2.1. Production purposes

The national government of Colombia established a methodology, via the National Planning Department (DNP), for departments or regions to structure proposals for the Internal Agenda (^{DNP, 2007}). Since 2005, the Huila department has considered the technology-based agro-industry, specifically specialty coffee, fruit, cocoa, and tobacco (^{Cámara de Comercio de Neiva, 2010}; ^{Gobernación del Huila, 2006}), to be its main commitment, and has focused its efforts on fruit trees, and the most productive items of the Passifloraceae fruit family: granadilla, cholupa, maracuyá, badea, curuba and gulupa (^{Gobernación del Huila, 2015}). The Huila department is among the main cultivators, nationally, with 31% of the total planted area, and production totaling 46,538 tons per year (^{Gobernación del Huila, 2017}). The cholupa is its flagship product, with a denomination of origin that accredits its leadership (Table 1).

The DNP (2007, p. 26) has established certain problems in the sector. In addition, Nelson Gutiérrez and his colleagues (^{Gutiérrez-Guzmán, Serra, and Dussan-Sarria, 2012}), have analyzed the matter of good agricultural practices (Table 2). In several regional workshops, held between July and August of 2012, participatory production centers carried out an assessment of the sector in the Huila department (^{Gil, 2016}; ^{Parra, 2012} p. 84) (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Problematic situation structure in the Passifloraceae sector. Source: ^{Gil T, (2016)}  

Along with these situations and technical and investigative deficiencies, which affect the sector in the Huila department, business and organizational dimensions are recognized as crucial aspects that also limit its development. According to ^{Parra (Parra, Aguilera, Escobar, Rubiano, and Rodríguez, 2011}), there is a need for training in entrepreneurship for the human resources and agro-industry areas, and an adaptation of programs at all educational levels, in order to respond to regional social and economic realities, as well as the adoption of new technologies to optimize production in the fields.

2.2. Managerial competencies

^{Boyatzis (1982}, p. 230) developed a generic model of competencies that explains the successful performance of managerial activity (Table 3). These are (^{Zayas Agüero, 2010}) management and action by objectives, leadership, human resource management, subordinate management, focus on other people and specific knowledge. ^{Spencer and Spencer (2008)} define competencies as “an underlying characteristic of an individual that is causally related to a standard level of effectiveness and/or superior performance in a job or specific situation”. Similarly, they establish five types of characteristics of competencies (Table 4). In Table 4, it is presented a competencies classification developed by Hays Group in terms of the developmental status that can be evidenced in individuals (Table 4 and 5). ^{Levy-Leboyer and Prieto (1997)} point out that competencies are “repertoires of behaviors that some people master better than others, which make human beings effective in a given situation. This indicates that they are observable in work and life reality. As a result, competency concept implies putting into practice abilities, personality traits and knowledge in an integrated manner” (Table 6).

2.3. Passifloraceae productive chain

The production chain concept refers to all phases, from the elaboration, distribution, and commercialization of a good or service, to its final consumption. It is possible to analyze a production chain based on the production factors involved, taking all economic agents, directly, in production, transformation, and delivery, to market the same product. Its main objective is to identify companies, institutions, operations, dimensions, and negotiation capabilities, technologies, production relations, and power relations in the price-determination process (^{Tomta and Chiatchoua, 2009}) (Figure 2).

Figure 2 Passifloraceae production chain model. Source: (^{Parra et al., 2011}, p. 10).  

In order to ensure that the productive chain achieves the desired level of competitiveness (^{Areiza, 1999}), an organizational and operational infrastructure must be formed, that links government institutions such as: the Secretariat of Agriculture, the Council for the Passifloraceae Production Chain, the National Learning Service (SENA), the Colombian Agricultural Research Corporation (CORPOICA), AGROSAVIA, and the Colombian Agricultural Institute (ICA) to the industrial sector. This would allow for the integration of agribusiness with producers, as well as academic and research institutions, using the cluster strategy (^{Ramírez and Otálvaro, 2015}).

4.1. Identification of current Passifloraceae production sector organizational leader competencies in the Huila department

The identification of current organizational leader competencies occurred based on the application of the questionnaire designed by ^{Pérez López (1998)}), in which three categories of competencies necessary for organizational management are presented. These competencies include: strategic, intrinsic, and personal effectiveness. With the findings from the application of the questionnaire, which evaluated a compendium of 30 competencies grouped into three categories, the following competencies were identified for the group of organizations belonging to the passion fruit sector (Figure 4). Therein, by means of a radio-type graph, the average of self-evaluations carried out by these individuals is shown.

Figure 4 Managerial competencies of producer leaders of productive organizations in the Huila Department. Source: Authors’own elaboration.  

In order to compare this self-evaluation with other results, the instrument was applied to representatives of the institutional body responsible for organizing, representing, defending and strengthening the interests of Colombia’s fruit and vegetable producers: ASOHOFRUCOL.

As a result of the competencies evaluation of the leaders of these organizations, a graph was constructed (Figure 5) with results that demonstrate the perception of institutional framework, with respect to their management competencies. The average rating indicates a change in said group’s trend in their self-evaluations: where four is the highest value, designated within the group of 30 management competencies, for competencies in negotiation, decision-making, initiative, stress management, credibility, and honesty. These are the skills, attitudes and capabilities that highlight managers in these productive associations. Results show that competencies which are least qualified are cross-functional orientation, relationships networking, communication, human resource management, delegation, coaching, intuition, analytical skills, creativity, optimism, time management, uncertainty management, concentration, self-criticism, and self-knowledge (Figures 6 and 7). The comparison of the data obtained was enabled by way of the semi-structured interviews carried out with organizational leaders and partners, together with the representatives of institutions involved in the sector. With the implementation of the content analysis method, a complementary view of the group of current management competencies, identified following application of the assessment instrument, was obtained.

Figure 5 Managerial competencies assessment of producer leaders by ASOHOFRUCOL Source: Authors’own elaboration.  

Figure 6 Perspective comparison-managerial competencies of leaders of passifloraceae production associations in the Huila department. Source: Authors’own elaboration.  

Figure 7 Current complementary competences: leaders of production organizations in the sector. Source: Authors’own elaboration.  

With the data obtained from the semi-structured interviews, eleven managerial competencies were identified, which complement the current set of competencies. The current state of managerial competencies in the leaders of productive organizations, in the passion fruit sector in the Huila department, was then configured, in accordance with the questionnaire applied. The eleven, previously-identified competencies correspond to skills, knowledge, and attitudes that specifically denote the managers of productive organizations in the passion fruit sector. It is important to note that this group of individuals, at the management level, has advanced knowledge, as compared to their peers, regarding techniques and tools for the cultivation of passionfruit that they transfer to the community in which they are located.

4.2. Identification of managerial competencies required by organizational leaders in the productive passionfruit sector in the Huila department

Based on the content analysis carried out by ^{Pérez López (1998}), a set of management competencies was defined, in accordance with the characteristics of the population that conforms producer organizations and the needs or requirements to be competitive in the passion fruit sector (Table 7). The study gives a list of required competencies and it identifies a group of eleven competencies that the managers of these organizations currently possess.

In order to draw up a plan to improve competencies in this group of managers, absences were delimited with those necessary competencies in order to make said individuals’ organizations more competitive.

To this end, a documentary review was carried out on various institutional, commercial, and regulatory documents at the regional, national, and international levels (doctoral theses, previous research in the sector, management and performance reports on the national passionfruit production chain, departmental production goals, scientific articles on the sector, commercial and technical news, and competitiveness agreements for the passionfruit chain in Colombia) that demonstrated trends, with respect to the minimum knowledge and skills required to achieve adequate performance in this productive and commercial activity. The above, along with the statistical and content analysis performed, as well as the interviews and questionnaires applied, allowed for the identification of required management skills.

Thus, their names and conceptual definitions were adjusted, by grouping them into categories such as: self-competencies, management competencies, technical cultivation competencies, administrative competencies, commercial competencies, communication competencies, cultural competencies, entrepreneurial competencies, technological competencies, educational competencies, financial competencies, accounting competencies, and project competencies (Table 8).