Electricjetjock, firstly thanks for the thoughtful response, I completely agree with all of what you said. Furthermore let me say that I'm extremely anal about following SOPs and I'm often having to say "We're not flipping burgers here, we're flying planes... we either do it right or don't do it at all". So if an airline is very particular about how they want things done their way I see it as a positive not a negative and I wouldn't have it any other way... as long as it's the same way every time and in writing. Also no problem with the additional standard of command selection criteria in addition to command course passing, some people can pass the training and qualify but have no business being airline Captains (I fly with some from time to time we all know some of those) so an effective mechanism to weed those out is a good thing as long as it's truely effective and not purpose defeating.
However regarding the level of CX's enforcement/commitment to SOP compliance in particular, is what has been clearly said here true about non-standard check airmen and Captains having the power to make non-reversible negative remarks in permanent files of those who insist on doing things the way CX's standards have spelled out in writing in various CX manuals???
Does CX back the side of the conflict that is demanding the SOPs or does CX back the higher rank regardless of who's right, more importantly does CX allow such non-standard Ca or check airman to contine operating in such manner??? Because if they allow it then it's easy to see how the student being told to do it one way by one instructor in the sim and critisized by another IOE instructor in the aircraft and told to do it some other way (lack of standardisation) can cause a disconnect in the training/qualification system the way so many seem to describe here resulting in negative check marks and low pass rates due to no fault of the student.
Because I'm here to tell you that if CX even allows rank to trump SOPs and has a culture in which those who have a habit of "my way or the highway" do not get severely punished and instead others who challenge them are punished by being black listed permanently, then CX cannot in any way claim to respect SOPs or CRM in any way. The only way to stem out these problems is to literally sh!tcan those who don't comply with SOPs regardless of rank and back those who do insist on complying.
Old world aviation culture was directly responsible for it's horrible saftey record until CRM and SOP compliance were enforced (and mostly not done volunteraly by the airlines), mainly the days of 'Captain is god' were brought to an end after many high profile crashes resulted from the rest of the crew fearing to challenge the Captain when he was mistaken. This challenging is now encouraged and in fact demanded of the crew. This new world aviation environment cannot exist if the company does not back the crew against the Captain who wants to be a dictator and non-standard at the same time.
Regarding what I said above, which does CX do??? Back SOPs or back rank??? And if not, is the culture changing for the better???