There is substantial evidence to suggest that the competency movement is still
in its infancy in Australia in 1997, despite federal government initiatives
dating back to 1990 to promote the establishment of competency-based stan
dards in the professions. There remains a lack of clarity as to what is meant
by the term 'competence', originating from the lack of consensus surrounding
efforts to define effective management. There is also an underlying uncer
tainty about the viability of establishing generic managerial competencies in
Australia. This paper examines the merits and de-merits of the competency-
based approach to management, focusing on the need to develop an accepted
framework within which to define competence. Following this, a review of the
literature reveals a number of influential factors to be considered in deter
mining managerial competence. This leads to the development of a proposed
synthesizing framework of managerial competencies.
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