Critical Incident
While my general experience at CRESST was a positive one, there were moments that were not
as satisfactory. In this second section, I will be looking into a critical incident that occurred
during my placement. According to Tripp (1993), critical incidents are “created” and are “an
interpretation of the significance of an event” (p. 8). Incidents are only rendered critical when
they are given meaning to and within a wider sociocultural context, such as having a
considerable impact on an individual’s life or a community. As such, critical incident analysis
includes reflective elements as I have to recall an experience and understand it on a level that
can go beyond my interpersonal sphere. This exercise occurs more often within teaching;
however, it can also be applied to other types of professions as well. I will be using Lister &
Crisp’s (2007) framework to analyse my critical incident, which consists of an account of the
incident, my initial responses, conflicts or issues with the incident, learning from it and the
outcomes.
I had completed designing and creating the posters and training materials, leaving me with only
one task left: the animation short. This was supposed to demonstrate a scenario that could
occur during a peer mediation session. The point of the short was to give mediators a visual aid
of a segment in their training content, which I had read up on as I designed the training
materials. It was the part that most students struggled with and CRESST thought that an
animated short would be able to provide a clearer and more engaging understanding of the
process. I did my research on animation styles and proposed to do an ‘animatic’, which is an
animated storyboard. I highlighted to Wynne very early on that this would take a lot of time to
do, and required prior preparation such as a script, and recorded dialogue. I discussed these
concerns and logistics with all the staff members, and everyone agreed to concept, committing
to writing the script and organising the dialogue recording sessions. The original plan was for
me to start on the rough storyboards once the script was finished the following week.
The following week, I entered the office, ready to start on the preparation for my final task.
However, I was unable to create the rough storyboards because there was no script. Josie, who
was in charge of this, was busy with other tasks on her list and had not done it. Half an hour
after I came in, Wynne told me that they were going to have a meeting and were not sure about
how long it was going to take. I asked them if there was any information that I could work with
first, and they were unable to provide me with anything. As I was not allocated any other tasks
to do, and was not involved in the meeting, I decided to utilise my time to come up with possible
character designs for the animatic, which took me less than an hour. Excluding that, I spent half
my day doing absolutely nothing work related, instead, I spent my day doodling and practicing
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my illustration skills. After the meeting, Wynne and Josie were very apologetic towards me,
saying that they felt bad for leaving me with nothing to do, which I kindly brushed off.
Afterwards, Wynne highlighted certain amendments I needed to make to the design of some
training materials, which I did within less than an hour. Both her and Josie were surprised at
how quickly I was able to make those changes, which to me was not anything remarkable as
these alterations were not major. I then asked about how we were going to go about the
animatic, seeing how we did not have a script and that I would be flying back to Singapore in the
coming weeks. We had another discussion, and decided that Josie would finish the script and
CRESST will arrange a recording of it during the Easter break while I was home. They would
then send it to me so I could work on the rough storyboards.
Unfortunately, due to our busy schedules, neither of us could fulfil either of our obligations. I
was caught up with so much work from my job at home that I barely had any time to do my
university assignments. When I came back from Singapore and into the office, I was honest with
Wynne about my accumulated hours at CRESST and how I needed to finish my placement soon
in order for me to have more time to work on my assignments as the deadlines were around the
corner. I also told her that creating the animatic was not going to be realistic given the amount
of time I would have left at CRESST. Wynne admitted that they did not have the means and
resources to record the script and we both agreed to replace the animation project with an
infographic clip for their promotional video in a secondary school and an illustration for their
new website banner instead, which I did before I finished my placement there.
My initial responses to the aforementioned incident were emotional. I was very frustrated that I
could not make any progress on the animatic as I wanted to get started on it as soon as possible,
knowing how busy I was going to be in the coming weeks with assignments and work. I was also
annoyed and disappointed at my fellow staff members for not being able to provide me with the
information and materials I needed to get a basic head-start on the task. It puzzled me because
they have conducted these training sessions multiple times and should have a full
understanding of how the peer mediation sessions occur, making the script a document that
should not take too long to create. However, rather than expressing my annoyance, I maintained
a professional behaviour and kept my personal thoughts to myself. I did not want to cause any
unnecessary conflicts, and I understood that due to their small number of full time staff, they are
filled to the brim with tasks to do. In the end, I was able to foster a calm discussion with
everyone about working around our limitations and coming up with alternatives.
This incident made me consider whether my own previous work experience had any influence
on my response. Although I have participated in outreach programmes back in Southeast Asia, I
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had no experience working in charity or volunteer organisations. My previous experience
consists of managerial and organisational roles in a contemporary music school as well as floor
managing events. I had never worked in an organisation in the UK and had only worked in a
contemporary music school based in Singapore. However, the school that I worked at is a family
business and does not run in the traditional style of a Singaporean company as it was a fusion of
Western and Eastern working cultures. The way work environments are in a Western context
differs from an Eastern context due to the contrasts of their respective individualistic and
collectivistic cultures. Individualistic cultures focus more on personal growth and selfmotivation while collectivistic cultures are driven by group-centred goals and social cohesion
through self-sacrifice (Hu, et al., 2014). My personal drive of wanting to do the animatic made
me take the initiative to conduct research on animation styles and initiate discussions
facilitating its progress, showing how I have adapted an individualistic approach to my work.
However, my frustration with my co-workers could be due to the collectivist practices that I was
used to, where very often, my colleagues would sacrifice their own personal time for the sake of
the company, such as helping each other out with our tasks if we required any materials or
clarification. Additionally, my response could also be due to my past work experiences back in
Singapore, where the workplace is more demanding with higher levels of stress and
expectations (Galovan, et al., 2010). I am used to working in an environment that required fast
but quality-ensured outcomes, where everyone worked together in order to achieve those
results. The working environment at CRESST was of a slower pace and lower expectations,
which I found difficult to comprehend.
Furthermore, what I deemed to be “professional behaviour” by not openly admitting my
annoyance to my co-workers can be associated with the idea of ‘saving face’, which is
commonplace in Eastern communities. It is a form of indirectness where careful phrasing of
words is preferred over blunt confrontation in order to preserve another person’s positive
public image towards other people in order to maintain social harmony (Sanchez-Burks, et al.,
2003). Being indirect in communication not only ‘saves’ the other person’s ‘face’, but my own
reputation as well. In this incident, I was applying my Eastern practices into a Western setting
as I did not want to upset anybody unnecessarily.
This incident also made me consider the concept of digital natives and digital immigrants, with
the former being raised in a digital era and the latter integrating themselves into a digital sphere
that they did not grow up with (Prensky, 2001a). Although generations born after 1990 did
grow up in an environment where digital media and technology are ingrained into our lives and
is therefore not a foreign concept, it does not mean that everyone is a digital native (Erstad,
2011). A digital native is able to navigate their way through cyberspace, understanding the
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unique discourses, language and social mannerisms within online communities and functions. I
would consider myself to be a digital native as I am a frequent user of social media platforms
and a participant in online culture. I gained most of my creative skills and knowledge through
the internet and my platforms are based on digital programs. Due to my experience and
understanding of digital media, I was able to carry out my tasks smoothly and quickly compared
to my co-workers, who I considered to be digital immigrants. Prensky (2001b) presented that
“the environment and culture in which people are raised affects and even determines many of
their thought processes” (p. 4). The digital world is embedded into a digital native’s life from the
moment they are born. Growing up in an environment is different from incorporating oneself
into it, and thus digital immigrants will always have a varied understanding of the way that
environment works. I have observed such differences in comprehending digital media with the
staff at CRESST. They were always impressed by my work, speed and ability to manoeuvre
program functions so easily compared to them. Whenever they did not understand why I could
not manipulate certain shapes or colours, I always had to explain to them about the way the
programs worked. This gap may have also been a source of my frustration as I was more adept
at handling digital work compared to my co-workers, who were not technological experts, thus
hindering the process of completing the designated task.
This incident has made me more aware of the cultural differences between the West and East, as
well as between digital natives and immigrants. With this understanding, I have learned to be
more tolerant and forgiving towards my co-workers as we come from very different
backgrounds. Instead of insisting them to adhere to my own expectations, I learned to accept
them for their strengths and weaknesses and acknowledge my own circumstances, finding a
middle ground where both sides can come to an agreement through honest and civil
communication.
Conclusion
In this reflective journal, I have presented a critical reflection on my time at placement,
examining my place within the workplace environment and culture, along with how I have
developed my skills during the course of my placement. I have also analysed a critical incident
where I reflected on an incident where I contemplated the cultural contrasts between the East
and the West as well as the differences between digital natives and immigrants and how these
elements have affected the way I responded to the incident.
Overall, my experience at CRESST has been eye-opening and self-fulfilling. Although I started off
nervous and unsure, I came out of it understanding myself better, gained new skills and
advanced my existing ones. I also learned about peer mediation and conflict resolution, and how
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they play such significant roles in schools and in the way the organisation functions. I got to
experience working in a charity organisation and practice my creative skills in a professional
setting. Through my critical incident, I was able to understand Eastern and Western cultural
differences together with my position as a digital native and how that can affect my professional
relationship with digital immigrants. It reminded me about the importance of understanding,
accepting and tolerating people from other backgrounds and how this can lead to mutual,
peaceful cooperation in the workplace. I am thankful for my placement experience and will
always remember it fondly.
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