Abstract:

The fact that man is a social creature is corroborated by a substantial portion of human behaviour of interpersonal nature. Individuals cooperate with others, either working for others or at least taking their opinion into account. Even when there is no direct interaction with others, human behaviour manifests interpersonal nature because the presence of other people may not only be actual, direct, but also symbolic or imagined. Therefore, in a situation when we make (allegedly) independent choices, we also take social standards into account and take heed of reactions of persons close and important to us, i.e. they indirectly influence our behaviour, decisions and choices, imbuing them with social character (Hamer, 2009, p. 229). This paper focuses on a goal which includes determination whether a relation exists between social competence of employees and their professional development, as well as pinpoints the nature of the impact of the former on the latter along the weakening - reinforcing axis. In order to present the performed survey and analyses in a transparent manner, the paper is divided into three sections, where the following issues are discussed: social competence, professional development and presentation of results and conclusions from empirical studies carried out via a diagnostic survey method with the use of a questionnaire.