I subscibed some months ago, and have not contributed yet, so thought it
was time I pitched in. I am a Qantas S/O on B747-400's, with a RAAF
military background on B707's and C130E's. I also lecture in HF for
Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia, continuing my interest in
Human Performance, which has included time teaching Aviation Physiology,
completing a B.A. in Psychology and involvement in CRM training.
Following the recent Australian Aviation Psychology Symposium, I have
two items I would like to raise for discussion:
1. Error Management. Bob Helmreich presented a paper outlining his
thoughts on CRM, indicating that he feels we should be getting back to
basics, and also suggesting that we focus on error management. I
couldn't agree more. However, whilst I like the concept of error
management rather than elimination, I struggle with operationalising the
concept. Where are the error management tools? One thought I had was
that in a similar way to aircraft design, perhaps we need to take a more
human centred approach to training design, starting with the basic
premise that we are human, therefore we err. Comments?
2. Culture. A huge field, I know, with many implications for CRM.
Whilst listening to presentations on the topic, it seemed to me that too
often situations arise where the true intent of a CRM course can't be
put across from one culture to another due to different understanding of
the meaning and intent of words and actions. Perhaps we could call this
cultural blindness. However, there seem to be a few rare, gifted
individuals around that can translate the meaning and intent from one
culture to another, acting as a kind of "cultural interpreter". Could
we examine that role, and perhaps even train people to act as cultural
interpreters? Would that help us find some common ground in CRM?
I look forward to hearing what people think.
Guy Standen