Effective leadership in airline
crews
Flight Crews are Typically Groups
with No History

For operations & personnel reasons, crews bid for
positions => Ad hoc crews
 Organizational shell=Standardization
–
–

Organizational context provides resources - how to behave
Each crew member brings pre-existing knowledge of own
role & roles of others
Good leaders supplement these shells with detailed,
crew-specific expectations
–
–
–
Explicitly discussing how coordination should be done
“Crewisms”
Contingency planning - getting ahead of the curve
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How does a crew come together so
quickly?
Organizational Shell

Checklists
In airline crews, much of the
practice is standardized
–
Defined roles comprising a
crew (e.g., pilot, 1rst officer,
flight engineer, cabin crew
chief)
– Defined responsibilities for
each role
– Standardized training for
different roles
– Standardized checklists
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Invention of the crew checklist

Invented after aircraft accident during a flight
competiton on 10/30/1935 at Wright Air Field
–
–

Pilot error
“Modern” aircraft placed too many memory on crew
Ways to handle memory demands placed on crew
from complex aircraft
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SOP for all crew personnel


All crew members have
standardized tasks
Attendants
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Help passengers stow their carry-ons
Insure passengers near the
emergency exits will help in an
emergency
Run over safety procedures show a
safety video
Check every seat to make sure all
passengers are buckled-in and that
their seats are in the right position
Lock & arm the doors so that the
emergency slides will inflate
Server food
Intervene in emergencies
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Organizational shell
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Team experience helps flight crews

Measure performance on
with complex decisions
in simulator
–
–

Inexperienced crews =
Just formed. Will fly
together after the
simulation.
Experienced crews =
Formed 3 days ago.
Have flown together for
the past two days.
Working together
improves performance,
with a larger effect for
the more severe errors
Kanki, B. G., Folk, V. G., & Irwin, C. M. (1991). Communication variations and
aircrew performance. International Journal of Aviation Psychology, 1(2), 149-162.
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What is it that groups learn
from working together?

Use Ginnett reading on flight crews as a source
of hypotheses:
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What is it that groups learn
from working together?

Use Ginnett reading on flight crews as a source
of hypotheses:
–
Explicit expectations about procedures & rationale
– Explicit division of labor/hierarchy
– Demonstrating personal attributes
– Demonstrating positive attributes trust
– Development of personal social relationships
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What is it that groups learn
from working together?

Use Ginnett reading on flight crews as a source
of hypotheses:
–
Mission
– Crew-specific norms
– Crew-specific routines
– Planning ways to operate
– Trust
– Leadership structure/division of labor
– Personal characteristics.
– Familiarity w/ equipment
– Chit-chat => social bonding
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What is it that teams learn
as they work together?


Specific
–
Task
– People
– Environment

General teamwork
–
Ways to organize
– Planning
– Appropriate amount of
communication
– Team-appropriate attitudes
Learning at both the
individual and group
levels
–
Individual manager learns
that person A is good with
complex problems but,
doesn’t finish projects on
deadline
– Group learning:
 Routines: e.g., Aviation
checklists
 Technology: e.g.,
Group decides to
physically organize so
people who coordinate
most are close by
(NORAD example).
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How does the leader help in
making the crew more effective/

Again use Ginnet article as evidence
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How does the leader help in making
the crew more effective

Explicitly discuss tasks that require
coordination btw cockpit & cabin
 Define and expand crew responsibilities
 Explicitly setting norms for crew behavior
 Managing the tensions over the pilot’s
authority
–
–
Listen to the pilot
But speak up
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Crews learn how to communicate

More communication
 More explicit communication
 More autonomy on part of First Officer
Speech category
Total communication
Statements of intent
Acknowledgements
First officer disagreements
First officer answers
Non-task
Tension release
Experienced
High
High
High
High
High
Low
Low
New Crews
Low
Low
Low
Low
Low
High
High
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Teams can improve both task
work & team work


Task work – Knowledge, skills & attitudes for getting for tasks
done (e.g., take-off, emergency procedures)
Team work – Knowledge, skills & attitudefor getting the team to
operate effectively together
–
Knowledge: E.g., Shared mental models through cross training,
Transactive memory
– Skills: E.g., Monitoring & backup behavior, Team leadership through
training, Appropriate information exchange
– Attitudes: E.g., Mutual trust, Cohesion, Group efficacy
Outcome
Team Training
Team Building
r
% variance
r
% variance
Cognitive outcome
0.42
17.64
0.13
1.69
Affective outcomes
0.35
12.25
0.44
19.36
Process outcomes
0.44
19.36
0.44
19.36
Performance outcomes
0.39
15.21
0.26
6.76
All outcomes combined
0.34
11.56
0.31
9.61
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L.,et al . (2011). There’s a Science for That Team
Development Interventions in Organizations. Current Directions in
Psychological Science, 20(6), 365-372.
•Shuffler, M.
Components of Team Building Interventions: (1)
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Components of Team Building Interventions: (2)
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Differential Impact of Components



Each component associated with improved overall
team performance
Effects largest for goal setting
Effects largest for largest groups
Klein, C., DiazGranados, D., Salas, E., Le, H., Burke, C. S., Lyons, R., & Goodwin,
G. F. (2009). Does Team Building Work? Small Group Research, 40(2), 181-222.
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The Magic Stick: Team Building
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Form groups of ~8. I’ll randomly select a team leader.
Each team forms in two rows, facing each other.
Form each hand like a gun, with thumb up & index finger out.
Put both index fingers out zipper style (interlacing with your neighbor).”
I'll place the stick on top of your outstretched fingers.
Please adjust your index fingers to roughly chest height so that all are
touching the stick.”
Your challenge is to lower the stick to the ground. While doing so, each
person’s fingers must be in contact with the stick at all times.
No one may lose contact with the pole. If anyone loses contact with the stick
the entire group must start again.
The starting position is with the pole at chest level for the tallest person in the
group.
You may not drop the pole
You must keep the sides of your index fingers touching at all times. Not the
back, not your palms, and not hooking the pole with your finger. You cannot
put your fingers on top of the stick. If one person’s finger comes off at any
time, you start over.
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