The more common competency modeling methods include behavioral event interview (BEI), theme analysis, functional analysis, performance method, and scenario method.
(I) Behavioral Event Interview
The behavioral event interview was proposed by McClelland by combining the critical incident method and the thematic apperception test. It uses an open behavioral retrospective survey technique to ask the interviewee to find and describe the three most successful and unsuccessful things in their work, and then report in detail what happened at that time. Specifically, it includes: How was this situation caused? Who was involved? What did the interviewee think and feel at the time? What did he want to accomplish in the situation at that time, and what did he actually do? What was the result? Continue to ask in-depth questions about some details, and then conduct content analysis on the interview content to determine the aspects of the quality iceberg shown by the interviewee.
It mainly interviews the incumbent of the target position. Through in-depth interviews with the interviewee, it collects the descriptions of successful and unsuccessful events that the interviewee has done during his tenure, and digs out very detailed behaviors that affect the performance of the target position. After that, the collected specific events and behaviors are summarized, analyzed, and coded, and then compared between different interviewed groups (excellent performance groups and average performance groups), so as to find out the core qualities of the target position.
The behavioral event interview method has very high requirements for the interviewer. Only interviewers who have received professional training can obtain specific events related to the target position through continuous and effective questioning during the interview process. In general domestic enterprises, there is currently no condition to use this method independently to build a quality model. There are mainly the following reasons: First, the past assessment system is not very perfect, and it is difficult to distinguish between excellent performance groups and average performance groups. This makes it difficult to ensure objectivity and accuracy in selecting the correct interview subjects and making comparisons between different groups. Second, a large number of interviewees are required, involving a wide range of areas. Small and medium-sized enterprises cannot obtain enough interview samples. Even if some enterprises have enough interview samples, they still need a lot of manpower, financial resources and material resources to support them, which may not be satisfactory from the perspective of enterprise input and return evaluation. In actual applications, the behavioral event interview method uses its simplified mode more and combines it with other methods. The simplified mode mainly retains the information collection method of the behavioral event interview, which is used to determine the operational definition and behavior description of the quality model.
(II) Thematic Analysis
The meaning of thematic analysis usually includes two aspects: one is the process of refining the competency information in the BEI interview, encoding and categorizing it based on the competency classification and related definitions and classifications proposed in the competency dictionary; the other is the process of analyzing, refining and conceptualizing the new and enterprise-specific competencies that emerge in the BEI process outside the general competency dictionary. The starting point for thematic analysis of BEI data is to observe the differences in the descriptions of key events and answers to questions between high-performing personnel and general personnel in the BEI process. The core of thematic analysis is to find the key factors that determine performance, that is, the competencies required for the job, by comparing high-performing personnel with general personnel.