Cultural diversity in aviation: The benefits, risks, and solutions

Aviation is a global business that brings together professionals from all around the globe. Cultural differences in this industry create both: opportunities and challenges. On one hand, diverse crew teams have more efficient critical thinking skills, stronger defense against groupthink, and produce better innovation and problem-solving solutions. On the other hand, if not managed, issues arising from limited language proficiency, different hierarchical norms, or cultural background could lead to misunderstandings. And that in aviation might come for a high price. Abdelmagid Bouzougarh, CEO of Aerviva, Dubai-based international aviation recruitment consultancy, shares his insights on how to benefit from cultural diversity and avoid communication barriers.

Language barriers and interpretation differences

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) evaluated 28,000 incidents and accident reports. The results showed that in over 70% of the occurrences, one of the leading factors was communication challenges.

Sometimes miscommunication can show evidence of confusion with key pieces of information that eventually can turn out into a conflict. Limited language proficiency can be evidenced by the non-immediate compliance of instructions, most likely as a result of misunderstanding, and by the lack of immediate confirmation of instructions. Especially in cases between pilots and Air Traffic Control (ATC).

In aviation linguistic strategies are used to facilitate the understanding of both parties. Regarding communication with ATC, there is a recommendation to use standard phraseology whenever possible.

To lessen the miscommunication problem amongst different culture personnel and to improve aviation safety, in 2008 ICAO introduced the Language Proficiency Requirements. The cause is to ensure that all pilots and controllers operating within an international environment can communicate clearly in English. These English language requirements apply to all personnel, even native English speakers.

It is important to note, that according to ICAO, native English speakers have an ethical obligation to increase their linguistic awareness.

Cultural norms and hierarchical communication

Our cultural differences are defined by our values, and beliefs, including religion or superstitions, attitudes, and perceptions. We should keep in mind that sometimes the differences can be defined not only by culture, even though people come from the exact same place, it does not mean that they have the same understanding of norms and implications of cultures.

One of the most common issues between diverse cultures, caused by different norms, is hierarchical communication and decision-making, influenced by the perception of high-power distance. Some societies have a high degree of power distance, which means that people usually accept a hierarchical system based on the idea that everyone in the system has a place without the need for justification. In other, more democratic societies, low power distance exists, which means that power is distributed more equally. For example, on the high end of the power distance index are Malaysia and Arabian countries, and on the low end of the index – Denmark and the U.K.

One such fatal hierarchy miscommunication example could be the crash of Japan Air Lines Cargo Flight 1045 in 1977. The crash report revealed that the captain was a US national, with the other two being Japanese. Neither Japanese pilot mentioned the captain’s intoxication or stopped him from flying the plane. They were reluctant to do so, and given Japan’s moderately high power-distance index, their deference to authority could have been a major contributing factor.

To manage hierarchical and other cultural differences in aviation effectively, specific cross-cultural training is implemented to deepen crew knowledge and prepare them to respond most professionally. During this training, the crew learns how to identify and understand hierarchical and cultural differences and avoid miscommunication in specific situations. After the training cabin crew can better understand passengers’ expectations, influenced by cultural background and beliefs, while pilots and ATC specialists learn to understand specific language, which helps to reduce chances of miscommunication. Moreover, modern technology and simulations are adopted to create detailed scenarios, which help the crew to rehearse how to respond professionally to real-world situations, reflecting cultural diversity. To enhance flight safety, it is important to continue learning and deepen understanding of cultural differences.

The risk behind unique personal backgrounds

Effective communication can be obstructed not only by cultural differences but also by the personal social skills of the crew members. Different interpretations of situations and information may be visible only in a different outcome compared to what another person might have expected. Usually, these differences occur in stressful situations, which can lead to an unfortunate event.

One example of miscommunication could be the Avianca Airlines Flight 052 crash in 1990 (Long Island, New York). It was a scheduled international flight from Bogota, Colombia, to John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport. According to the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation, the final report said that the probable cause of the accident was “the failure of the flight crew to adequately manage the airplane’s fuel load, and their failure to communicate an emergency fuel situation to ATC before fuel exhaustion occurred”. After the investigation and breakdown in communications among flight crew members themselves, there was information provided that the captain was unaware of exactly what the first officer was telling ATC.

“The intercultural nature of the events is crucial in aviation safety. Companies must invest in safety culture, ensuring that everyone is encouraged to inform to report unconformities and safety events or hazards,” says Abdelmagid Bouzougarh, CEO of Aerviva.

What could be done to avoid cultural-difference issues?

Management’s responsibility to build trust can be supported through a policy of active role modelling, where all managers undertake the same training in cultural diversity and are seen

to apply the lessons daily. Diversity training is a part of the Crew Resource Management (CRM) training programs, such as Human Factors, Leadership, Teamwork, and others. CRM is defined as “the effective use of all available resources for flight crew personnel to assure a safe and efficient operation, reducing error, avoiding stress, and increasing efficiency”. This training program was designed to foster coordination within the aviation team and to overcome differences in background. CRM helps the crew to understand each other’s strengths, enhances teamwork and clear communication. For crew members it is important to practice better decision making and communication in their daily life.

“To ensure a safe and trustworthy environment, the crew should develop rapport-building skills and the capability to establish a professional atmosphere. Such awareness of cultural differences can only be recognized from learning and trying to understand others. We should consider that sometimes what seems normal to us, for others could have a different meaning. Therefore, to manage a team successfully, it is important to respect every person equally and to avoid prejudices, presumptions, and beliefs about other cultures,” highlights Abdelmagid Bouzougarh, CEO of Aerviva.

There is still room for improvement

Although, the multi-cultural flight crew can have a lot of advances, such as meeting the expectations of more diverse passengers, more efficient problem-solving, producing better innovation, and problem-solving solutions, cross-cultural issues must be effectively managed.

“The organisations shall provide education and training for the crew and raise the awareness of cultural differences by adopting relevant practices. The crew members shall respect their colleagues, pay attention to the possible cultural differences, learn how to find agreement, communicate clearly, and improve collaboration,” notes Abdelmagid Bouzougarh, CEO of Aerviva.The post Cultural diversity in aviation: The benefits, risks, and solutions appeared first on AeroTime.

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