Considering the emergency and the rising of the concept of competence during the last two decades, this paper aims to discuss its implications in the relationship between workers and companies, regarding the changes in the conceptual, social and experimental dimensions of qualification due to the introduction of the concept of competence in a company. In order to describe this phenomenon, a case study has been made in the locomotive maintenance area of a large mining and logistic company. The data was collected from company documents and from semi-structured interviews, and to interpret such data, the content's qualitative analysis from pre-established categories was used. The study revealed that the usage of the concept of competence in company management tends to individualize the relationship between workers and companies by weakening the conceptual and social dimensions of qualification.
Qualification; Competence; Productive restructuring; Work's organization; Human resource management