A competency framework for the business rescue practitioner profession

Abstract

ORIENTATION: Business Rescue Practitioner (BRP) tasks are complex and involve a wide range of knowledge, tacit skills and experience not accessible to novices. RESEARCH PURPOSE: Competencies required by business rescue practitioners (BRPs) to navigate a distressed venture were investigated. What BRPs actually ‘do’ during a rescue guided the development of a competency framework to inform future qualification guidelines for BRP education and accreditation. MOTIVATION FOR THE STUDY: To investigate the research question: ‘What are the competencies that underlie the activities of a business rescue practitioner?’. RESEARCH DESIGN, APPROACH AND METHOD: A modified ‘interview to the double’ (ITTD) process was used to elicit instructions that a BRP would give to an imaginary ‘double’. These instructions were analysed and rated for importance, transferability, knowledge requirement and skills requirement; in conclusion, these instructions were ranked and subjected to a content analysis. MAIN FINDINGS: Based on the main activities that were derived from the practices and praxis, one assignment and four supra (higher-level) competencies were consequent to the analysis. A BRP able to successfully navigate a distressed venture towards normal operations should demonstrate a high level of competency in sense-making, decision making and integration, achieved through collaboration as the central competency. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: Firstly, the study addresses educators’ need for a framework of competencies to guide education. Secondly, it paves the way for the Regulator to develop a qualifications framework for accreditation. CONTRIBUTION: The findings gave structure to the competencies underlying the activities of a BRP to navigate a rescue. Pre-business and financial acumen appears limited without these competencies containing insight, experience, intuition, heuristics, tacit knowledge, perceptive