Robust Flight Deck Systems: Harnessing the Synergistic Power of the Crew

Robust flight decks are possible in both normal and novel operations. Existing crew resource and error management programs can improve team-centered resilience with Oshry’s organization development (OD) principles. The need on the flight deck is to diminish the invisible behavioral gap between espoused theory and theory-in-use by balancing Oshry’s four basic elements that make up robust human systems—differentiation, homogenization, integration, and individuation. This low-cost OD vision is offered as a guide for organizations to tailor existing aircrew recurrent training modules. Assessment and diagnosis measures are recommended for continuous improvement, so this OD framework includes adaptive feedback interventions and soft-skills behavioral markers for organizations to consider.