HR management

1. Advantages of critical incident technique

• Data is collected directly from the respondent in his or her own words (users’ views, NOT designers’).
• Focus on unusual or extraordinary may be more helpful than routine data
• Does not force the respondents into any given framework.
• Flexible method.
• Inexpensive and provides rich information.
• Identifies even rare events that might be missed by other methods which only focus on common and everyday events.
• Useful when problems occur but the cause and severity are not known.
• Emphasizes the features that will make a system particularly vulnerable and can bring major benefits

2. Disadvantages of critical incident technique

• Everyday issues may be missed.
• Critical incidents often rely on memory, incidents may be equivocal.
• Reliability weak.
• The method has a built-in bias towards incidents that happened recently, since these are easier to recall.
• It will emphasize only rare events; Everyday issues may be missed.

3. Common problems of critical incident technique

• Respondents may be reluctant to express incidents that reflect badly on themselves.
• The critical incidents are recorded after the events have already taken place – both routine and non-routine.
• The process of collecting a fairly good number of incidents is a lengthy one.
• The analysts overseeing the work must have analytical skills and ability to translate the content of descriptions into meaningful statements.
• Respondents may reply with stereotypes, not actual events (using more structure improves this).
• The meaning of “critical incident” must be clear to participants.

4. Related documents:

• Methods of job analysis
• Observation methods
• Critical incident technique (CIT model)
• Process of critical incident technique
• Questions of critical incident technique
• HR career ebooks (you can download free and ref all ebooks related HR career…)

Author: Davi Ngo, hrvinet.com