A conceptual model of the relationships between national, professional, organizational, safety cultures, CRM and crew performance is postulated. Perhaps the most serious, but equally flawed criticism, is that human error accidents and incidents continue to occur after CRM training, thus proving its ineffectiveness. CRM is not a universal recipe for safety. It is a highly effective and essential aspect of flight crew training, but its impact is limited by the context in which it is delivered. Recently, both the research and operational communities have become aware of the powerful influence of culture on behavior.
National culture is the overarching framework within which all humans behave.
Despite a widely expressed view that the cockpit is a culture free environment, national culture plays a powerful role in the cockpit. National culture has been defined as the shared values and attitudes of a national group that direct behavior. The multiple cultures of aviation. Within a national culture, crew behavior is shaped by three additional cultures the professional culture of the pilot, the organizational culture and subcultures, and the safety culture of the organization. Figure 1 shows the nested cultures surrounding any crew.