CHAPTER 9b

COMMUNICATION AND SOCIAL FACTORS

TEAM WORKING

Objectives of This Chapter

• To understand the general principles of teamwork
• To accept the benefits of teamwork
• To Develop skills for effective teamwork 
• To believe that maintenance personnel, light crew, cabin crew, operations personnel,
planners etc. should work together as effectively as possible 
• To encourage team concept, but without devolving or degrading individual responsibility 
• To understand the role of managers, supervisors and leaders in teamwork
• To develop management skills for appropriate personnel
• To develop decision making skills based on good situational awareness and consultation
where appropriate
 The Concept of a Team
INTRODUCTION
• Whereas individualism encourages independence, teams are
associated with interdependence and working together in some
way to achieve one or more goals
• Comprise a number of individuals working together towards one
shared goal.
• Alternatively, they may consist of a number of individuals working in
parallel to achieve one common goal.
• Teams generally have a recognized leader and one or more
follower(s).
• Teams need to be built up and their identity as a team needs to be
maintained in some way.
 
 Some Advantages and Disadvantages of Team Work
 

Working as part of a team has a number of potential benefits which

include: 
• Individuals can share resources (knowledge, tools, etc.)
• They can discuss problems and arrive at shared solutions
• They can check each other’s work (either “officially” or
“unofficially”.
• Take ownership of tasks at the working level.
• Healthy competition and rivalry between teams can create a strong
team identity and encourage pride in the product of a team. Team
identity also has the advantage that a group of engineers know one
another’s capabilities (and weaknesses).
• However some within the team may feel some pressure to adhere
to a group’s views, which may be seen as a potential disadvantage.
 Important Elements of Team Working

For teams to function cohesively and

productively, team members need to have or
build up certain interpersonal and social skills.
These include:
• communication,
• co-operation,
• co-ordination and
• mutual support.
 Communication

• Communication is essential for exchanging

work-related information within the team. For
example, a team leader must ensure that a
team member has not just heard an instruction,
but understood what is meant by it.
• A team member must highlight problems to his
colleagues and/or team leader.
• Furthermore, it is important to listen to what
others say.
 Co-operation
• “Pulling together” is inherent in the
smooth running of a team.
• Fairness and openness within the
team encourage cohesiveness and
mutual respect.
• Disagreements must be handled
sensitively by the team leader.
 Co-ordination
• Co-ordination is required within the team to
ensure that the team leader knows what his group
members are doing.
• This includes delegation of tasks so that all the
resources within the team are utilized. Delegated
tasks should be supervised and monitored as
required.
• The team leader must ensure that no individual is
assigned a task beyond his capabilities (i.e. who
should accomplish which tasks and within what
timescale), and prioritization of tasks.
 Mutual Support
• Mutual support is at the heart of the team’s
identity. The team leader must engender this
in his team. For instance, if mistakes are made,
these should be discussed and corrected
constructively.
•  It is worth noting that in many companies, line
engineers tend to work as individuals whereas
base engineers tend to work in teams.
Management, Supervision and Leadership

• . Management, supervision and leadership are

all skills that a team leader requires.
• Managers and supervisors have a key role to
play in ensuring that work is carried out safely.
• It is no good instilling the engineers and
technicians with “good safety practice”
concepts, if these are not supported by their
supervisors and managers.
• Line Managers, may be placed in a situation
where they may have to compromise between
commercial drivers and “ideal” safety
practices.
• For example, if there is a temporary staff
shortage, he must decide whether an
engineer volunteering to work a “ghoster” to
make up the numbers will be able to perform
adequately.
 The Supervisory Role
• .A Supervisor or an informal arrangement in which a
more experienced engineer “keeps an eye” on less
experienced staff.
• Watches out for errors but will also have a good
appreciation of individual engineer’s strengths and
weaknesses, together with an appreciation of the norms
and safety culture of the group which he supervises.
• It is his job to prevent unsafe norms from developing, and
to ensure that good safety practices are maintained.
• It’s a good practice for a supervisor to step back from the
day-to-day work occasional and to try to look at his
charges performance objectively
 Characteristics of a Leader

• A leader in a given situation is a person whose

ideas and actions influence the thought and the
behavior of others.
• A good leader in the maintenance engineering
environment needs to possess a number of
qualities; 
• Motivating his team
• Reinforcing good qualities and behavior
• Demonstrating by example
• Maintaining the group
• Fulfilling a management role
• Motivating the Team-- ensuring that the goals or targets
of the work which need to be achieved are clearly
communicated and manageable. E.g. would describe the
work required on an aircraft within a shift. He must be
honest and open, highlighting any potential problems and
where appropriate encouraging team solutions.

• Reinforcing Good Attitudes and Behavior-When team

members work well (i.e. safely and efficiently), this must
be recognized and reinforced. This might be by offering a
word of thanks for hard work, or making a favorable
report to senior management on an individual. He will
also make sure that the bad habits are eliminated and
inappropriate actions are constructively criticized .
• Demonstrating by Example-- to lead by example not by
deed but rather, he must demonstrate a personal
understanding of the activities and goals of the team so
that the team members respect his authority. It is
important that he establishes a good safety culture within
a team through his attitude and actions in this respect.
• Maintaining the Group-- Individuals do not always work
together as good teams. It is his role to be sensitive to the
structure of the team and the relationships within it. He
must engender a ‘team spirit’ where the team members
support each other and feel responsible for the work of
the team. He must also recognize and resolve disputes
within the team and encourage co-operation amongst its
members.
 Fulfilling a Management Role
• The team leader must not be afraid to
lead.
• There cannot be more than one leader.
• The link between higher levels of
management within the organization
and the team members.
• His the link between higher levels of
management within the organization
and the team members.
 Team Working
• Skilled management, supervision and leadership
play a significant part in the attainment of safety
and high quality human performance in aircraft
maintenance engineering.
• ‘them and us’ attitude is not particularly conducive
to improving the safety culture of an organization.
• It is important that managers, supervisors,
engineers and technicians all work together, rather
than against one another to ensure that aircraft
maintenance improves airworthiness.
Responsibility: Individual and Group
• If someone is considered responsible, they are
liable to be called to account as being in charge or
control of, or answerable for something.
• Responsibility---This ranges from the accountable
manager who formulates policy,
• management that set procedures,
• to supervisors, teams of engineers and individuals
within those teams.
• Flight crew also play a part as they are responsible
for carrying out preflight checks and walkarounds
and highlighting aircraft faults to maintenance
personnel.
 Working as an Individual or as a Group

• Traditionally, responsibility has been considered in

terms of the individual rather than the group or team.
• This is based how a/c engineers are licensed and the
way in which work is certified.
• The main advantage is that one understands clearly the
tasks that have been assigned to him and it is his job to
do them correctly knowing that he will be held
responsible if something goes wrong.
• The main disadvantage is that this may overlook the
importance of working together as cohesive team or
group to achieve goals.
 Aircraft Tasks
• In practice, aircraft engineers are often assigned
to groups or teams in the workplace.
• may be shift teams, or smaller groups within a shift.
• . A team may be made up of various engineering
trades, or be structured around aircraft types or
place of work (e.g. a particular hangar).
• Although distinct tasks may be assigned to
individuals within a team, the responsibility for
fulfilling overall goals would fall on the entire team.
 Individual Responsibility
• The certifying engineer (LAE) shall be responsible for
ensuring that work is performed and recorded in a
satisfactory manner.
• Non-certifying technicians also have a responsibility
in the maintenance process and an organization can
make provision on maintenance records or work
sheets for the mechanic (s) involved to sign for the
work. (not the legally certification)
• The LAE is then responsible for any adjustment or
functional test and the required maintenance records
are satisfied before making the legal certification.
 Group or Team Responsibility
• Advantages --each member of the group ought to feel
responsible for the group output not just their own
output and ought to work towards ensuring that the
whole ‘product’ is safe.
• This may involve cross-checking other’s work politely
challenging others if you think that something is not
quite right, etc.
• Disadvantage --it can potentially act against safety, with
responsibility being devolved to such an extent that no-
one feels personally responsible for safety (referred to as
diffusion of responsibility) E.g. individual fails to act
assuming someone else will do it
 Other recognized phenomena associated
with group or team working
• Intergroup Conflict --evolve where a small group
may act cohesively as a team, but rivalries may
arise between this team and others.
• implications in terms of responsibility, with
teams failing to share responsibility between
them e.g. at shift handovers
• Group polarization is the tendency for groups to
make decisions that are more extreme than the
individual members initial positions (cautious
decisions).
• Risky shift-- a group may arrive at a course of action that is
risker than that which any individual member might
pursue.
• Group think -- the desire of the group to reach unanimous
agreement overrides any individual impulse to adopt
proper, rational (and responsible) decision making
procedures.
•   Social loafing --the tendency for some individuals to work
less hard on a task when they believe others are working
on it. Consider that their own efforts will be pooled with
that of other group members and not seen in isolation.
• Responsibility ought to be addressed not only by
licensing, regulations and procedures, but also by
education and training, attempting to engender a culture
of shared, but not diffused, responsibility.
 DECISION MAKING
• Effective decision making refers to the ability to
choose a course of action using logical and sound
judgement to make decisions based on available
information. This includes;
1. Assessing the problem
2. Verifying the problem
3. Identifying solutions
4. Anticipating solutions
5. Informing others of decision and rationale
6. Evaluating decisions
 Factors affecting good decision making

• Teamwork
• Extra time to make a decision
• Alert maintenance personnel
• Decision strategies and experience
 Barriers to good decision making
Barriers How to overcome
• Time • Use SOPs and select the
best decision using available
information.
• Inaccurate or ambiguous • Cross check data
data
• Pressure to perform • Evaluate rationale
• Rank difference • Use assertive behaviours
• Personal attitudes • Be aware of negative
attitude traps
 Decision Making vs Risk Management
• Judgment is the total mental process used to
arrive at a decision
• Decision making is the process of identifying a
problem, gathering data, and using sound
judgment to reach a logical conclusion in any
manner
• Risk management is an individual measure for
an acceptable outcome to a given decision or
judgment
 Structural Decision Making
• The decision-making process is a synthesis of the
elements of good Maintenance Resource
Management and situational awareness.
• It involves an interface among communication,
situational awareness and command authority.
• In defining decision making in terms of MRM, all
the resources available to the maintenance
personnel are pulled together to achieve synergy.
• Synergy is easier to achieve in an environment
of good communications and leadership.
 Defective decision making
• Two principles emerge (in analysis of aircraft
mishaps) that are caused by defective decision
making;
1. One bad decision leads to another in a ‘snow ball
effect’.
2. A series of bad decisions reduces the
alternatives for continued safety. As time goes
by, available alternatives decrease.
 Recognition of poor judgement
• Feedback – (To recognize poor judgment, feedback is needed)
asking for feedback from another engineer may be difficult
because of hesitancy to admit an error. Yet feedback is
necessary to break the poor judgement chain quickly.
• Stress – A high level of stress can reduce the ability of a
maintenance crew to exercise good judgment.
• Challenge – identify hazardous situations resulting from poor
judgements and rectify
• Identify: Other poor decisions. Poor decisions tend to occur in
chains. If a poor decision affecting the safe operation of an
aircraft is recognized, others may be present.
• Review – a review of the original bad decision should be made
as soon as possible. This review will provide feedback to avoid
similar poor judgment chains in future.
 Traps in decision making
• ‘Do something fast’ – jumping to conclusions and solutions.
Beware of choosing a mental model of the situation which
seems close enough and then bending the facts to fit the
model.
• ‘Can Do’ – macho attitude. Risk taking to impress others,
Being afraid to voice and share uncertainty or overload.
• Not being willing to challenge ‘Experts’.
• Complacency, Invulnerability, Denial, ‘It can’t happen to me’.
• Anti-authority – ‘Don’t tell me what to do’
• Resignation – ‘what’s the use? Nothing I do makes any
difference’
 Key points
• Don’t assume you don’t have time. Time spent
on diagnosis is time well spent.
• Consultation is not a sign of weakness – use
your resources and consult other maintenance
crew members.
• Decisions should always be reviewed.
• Changing a decision is not indecision.
• To assist with the decision making process use
the acronym DODAR
 DODAR CONCEPT
     
Diagnose Make a diagnosis Utilize all available resources and view differing
opinions as being helpful and not a hindrance

     
Options Work out what your options are Encourage all maintenance crew members to express
opinions and air their doubts or objections without
fear of being made to look foolish

     
Decision Make the decision Always explain the reasons for a particular decision,
deal only with the facts. Do not be indecisive but
remember that any decision may be modified in the
light of changing circumstances

     
Assign Tasks Allocate the tasks and share the workload

     
Review Your decision Keep reviewing the decision at intervals
 CONCLUSION
In conclusion, it should be borne in mind that
whereas individualism encourages
independence, teams are associated with
interdependence and working together in some
way to achieve one or more goals.