Ladies and Gentlemen
I have just spent some time ploughing through this thread which has clearly generated some interest. I am a pilot of some 20 years and have been a CRM instructor for 10, running my own CRM training company for 8 years. Some of the problems highlighted here are alarming and if you have the situation where the young FO believes that there should be no gradient in the cockpit then you must kick ass with your internal/external training organisations, because thats where the problem is (likewise the steep gradients common in many airlines years ago are not acceptable these days in terms of safe working practices).
There must be a cross cockpit gradient, albeit a small one. It has been proved time and time again that 'no-gradient' is a very dangerous thing. The Capt is responsible under international law for the safety of the aircraft. Organisations must grip this, as the older guys will retire in the next 10 - 15 years, leaving in some places (so it seems here) a generation of pilots who will not make a decision unless they have had a referendum.
Young pilots must be taught that it is correct to question those, statements or decisions that they believe could compromise flight safety if they are carried through to completion(i.e but at all other times get on with it!), however, they also need to be taught that a small Cross cockpit gradient is a good thing. Remember that in the earlier years of pilot training a lot of training is attitudal. If we dont teach them these concepts they will do whatever else it is they are taught.
There are many good CRM trainers out there, but I browse a lot of CRM forums and there are some academics out there bringing into place some really wacky ideas, without real aviation knowledge. Be careful!
CRM is simple and it needs to be kept that way.