Articles
Media »
Videos
Podcasts
White Papers
Interviews
Columns
Blogs
Books
Webinars
Conferences
Gladwellian Thoughts on the Frontline: Crew Resource Management
August 17, 2009 – 10:24 amIn Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers: The Stories of Success Gladwell presents a surprising discussion of aviation and human error in a chapter called “The Ethnic Theory of Plane Crashes.”
Power Distance Cultures and Airplane Crashes
Plane crashes rarely happen, compared to how many planes roam the sky every every year. From 1988-1998 the loss rate for planes in the U.S. like United Airlines was .27 per million departures–meaning one plane crashed out of four million flights.
But a stark contrast to that average was the loss rate for Korean Air–4.79 per million departures–more than seventeen times higher than the average.
Plane crashes on Korean Air were so frequent that in April 1999 Delta Air Lines and Air France suspended their flying partnership with Korean Air and the US Army forbade its personnel from flying with the airline even with thousands of troops stations in South Korea (Gladwell 181).
Korea has a high rating on the “power distance index” the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organizations expect and accept that power is distributed unequally. The co-pilots were afraid to speak up to the captains when they identified red flags. Eventually a Delta consultant was brought in and through something called Crew Resource Management the communication issue was addressed.
Crew Resource Management and Uprooting Cultural Nuance
Crew Resource Management (CRM) was created after NASA exposed the primary cause of accidents in aviation–human error. CRM teaches people how to communicate better. It provides communication strategy, skills and attitudes, situational awareness, problem solving and decision making. Sometimes used in healthcare, Crew Resource Management teaches junior crew members to communicate clearly and effectively including a standardized procedure. Co-pilots are encouraged to challenge the pilot if he or she thinks something has gone terribly awry.
This makes me wonder how life would change for companies and customers if CRM was used in customer service environments (not just what seems to be “life or death” situations).
Imagine if every customer-interaction was treated like a life or death situation. If your customer service reps or “co-pilots” identified and communicated red flags. How many plane crashes could you prevent?
Does your company encourage this kind of culture?
5 Responses to “Gladwellian Thoughts on the Frontline: Crew Resource Management”
More realistically, what if something DID depend on the interaction between customer and rep. The men who drew up this country in 1776 knew of the balance of power concept. They knew that everyone needed to be checked and watched. Corporate representatives for the most part are not. Raise the bar on reps, force them to step up and do better-
By Blair Janison on Aug 17, 2009
Many corporations as in the Korea airlines example create a culture similar to the 3 monkeys theory of life. See no evil, speak no.. and hear….
Speaking up is not rewarded, but often criticized and retaliation does occur.(despite compliance rules in the workplace denoting non retaliation policies.) We must create a culture where superiors can be appreciate “feedback,” without fear that they might lose status, or job security because someone points out something that might be helpful
By steve watson on Aug 17, 2009
Great post! Thank you for this!
I have been having very similar thoughts about how CRM training can be integrated with business English language training.
In my field, I fear we have tendency to imagine that if the grammar and vocabulary is correct, our job is done. But we can’t presume that the message sent will be the same as the message that’s received. Constant checking and clarification is called for. Plus we have to recognise that meanings originate with people, and we’re all emotional beings who want esteem.
By Vicki Hollett on Aug 17, 2009
Hi Vicki–thank you for your comment.
When Delta came in to re-tool the communication style of the teams within Korean Air they were trained to give orders and speak in English. This eliminated some of the hierarchy inherant in the Korean language.
By Blake Landau on Aug 18, 2009
Very interesting article! It shows how powerfull an social or ethical approach can be, if one want to observe corps power structures. Power structures are evident even in companys or organisation departments, which claim they have very flat ones. Perhaps developing and applying a Power Distance Index for use in call centers, will unveal the real constraints for innovations.
By Andreas Gotthelf on Aug 18, 2009