Glossary entry

Dutch term or phrase:

taakvolwassen medewerkers

English translation:

employees with a high level of task maturity

Added to glossary by Kitty Brussaard
Aug 9, 2014 18:39
9 yrs ago
1 viewer *
Dutch term

taakvolwassen

Dutch to English Marketing Human Resources
taakvolwassen medewerkers

What exactly is meant by this?
Change log

Mar 10, 2015 22:36: Kitty Brussaard Created KOG entry

Discussion

Michael Beijer Aug 9, 2014:
@Barend: How very true.

OK, I'll shut up now. Back to business. I'm actually amazed they haven't shut us up yet ;-)
Barend van Zadelhoff Aug 9, 2014:
@Michael Dat ben je ook niet. :-)

Dus niets te vrezen op dat punt.

Michael Beijer Aug 9, 2014:
@Barend: Ze kunnen er allebei aardig wat van, denkt ik.

…als je mij maar nooit task mature noemt ;)
Barend van Zadelhoff Aug 9, 2014:
Waar haal jij dit vandaan:

"The Dutch love this sort of thing."

Zijn ze hier op dat punt erger dan aan de overkant ? :-)

Ik deel die aversie van jou voor 'task maturity' niet (en gek genoeg een ongelooflijk aantal Engelssprekenden blijkbaar ook niet), d.w.z. ik deel die niet vanuit het oogpunt of het al dan niet correct of authentiek Engels zou zijn.

Vanuit 'intellectueel' oogpunt gezien vind ik dat ze vaak met allerlei 'dure' begrippen komen die alleen maar moeten verhullen dat ze absoluut niets nieuws te melden hebben. :-)

Daar zou je een aversie voor kunnen ontwikkelen. :-)


Hans Geluk Aug 9, 2014:
If it was Mr Bruce Tuckman But only then, it was invented in or around Ohio. Or maybe he visited some guys in the Randstad and got inspired by their task maturity...
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Tuckman
Michael Beijer Aug 9, 2014:
yeah, OK I suppose that it wouldn't hurt to play along, especially if the rest of Emma's text is also in HR-speak.

@Barend: I wonder though, on which side of the pond this ugly little creature was born. Everyone always assumes it's the Americans who make up all the horrible words, but you'd be surprised how many of these monstrosities started in the Netherlands. The Dutch love this sort of thing. Well, a certain type of Randstad business peeps perhaps.
Barend van Zadelhoff Aug 9, 2014:
@Emma Als je huiverig bent voor dat bijvoeglijke naamwoord dan denk ik dat je het altijd wel zo kunt draaien dat je het zelfstandige naamwoord kunt gebruiken.

Ik weet de exacte context verder niet.
Voorbeeldzinnetje:

The task maturity of the individual or group (being led must also be accounted for).
Hans Geluk Aug 9, 2014:
funny or not... I think it's the equivalent from that team development model. Of course, there is compentence to it, but it also includes commitment. You are a task-mature person when you are able and committed.
Ter leering ende vermaeck: http://www.tlnt.com/2011/06/28/how-hr-speak-hurts-hr-and-som... (good one for the downsizing question too!)
Barend van Zadelhoff Aug 9, 2014:
Als er nu in een Nederlands document 'taakvolwassen' wordt gebruikt en niet 'competent/bekwaam/deskundig' en er in de Engelse literatuur uitgebreide informatie is te vinden over 'task maturity' en het in het geheel niet ondenkbaar is dat 'taakvolwassenheid' van de andere kant van de Noordzee of the Atlantic is komen overwaaien...
Evgeny Artemov (X) Aug 9, 2014:
Michael "taakvolwassen" ('grown-up for the job') sounds AS funny. :-)
(If it doesn't to you, you have been Dutch too long :-)
Michael Beijer Aug 9, 2014:
hmm... saying that a person is ‘task-mature’ just sounds plain ridiculous to me
… but then again, so does 99% of that HR nonsense ;-)

I think sth like ‘an employee with job-specific competence/y’ sounds a lot better, maar ja, smaken verschillen
Evgeny Artemov (X) Aug 9, 2014:
Depends on the context If the subject is somewhat, well, "conceptual", I'd side with Hans. If it's about competency, then Michael is closer to home. IMHO.
Barend van Zadelhoff Aug 9, 2014:
In dit document wordt 'task-mature' verschillende keren als een adjective gebruikt.
Ik neem aan dat er wel meer voorbeelden zijn te vinden:

Agile methods originated from the recognition that teams work best when they are composed of task-mature individuals operating
in high trust groups. An Agile environment fosters high trust.

The process is periodically evaluated and adjusted. Task-mature teams take ownership of the process they employ and adjust it based on feedback on what works and what does not.

Self-directed, empowered teams are used. Task-mature, well-trained, cohesive, high-trust, small teams who take ownership of the product need little direction, management, or taskfeeding.

ftp://ftp.sei.cmu.edu/pub/documents/08.reports/08tn003.pdf

zie ook:

http://www.inneractiveconsulting.com/index.php?option=com_co...
Michael Beijer Aug 9, 2014:
@Emma: Try Googling: employee with "job-specific competence" "HR"

https://www.google.co.uk/search?es_sm=93&q=employee with "jo...

or: employee with "job-specific competency" "HR"

https://www.google.co.uk/search?es_sm=93&q=employee with "jo...

This is of course only one way of putting it. I'm sure there are many more.

Proposed translations

+1
3 hrs
Dutch term (edited): taakvolwassen medewerkers
Selected

employees with a high level of task maturity

At least to me, the term 'taakvolwassen' implies that the employees in question have/show a high - or perhaps even the highest - level of task maturity.

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Note added at 3 uren (2014-08-09 22:28:49 GMT)
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Basically, this means that the employees in question are (highly) motivated and able to perform their tasks independently (or almost independently). See also the link provided by Hans above.
Peer comment(s):

agree Hans Geluk : Yes, in case Emma can't live with 'task-mature'.
25 mins
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Yes, I prefer this, there's just something about "task-mature" as an adjective that really makes me cringe. It's always a balancing game, trying to render HR jargon in a way that is appropriate to the context and register of the source text, but still palatable. . . Thanks for your input!"
3 mins

job-competent

JurLex:

taakvolwassen = job-competent

taakvolwassen medewerker = employee with job-specific competence
Note from asker:
Is it really as simple as that? I'm wondering whether this is a specific term that needs to be rendered more literally. I can find "task maturity" as an existing concept within HR/theories on leadership, organisational structure etc. (and that sounds like a vaguely familiar phrase to me), but not much evidence of "task-mature" in use as an adjective.
Peer comment(s):

neutral Kitty Brussaard : 'Taakvolwassenheid' seems to about being both competent and motivated. See f.i. http://www.carrieretijger.nl/functioneren/management/leiding...
3 hrs
Something went wrong...
+2
25 mins

task mature

This comes from the phased model of team development of Bruce Tuckman. Second link: "DELEGATING (S4). Now we are talking about a really task-mature individual in whom the leader has supreme confidence."

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Note added at 25 mins (2014-08-09 19:05:10 GMT)
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Forgot the hyphen: task-mature

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Note added at 27 mins (2014-08-09 19:06:24 GMT)
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Sorry, forgot to add the link to a document in Dutch about the same model. It uses taakvolwassenheid in the same context.
http://123management.nl/0/030_cultuur/a300_cultuur_11a_teamo...
Peer comment(s):

agree Barend van Zadelhoff : waarschijnlijk 1 op 1
1 hr
Dank je Barend!!! :)
agree Kitty Brussaard : Either this or rephrased as in the answer I just posted. Basically, employees with a low level of task maturity would not be referred to as 'taakvolwassen'.
3 hrs
Thank you!
neutral philgoddard : Sorry, but I don't think this sounds very English. It gets almost no Google hits.
4 hrs
The Dutch term sounds pretty terrible too. It is indeed not frequent, neither in Dutch, nor in English.
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