Competências profissionais de jovens trabalhadores: um estudo com atletas brasileiros

Abstract

This dissertation aimed to analyze how competencies are configured and managed in young Brazilian professional athletes cases. For this, descriptive research, with a qualitative focus, was performed through the application of semi-structured interviews. The unit of observations were the young workers athletes, who are between 18 and 29 years old, have been practicing sports for at least 10 years, are part of the high performance sports scenario and were willing to voluntarily participate. The 18 interviews were transcribed and the data were submitted to the content analysis technique whose treatment included quantitative analysis, restricted to counting the recurrence of the speeches, and floating analysis. The data were structured and analyzed in order to grant a discussion about young athletes' professional competencies: components, difference between what is ideal and real, the development of competencies, the participation of other social actors in the management process, and the main difficulties and facilities faced by the young athletes in this process, based on their self-perception. At the end of the data analysis, a figure was constructed that synthesizes the research findings and is based on Paiva and Melo's (2008) theoretical-conceptual model of competency management. Thus, the present study explored the literature about the particularities of high performance athletes and their competencies in the sport environment, giving visibility to a group that has been little investigated in the Administration area. Moreover, it sought to contribute to the identification of more effective competence management processes in this scenario for such individuals and as regards other social actors involved. The research limitations and suggestions for future academic work conclude the presented study.