Developmental Dynamics of Workplace Adaptive Skill

Abstract

This study examined the dynamic development of workplace adaptive skills using the functional-perspectivist paradigm. Extensions to a model of behavioral functionality are tested whereby workers in four age groups are assessed through an interview-based methodology on the improvement and coalescence of their adaptive skills. Analysis of responses show the dynamic structure of workplace adaptive skills changes over the age groups. Workers in their 20s face the developmental task of resolving tensions between their inward- and outward-directed focus. Workers in their 30s must equalize the opposing tendencies of agency and accommodation of purpose. Things, Data, and People functional skills of locus appear to play a stable role within the adaptive skill dynamics across tested age groups. Instability in focus and purpose across age groups is probably brought about by the need to maintain an adaptive balance between innate predispositions toward individual development combined with the simultaneous need of the worker to function effectively within specific social-historical contexts. The functional-perspectivist paradigm is recommended in understanding development of workplace skills.