Human Capacity Development IOP3073 S1 2015
Study Unit 1
The Competent Human Being
Contents
1.1 Introduction...............................................................................................................................................................1
1.2 What is a Competent Human Being?.........................................................................................................................1
1.2.1 Exploring what makes people effective and competent.....................................................................................1
1.2.2. Perspectives on the nature of a competent human being.................................................................................1
a) Carl Gustav Jung: The Individuated Person..........................................................................................................2
b) Abraham Maslow: The Self-Actualising Person (Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs).................................................3
c) Victor Frankl: People driven by a search for meaning..........................................................................................4
d) Positive Psychology and Psychological Well-Being..............................................................................................6
e) Stephen Covey: Principle-centred people...........................................................................................................9
1.3 Personal Mastery.....................................................................................................................................................12
1.3.1 Knowing Myself................................................................................................................................................12
1.3.2 The Power of Perceptions.................................................................................................................................12
1.3.3 Personal Vision and Goal Setting......................................................................................................................13
1.1 Introduction
Explore factors that enable people to become competent human beings, ensure continuous growth,
and foster the ability to become a fulfilled and self-actualised person.
Investigate various perspectives on these factors.
Origins of perception and possible negative consequences of perceptions that are not consistently
reviewed and modified.
Develop own mission statement and action plan.
1.2 What is a Competent Human Being?
1.2.1 Exploring what makes people effective and competent
1.2.2. Perspectives on the nature of a competent human being
In Human Capacity Development the focus is on developing behaviour, skills, attitudes and
competencies that will enhance the overall quality of a person’s work life. In other words, to develop
the typical underlying characteristics of a competent human being.
Increased interest in growth psychology, positive psychology, employee and organisational wellness
and psychological health has inspired a shift from short-term training that focuses on technical skills
and leadership development to long-term training that aims at human capacity development.
Duane Schultz, in his book Growth Psychology: Models of the Healthy Personality (1977), states that
the aim of a highly popular movement called “growth psychology” is to find and define a healthy
personality.
o Thus there is a desirable level of growth and development that goes beyond “normality”
Page | 1
, Human Capacity Development IOP3073 S1 2015
It is necessary for human beings to strive for that advanced level of growth in order to
realise, or actualise, their full potential.
o The absence of neurotic or psychotic behaviours is not sufficient to qualify one as a healthy
personality.
a) Carl Gustav Jung: The Individuated Person
o The first requirement of individuation is that the person should be aware of those aspects of the
self that have been neglected.
Definition – the process of becoming a unique individual; a single, homogenous being. It
also implies becoming one’s self.
o To strive towards individuation we must give up the behaviours, values and thoughts that have
guided the first half of our life and reach into our unconscious.
Confront conscious boldly, openly and without reservation;
Individuation Bring the voice of the unconscious to our awareness, listening, accepting and following
Process what it tells us;
Attend to and heed our dreams and fantasies;
“Creative imagination” – to be exercised in painting, writing or some other form of
expression, letting our hand be guided not by conscious, rational thought but by the
spontaneous flow of the unconscious.
o The second aspect of individuation involves the sacrifice of the material goals of young
adulthood and the personality characteristics that enable one to achieve these goals…
The goals, attitudes and functions of the first half of life are meaningless for the second
half;
One attitude (extroversion/introversion) and one function (sensing, intuiting,
thinking or feeling) are dominant in young adulthood.
This one-sidedness of personality so necessary in the first half of life
becomes totally inappropriate during the second.
o No single function is dominant; all the functions are capable of being expressed and indeed must
be expressed.
o Jung does not present us with a list of the characteristics of a healthy person. The following are
inferred characteristics from Jung’s approach:
High-level of self-knowledge. The individuated persons are in their middle years or older
and have weathered the severe crises that result from the changing nature of
personality during that time. They may have spent several years in contemplation of
their selves, lives, ambitions, hopes and goals. They have allowed their conscious to
manifest so that they are aware of the previously suppressed side of their nature. They
know themselves at both conscious and unconscious levels.
Acceptance of self. Individuated persons accept what their period of self-explanation
has revealed to them. They accept their own nature – its strengths and its weaknesses.
Integration of self. All aspects of the personality are integrated and harmonised so that
all can be expressed. For the first time in life no aspect, attitude or function is dominant.
Self-expression. Psychological health is a central part of this integration and expression
of all parts of the personality.
Acceptance and tolerance of human nature. Because they are so open to the collective
conscious (the repository of all the experiences or humankind), individuated persons
have a greater awareness and tolerance of the human condition. This provides them
with greater insight into the behaviour of others because they recognise forces from our
Page | 2
Study Unit 1
The Competent Human Being
Contents
1.1 Introduction...............................................................................................................................................................1
1.2 What is a Competent Human Being?.........................................................................................................................1
1.2.1 Exploring what makes people effective and competent.....................................................................................1
1.2.2. Perspectives on the nature of a competent human being.................................................................................1
a) Carl Gustav Jung: The Individuated Person..........................................................................................................2
b) Abraham Maslow: The Self-Actualising Person (Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs).................................................3
c) Victor Frankl: People driven by a search for meaning..........................................................................................4
d) Positive Psychology and Psychological Well-Being..............................................................................................6
e) Stephen Covey: Principle-centred people...........................................................................................................9
1.3 Personal Mastery.....................................................................................................................................................12
1.3.1 Knowing Myself................................................................................................................................................12
1.3.2 The Power of Perceptions.................................................................................................................................12
1.3.3 Personal Vision and Goal Setting......................................................................................................................13
1.1 Introduction
Explore factors that enable people to become competent human beings, ensure continuous growth,
and foster the ability to become a fulfilled and self-actualised person.
Investigate various perspectives on these factors.
Origins of perception and possible negative consequences of perceptions that are not consistently
reviewed and modified.
Develop own mission statement and action plan.
1.2 What is a Competent Human Being?
1.2.1 Exploring what makes people effective and competent
1.2.2. Perspectives on the nature of a competent human being
In Human Capacity Development the focus is on developing behaviour, skills, attitudes and
competencies that will enhance the overall quality of a person’s work life. In other words, to develop
the typical underlying characteristics of a competent human being.
Increased interest in growth psychology, positive psychology, employee and organisational wellness
and psychological health has inspired a shift from short-term training that focuses on technical skills
and leadership development to long-term training that aims at human capacity development.
Duane Schultz, in his book Growth Psychology: Models of the Healthy Personality (1977), states that
the aim of a highly popular movement called “growth psychology” is to find and define a healthy
personality.
o Thus there is a desirable level of growth and development that goes beyond “normality”
Page | 1
, Human Capacity Development IOP3073 S1 2015
It is necessary for human beings to strive for that advanced level of growth in order to
realise, or actualise, their full potential.
o The absence of neurotic or psychotic behaviours is not sufficient to qualify one as a healthy
personality.
a) Carl Gustav Jung: The Individuated Person
o The first requirement of individuation is that the person should be aware of those aspects of the
self that have been neglected.
Definition – the process of becoming a unique individual; a single, homogenous being. It
also implies becoming one’s self.
o To strive towards individuation we must give up the behaviours, values and thoughts that have
guided the first half of our life and reach into our unconscious.
Confront conscious boldly, openly and without reservation;
Individuation Bring the voice of the unconscious to our awareness, listening, accepting and following
Process what it tells us;
Attend to and heed our dreams and fantasies;
“Creative imagination” – to be exercised in painting, writing or some other form of
expression, letting our hand be guided not by conscious, rational thought but by the
spontaneous flow of the unconscious.
o The second aspect of individuation involves the sacrifice of the material goals of young
adulthood and the personality characteristics that enable one to achieve these goals…
The goals, attitudes and functions of the first half of life are meaningless for the second
half;
One attitude (extroversion/introversion) and one function (sensing, intuiting,
thinking or feeling) are dominant in young adulthood.
This one-sidedness of personality so necessary in the first half of life
becomes totally inappropriate during the second.
o No single function is dominant; all the functions are capable of being expressed and indeed must
be expressed.
o Jung does not present us with a list of the characteristics of a healthy person. The following are
inferred characteristics from Jung’s approach:
High-level of self-knowledge. The individuated persons are in their middle years or older
and have weathered the severe crises that result from the changing nature of
personality during that time. They may have spent several years in contemplation of
their selves, lives, ambitions, hopes and goals. They have allowed their conscious to
manifest so that they are aware of the previously suppressed side of their nature. They
know themselves at both conscious and unconscious levels.
Acceptance of self. Individuated persons accept what their period of self-explanation
has revealed to them. They accept their own nature – its strengths and its weaknesses.
Integration of self. All aspects of the personality are integrated and harmonised so that
all can be expressed. For the first time in life no aspect, attitude or function is dominant.
Self-expression. Psychological health is a central part of this integration and expression
of all parts of the personality.
Acceptance and tolerance of human nature. Because they are so open to the collective
conscious (the repository of all the experiences or humankind), individuated persons
have a greater awareness and tolerance of the human condition. This provides them
with greater insight into the behaviour of others because they recognise forces from our
Page | 2
