Bridging Competence and Curriculum for Complex Change

Purpose: The rapid technological changes prompt a company’s supervisors and managers to update their management capabilities in order to stay competitive. Aimed at enhancing low-level supervisors’ management capabilities, this study explores the training programs that help improve, and are most compatible with, each specific management competency. Design/methodology/approach: Focused on low-level supervisors in the Taiwanese Mold industry, this study was conducted by means of focus group with the competency indicators, training programs and questionnaire confirmed by 32 experts. Through cluster sampling, supervisors at Taiwanese small- and medium-sized Mold manufacturers were surveyed, and competency indicators were derived from answers stated in the 326 valid questionnaire copies returned (at a 66.53% response rate). Finally, 8 experts were consulted as part of a Gray Relational Analysis (GRA) to identify the priority of training programs that matches each specific competency. Findings: Totally 7 indicators and types of training programs are identified with regard to low-level supervisors’ competences, and so were the optimal competency-program combinations. GRA was proved an effective way to solve the ambiguity regarding how a given competency is paired with the training programs. Originality/value: The findings solve the ambiguity regarding how the emerging requirements for management competences, which are resulted from technological advances, are responded with appropriate training programs. The types of training programs identified provide a foundation for on-the-job training. The findings also prove GRA a reliable approach to finding the type of training program most suitable for a particular competency.