Competencies schemes emerge in the 1990s as a new human resources management device.
The article aims at constructing an “Archeology of Competencies”, bringing evidence that the new scheme is largely a by-product of problems experienced by the former organization of Work designed under Taylor’s principles: the relationship between supervisors and rank and file workers became a weak point and the new system does not appear to be more efficient in that regard than the previous one. Moreover, the absence of counter-power in the newer organization happens to be a threat to employees who are not in a good position to fight for themselves.