Leadership on the Flight Deck: The Influence of Crew Social Relations and Crew Member Experience on Leadership Style Effectiveness in Civil Aviation Flight Crews

Leadership on the Flight Deck: The Influence of Crew Social Relations and Crew Member Experience on Leadership Style Effectiveness in Civil Aviation Flight Crews

Harris, J.R.
Muir, H.C.

Cranfield Institute of Technology, College of Aeronautics, Applied Psychology Unit

1986-01-31

Effective leadership is now recognised as a major influence of flight crew performance. However, little empirical research has centred on what constitutes effective leadership style on the flight deck. Following research on other work groups, this study examined the proposition that, rather than one leadership style being "universally ideal", the effectiveness of a given style is determined by the "group" situation in which the leader finds himself. To this end, a survey of civil aviation captains was conducted, eliciting descriptions of incidents in which the respondent felt his leadership to be most effective. Details of leader-member social relations and crew member experience were included. In addition, leadership style of each respondent was assessed by the Least Preferred Co-worker (LPC) scale. (High LPC scores are theorised to indicate primary concern with establishing good working relations in the group. Low LPC scores indicate primary concern with orderly task completion). Based on 20 respondents, analysis indicated a greater tendency of task oriented (low LPC) leaders to report maximal effectiveness in conditions of good crew relations and positive experience gradients, when compared with their relationship oriented (high LPC) peers. Whilst these differences conformed to predictions from earlier research, they did not reach statistical significance. However, when a further analysis isolating co-pilot experience and leadership style was conducted, a statistically significant result was obtained. The analysis showed a clear trend for task oriented leaders to report maximal effectiveness in crews with co-pilots of moderate experience levels. In contrast relationship oriented (high LPC) leaders tended to report their maximal effectiveness, when commanding relatively experienced or inexperienced co-pilots. Whilst limitations imposed by the small sample size were noted, it was concluded that the findings did demonstrate the effectiveness of leadership style on the flight deck to be "situationally specific", particularly in regard to co-pilot experience levels. Implications of the findings, in terms of promoting flight crew perforance, were discussed with reference to possible rostering programmes and leadership skills training. Starting in 1946 as the College of Aeronautics, the Cranfield Institute of Technology was granted university status in 1969. In 1993 it changed its name to Cranfield University.

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Cranfield Institute of Technology

College of Aeronautics Report 8612

Aerospace Engineering Reports

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(c) 1986 Cranfield Institute of Technology