Chapter- 4:Social Psychology

Introduction
The outstanding issues include

• Social Environment of the Organization

• Individual and Group Responsibilities
• Motivation
• Peer Pressures
• Cultural Issues
• Aspects of team working, supervision and leadership
Proper Maintenance System
The AMEs work for a company, either directly, or as contract
staff. It is important to understand how the organization in
which the engineer works might influence him. Every
organization or company employing AMEs will have different
"ways of doing things". This is called the organizational
culture. They will have their own company philosophy,
policies, procedures, selection and training criteria and
quality assurance methods.
 RESPONSIBILITY: INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP

Being an aircraft maintenance engineer is a responsible job.

Engineer plays a part in the safe and efficient passage of the
travelling public when they use aircraft.
 Working: Individual or as a Group

Responsibility has been considered in terms of the individual

rather than the group or team. The main advantage to
individual responsibility is that an engineer understands
clearly that one or more tasks have been assigned to him and
it is his job to do.
The main disadvantage of personal responsibility is that this
may overlook the importance of working together as a
cohesive team or group to achieve goals.
 In practice, AMEs are often assigned to groups or teams in
the workplace.
• A team may be made up of various engineering trades, or be
structured around aircraft types or place of work
• Distinct tasks may be assigned to individuals within a team,
the responsibility for fulfilling overall goals would fall on the
entire team.
 Individual Responsibility

All aircraft maintenance engineers are skilled individuals

having undertaken considerable training. They are normally
to work in a highly professional environment and generally to
have considerable pride in their work and contribution to air
safety.
All individuals, regardless of their role, grade or qualifications
should work in a responsible manner. Certification
Responsibilities of AMEs is that, "The certifying engineer shall
be responsible for ensuring that work is performed and
recorded in a satisfactory manner ".
 Group or Team Responsibility

The advantages of team work: Each member of the group

ought to feel responsible for the output of that group, not just
their own output as an individual, and ought to work towards
ensuring that the whole ‘product’ is safe.
• Cross-checking, Co-operation others ' work
• Politely challenging others if you think that something is not
quite right, etc
• Intergroup conflict: in which situations evolve where a
small group may act cohesively as a team, but rivalries may
arise between this team and others (e.g. between engineers
and planners, between shifts, between teams at different
sites, etc.).
The outgoing shift may feel no `moral' responsibility for
waiting for the incoming shift members to arrive and giving a
verbal handover in support of the written information.
 Group polarization: is the tendency for groups to make
decisions that are more extreme than the individual
members.
• Groupthink in which the desire of the group to reach
unanimous agreement overrides any individual impulse.
Social loafing has been coined to reflect the tendency for
some individuals to work less hard on a task when they
believe others are working on it. In other words, they
consider that their own efforts will be pooled (Mutual) with
that of other group members and not seen in isolation.
 TROUBLED EMPLOYEE

The term ' troubled employees' is used as a generic term to

imply one workmates who could probably use a bit of a
helping hand if it was offered.
• They don't always have the hangdog (Guilty) expression.
 There are, however, some behavioral signposts. These are:
• Degraded performance;
• Poor attendance;
• Changes in attitude and physical appearance;
• Increase in health and safety hazards.
 Degraded performance

• Decreased productivity a Unacceptable or irregular work

• Diminished ability to concentrate
• Increase in failed inspections
• Sloppy work
• Increase in judgement errors
• Signs of increased fatigue
• Poor reliability
 Poor attendance:

• Excessive sick leave

• Increased leave abuse
• Frequent and unexplained disappearances
• Unscheduled vacation
• Early leaving, extended lunch breaks and repeated
tardiness(late)
• Frequent complaints
Increase health and safety hazards

• Increased number of on-the-job accidents or injuries

• Careless handling and maintenance of equipment
• Needless risk taking
• Disregard for others' safety
 Assistance Programs

Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs)refers to a broad range

of company programs helping employees deal with various
problems, including emotional and financial distress and
substance dependency.
Since 1988, the FAA rules have required aviation employers to
establish Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs). These EAP
requirements are limited to drug and alcohol use and
treatment for misuse.
There are 4 types of Employee Assistance Programs.
The in-house model: is usually run by the Human Resources
Department for solving problems quickly and easily. An
example would be a support program for employees giving up
smoking.
Out-of-house model: The out-of-house model is generally
used when troubles have become a bit more entrenched and
we are trying, not to bring any unwanted attention to
individuals.
An example might include relational problems that require
the help of a psychologist to sort out.
Consortium model: In this model, several companies jointly
fund and develop a collaborative EAP. The Consortium model
is generally favored by professional groups where they
organize expertise to support common problems in their
industry.
Affiliate model: In this model, a company contracts with a
single vendor supplying EAP services. The vendor
subcontracts with professional staff members wherever EAP
services are required. This arrangement allows the vendor to
supply services to the company, even in locations where the
vendor does not have an office.
 MOTIVATION AND DEMOTIVATION

Motivation can be thought of as a basic human drive that

arouses, directs and sustains all human behavior. Generally
we say a person is motivated if he is taking action to achieve
something.
Motivated behavior is goal-directed, purposeful behavior,
and no human behavior occurs without some kind of
motivation underpinning it.
 “Motivation reflects the difference between what a person
can do and what he will do“.
Motivation is usually considered to be a positive rather that a
negative force in that it stimulates one to achieve various
things.

Needs are endless.

 Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow considered that humans are driven by two different

sets of motivational forces:
• Those that ensure survival by satisfying basic physical and
psychological needs;
• Those that help us to realize our full potential in life known as
self-actualization needs (fulfilling ambitions, etc.).
 Factors of Motivation

(a) We all need some sort of motivation to do our job

(b) Different people are motivated by different incentives
(e) Extrinsic Motivation: Extrinsic motivation usually comes
in the form of tangibles that everyone can see. Ex. Rewards
 Intrinsic motivation: Intrinsic motivators are much more
powerful in the long item and always come from the
individual themselves. These are also very often associated
with the professionalism of individuals.
• Professionalism, in this case means always doing the right
thing even when nobody else is looking.
 Highly motivated people tend to show the following
characteristics:
• high performance and results being consistently achieved;
• the energetic, enthusiasm and determination to succeed;
• unstinting co-operation in overcoming problems;
• willingness to accept responsibility;
 De-motivated people tend to demonstrate the
following characteristics:
• apathy and indifference to the job, including reduced
regard for safety whilst working;
• a poor record of time keeping and high absenteeism;
• a lack of co-operation in dealing with problems or
difficulties;
 Peer Pressure

Influence of the organization . In addition to these, there is

the possibility that the aircraft maintenance engineer will
receive pressure at work from those who work with him. This
is known as peer pressure.
Peer pressure is the actual or perceived pressure which
an individual may feel, to conform to what he believes
that his peers or colleagues expect.
 Peer pressure thus falls within the area of conformity .
• Conformity is the tendency to allow one's opinions,
attitudes, actions and even perceptions to be affected by
prevailing opinions, attitudes, actions and perceptions.
 The degree conformity or peer pressure, depends on many
factors including:
• Culture
• Gender
• Self-esteem
• Familiarity with the subject matter
• the expertise of the group
• the relationship between the individual and group members
 Organizational Culture

Organization itself to think that their own methods are the

best and that others are not as good. This viewpoint is known
as the group's or organization's culture.

The culture of an organization can be described as 'the way

we do things here'. It is a group or company norm.
 Safety Culture

Gary Eiff 1998 from Purdue University suggests that "A

safety culture exists only within an organization where
each individual employee, regardless of their position,
assumes an active role in error prevention”.
 Team Working

Teams may comprise a number of individuals working

together towards one shared goal.
A team consists of a number of individuals working in parallel
to achieve one common goal. Teams generally have a
recognized leader and one or more follower(s).
 Advantages of Team Working

Working as part of a team has a number of potential benefits

which include:
• individuals can share resources (knowledge, tools, etc.);
• they can discuss problems and arrive at shared solutions;
• they can check each others' work (either "officially" or
"unofficially").
 Management, Supervision and
Leadership
Management, Supervision and leadership are all skills that a
team leader requires.
Managers and supervisors have a key role to play in ensuring
that work is carried out safely.
Skilled management, supervision and leadership play a
significant part in the achievement of safety and high quality
human performance in aircraft maintenance engineering.
 Characteristics of a Leader

A leader in a given situation is a person whose ideas and

actions influence the thought and the behavior of others.
A good leader needs to:
• Motivating his team;
• Reinforcing good attitudes and behavior;
• Demonstrating by example;
• Maintaining the group;
• Fulfilling a management role.
 Motivating the Team

Just as the captain of a football team motivates his fellow

players.
This can be done by ensuring that the goals or targets of the
work which need to be achieved are clearly communicated
and managed.
He must be honest and open, highlighting any potential
problems and where appropriate encouraging team solutions.
Reinforcing Good Attitudes and Behavior

Recognizes and reinforces good work.

Offering a word of thanks for hard work
Making a favorable report
A good leader will also make sure that bad habits are
eliminated and inappropriate actions are constructively
criticized.
 Demonstrating by Example

A key skill for a team leader is to lead by example. He must

demonstrate a personal understanding of the activities and
goals of the team so that the team members respect his
authority.
It is particularly important that the team leader establishes a
good safety culture within a team through his attitude and
actions in this respect.
 Maintaining the Group

He must engender (Create) a 'team spirit ' where the team

members support each other and feel responsible for the
work of the team.
He must also recognize and resolve disputes/quarrel within
the team and encourage co­operation amongst its members.
Thanks