9.3 Social Psychology

MODULE 9A -
HUMAN FACTORS
9.3 Social Psychology
Issue No.: 01 Date: 13 February 2022 FOR TRAINING PURPOSES ONLY

Revision No.: 00 Status: Draft
MODULE 9 - HUMAN FACTORS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Objective
0. Introduction
1. Responsibility (Individual and Group)
2. Motivation
3. Demotivation
Issue No.:
Original Author: JTS 01 Date: 13 February 2022 FOR TRAINING PURPOSES ONLY Slide No. 2
TABLE OF CONTENTS
4. Peer Pressure

5. Cultural Issues
6. Teamwork
7. Management, Supervision and Leadership
Issue No.:
OBJECTIVE
After study of this Module, the student will be able to:
Describe the relationship of social psychological factors to safety hazards in an aircraft maintenance
environment; the following social psychological factors should be considered:
Individual and group responsibility
Motivation and de-motivation
Peer pressure
Cultural issues
Team working
Management, supervision and leadership
Recognise an example of an aircraft maintenance failure due to social psychology related factors
Issue No.:
0. INTRODUCTION
 It is important to understand how the organization
might influence the employee as every company has
different ways of operating
 This is what we call organizational culture
 Every company has its own philosophy, policies,
procedures, training criteria, and quality assurance
methods.
Issue No.:
1. RESPONSIBILITY (INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP)
 Personal standards include

• How one treats themselves,
• How they treat others,
• How they behave in front of others, and
• How they perform their jobs at the highest level.
Issue No.:
1. RESPONSIBILITY (INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP)

 During training, new employees will
adopt the behaviors of the more
experienced people who mentor
them
 Instilling qualities of professionalism
and responsibility in the early stages
of training is important
Issue No.:
RESPONSIBILITY (INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP)

 All tasks require attention to detail, as well as
adherence to duty and procedures to ensure they
are done accurately
 Occasionally one may be challenged by normal
behaviors also called "norms", where methods used
have become the accepted practice at the
workplace.
Issue No.:

"I did it this way because this is how it is always done
around here"
 Engineers need to recognize this behavior and
decide if the task is being performed as safety
requires, or as it "normally gets done"
 This is where personal standards become important.
Issue No.:

Would you certify a job on behalf of
another Technician you hardly knew, who
had completed a task that you were
responsible for, if you had not inspected
the work performed?
Issue No.:

 Personal integrity should thus empower the engineers to
check that the work is done correctly while combining
• The promotion of safety,
• Integrity,
• Professionalism and
• Above all else, a resistance to risky behavior
 All personnel involved in the task must be fully aware of its
progress.
Issue No.:

Good communication can avoid
the potential for taking things for
granted making risky decisions
Assuming is not a sign of
professional behavior
Fig. 1 - Communication is an integral part of
human factors
Issue No.:
REMEMBER
 Never sign for work you have not
performed, especially if you have not
inspected or observed it personally
 Trust should not replace good
communication and proper vigilance
 Again, if you did not do or inspect the
work, you should not sign for it
Issue No.:

Group responsibility has both its advantages and disadvantages
Advantages Disadvantages
• Each member of the group • Group responsibility is that it can
ought to feel responsible for potentially act against safety, with
the output of that group, not responsibility being diluted to such
just their own output as an an extent that no one feels
individual personally responsible
• Each member must work • Each member of the group or team
together towards ensuring that often just assumes that 'someone
the whole 'product' is safe else will do it'.
Issue No.:

 Here are some other recognized phenomena associated with team working and
responsibility which technicians/engineers should also be aware of
•Intergroup conflicts involve situations where a small group

may act together as a team, but less so between teams. (e.g.
Intergroup between technicians and planners, between shifts, between
teams at different sites, etc)
Conflict •This may have implications in terms of responsibility, with
different teams failing to share responsibility between
themselves. (e.g. - shift handover).
Issue No.:

responsibility which technicians/engineers should also be aware of.
•Group Polarization (Groupthink) is the tendency for groups to

Group make decisions that are more extreme than the individual
Polarization/ members' initial positions
•https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEtpIZ7QoTQ
Groupthink •https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwHfmlbJX5Q
Issue No.:

responsibility which technicians/engineers should also be aware of
•Social Loafing has been coined to reflect the tendency for

some individuals to work less hard on a task when they
Social believe others are working on it
•In other words, they consider that their own efforts will be
shared with that of other group members and not seen in
Loafing isolation
•https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpaChja09lc
Issue No.:
INTERACTION BETWEEN INDIVIDUALS

 Seem to be two main characteristics required by the individual within a team
Achievement of the task Goal directed (G+)

(G-) individuals will
individuals will have a
care little for the job
(goal directed style) keen desire to
and will not exert
complete the
(G + or G - ) themselves unduly.
designated task
Concern to keep the Person directed (P+)

team members happy (P-) individuals will
individuals will have
not care at all about
concern for the team
(person directed style) the other team
members and will
members
( P + or P-) consult with them
Issue No.:
INTERACTION BETWEEN INDIVIDUALS

A shift leader should have a
(P+) (G+) style
• They will be concerned with
The interactive style of the the production of aircraft to
meet the flying program as
team may need to change
well as morale and wellbeing
depending on the of the shift members
circumstances
• But if an accident occurs or
there is an emergency e.g.,
hangar fire, an autocratic (G+)
approach may be necessary.
Issue No.:
PROPER REPORTING
If you feel that something is wrong within your Company that affects
aircraft safety and you have made every effort to inform your
company, but nothing has changed then you have a “Moral obligation
to take if further”
Example like VORSY (Voluntary Occurrence Reporting System)
Issue No.:
2. MOTIVATION
Motivation
1. Motivated behavior is goal directed, purposeful behavior
2. No human behavior occurs without some kind of motivation behind it
3. Motivation is difficult to measure and predict
4. We are all motivated by different things

Fig. 5 - Magic of Motivation
• An artist might strive over many months to complete a painting that will never be sold,
• A person in business may forfeit all family life in pursuit of financial success
• A mechanic might be motivated to complete a task, for which he or she is not qualified
• With respect to safety, being motivated is vital.
Issue No.:
MOTIVATION
“Motivation reflects Motivation is usually Technicians/ Punishing (or rewarding
the difference considered to be a positive Engineers ought inappropriately) people
between what rather than a negative force to be motivated who are internally
someone can do and in that it stimulates one to to work safely motivated can be
what they will do" achieve various things and efficiently counter productive
• However, just because someone

is motivated, they still might not
do the right thing
• Many criminals are highly Fig. 5 - The effects of punishment and reward on behavior
motivated
Issue No.:
MOTIVATION
Highly motivated people tend to show the following characteristics:
• High performance and results being consistently achieved;

• The energy, enthusiasm and determination to succeed;
• Unstinting co-operation in overcoming problems;
• Willingness to accept responsibility;
• Willingness to accommodate change.
Issue No.:
MOTIVATION - MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS

One well known theory which attempts to describe
human motivation is Maslow's hierarchy of needs
Maslow considered that humans are driven by two
different sets of motivational forces;
• ...those that ensure survival by satisfying basic physical and
psychological needs;
• ...those that help us to realize our full potential in life known as self
actualization needs (fulfilling ambitions, etc).
Issue No.:
Fig. 6 - Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Issue No.:

 Figure shows the hypothetical hierarchical nature of the
needs we are motivated to satisfy
 The theory is that the needs lower down the hierarchy
are more basic and must be satisfied before we can be
motivated by the higher needs
 For instance, you will probably find it harder to
concentrate on the information in this document if
you are very hungry.
Issue No.:

 There are always exceptions to this, such as the
mountain climber who risks his life in the name of
adventure
 The higher up the hierarchy one goes, the more
difficult it becomes to achieve the need
 High level needs are often long-term goals that must be
accomplished in a series of steps.
Issue No.:
Issue No.: 01 Date: 13 February 2022 FOR TRAINING PURPOSES ONLY
MOTIVATION - THE HAWTHORNE EFFECT

An interesting experiment on motivation was carried out in 1924 at
the Hawthorne Works of the Western Electric Company in
Chicago
Here, the management altered various factors such as rest periods,
lighting levels, working hours, etc. Each time they did so
performance improved
This suggested that it was not the improvements themselves which
were causing the increased production rates, but rather the fact
that the employees felt that management were taking notice of
them and were concerned for their welfare.
Issue No.:
MOTIVATION - THE HAWTHORNE EFFECT

 This phenomenon is known as the Hawthorne effect
 “The Hawthorne Effect (also referred to as the
observer effect) is a type of reactivity in which
individuals modify or improve an aspect of their
behavior in response to their awareness of being
observed."
Issue No.:
3. DEMOTIVATION
People who are demotivated lack motivation
• Apathy and indifference to the job, including reduced regard for safety while
Demotivated working
people tend to • A poor record of time keeping and high absenteeism
demonstrate • An exaggeration of the effects/difficulties encountered in problems, disputes
the following and grievances
• A lack of cooperation in dealing with problems or difficulties
characteristics:
• Unjustified resistance to change
 It is important that Engineers are motivated by a desire to ensure safety (Maslow's

self esteem/self respect’), rather than by a fear of being punished and losing their
job (Maslow's 'security').
Issue No.:
4. PEER PRESSURE
Peer pressure is the actual or perceived pressure which an individual may feel, to better conform to
what they perceive that their peers or colleagues expect.
• For example, an individual may feel that there is pressure to cut corners in
order to get an aircraft out by a certain time, including the belief that their
colleagues would do such under similar circumstances
There may be no actual pressure from management to cut corners, but instead subtle pressure
from peers.
• For example, a comment such as "You don't want to bother checking the
manual for that. Just do it like this..." would constitute peer pressure
 Peer pressure thus falls within the area of conformity.
Issue No.:
PEER PRESSURE - CONFORMITY

 Peer pressure thus falls within the area of conformity
 Conformity is the tendency to allow one's opinions,
attitudes, actions and even perceptions to be
affected by prevailing opinions, attitudes, actions
and perceptions
 Peer pressure is the pressure we feel to do what our
group or peers expect of us.
Issue No.:
PEER PRESSURE - CONFORMITY
The degree to which an individual's view is likely to be affected

by conformity or peer pressure, depends on many factors,
including:
Familiarity of the The expertise of the group

Culture (people
Self-esteem (a subject matter (a members (if the individual
from country 'x' Gender (men
person with low person is more likely respects the group or
tend to conform tend to conform
self esteem is to conform to the perceives them to be very
more than less than
likely to majority view if they knowledgeable he or she will
those from women);
conform more). know less about the be more likely to conform to
country 'y').
subject matter). their views).
Issue No.:
5. CULTURAL ISSUES
There can be a degree of mistrust of anything new in the workplace, (e.g.
an individual joining a company whose expertise has not yet been proven,
or contracting out maintenance to another company, etc.)
There may be a tendency for groups within organisation and the

organisation itself to think that their own methods are the best and that
others are not as good. This viewpoint is known as the group’s or
organisation’s culture
The culture of an organisation can be described as ‘the way we do

things here’. It is a group or company norm.
Issue No.:
CULTURAL ISSUES
 Figure indicates that there can be an overall organisational
culture, and a number of different ‘sub-cultures’, such as
safety culture, professional/technical culture, etc
 It is possible for cultural differences to exist between sites or
even between shifts within the same organisation
 The prevailing culture of the industry as a whole also
influences individual organisations.
Issue No.:
CULTURAL ISSUES
Fig. 7 - The influences on an organisation’s culture
Issue No.:
CULTURAL ISSUES - SAFETY CULTURE

ICAO HF “a set of beliefs, norms, attitudes, roles and social and
Digest 10 technical practices concerned with minimising exposure of
describes a employees, managers, customers and members of the
safety general public to conditions considered dangerous or
culture as hazardous”
Gary Eiff “A safety culture exists only within an organisation where

from Purdue each individual employee, regardless of their position,
University assumes an active role in error prevention”.
suggests
that
Issue No.:
CULTURAL ISSUES - SAFETY CULTURE

How does the organizational culture How do you recognize an organization with a
affect the work of a technician? good safety culture?
• In the working environment, • An organization with a good safety culture

is one where safe and professional
safe and professional practices behavior is fully internalized
are not only expected normal • We are not simply talking about the
behavior but are reinforced and number of safety posters, but a realistic
supported by management. demonstration of support for safety
• Sometimes, due to commercial pressures
• In this type of culture, personnel to get the aircraft out under an unrealistic
will tend to 'do it by the book' time schedule, maintenance technicians
and take the time to ensure the can be pressured to cut corners; for
appropriate work, inspections, example, to sign off work that has not
actually been checked or carried out
and signoffs are actually carried strictly according to laid down procedures.
out. Under these circumstances, it is very easy
for a poor safety culture to develop.
Issue No.:
6. TEAMWORK This is a process known as

Teams require synergy. Synergy occurs
interdependence; when each individual team
members working member is empowered and
together in ways encouraged to contribute in
to achieve one or the most effective way to
more common increase efficiency and
goals productivity
Successful teamwork is Good communications within

achieved when the output the group, a high degree of
of the team is greater than situational awareness, and a
what the output would be comprehensive understanding of
by the combined efforts of the decision-making process by
the individual members in all members are prerequisites
isolation for creating synergy.
Issue No.:
TEAMWORK - CHARACTERISTICS OF TEAMS

Good teams have certain • Share and understand a common goal
characteristics • Have effective and balanced
leadership
Typically, individual team • Have effective followership (or team)
skills
members have high levels • Have a shared mental model
of task proficiency and • Practice clear and effective
good team skills communication
• Have clear delegation/role definition
So, what are the • Have clear operating procedures
characteristics of teams • Allocate workload appropriately
• Have an appropriate authority
with good synergy? gradient
These teams: • Resolve conflict effectively.
Issue No.:
7. MANAGEMENT, SUPERVISION AND LEADERSHIP
Managers and It is no good instilling the

supervisors have a key engineers and technicians
with 'good safety practice'
role to play in ensuring concepts, if these are not
that work is carried out supported by their
safely supervisors and managers
Issue No.:
THE MANAGEMENT ROLE
Line Managers,
particularly those
working as an integral For example, if there is a
part of the 'front line' temporary Staff shortage,
operation, may be he or she must decide The adoption of Safety
placed in a situation whether maintenance tasks Management Principles may
where they may have to can be safely carried out help by providing managers
compromise between with reduced manpower, or with techniques whereby
commercial drivers and whether a technician they can carry out a more
'ideal' safety practices volunteering to work a objective assessment of risk.
(both of which are "back-to-back shift" will be
passed down from 'top able to perform adequately
management’ in the
organization)
Issue No.:
THE SUPERVISORY ROLE
The supervisor is in a
Supervision may be a position not only to watch
out for errors which might It is mainly the
formal role or post (i.e.,
be made by technicians supervisor's job to
a supervisor), or an
but will also have a good prevent unsafe norms
informal arrangement
appreciation of from developing, and
in which a more individual’s strengths and to ensure that good
experienced personnel weaknesses, together safety practices are
'keeps an eye on' less with an appreciation of maintained
experienced staff the norms and culture of
the group
 It can be difficult for supervisory and management staff to strike the right balance
between carrying out their supervisory duties and maintaining their own skills
and knowledge (and appropriate authorizations), and they may thus get out of
practice.
Issue No.:
LEADERSHIP
• A leader in a given situation is a person whose ideas and

actions influence the thought and the behavior of others.
There are potentially two types of leader in aircraft
maintenance:
Types of Leaders
• The person officially assigned the team leader role (possibly
in Aircraft called the Supervisor)
Maintenance • An individual within a group that the rest of the group tends
to follow or defer to (possibly due to a dominant personality,
etc.). Ideally of course, the official team leader should also
be the person the rest of the group defers to.
Issue No.:
LEADERSHIP
Motivating the Team: The leader organizes the team by ensuring that the goals or targets of
the work which need to be achieved are clearly communicated and manageable.
Reinforcing Good Attitudes and Behavior: When team members work well (i.e., safely and
efficiently), this must be recognized by the team leader and reinforced.
Characteristics Demonstrating by Example: One of the most important leadership qualities is setting an
of a good example; doing what they say.
leader
Maintaining the Group: They must produce a 'team spirit' where the team members support
each other and feel responsible for the work of the team.
Fulfilling a Management Role: The leader is responsible for coordinating the activities of the
team on a day-to-day basis, which includes allocation of tasks and delegation of duties.
Issue No.:
LEADERSHIP
What leadership is not!
Leadership is not Leadership is not

Leadership is not Leadership is not Position is
authority. Bosses management.
power. The thug status. Some may assigned from Managers do
will naturally have Managing is a
who sticks a gun have status or above ... things right.
subordinates, but planned activity:
in your back has position, yet do leadership is Leaders do the
if bosses do not leadership is
power, but not not have a shred conferred from right things.
lead, they will not more
leadership. of leadership. below.
have followers. spontaneous.
Issue No.:
Issue No.:
LIST OF REFERENCES
 https://gohighbrow.com/portfolio/most-brilliant-social-psychology-experiments/
 https://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/personal-standards-match-level-success-seek-article-1.2801072
 https://www.wikihow.com/Show-Integrity
 https://tranziam.com/the-magic-of-motivation/
 https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html
 http://www.differencebetween.net/business/difference-between-supervisor-and-manager/
Issue No.:

9.3 Social Psychology

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MODULE 9A -

9.3 Social Psychology

Issue No.: 01 Date: 13 February 2022 FOR TRAINING PURPOSES ONLY

4. Peer Pressure

1. RESPONSIBILITY (INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP)

 Personal standards include

1. RESPONSIBILITY (INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP)

RESPONSIBILITY (INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP)

RESPONSIBILITY (INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP)

RESPONSIBILITY (INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP)

RESPONSIBILITY (INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP)

RESPONSIBILITY (INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP)

RESPONSIBILITY (INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP)

RESPONSIBILITY (INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP)

RESPONSIBILITY (INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP)

•Intergroup conflicts involve situations where a small group

RESPONSIBILITY (INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP)

•Group Polarization (Groupthink) is the tendency for groups to

RESPONSIBILITY (INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP)

•Social Loafing has been coined to reflect the tendency for

INTERACTION BETWEEN INDIVIDUALS

Achievement of the task Goal directed (G+)

Concern to keep the Person directed (P+)

INTERACTION BETWEEN INDIVIDUALS

Example like VORSY (Voluntary Occurrence Reporting System)

1. Motivated behavior is goal directed, purposeful behavior

2. No human behavior occurs without some kind of motivation behind it

3. Motivation is difficult to measure and predict

4. We are all motivated by different things

• However, just because someone

Highly motivated people tend to show the following characteristics:

• High performance and results being consistently achieved;

MOTIVATION - MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS

MOTIVATION - MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS

Fig. 6 - Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

MOTIVATION - MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS

MOTIVATION - MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS

MOTIVATION - THE HAWTHORNE EFFECT

MOTIVATION - THE HAWTHORNE EFFECT

 It is important that Engineers are motivated by a desire to ensure safety (Maslow's

PEER PRESSURE - CONFORMITY

PEER PRESSURE - CONFORMITY

The degree to which an individual's view is likely to be affected

Familiarity of the The expertise of the group

There may be a tendency for groups within organisation and the

The culture of an organisation can be described as ‘the way we do

Fig. 7 - The influences on an organisation’s culture

CULTURAL ISSUES - SAFETY CULTURE

Gary Eiff “A safety culture exists only within an organisation where

CULTURAL ISSUES - SAFETY CULTURE

• In the working environment, • An organization with a good safety culture

6. TEAMWORK This is a process known as

Successful teamwork is Good communications within

TEAMWORK - CHARACTERISTICS OF TEAMS

7. MANAGEMENT, SUPERVISION AND LEADERSHIP

Managers and It is no good instilling the

THE MANAGEMENT ROLE

THE SUPERVISORY ROLE

• A leader in a given situation is a person whose ideas and

What leadership is not!

Leadership is not Leadership is not

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