What is Strategic Competence and Does it Matter? Exposition of the Concept and a Research Agenda

Drawing on a range of theoretical and empirical insights from strategic management and the cognitive and organizational sciences, we argue that strategic competence constitutes the ability of organizations and the individuals who operate within them to work within their cognitive limitations in such a way that they are able to maintain an appropriate level of responsiveness to the contingencies confronting them. Using the language of the resource based view of the firm, we argue that this meta-level competence represents a confluence of individual and organizational characteristics, suitably configured to enable the detection of those weak signals indicative of the need for change and to act accordingly, thereby minimising the dangers of cognitive bias and cognitive inertia. In an era of unprecedented informational burdens and instability, we argue that this competence is central to the longer-term survival and well being of the organization. We conclude with a consideration of the major scientific challenges that lie ahead, if the ideas contained within this paper are to be validated

Media Freedom and Pluralism Discussed in Relation to Human Rights and to Reinforcing Political Legitimacy of the EU

The question of whether the European Commission has the competence to act in the area of media pluralism just got even more interesting. Whilst the narrow question of legal competence continues to be disputed, the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (CMPF) at the European University Institute demonstrates in a recent Report that the EU has a clear responsibility to act, and at the very least to clarify its competence. Alina Dobreva and Andrea Calderaro, of the CMPF/EUI and two of the authors of the report, outline their findings

The Government of Wales Act 2006: Welsh devolution still a process and not an event?

Following the Assembly Elections in May 2007 Wales moved into a new area in its devolutionary settlement with a change of government and new legislation - the Government of Wales Act 2006. The Act is designed to revise fundamentally the Government of Wales Act 1998. Critics at the time predicted that executive devolution would be unlikely to be stable and would lead to "catch up" devolution with more privileged nations such as Scotland. Hence the second phase of Welsh devolution in which a Westminster model of Government is introduced as well as enhanced legislative powers for the National Assembly for Wales, including powers for the Assembly to be given legislative competence by Order in Council to make law in certain of the devolved fields, as an interim stage towards achieving full legislative devolution following a referendum. This paper argues that the Government of Wales Act 2006 has not conclusively settled the constitutional issues of asymmetrical devolution, such as the distribution of power between London and Cardiff; the role of the Secretary of State; the clarity and transparency of Welsh governance; and the question of how long these interim arrangements will last before Wales gains legislative devolution.</p

A survey on the status of acceptance and commitment training in rural Northern California

The interest in acceptance and commitment training (ACT) from within the applied behavior analysis (ABA) community has increased as evidenced by recently published literature addressing the need to examine the acceptability and utilization of ACT within ABA. However, there is limited literature on the perspectives of those working in the field of ABA on the use of ACT. In the present study a survey was conducted of ABA practitioners working in rural northern California to evaluate their level of interest in ACT, their perceptions of ACT being within the scope of practice of ABA, and any perceived challenges in developing their own personal scope of competence in the use of ACT. The results of the survey found that a majority of respondents were interested in research articles and continuing education courses on ACT and indicated a high level of acceptability of ACT as an intervention that is within the scope of practice of ABA. However, when asked about their confidence level in knowledge of ACT procedures and strategies or their confident level in treatment success when incorporating ACT, most reported that their confident level was neither high nor low. Further, a majority of respondents reported that lack of mentorship and training as the main barrier to development of their own personal scope of competence in using ACT in applied settings. Recommendations and suggestions for future research on addressing these barriers to developing one’s scope of competence in ACT are discussed

Saying and Doing: Speech Actions, Speech Acts and Related Events

The question which this paper examines is that of the correct scope of the claim that extra-linguistic factors (such as gender and social status) can block the proper workings of natural language. The claim that this is possible has been put forward under the apt label of silencing in the context of Austinian speech act theory. The ‘silencing’ label is apt insofar as when one’s ability to exploit the inherent dynamic of language is ‘blocked’ by one’s gender or social status then one might justly be said to be silenced. The notion that factors independent of any person’s linguistic competence might block her ability to exploit the inherent dynamic of language is of considerable social as well as theoretical significance. I shall defend the claim that factors independent of a person’s linguistic competence can indeed block her ability to do things with words but I will show that the cases that have been previously considered to be cases of illocutionary failure are instances of rhetic or locutionary act failure instead. I shall refine the silencing claim as previously advanced in the debate in at least one fundamental respect. I also show that considering the metaphysics of speech acts clarifies many of the issues previously appearing as thorny bones of contention between those who hold that the only notion of silencing that is coherent is that of physically preventing someone from speaking or writing and those who hold the opposite sort of claim sketched above

ANALISIS FAKTOR INTERNAL DAN EKSTERNAL YANG MEMPENGARUHI PERSEPSI MAHASISWA AKUNTANSI TERHADAP TINDAKAN PLAGIARISME DENGAN TEKANAN SEBAGAI VARIABEL MODERATING

This research aims to analyze internal and external factors that affect the behavior of accounting student towards the intention of plagiarism act. Variables that are examined in this research are as follows: self awareness, personal attitude, self competence, internet facility, and control of academic institutions. Control of academic institutionswas used as independent variable and c was used as dependent variable while pressure was used as moderating variable. Data used in this research was primary data that was collected through questionnaire. Samples were selected by using purposive random sampling method. Respondents in this research were accounting students of Diponegoro University. The respondents consist of those who were in S1, S2, and S3. 100 respondents were selected for this research. The data collected were analyzed by using regression analysis and moderation regression analysis. The result showed that personal attitude didn’t have significant influence toward thebehavior of plagiarism act while self awareness, self competence, dan internet facility had significant ifluence toward the behavior of plagiarism act. Moreover, pressure was unable to moderate the influence of self competence to the behaviorof plagiarism act

Conventional acts and their normative consequences: controversies over the Poznań concept of conventional acts

The concept of conventional acts is one of the foremost achievements of the Poznań School of Legal Theory. The aim of this paper is to resolve doubts concerning the relationships between constitutive rules and norms of conduct, whereby the norms bear on conventional acts in a twofold manner. On the one hand, they may regulate the performance of such acts and, on the other, attach normative consequences to a performed act, as a result of which the normative situation of certain entities changes. Focusing on the latter aspect, it was necessary to compile a catalogue of possible normative consequences and to decide whether such consequences are prerequisite if an act is to be qualified as conventional. The analysis warrants the conclusion that the existence of a conventional act does not depend on whether it entails normative consequences. The correlation between a conventional act and its normative consequences is not necessary, but merely functional, although its strength may vary. Also, it is likely that the confusion in this regard stems from the failure to distinguish between two types of effects which the acts in question produce, assuming that certain effects do in fact ensue. Specifically, one has to distinguish between an effect understood as the outcome of a conventional act and an effect understood as its normative consequence. It is presumed here that the effect of a conventional act is distinguished by a relevant constitutive rule, while any normative consequences following its performance should be approached only as a corollary of competence norms. Assuming that the relationship between constitutive rules and norms of conduct is functional enables the rules to be recognized as independent with respect to the norms. Furthermore, it also implies the need for two concepts of competence to be distinguished, namely conventional competence and normative competence.The concept of conventional acts is one of the foremost achievements of the Poznań School of Legal Theory. The aim of this paper is to resolve doubts concerning the relationships between constitutive rules and norms of conduct, whereby the norms bear on conventional acts in a twofold manner. On the one hand, they may regulate the performance of such acts and, on the other, attach normative consequences to a performed act, as a result of which the normative situation of certain entities changes. Focusing on the latter aspect, it was necessary to compile a catalogue of possible normative consequences and to decide whether such consequences are prerequisite if an act is to be qualified as conventional. The analysis warrants the conclusion that the existence of a conventional act does not depend on whether it entails normative consequences. The correlation between a conventional act and its normative consequences is not necessary, but merely functional, although its strength may vary. Also, it is likely that the confusion in this regard stems from the failure to distinguish between two types of effects which the acts in question produce, assuming that certain effects do in fact ensue. Specifically, one has to distinguish between an effect understood as the outcome of a conventional act and an effect understood as its normative consequence. It is presumed here that the effect of a conventional act is distinguished by a relevant constitutive rule, while any normative consequences following its performance should be approached only as a corollary of competence norms. Assuming that the relationship between constitutive rules and norms of conduct is functional enables the rules to be recognized as independent with respect to the norms. Furthermore, it also implies the need for two concepts of competence to be distinguished, namely conventional competence and normative competence

The Effect of Language Learning Experience on the Appropriate Use of Speech Act ‘Request’

Nowadays emphasizing linguistic competence is not a sufficient path to reach a target-like communicative competence. Pragmatic competence should be put emphasis on as well. The importance of learning speech acts which is one aspect in the pragmatics is clear to those who want to learn a second or foreign language. This study after investigating the interest of language learners in the acquisition of appropriate use of second language speech acts, traces the variation over time in the use of speech act of request in Iranian EFL University students and for further clarification a group of non-language University students. The results showed no effect of time on the appropriate use of speech act “request”

A Brief Online Acceptance and Commitment Training for Enhancing Outcomes of a Cultural Competence Intervention

In an increasingly diverse and multicultural society, there is a pressing and practical need for interventions to help professionals improve their cultural competence. Cultural competence trainings that target psychological flexibility in addition to knowledge, awareness, and skills may produce more efficacious results. The current study will examined the utility of targeting psychological flexibility (the ability to maintain contact the present moment and current internal experiences and to choose contextually appropriate, values-consistent behaviors, regardless of what one’s internal experiences are) as a process to enhance the impact of a cultural competence intervention with an Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT)-enhanced cultural competence intervention. Sixty-nine participants completed four-week online cultural competence trainings. Participants were randomly assigned to complete either a cultural competence as usual training (CCAU) or a cultural competence plus psychological flexibility training (CC+PF). Results from program engagement and program evaluation data suggest that the CC+PF condition was feasible and acceptable. Analysis of data between groups did not show statistically significant shifts in psychological flexibility, which may have been due to low power from a small sample size. Analysis of data did not show statistically different shifts in cultural competence between groups, however, there were significant improvements in cultural competence and ethnocultural empathy when the sample was examined as a whole. While the results of the present study suggest that adding techniques aimed at increasing psychological flexibility to a cultural competence intervention is feasible and acceptable to participants, future research with a larger dosage and a larger sample size is needed to examine the utility of ACT to enhance outcomes in tripartite cultural competence interventions