I think that because CRM originated with the cockpit, CRM for other
employee groups tends to be designed along the same lines as it was for the
cockpit. But just as American designed CRM is not necessarily "the" answer
in other parts of the world, so too CRM designed for the cockpit is not
necessarily "the " answer for Cabin CRM. I think we should go to the
source and diagnose the cabin environment (or maintenance, or ramp etc),
rather than borrowing the remedy from the cockpit environment. In some
cases there is overlap in the issues, but you also run the risk of
overlooking other areas of equal or greater importance in the cabin (or MX
or ramp) environment.
I have found that most CRM courses for cabin crew revolve around how they
can best work with the cockpit. While this is of course essential, what
about the other issues that affect the cabin crew? i.e. how they work with
each other, and how they interface with passengers and ground personnel. I
applaud the pilots' efforts to reach out to the cabin, but I would also
like to see more resources put toward understanding the cabin human factors
issues .....from the cabin's perspective.
I also think a fundamental difference lies in the job motivation. Pilots
everywhere love their jobs (even if they hate their company) -maybe its
the money, maybe its the prestige, maybe its just the joy and excitment of
flying. Cabin crew do not have these same rewards, hence you have to deal
with a whole different set of motivational issues that impact receptivity
to training and organizational change.
as to the issue of mixed-nationality crews, I think Julian hit the nail on
the head when he said "All in the same team with safety as the bottom
line". Perhaps because culture can be an emotive term, I like to think of
employees from 30 nationalities as being the same as employees from 30
different airlines. It seems easier (and less open to criticism) to
acknowledge that all arrive from their previous airline with differrent
behaviors. As Julian said, as long as the company provides a strong
over-riding goal of a safety culture, then all can work toward the best
practices to achieve that goal. Perhaps the thing to do is articulate the
policies and procedures and state the reasoning behind them. In other
words, don't assume that everyone sees it the same way automatically, right
from the start, but I think they will if the reasoning is explained, again
from that over-riding goal of safety.
Our group is currently working on a flight attendant survey, and we have
been very fortunate to work with some great Inflight people at Continental
Airlines. It has been a real eye-opener for us in terms of what are the
"hot button" issues for the flight attendants. The more we talk with the
flight attendant group, the more we realize that issues of leadership,
communication and stress are just as real for this group, but in a
completely different way. Yes, cockpit-cabin interaction is important, but
so is conflict resolution, safety checklists, professional standards, and
second-language requirements on international flights.
I hope I don't sound over-zealous, but cabin CRM has always been one of my
favorite under-researched, under-resourced issues. I hope the pilots out
there will forgive me when I say that if cabin attendants are to be truly
considered part of the flight crew, then perhaps corporate resources could
also reflect this...just a thought
University of Texas Aerospace Crew Research Project
1609 Shoal Creek Blvd. Suite 200 Austin, TX 78701
Phone: 512.480.9997 Fax: 512.480.0234
Internet Homepage: www.psy.utexas.edu/psy/helmreich/nasaut.htm