In the old days of aviation, the captain had absolute authority in the cockpit and rarely considered the input of the crew. This authoritarian management environment led crew members not to report problems or challenge the captain's decisions even if they knew them to be wrong. As a result, many planes crashed and many passengers perished.
In what is still the worst aviation disaster in history, the Tenerife airport collision in 1977 changed the way airlines train their crews and was one of the catalysts in creating CRM. Afraid of going over work hours and having to cancel the flight, the captain of the KLM flight disregarded his copilot's concern that they did not have clearance to takeoff and commenced takeoff roll. The KLM 747 collided with a Pan Am 747 still taxiing on the runway killing 583 people.
In simple terms, Crew Resource Management dictates that while the captain still has final authority, they are to listen to and consider any input received by the crew before making a final decision.
A prime example of successful CRM is United Airlines Flight 232 where Alfred C. Haynes collaborated with not only his cockpit crew but a deadheading check pilot to get his crippled plane to the airport. While 111 people still died, 185 people survived what was considered an unsurvivable event. In subsequent flight simulator simulations, no other crew was able to make it to the airport. Haynes basically stated that he had never been in that situation before so how could he possibly know any better than anyone else on his crew.
How can CRM work in other businesses? People are used to the top to bottom management where the boss has the final say. Just because something has been done a certain way for years and years doesn't mean there isn't a better and more efficienct way to do things. It is of upmost importance for the company's bottom line to do things in the most time and cost efficient manner possible so if someone has a suggestion on how to do things better, it's foolish to ignore them.
Companies with high turnover need to look at CRM. If employees don't feel their opinions matter or their efforts are being recognized, they're likely to go somewhere else. In the long run, a company is going to waste money and time constantly training new employees.
I see this problem a lot with companies that work with temporary employees. Many supervisors see temps as replaceable which is a negative way to view ANY employee. You should always view ANY employee working for you as a partner. You are all on the same team with the same goal of completing a job.
Temps are already on the bottom of the pole and getting paid minimum wage so they can have the same attitude that they can get a better job tomorrow if they don't like the company they're working for today. But most temps are in between jobs and ARE NOT people looking for their next drug score or bottle of booze. Many temps have valuable experience working for many different companies so their opinions should be greatly valued.
Again, CRM only dictates that the person in charge should listen to and consider other ideas. They still have final say. To not even take the time to consider other ways to do things will erode the trust that employees put in their superiors. It's easy to forget that many supervisors lead from afar as in they don't actually do the job they're instructing others to do. Some have never even done the job so how ate they better to instruct people let alone disregard and suggestions?
While CRM is actually much more complicated, the concept is simple and can be implemented in rudimentary form in almost any business or organization. It's really common sense but some people have thst mentality that they know best. Poor supervisors usually stem ffrom poor managers. By changing the way the top collaborates with all employees, a company will be much more equipped to deal with the dynamic changes in operations. CRM can be a great tool that is simple to implement yet can reap benefits on all levels.
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