COMPETENCE — THE SYMBOLIC PASSE-PARTOUT TO CHANGE IN A LEARNING ORGANIZATION

The methodology of social representation theory was applied to the concept of competence during the follow-up phase of an action-research project in the public sector. The competence of authority — a key concept in legal culture and in the bureaucratic model — was contrasted with the competence to solve problems, as one of the cornerstones of the learning organization. When verified a posteriori the social representation of competence among middle managers proved to be an interesting hybrid, which anchored the new in a legal culture in the form of the capacity to interpret problems, coupled with the ability to conceptualize problems. The objectivization of competence is based on the dynamic between these two cognitive processes: from the particular to the general, from the abstract to the concrete.     

THE ECONOMETRICS OF THE HOLY GRAIL — A REVIEW OF ECONOMETRICS: ALCHEMY OR SCIENCE? ESSAYS IN ECONOMETRIC METHODOLOGY

Books reviewed in this article: David F. Hendry (1993) Econometrics: Alchemy or Science? Essays in Econometric Methodology     

ECONOMIC TRANSITION AND LABOUR MARKET DYNAMICS IN CHINA: AN INTERPRETATIVE SURVEY OF THE ‘TURNING POINT’ DEBATE

Has the Chinese economy approached the ‘Lewisian turning point’ that marks the ending of the initial phase of industrial transformation fuelled by surplus labour? In this paper we undertake an interpretative survey of the literature on this issue, in the context of China's labour market conditions prior to the reforms and structural change of the past three decades. The available evidence is mixed, and our assessment makes a strong case for probing institutional constraints to labour mobility from an economy‐wide perspective, going beyond the confines of the rural economy.