Hi there,
CRM has already undergone some significant changes (Cockpit, Crew, Corporate) over the last two decades. The initial efforts by NASA in 1978 were aimed at addressing the large amount of accidents where "pilot error" was sited as the overall cause of the accident. It became evident that a lack of communication, workload management, poor leadership, loss of SA, etc. was some of the more significant contributing factors, rather than a lack of technical skills by the pilots. This is where Cockpit Resource Management was developed.
Subsequent efforts and research then indicated that other agencies (maintenance, ramp, ATC, cabin staff, etc.) was also very close involved within the Aviation System and this is where Crew Resource Management was developed to address all teams directly involved in daily flying operations. Later additions to Crew Resource Management was complimented by LOFT where aircrew had the opportunity to operate as a crew under simulated flying conditions (both normal and emergency situations).
CRM now has been tailored to address many other industries (nuclear, offshore, medical, maintenance, etc) where "human error" had a role to play in the actual incident or accident. It is argued that the an accident normally have a chain of events that create a window of opportunity for the accident to occur.
Efforts by Prof James Reason (1990) gave rise to the concept of the "Organisational Accident", where various levels of the organisation and other regulatory agencies create the environment and culture to promote unsafe acts. This then lead to people at the sharp end (pilots, doctors, engineers, etc) committing an unsafe act or violation.
Due to this approach to Human Error within complex systems, such as aviation, it is argued that "human error" is inevitable and that all personnel are prone to commit some form of unsafe act that will lead to a serious incident or accident. Looking from this point of view, fifth generation CRM is now seen as "Error Management" whereby errors are either: 1. avoided if possible, 2. Errors are trapped, or 3. The consequences of error are mitigated to have a minimal impact of the overall integrity of the system.
There is a document available that explains this evolution of CRM and I will post this link here this week. Hope that this quick overview has highlighted some of the subtle changes of the acronym CRM and what the modern approach is to managing and living with "human error."
Regards,
CJ
Other names: Aeronautical (ADM) or Pilot Decision Making (PDM), Pilot Judgement Training (PJT), Crew Coordination Training (CCT)