Culture at Work in Aviation and Medicine: National,Organizational and Professional Influences by Robert L. Helmreich, Ashleigh C. Merritt

From the Publisher

Culture forms a complex framework of national, organizational and professional attitudes and values within which groups and individuals function. The reality and strength of culture become salient when we work within a new group and interact with people who have well-established norms and values.

In this book the authors report the results of their ongoing exploration of the influences of culture in two professions – aviation and medicine. Their focus is on commercial airline pilots and operating room teams. Within these two environments, they show the effects of professional, national and organizational cultures on individual attitudes, values and team interactions.

From the Foreword by Captain Daniel Maurino: “...the authors direct their attention to applied research as well as to the search for practical tools to approach and deal with the relationship between culture, error and error management, and between culture and aviation human factors training for operational personnel. They devote particular attention to the link between culture and Crew Resource Management (CRM) training, a safety and prevention tool towards which few if any have contributed so much and so well...”

Vividly laced with numerous contributions from a range of practitioners and researchers from Asia, Australia, Europe and the Americas, as well as case studies and practical examples, the book is designed to be accessible to practitioners and managers wishing to improve their own organization and to researchers with an interest in gaining a greater understanding of the types of culture.

Author Biography: Professor Robert L. Helmreich is Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, and Director of the University of Texas Aerospace Crew Research Project. Dr Ashleigh C. Merritt works with Jean Pariès Safety and Human Factors Consulting Group, Dédale, in Paris, France.

Ron Westrum

In addition to presenting some of the key results of CRM both for aviation and medicine, the authors have used their extensive experience and network of contacts to enrich the text with marvelous anecdotes and case studies...a straightforward style that is a pleasure to read and a complete lack of the usual jargon. The ideas are presented forcefully, documented with scrupulous care, and one can grasp immediately how the concepts in the book might be applied to ongoing aviation operations. The extensions to medicine should intrigue and stimulate also those concerned about human factors and the operations of surgical teams. The quality and variety of the research cited in this work is impressive. A good argument could be made for purchase based on the references alone. This is a book that all those concerned with safety in the operational environment will wish to get and read cover-to-cover.

AAvPA Flyer

This is an important and timely book...an invaluable insight into the cultures – national, organizational and professional – which affect most of us at work...very well written, referenced and indexed...illuminated with vivid anecdotes and case studies. —the newsletter of the Australian Aviation Psychology Association

Product Details

• Table of Contents

Table of Contents