The rewrite suffers from the same malady of earlier generations of CRM
guidance. There is no theoretical basis. Is that important? Yes I think so.
Without a theoretical basis, CRM is a collection of opinions with nothing to
hold the pieces together (of course that doesn't necessarily mean that it is
wrong, but past concern about the direction of CRM should make us wary of this
ad hoc approach). Advice to manage workload, remain situationally, make good
decisions, consider all the options aware etc. fail to acknowledge that this
is a trade-off. To be aware of some piece of information you must attend.
Control of attention is control of the timeline. The best way to free up the
timeline is to be very, very good at all the technical aspects of the job.
The more of your activities that you can reduce to skill-based behaviour, the
shorter your time to action, and the more time you have to attend to all the
things you should. I see nothing, in any generation of CRM, that highlights
the need for technical skill. In fact some authors have downplayed individual
abilities as relatively unimportant in team situations.
The rewrite also continues to muddy the waters about what is CRM and what is
human factors. I guess aeronautical decision making is in there somewher too.
Cheers
Keith Hendy
DCIEM, Toronto
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Vince Mancuso wrote:
Hello Folks,
Did anyone from the developers group know that the FAA is currently in the
draft review stages of an Advisory Circular for CRM in AQP? If so, do
tell. If not, why all the secrecy? The document is titled Advisory
Circular 120-54: Chapter 20 (Crew Resource Management)
I didn't know there was a rewrite in progress until I read a draft today.
Judging from the self-referencing literature citations at the end of the
document and the emphasis on error management CRM, it appears that the
end-user community is about to get an official FAA CRM guidance document
written by the non-operational folks who crafted the guidance that yielded
the past 10-15 years of CRM folly. Also considering that the U.S. General
Accounting Office recognized in their December 1997 report that the past
guidance was poor, it's a bit surprising that the same people were given
the pen to write this document.
Since the CRM Developers Group includes a many of the people who would live
under this guidance, I would like to know if there is anyone from the
operational CRM development and training community involved in this AQP CRM
rewrite effort? If not, this could be an opportunity for this group to
register individual comments on the new FAA Human Factors Internet
Feedback System.
Your insights will be appreciated
Vince