Re: A newbie!

Surendra Ratwatte (surenone_at_emirates.net.ae)
Wed, 25 Mar 1998 14:38:08 +0400

Hi Guy,
Welcome to the group. Unfortunately I couldn't make it to Manley, so will
have to settle or reading the papers on the Web.
Your "cultural interpreter" comment piqued my interest. I couldn't agree
more. Most of the airplanes are built and flown by what Ashleigh would call
Anglos. Unfortunately, though you guys have an excellent record you also
tend to carry around a lot of baggage, in the shape of prejudices and pre
judgements. There is a lot of resistance to changing the way things are
done,or accommodating differences in culture, as they have demonstratively
worked so far in your culture.
Before I get accused of reverse racism, let me add that other cultures are
guilty of this too. Two successful non-Anglo airlines I know of, have
strong corporate cultures that do things very differently to the Anglo
ideal. Yet, they too are very resistant to change and sometimes reject new
ideas due to the identity of the messenger who brought it.
The odd person who can see the issue from both viewpoints, is very rarely
listened to, probably because neither side really trusts him!
Thankfully, aviation at the airline level is so safe, that we can get by
pretty well even when refusing to learn or change. Hope it stays that way.

At 11:09 AM 3/25/98 +1000, you wrote:
>
>Greetings all.
>
>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
>
>
Surendra Ratwatte
Captain B-777
Emirates Airlines
PO Box 92
Dubai
U.A.E.
surenone_at_emirates.net.ae