Introduction
Organisational culture is an integral aspect of any company’s activities and has many conventions and implications. The emphasis on maintaining a favourable microclimate and enhancing productivity is largely realised through appropriate management practices aimed at supporting organisational culture, which includes several sub-systems (Chatman & O’Reilly, 2016). In the aviation industry, this phenomenon is also expressed openly, and the example of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) will be considered. The issues of organisational, safety and professional cultures will be assessed in the context of their roles and influence on operational outcomes. ICAO’s activities will be evaluated by using Hofstede’s framework, the methodology that offers specific parameters for analysing cultural aspects of development (Helmreich & Merritt, 2018). In ICAO, adhering to organisational culture conditions has a positive impact on operational activities and allows its management to maintain high safety performance and job satisfaction, which is crucial parameters in civil aviation (Klimas, 2016). The structure of Hofstede’s model will be examined concerning its core components. Also, ICAO’s safety, organisational and professional cultures will be evaluated, and the interaction between them and safety performance will be determined.
Organisational Culture: Basic Provisions
Organisational culture is a set of measures aimed at strengthening essential aspects of activities related to the operational features of a particular enterprise. In the field of civil aviation were ensuring the safety of passengers and following a clearly defined mode of work are mandatory conditions, this phenomenon is manifested openly. Organisational culture assessment through Hofstede’s model is a convenient analytical method. This concept includes six basic dimensions defining crucial characteristics of a cultural environment, for instance, the parameters of collectivism, staff gender composition and other indicators (Kim, 2017). In addition, many researchers emphasise the dependence of organisational culture on social factors, which confirms the relevance of Hofstede’s theory (Gharpurea, Roya, Purang & Bhattacharyya, 2018; Noort, Reader, Shorrock & Kirwan, 2016). Therefore, the evaluation of an appropriate environment of interaction among employees is one of the stages of analysis.
ICAO is an agency that hires employees around the world, which complicates the assessment of its organisational culture due to the diversity of staff and specialists’ distinctive backgrounds. At the same time, in civil aviation, such an analysis method is mandatory since a comprehensive assessment of working conditions allows identifying potential gaps and ways to address them (Gao, Au, Kwon & Leong, 2018). To determine the features of organisational culture in ICAO by using such a technique, there is no need to involve all six dimensions. In studies reviewing aviation companies, such parameters are given as levels of individualism and collectivism, the possibility of uncertainty avoidance, the distance of power and short-term/long-term objectives (Gao et al., 2018; Pan & Truong, 2018). These aspects of activities are most important for evaluating the performance of companies involved in air transportation because two other criteria (gender and indulgence/restraint) are more characteristic for assessing national cultures rather than organisations. Therefore, the principles and outcomes of the organisational, security and professional culture of ICAO will be reviewed based on the four aforementioned indicators.
Such a parameter as job satisfaction among the staff of the organisation in question may be assessed due to one of the insignificant dimensions. This indicator largely depends on the degree of masculinity promoted in the company (Kucharska & Bedford, 2019). This means that, for instance, if the management of ICAO supports the idea of bias towards females, they are dissatisfied with job conditions. In addition, based on findings in academic literature, those companies that operate internationally have higher productivity indicators if they follow a masculine organisational culture (Owusu Ansah, Louw & Belso-Martinez, 2019). This is due to the nature of the activities that such corporations perform. Many researchers note a harsh and sometimes even aggressive operational environment in which males predominate as personnel (Ma & Turel, 2019; Pučėtaitė, Lämsä & Norvaišaitė, 2020). However, this outcome is more typical for the business sector, while in public companies, a social basis of interacting does not allow the idea of gender inequality and bias to be pursued. Therefore, in the case of ICAO, one cannot argue about its adhering to this principle of masculinity as an organisational objective.
ICAO: Organisational Culture
ICAO’s organisational culture is the aspect of the company’s development, which, despite the productive work of this international agency, can and should be strengthened. Although this organisation is a reliable board that performs its functions following the tasks set, its management needs to adhere to a clear position regarding the development strategy (Abeyratne, 2020). In other words, although ICAO has credibility, its decisions concerning certain nuances of activity should be more unambiguous. One of the main aspects of work that deserves attention in the agency in question is the practice of reporting (Karanikas & Chionis, 2017). In the context of organisational culture, this area of ICAO’s activity is weak due to the fear of its leaders to incur sanctions (Karanikas & Chionis, 2017). As a result, uncertainty avoidance, as one of the elements of Hofstede’s framework, is not fully implemented, which, in turn, affects the company’s credibility negatively.
At the same time, many nuances of ICAO’s organisational culture comply with the international standards of quality and safety. The agency has developed a system of norms and operational practices that help it to conduct stable and safe activities since the middle of the last century (Flouris & Reyes, 2018). Concerning its short-term and long-term objectives, the company sets out the prospects for organisational growth and, despite weak reporting, offers statistics that may be useful to other agencies in the context of maintaining a high level of civil aviation (Enomoto & Geisler, 2017). The system of interaction among the employees of the agency is set up in such a way that the experience and values of predecessors form the basis of organisational culture. This feature of ICAO makes it a company with a reliable collectivistic background and allows the management to coordinate behavioural patterns that manifest themselves at different levels of interaction with the staff (Peksatici, 2018). Thus, the aforementioned aspects of the agency’s organisational culture meet high standards.
The relevance of the organisational culture supported by ICAO is reflected in other agencies. Administrative assistance provided to European airline companies that regulate passenger transportation includes workload planning, enhancing security and several other aspects that play an important role in establishing a stable passenger transportation system (Weber, 2017). In addition, a set of measures aimed at strengthening the organisational culture within the agency influences not only the professional but also communication principles of interaction among all interested parties (Farris, 2016). Interaction standards, including the popularisation of English as a universal tool for communication, the exchange of experience among colleagues and other nuances of teamwork prove the strengths of collaboration. Therefore, the organisational culture of ICAO has sufficiently many positive features and can be an example for individual aviation agencies.
ICAO: Safety Culture
Since ICAO is an organisation that is involved in the regulation of civilian air transportation, the security policy maintained by the agency is one of its priority areas. Safety culture may be defined as an aspect of operational activities, which is associated with how much a particular company value and implements safe working practices (Liao, 2015). In ICAO, measures are taken by the management to promote safety include a set of reporting procedures that reflect the company’s responsibility and regulate its scope of interests (Adjekum et al., 2016). This approach is objective because, in order to be an authoritative regulatory board, the organisation needs to prove its ability to provide safe services. Any accidents related to passenger safety are dealt with in detail by ICAO since this corresponds to the official programme of providing services to the population (Lawrenson & Braithwaite, 2018). Moreover, as many researchers note, some tools allow assessing the level of security management in aviation companies (Kaspers et al., 2016; Kim & Choi, 2016). These mechanisms are valuable practices that define the credibility of ICAO’s activities with its safety culture.
One of the key practices promoted by the ICAO management to ensure a high level of safety culture is timely data collection. The importance of this activity lies in the context of the organisation’s reporting practice (Darveau & Hannon, 2017). Based on the aforementioned omission, which lies in the agency’s underdeveloped accountability, its leaders seek to address this gap by encouraging employees to conduct qualitative and quantitative analyses of operating activities (Darveau & Hannon, 2017). These measures include preparing personnel for unforeseen situations, audits, assessing the equipment of aircraft with the necessary equipment and other tasks. Moreover, at the beginning of the 20th century, ICAO organised a special security management programme and obliged all employees to participate in its implementation (Liao, 2015). The analysis of such a measure confirms the value of attracting a large number of stakeholders since the more employees realise the significance of following existing safety standards, the lower is the likelihood of accidents. Thus, the set of measures promoted by ICAO has a positive effect on its safety culture and contributes to expanding employees’ knowledge about the importance of relevant work standards.
The involvement of the population in evaluating the level of the organisation’s safety culture is a positive aspect of ICAO’s activities. This assessment technique not only enhances the credibility of the agency in the international arena but also helps generate valuable data that can be interpreted based on customer ratings (Grebenšek & Kosel, 2015). As a result, reporting is one of the weakest aspects of ICAO’s work. At the same time, other areas of cultural safety comply with the international standards of the provision of public air transportation services and characterise the agency as a responsible board. Thus, in the context of Hofstede’s framework, ICAO’s safety culture is advanced and sustainable.
ICAO: Professional Culture
Concerning professional culture, ICAO seeks to create a working environment in which all employees can realise their potential and follow international safety standards. This approach is due to not only the strict requirements of civil aviation but also official legislative provisions that establish passenger transportation rules. The concept of professional aviation culture may be interpreted as a set of behavioural patterns and values to which involved individuals adhere to basic operational guidelines (Čokorilo, 2020). Also, it can be linked with the aforementioned Hofstede’s framework, and relevant work standards may be interpreted in close connection with national culture and its aspects (Hazrati, 2015). Incidents committed due to pilots’ insufficient training are analysed, and situations requiring specific professional skills often occur due to employees’ poor competence (Hazrati, 2015). This gap can be attributed to a too weak preparatory base supported by local educational authorities, and Hofstede’s model describing the impact of national culture on operational aspects is relevant in this case. Accordingly, for ICAO employees to realise their professional potential, a productive learning environment is of high importance.
To maintain a high level of professional culture in ICAO, the management promotes specific training practices that allow maintaining the safety and high quality of employees’ work to ensure the reliability of air transportation. In particular, along with practical skills, theoretical knowledge is enhanced, and carefully designed recruitment programmes are offered by HR specialists (Husar, 2019). The interaction among colleagues is not based on bias or the principles of gender inequality, which excludes any cultural contradictions and misunderstandings (Husar, 2019). At the same time, the gender criterion is relevant in the context of the training regimen. Findings from academic literature prove that the current professional training and continuing education are perceived more positively by males than females, which imposes corresponding responsibilities on the organisation’s management to optimise learning programmes (Kearns & Schermer, 2017). In addition, the aspect of professionalism in ICAO is also related to the territorial criterion because employees working in the Middle East region note more approval of the existing educational practices than those from European countries (Kearns & Schermer, 2017). This discrepancy in views may be explained by Hofstede’s framework and its relationship with national culture.
The professional training of ICAO’s specialists is regulated by the official policy of the organisation. In particular, leadership objectives aimed to coordinate the activities of subordinates are prescribed in the agency code and require compliance with a number of conditions for monitoring employee performance (Chiu, Isaksen & Leib, 2019). At the same time, the training conditions are uniform in order to avoid different performance outcomes in individual regions. Such a measure is objective because ICAO formed in 1944 by 52 countries covers a wide range of civil aviation, which explains the need for clear control over the algorithm of professional education (Nette, 2018). Despite its status as a technical agency, ICAO is obliged to coordinate not only the commercial airline industry but also other activities, which is logical in the conditions of work in many world regions. The administrative principles maintained by the company are also regulated by a number of professional requirements and do not imply gender, ethnicity or other distinctions (Nette, 2018). Accordingly, professional culture in ICAO may be characterised positively in view of the complex of measures aimed at improving the skills of both managers and employees.
Influence of ICAO’s Organisational Culture on Safety Performance
Safety performance in the aviation industry is an aspect of activities that reflects the sustainability of organisations in the context of providing safe services to their target audience. This concept is explained as a set of measures aimed to identify and eliminate any risks associated with operational tasks (Chen & Li, 2016). A competent organisational culture, in turn, is the driver of maintaining a high level of safety performance, and in ICAO, the necessary measures to regulate this criterion have been taken since 2003 (Gerede & Yaşar, 2015). Since the public opinion on the quality of safety programmes promoted in aviation is largely based on accident statistics, the organisation’s taking anti-risk measures is an objective and relevant solution. Addressing potential threats associated with inadequate professionalism, poor facilities or other gaps underlines the value of actions taken by ICAO. Since organisational culture includes various aspects of operational activities and may be interpreted in the context of Hofstede’s framework as a complex of determinants that affect productivity, its relationship with safety performance is direct.
ICAO resorts to special tools and mechanisms to maintain a high level of safety performance through interventions in its organisational culture. As such, employee surveys, audits, inspections from other reputable boards and other practices are conducted to keep employees and managers at a high level of responsibility (Karanikas, 2016). While taking into account the fact that reporting in ICAO is one of the weak links in its culture, these measures are objective. If the agency performs its immediate duties efficiently, this does not mean that certain branches of operational activities develop successfully. Security management in ICAO cannot be considered in the context of a particular industry due to a wide range of drivers and impacts (Jazayeri & Dadi, 2017). Therefore, the instruments used to maintain a high level of organisational culture are also tools to promote safety performance.
The reasons why organisational culture influences safety performance are determined not only by the operational but also the economic aspects of activities. The reduction in the number of unforeseen situations and incidents during air transportation is a consequence of the successful and professional work of ICAO’s employees (Elwezza, El-Badry & Fahmy, 2019). Thus, cost minimisation is one of the valuable and necessary implications. In addition, the human factor is also a significant determinant of safety performance (Singh, Sharma, Chadha & Singh, 2019). The high-quality training of ICAO’s specialists and the lack of bias, conflicts and other negative manifestations of an inadequate organisational culture have a positive effect on employees’ diligence and responsibility. Therefore, different aspects of a productive work environment have a big impact on high-quality safety performance in the aviation industry and, in particular, in ICAO.
Conclusion
A strong organisational culture in ICAO is the result of competent decisions taken by its management to maintain and develop safety performance, employees’ job satisfaction and professionalism. Using Hofstede’s framework provides an opportunity to note that not all its dimensions affect ICAO’s operations and influence relevant policies and work standards. Organisational, safety and professional cultures are considered in the context of a single development strategy and cannot be promoted independently of one another. The influence of organisational culture on safety performance is reflected in the interaction among operational, economic, evaluative and other factors, which, in turn, determine how sustainable the agency is and what changes can optimise its work. In the course of the research, no critical limitations have been identified, and a conflict of interests has not arisen.
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