competencies labeled “interactive, interpersonal, integrative, inspirational, intuitive or intra-organizational (13, p. 3].” By February 1984 the AACAB Board of Directors had approved a fifteen month, $400,000 research project concerned with life-long learning for the professional manager [21] . In August of 1985, at the annual Academy of Management Meeting in San Diego, a symposium was held entitled "A Century XXI Corporate Megatrend: Life-Long Learning for the Professional Manager” (8) The “Life-Long Learning” project seeks answers to such questions as: Which competencies can be taught (learned) at which point in time In the total educational process of the manager, which institutions should teach these competencies (high school, undergraduate college, graduate school, of business organization) and what methods should be used (lecture, computer-aided instruction or simulation, experiential exercise)? Model Research conducted by McBer and Company as reported by Boyatzis [1] provides a solid basis for targeting specific competencies for ABSEL research endeavors. Developments in Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 13, 1986 123 Figure II shows the “job competence assessment method” as developed by McBer. The process used was the reanalysis of prior gathered raw data from twelve organizations, forty-one management jobs and over 2,000 people El, Chapter 3]. The five sequential steps used were: identification of criterion measures, job element analysis, behavioral event interviews, tests and measures, and the development of the competency model. ABSEL can play a research role at any point in the five-step sequence with regard to any designated list of competencies. Based on the statistical method of cluster analysis, performance-relevant competencies were determined for three levels of management: entry (supervisory), middle and executive. Those for the entry level are shown in Figure III, in the left-hand column labeled “AMA”. It is to be noted that the listed competencies are performance-relevant at the entry level. It is also to be noted that students in the AMA competency program are both graduate students and practicing entry level and middle managers. The right-hand column in Figure III shows competencies of the AACSB model which “closely” approximate those of the AMA model. The listed competencies in the right-hand column would appear, to a degree, to be relevant at the undergraduate college level. Further, those AMA competencies in the Goal and Action Management cluster might well be relevant at the high school level. Thus, Figure III points the way to competencies about which ABSEL could conduct research using the framework of McBer and Company. In addition to the AMA and AACSB competencies listed in Figure III, eight additional ones may be added from the AACSB list. These eight do not appear to be closely linked to the McBer model. However, they would appear as basic to any person aspiring to a management career. Figure IV shows this additional list. With regard to future ABSEL research, competencies such as ‘perception of threshold social cues” and “personal impact” might require modified research designs using behavioral event interviewing and item ranking by practicing managers. Future Roles of ABSEL in the Life-Long Learning Project In Exhibit 1, competencies above Level 1 lend themselves to ABSEL activity and the development-implementation of experiential exercises and simulations. Two competencies in particular stand out---personal impact and business values. With regard to the former, such topics as mood therapy [2] and avoidance of external Developments in Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 13, 1986 124 control of one’s life [3] are but two examples of the nature and diversity of background material which needs to be researched prior to the development/implementation of specific exercises and simulations. With regard to values, Graves [5] has developed a powerful theory of “levels of existence” which has been adopted for corporate use by Flowers [6] and Flowers and Hughes [7] at the Center for Values Research. Conclusion If the competency models of the AACSB and the AMA prove to be of value in the process of business/management education, training and development, and if the AACSB’s life-long learning project is able to answer such questions as to who (high school, undergraduate college, graduate school, corporate trainers) can most effectively develop which competencies for present managers and mangers-to-be at what point in time, then it is apparent that ABSEL could (if it wished to) play a central role in this evolutionary educational process. An exercise has been developed, for example, to create a learning environment within which both the competencies of “resistance to stress” and “accurate self- assessment” can be gained [9] . Ohio University has begun the process of applying the AMA model to both its undergraduate and graduate business programs [23). However, if various emerging indictments of American business education (20) are valid, and business schools do not change their curriculum and pedagogy to reflect the shifting needs of corporate employers with regard to managerial competencies, corporate training and development programs will continue to grow relative to spending in business schools E4] and will even replace formal university business education. One major contribution by Whetton and Cameron 1]4] points the direction in which all business educators might think of traveling. ABSEL can, if the will is present, play a not-so-small role in changing the way that professional managers for the 21st Century are educated, trained and developed. REFERENCES [l] Boyatzis, Richard E. The Competent Manager, New York: Wiley, 1982. [2] Burns, David D. Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy, New York: New American Library, 1980. [3] Dyer, Wayne E. Pulling Your Own Strings, New York: Avon Books, 1978. [4] Fiske, Edward B. “Booming Corporate Education Efforts Rival College Programs, Study Says,” The New York Times (January 28, 1985), p. A9. [5] Graves, Clare W. “Human Nature Prepares for a Momentous Leap,” The Futurist (April 1974), pp. 72- 87. [6] Flowers, Vincent S. “Who Do You Think You’re Talking To?” Supervisory Management (March 1977), pp. 14-24. [7] Flowers. Vincent S. and Charles L. Hughes, “Why Employees Stay.” Harvard Business Review, Vol. 51, No. 4 (July-August 1973), pp. 49-60. [8] Kline, Donald S. “A Century XXI Corporate Mega- trend: Life-Long Learning for the Professional Manager,” Symposium presented at the National Meeting of the Academy of Management, San Diego, August 11-14, 1985. [9] Kline, Donald S. “Developing the Competencies of Resistance to Stress and Accurate Self-Assessment,” in James W. Gentry and Alvin C. Burns (Editors), Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Exercises, Stillwater: Oklahoma State University, 1984, pp. 141-144. [10] Kline, Donald S. and Donald Warrick, “The Teaching and Behavioral Measurement of Managerial/Organizational Competencies: Developing Experiential Exercises and Simulations,” in Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Exercises, Lee A. Graf and William M. Currie (Editors), Normal: Illinois State University, 1983, pp. 187-188. [11] Kline, Donald S. “Toward Competency-Based Management Education: The Interpersonal/ Communications Cluster,” in William D. Biggs and David J. Fritzsche (Editors), Normal: Illinois State University, 1981, pp. 124-127. [12] Powers, Edward A. “The AMA Management Competency Programs: A Developmental Process,’ Exchange: Organizational Behavior Teaching Journal, Vol. 8, No. 2 (1983), pp. 16-20. [13] Walton, Clarence C. The Wingspread Conference on Life-Long Learning for Managers, Washington, D.C.: The American Assembly for Collegiate Schools of Business, 1982. [14] Whetten, David A. and Kim S. Cameron, Developing Management Skills, Glenview, Ill.: Scott, Foresman, 1984. [15] Winter, David C., David C. McClelland and Abigail J. Stewart, A New Case for the Liberal Arts, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1981. [16] Accreditation Research Project: Report of Phase I, AACSB Bulletin, Vol 15, No. 2 (WInter 1980), pp. 12- 17. [17] American Assembly for Collegiate Schools of Business, Management for the XXI Century: Education and Development, Washington, D.C.: American Assembly for Collegiate Schools of Business, 1982. [18] American Assembly for Collegiate Schools of Business, Management in the XXI Century, Washington, D.C.: American Assembly for Collegiate Schools of Business, 1979. [19] American Assembly for Collegiate Schools of Business, The Changing Expectations of Society in the Next Thirty Years, Washington, D.C.: American Assembly for Collegiate Schools of Business, 1979. [20] America’s Business Schools: Priorities for Change, Washington, D.C.: Business-Higher Education Forum, 1985. [21] ‘Board Votes Unanimous Approval for Research Project,” AACSB Newsline, Vol. 14, No. 3 (February 1984), p. 1. Developments in Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 13, 1986 125 [22] “Description of Competencies Including Behavior Indicators,” New York: American Management Associations, 1980, internal document. [23] “Ohio University Introduces Competency-Based Management Education,” Newsletter, Academy of Management, Management Education and Development Division, Vol. 11, No. 2 (February 1985), p. 2. Table of Contents Volume 13, 1986 How to Use Microcomputers in Human Resource Management Courses What's My Line? An Exercise in Job Analysis, Description and Classification Relationships Between Team Cohesion Dimensions and Business Game Performance Four Factors Affecting Group Performance in Business Policy Simulations Enhancing Strategic Management Goal-Setting Skills in the Business Policy Course Using a Business Simulation in the Principles of Management Course - Learning Outcomes and Perceptions Personal Computers: Drexel's Experience Using Psychological Type to Enhance Negotiation Skills The Effects of Conflict Handling Styles on Negotiation Behavior: An Analysis of an Experiential Exercise An Experiential Test of Bargaining Decisions and Representation Self-Grading of Examination by Students, A Viable Alternative to Traditional Procedures Perceived Instructor Enthusiasm and Student Achievement An Experiential Approach to Teaching Subordinate-Oriented Communication Assessing the Effects of a Computerized Study Guide in Macroeconomic Principles: A Statistical Analysis A Sales Management Simulation for the PC an Integrative Tool for the Sales Management Course Teaching Re-evaluation of Salespersons Through the Use of a Simulation Game A Test of Student Performance and Attitudes and Performance Under Varying Game Conditions Developing and Testing Airways: A Marketing Simulation Experiential Learning Revisited: Some Thoughts on Designing More Adaptive Management Education Programs Developing the Competencies of Creativity and Accurate Self-Assessment Self-View and Norms: Some Longitudinal Laboratory Results Strategic Planning with an Experiential Case The ABSEL Research Consortium: Preliminary Steps and Position Papers An Analysis of ABSEL Conference papers (1974-1985) The Creation and Operation of a Data-base System for ABSEL Research Funding for a Research Consortium on Simulation and Experiential Learning Simulation - Indoctrination or Learning The Dilemma In Evaluating Classroom Innovations Personality Variables on Group Cohesion, Team Participation and Total Learning Justifications for and Problems in Developing and Using Computerized Experiential Activities Management Competency Models and the Life-Long Learning Project: What Role for ABSEL External Validity of Business Games Restructuring the University - An Experiential Exercise The Surrogate Class Exercise Images of Effectiveness: A Classroom Exercise The Algebran Industry: A Tutorial Framework Another Chance: A Multi-Leveled, Macro Business Game for Micro-Computers A Water Quality Management Simulation Game Acquisitions? Divestitures? Progress Report on a Conglomerate Game Enterprise: A Multi-Purpose Management Development Simulation Marketer: A Microcomputer Simulation in a High Tech Industry A Pedagogical Analysis of Alternative Tax Elections for Exploration Costs in the Mining Industry Using of Multiple Microcomputers Application Programs to Teach Fundamental Business Concepts and Practices Demonstrating the Role of Simulation in Strategic Operations Planning: A Case Study in Bank Check Processing Location Analysis The Subjective Side of the Decision Support System: A Pitfall for the Panacea A Group-Based Procedure for Revealing Judgmental Heuristics and Biases An Experiential Exercise in Bayesian Decision-Making Values for Selected Parameters in Physical Distribution Simulation and Games Computerized Business Management Simulations for Tyros The Management Decision Laboratory at New York University An Example: The Use of Management Games on Microcomputers by Computer Novices Enhancing Mainframe Simulation Via Microcomputers: Designing Decision Support Systems Integrating Personal Computers Into a Course as a Decision Support Tool A Decision Support System for Capital Funds Forecasting Performance and Attitudinal Affects of a Decision Support Package in a Business Game Using the Real World: Interviews with Woman Mangers The Cooperatively-Authored Student Handbook International Buying: An Experiential Exercise The Research/Teaching Interface: Turning a Pretest into an Experiential Exercise Building Microcomputer Business Simulations Simulation with Discrete and Continuous Mathematical Modeling An Interpolation Approach to Developing mathematical Functions for Business Simulations The Design of Simulation Models Using Thought Organizers The Assessment Center as a Teaching/Learning Device An Approach to Meeting the AACSB Guidelines for Introducing Skills and Personal Characteristics (SACs) Using an Interclass Simulating and Role-Playing Pedagogy Experiential Learning about the World of Work: A Program for Primary and Secondary School Educators Assessment of Relevant Personal Characteristics of Potential Entrepreneurs