Developing managerial competencies: integrating work design characteristics and developmental challenge

Abstract

There have been growing speculations about the nature of challenging work in influencing the way individuals develop in an organization by acquiring competencies crucial for the job. The objective of the present study is to know which aspects of work characteristics might influence managerial end-state competencies and how. We attempt to integrate work design characteristics in predicting managerial end-state competencies through developmental challenge. In doing so, we examine the role of feedback from others. Specifically, we found that developmental challenge mediates the relationship among task characteristics, contextual characteristics and managerial end-state competencies. Further, feedback from others moderates the relationship between developmental challenge and managerial end-state competencies, indicating a moderated-mediation effect. The study was conducted in a large information technology-business process management organization based in India. Multisource data collected at different time intervals from junior level managers (n = 261) and their reporting supervisors (n = 71) was used for the analyses. The importance of the study context along with work characteristics and their implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Keywords:

• Work design
• developmental challenge
• managerial end-state competencies

Acknowledgement

We are grateful to the Editor, Prof. Michael Dickmann and anonymous reviewers for having provided valuable comments that helped us immensely in revising the manuscript.