“The Logic of Competencies” and Individualization: A Historic Movement in Labor

The implementation of the competencies model in industry has generated diverse management practices using different names and tools, depending on the industry. This article explores this diversity and puts forward several key questions: Is there a logic that crosses all the competencies approach-es? Can national specificities or common logics be observed internation-ally? Which employees are the most affected and what changes take place in their work activities? Analyzing the general trend toward individualized wage relations, the article is framed in the transformations of the produc-tive system and classical debate in the sociology of labor. Labor competen-cies must be understood from a historical perspective, taking into account the economic and social circumstances that influence management’s needs and the skills required in the long term.