Measuring crew resource management: Challenges and recommendations

Abstract

This paper presents a methodology for measuring Crew Resource Management (CRM) parameters as applied to a pilot decision-making task. Six teams of pilots took part in a desk-top decision-making exercise. Flight crew performance was observed by human factors researchers and was measured on a number of parameters pertaining to communication, situational awareness, decision-making, mission analysis, leadership, adaptability and assertiveness. This methodology facilitated the mapping of decisions in the context of the overall process. The communication analysis can be considered more objective than standard CRM expert rating. This methodology could be used to examine CRM for training, recruitment, incident and accident analysis, identifying degraded performance on the flight-deck and has further implications for multi-team co-ordination. It could also be used to provide a sound contribution to the design of automatic means of detection for CRM metrics on the flight deck. © 2014 Springer International Publishing.