Visualizing Organizational Competences: Problems, Practices, Perspectives Alice Comi (Università della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano, Switzerland alice.comi@usi.ch) Martin J. Eppler (mcm institute, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland epplerm@gmail.com) Abstract: Although receiving significant attention in management research, the organizational competence concept still remains difficult to apply, due to the vagueness of the theoretical construct, and due to the lack of pragmatic procedures to make it actionable. According to recent research, knowledge visualization may mitigate the elusiveness of the competence concept by assisting the identification, management, and communication of competences. In this paper, we thus review the academic literature in search for conceptual representations designed to support organizational competence mapping at the intra-, and inter-organizational level. By taking a synoptic overview of the collected representations, we single out the building blocks of competence visualization, and develop a corresponding classification. Drawing on this classification, we position twelve existing competence representation methods in an integrative framework to assist practitioners in selecting the right representation method and to inform scholars about future research and development needs. Keywords: Organizational competences, competence management, competence visualization, competence mapping Categories: M.0, M.3, M.4, M.8, M.9 1 The Need for Competence Visualization Introduced by Prahalad and Hamel on the basis of the resource-based view of the firm, the concept of core competence has received widespread recognition within the academic literature in the management domain. In their seminal article, [Prahalad, 90] defined a core competence as the collective learning of an organization, providing “the glue that binds existing businesses, and the engine for new business development”. More importantly, core competences lead to sustainable advantage, because they are resistant to imitation, central to customer value, and conducive to market penetration. Therefore, accurate analysis of core competences is necessary in order to profitably exploit internal resources, and to correctly identify external opportunities [ibid]. Whilst the relevance of the competence perspective is never contested, the actual detection of competences can be quite difficult due to the vagueness of the theoretical construct. As pointed out by several researchers, the competence concept remains at an abstract level, leaving practitioners without clear guidance for the application stage [Klein, 98; Javidan, 98; Mills, 02; Tampoe, 94; Walsh, 01]. Recognizing the need for operational definitions, concerned scholars in Proceedings of I-KNOW ’09 and I-SEMANTICS ’09 2-4 September 2009, Graz, Austria 115