Richard E. Boyatzis

Competencies in the 21st century

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show that development of competencies needed to be effective managers and leaders requires program design and teaching methods focused on learning. This is the introductory essay to this special issue of JMD.Design/methodology/approach – Competencies are defined and an overview is provided for the eight papers that will follow with original research on competencies, their link to performance in various occupations, and their development.Findings – Emotional, social and cognitive intelligence competencies predict effectiveness in professional, management and leadership roles in many sectors of society. In addition, these competencies can be developed in adults.Research limitations/implications – As an introductory essay, this lays the foundation for the papers in this issue.Practical implications – Competencies needed to be effective can be developed.Originality/value – Despite widespread application, there are few published studies of the empirical link between co...

Learning Cognitive and Emotional Intelligence Competencies Through Graduate Management Education

A major challenge to MBA education is to develop the ability to use management knowledge. Entering and graduating data from six full-time and three part-time cohorts taking an MBA program designed ...

Learning Styles and Adaptive Flexibility: Testing Experiential Learning Theory.

This research used three instruments derived from experiential learning theory—the Learning Style Inventory, the Adaptive Style Inventory and the Learning Skills Profile—to test hypotheses about differences between balanced and specialized learning styles in a sample of 198 part-time and full-time MBA students. Learning styles that balanced experiencing and conceptualizing showed greater adaptive flexibility in responding to experiencing and conceptualizing learning contexts. The learning style specializing in experiencing showed higher levels of skill development in interpersonal skills and lower levels of skill development in analytic skills; while the reverse was true for the learning style specializing in conceptualizing. Similar tests for the acting/reflecting specialized and balanced learning styles showed no consistent results. Analysis of male and female subsamples produced results supporting these general conclusions. The study adds further construct validity for the hypothesis that adaptive flexibility in learning style is predictive of highly integrated and complex levels of adult development.

Competencies as a behavioral approach to emotional intelligence

Purpose – Development of competencies needed to be effective managers and leaders requires research and theory that can drive future scholarship and application. This introductory essay to this special issue of JMD seeks to focus on competencies in organizations in Europe and a broader conceptualization of emotional intelligence.Design/methodology/approach – Competencies are defined and an overview is provided for the papers that will follow with original research on competencies, their link to performance in various occupations, and their development.Findings – Emotional, social and cognitive intelligence competencies predict effectiveness in professional, management and leadership roles in many sectors of society. It addition, these competencies can be developed in adults.Research limitations/implications – As an introductory essay, the paper lays the foundation for the following papers in this issue.Practical implications – Competencies needed in order to be effective can be developed.Originality/value...

An overview of intentional change from a complexity perspective

Purpose – Change, and in particular intentional or desired change, has not been understood nor systematically studied. By applying concepts from complexity theory to intentional change theory, the purpose of this paper is to provide a new level of insight into why and how sustainable desired change can occur at all levels of human/social interaction, from individual to teams to organizations to communities, countries and the globe.Design/methodology/approach – Using research from over 30 years of longitudinal studies of individual and organizational change, the concepts are explored and implications proposed.Findings – Sustainable, intentional change is on the whole discontinuous. It occurs through a series of five discoveries or emergence conditions. It is driven by the interplay of the positive and negative emotional attractor. It follows the described process at all fractals of human organization.Research limitations/implications – Extensive empirical research has been done at the individual level, but...

From learning styles to learning skills: the executive skills profile

Contends that a typology of skills based on a framework of learning styles and experiential learning theory, rather than a framework of job performance or some other personality construct, provides a language and guidance for assessment methods to describe knowledge at the performance level of adaptation. It requires development of the concept of learning skills which are: domainspecific and knowledge‐rich; descriptive of an integrated transaction between the person and the environment; and developed by practice. Reviews and reports data from numerous studies to establish the ESP′s reliability, relational validity, criterion validity and construct validity. The ESP can be used as a vehicle for providing personal and organizational feedback on skills, and expectations and intent regarding skills in jobs and development programmes.

The ideal self as the driver of intentional change

Purpose – If the ideal self is the emotional driver of intentional change, the purpose of this paper is to explore the components of a persons personal vision and how it comes from their ideal self.Design/methodology/approach – Based on the concept of the ideal self from intentional change theory, the paper examines a variety of theoretical foundations, from psychoanalytic to positive psychology. Each views the ideal self and its components as deficiencies needing therapeutic intervention or the heights of human experience and intrinsic motivation.Findings – The ideal self is a primary source of positive affect and psychophysiological arousal helping provide the drive for intentional change. Many current frameworks or theories examine only portions of this model and, therefore, leave major components unaddressed. The ideal self is composed of three major components: an image of a desired future; hope (and its constituents, self‐efficacy and optimism); and a comprehensive sense of ones core identity (pas...

A 20-year view of trying to develop emotional, social and cognitive intelligence competencies in graduate management education.

Purpose – Development of competencies needed to be effective managers and leaders requires program design and teaching methods focused on learning. The paper presents an update and a view of 20 years of attempting to develop these competencies.Design/methodology/approach – A total of 14 longitudinal studies of the impact of a particular MBA program on developing emotional, social and cognitive intelligence competencies are reviewed. Three new studies are to complete a 20‐year perspective. This is a value added design. It asks how are the graduates different from when they entered the program?Findings – Emotional, social and cognitive intelligence competencies that predict effectiveness in management and leadership can be developed in adults through a graduate management program. These improvements can sustain out as far as seven years. But this degree of value added can be eroded by a tumultuous organizational climate.Research limitations/implications – It is a series of 17 longitudinal studies on one sch...

Assessing Individuality in Learning: the learning skills profile

Abstract A typology of learning skills is developed that is congruent with the learning style descriptions of experiential learning theory. The typology is holistic, allowing both idiographic and normative comparisons of individuals and situations, and the ‘fit’ between them. Learning style describes basic and generalised dimensions of individuality in learning, while a learning skill is more situational and subject to intentional development. The Learning Skills Profile (LSP) is a 72‐item, modified Q‐sort assessment instrument designed to assess learning skills. Data from numerous studies are reviewed and reported to establish the LSPs reliability, relational validity, criterion and construct validity. The LSP can be used as a vehicle for providing personal and organisational feedback on skills, and to describe the skills required by different jobs and educational programs.

Stimulating Self-Directed Learning Through the Managerial Assessment and Development Course

To address common criticisms of MBA graduates, the Weatherhead School of Management developed a new curriculum including a required course called Mana- gerial Assessment and Development. During the course, students develop an assess- ment of strengths and weaknesses on 22 abilities, 11 knowledge areas, and 5 value themes. The assessment incorporates rigorously coded assessment exercises, self- assessment, and assessment from others (i.e., family, friends, coworkers, managers, etc.). In the context of a 12-person Executive Action Team, each student develops a personal Learning Plan to stimulate and guide development during the entire MBA program.