The culture-based dangers of flying on a Korean airline
In Malcolm Gladwell’s recent book, ‘Outliers’ he devotes a chapter to the fact that western designed and built planes don’t work well for Korea’s “High PDI (Power Distance Index)” culture. It seems that flying a modern passenger jet requires a level of communication and teamwork that doesn’t come naturally to Korean flight crews.
Here is Gladwell…
G: Korean Air had more plane crashes than almost any other airline in the world for a period at the end of the 1990s. When we think of airline crashes, we think, Oh, they must have had old planes. They must have had badly trained pilots. No. What they were struggling with was a cultural legacy, that Korean culture is hierarchical. You are obliged to be deferential toward your elders and superiors in a way that would be unimaginable in the U.S.
But Boeing (BA, Fortune 500) and Airbus design modern, complex airplanes to be flown by two equals. That works beautifully in low-power-distance cultures [like the U.S., where hierarchies aren’t as relevant]. But in cultures that have high power distance, it’s very difficult.
I use the case study of a very famous plane crash in Guam of Korean Air. They’re flying along, and they run into a little bit of trouble, the weather’s bad. The pilot makes an error, and the co-pilot doesn’t correct him. But once Korean Air figured out that their problem was cultural, they fixed it.
The Guam incident involved flying into a mountain. The flight captains were almost all ex-military, and older than the rest of the crew, and could not be contradicted by ‘underlings’. Rumor had it that this included cow-towing to inebriated captains. The S. Korean air-partner, Delta, after the Guam crash, required a re-training to get rid of the cultural issues. Delta demanded that pilot, co-pilot, and flight engineer all had to concur on material decisions, like they do on US airlines. However, it is still tough to overcome the “older person is always right” culture.
A friend working with their government hired an older S. Korean who, despite inexperience, demanded more ‘face’ in the workplace from the younger, much more experienced staff. After some office issues, the older gentleman was released, and immediately took a dive off an office tower.
Gladwell mentions that we have (basically) two levels of formality in discourse, while the Koreans have six.
I’m supposed to have another level of formality?
Did Gladwell’s book say anything about the seven types of assholes in America?
That’s a leitmotif. What kind of Canadian would he be if that was left out?