Abstract

Qualifications have seldom been analyzed as closely as possible to the operational level, a possibility of special interest to line managers and a genuine issue for research and management. Supervisors are continually in the position of making judgments about the qualifications of the persons and work teams whose activities they organize to reach the objectives set. Starting from observations conducted in several situations at the workplace, the concept of a “qualification oriented toward the situation” is drawn up around three dimensions: situation, qualification and performance. Its usefulness is empirically illustrated in the case of a big transportation firm; and its operational nature for human resource management, brought under discussion.