I NHIBITORS FOR SUCCESS

The enrollment of employees in the course been poor, according to the informants in CHC.

They indicate that there are several challenges concerned with the implementation of the project. In this chapter the identified inhibiting factors will be presented based on the interviews with the informants from CHC. Informants outside of CHC are used to either strengthen the claims from CHC or to challenge it.

67 5.9.1 Management’s commitment

The barrier all the informants agree on is management, where it seems that the project has not gotten the support they expected from the management. Informant 2 say that it seems that the managers are not really that interested in what is going on in the company, and therefore choose not to participate. The informant realizes that this might be because they are very busy but says that this signals that their time is not worth spending on the project, or “it signals that they are too good for this. That’s the impression it gives” as the informant puts it. Another example with managers being a barrier was some managers actually refusing to release their employees and give them the time to participate in the course. Some departments have had managers being positive to the project, where the whole departments have enrolled. However, the informants agree that the senior management say they support the project, and that they want “to see it done” but do not partake in it themselves. As informant 3 say: “Maybe they are just too busy.

Because they are doing their own work, away from everybody else they don’t see what is going on in the lower end. So, I think they would understand more, and we would understand more as well”. According to the informants, no one from senior management has participated so far.

“The higher up the management chain you go, the harder it is to get them to give up their valuable time to spend a day in the classroom” (informant 3). Informant 5 said that he felt that the project has been getting more attention and interest outside the company, compared to the traction it has gotten within the company. Informant 4 also speaks about the possibility of expanding the project to also include customers as well, because the customers really like the project.

CRM is a regulatory requirement for pilots so there is no question if the pilots should do it or not. TRM on the other hand, is in practice voluntary and therefore dependent on employees wanting to participate and their managers being willing to release them for the half day it takes.

As mentioned in chapter 4, there were some changes and cuts going on in CHC. The employee who initially developed the project was let go. He was initially going to work until August 2020 but circumstances with COVID-19 led to his release in April 2020. All courses were also cancelled because of COVID-19 and per today it is uncertain when or if they will start up again.

5.9.2 Lack of understanding or belief

Another barrier the informants mentioned was that employees and managers seem to lack belief in the project. Most pilots are very positive towards it, while others are more skeptical. The lack of belief might be because they do not know what CRM or TRM actually is, and that there are

68 misunderstandings about what it is like to participate. “(…) the majority of the pilots that do CRM would appreciate what the TRM really is about. But the ones that haven’t done CRM don’t know what it is and has a negative view of what is in the classroom.” (informant 3).

Informant 7 supports this, when he says that some non-pilots are not aware of CRM and similar concepts and some pilots do not see how applicable the concepts are outside the cockpit. While others think it is about sitting in a classroom complaining, according to informant 3. Informant 5 also thinks that people might not know what they could get out of participating and therefore do not prioritize it: “People have to see that they get something in return. They have to see that being a part of the project might help the productivity and then ultimately help the company”.

Informant 2 talks about a specific department in CHC and says: “They were coming to TRM, but their manager told them to stop doing it because it had nothing to do with their job. So, I think it is a lack of understanding. (..) it’s a lack of understanding the importance of it”.

5.9.3 Time and resources

All informants agree that time and resources to prioritize the project is a challenge, which is also connected to the factors mentioned above in this section. Informant 4 says: “I think time and resources. Getting people out of their jobs and get them sit in to do it. Getting over the buy-in from some people thbuy-inkbuy-ing: ‘this is absolutely stupid; I don’t need to be here. Safety is not buy-in my rule’, or others thinking they know everything about it already”. She also says that one course is not going to make all the difference and that it is “only valid for a certain time”.

Informant 2 also mentions the fact that employees are already under time pressure and do not have capacity to take part in the course, even if they were interested. Informant 3 mentions a combination of lack of belief and time constraints: “You know, senior management is too important to spend a day in a classroom chatting. They have more important things to do. So, we need to convince them it’s worth a while. It is benefits for them, and for their employees and for their teams. But how? Someone has to do a lead of faith.”

Saturation point

Informant 3 thinks that the level of regulations in the aviation industry can function as a barrier for implementing safety projects that are not regulated. He thinks that people might be so “fed up” with all the mandatory courses and systems, that doing something extra becomes quite challenging. On the other hand, he says, it should not be a massive step for a company in the

69 aviation industry to expand from CRM to TRM. He believes the level of regulations is a barrier, when it in fact should be an enabler making the implementation go smoother. Informant 7 also touches upon this, stating that there would be a saturation point when it comes to safety campaigns and measures. When employees in the organization reaches this saturation point, they stop taking in and accepting measures.