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Competence has been defined as "the ability to meet or surpass prevailing standards of adequacy for a particular activity" (Butler, 1978 p.7). The authors describe in this article a framework for competency-based training, focused on the importance of training the public personnelist responsible for implementing staff development programs. Kolb's (1984) experiential learning model is suggested as a vehicle for instilling competencies which overcomes difficulties with many traditional, single modality approaches to training. The implications for public sector training programs are discussed.

This paper addresses management's need to train supervisory personnel in the use of employee performance appraisals. First, the application as well as the usefulness of the appraisal system is described — as dictated by and in relation to — recent litigation concerning discrimination charges. After exploration of the various approaches to employee evaluation, recommendations for effective training of supervisory personnel in implementing appraisal systems are presented. These recommendations take into consideration often neglected factors such as employee motivation, employee aptitude and discussion of performance evaluations with the employees.