The purpose of this article is to define and explain a trend that has caused a great deal of confusion among HR researchers, practitioners, and consumers of HR‐related services: competency modeling. The Job Analysis and Competency Modeling Task Force, a work group jointly sponsored by the Professional Practice Committee and the Scientific Affairs Committee of the Society For Industrial and Organizational Psychology, has recently concluded a 2‐year investigation into the antecedents of competency modeling and an examination of the current range of practice. Competency modeling is compared and contrasted to job analysis using a conceptual framework (reflected in a 10‐dimension Level of Rigor Scale) that practitioners and researchers may use to guide future work efforts, and which could be used as a basis for developing standards for practice. The strengths and weaknesses of both competency modeling and job analysis are identified and, where appropriate, recommendations are made for leveraging strengths in one camp to shore‐up weaknesses in the other.

Hofstede's power distance (PD) and individualism (IDV) constructs were validated in the context of a single multicultural work setting. Two hundred sixty-three workers from 28 different countries employed in the information services branch of a large Australian bank completed a questionnaire the items of which measured some implications of the constructs, namely: superior-subordinate relationships, decision-making styles, the work ethic, task orientation, the psychological contract, and individual versus group achievement. On the basis of their Hofstede country index, the subjects were divided into high and low PD and IDV groups, respectively, and differences in their scores on theoretically relevant items provided support for both constructs. The questionnaire also included items stenming from the model about the nature and incidence of inteethnic work-related friction. As predicted, the out-group non-Anglo-Celt respondents reported a greater incidence of discrimination, regarded cultural diversity in the workplace more favorably, and engaged in more behaviors that the host culture would regard as countemormative.

This paper proposes a conceptual approach to the construct of behavioural adaptability in work contexts and illustrates the application of the approach in two organisations. Behavioural adaptability is an important construct in both individual and organisational career development with practical value in strategic career planning. Using the Minnesota Theory of Work Adjustment, adaptable behaviours are described as being either proactive, reactive or tolerant. Two Australian civilian organisations participated in the research presented in this study (involving 257 respondents), thereby extending previous research on adaptive performance that has primarily focused on military personnel in the United States. Factor analytic results of self‐reported behaviour and supervisor‐rated performance offer initial support for the proposed framework. In addition, the validity of a set of predictors, including self‐efficacy, work‐requirements biodata, cognitive flexibility and personality traits, was examined. Results suggest that self‐efficacy for adaptable behaviour was related to adaptive performance. Work requirements biodata and adaptability‐related personality traits were also significant predictors in one of the organisations.

Two experiments investigated the effect of making errors during training (error training) on a driving simulator versus learning from examples of errors (guided error training) on driving skill and confidence. Experiment 1 indicated that compared with errorless learning (where participants drove through a training run not designed to elicit errors), error training led to significantly better transfer to driving tests that were analogous to those situations encountered in training and more effective use of strategies for coping with a novel driving situation. Error training also reduced self-confidence in driving skill at the end of training relative to errorless learning. Experiment 2 provided weak evidence of the superiority of guided error training over errorless learning (where the driver in the video did not make any errors) on analogous tests, and no evidence of transfer to a novel test. Furthermore, guided error training did not influence self-confidence in driving skill. The potential value of driving simulators in providing active processing during driver training is discussed, along with the effects of passive and active exposure to errors on driver confidence.

This study highlights an approach to the development of performance and predictor constructs that has the potential to permit context and culture relevant selection. Task, contextual and adaptive measures of performance were used as criterion data in a selection study involving 325 staff in the hotel industry. Construct-oriented biodata were developed to predict adaptive and contextual performance and the validities were contrasted with measures of cognitive ability and personality. The results provided construct support for the separation of adaptive performance from task and contextual performance and for the predictive validity of changerelated biodata after controlling for cognitive ability. The pattern of correlations among the personality measures, biodata scales and cognitive tests supported the construct validity of the biodata scales. Results are discussed in relation to the context in which the data were collected, and the general relevance of the procedure across countries or cultures.