About Culture:
I am probably going to say this clumsily, but here's my first stab at this.
When you are inside of your own cultural assumptions, it can be difficult to see what someone outside of your cultural assumption sees.
The "face saving as a primary norm" culture is found in varying degrees in Asian countries. It is not unfair to consider this a culturally imbedded organizatinoal norm, which unfortunately is diametrically opposed to the humility and self-examination (and admission of fallibility) a sound safety culture requires in a successful organization. Lest any of our non-Asian compadres feel smug, elements of this world view can and will crop up in organizations based elsewhere. I ddn't grow up in the great 'save face' culture but was exposed to it early, in my teens while living in Asia.
Get mad at me for stereotyping if you like, but consider that when I returned to Asia in my early 30's, I got one of those cultural appreciation briefs and training that highlighted precisely that: the whole "save face" cultural norm that was pervasive in Japan.
Hold that thought for a moment.
There is a common sub culture, or set of norms, among high perofrming, type A personalities that promotes self-belief and self-confidence. Taken too far, it leads to narcissicism, which I have seen lead to some remarkable "blinders on" failures in self-awareness. From where I sit, this approximates some of the more dangerous elements of the "save face" style and attitude.
A cliche related to this is "better to die than to look bad" attributed to fighter pilots. The related sub genre I am more familiar with is the "aircraft commander/Captain is God of his cockpit/flight deck" attitude
I was swimming in that particular sub-culture in my first squadron, about the time CRM and ACT was taking hold for serious in the USN. I think it took most of a generation to get our service to change norms and cultural assumptions, thanks in part to repeated emphasis from the highest echelons of command and a well funded safety arm. Thanks are due to the airlines and what they learned, and lessons they shared, many of which were written in blood.
I will suggest that it takes a cultural baseline of humility and acceptance of fallibility to allow such changes to come to fruition. That seems to me to be where a crucial problem in the "save face" cultural baseline resides.
It's a higher hill to climb to get to the same peak performance.
Arrogance, be it personal or cultural -- or maybe a bit of both -- is an obstacle to a solid safety culture. Yes, it can happen to any of us, anywhere. Problem is, in order to fly well, you have to have the self confidence to believe you can do something, to go ahead and master it, and to keep doing it. From self-confidence to arrogance to worse isn't that far of a progression in each step.
What I am trying to point to is that some baseline cultures (before you even get near an aircraft) present additional obstacles to the standard challenges all pilots share.
What's this got to do with Air France?
If you are inside whatever "French" cultural assumptions are, how clearly can you see your own cultural assumptions, and thus potential impacts on organizaitonal safety culture? (Fill in the blank with a given flag carrier if you like, and see how well it fits).
That, I think, is what some of the posters up above us are getting at in re culture.
OK, standing by for rocks to be thrown.
Last edited by Lonewolf_50; 27th Dec 2012 at 18:11.