ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the role of supervisors involved in implementing the high potential selection procedure applied at the Opel Company in Germany. The authors describe briefly the eight company-specific core competencies that are crucial for management effectiveness for the upcoming generation of supervisors. Among other things, the ability to function globally was identified as an important factor contributing to management effectiveness. The authors stress, very correctly, the importance of the behavioral orientation in the description and operationalization of the core competencies. The authors give some evidence to indicate how eight of the core competencies have been operationalized by the use of sixty behavior-oriented items. Despite the fact that authors provide a detailed illustration of how the process of operationalization is implemented, the academic reader might wish to see a more sophisticated discussion of how the core competencies are measured operationally.
