Individual Differences and Interpersonal Relationships
Coordination and Cooperation
The purpose of having a crew is to reduce workload by enabling tasks to be shared. Efficient crew coordination will depend on effective communications and cooperation. Members must be sensitive to individual needs as well as the needs of the group.
Coordination generally differs between the flight training phase and the commercial flight operations. During training there is an expectation of errors as skills are developed, whereas in commercial flight operations the monitoring and cross-checking function is a confirmation of expected and mutually understood actions.
Improving Group Decision Making
General Guidelines
Guidelines can be given to improve decision making. Some of these are given below:
•Avoid arguing for your personal judgements. Approach the task on the basis of logic.
•Avoid changing your mind only in order to reach agreement or avoid conflict. Support only solutions with which you are able to agree.
• Avoid conflict-reducing techniques such as a majority vote or a middle course strategy.
•View differences of opinion as helpful rather than a hindrance in decision making. When these guidelines are used a group will produce a better performance than another group not utilizing the guidelines.
The Role of CRM and LOFT
Line-Oriented Flying Training (LOFT), and Crew Resource Management (CRM) training seeks to improve the quality of crew performances rather than individual achievement. The use of video tapes to record realistic simulation exercises provides crew members with ‘behavioural feedback’. This enables them to observe themselves, and perhaps realise that the way they present themselves to other people may be different from the way intended. In this way their self-image becomes more consistent with the image that others have of them. In these exercises it can be helpful if the participants ‘role play’ or act in a certain way.
This may require the timid first officer to be more assertive in a benign environment so he will realise that he is capable of behaving in that way and to show him that most captains will respond favourably to being given a clear statement of his ideas. It may also be useful to require the authoritarian captain to actively solicit advice and ideas from other crew members. This will demonstrate to him/her that doing so will not be interpreted as a sign of weakness, but help in consolidation of the crew and lead to better decision making.
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Leadership
A Definition
A definition of leadership is the ability to get work done with and through others, while at the same time winning their confidence, respect, loyalty and willing cooperation.
Introduction
Contrary to popular belief, no one is born a leader but some people do have certain abilities that predispose them to developing into a leader. Like many other skills, leadership can be learned and developed. While there is no agreed list of qualities that make a good leader, it is generally agreed that leaders tend to have the following characteristics:
•Social maturity.
•Self-motivation.
•Achievement orientation.
•Self-confidence.
•Communication skills.
Leadership influences many aspects of work. A leader:
•is the chief communicator of the group.
•affects motivation by his/her behaviour.
•is responsible for the group’s objectives being understood and achieved.
Principles for Leaders
The most important principles for the leader to follow, both to reach the best decision and to maintain the morale of the team are:
•Avoid giving any indication of your own opinion or ideas at the outset. A team member with a different idea may be reluctant to air it if it seems to contradict the captain.
•Do make a point of soliciting the ideas of other crew members openly. In particular encourage them to express any doubts or objections to a particular course of action. Always ensure that the potential problems or dangers are fully aired.
•When the leader has made a decision, the reasons for arriving at that decision should be explained if there is time. Failure to do so will make the crew members feel that their ideas have been ignored, with the result that in the future they will not be at all keen to put forward proposals.
Leaders and Followers
There are other guidelines that are appropriate for both leader and follower:
•Do not delay airing uncertainties or anxieties because you think you might appear foolish or weak. Other crew members may well have the same doubts and will welcome some candour.
•When asked, give your point of view fully and clearly. Do not worry about whether you are saying what the other person wants to hear.
•Do not give opinions in an emotionally or dominant way (e.g. ‘Any fool can see that ....’).
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•Do not become ‘ego involved’ with your own point of view and simply try to get your own way. If a group decision has been made, accept it unless you feel it contains some hazard not appreciated by the other group members.
•Do not let others progress down wrong paths of action and into trouble just to make yourself look clever.
•Do not compete, do not get angry, do not shout and do not sulk on the flight deck. Do not let your own bad mood show. Try to maintain a pleasant working atmosphere even if you do not like the other crew members.
“Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand”. Chinese proverb
Blake and Mouton (1964) Leadership/Managerial GridTheory
Blake and Mouton integrated the ideas of task and relationship orientations into a grid with five main styles (similar to the interactive styles).
It is based on the concept that leaders vary from 1 to 9 in their concern for people (relationships) and their concern for getting things done (tasks or goals). The five main styles are:
•Authoritarian - Obedience Style (9.1.)
The leader’s maximum concern is for task completion and is combined with a minimum concern for people (i.e. dictating to followers what they should do and how they should do it). The leader concentrates on maximizing the tasks to get done. This type of leader tends to regard colleagues as a means of production and seeks to motivate by encouraging competition between people. If challenged, this is looked upon as non-cooperation. (similar to G+ P-)
•“Country Club” Management Style (1.9.)
The leader shows a minimum concern for the completion of tasks but a maximum concern for people. Fostering good feelings gets primary attention even at the expense of achieving results. Production is secondary to the avoidance of conflict and the maintenance of harmony. These managers will always seeks to find compromises and to arrive at solutions acceptable to everyone. (Similar to G- P+)
•Impoverished Management Style (1.1.)
The leader has a minimum concern for both production and people and makes only the least effort required to remain in the organization. (Similar to G- P-)
•Organization Man Style or Middle of the Road Style (5.5.)
The leader goes along to get along. This results in a conformity to the status quo. An attitude of “live and let live” is typified together with a tendency to avoid real issues.
•Team Management Style (9.9.)
The leader:
•integrates the concern for production and the concern for people.
•seeks results through the participation, involvement and commitment of all those who can contribute.
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•believes in creating situations in which people can satisfy their own needs through commitment to the tasks of the organization.
•handles difficulties in working relationships by confronting colleagues directly and attempting to work out solutions with those concerned.
Note: Opportunistic leaders use several styles interchangeably. For example he/she may begin a meeting in a casual, but friendly way (1.9), but quickly become tough and demanding (9.1) which is his/her dominant style.
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Should the reader like to make a self-analysis of his/her leadership style, (which the author definitely does not recommend as he received deep personal disillusionment when he did so), the instructions are as follows:
•Complete the questionnaire being as truthful as possible.
•Transfer the answers to the columns provided in the scoring section.
•Total the scores in each column and multiply each total by 0.2
•Plot the two scores along the appropriate Task and People axis.
•Draw two lines from each until the lines intersect.
•The area of intersection is the leadership dimension from which you naturally operate (Authoritarian, Impoverished, Team, Organization/Middle of the Road or Country Club leadership style).
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Individual Differences and Interpersonal Relationships
Grid Questionnaire
Read each statement carefully, then using the scale below, decide the extent to which it actually applies to you. Allow yourself a maximum of 45 minutes.
Scoring
_________________________________________________________________________________
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1.I encourage my team to participate when it comes to decision making and I try to implement their ideas and suggestions.
2.Nothing is more important than accomplishing a goal or task.
3.I closely monitor the schedule to ensure a task or project will be completed in time.
4.I enjoy coaching people on new tasks and procedures.
5.The more challenging the task is, the more I enjoy it.
6.I encourage my employees to be creative about their job.
7.When seeing a complex task through to completion, I ensure that every detail is accounted for.
8.I find it easy to carry out several complicated tasks at the same time.
9.I enjoy reading articles, books and magazines about training, leadership and psychology and then putting what I have read into action.
10.When correcting mistakes, I do not worry about jeopardizing relationships.
11.I manage my time very efficiently.
12.I enjoy explaining the intricacies and details of a complex task or project to others.
13.Breaking large projects into small manageable tasks is second nature to me.
14.Nothing is more important than building a great team.
15.I enjoy analysing problems.
16.I honour other people’s boundaries
17.Counselling others to improve their performance or behaviour is second nature to me.
18.I enjoy reading articles, books and magazines about my profession and then implementing the new procedures I have learned.
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Individual Differences and Interpersonal Relationships
Scoring
After completing the questions, write your answer in the spaces below:
Question (People) |
Question (Task) |
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4. |
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3. |
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5. |
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9. |
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7. |
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10. |
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8. |
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12. |
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11. |
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14. |
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13. |
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16. |
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Total |
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Total |
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× 0.2 |
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× 0.2 |
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(multiply by 0.2 for final score) |
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Plot your 2 final scores on the axis of the grid on page 240. Then draw two lines from each until the lines intersect. The area of intersection is the leadership dimension from which you naturally operate.
A perfect score is 9.9. You should review the statements in the survey and reflect on the low scores by asking yourself “If I score higher in that area, would I be a more effective leader?”. If the answer is “yes”, then it should become a personal action item.
Note: Some may ask “in order to get a perfect score I would have to obtain maximum marks on both question 2 and 14. Is this not a paradox?”. One of the better known mottos of the US Army is: “People and Mission first”. That is, nothing is more important than accomplishing the task and nothing is more important than looking after the welfare of the people. A good leader can do both.
Question 10 is a “People” question. How can this be?
If a leader really cared about the person, would the relationship or would guiding that person onto greater achievement be the more important? Good leaders do what it takes to build and develop people around them. The “relationship” is not what makes them tick .... guiding others onto greatness is what a “people” leader is all about.
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