) offers adequate specificity for meeting key research challenges. A "hyperdimensional" taxonomy of managerial competencies, derived from the earlier models and developed using unique methods, was subjected to content validation by expert review in 3 studies. In the first 2, a total of 110 Academy of Management members sorted 141 behavioral elements into 47 competencies with average hit rates of 68% and 85%, respectively. Results directed model refinements, including addition of 6 competencies. In Study 3, 118 subject matter experts sorted behaviors into targeted competencies in a more rigorous task with an average hit rate of 88.5%. Findings support the model's content validity, its continued development, and most importantly, the pursuit of specificity in understanding and predicting managerial behavior. HUMAN PERFORMANCE, 13(3), Copyright © 2000, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.Requests for reprints should be sent to Robert P. Tett, Department of Psychology, Wright State University, Dayton, OH 45435. E-mail: robert.tett@wright.eduThe Scientific Mind-a mind nimble and versatile enough to catch the resemblances of things, which is the chief point, and at the same time steady enough to fix and discern their subtle differences; endowed by nature with the desire to seek, patience to doubt, fondness to meditate, slowness to assert, readiness to reconsider, carefulness to set in order, and neither affecting what is new nor admiring what is old and hating every kind of imposture.Francis BaconBacon's conceptualization of science as the search for resemblances and differences finds no more apt application than in the arena of managerial behavior. Owing largely to its complexity and its importance to organizational success, managerial behavior has been the topic of repeated scientific investigation spanning more than 80 years (Borman & Brush, 1993). A unifying aim of that research has been to identify the general dimensions of managerial performance. Although contributing to the study of management by summarizing a complex domain, the generalist approach suffers from certain key limitations. Perhaps its biggest shortcoming is its encouragement of the assumption that specific exemplars within general categories are equivalent with respect to function, causes, and measurement. Short-term and strategic planning, for example, are often seen under the same heading (e.g., Borman & Brush, 1993;Yukl & Lepsinger, 1992), yet their correlates and value in particular contexts can vary substantially: We should be cautious about generalizing performance in short-term planning to performance in strategic vision when considering an individual for promotion from middle to upper management. Such concerns call for carefully reasoned articulation of managerial behavior. The need for greater construct specificity is prompted also by repeated prescriptions for theory in understanding trait-performance linkages (Borman & Motowidlo, 1997;Guion & Gottier, 1965;Tett, Jackson, & Rothstein, 1991;Tett, Jackson, Rothstein, & Reddon, 1999). An impor...
