Air Traffic Control Organization Research Articles

Remembering Herbert Gutman's Work, Culture, and Society Fifty Years On

Remembering Herbert Gutman's <i>Work, Culture, and Society</i> Fifty Years On

Structure and Solidarity

Two strikes serve as bookends for the heyday of the twentieth-century American labor movement: the 1936–37 sit-down strike of the fledgling United Auto Workers (UAW) against what was then the nation’s largest corporation, General Motors, and the 1981 strike of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) against the Federal Aviation Administration, a government agency. The successful UAW strike led not only to the unionization of General Motors; it opened the door to the unionization of basic industry across the U.S. economy, from auto, steel, and textiles to important components of transportation, food production, and communications. The PATCO strike, broken by President Ronald Reagan, led not only to the demise of that union; it marked the start of a period during which industrial unions were decimated and strikes in the United States dwindled to a mere handful.

Undelivered: From the Great Postal Strike of 1970 to the Manufactured Crisis of the U.S. Postal Service

Undelivered: From the Great Postal Strike of 1970 to the Manufactured Crisis of the U.S. Postal Service

Labor Under Fire: A History of the AFL-CIO since 1979 by Timothy J. Minchin

Reviewed by: Labor Under Fire: A History of the AFL-CIO since 1979 by Timothy J. Minchin Elizabeth Fones-Wolf (bio) Labor Under Fire: A History of the AFL-CIO since 1979. By Timothy J. Minchin (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2017. Pp. xii, 414. $39.95 cloth) In 1955, when the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merged, one-third of American workers belonged to unions. Twenty-four years later, when George Meany stepped down as the first president of the AFL-CIO, the ranks of organized labor had declined by a third. Today just one in ten workers are members of unions. It is not surprising, then, that the theme that dominates Timothy Minchin's deeply researched and engagingly written account of the recent history of the AFL-CIO [End Page 144] is the labor movement's decline, and the efforts of the Federation's leaders to combat it. Drawing on the archival records of the AFL-CIO and extensive oral-histories, Minchin focuses on the post-Meany presidential administrations of Lane Kirkland (1979–1995) and John Sweeney (1995–2009). He examines how each leader dealt with the challenges of relentless de-industrialization and globalization, intensifying employer opposition, and an often-hostile political climate. Minchin concludes that critics have not given the AFL-CIO a fair shake. They have condemned the Federation's failure to address labor union racism and its Cold War foreign policy and have argued that the AFL-CIO's conservative philosophy was a critical factor in its decline. While acknowledging the truthfulness of these criticisms, Minchin "recognizes its achievements and its limitations" (p. 6). Minchin begins with a brief review of the AFL-CIO's first two decades under George Meany's leadership, a period when it wielded significant economic and political power. The Federation played a critical role in the passage of an array of progressive legislation that benefitted all workers, such as Medicare, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the landmark Occupational Safety and Health Act. However, as Minchin notes, the roots of the Federation's and the labor movement's decline can also be traced to this period. Although the seventies saw the beginnings of the decline in union density with massive factory closures, Meany was complacent about the decline and showed little concern with organizing or addressing union racism and sexism. In the early eighties, the AFL-CIO faced a pivotal turning point. Minchin finds that the 1980 election of Ronald Reagan and his breaking of the 1981 Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization strike as well as a depressed economy put labor on the defensive and hastened the AFL-CIO's deterioration. Union-busting intensified and takeback bargaining, lockouts, and decertification campaigns became common. These factors combined with the impact of deindustrialization caused industrial union membership to drop precipitously. Moreover, Reagan's tax cuts and new harsh policies undercut critical [End Page 145] social welfare programs. Under Kirkland's leadership, the Federation fought back, organizing public protests and making stabs at expanding organizing, supporting strikes, and reaching out to minorities and women, as well defending Social Security and workplace safety. Moreover, in the nineties the AFL-CIO was critical to pushing through the Family and Medical Leave Act and a higher minimum wage. But, as Minchin acknowledges, under Kirkland, the Federation was unable to block the North American Free Trade Agreement and there was no fundamental turnaround in its fortunes. In 1995, frustrated at the AFL-CIO's emphasis on political activity instead of organizing and grassroots mobilization, insurgents from the most dynamic unions in the service and public sectors challenged Kirkland's leadership and elected John Sweeney president. Emphasizing change and militancy, the Federation quickly diversified the AFL-CIO's leadership and coordinated major organizing campaigns, as well as emphasizing environmentalism and connecting with progressive community groups. However, Sweeney's reforms were undermined by the election of George Bush in 2000, the terrorist attacks of 9/11, which created a more conservative political climate, and by internal dissension within the Federation. Minchin has written a more balanced history of the AFL-CIO, although at times he struggles to find a silver-lining...

Keeping Promises: A Process Study of Escalating Commitment Leading to Organizational Change Collapse

In the present research, we employ a theoretical lens—the one of escalation of commitment to a failing course of action that so far is not sufficiently reflected in the academic literature for analyzing large-scale organizational change processes. In doing so, we highlight aspects of complex change processes that are less visible than other theoretical perspectives that use “snapshots” of change. Using 3-year longitudinal process data, we present an in-depth empirical study of the failed attempt at strategic reorientation known as corporatization of the Norwegian Air Traffic Control organization—Avinor. Underway, we identified an important new variable that emerged as a significant determinant for persistence and escalating commitment that eventually led to the total collapse of the strategic change project known as Take-Off 05.

Functional Modelling of the Air Traffic Control and the Integration Perspectives of the Integrated Services

Aviation is the sector within transportation which manages the most data during operation. Air traffic control has a specific position, because it needs a significant amount of data in order to fulfil its tasks and its complex processes require close cooperation between the organizational units within the whole sector. These data are provided by the industry partners on mandatory base, in their own interest, in good quality. This article explores the structure and organization of air traffic control, the functions fulfilled during the operation of the organization and the managed data connected to these functions as well as the strategic possibilities of forming integrated solutions. Necessary information for the tasks can be identified by the functional modelling of air traffic control. The elaborated model provides the basis for the establishment of complex content provider systems which can manage information regarding air traffic control and even aviation related data jointly. The application of these systems contributes to the increase of the efficiency of traffic operations and the more economical operations even in case of air or ground based aviation organizations.

Визначення ризиків в цивільній безпілотній авіації

Мета: Ризики у безпілотній авіації цивільного призначення розглядаються як одні із найважливіших. У статті обґрунтовано актуальність питання забезпечення безпеки польотів повітряних суден та розглянуто основні ризики в пілотованій цивільній авіації. Методи: Проведено аналіз даних про авіаційні події та проведено розподіл ймовірностей виникнення авіаційних подій для пілотованої та безпілотної цивільної авіації з метою виявлення факторів, які впливають на виникнення позаштатних ситуацій у пілотованій і безпілотній авіації. Результати: Запропоновано типологію складових ризиків у цивільній авіації, систематизовано способи та прийоми зниження ризиків. На основі аналогій визначено ймовірні ризики, причини їх виникнення та шляхи подолання в цивільній безпілотній авіації. Обґрунтовано розподіл вагових коефіцієнтів між типами ризиків задля формування рекомендацій з управління ризиками у безпілотній цивільній авіації. Обговорення: Встановлено, що найбільш ймовірними ризиками у пілотованій цивільній авіації є людський фактор, організація управління повітряним рухом, недоліки конструкції безплотної авіаційної системи в цілому, а також обслуговування безплотної авіаційної системи.

Methods of air traffic management in the airport area including the environmental factor

ABSTRACTIn the modern approach to air traffic management (ATM), issues related to air quality and climate protection have led to the introduction of a growing number of new restrictions instead of having these issues be the objectives of actions taken. The aim of the study was to investigate whether it is possible to improve air quality while controlling pollution emission by introducing changes in the organization of air traffic control at the airport. For this purpose, mathematical models of emissions were created. These concern the movement of aircraft near the airport and emission of carbon dioxide and the spread of human health related substances emitted from a landing airplane's engine. The first case refers to the possibility of using different arrival procedures. The second case was to adapt the Pasquill formula by treating landing aircraft as a sequence of point-source emissions. As a result of applying the designed models and software tools, it was proven that both a change in the arrival trajectory and a change of the runway can contribute to a reduction of CO2 emission into the atmosphere. The emission maps created for different aircraft approach profiles show the ability to control the local concentration of harmful emissions. The study clearly shows that the current approach of maximizing throughput is not beneficial to air quality. ATM services should consider the use of other variants of air traffic organization, particularly during periods of reduced traffic.

Keeping promises: A case study of escalating commitment leading to organizational change collapse

Political pressures behind promises made during large-scale organizational change often lead to a general reluctance by top leaders to modify plans, even when critical assumptions change. Despite the recognition of the need for flexibility and emergence in planned strategies, some leaders feel that an accepted plan constitutes a formal “promise” between the organization and the major stakeholders to carry out the plan as originally presented - even in the face of conflicting information. There is broad agreement that the capacity of organizations to change strategies, systems and structures, is crucial for organizational survival and success. Yet, there is little evidence that the failure rate is decreasing in response to the availability of normative models of how to implement change, or of research-based evidence on the causes of change success and failure. In the present research, we employ a theoretical lens – the one of escalation of commitment to a failing course of action (Staw, 1976; Sleesman et al., 2012) - that so far is not sufficiently reflected in the academic literature for analyzing organizational change under real-time conditions. In doing so, we highlight aspects of complex change processes that are less visible than other theoretical perspectives. Using longitudinal process data from the failed attempt at strategic reorientation of a national air traffic control organization (AVINOR), we show that some new variables emerge as determinants of change failure. These factors are partly under leadership control, however, other factors are not, and their management involves paradoxes and difficult trade-offs that must be made when they are considered in concert with previously established determinants of change success

Reviving the Strike in the Shadow of PATCO

In the summer of 2011, labor unrest on both coasts provided a sharp rebuttal to the widely held view that the strike is dead (and buried) in the United States. Even as veterans of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) gathered in Florida to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of their historic defeat, a new generation of strikers was taking on big private-sector employers like Verizon and Kaiser Permanente. Last August, 45,000 Verizon workers walked out from Maine to Virginia in a high-profile struggle against contract concessions. One month later, they were joined by 20,000 nurses and other union members similarly opposed to pension and health care givebacks at Kaiser Permanente in California. Both of these struggles came right on the heels of last year's biggest upsurge, the massive series of public employee demonstrations in Madison, Wisconsin that included strike activity by local high school teachers.… Like the walkouts of 2011, [the three books under review] remind us what striking looks like, whether it fails or succeeds in a single union bargaining unit, or becomes part of a broader protest movement.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

Cognitive Radio for aeronautical air-ground communications

The system of air-ground communications is one of the most fundamental elements of air traffic control in the National Airspace System (NAS). The current air-ground voice communications systems are using the more than 50-year-old analog voice transmission technology in the licensed air traffic management VHF spectrum band. The limited spectrum is allocated statically based on air traffic control organization and geographic locations. With the increasing use of data applications for air-ground communications, the demand to effectively use the limited spectrum has increased. There are several proposed approaches to solve the projected saturated spectrum in the future. However, these approaches do not address the current practice of static spectrum allocation, which this author anticipates will be a major bottleneck for effective use of the limited spectrum. The current static channel assignment creates inefficient use of the limited spectrum. Regardless of whether a channel is used, it is permanently assigned to the particular geographical areas and organizations. This prevents other users from using the channels when the channels are idle. Also, this static allocation of the spectrum constrains the reassignment of channels and creates a long transition period for moving the existing analog system to a new digital system. The emerging Cognitive Radio (CR) technology provides the opportunity to address the static allocation of spectrum issue and offer a more flexible transition approach for updating the legacy air-ground radio system. The emerging CR technology provides the sensing of surrounding environment, allowing the radio to adapt to the environment accordingly. Built on software-defined radio (SDR) technology, CR is able to employ these features with the cognitive engine and the aid of several sensors. The cognitive engine carries out these tasks by obtaining all available information from sources such as sensors, protocol layers, a policy engine, and its own hardware, and then interprets, reasons, and makes the optimum decision to adapt. Integrated with ground radio stations and centralized management systems, the CR can dynamically use the available channels based on its actual location, environment condition, and, therefore, maximize the use of the limited spectrum.

Introduction to Symposium on the Meaning of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization Strike Twenty-Five Years Later

I am most pleased to present this symposium in the Perspectives section on the meaning of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) strike 25 years later. In August 1981, more than 11,000 air traffic controllers launched a strike which has been viewed as a defining point in U.S. labor history. Three prominent experts on the PATCO strike have written essays for this symposium: Arthur B. Shostak, Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Drexel University; Joseph A. McCartin, Associate Professor of History at Georgetown University and Richard W. Hurd, Professor of Labor Studies at Cornell University. These articles provide important insights on what is undoubtedly the most important public sector strike in the United States in the last two decades of the twentieth century. In the first essay entitled, “Finding Meaning in Labor's ‘Perfect Storm’: Lessons from the 1981 PATCO Strike,” Professor Shostak outlines several significant lessons in employee relations that can be gleaned from PATCO's strike against the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) 25 years ago. In the second piece entitled, “A Historian's Perspective on the PATCO Strike, Its Legacy, and Lessons,” Professor McCartin argues that although the PATCO strike was one of the most important events in twentieth century U.S. labor history, it did not initiate the downfall of American labor as many commentators have claimed although it did set the stage for a problematic U.S. labor relations climate in the decades to come from the unions' point of view. Finally, in the third article entitled, “Reflections on PATCO'S Legacy: Labor's Strategic Challenges Persist,” Professor Hurd points out that even though PATCO's tactical strategy prior to and during its strike contained fatal flaws, the union developed creative methods in an attempt to alter its Employ Respons Rights J (2006) 18: 205–206 DOI 10.1007/s10672-006-9017-8

Toward a new organization for air traffic control

Increases in air traffic and air traffic controller workload lead to a need to provide assistance to the air traffic controller. Proposes and validates a new organization of air traffic control, which allows air traffic controllers to remain active in the control and supervisory loop of the process, in order to maintain the present traffic safety level and to improve the global system performances. Consists of decomposing the problem according to the two levels of the air traffic control organization. Directs the first step towards a horizontal cooperation that consists of a dynamic allocation of the tactical level control tasks between human air traffic controllers and an assistance tool. Presents the dynamic task allocation principles, and describes the experimental platform for task allocation in air traffic control. Describes the experimental protocol used for the experiments with qualified controllers and presents the first results. They show the real help a dynamic task allocation provides to the air traffic controllers.

Torn Apart: Permanent Replacements and the Crossett Strike of 1985

IN THE SUMMER OF 1985, OVER 1,100 WORKERS at Georgia-Pacific paper company in Crossett experienced three month strike that bitterly divided their small community in southern Arkansas. Like many other strikes in 1980s, these divisions were heightened by company's attempts to hire permanent replacements for striking workers. The introduction of replacement workers pushed many union members to abandon strike and return to work in last-ditch effort to save their jobs. Striking workers felt betrayed both by large number of local residents who went to work as permanent replacements and by union members who left picket line to go back into mill. In small community of around 6,000 people, divisions caused by strike were deep and lasting. Bruce Carpenter, who was union officer at time of strike, related that: This thing cut right through family lines, it wasn't necessarily among strangers. So it was really an ordeal. I spent year in Vietnam and what I saw in Vietnam wasn't as drastic and as shocking as some of stuff I saw here. I don't mean physical violence but I mean as result of strike that happened here. It tore this community apart, tore this town apart. Another former striker commented thirteen years after dispute: If you had asked me before 1985 if anything could move through community and tear it up as much, you'd have never made me believe it, but it's still here today. It's still hard feelings, hatred.1 The Crossett strike was typical of many strikes that occurred during 1980s. The Reagan era, especially, was marked by number of highprofile disputes in which employers resorted to hiring permanent replacements, tactic that labor historian Robert H. Zieger has termed, a virtual declaration of open warfare against union.2 Permanent replacements were departure from temporary substitutes that management had traditionally turned to during labor disputes before 1980s. Unlike temporary replacements, who left at end of strike, permanent replacements were assured of strikers' jobs. After strike, law gave strikers right to return to their old jobs, but only if replacements left them.3 The Crossett strike of 1985 was particularly significant because it was first strike in paper industry in which permanent replacements were hired. As Gary Cook, vice-president of United Paperworkers' International Union (UPIU) recalled, strike marked clear departure from traditional labor relations in industry, where only temporary replacements had been hired: Prior to Crossett, Arkansas strike, companies would hire replacements, but when you went back to work, they were gone.4 Many Crossett strikers were aware of fact that strike marked first time that permanent replacements had been hired in their industry and saw dispute as test cases And, indeed, after Crossett strike wave of strikes occurred in paper industry where strikers were permanently replaced. The largest dispute occurred in 1987-1988 when International Paper Company replaced over 2,300 UPIU members at mills in Jay, Maine, De Pere, Wisconsin, and Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. The Crossett strike also anticipated subsequent strikes in bitterness and division that use of permanent replacements caused.6 In November 1988, for example, UPIU vice-president Donald Langham echoed Crossett strikers in commenting that, the use of permanent replacements destroys livelihoods, divides communities and tears families apart.7 Both labor leaders and historians have asserted that employers were encouraged to hire permanent replacements by Ronald Reagan's treatment of strike by Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) in August 1981. After 12,000 federal controllers refused to end their illegal walkout, Reagan dismissed them and imposed lifetime ban on their re-employment by federal government. …

Group Rites and Trainer Wrongs in Employee Experiences of Job Change

This paper investigates how group‐controlled transition rites in an air traffic control organization are experienced by job changers and those responsible for socializing newcomers on behalf of the work group and unit. Contrary to earlier functionalist accounts, these admission rites were neither fully understood as intended nor accepted as legitimate by job changers. The findings indicate that shared meanings between newcomers and `‘lders’ may not be necessary if such rites are to be accepted as an essential feature of the process of granting or withholding membership of the unit. More crucial to their acceptability is whether or not job changers believe that elders are fully acting in the interests of the group and unit. We show that the legitimacy of such socialization practices is subject to decay from organization‐wide restructuring which weakens units' social coherence and gives rise to doubts about the integrity of those members who assume an elder role. The implication of these findings is that group‐controlled transition rites emerge where management has no choice but to delegate features of work control to the group. Equally, if the legitimacy of such group‐level practices is undermined by organizational changes, it is unlikely that this form of socialization can be rectified by management intervention

Multilevel organization design: The case of the air traffic control

This paper presents a multilevel human-machine organization study based on the working position concept. A methodology for designing this kind of system is proposed. The resulting organization is then described as a complex communication network between the human and technical control systems of each working position. This global communicative system representation is illustrated for the highly cooperative air traffic control organization. Finally, the impact of new air traffic control tools is discussed through experimental and field studies.

The Impacts of the PATCO on the Human Resource Management

This research explores the impacts of the hard-line response of the federal government against an illegal strike by the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization on the functions of the human resource management-procurement, allocation, development and sanction. Analyzing the effects, this research shows the reasons and significance of the existence of the labor relations laws and regulations, the implication of the outcomes of the government's strong will to implement the laws and regulations as designed in the collective bargaining process, and the influences of the internal and external environments on the personnel functions. Particularly, in order to explain such exceptional interaction between the federal government and PATCO in the collective negotiation process, this research diagnoses the conflicts of traditionally emphasized public personnel administration's values; that is, conflicts between individual rights and other values, like social equity, political responsiveness and administrative efficiency. In conclusion, this research proposes four recommendations, such as the broad scope of bargaining, independence of the air traffic control system, privatization, and the building of partnership between labor and government as employer, in order to resolve such conflicts.

Human-Machine Organization Study the Case of the Air Traffic Control

This paper presents human-machine organization study based on the working position concept. A methodology for designing this kind of system is proposed. The resulting organization is then described as a complex communication network between both the human and technical control systems of each working position. This global representation is illustrated with the air traffic control organization. Finally, the impact of new control tools is discussed through experimental and field studies.

Expert system and dynamic allocation applied to air traffic control

Increases in air traffic and air traffic controller workload lead to a need to provide assistance to the air traffic controller. The purpose of this research is to propose and validate a new organization of air traffic control, which allows air traffic controllers to remain active in the control and supervisory loop of the process, in order to maintain the present traffic safety level and to improve the global system performances. This research consists in decomposing the problem according to the two levels of the air traffic control organization: a tactical level which aims at regulating the traffic and a strategic level which aims at filtering this traffic. The first step of this work is directed towards a horizontal cooperation that consists of a dynamic allocation of the tactical level control tasks between human air traffic controllers and an assistance tool. This paper presents the dynamic task allocation principles, and describes the experimental platform for task allocation in air traffic control. The experimental protocol used for the experiments with qualified air traffic controllers is described and the first results are presented. They show the real help a dynamic task allocation provides to the air traffic controllers. Finally, a global organization involving multi-level cooperation is proposed.

Human‐machine cooperation: Toward an activity regulation assistance for different air traffic control levels

Our research is based on the air traffic control activity regulation assistance. It aims at integrating the two levels of the air traffic control organization: a tactical level managed by a so‐called radar controller and a strategic one managed by a so‐called organic controller. Concerning the tactical level, our research is directed toward a “horizontal cooperation” that consists in a dynamic allocation of control tasks between a human air traffic controller and an assistance tool. Regarding the other level, it is oriented toward a scheduling module in order to improve the initial allocation policy.