Attitudes to Safety and Organisational Culture in Australian

ATTITUDES TO SAFETY AND ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE IN AUSTRALIAN MILITARY AVIATION B. T. FALCONER A thesis submitted in fulfilment Of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Aviation University of New South Wales June, 2006 ABSTRACT This thesis describes original research that examines the extent to which organisational culture, and psychosocial aspects specifically, relate to individuals’ ‘normal’ performance within Australian Defence Force (ADF) aviation. The primary rationale for the research relates to the ‘safety record’ of ADF aviation, whereby more than fifty ‘peace time’ fatalities have occurred in ADF aviation accidents since 1990 and many of these have links to organisational culture attributes. The secondary rationale relates to a more general perspective: previous research identifies human functioning in military aviation – more than any other aviation domain – as being dependent upon psychosocial attributes including interpersonal collaboration, communication and coordination. However, the depth to which such qualities impact the safety of a sociotechnical system remains substantially uncharted. The methodology of this research has been developed to fit the context of ADF aviation, in contrast to applying pre-existing ‘universal’ methods (e.g., Hofstede’s cultural dimensions) developed without reference to the cultural attributes of specific organisations. More generally, though equally important, this research is further innovative in that it responds to the challenges posed by the need to address systemic aspects of safety confronting aviation and numerous other sociotechnical industries. This thesis firstly examines both scientific and Australian military literature on organisational behaviour, culture and human factors. Subsequently, it describes the design and implementation of a new 45-item questionnaire – the Australian Defence Force Aviation Questionnaire (ADFAQ). More than four hundred ADF aircrew and engineers completed the ADFAQ. The data analysis involved quantitative and qualitative consideration of survey responses and comparisons between numerous demographic criteria. Following this, the thesis describes the design and implementation of an interview study that was designed to both cross-examine key ADFAQ results and explore more deeply other issues that were only superficially identified by the (largely psychometric) composition of the ADFAQ. iii The research results offer three main contributions to scientific knowledge. These relate to: (1) the efficacy of triangulated and contextualised methodology in building an understanding of organisational culture; (2) the nature of the safety culture concept and its relationship with organisational culture; and (3) rank-based homogeneity of attitudes. Firstly, the ADFAQ and interviews provide reasonable contextual and theoretical validity, capturing attitudes of various dimensions (Glendon & McKenna, 1995) relating to common themes of organisational culture characteristics (Glendon & Stanton, 2000) contextualised for the specific operational setting of ADF aviation. Its application here supports the notion that the utility of organisational culture measurement may be improved by methodologies borne from the cultural membership rather than externally developed and universally implemented methods. Observations made by this research support the importance of organisational context proffered by Batteau (2001) in ‘tapping’ an organisation’s cultural idiosyncrasies and understanding their full impact on members’ behaviours. The influence of an organisation’s internal system of personnel ranking (as per the third finding of this thesis) is but one example. Secondly, with regard to organisational and safety culture aspects in contemporary sociotechnical systems, this research suggests that it is very difficult or impossible to separate safety culture from organisational culture: a conclusion that supports the earlier finding of Glendon and McKenna (2000). The primary indication of this interconnectedness of the safety culture concept within broader organisational constructs stems from this the finding that many participants were unable to define or explain the nature of safety culture, and yet were often convinced that the organisation had a good safety culture. The third main conclusion of this research relates to the rank-based homogeneity of attitudes amongst ADF aviation professionals relating to key aspects of ADF aviation organisational culture, evident in both the ADFAQ and interview studies. Of particular concern here is that there appears to be a significant attitudinal shift for officers as they progress from junior to senior ranks, and specifically that the shift is towards a more positive perception. This is an important conclusion in that it holds potential implications in other military aviation organisations and hierarchical management iv organisations generally. Moreover, such a conclusion is fertile ground for future research. This research shows that survey methodologies are not a panacea, but they can illuminate the nature of attitudes to safety and provide empirical guidance for other methods to explore more deeply the cultural roots of such attitudes and associated behaviours. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am greatly appreciative of the many colleagues from academia, industry and government, in addition to many dear friends, who have provided steadfast support, encouragement and guidance with my research. Thank you all for sustaining me, and for feigning interest in my endeavours as often as you did. Foremost, my research supervisors have provided much guidance and encouragement with various stages of this work, including Associate Professor Ann Williamson, Dr Steven Shorrock, Professor Jason Middleton, Captain John Faulkner AM and Dr Graham Braithwaite. I am particularly grateful to Associate Professor Ann Williamson for her expert guidance with this thesis’ psychometric analysis. I also wish to especially thank Dr Steven Shorrock for his academic counsel and personal support during the final stages of this work. I am also grateful to the numerous study participants from the Australian Defence Force, and the helpful staff of the Directorate of Flying Safety, the RAAF Institute of Aviation Medicine and the Directorate of Strategic Personnel Planning and Research. I am also grateful for the support from the President and Members of the Spitfire Association of Australia for awarding me the Spitfire Memorial Defence Fellowship, which became the catalyst for this interesting PhD journey over the past six years. The greatest acknowledgement and thanks is due to Chantal. Her encouragement and patience remains, and always has been, unwavering. She is one in a million. Boyd Falconer June 2006 vi Dedicated to Eden Tyler, my dearest nephew that I will forever miss vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Number Abstract ii Acknowledgements v Dedication vi Table of Contents vii List of Tables xi List of Figures xv List of Appendices xvi List of Abbreviations xvii CHAPTER ONE 1 Introduction 1.1 Safety in the Armed Forces 1 1.2 Culture in the Military 9 1.3 Attitudes and the Military 11 1.4 Research Rationale 14 1.5 Aims and Objectives 17 1.6 Chapter One Summary 19 CHAPTER TWO 21 The ADF Aviation System 2.1 Structure and Composition 22 2.2 ADF Aviation Accident Data 30 2.3 ADF Aviation Safety Surveys 40 2.4 Chapter Two Summary 50 CHAPTER THREE 51 Attitude, Culture and Performance 3.1 Organisational Performance Determinants 52 3.2 Attitudes and Behaviours 56 3.3 Cultural Influence 64 3.4 Theoretical Approaches to Culture 73 3.5 Operationalising ADF Organisational Culture 85 3.6 Chapter Three Summary 94 viii CHAPTER FOUR 95 Methodology – Questionnaire Study 4.1 Design 95 4.2 Participants 96 4.3 Materials 104 4.4 Procedure 119 4.5 Chapter Four Summary 122 CHAPTER FIVE 123 Results – Likert-type Data 5.1 Evaluation of the ADFAQ 123 5.2 Chapter Five Summary 142 CHAPTER SIX 144 ADFAQ Likert Data Discussion 6.1 Psychometric Properties 144 6.2 Methodological Efficacy 149 6.3 Chapter Six Summary 155 CHAPTER SEVEN 157 Results – Qualitative and Categorical Data 7.1 Safety Aspects 157 7.2 Comparative Analysis 167 7.3 Chapter Seven Summary 169 CHAPTER EIGHT 170 Qualitative & Categorical Data Discussion 8.1 Efficacy and Key Findings 171 8.2 Chapter Eight Summary 179 ix CHAPTER NINE 181 Results – ADFAQ Demographic Groups 9.1 Junior Officers and Senior Officers 181 9.2 Human Factors Training 184 9.3 Force Element Groups 185 9.4 Formal Education 185 9.5 Aircrew and Engineers 186 9.6 Respondent Age and Employment Duration 186 9.7 Chapter Nine Summary 190 CHAPTER TEN 191 Discussion – ADFAQ Demographic Groups 10.1 Demographic Criteria 191 10.2 Chapter Ten Summary 202 CHAPTER ELEVEN 203 Methodology – Interview Phase 11.1 Interview Rationale 203 11.2 Interview Objective 203 11.3 Interview Design 204 11.4 Participants 204 11.5 Materials 206 11.6 Procedure 209 11.7 Chapter Eleven Summary 211 CHAPTER TWELVE 212 Results – Interview Phase 12.1 Evaluation of the Interviews 212 12.2 Chapter Twelve Summary 222 CHAPTER THIRTEEN 223 Discussion – Interview Data 13.1 Interview Content 223 13.2 Methodological Efficacy 229 13.3 Chapter Thirteen Summary 234 x CHAPTER FOURTEEN 235 General Discussion 14.1 Contribution to Existing Theory 235 14.2 Research Implications 241 14.3 Research Limitations 245 14.4 Future Research 248 14.5 Chapter Fourteen Summary 250 CHAPTER FIFTEEN 251 Conclusion References 256 Appendices 285 xi LIST OF TABLES Table Page 2.1 Ranks of the Royal Australian Air

Load more