Faculty of air transport engineering the department of «air navigation systems»

Effects

Breakdown in teamwork may have an adverse effect on the following:

• 
  Communication between controllers, including briefing on handover;
  

• 
  Communication between controllers and pilots;
  

• 
  Situational awareness;
  

• 
  Decision making;
  

• 
  Monitoring of pilot actions;
  

• 
  Monitoring of colleagues;
  

• 
  Cooperation with other controllers;
  

• 
  Distribution of workload between controllers;
  

• 
  Flexibility - ability to adjust to changing workload;
  

Any or all of these factors taken singly or in combination may contribute to an accident or serious incident.
Additionally, breakdown in teamwork may lead to:

• 
  Frustration and irritation;
  

• 
  Low morale and poor job-satisfaction;
  

which are likely to impact on team performance (the vicious circle).

Defences

Many ANSPs operate Team Resource Management (TRM) training for ATCOs.

Contributory Factors

• 
  Staffing levels;
  

• 
  Controller position design;
  

• 
  Operation of a just culture;
  

• 
  Cultural difficulties.
  

Solutions

The principle and most effective solution is application of TRM principles at all levels of the organization from management down

4. 
   Team resource management
   

Description

Team Resource Management (TRM) is defined as: Strategies for the best use of all available resources - information, equipment and people - to optimise the safety and efficiency of Air Traffic Services.
By the early 1990s, the corresponding concept of Crew Resource Management (CRM) had been embodied in flight crew training by among aircraft operators for many years and there was already good evidence to show that those programmes had been successful in reducing accident and incident rates. TRM was identified as a way of following CRM principles and both, along with the more recent Maintenance Resource Management (MRM), have now been embraced in the wider context of safety management as interventions that defend aircraft operations against common causes of system failure.
Like CRM, TRM was based on the recognition that many operational incidents could be traced back to failures in human performance and teamwork. A EUROCONTROL initiative led to the creation of one of the first TRM training programmes. This prototype included separate modules on Teamwork, Team roles, Communication, Situational Awareness, Decision Making and Stress. Later two additional modules were added to cover the management of error and violation and the impacts of automation.
Effective TRM in ATC requires the best use of all available resources in support of a safe and efficient operation which reduces both the incidence of error and the consequences of residual error. A focus on TRM is especially designed to improve the functioning of air traffic control teams. It does this by increasing the awareness and understanding of interpersonal behavior and human factor capabilities as they are likely to affect operational safety.
There is also evidence to show that CRM principles can be successfully applied to air traffic management. TRM training can reduce teamwork-related incidents and enhanced task efficiency.
The main benefits of TRM are now considered to be:

• 
  Reduced teamwork-related incidents
  
• 
  Enhanced task efficiency
  
• 
  Improved use of staff resources
  
• 
  Enhanced continuity and stability of team work in ATM
  
• 
  Enhanced sense of working as a part of a larger and more efficient team
  
• 
  Increased job satisfaction
  

replaces OPC and LPC. This will allow a single philosophy of recurrent training within the airline.

Further work is foreseen in the context of the activities of RMT.0599 to allow expansion of EBT to the operator conversion course and initial type rating, as well as to other types of aircraft (e.g. helicopters and business jets).