Crew Resource Management Has Come a Long Way but Still Has More to Go

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In several studies of aviation mishaps, human error has been cited as the primary cause of the majority of these mishaps. The main problems of these human errors were failures in interpersonal communication, leadership, and decision making in the flight deck (or cockpit). With this in mind and the need to improve on air safety, Crew Resource Management was developed. We will define CRM and then continue further to define subsequent automations and questionnaires that have developed through CRM. We will discuss the importance of CRM, automations, and questionnaires and the research findings.

Crew Resource Management
Crew Resource Management (CRM) has come a long way. The roots of CRM can be traced back to a workshop, Resource Management on the Flightdeck sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in 1979 (Helmreich, Merritt, & Wilheim, 1999). From where it first labeled at NASA as Cockpit Resource Management, CRM has evolved into many different generations.
The first generation of Cockpit Resource Management was initiated in 1981 by United Airlines. The CRM training program was developed with the aid of consultants whose training programs for corporations focused on enhancing managerial effectiveness. Thus, the training seminars conducted using this program focused on individuals diagnosing their own managerial style and management training approaches. The training program emphasized changing individual styles and correcting deficiencies in individual behavior (i.e. lack of assertiveness and authoritarian behavior). The first generation CRM was generally psychological in nature. (Helmreich, Merritt, & Wilheim, 1999)
The second generation of Crew Resource Management courses typified by the program dev...

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...ction with the company. Organizational climate is not synonymous with organizational culture; rather the climate is the pilot’s appraisal of the culture. If there is conflict between the organizational climate and pilot values, morale is affected and pilots will negatively appraise the organization climate. (Merritt & Helmreich, 1999)

Summary
We have discussed Crew Resource Management, its importance in the aviation workplace and how it integrates with flightdeck automation. We also discussed the effect of cross culture in the flightdeck through the Cockpit Management Attitudes Questionnaire and the Flight Management Attitudes Questionnaire. We further discussed the importance of CRM, flightdeck automation, CMAQ, and FMAQ. We then closed out with references to research completed by various studies and their effect on CRM, flightdeck automation, CMAQ, and FMAQ.

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