to some established normative data;
3. a lack of fixed form or content. It is called the repertory grid technique, not test, and the selection of the form and content is related to each particular problem.
Critical Incident Technique
The Critical Incident Technique (CIT) consists of a set of principles for collecting information about human behaviour. To specify the meaning of the term critical incident, an incident refers to any human behaviour that allows inferences and predictions to be made about the person engaging in the act (Flanagan, 1954; p.327). For an incident to be deemed critical, it must occur in a situation where the consequences of an action (i.e., incident) are transparent. Thus, a clear ‘cause and effect’ relationship can be inferred from the identified behaviour. The CIT does not consist of a single prescriptive set of procedures but should be interpreted as a ‘flexible set of principles which must be modified and adapted to meet the specific situation at hand’ (Flanagan, 1954).
Chell, Haworth and Brearley (1991) examined within-group behavioural differences of the business owners of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). In the context of this study, behaviours that related to business development activities were deemed as being ‘critical incidents’. Other researchers have used the CIT in organisational research on typical performance (Flanagan et al. 1953), training (Ronan, 1953; cited in Flanagan, 1954, p72), leadership (Ruch, 1953; cited in Flanagan, 1954, p72).
Flanagan (1954) posits that researchers utilising the critical incident technique should establish a set of rules that ensures that the implementation of the CIT is methodologically replicable. This essentially establishes a systematic framework that allows for objective accounts of the human behaviour relevant to the research question. Flanagan posits that the rules should be based upon
the following factors: general aim, the situations observed, relevance to the general aim, extent of effect on the general aim, and persons to make the observations. General aim refers to the general aims or objectives underlying the activity under investigation. Situations observed refers to establishing information pertaining to where the incidents occur and the individuals involved in the recorded incidents. Relevance to the general aim refers to whether a specific behaviour outlined by a participant is relevant to the general aim of the activity. Extent of effect on the
general aim is inextricably linked to this, but specifies whether an incident has an effect on the
general aim. Flanagan specifies the final rule persons to make the observations as a process of establishing specifications for observers.
Pilot Repertory Grid Interviews
As detailed, there are several methodological variations to the repertory grid interview. This has led Easterby-Smith (1981) to posit that ‘repertory grids are extremely easy to adapt and modify’ (p.9). Moreover, Easterby-Smith recognises that this has encouraged many researchers to design and develop their own applications of the repertory grid technique. To determine the exact methodology of the repertory grid interview implemented in this study, a pilot study was
conducted. The pilot study involved critically examining variations and original developments of the repertory grid technique to determine the most suitable methodology in line with the research objective of the repertory grid study. To clarify, the main research objective was to elicit psychological constructs of leaders that represent their perceptions of their own temporal behaviours directed at their followers.
Sample
Six interviews were conducted within the pilot phase of the repertory grid interviews. There were six participants in the pilot sample (four males and two females). All participants were in full- time employment within a higher-education institution. Table 5.1 presents the composition of the pilot sample by sex and level in their respective organisations.
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Table 5.1Composition of Pilot Sample by Sex and Level in their Organisation
Level Senior Executive
Management board
Head of Academic
Department/Team Manager
Participant sex 2 female
1 male
3 male
While the main aim of the pilot stage was to determine a repertory grid methodology to meet the research objective of the study, a factor that will influence the quality of the data collected from the interview is cognitive overload. Subsequently, the extent to which the different
methodologies did or did not contribute to perceived cognitive overload in participants was explored in this pilot phase. The term cognitive overload has been employed widely in organizational research, although, sometimes the term information overload is used
interchangeably (Eppler & Mengis, 2004). However, Waddington (1996) argues that information overload is more ambiguous as a construct in comparison to cognitive overload, which refers specifically to the influence information has on cognitive processing and functioning. Studies have found information overload to cause anxiety and impede cognitive functioning (Waddington, 1996). In the context of this study, cognitive overload will be defined as occurring when
information presented in the interview causes observable difficulties in the participant’sability to assimilate the information presented or any observable anxiety expressed by the participant related to the interview instructions or questions provided to the participant (e.g. not understanding what to do). Following each interview within the pilot stage, the researcher critically reflected on how the methodology influenced the data collection in line with the above prescribed research objective and any observable cognitive overload effects, which were noted during the interview itself.
A standardized introduction and debrief was read to all participants for each of the six interviews, which covered ethical issues stated by the British Psychological Society. As noted, there are four components of the repertory grid interview. Two of these four,(the topic and the grid,) are universal for all six pilot repertory grid interviews. A description of these two universal components and how they relate to the pilot repertory grid interviews in this study is presented below:
Topic
To understand how leaders perceive time to affect their leadership and management behaviours.
Grid
Elements and psychological constructs were recorded onto the repertory grid in a traditional format. While it has been acknowledged that psychological constructs are organized
hierarchically and quantitative analyses can be conducted to identify this hierarchy, in the context of this study such an analysis was not conducted. There is a strong rationale for not quantitatively assessing the repertory grids. Firstly, the purpose of the repertory grid interviews was to facilitate the development of statements pertaining to temporal cognitions and behaviours of leaders and managers directed to their followers from specific situations with clear outcomes. The purpose of detailing these aforementioned statements is to develop items for the Temporal Intelligence Questionnaire (TI-Q). Thus, a hierarchical analysis would have fairly limiting value as the statements to be considered for the TI-Q are required to reflect individual differences in time related cognitions and behaviours within a leadership and management context. Thus, these behaviours and cognitions are not required to be hierarchical as such an approach will not have a perceived value for item development as statistical analyses will be used to understand any hierarchical relations between temporal dimensions.
The methodology followed for the remaining two components of the repertory grid (element selection and elicitation of constructs) changed for each of the pilot interviews. These changes are