Our Approach

The world of work is undergoing fundamental change. Digitalisation and artificial intelligence are transforming tasks, decision-making processes and forms of collaboration. This continually raises the question of what people and organisations need in order to act professionally and responsibly under changing conditions.

Since 2019, MESH® RESEARCH has explored the relationships between technological change, organisational structures and human capability.

Our initial work was informed by the recognition that profound changes affect both organisational capabilities and individual competences. These two levels interact; neither can replace the other.

Our research interests therefore centre on how professional competence develops, becomes observable and evolves under specific occupational and organisational conditions.

Learning Through Work

Professional learning cannot be reduced to the transmission of knowledge or the acquisition of formal qualifications.

Professional capability also develops and is tested through engagement with real work requirements, changing tasks and situations that call for independent judgement and responsible decision-making.

Learning through work is therefore an important starting point for our thinking.

We are particularly interested in the conditions under which knowledge, experience, reflection and professional requirements interact, and in the possibilities and limitations this creates for describing and developing professional competence.

Understanding People in Their Different Roles

Organisational change affects people in different roles: those who shape and take responsibility for change, as well as those whose working conditions are altered by it.

Their tasks, opportunities for action and expectations differ.

Understanding professional competence therefore also requires consideration of the conditions under which people act: organisational structures, collaboration, professional responsibility and societal developments.

MESH® RESEARCH places people at the centre of its research questions without losing sight of organisational contexts.

We do not regard agility, collaboration or self-organisation as universally applicable formulas for success. Their relevance depends on the particular requirements, preconditions and limitations involved.

Describing Competence on a Sound Basis

Our current research interests have developed from these original questions.

Today, we focus particularly on the scientific conditions under which professional competence can be described and assessed on a sound basis through competence models and competence frameworks.

We distinguish between the theoretical robustness of a competence framework, the methodological quality of its application and evidence for an individual competence statement.

Describing a competence does not in itself establish that a person possesses it and can apply it responsibly under specific professional conditions.

Our Purpose

Our purpose is to better understand the relationships between human capability, learning through work and organisational change, and to investigate how professional competence can be described on a scientific basis, critically scrutinised and responsibly developed.

People, in their different roles, with their opportunities for action and responsibilities, remain the starting point for our questions.