Since its inception in the late 1970’s, Crew Resource Management (CRM) – the precursor to Aircrew Decision Making (ADM) – has evolved to meet the aviation industry’s changing needs. It has adapted to meet the continuing development of new knowledge and facilitation formats.

The current focus of Non-Technical Skills Training (NTST) is similar to that of the more traditional CRM skills we have discussed for years, but with a different emphasis, and this is what we will investigate in this course of study.

It is the combination of the skills of decision making, communication, teamwork, leadership and situation(al) awareness that results in effective and systemic consultation, participation, supervision and behaviour.

Consultation is the mechanism through which issues are raised, communicated and resolved participatively.
Participation where individuals become engaged in and committed to the process of sharing in the activities of a group through participation.
Supervision – Through supervision, information and instructions are conveyed to individuals and teams to effectively carry out their roles, perform work tasks and adhere to instructions.
Behaviour is an individual’s conformity to agreed safe work practices and reflects the person’s commitment and participation.

An accepted definition (although fairly simplistic) is:
“CRM is the effective use of all resources, hardware, software and liveware to achieve a safe and efficient flight operation.”
Dr. John Lauber, 1984
And another:
The effective use of all available resources by an individual or crew to safely and successfully accomplish a flight operation.

Then what is ADM?

Decision making is the cognitive process of selecting a course of action from among multiple alternatives.
Decision making in an aeronautical environment involves any pertinent decision taken to ensure the safe conduct of a flight.

As mentioned, we have now progressed further to discuss CRM and Human Factors as Non-Technical Skills Training (NTST). The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) defines NTST as:

“the mental, social, and personal-management abilities that complement the technical skills of workers and contribute to safe and effective performance in complex work systems. They include competencies such as decision-making, workload management, team communication, situation awareness, and stress management.”

To explain further let us consider the following scenario of two sisters and one orange. There are two sisters in a kitchen, both of whom want an orange, but there is only one left.
      • What do you expect is the solution?
      • How might they compromise?

The most common and perhaps simplest compromise could be that they cut the orange in half, this way each will have half an orange.

That’s what they did. One sister went to the juicer and started to squeeze herself a rather too small orange juice. The other sister, with much difficulty, began to grate the rind off her half an orange to flavour a cake.

Had they discussed needs rather than heading straight to solutions, they could have both had a whole orange.

Win – Win; We want what’s fair for all of us – how to achieve this in our workplaces formulates this course.

Hawkins F (Human Factors in Flight) defines Human Factors: “It is about people in their working and living environments. It is about their relationship with machines and equipment, with procedures and with the environment about them. And it is also about their relationship with other people”.