Behaviour Management Text Book2

Behaviour-/Human Resources Management
In the Shipping Industry
Table of Contents
1 Introduction 3
2 Human Failure and Cause Analysis 8
2 1 SHEL Model 9
2 2 TREE Model 11
2 3 Human Failure & Human Performance 14
3 Behaviour 15
3 1 Introduction 16
3 2 Cultures 17
3 2 1 Power Distance 19
3 2 2 Individualism versus Collectivism 21
3 2 3 Masculine versus Feminine 24
3 2 4 Uncertainty Avoidance 28
3 2 5 Long Term Orientation 31
3 2 6 Power Distance versus Uncertainty Avoidance 33
3 3 Personality, Character, Attitudes 34
4 Organizing: The 7-S model (Mc Kinsey) 36
4 1 Introduction 37
4 2 Strategy 38
4 3 Systems 41
4 4 Style of management 43
4 5 Structure of the Organization 49
4 6 Staff & Skills 52
4 7 Shared Values 60
5 Technical & Human Systems 67
5 1 Introduction 68
5 2 Technical Systems 68
5 3 Human Systems 70
6 Competency Management 72
6 1 Introduction 73
6 2 Behaviour and Competencies 76
6 3 Examples of Competencies 78
6 4 Competency Profiling 81
6 5 Recruitment and Selection 82
6 6 Monitoring and Appraisal 85
6 7 Development and Training 87
6 8 Training and Experience 89
6 9 Teams and Leaders 90
6 10 Leadership 93
7 Summary 96
© DNV Rotterdam 2005 JWIJ Page 1 of 98

Chapter 1: Introduction

1. Introduction
The world is changing, so is the shipping industry.

40 Years ago shipping companies were usually based in traditional maritime countries,
like Norway and the other Scandinavian countries, Great Britain, Greece, The
Netherlands and Germany. Companies were mostly identifiable by the owners, and all
key activities were performed in the Company like: technical and nautical management,
personnel management, chartering and only for the recruitment of foreign ratings
crewing agencies were sometimes utilized.
The level of education of ship’s officers was relatively high and the time spent in the
different ranks from cadet to Master or Chief Engineer usually took many years. As a
result of the relatively high wages and the prospective of “discovering the world” made
the job attractive for young people from all levels in the society. In most of the
Companies fixed labour agreements were offered resulting in a relative high company
loyalty. Hiring of personnel for a voyage or a period of X months was usually restricted to
the ratings of foreign nationalities.
After the 2nd world war there was a shortage of tonnage; consequently the transport
rates were usually good.
Summarizing: relatively small ships with large crew, long contracts but well paid in an
interesting trade, although sometimes under harsh living conditions. These ships were
owned and managed by the same companies; most of the key functions were carried out
under direct responsibility of the companies.
The authority structure on board was very straight forward. A thin line of connection was
usually kept between ships and shore organization; the Master was really in a powerful
position, the role of the superintendent was only to assist ship’s staff in case the vessel
was bound for dry-dock. The Chief Engineer would often be in a state of “early-
retirement” and a large engine staff was kept under the command of the 2nd engineer.
The level of independence and competence was relatively high, so was the quality of
ship-board supervision. Theoretical knowledge would soon be replaced by more mature
experience awareness and insight.
Once the competition grew harsher, national crews saw themselves gradually replaced
by officers and ratings from countries, where the living standards were much lower. At
the same time many companies became separated from the owner(s). At present, only a
few traditional owner/ shipping companies remain. The majority is now split or combined
into smaller or larger management companies. The owners and shareholders often do
not even know the ships they own and the main objective is to run the ships as profitable
as possible. Crews, including senior officers –once loyal representatives of the company-
became hired hands and the level of basic education and competence decreased. The
repairs intended with the STCW 78 and 95 Codes were meant to improve the
qualification of ship board personnel. Nevertheless, the present situation shows bigger
ships, albeit usually equipped with the most sophisticated equipment on Bridge and in
Engine Control room, with smaller crew and often serious problems to maintain a certain
level of team-stability.
Partly as a result of a high turn-over rate (shipping has lost a lot of her previous
attraction) of personnel, the promotion from the junior to senior ranks is relatively fast,
with the consequence of lack of experience.

Now the modern means of communication allow tighter contact and control of the ship
and the ISM Code pointedly states that Companies have the responsibility for the safety
of her ships and crew, the role of the Superintendent as a new line manager and liaison
officer between ship and shore has become much stronger, partly as a result of or at the
expense of the position of the Master and Chief Engineer.
Although is formally stated that the Master has the overriding authority, the day to day
reality demonstrates that Masters often take the easiest way and do not resist pressure
from the Company in case use of the overriding authority could harm the charterer’s or
owner’s interest.
With the introduction of modern management systems like ISM and ISO standards many
practices on board and operational routines became under strict attention of second and
third parties.
In many cases such standards –as a result of poor interpretation of the ISM Code- have
led to an enormous amount of unpractical paperwork (e.g. operational checklists for the
most trivial tasks) and a high pressure on the ship-shore communication.
In the past the administration, which was limited compared with today was mostly done
by the Radio Officer and the Chief Steward. Nowadays these positions have ceased to
exist, the administrative workload has increased and the work has to be done by or
under direct supervision of the Master.
At the same time, new legislation has entered into force and the increase thereof is still
going on. Interpretation of such new regulations is one of the demanding tasks of the
Company and not seldom the amendments (legislative text) are directly mailed to the
ships, where the staff may try to decipher the practical implications for their particular
ship and trade.
All this takes place in a dynamic and sometimes hectic environment of changes of
management, changes of flag, replacements of crew of nationality X to nationality Y,
mergers etc. In this world, the main issue is the profit.
This may be regretted by those who have experienced the good old days, but every
day’s reality is there and cannot be stopped. At the same time the regulations to protect
life and especially environment have become much stricter than before and the loss
potential of all those bigger ships and increased number of ships, often practically
undermanned and with a multicultural complement, has grown dramatically.
Oil majors try to improve quality and management standards on the ships they hire and
especially the tanker fleet is under austere supervision. In 2004 the OCIMF (Oil
Company’s international marine forum) has released a new standard, which is meant to
provide the shipping companies with a program in which they can measure their own
performance by applying so-called Key Performance Indicators (KPI). In the ISO
certification this principle of measuring performance with KPI’s is a common issue:
“what you cannot measure, you cannot improve” and continuous improvement of
performance is a leading principle.
This Tanker Management Self Assessment Program (TMSA) provides 4 levels of
performance in most of the fields of management, which are relevant for shipping. In
order to comply with the TMSA program, many shipping companies nowadays seek
practical support from classification societies to guide them through this program. One of
the important topics is related to matters of personnel management.

Apart from this motive, more and more shipping companies are becoming aware of the
risk they are running wrt the human factor, because it is a well-known fact that the
Human Factor (which is “us”) is the most unreliable and changeable factor. The reliability
of a standard valve is much higher that that of any human being. Such is not meant to
defile mankind, but simply the result of the relationship between dedicated function and
relative reliability. A valve has only one or two functions for which it has been designed,
whereas we have thousands, if not tens of thousands functions to perform under
different circumstances and often several at the same time.
Nevertheless, the type and number of incidents, which with hindsight wisdom could have
been avoided, is sometimes alarming and it gradually becomes clear that even all these
work instructions and checklists do not stop this.
Apart from this it has become clear that there is a growing friction between the current
management practices and the demanding day to day reality.
The world around us changes and the organizations – with their structures, practices,
skills of personnel etc- have to be prepared for the future, both ashore and on board the
ships.
The main motive to introduce the ISM Code, STCW and also TMSA is to improve Risk
Management in the Shipping Companies.
Cornerstones of Risk Management are Incident analysis and risk assessment. Risk
Assessment often shows scenario’s which apparently are well controlled. For instance,
entry into enclosed spaces can be identified as a high risk. Afterwards the safety
measures are discussed and the resulting risk usually is found “acceptable”. On paper
everything seems to be under control, but day to day reality shows something else. Even
enclosed spaces entry accidents still take place. The gap between what is predicted in
Risk Assessment and what is found in Incident Analysis is high. Sometimes Risk
Assessment is blamed for not being “practical” in shipping, which is of course, pure
nonsense. Risk Assessment is a powerful tool for prevention of accidents, but it has to
be done properly.
What is the explanation for the “gap”?
There is a gap: RA and IA

Hardware Liveware
Predicted Predicted
HAZOP JSA
Human
Behavior
Unpredicted Risk
Fig. 1: The Gap between Predicted and Real Incidents: Human Behaviour

The answer is simple: “Human Behaviour”. A Company may have all kind of safeguards
identified, like training, procedures and equipment to avoid accidents in enclosed
spaces, but the key factor remains the actual human behaviour. Should all drivers in
traffic comply with the rules, use their maximum skills, remain calm and focused under
all circumstances, no car crashes would take place. On paper, everything is under
control: cars inspected, all drivers have a driver’s licence, roads well maintained, traffic
signs clear etc.
Conclusion: if actual human behaviour is not taken into account when conducting risk
assessment (or any other activity) the reality is lost of sight and the “gap” will remain.
This course is dealing with Managing Human Behaviour in the awareness, that the word
“managing” seems a bit preposterous, because human behaviour can be described,
partly explained, even prescribed, but control is a bridge too far.
Incidents are caused by human failure, which is in most cases caused by “sub-standard”
acts or practices.
Sub standard acts/ practices of personnel are due to underlying factors, which are meant
to be under control of the management systems of the organization.
Such factors are person-bound or organization-environment bound. As organizations are
man-made, also here the human factor failed in one way or another. Basically, it does
not make any difference of the “operator” failed or his manager. If the operator failed it
may be due to lack of knowledge or some personality problems. If the boss fails, the
same may apply, but his failure may create more far stretching conditions because he
occupies a higher and more influencing position.
In Chapter 2 we discuss the causes of lack of individual or organization performance,
leading to incidents, loss of quality, loss of reputation, loss of “output”. Whatever it is, it is
seldom due to an “act of God”. If things go wrong, this is due to human behaviour.
What is Human Behaviour, or simply in this context: “Behaviour”?

In Chapter 3 we will define it and classify the factors, which –theoretically- contribute to
actual behaviour. Theoretically, because behaviour cannot be dismantled like hardware.
All the statements regarding behaviour and underlying factors are based on theoretical
models, developed over the past hundred years in the Western hemisphere.
Nevertheless, it is usually found an acceptable and useful classification, which serves
activities undertaken to improve the output of personnel in organizations.
The shipping industry operates in an extremely internationalized environment. Not only

due to the trade itself, but mainly because of the delegation of tasks (crew management,
technical management, financing, chartering) over the world and in particular due to the
many cultures on board of the ships. This requires a strong attention on the impact of
national cultures. It is useless to describe behaviour of individuals and organizations in
the shipping industry without consideration of cultural factors.
Behaviour is the only visible and measurable step of a chain of factors, like motivation,
perception, attitude, culture bound values etc...
In the first part of this course we explain these factors. For daily practice (in ship-board
and shore- based organization) there is no need to distinguish if something is an
“attitude” or a “personality” factor. The only thing which counts is “Factors relevant for
certain behaviour”.

Such factors are called “Competencies”. In the last chapter we will deal with these
competencies, needed in order to obtain the best possible behaviour of personnel in
their task execution and the way they act in their social environment.
Given the context of this course, behaviour has to be discussed in its organizational
environment. There is an interaction between individual behaviour and organizational
characteristics. In chapter 4 the 7-S model of Organizations will be applied in its shipping
context. The model is highly relevant in the dynamic world of shipping and explains, why
major changes in legislation (like the introduction of the ISM Code) affect the entire
organization in a more far-stretching way than expected by many companies. It also
explains, why major crew changes have a strong influence on almost all aspects of
organizing.
In Chapter 5 we briefly compare Technical systems with Human “systems “(individuals,

groups and organizations) and the conclusion that human systems need much more
attention and care than often displayed in daily shipping business.
Chapter 6 finally deals with possibly the most important part of this course: “competency
management”.
Whatever the underlying factors may be, the actual behaviour of personnel is decisive
for failure or success. In this chapter we explain how competencies, required for
successful operation of critical tasks, can be identified, measured, monitored and
developed. Competencies refer to individual behaviour of all positions in the organization
(ship and shore), but also to behaviour of groups/ teams and the entire organization. In
this respect “leadership” is a relevant issue. Leadership in varying situations and under
different conditions.

Chapter 2: Introduction to
Human Error and Incident Cause Analysis

2. Introduction to Human Error and Cause Analysis
SHEL(L) model (Task oriented)
Hardware Task
Design
Information
Conditions
Environ-
Software Liveware
ment
Communication
Liveware
Figure 2: The SHEL(L) Model; Factors leading to Failure
2.1 The SHEL(L) Model
As a reaction on serious accidents, the official statement related to the “cause” is often:
“the accident was probably caused by human failure”
We would comment that this is not probable, but certain, because all accidents are
caused by human failure, possibly with the exception of some “act of God” (like a
meteorite hitting the earth, which cannot possibly be prevented by mankind).
Human failure is present in all kind of direct or underlying causes. A wrong design does
not cause any harm to the designer, but may contribute to an accident somewhere else
in a later stage.
Direct human failure is often called: Human Error. It is well-known that about 75/80 % of
all accidents (and near accidents) are directly a result of human error.
There are several theories and models to explain which factors are contributing to
human error. One of these is the so-called SHEL model (Hawkins).
S (software) represents the information element, H (hardware) the equipment, E
(environment) all the factors which are around the operator and L (liveware) represents
the operator, the human factor.
In the model the match or mismatch of the blocks (interface) is just as important as the
characteristics of the blocks themselves. A mismatch can be a source of human error.
There are interactions between Liveware and Software (related to the information
transfer), Liveware and Hardware (the ergonomic factors, the tools, the equipment, the
lay out of machinery spaces etc...), Liveware and Liveware (the inter personal factors,
usually described as “Communication, Co-operation, Teamwork”) and Liveware to
Environment. The latter being related to al the (often disturbing) factors around the
operator (like noise, visibility, work atmosphere etc)
Liveware may fail as such, simply as a result of lack of knowledge, skills, stress (not
caused by the direct work environment), mentality or absence of other capabilities
required for the job.

Unfit for duty (physically, intellectually)

Personality, Attitude
Basic Education, -Skills
Non-job induced stress- distraction
Inadequate match of qualifications and job requirements
Examples of factors related to Liveware failure
Liveware-Hardware. This interface is the one most commonly considered when speaking
of human-machine systems: design of seats to fit in the sitting characteristics of the
human body, of displays to match the sensory and information processing characteristics
of the user, of controls with proper movement, coding and location, of the lay out of the
work place (accessibility, maintainability, operability) and other hardware –liveware
interfaces which require extra physical or mental efforts to operate successfully.
Design, Ergonomics, Controls, Overview

Weight, volume of objects
Maintainability/ operability
Knobs, levers, coding, marking
Maintenance, quality, excessive wear
Adequacy of PPE
Adequate tools, equipment, materials
Examples of Liveware-Hardware Interface
Liveware-Software. This encompasses humans and the non-physical aspects of the

system such as procedures, manual and checklist layout, symbology, computer
programs and other forms of information not directly transferred from one person to
another. The problems are often less tangible in this interface and are consequently
more difficult to resolve (what is clear to one person, does not mean it is clear to all)
Instructions /procedures/ standards/ policies/ organization/ information/ data

Transfer thereof by Training, Induction, Instruction, Work language
And by a transparent organization, clear roles, responsibilities and authorities
Software (info) itself does not fail, but leads to failure in many cases
Examples of Liveware-Software interface
Liveware-Environment. The human-environment interface is one of the most dynamic

interfaces, especially in shipping industry. In other human error models with only three
variables, environment is one of the three factors, together with task complexity and
operator ability. It is strongly related to stress factors which are not caused by inter-
human factors, but e.g. by factors related to travelling, time pressure and job content and
to disturbing factors like noise levels, humidity, temperature, which may lead to reduction
of focus on a task to be performed.
•Time Pressure/ stress / fatigue/ jet lag ...

•Physical environmental conditions (e.g. temperature)
•Stressful or boring work environment - demand for uneventful vigilance
•Distracting, Hazardous environment, emergency situations
•Conditions created due to improper planning, -assessment, -priorities, -resources
•Overall `atmosphere` in the organization
Examples of Liveware-Environment interface

The last and most critical interface is the Liveware-Liveware interface. This is the
interface between people. Traditionally, in shipping the emphasis has been on individual
performance and competence. In real life however the performance of teams deserves
more attention. Weakness of one member of a team will usually be compensated by
strength of another member of the team. A good team is a tremendous contribution to
safety and quality. Groups do not become teams automatically. A team has something a
group does not have. The essence of a team is shared commitment. Without it, groups
perform as individuals; with it they become a powerful unit of collective performance.
•Group influences, work culture, peer pressure

•Teams, feed back, personality interactions
•Supervision, coaching, leadership
•Effectiveness of information transfer
•Instruction skills, motivational skills
•National-,Group-, Professional-, Company culture
•Job satisfaction, involvement, fair work conditions
•Discipline, management by example of supervisor
•Performance measurement- appraisal, performance feed back
Factors related to Liveware-Liveware interface
2.2 The tree-model
Accidents do not happen ad random, but are a result of a chain of factors, contributing
one way or another to the final outcome.
• Not detected
Such factors may be e.g.:
• Time pressure
• Lack of housekeeping
• Did not understand
• Poor communication
• Insufficient control of Recruitment
• Not following the instructions
• Etc..
All such factors may be present and have some contribution to the final result: an
accident with injury, property damage, environmental damage etc...
The impact of each factor may differ. It will be clear that “insufficient control of
recruitment” has a far wider impact than “did not understand”. For one particular incident
all the contributing factors have equal importance; by removing one shackle, the chain
will break. But in a wider perspective, the lack of recruitment may easily lead to many
other accidents also. This leads to the conclusion that those factors with the most
widespread impact are called Basic Factors. Such factors are connected to the
management system, indicating the level of control of the factor.
Apart from those factors, other factors exist, which cannot be controlled by the
management system. Such factors may have a high impact on safety, but these simply
exist outside the company. Examples are for instance security-related issues.

Incident
Why?
Substandard Substandard
acts/practices conditions
Why? Why?
Personal Factors & Job Factors
Why?
SOIL System Controls/ Policies etc.. Causes
Fig.3: The Tree Model: Layers of Causes
To depict the different “levels” of factors/ causes we have chosen the model of the tree.
The tree is under control of management, including the roots. The branches are the most
visible part and represent the direct causes of an incident.
As an example we take an oil pollution (the loss), which was the result of a spill (the
incident) and directly caused by John opening the wrong valve.
The next level of factors/ causes is the basic/ underlying factors. We prefer to call these
“Factors”. What appears to have happened is that the lay out of the valves is very
confusing, John was just one day on board and not familiar with the vessel and there
was a lot of time pressure.
The bunker barge arrived a bit late and the vessel was due to leave port in a few hours.
All these causes are basic factors; circumstances adding to create a situation “ideal” for
things to go wrong. The real root causes however are in the controls of the company
To prevent such factors to become too powerful, the root causes/ controls in this case
could have been for instance:
• Lack of (control of) recruitment : putting somebody on board with insufficient
•
experience
Lack of (control of) familiarization: assigning somebody with a task he is not yet
•
familiar with
Ditto: there is a clear policy that safety comes first, even if it costs time and leads to
•
delay, this fact was unknown to the newcomer
Lack of (control of) risk identification: confusing lay out was not identified, adequate
•
preventive measures were not taken.
Lack of (control of) incident reporting and analysis: this lay out has already lead to
near miss in the past, but was not reported, investigated and analyzed
Of course, other –external – factors, not under control of the company exist. The tree is
not standing on its own, but has its roots in the soil. We call such causes: soil causes or
restrictions.
Examples are:

•
•
Government policy
•
Environmental factors
Security situation in a country/ area
In this case it could be the poor planning of bunker services in this particular port facility,
leading to external pressure, or perhaps the situation wrt. the tide, currents etc, traffic
situations. But also a restriction may be in this case the shortage of competent and
experienced seafarers.
All such factors are not under control of the company, but the company has to take these
into consideration and establish a safety management system in which the policies are
transparent and the controls are fit for purpose.
Basic/ Underlying Factors are:

Factors leading to the sub-standard act or condition
These factors may be Personal Factors or Job Factors
These factors are in connection with the (absence of adequate) Controls of the Safety
Management System
Root Causes are System Failure:

A Root Cause indicates failure to control Basic/ underlying Factors and
Failure to handle “environmental” factors (soil “causes”)
Consequently, Root causes are System deficiencies
Lack of (Risk) Management can be found in the root causes
Basically, Root causes (=system failure) will be identified during an Internal System Audit (no
accident needed!)
All comes down to Organizing
Personal Sub standard

Factors Acts/Practices
Human
Performance
Organization Job Substandard

Factors Conditions
Performance
Fig.4: Link between Organization Performance and Individual Performance

2.3 Human Failure and Human Performance
Incidents are caused by substandard acts/practices or by substandard conditions. The

basic Factors for these may be related to the organization or to the individual operator. It
is usually the operator who makes the mistake, but there may be several basic factors
together, creating the conditions for the mistake. All the basic factors are –one way or
another- the product of human being, either as individuals or as an organization. If –for
instance- a design factor contributes to a wrong act by an operator, this is the result of a
shortcoming by the designer or the design department, which consists of individuals
working together in an organization.
Basically, all Job Factors and Personal Factors are related to Human Performance,
which as such again is the result of individual behaviour and the way things are
organized. It is sometimes overlooked that not only the “operator” fails from time to time
and should be carefully monitored, but also all the other functions in the organization
may fail and create the Factors, which are contributing to poor performance or failure of
the operator.
Human behaviour cannot be “controlled” but can be more carefully identified and
monitored. This requires more attention for Human Resources Management.
The key question is not only how to stop people from making mistakes, but how to
improve the organization in order to create the best conditions to avoid such mistakes by
the organization’s staff (ashore and on board)
To deal with the first question, we have to have a closer look at Human Behaviour and in
particular to the cultural aspects related to it. This is the main topic of the next chapter.
Chapter 4 has been dedicated to the second question: how do organizations work and
what is the interaction between organizational elements.

Chapter 3: Behaviour

3. Behaviour
3.1 Introduction
Behaviour is what we do, how we (re-)act, it is the output of several factors, as shown in
figure 2.1
Values
Experience
Information
Motivation
Attitudes
Perception Behavior
Personality
Learning
Capacities
Figure 5: Factors relevant for Behaviour
These factors are based on a model, which has been created by psychologists and
sociologists throughout history, but in particular in the Western world.
Behaviour is the action, activity resulting from a combination of “perception” (what we
see, perceive) ,“motivation” (what drives us) and capacities (what allows us to act).
There is a continuous interaction with “learning” . Learning affects our capacities and
interacts with perception.
Motivation and perception are also interactive and strongly influenced by our emotions
(attitude) and Personality.
Attitudes are playing a key role and are a result of our Values, experiences and
personality.
Attitude
•
•
The “feelings”, emotional way of looking at things.
“An attitude is a relatively stable and lasting inclination to behave or react in a
•
certain way with respect to persons, objects, institutions or topics”
•
Required for an attitude:
•
You know something about it (“feeling”+ object)
•
You have emotions about it
•
It implies a certain impulse of action (do or do-not) to follow these feelings.
•
Origins: Experiences; Information from others, Cultural background, Personality
Examples: Rigidity wrt Religion, Aversion against foreigners, Fear of discussion

A helpful –although possibly not scientific- way to describe the factors is:
Attitude I feel
Capacities I can
Motivation I want
Learning I know
Personality I am
Perception I see
Behaviour I do
What we feel of being “good” or “bad”, “dirty” or “clean”, “natural” or “unnatural” depends
on our “mental programming” . There are three levels of mental programming as shown
in figure 2.2.
3 levels of mental programming
Specific Inborn and

Learned
Personality
Specific for
group/ category Learned
Culture
Universal Human Nature Inborn
Figure 6: Three levels of uniqueness in mental programming
3.2 Culture
The sources of one’s mental programs lie within the social environment in which one
grew up and collected one’s life experiences. The programming starts within the family; it
continues with within the neighbourhood, at school, in youth groups, at the workplace,
and in the living community. The customary term for such mental software is “Culture”.
Culture is learned, not innate. Due to differences between the environments (e.g.
families of different social “classes”) where children grow up, there is no absolute
standard representing “the” culture of “the Dutch, Greek, and British” . But the correlation
between one’s nationality (or regional origins) and its values are remarkably firm.
The personality of an individual is her or his unique personal set of mental programs that
need not to be shared with any other human being. It is partly innate and partly learned
(experiences). The high impact of culture on the behaviour of people and its relevance
for the international shipping industry, requires a closer look at the cultural
consequences.

During the last 25 years, partly due to the growing globalization of the industry, the
knowledge about the impact of cultural differences has grown dramatically. One of the
authorities in this field is the Dutchman Geert Hofstede, who did a lot of comparative field
research over the world. The outcome of this research, spanning more than 20 years, is
widely accepted by other scholars and also in line with other research.
As stated before, our attitudes and behaviour is strongly determined by our “values”.
Values are acquired early in our lives. The earlier things are learned the more firmly they
are founded. Values are transferred from generation to generation. Cultures may be
related with nationality, region, ethnic, religion, gender, generation, social class, work
environment and profession. Of course, the latter are acquired in a later stage than the
former, which makes them less stable. The “national/ regional” culture levels are
consequently the strongest.
Values are feelings with an arrow to it: a plus and minus side. They deal with:
•
•
Evil versus good
•
Dirty versus clean
•
Dangerous versus safe
•
Forbidden versus permitted
•
Decent versus indecent
•
Moral versus immoral
•
Ugly versus beautiful
•
Unnatural versus natural
•
Abnormal versus normal
•
Paradoxical versus logical
Irrational versus rational
Level
Gender/
National Family
Values
Social Class
Occupational
School
Industry
Practices
Organizational/
Work
Corporate
Figure 7: The learning of Values and Practices
Values are the core of the Cultural factor and usually do not change. Practices are the
manifestations of culture and are visible in symbols (like specific language) , “heroes” (
the “examples” to be followed –alive or dead) and rituals (like shaking hands every day
in France).
New practices can be learned every day (e.g. surfing the web) but these do not affect the
values at the core of cultural manifestations.

Based on the extensive field research as mentioned before, Hofstede comes to 5

dimensions of national cultures, which explain how people with the same level of
education and in similar positions may have different values, which affects their
behaviour.
• Individualism ÆÅ Collectivism (IDV)

• Power Distance High ÆÅ Low (PDI)
• Uncertainty Avoidance High ÆÅ Low (UAI)
• Masculine ÆÅ Feminine (MAS)
• Long term ÆÅ short term orientation (LTO)
Table 1: 5 Dimensions of National Cultures (Geert Hofstede: Cultures and Organizations 2005)
3.2.1 Power Distance Index (PDI)
Indicates the level of acceptance (or desire ) of inequality among people.
Small Power Distance Large Power Distance

Inequalities among people should be minimized Inequalities among people are expected and desired
Social relationships should be handled with care Status should be balanced with restraint
Parents treat children as equals Parents teach children obedience
Children treat parents and older relatives as equals Respect for parents and older relatives is a basic and
lifelong virtue
Children play no role in old-age security of parents Children are a source of old-age security to parents
Students treat teachers as equals Students give teachers respect, even outside the class
Teachers expect initiative from students in class Teachers should take all initiative in class
Teachers are experts who transfer impersonal truths Teachers are gurus who transfer personal wisdom
Quality of learning depends on two-way Quality of learning depends on excellence of teacher
communication and excellence of students
Less educated persons hold more authoritarian Both more and less educated persons show equally
values than more educated persons authoritarian values
Hierarchy in organizations means an inequality of Hierarchy in organizations reflects existential inequality
roles, established for convenience between higher and lower levels
Decentralization is popular Centralization is popular
There are fewer supervisory personnel There are more supervisory personnel
There is a narrow range of privileges between top There is a large range of privileges between top and
and bottom bottom
Managers rely on their own experience and on Managers rely on superiors and on formal rules
subordinates
Subordinates expect to be consulted Subordinates expect to be told what to do
The ideal boss is a resourceful democrat The ideal boss is s benevolent autocrat, or a “good
father”
Privileges and status symbols are frowned up Privileges and status symbols are normal and popular
Manual work has the same status as office work White-collar jobs are valued more than blue-collar jobs
The use of power should be legitimate and follow Might prevails over right: whoever holds the power is
criteria of good and evil right
All people should have equal rights The powerful should have privileges
Power is based on formal position, expertise and Power is based on tradition or family, charisma and the
ability to give rewards ability to use force
More dialogue and less violence Less dialogue and more violence
Small income differentials accepted Large income differentials accepted
The way to change a political system is by changing The way to change a political system is by changing
the rules (evolution) the people at the top (revolution)

PDI Values for the most relevant countries (shipping-related)
Country/ region Score/

Rank
Malaysia ++
Philippines ++
Russia ++
Most Central American countries ++
Arab countries ++
China ++
Indonesia ++
India ++
West Africa ++
Singapore +
Croatia +
France +
Hong Kong +
Poland +
Turkey +
Some South American countries (former Inca) +
Portugal +
Greece +
South Korea +
Taiwan +
Spain +
Pakistan +
Japan +
Italy +
South Africa -
United States -
Netherlands --
Australia --
Costa Rica --
Germany --
Great Britain --
Nordic Countries --
New Zealand --
Israel --
Table 2: Power Distance Index for a number of countries
3.2.1.1 Remarks.
Important to consider that there are regional differences, changes (like US becoming
more authoritarian, possibly due to influx of Latin Americans). History plays an important
role, in particular the history wrt the religion (Roman Empire/ Catholic church, but also
natural situation (Nordic countries : fight against nature, sparsely populated, no need for
strong central authority; Mediterranean countries: fight against others, densely
populated, need to organize against enemies). Interesting is the relative middle position
of China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. Based on the philosophy of Kong
Fu Ze (“Confucius”) there should be a balance between paying respect, obedience
(junior towards senior) and protection and consideration (senior towards junior).
Therefore in these countries people accept and appreciate inequality but feel that the
use of power should be moderated by a sense of obligation.
PDI is an important dimension, especially in combination with the next dimension:
Individualism versus Collectivism (IDV).

3.2.2 Individualism versus Collectivism
Indicates the degree of Individualism in society.
Collectivist Individualist
People are born into extended families or other in- Everyone grows up to look after himself and his or
groups that continue protecting them in exchange her immediate (nuclear) family only
for loyalty
Children learn to think in terms of “we” Children learn to think in terms of “I”
Harmony should always be maintained and direct Speaking one’s mind is a characteristic of an honest
confrontations avoided person
Friendships are predefined Friendships are voluntary and should be fostered
Resources should be shared with relatives Individual ownership of resources, even for children
High-context communication prevails (a lot can be Low-context communication prevails (things must
kept un-said) be explicitly stated)
Trespassing leads to shame and loss of face for self Trespassing leads to guilt and loss of self-respect
an group
Brides should be young, industrious and chaste; Criteria for marriage partner are not predefined
bridegrooms should be older
Use of the word “I” is avoided Use of the word “I” is encouraged
Interdependent self Independent self
On personality tests, people score more introvert On personality tests people score more extravert
Showing sadness is encouraged and showing Showing sadness is discouraged and showing
happiness discouraged happiness is encouraged
Slower walking speed Faster walking speed
Consumption patterns show dependence on others Consumption patterns show individual lifestyle
Social network is the primary source of information Media is primary source of information
A smaller share of both private and public income is A larger share of both private and public income is
spent on health care spent on healthcare
Disabled persons are a shame on the family and Disabled persons should participate as much as
should be kept out of sight possible in normal day-to-day activities
The purpose of education is learning how to do The purpose of education is how to learn
Diplomas provide entry to higher status groups Diplomas increase economic worth and/or self
respect
Occupational mobility is lower Occupational mobility is higher
Employees are members of in-groups who will Employees are “economic” men who will pursue the
pursue their in-group’s interest employer’s interest of it coincides with own goals
Relationship prevail over task Task prevail over relationship
In-group customers get better treatment Every customer should get the same treatment
(particularism) (universalism)
Management is management of groups Management is management of individuals
Direct appraisal of subordinates spoils harmony Management training teaches the honest sharing of
feelings
The employer-employee relationship is basically The employer-employee relationship is a contract
moral, like a family link between parties on a labour market
Hiring and promotion decisions take an employee’s Hiring and promotion decisions are supposed to be
in-group into account based on skills and rules only
Harmony and consensus in society are ultimate Self-actualization by every individual is an ultimate
goals goal
Private life is invaded by group(s) Everyone has a right to privacy
Opinions are predetermined by group membership Everyone is expected to have a private opinion
Collective interests prevail over individual interests Individual interests prevail over collective interests
Companies are owned by families or collectives Joint stock companies are owned by individual
investors
Ideologies of equality prevail over ideologies of Ideologies of individual freedom prevail over
individual freedom ideologies of equality
Dominant role of the state in economy Restrained role of state in economy
Patriotism is the ideal Autonomy is the ideal


Rank
United States ++
Australia ++
Great Britain ++
Netherlands ++
New Zealand ++
Italy ++
Denmark ++
France ++
Sweden ++
Norway, Ireland +
Germany +
South Africa +
Finland, Estonia +
Poland +
Israel +
Spain +
India -
Japan -
Russia -
Arab countries -
Turkey -
Greece -
Croatia -
Philippines -
Portugal --
Malaysia --
Hong Kong --
China --
Singapore --
West Africa --
South Korea --
Indonesia, Pakistan --
Table 3: Individualism (IDV) index for a number of countries
3.2.2.1 Remarks
Collectivism is the rule in our world and individualism is the exception. The tendency to
say “yes” is typical for strong collectivist societies. Yes, should not necessarily be seen
as an approval, but as maintenance of the line of communication: “yes, I heard you” is
the meaning it has in Japan.
The loyalty top the group that is an essential element of the collectivist family also means
that resources are shared. It may lead to –what in individualistic countries is considered-
nepotism. Collectivist cultures are “shame” cultures, whereas individualist cultures are
“guilt” cultures. Suppose somebody infringes upon the rules of the society. Shame is
social in nature, guilt individual; whether shame is felt depends on if the infringement has
become known to others. This becoming known is more a source of shame than the
infringement itself (“Losing face”) . Such is not the case for guilt, which is felt whether or
not the misdeed is known by others.
More impact this dimension has on the concept of “personality”. Personality in the West
is a separate entity, distinct from society and culture –an attribute of the individual. This
is also the way we approach this concept in this course. In the Chinese language there is
no equivalent for this word in the Western sense. Nevertheless, there is a generally

accepted list of 5 dominant separate and useful dimensions of personality variation (the
so-called Gig Five): (OCEAN)
O: Openness to experience versus rigidity

C: Conscientiousness versus undependability
E: Extraversion versus introversion
A: Agreeableness versus ill-temperedness
N: Neuroticism versus emotional stability
Another interesting issue is composing crews. It often makes sense to put persons from
the same ethnic background into one crew, but individualistically programmed managers
usually consider this dangerous and want to do the opposite. Management of collectivist
society is management of groups, whereas management in an individualistic society is
management of individuals. In the shipping industry, the majority of shipping companies
are based in the western world, but the majority of sea going staff is from collectivist
cultures. This has to be taken into account in particular when Chinese crews will become
more common in the future. Performance has to be demonstrated individually (like the
OOW on the bridge), but to discuss individual performance with someone from a
collectivist culture should be done in a way to avoid loss of face. In individualist societies
the norm is that one should treat everybody alike. This is called “universalism”. In
collectivist societies the reverse is true. There is a distinction between “our group” and
“other groups”. This is called particularism. In the collectivist society the personal
relationship prevails over the task and should be established first (get accepted to the
in-group) which is completely the opposite in the individualistic societies, where the task
is supposed to prevail over any personal relationship. Hence the discussion about
“nepotism”.
The individualist/ collectivist dimension is a powerful and often hard to handle dimension
in interpersonal relationships, but is makes sense to become familiar with it. This is
especially the case in the modern shipping industry.
3.2.2.2 Power distance versus Individualism
The relationship (matrix) between the 2 previous dimensions lead to interesting

conclusions:
• High IDV versus Low PDI: includes modern (north-) western countries like UK,
There are 4 sectors in the Matrix:
• High IDV versus High PDI: includes France, Belgium Fr, and Poland.
US, Nordic, Netherlands, Germany, Australia, NZ
• Low IDV and High PDI: majority of the other countries, including Far East, India,
• Low IDV and Low PDI: is the exception of which Costa Rica is the most
Philippines, Indonesia, South America, Greece, Croatia, Turkey, Arab countries
outspoken example (personalismo: no army, LA most firmly rooted democracy)
Interesting is France, where the prevailing view of authority is still that of absolutism, but
the individualism is relatively strong also. These two dimensions however have been
reconciled within its bureaucratic system since impersonal rules and centralization make
it possible to combine an absolutist conception of authority and the elimination of most
direct dependence relationships. Of Belgium it is often stated that the Belgian state is

poor but its inhabitants are rich, whereas the opposite should be true in the northern part
of the “Netherlands”.
_ Most LA countries
Pak
Costa R Indonesia
S.Korea
Taiwan Ch;Sing;Wafr
Malay
Port
Mex
Gr/Tur Phil
Croa
Arab
Rus
Arg Jap
Ind
Sp
Isr
IDV Est
Fin
SAfr
Ger
Ire
Nor/Sw
Denm Fr/B
NZ It
NL/Can
GB
+ Aus US
PDI +
-
Figure 8: Power Distance (PDI) versus Individualism (IDV)
3.2.3 Masculinity – Femininity as a social dimension
A society is called masculine when emotional gender roles are clearly distinct: men are
supposed to be assertive, tough and focused on material success. Whereas women are
supposed to be more modest, tender, and concerned with the quality of life
A society is called feminine when emotional gender roles overlap: both men and women
are supposed to be modest, tender, and concerned with the quality of life.
Compared with the two previous dimensions, where there is a clear relationship to
national wealth (more individualistic, less power distance Æ generally higher level of
income per capita), this dimension shows no relationship with national wealth.
There is a certain correlation with climate and a history of trade. The concentration of
feminine cultures in north-western Europe (Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, and
Sweden) points to common historical factors. The elites in these countries consisted to a
large extend of traders and seafarers. In trading and sailing, maintaining good
interpersonal relationships and caring for the ships and the merchandise are essential
virtues. There is also a religious component; those with a strong distinction between the
gender roles (like Roman Catholic and Muslim) and those where this is less distinct
(Protestant). History also plays a role in Latin American cultures as far as this dimension
is concerned. Peru and Chile inherited the less militant Inca culture. Similarly, Yucatan
and the adjacent central American republics inherited the Maya culture, resembling the
Inca, whereas most of Mexico inherited the tough Aztec culture.

In the following list, the characteristics of both sides are displayed.
Feminine Masculine
Relationships and quality of life are important Challenge, earnings, recognition, and advancement
are important
Both men and women should be modest Men should be assertive, ambitious and tough
Both men and women can be tender and focus on Women are supposed to be tender and take care of
relationships relationships
In the family both fathers and mothers deal with In the family fathers deal with facts and mothers
facts and feelings with feelings
Boys and girls play for the same reasons Boys play to compete, girls to be together
Bridegrooms and brides are held to the same Brides need to be chaste and industrious, grooms
standards don’t
Husbands should be like boyfriends Husbands should be healthy, wealthy, and
understanding, and boyfriends should be fun
Single standard: both sexes are subjects Double standards: men are subjects, women
objects
Homosexuality is considered a fact of life Homosexuality is considered a threat to society
Sexual harassment is a minor issue Sexual harassment is a big issue
Average student is the norm; praise for weak Best student is the norm; praise for excellent
students students
Jealousy of those who try to excel Competition in class; trying to excel
Failing in school is a minor incident Failing in school is a disaster
Competitive sports are extracurricular Competitive sports are part of the curriculum
Children are socialized to be non aggressive Aggression by children is accepted
Students underrate their own performance: ego- Students overrate their own performance: ego-
effacement boosting
Friendliness in teachers is appreciated Brilliance in teachers is admired
Job choice is based on intrinsic interest Job choice is base on career opportunities
Women and men teach young children Women teach young children
More products for the home are sold More status products are sold
Management : intuition and consensus Management: decisive and aggressive
Resolution of conflicts by compromise and Resolution of conflicts by letting the strongest win
negotiation
Rewards are based on equality Rewards are based on equity
Preference for smaller organizations Preference for larger organizations
People work in order to live People live in order to work
More leisure time is preferred over more money More money is preferred over more leisure time
Careers are optional for both genders Careers are compulsory for men, optional for
women
A higher share of working women in professional A lower share of working women in professional
jobs jobs
Humanization of work by contact and cooperation Humanization of work by job content enrichment
Competitive agriculture and service industries Competitive manufacturing and bulk chemistry
Welfare society ideal: help for the needy Performance society ideal: support for the strong
Permissive society Corrective society
The environment should be preserved; small is The economy should continue growing; big is
beautiful beautiful
Dominant religions stress complementarities of the Dominant religions stress the male prerogative
sexes
International conflicts should be resolved by International conflicts should be resolved by a show
negotiation and compromise or the use of strength
Politics are based on coalitions, polite political Political game adversarial, with frequent
manners mudslinging


Rank
Japan ++
Venezuela/ Mexico ++
Italy ++
Ireland +
China +
Germany +
Great Britain +
Philippines +
Poland +
United States +
Australia +
New Zealand +
Greece +
Hong Kong +
India +
Arab countries +
Canada +
Malaysia +
Pakistan +
Singapore -
Israel -
Indonesia -
West Africa -
Taiwan -
Turkey -
France -
Spain -
Croatia -
South Korea -
Russia -
Portugal -
Finland/ Estonia --
Chile --
Costa Rica --
Denmark --
Netherlands --
Norway --
Sweden --
Table 4: Ranking of grade of Masculinity (MAS)
Apart from the relative degree of masculinity (MAS), the confrontation between this
dimension and Individualism (IDV) and MAS versus PDI are interesting.
For the most relevant countries, this has been displayed in figures 5 and 6.

Latin American countries spread

_
Costa R Indonesia
S.Korea
Sing
Taiwan China
Malay
Port Mex
Gr
Phil
Croa
Iur
Rus Arab
Jap
Arg
Ind
Sp
Isr
IDV Est
Fin
SAfr
Ger
Ire
Nor/Sw
Denm
Fr
NZ
It
NL Can
GB
+ Aus US
MAS +
-
Figure 9: Individualism versus Masculinity
Nor/Sw
_
NL
Denm
Costa R
Fin
Chile
Est
Port
Rus
Croa
Sp S.Korea Fr
West Afr
Taiwan Iur Indonesia
Isr
Sing
Malay
Can Arab
Ind
MAS NZ
Arg
Gr
HK
Aus
US
Phil
Ger GB SAfr
Ire Pol
China
It Colomb
Mex
Venez
Jap
+
PDI +
-
Figure 10: Power Distance versus Masculinity

3.2.4 Uncertainty Avoidance
Weak UAI Strong UAI

Uncertainty is a normal feature of life, and each day The uncertainty inherent in life is a continuous threat
is accepted as it comes that must be fought
Low stress and low anxiety High stress and high anxiety
Aggression and emotions should not be shown Aggression and emotions may at proper times and
places be ventilated
In personality tests, higher scores on agreeableness In personality tests, higher scores on neuroticism
Comfortable in ambiguous situations and with Acceptance of familiar risks; fear of ambiguous
unfamiliar risk situations and of unfamiliar risks
Lenient rules for children on what is dirty and taboo Firm rules for children on what is dirty and taboo
Weak superegos developed Strong superegos developed
Similar modes of address for different others Different modes of address for different others
What is different is curious What is different is dangerous
Family life is relaxed Family life is dangerous
In affluent Western countries, more children In affluent Western countries, fewer children
People have fewer worries about health and money People have more worries about health and money
People have more heart attacks People have fewer heart attacks
There are many nurses, but few doctors There are many doctors but few nurses
Teachers may say: “I don’t know” Teachers are supposed to have all the answers
Results are attributed to a person’s own ability Results are attributed to circumstances or luck
Teachers involve parents Teachers inform parents
In shopping the search is for convenience In shopping the search is for purity and cleanliness
Used cars, do-it-yourself home repairs New cars, home repairs by experts
There is a fast acceptance of new products and There is a hesitance toward new products and
technologies, like e-mail and internet technologies
Risky investments Conservative investments
Appeal of humour in advertising Appeal of expertise in advertising
More changes of employer, shorter service Fewer changes of employer, longer service
There should be no more rules than necessary There is an emotional need for rules, even if these
will not work
Hard work only when needed There is an emotional need to be busy and an inner
urge to work hard
Time is a framework for orientation Time is money
There is a tolerance for ambiguity and chaos There is a need for precision and formalization
Belief in generalists and common sense Belief in experts and technical solutions
Top managers are concerned with strategy Top managers are concerned with daily operations
Entrepreneurs are relatively free from rules Entrepreneurs are constrained by existing rules
There are fewer self employed people There are more self-employed people
Better at invention, worse at implementation Better at implementation, worse at invention
Motivation by achievement and esteem or belonging Motivation by security and esteem or belonging
Few and general laws or unwritten rules Many and precise laws or unwritten rules
If laws cannot be respected, they should be Laws are necessary, even if they cannot be
changed respected
Liberalism Conservatism, law and order
Positive attitudes toward young people Negative attitude toward young people
Citizens are interested in politics Citizens are not interested in politics
More ethnic tolerance Less ethnic tolerance
Positive or neutral toward foreigners Xenophobia
One religion’s truth should not be imposed on others In religion, there is only one Truth and we have it
Government by Law Government of man
Defensive nationalism Aggressive nationalism


Rank
Greece ++
Portugal ++
Belgium ++
Russia ++
Poland ++
Japan ++
Peru, Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica ++
France ++
Spain ++
South Korea ++
Turley ++
Mexico ++
Israel ++
Croatia ++
Colombia, Venezuela ++
Italy +
Pakistan +
Taiwan +
Arab countries +
Germany +
Finland and Estonia -
West Africa -
Netherlands -
Australia -
Norway -
New Zealand -
South Africa -
Canada -
Indonesia -
US -
Philippines -
India -
Malaysia -
Great Britain, Ireland -
China -
Hong Kong --
Sweden --
Denmark
Singapore
Table 5: Ranking of Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI) scores
The key word in this respect is: “Anxiety”, which should not be confused with fear.
Anxiety has no object, it is a state of being uneasy or worried about what may happen,
whereas fear has an object to be afraid about. Anxious cultures tend to be expressive
cultures. They are the places where people talk with their hands, where it is socially
acceptable to raise one’s voice, to show one’s emotions, to pound the table. Japan
seems to be an exception, but here is the outlet of getting drunk among colleagues after
working hours. Uncertainty avoidance should also not be confused with risk avoidance;
risk is related to a specific scenario, uncertainty not. UA leads to reduction of ambiguity,
not necessarily to reduction of risk. In courses and at school German people (high UAI)
prefer structured learning situations with precise objectives, detailed assignments and
strict timetables. They liked situations in which there was one correct answer that they
could find. Most British however despise too much structure and do not believe in one

single correct answer. They expected originality. The urge for expertise leads also to
more university degrees in Germany , compared with US and Great Britain.
The countries with a high UAI have more and detailed rules; in France for instance
people tend to accept strict rules, which do not always mean these are complied with ( a
strict rule, but a lenient practice)
It does not always mean a high level of discipline, because this can be an unwritten rule,
like in UK were people stand in a queue for buses and stops, without being told.
3.2.4.1 Uncertainty avoidance and Masculinity
Sing
_
Denm
China
Malay
GB
Ire
Ind
US
Can
SAfr
NZ Phil
Nor/Sw Indonesia
Aus
NL
Fin
Est
Arab
Taiwan Ger
UAI
Croa Isr
It
S.Korea Iur
Fr
Mex
Sp
Costa R
Rus
Jap
Port
+ Gr
MAS +
-
Figure 11: Masculinity versus Uncertainty Avoidance
In the top right hand corner the motivation for achievement and esteem is highest; in the
upper-left hand corner the motivation for achievement and belongingness; in the right
lower hand corner the motivation for security and esteem and on the lower-left corner
motivation for security and belongingness.
This has its impact on the classical motivation theories, we will explain in Chapter 4.
3.2.4.2 Uncertainty Avoidance and Individualism
In countries with strong UAI, there tend to be more and more precise laws than in those
with a weak UAI. The effect of the UAI on a society’s legislation depends also on its
degree of individualism. In strong UAI countries, with strong IDV (low-context
communities), rules will tend to be more explicit, than in countries with equal UAI, but a
lower degree of individualism (like Japan). Lees written rules, but many unwritten “rules”,
often complicated for the outsider, only understood by the in-group.

A high score on UAI also indicates a tendency for aggressive nationalism; in combination
with collectivist particularism ( weak IDV) this may lead to oppression of minorities
(Turkey, Russia, Serbia and Arab countries are examples).
About the origins of uncertainty avoidance there are several theories; one theory is the
connection with the former Roman Empire, which introduced a strong legislation to keep
all the different tribes together: government by law.
_ Indonesia LA Countries
Pak
Costa R
Sing China Taiwan
HK
Malay
Port
Mex
Phil
Croa Gr
Tur
Arab
Rus
Jap
Arg
Ind
Sp
Isr
IDV Est
Fin
SAfr
Ire Nor
Sw Ger
Denm
Fr/B
NZ It
NL/Can
GB
Aus
+ US
UAI +
-
Figure 12: Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI) versus Individualism (IDV)
3.2.5 Long-term Orientation
The fifth dimension of culture is long-term orientation (LTO) which stands for the
fostering of virtues oriented toward future rewards –in particular, perseverance and thrift
(saving for the future). Its opposite pole, short-term orientation, stands for the fostering of
virtues related to the past and the present –in particular, respect for tradition,
preservation of “face” and fulfilling social obligations.
There is a strong connection with religion. The three religions: Judaism, Christianity and
Islam are based on a Book. The book stands for the truth. It is important to believe in the
truth. Eastern religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Shintoism and Taoism) are not based on a
book, in which the “truth” can be found. They offer a way in which a person can improve
him-or herself; however, these do not consist in believing, but in ritual, meditation or
ways of living. In these religions there is no obsession with “truth”, but with what one
does. According to J.Campbell in his comparative study of religions, Judaism,
Christianity and Islam separate matter of spirit (basically an ancient Greek concept).
While Eastern religions and philosophers have kept them integrated. Virtue in stead of
Truth. Being good is not good enough for short-term oriented cultures. In a culture that
believes in absolute criteria for good and evil, it is difficult to be satisfied with one’s own

efforts at doing good. The Western concern with Truth is supported by an axiom in
Western logic that statement excludes its opposite: if A is true, B (being the opposite of
A) must be false. Eastern logic does not have such an axiom. If A is true, its opposite B
may also be true and together they produce a wisdom superior to either A or B.
The western search for truth stimulated analytical thinking and eastern virtue, synthetic
thinking.
Chinese scholars, despite their high level of civilization, never discovered Newton’s laws.
They were simply not looking for laws
The western cultures excel in developing and inventing new technologies, the eastern
cultures are extremely good in putting these into practices (like the Japanese quality
circles, based on Deming’s principles, never applied to the same extend in the US,
where it was invented).
Short term orientation in combination with lack of knowledge and education, as presently
found in most African countries, leads to serious problems. Africans do not attribute
effects to causes obvious to outsiders. An example was the initial refusal of President
Mbeki of South Africa to recognize the link between HIV contagion and AIDS (he
changed his mind in 2000).
A few statements in this respect
Short term orientation Long term orientation

Talent for theoretical, abstract sciences Talent for applied, concrete sciences
Less good at mathematics and at solving formal Good at mathematics and at solving formal
problems problems
Students attribute success and failure to luck Students attribute success to effort and failure to
lack of it
Children get gifts for fun Children get gifts for education and development
Old age is an unhappy period but it starts late Old age is a happy period and it starts early
Preschool children can be cared for by others Mothers should have time for their pre-school
children
Birth order is not a matter of status Older children in the family have authority over
younger children
Main work values include freedom, rights, Main work values include learning, honesty,
achievement, and thinking for oneself adaptiveness, accountability and self-discipline
Leisure time is important Leisure time is not important
Focus is on bottom line Focus is on market position
Importance of this year’s profits Importance of profits 10 years from now
Managers and workers are psychologically in two Owner-managers and workers share the same
camps aspirations
Meritocracy, reward by abilities Wide social and economic differences are
undesirable
Personal loyalties vary with business needs Investment in lifelong personal networks
Small savings quote, little money for investment Large savings quote, funds available for investment
Investment in mutual funds Investment in real estate
Concern with possessing the Truth Concern with respecting the demands of Virtue
There are universal guidelines about what is good What is good and evil depends upon the
and evil circumstances
Higher rates of imprisonment Lower rates of imprisonment
Matter and spirit are separated Matter and spirit are integrated
If A is true, its opposite B must be false If A is true, its opposite B can also be true
Priority given to abstract rationality Priority given to common sense
There is a need for cognitive consistency Disagreement does not hurt
Analytical thinking Synthetic thinking
Place for fundamentalism due to obsession for truth No place for fundamentalism, truth is not important

Scores of Long-term Orientation

Rank
China ++
Hong Kong ++
Taiwan ++
Japan ++
South Korea ++
India +
Singapore +
Denmark ++
Netherlands -
Norway -
Ireland -
Finland -
France -
Italy -
Sweden -
Poland -
Australia -
Germany -
New Zealand -
Portugal --
US --
Great Britain --
Canada --
Philippines --
Spain --
Nigeria --
Pakistan --
Table 6: Ranking on Long term Orientation (LTO)
3.2.6 Power Distance versus Uncertainty Avoidance
The last matrix includes PDI and UAI, which presents a picture especially relevant for
organization thinking. In this matrix we find also the classical comparison between
French, British, German and Chinese way of organizing.
In an organization, there was a discussion between the Sales Manager and the
Production Manager about the way production should be arranged. The competition with
cheap Far East products required a new strategy. The Sales Manager wished a short
term reaction on the demands from the market, which would lead to frequent production
line adaptations. The Production manager wished to maintain an efficient and smooth
running production; hence he preferred long term changes of the production.
French students decided that the top manager should take the decision to settle the
case. This characterizes the French for thinking in terms of a “pyramid of people”.
The Germans found the organization structure should be adapted; they perceive
organizations as well-oiled machinery; not too much intervention of the hierarchy but
good and clear procedures. The British found this a case where human relations had to
be improved. The heads of department should improve their negotiating skills. In their
view organizations are a kind of “village markets” in which neither hierarchy nor rules but
rather the demands of the situation determine what will happen. We will discuss

organizations in the next chapter, but the last interface of the factors PDI and UAI give a
striking view of the consequences of cultural differences between several cultures. The
last group is in the top-right section, where such conflicts would be solved in a more
personal, paternalistic way. The organization is more like a large “family” of which the
owner-manager is the almighty (grand)father.
Market Sing
Family
_
Denm
HK
Sweden China
Malay
GB
Ire
India
US
Can Phil
SAfr
NZ Aus
Nor Indonesia
NL
W.Afr
Fin
Est
Ger
Taiwan Arab
UAI
It Venez
Iur Croa
S.Korea
Isr Fr
Mex
Sp Poland
Argent
Costa R
Jap
Rus
Port
Machine Pyramid
+ Gr
PDI +
-
Figure 13: Power Distance versus Uncertainty Avoidance
3.3 Personality, Character, Attitudes
Several factors are decisive for the way people act, behave under certain conditions.
Values are the input for attitudes and based upon Culture. Apart from national/ regional
cultures, values are also derived from sub-cultures related to gender, age, social group,
profession and possibly work environment.
Seafarers have something in common, especially after a couple of years of international
confrontation with other cultures. This could be seen as a kind of “professional” culture;
there is a difference between “the” average farmer, the average teacher, the average
policeman, the average seafarer.
Values are “learned” (nurture), whereas Personality is innate (nature). Personality is a
concept, difficult to grasp, but it explains at least, why 2 individuals of the same age,
nationality, social level, gender etc. act and think differently in the same conditions.
Personality is a deduction of what can be observed. We consider Character the more
permanent aspect of personality, other parts may develop or change gradually over the
time. There is a consensus regarding the Big Five, as mentioned in Paragraph 3.2.2.1.
There is also a consensus about the fact that Attitudes are determined by mainly three
factors: Values, Experience (self or from others) and Personality. A positive attitude
towards a certain activity helps to get it done. It may result in motivation for the job,

although Motivation is the result of Perception and Attitude. Attitude is heavily affected
by cultural factors, so is motivation.
To give an example. An OOW of eastern Asiatic origin is on the bridge together with the
Master and the Pilot, whilst making landfall.
The Master is a 60 years old Nordic type, who expects people to take initiative if needed.
The Pilot is French and very well aware of his position of authority on board.
The OOW fixes a position in the chart at the Master’s request and is in doubt about the
position being correct, as both Master and Pilot seem to know where the ship is. If his
position is correct, the ship may run on a shoal.
He hesitates about warning one of the “senior” people on the bridge, long enough to see
the ship running aground.
Analysing the case, the conclusion could be:
Attitude of OOW, as a result of his cultural background (respect for authority, fear to
loose face if his conclusion would be wrong) is fear and uncertainty about his position fix.
This attitude has been reinforced by former experiences with other captains, when he
brought up some –at the time incorrect- remarks. He also heard of colleagues who had a
clash with pilots, when they criticised their decisions. His personality is a bit introvert,
nervous and docile. Given his limited experience, he “opts” for the easiest solution;
probably his position fix was wrong (perception). His motivation to warn master or pilot,
who are chatting like 2 highly experienced members of the in-group of old boys is
therefore very low. Apart from this his knowledge (capacities) of position fixing is not yet
at the highest level, as he is used to rely on electronic equipment alone and the Master
told him to take a visual bearing.
Actual behaviour: does nothing to warn responsible staff, consequence: ship runs
aground.
Although it is useful to distinguish the different psychological factors in this mental chain,
it is not practical to perform such an analysis on a daily basis. The only things we wish to
know is: What was the actual behaviour and what are the relevant behaviour factors in
terms of “competencies” . These may include attitudes, personality factors (permanent or
not) and capacities (Intelligence: Social. Emotional and Analytical, Knowledge and other
Skills, physical, psychological etc)
Would the OOW have been selected, monitored, evaluated and coached according to a
fixed set of Competencies (like: Initiative and resolution), he would have expressed his
opinion and most likely the Master would have taken the right decision.
Regardless the psychological factors involved, only the final behaviour makes the
difference. On the other hand, it makes sense, to take such factors as: motivation,
culture, attitude, capacities and personality into consideration when deciding the best
way to recruit, select, monitor, coach, appraise and develop personnel. It is good to
know, that certain cultures display certain characteristics, like the answer “no” is not the
first to expect from Philippino junior officer at a question of a superior.
In present day practice, the emphasis lies on verification of (theoretical) knowledge,

which is often the least of the concerns of senior staff. Lack of knowledge is usually easy
to detect and may be corrected by additional training (provided it is not a serious lack of
knowledge). Other factors however cannot be solved by training; a shy and fearful
individual, who is afraid of expressing his opinion may appear to be unfit for a duty as
officer on watch and should not be hired in the first place. Modern shipping is a field of
work where people have to act independently and effectively.

Chapter 4: Organizing

4 Organizing; The 7-S model of Mc Kinsey
4.1 Introduction
For every enterprise 3 steps have to be taken: Identify the objectives for your company;
arrange your organization as an instrument needed to achieve your objectives; execute
the predefined plan accordingly.
Organizing is about the second step. It is creating conditions; ensure there is a

appropriate plan of action which indicates how the predefined goals should be achieved,
ensure the is well trained, educated and motivated personnel capable and willing to
execute this plan, ensure an effective and efficient arrangement w.r.t. roles,
responsibilities and authority, establish adequate systems to coordinate and control the
activities, apply a proper style of management and stimulate an own company culture in
which people feel at home.
According to Peters & Waterman (McKinsey) there are 7 organization elements:
Strategy: How to achieve the predefined goals; plan of action (sometimes called: “policy”).
The “Passage Planning” of the organization.
Style (of Management): The behaviour patterns, which are typical for managers in the
organization; leadership styles.
Staff: Human resources (individual/ team); personnel strength; motivation; turnover;
manpower etc.
Skills: The available knowledge, experience, and skills in the organization (this refers to
capacities). This may refer to individual skills but also to organization skills/ experience.
Structure: The roles, responsibilities, authorities and interrelations. Both formal and informal
Systems: How to control activities, processes and resources. Information systems, quality-
safety management systems, procedures. The formal standards, which have to be applied,
complied with.
Shared Values: The organization “culture”; the actual behaviour of people as a result of
internal and external, implicit and explicit ideas, values and standards. The way things are
done in day to day life/ work
For practical reasons, we combine Staff and Skills, although being different elements.
7 S Model (Peters & Waterman)
Structure
Strategy Systems
Shared
Values
Skills Style
Staff
“Hard”
“Soft”
Figure 14: The 7-S Model (Mc Kinsey)

4.2 Strategy
Strategy is basically the plan of action, How to achieve the objectives. There may be a
strategy at multinational, national, division, department level. In shipping terms this may
be at Company level, but also at shipboard level.
It always covers a longer period, but there are no clear limits. Every organization, big or
small has a strategy. This may be explicit or implicit.
Even if there is no clear statement of how the goals will be achieved, choices are made
on a daily basis, which reveal a strategy.
The ISM Code states that a “policy” or policies shall follow the Objectives, given in
clause 1, “how” the Company wishes to achieve the objectives. This, basically is the
strategy of the Company with respect to her Safety and Environmental Protection
objectives. But there may be policies also on more detailed areas, like: technical
management, human resources management and chartering activities.
One of the most useful methods to prepare a strategy is to perform a so-called SWOT
analysis, in which the S means Strengths, W = Weaknesses, O = Opportunities and T=
Threats.
The internal analysis of the organization identifies the S and the W, whereas the external
analysis of the market/ environment leads to the O and T.
The difference between strategic and operational planning is:
Strategic planning: to do the right things (effectiveness)

Operational planning: to do the things right (efficiency)
The External analysis is focused at changes in the industry, new legislation, new
attitudes of the public (e.g. regarding environmental issues), new issues like security,
requirements of customers, development of the market for bulk, general cargo,
containers, oil etc.
One of the very reasons for people attending training courses is precisely to become
familiar with the external factors, which may affect their business and there strategy.
The Internal analysis is dealing with figures, performance indicators, benchmarking,

identification and evaluation of the most relevant, characteristic features of the
organization.
Strengths and weaknesses are relative; it remains a matter of comparison with
competitors. A high turnover rate of staff may be felt as a weakness if the external
analysis indicates a growing need for familiarity with specific company-related policies.
It will be obvious that any change in the external factors (e.g. new legislation) may have
consequences for the strategy of the organization. It is like traffic obstructions; if the road
ahead suddenly is blocked, you have to find another –alternative- route towards your
destination. Not only will the strategy be affected, but all the remaining elements also.
The 7-S model has three basic principles
Balance: All elements have equal value

Coherence: Changes in one element affects other elements
Heterogeneous: Consists of Formal and Informal aspects

A good example is the ISM Code. Although some companies tried to “drop” it in the
organization, this did not work. It affected all the elements and all elements left their
mark in other elements also. For instance the introduction of incident reporting requires
training and change of attitude of staff (on board and ashore), another style of
management (no blame; not who, but why?), changes in responsibilities and authorities
(Management Company’s responsibility); in the new relations between shore-based and
ship-board personnel, in procedures, instructions and reporting etc.
4.2.1 Relevance of Culture
Strategy is supposed to be the answer to the question: How to achieve the goals? In this
context it is very interesting to consider the type of goals, as a function of national
culture.
From international comparative research in 7 countries it appeared that the six most
important goals perceived by successful business leaders show sometimes big
differences.
In table 7 these are summarized.
In this respect, it is important to have a closer look at the role of money. Money has no
intrinsic value; it means different things to different people. For example, it means
something else in the culture of accountants than in the culture of bankers. There is a
strong connection with the Masculinity index and the Long Time orientation.
In the modern –western culture dominated- market, short term profit is one of the first
goals to achieve. This makes strategy decisions heavily cost/ benefit based and leads to
job uncertainty and frequent change of employers.
4.2.2. Shipping Strategies
Strategy in the Shipping Industry is driven by mainly external factors. If external factors
(like market, legislation, public opinion etc) change, the company has to review her
strategy accordingly. Apart from this, it is strongly budget-driven. Owners demand
revenue and are becoming more and more distant from the day to day practice. This
puts Management Companies under pressure to cut cost. Given the strict regulations
w.r.t. technical maintenance and equipment (Flag State, Port State, Class, and Vetting
Inspections), the tendency to cut cost in the work force on board ships is high.
Especially in the tanker and off-shore market there is a strong development towards
additional certification (e.g. ISO 9000, 14000, OHSAS 18000) and self assessment
(OCIMF TMSA program), on which Companies have to react
Other changes are in the Legislation, which is still going on; after the ISM Code, the
ISPS Code was introduced and new environmental protection legislation has been
adopted.
Generally spoken, shipping companies cannot maintain reacting on new developments
only, a proactive approach is required and modernization of the organization.

Statements & Country Scores on 5

dimensions
United States: PDI L
The Executive IDV HH
Growth of the business MAS H
This years profits
UAI L
Personal wealth
Power LTO LL
Staying within the law
Respecting ethical norms
Britain / New Zealand: PDI L

The Manager IDV HH
This year’s profits MAS H
Staying within the law
UAI L
Responsibility toward employees
Continuity of the business LTO LL
Patriotism, national pride
Respecting ethical norms
India: PDI H
The Family Manager IDV M
Continuity of the business MAS H
Family interests
UAI L
Personal wealth LTO H
Profits, ten years from now
This years profits
Latin countries: PDI H

The Family Entrepreneur IDV L
Family interests MAS H
Personal wealth
UAI H
Power
This year’s profits LTO L
Game and gambling spirit
Growth of the business
Hong Kong: PDI H

The Entrepreneur IDV L
Profits ten years from now MAS H
Creating something new
UAI L
Game and gambling spirit
Growth of the business LTO HH
Honour, face, reputation
Personal wealth
Netherlands: PDI L
The Founder IDV H
Responsibility toward employees MAS L
Responsibility toward society
UAI L
Creating something new
Game and gambling spirit LTO L
Continuity of the business
China PDI H
The Mandarin IDV LL
Respecting ethical norms MAS H
UAI L
Power LTO HH
Responsibility toward society
Profits ten years from now
Table 7: 6 most important perceived goals

The TMSA program includes a number of topics which up-to now was never raised, like:
staff retention, auditing crewing agencies, traineeship in the company’s shore based
organization, but also issues like: Risk Assessment and Management of Change.
In the US and European shore-based industry this type of modernization has already
taken place and wide experience has been gained with effective and less effective
systems.
As the shipping industry (similar to the introduction of risk management) is confronted
with this kind of innovation with a “delay” of 10-20 years, it is in a position of learn from
what was already experienced in the shore based industry and give it a good start.
Type of trade; Concentration (e.g. chemical tankers) or Diversification

Policies; e.g.: New fleet or 2nd hand; In-company or subcontracted services; “Criteria” for
management agreements, Compliance “policy” (implicit) or QHSE-policy (explicit); Maintenance
Standards; Stability or growth
Consequences for e.g.: Structure (delegated tasks); Staff (short contracts, retention); Skills
(proficiency); Shared Values (team building; company culture); Systems (QSHE effects); Style
(indirectly via e.g. systems, skills, staff)
Traditionally: shipping is compliance culture: “let me do my own job and tell me what I have to do to
satisfy the authorities”.
Modern Strategy: shipping should become more proactive, involved in the society; “splendid isolation”
is past history; the harsh competition requires pro-active and interactive (ship/shore) policies.
Figure 14: Examples of Shipping Policies
4.3 Systems
The key word of systems is “control”. Control as an objective and managing as an

activity. Managing safety, managing quality, managing resources. All the managing
activities have one thing in common. They work according to the management circle.
The management circle consists of the following steps:
Identify work processes

Identify process steps and critical steps
Define Input, Output and required Resources
Identify what may go wrong and why
Plan preventive action (activities, resources, procedures, instructions )
Implement this in the organization
Monitor effectiveness (partly by analyzing non-conformities)
Correct if needed
This requires systems to be flexible and dynamic.

Systems also need to deal mainly with the “critical” areas (critical tasks, processes and
equipment.
And finally, systems should be organizational realistic; in accordance with the way the
organization “thinks” and acts; consequently systems should deal with task aspects
which can really be influenced by the employees
Many systems have been dropped in the organization (manual copied from others) and
appeared to be completely ineffective and sterile. Systems have to be “operated” by
personnel and should fit in their daily routines in a natural way. If this it not the case, the
motivation, required for performing the related tasks, will remain absent and the

effectiveness will be low or- in some cases- negative. Compare with the effect of a
“punctuality-action”, which often costs more than a simple strike.
For this reason it is important to ensure strong involvement of the “users” when a system
is under development. For most of the people affected by new systems and related
activities, the first impression is usually something like: “There we go again, another of
these inventions of one or another freak ashore”.
And in fact, most of the specialists, who may be very happy with having developed a
new tool of management, consider this as an achievement. For them it is the objective,
which has been achieved. But this is not necessarily so for the user; for him it is often
just an additional task, which probably will take a lot of his precious time and create
additional paperwork.
Systems are playing an important role in the changing organization reality in shipping,
but this requires attention for staff (motivational aspects), skills (how to work with them),
structure (what are the consequences for roles, responsibilities etc), style of
management (more participation and co-operation, two way communication) and shared
values (what kind of people do we need?).
4.3.1 Systems in Shipping:
The Management systems which have been made either mandatory (ISM) or
encouraged by customers, charters (ISO 900/14000/OHSAS 18000) have a strong
impact on the other elements.
It appeared that many shipping companies just “dropped” a “system” (rather a couple of
manuals + checklists) on board and later complained, that “ISM is not working”
ISM has a stronger impact on the overall organization, the culture, the policies, human
resources, skill development, style of management than any new regulation regarding
safety equipment, safety construction or load-line.
Such new regulations are –albeit sometimes expensive, technically complicated – simply
“more of the same”: prescriptive regulations to follow strictly.
The ISM Code however –just a few pages of text- introduced risk management in the
industry, which affected the entire organization.
Also the other management systems like the ISO standards require a similar approach.
Basically, there are no big differences between ISM and the other standards, except for
the fact that ISM is more shipping specific.
Although many companies have understood the different character of ISM, the
practicalities still reflect the old view of safety: “strongly centralized, formalized and
static”. This conflicts with the overall philosophy of management systems of flexibility,
dynamism and involvement of all personnel.
Only if this is understood, the benefits of the ISM Code and other management systems
will become clear.

Objective is to control/ manage (critical) work processes

Functional: procedures, rules, instructions: who, what, when, how or
Hierarchical: to control organization cultural process like: selection, promotion systems, function
evaluation systems, appraisal systems or to control structure and strategy decisions like: interrelations,
centralizing/decentralizing, decision making, feed back, reporting, integration and differentiation or to
control technical-operational activities like: budget, investment, project selection, cost control, quality,
material management, wages, safety management, sick leave etc..
Comprising all the steps of the Management Circle: identification of process, critical tasks/elements,
identification of control measures (e.g. procedures and resources), monitoring of effectiveness/efficiency
and review of these measures.
Mandatory Safety Management System (ISM)
Systems usually dealing with critical operations, activities, processes
May be general, comprehensive (SMS) or detailed (PMS)
Should be economically viable, flexible: “continuous improvement” (avoid bureaucracy, stagnation) and
“fit” in the organization (avoid “imported fremd-korper”)
Modern (Western Culture inspired) HQSE systems require open, pro-active and interactive attitude/
skills
Customer inspired Quality/ Environment/ HS Management Systems (ISO 9000/14000; OHSAS 18000)
Information systems (PMS and more extensive management information systems)
Have a strong impact on other Elements: (e.g. Staff: new tasks; Skills: training; Style: other relations;
Structure: roles, responsibilities shifting; Shared Values: intra-company “shore/ship” requires more co-
operation; even affects Strategy: ability to continue operating in a particular trade)
Figure 15: Key Issues in Systems
4.4 Structure of the Organization
This is the how roles, responsibilities, authorities and interrelations have been organized,
both formally and informally. Key words: Role, Influence and Co-ordination.
Structure
Formal and Informal allocation of responsibilities, authority, interrelations and the

coordination thereof.
Formal: as per organization diagram/ job description (vertical: hierarchy and
horizontal: co-ordination of work processes)
Informal: the reality of every day (shortcuts, loops etc..)
May be organized per:
Product oriented structure (e.g. tankers, bulk carriers)
Function oriented structure (e.g. purchasing, technical, finance, HRM)
Geographical Area oriented structure (e.g. Far East, Americas)
Structure elements and Configurations
Consequences for the Co-ordination
A strong link with Cultural Dimensions
In every organization there are at least three categories of structure:

Hierarchic structure: the formal command structure; to whom do employees report

and what are their formal tasks. This is what has been laid down in the organization
diagram.
Informal structure: indicates how in reality internal communication and exchange of
information takes place and how the real influence is allocated.
Work structure: the formal connection between different departments or units.
The latter is becoming more and more relevant as a result of the introduction of safety
and quality management systems. The work process is dominant and has to be
monitored regularly in order to ensure that safety- or quality related risk is adequately
managed.
Organisation as System of Processes
Traditional View of Organisation
Management
Management
New product ideas

Clients
Marketing &
R&D Production- Users
line
Product-
Product Production Marketing develop
Production-
Sales
line
development & Sales
Product- Production Marketing
development & Sales
Version 26-7-2005 Slide 5 Version 26-7-2005 Slide 6
This is an area where Systems and Structure are strongly connected; with the
introduction of modern management systems, the work structure became more relevant.
Another method of classification of structure methods is about the orientation:
Product/ Market oriented structure:

Dominant: the product or typical market. Leads to more involvement and ownership.
Delivers finished products. But may lead to “loosing view of the big picture”
Functional structure:
Dominant: the field of specialization/ competence. Leads to enhancing of specialized
knowledge and experience. May lead to problems with accountability and fostering
private “objectives”
Geographical Area structure:
Dominant: direct contact with the clients in the region. Leads to better adaptation to
specific cultural habits and orientation on client’s needs. May also lead to
estrangement from the mother organization and internal rivalry.
The struggle of many organizations between centralization and decentralization, division

structure or area structure is well known.
The consequences however for the other elements of organizing are not always
sufficiently taken into account.
In his book “The structuring of Organizations” (1979), Mintzberg identified the five most
common structure-elements and constructed also five common configurations.
A third component of structuring can be found in the type of coordination mechanism

The five structure elements (Mintzberg)
1. The Operating core: those who are directly involved in the production or service
2. The Strategic Apex: top management
3. The Middle Line: Line Management in between
4. The Techno structure: People in staff roles supplying ideas
5. The Support Staff: People in staff roles, supplying services
Minzberg: 5 structure elements
Strategic Apex
wish to centralize
Technostructure Support Staff

wish to wish to be
standardize involved
Line
Management
wish to
stabilize
Operating “Core”
wish to professionalize
Figure 16: Mintzberg: 5 structure elements
Structuring consists of two mechanisms:

Distribution of roles, responsibilities etc (differentiation)
Co-ordinate these into one smooth running machinery (integration)
Organizations in general use one or more of five mechanisms for coordinating

activities:
1. Mutual adjustment (of people through informal communication)
2. Direct Supervision (by a hierarchical superior)
3. Standardization of work processes (specifying the contents of work)
4. Standardization of outputs (specifying the desired results)
5. Standardization of skills (specifying the training required to perform the work)
Most organizations show one of five typical configurations:
The simple structure Key part: strategic apex. Coordinating mechanism: direct
supervision.
The “Machine”/ Full bureaucracy. Key part: the techno structure. Coordinating
mechanism: standardization of work processes.
The Professional bureaucracy: Key part: the operating core. Coordinating
mechanism: standardization of skills
The divisionalized form. Key part: the middle line. Coordinating mechanism:
standardization of outputs.
The adhocracy. Key part: the support staff (sometimes with the operating core).
Coordination mechanism: mutual adjustment.

It usually depends of the type of Structure configuration (which in real life seldom exists
in the ideal-typical form) which type of Coordination mechanisms will be most suitable.
Generally, the stronger the dominance from strategic top- or line management, the more
centralized the organization will be.
A simple structure, for instance, most effectively will be coordinated via direct
supervision and in an adhocracy this style would be contra productive and mutual
agreement will be the dominant coordination mechanism.
Again here, it is important to consider the internal coherence, consistency and “fit-
harmony” of the organization. What is the (obvious) structure, how are tasks,
responsibilities etc divided and distributed and how are these activities coordinated?
In the same setting, strategy, style of management, systems etc should be assessed.
There is not one ideal structure; every type of structure has its benefits and drawbacks.
Once more, it should be understood that “clean” examples of these 5 structure
configurations are rather an exception than a standard, usually there is a mix of 2 or
even 3 configurations, with its typical characteristics.
Structure Configuration Strength Weakness

Simple Structure Direct. Action- oriented. Little specialization;
(Centralistic) Flexible, within certain limits Relatively low level of
education; Differentiation
problems
Full Bureaucracy Effective; Planning and Strong specialization;

(Vertically Centralized/ Control; Quality, Product Efficiency Problems
Functional Organization) Standards (Overhead cost)
Professional Bureaucracy Handles complex/ routines; Little planning and control;

(decentralized/ bottom up) highly specialized, ideological conflicts
independence, Professional
Standards
Divisionalized form Customer focus; direct Internal conflicts between

(Market-oriented structure/ confrontation with local divisions and divisions-
vertically decentralized) market/ needs; Output head office; (organization-)
standards identity problems
Adhocracy Flexible, task oriented, Continuity problems

(Horizontally organized) multidisciplinary, highly
specialized; internal trust
and respect
4.4.1 Links with Cultural Dimensions
The link between Mintzberg’s five configurations and the quadrants of power distance-
uncertainty avoidance is easy to make and has been discussed in Chapter 3. The
diagram is shown below.

Market Sing
Family
_
Denm
HK
Sweden China
Malay
GB
Ire
India
US
Can Phil
SAfr
NZ Aus
Nor Indonesia
NL
W.Afr
Fin
Est
Ger
Taiwan Arab
UAI
It Venez
Iur Croa
S.Korea
Isr Fr
Mex
Sp Poland
Argent
Costa R
Jap
Rus
Port
Machine Pyramid
+ Gr
PDI +
-
Taking into account the relative positions of the countries wrt PDI-UAI, we are able to
identify the five preferred configurations of organizations.
UK: 1. Adhocracy; 2. Mutual Adjustment; 3. Support staff

Germany: 1. Professional Bureaucracy; 2. Standardization of Skills; 3. Operating Core
France: 1. Full Bureaucracy; 2. Standardization of Work processes; 3. Techno structure
China: 1. Simple Structure; 2. Direct Supervision; 3. Strategic Apex
USA: 1. Divisionalized Form; 2. Standardization of outputs; 3. Middle Line
1= Preferred Configuration; 2=Preferred Coordination Mechanism; 3= Key part of the organization
4.4.2 Structure in Shipping
In practice, as a result of ISM, the structure of shipping companies, as far as roles,

responsibilities, authorities and interrelations are concerned, has changed, be if explicit
or implicit.
In these days, the Superintendent has a more pronounced supervisor role, although the
Master formally is still in charge on board.
The everyday e-mail connection between ships and office has tied the operational units
(the ships) more and more to the company.
Exchange of daily information has replaced monthly reports in many cases. Though not
officially (job descriptions) anything has changed in the roles of ship-board and shore-
base personnel, the reality is different.
Companies are running a higher risk and are easier traceable as being responsible and
accountable for everything what happens on board.

Also in this respect the ISM Code made clear that the Company has the overall
responsibility of safety and pollution prevention of the fleet.
The consequences of this new structure are clear, but also with respect to the officers
and crew (Staff/ Skills) and the style of management.
The old simple structure, both on board and in the office + a thin line of connection
between ship-board and shore based management has been replaced by a Master,
being ships manager in a linking pin role, connected to the company.
Companies are becoming more sophisticated than before, which is reflected in the
appointment of more and younger managers with university degrees in shipping
companies.
The future will learn if outsourcing of such a vital asset, like personnel recruitment and
selection, will be continued.
We believe that this single most critical factor, which can make or break a company,
should be handled by the company itself (own Human Resource Department) or
delegated to a professional Crew Management Organization.
Comparison between Crew Management and Crewing Agency is like comparing a VLCC
with a bunker barge. In fact, there is no comparison.
Another issue in this respect is the need of “out of the box thinking” for the senior
officers; in the new situation, ship’s crew becomes more and more part of the “company”
than before. It is therefore vital that people with senior positions on the ships become
more familiar with what is going on ashore. Hence the relevant TMSA performance
indicator.
In addition, it is also vital that those shore-based managers, who are lacking ship-board
experience, are familiarized with ship-board practice also.
The most practical solution would be to sail with a ship during a week or so. This
investment will prove to be extremely valuable, because in a modern organization mutual
understanding and open lines of communication are indispensable.
Structure: from simple command structure o/b + thin line to “office”, where most activities are Technical
Support” to: “machine bureaucracy” just like e.g. shore based industry
This implies: more day to day interaction with home base, more active involvement shore staff, more
decisions ashore; modern technology allows this structure despite geographical distance
Causes: increasing focus on economical aspects, internationalization, oil majors/ risk not reduced to
one vessel (reputation); competition, modern communication technology
Consequences: Role of Master changes, risk factor of his position also, more bureaucracy, intensive
exchange of information on day to day basis (incidents etc), requires new skills. The traditional Master
next to God type is over. But safety risk is the same, despite all the technology. How to deal with this?
“My responsibility”(e.g. Chief Officer) changes, now: “my role”, responsibilities are more shared than
before
Requires also more insight in what is going on ashore (hence TMSA KPI regarding spending some time
ashore) Out of the box thinking!

4.5 Style of Management
There is a lot to be said about Management style.

Managing is like “steering” into the direction indicated in the Plan (Strategy). Without a
clear objective, managing is impossible
Steering of employees in such a way that they feel motivated to get the best results.
There is hardly a word which is so misused as “manager”.
Nowadays there seem to be only managers in the organizations. The requirements
which a modern manager should fulfil are at least:
Is creative and has a feeling for taking initiative

Has at least some expertise in the field(s) in which the organization operates
(processes, clients, competitors, personnel etc)
Has a helicopter-view; the ability to think in broad concepts and to see the big
picture and the relationship between situations, activities and occurrences.
Is able to detect the really key issues in the large amount of information which he
usually gets on a daily basis
Is visible for the organization and has the ability to communicate everywhere with all
levels in the organization, both formally and informally
Has the ability to motivate and enthuse employees.
Is aware of Cultural dimensions and makes use of this insight
We did not mention the word “leadership” in this setting. Leadership is both a personal
ability, and the ability of the entire organization to steer into the right direction.
There are two components in a management style, which have equal value:
Task-oriented (Control) behaviour

Relation-oriented (Support) behaviour
Where the emphasis lies, depends on the situation.

This is called “Situational Leadership”.
Examples: Managing routine activities requires usually more task-orientation, with a
variation varying between “instruction” (for employees who require more guidance, due
to a lower level of competence of the employees) and “delegation” (for those who have a
high level of competence)
Task orientation means that the emphasis is on the execution of the task and is usually
one way communication and verification of the performance.
This style is typical for the traditional relationship between Company and ships. On
board the same style may be dominant, but this depends very much on the culture of
the crew and the personality of the Master/ Chief Engineer.
In order to obtain more than just “compliance”(do what you have been told), the other
style component becomes vital: relation-orientation, with a gradation between
“consultation” (for those who have limited competence) and “participation” (for the more
competent employees).
Relation orientation means that the emphasis is on the relationship between people,
usually two way communication and tends to involve people in taking the decisions.

This style is required when more improvisation, creativity, initiative and free co-operation
from employees is needed. Examples: near accident reporting, risk assessment and
suggestions for improvement.
It will be clear that in an organization with a strong task-oriented style of management,

such activities tend to fail, simply because “free thinking” and taking initiative is
conflicting with such a style, especially for the lower ranks. On board of most ships the
initiatives are taken by senior officers or those junior officers who are to be promoted
shortly (like suggestions for improvement and near accident reporting)
The connection with culture is clearly visible in e.g. a few classical organization theories:
Henry Fayol was a French engineer, who published his theories about management in 1916. He
believed that management = manager. “Everything depends on his authority, which is based upon his
knowledge, intelligence, experience, moral value, leadership, service record etc. For a good manager,
personal authority is the indispensable complement to statutory authority”
Max Weber was German academic, who published in about the same period. He was a firm believer in
the authority of bureaucracy. The real authority is in the rules. The power of the “officials” should be
delimited by these rules. This refers to the well-oiled machine, German culture prefers above all.
Frederic Taylor (1903) was an American engineer, whose focus was on efficiency. He proposed to split
the task of the first-time boss into 8 specialisms, each exercised by a different competence. Although
this concept was never completely implemented, it resulted in the modern matrix organization in which
an employee may have several bosses (hierarchical, functional and operational), with the aim to
improve the output.
Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925) from China, became a political revolutionary . As China started
industrialization much later than in the West, there is no indigenous theorist of organization theories
contemporary with Fayol, Taylor and Weber. However Sun was organization. He became the first
president of the Chinese Republic. He introduced the trias politica (executive, legislative and juridical
branches) from the West, but placed these three under the authority of the president. Two more
branches were added (examination branch –to obtain access to the civil service- and control branch –
supposed to audit the government) . This remarkable mix is typical for the Family model, with the ruler
as the country’s father and whatever structure there is, based on personal relationships.
4.5.1 Management Style in Shipping
There has been a lot of changes around shipping and the roles and responsibilities of all
involved, but the management style still remains very much hierarchic and task-
oriented.
The modern organization requires more exchange of information, openness and a no-
blame culture, active involvement of crew in improvement.
Some companies are really trying to get “more out of the crew” (simple improvement
suggestion forms etc), but this usually seems bound to fail
What is wrong with the people, don’t they wish to be involved in activities aiming at their
own safety or are they simply uninterested?
Once again, we see the strong interdependence between the Organization elements;
one cannot expect ship-board personnel, hired via manning agencies (no job security)
and used to being told what to do and what not (instruction style of management) to be
suddenly “empowered” in risk assessment and safety meetings.

The atmosphere on board is still highly prescriptive and task-oriented. This is a natural
consequence of the “loose” work relation between company and crew (or senior officers
and ratings) . First things first; if people are unfamiliar with the Company’s policies,
procedures, instructions, the basics have to be dealt with first.
In order to obtain continuous improvement, ownership and loyalty there should be more
emphasis on relation-orientation.
Remember: E = Q x A.
Shipboard personnel has equal intelligence like shore based colleagues, but there
should be an atmosphere in the organization, which is affirmative and receptive to all
input from those involved in daily operations.
But such suggestions should at least have a clearly felt impact on policies and
procedures.
As long as the style of management remains paternalistic and prescriptive, nobody
should expect ship’s crew to become modern, “empowered” employees.
The simple fact, that people are hired via a manning agency (as if it were possible to
just open drawer and get the required “souls”, complete with certificates and medicals),
breathes an atmosphere of dispensability/ exchangeability.
There is another complication in shipping, related to cultural facts. Especially Eastern

European cultures have a long tradition of autocracy and oppression (management by
fear). It takes a long time and a consistent policy of "no-blame" to win these people for a
modern style of management.
Modern companies have to change this, step by step, and lift the quality of their
“manning” policy to a level of “human resources” policy, just like what has happened in
the shore-based industry 20/30 years back.
There is a strong interaction between Staff/ Skills and Style. If one element is being
modified, this has immediate consequences for the other elements. We believe that the
appropriate sequence is to start with upgrading of staff-related activities.
Hierarchy stills remains intact

Including Shore - Ship hierarchy
*Emphasis remaining on: instructing, steering (extensive instruction manuals)
*Modern organizations (and systems) require more delegation and participation
Due to policy of hiring staff rather than employing (fixed labour agreements):
Volatile and superficial involvement of ship staff in bigger picture of Company
Degraded role/ position of the Master (superintendent often the “boss”)
Cultural misunderstanding between ship/ shore staff
Lack of openness (required when QHSE systems have to be implemented)
Loyalty sometimes felt to be a critical issue
*) Although the ISM Code has all the features of modern management; the majority of system
documentation still reflects an atmosphere of detailed prescription

4.6 Staff and Skills in the Organization
As far as Human resources are concerned there is a simple formula:
E=QxA
(effectiveness = Quality x Acceptance)
This is applicable for many factors related to our performance.

Quality may be found in the quality of measures which were taken by management to
improve quality or safety, but if these measures are not emotionally acceptable for the
employees, the effectiveness will be limited.
Even the best measures will eventually fail if these meet reluctance and resistance.
Similarly, if highly competent people are not motivated, the result will be below
expectations.
Summarizing; there are 2 main factors: Skills = Quality (Competence, Experience,
Knowledge, Education, Capacities, Intelligence etc) and Motivation = Acceptance (the
wish to perform, ownership, loyalty, job satisfaction etc)
This leads to another formula:
R=MxS
(result = Motivation x Skills)
Although this may seem an oversimplification of Human reality, it is a workable equation.
4.6.1 Motivation
Motivation is having a motive, something that brings people in “movement”. If parents
promise a child a candy-bar as a reward for a “positive” act or behaviour, it has this
motive in its mind and feels motivated/ moved into the direction, desired by the parents.
If somebody knows that a large sum of money awaits him, provided he is in time to
collect it, he will do his utmost to get there in time,
Another motive may be in the fact that the perception of the objective to be achieved is
very positive.
This requires the objective to be clearly defined and transparent and achievable. An
unclear objective if presented in broad, but vague generalities will loose a lot of
attraction, hence the motivation to achieve the objective will be accordingly low.
(examples are some statements, vague requirements in some safety management
manuals like referring to “Master’s responsibility regarding system review”).
Even if the perceived objective is deemed important enough (well explained to those
who have to do the job) but the way to the objective is found long, complicated and
difficult (like some information systems, administrative jobs, complicated forms etc) the
motivation will decrease considerably.
What may be utterly positive (objective) or easy to handle (the “road” to the objective) to
the specialist, who usually developed it (like IT specialists or Safety Managers), may still
be experienced less positive or practicable.

This requires “specialists” to develop simple tools for important tasks; the Objective is a
matter of perception (perception may change as a result of good explanation), but the
way to achieve the objective usually not (it is just practical experience) and requires
“efforts” (training and time).
What (De-)Motivates?
(Experienced or perceived) Difficulties to achieve the Objectives
Low Importance and relatively High importance, but difficult to

hard to achieve, e.g.: extensive achieve, e.g.: professionalizing
paperwork to satisfy “others” crew with high turn-over
Easy to do but low added value Easy to do with high importance

e.g.: completing operational e.g.: “Core” tasks like stability
checklists for the obvious calculations
H
L
(Experienced or perceived) Importance of Objectives
Figure 17: Motivation: the objective and the way to achieve it
But first things first; if a person is starving and thirsty, he will mainly feel attracted to food
and drink, the other things may wait
Consequently, motivation is strongly related to the desire, the drive to satisfy the most
urgently felt needs.
There are roughly two types of needs: physiological needs and socio-psychological
needs.
Abraham Maslow developed a 6 stages model in which human needs are compared and
ranked. His philosophy was that a human being will try to satisfy the most basic needs
first, before he is interested in satisfaction of “higher” needs.
A basic need is for instance: survival. It is known that normal and well educated people
may behave like fierce idiots if there is panic and everybody runs for his life.
In 1959, Frederick Herzberg developed a theory in which he introduced so-called
satisfiers (the upper 3 steps of Maslow’s model) and the dis-satisfiers (the absence of
which leads to de-motivation, corresponding with the 3 lower Maslow steps) In principle,
absence of satisfaction of the basic needs leads to de-motivation (like insufficient means
of subsistence or a poor work atmosphere), whereas presence of satisfaction of the
“higher” needs leads to motivation (like feeling appreciated in your work).
This leads to the conclusion that a good work atmosphere, a decent salary and job
security are no luxury, but a basic condition to be able to obtain motivation by
applying a policy of participation, appreciation and individual development for the
employees (the higher ranked motivational factors)
.

Hierarchy of Human Needs Examples

1 Survival as individual/ race Basic food, drink, sleep, health,
procreation, roof over your head, means of
subsistence
2 Sense of security; also job security; Job security, being protected against
absence of immediate threat external hazards, threat and hardships for
the individual and his beloved
3 Social needs Feeling accepted by fellow-men, family,

neighbours, colleagues, positive work
atmosphere and work relations
4 The need to feel appreciated; respected Positive feed back by superiors,

by others colleagues; appreciation for good
performance; “you are important”, “You
make a difference”
5 The need to prove / demonstrate one’s Being involved, participate in activities in

skills, capacities which one can contribute to improvement,
problem solving, provided in accordance
with one’s capabilities
6 The need to develop one’s capacities The possibilities to further develop one’s
and skills to a higher level potential towards new challenges
The 3 basic Maslow steps (1-3) are basic needs and in Hertzberg’s theory assumed job-
extrinsic elements; absence leads to problems, sometimes even to strikes, sabotage and
revolutions (if people feel mistreated on a large scale, or as a group/ race)
The stages (4-6) are so called “ego”-needs and assumed to be job-intrinsic; these will
never become fulfilled, because Human needs in this area are unlimited.
There is however a strong connection with Cultural dimensions. What motivates people,
depends partly on attitudes, which in turn depend on values. Values are mainly based
upon the cultural background of people.
What is highly motivation in the Western world, may be less motivating in the Eastern
world. In countries with a strong UAI combined with strong PDI (the so-called “pyramids
of people” cultures), dependence on strong supervision may be considered a strongly
motivating factor. Independence of the boss is not considered positive and motivating.
In the Asian and African societies, the motivator should be labelled the “master”. He
differs from the “boss” in that his power is based on tradition and charisma more than on
formal position.
Up to present, there is no alternative motivation theory, which takes the cultural
dimensions into account. We therefore recommend applying a list of culture related

criteria for the particular staff, depending on its cultural background as a kind of checklist
for “motivating” or not.
Maslow (cumulative and relative)

(Self Actualization)
SR
Parti-
cipation
Esteem
Social Acceptance
“Security”
Physiological Needs: Survival
No Goals?: No Motivation
Figure 18: Maslow’s model for the hierarchy of human needs
An interesting issue is money. Why do some people think money is the best motivator?
Ardent disputes are held around this issue.. The reason to believe this, is that money not
only is needed for survival (step 1), but also enables men to fulfil other needs in the
private situation.
Money can give additional status at home; joining clubs, sports activities, living in a
decent residential quarter, provide good education for your children and even fund your
own studies to develop yourself.
Of course, salary and rank are also indicators of social status in the organization and
gives a feeling of being appreciated by the Organization
This indicates, that money is partly motivating outside the setting of the work place and
partly a symbol of status and appreciation in the organization. Hence it is an important
factor, but not a direct motivator for better performance.
Sometimes on the contrary, if the employee feels he is not paid in accordance to his
performance and efforts, he will feel “underpaid” and abused, which leads to loss of
motivation and resignation.
Pay for Performance?

In the industry there has always been a feeling that some people are being over-paid
and others under-paid, when their individual performance and contribution is compared.
This leads usually to the call for “incentives” on an individual basis.
Our experience with incentives is that it usually only leads to short term satisfaction for
those who get a bonus and a grudge for those (the majority) who do not get anything
extra, or even less than before. Apart from this, it is typical for individualistic countries.
Employers in uncertainty avoiding countries prefer to pay for seniority. Employers in
small-power distance countries may prefer non financial incentives and so on.
The question if incentives / flexible remuneration are appropriate or not, thus depends on
the type of work, the degree in which the individual or the team measurably affects the
department’s/ company’s performance and last but not least: the cultural relevance.
In the majority of organizations, the origins of the trading results cannot be traced back
to the performance of an individual or even a small group of employees.

This applies to most functions in an organization, but there are exceptions, like
salesmen, who directly and individually contribute to the revenue of the organization.
Should a Company feel attracted to the idea of a performance based system of

incentives, it is an absolute condition to ensure that the positive results are clearly
identifiable as being the fruit of the work of defined groups or individuals.
Given the tendency to encourage team-work, it is preferable to give rewards to teams
rather than individuals.
Money does not motivate directly, but shortage de-motivates

The steps of Maslow have to be taken into account
Lack of job security and social well-being (work relations, colleagues, leadership, cultural bias) is a
serious hurdle to real motivation
Once these basic needs have been satisfied, there is room for genuine motivation (Herzberg)
Motivators can be found in:
The job itself is attractive (almost like a hobby)
Positive feed back/ the sensation that you “make the difference”
Freedom to participate according to one’s abilities; although this varies with culture
Provide “playground” and new challenges as appropriate: gain experience and become a better
professional, ditto as far as cultures are concerned
Avoid waste of time, energy, efforts (your time is considered precious)
Provide effective, attractive objectives to achieve
4.6.2 Skills
Skills comprise all the factors, which are related to an individual’s capabilities, like
intellectual, physical, physiological, social and professional capabilities.
The identification of the skills, required for a good job performance is partly a matter of
standards (standard skills, like: basic education, specific professional education and
experience in a certain job)
Usually these standard/ generic skills are sufficiently covered by a basic recruitment
activity. It is obvious, that in order to be allowed to do a critical welding job you should be
in possession of a certificate for welder on some particular degree.
The real problem appears when additional skills are required not covered by a certificate
of diploma.
What to think of e.g.:
Capacity to handle stress

Punctuality
Planning and Organizing capabilities
Independence and Self Control
Sense of order
Innovative thinking
Adaptability to workload and various conditions
Communication skills
Readiness to work in a team
Initiative and decision making
Efficiency
Risk Awareness
Reliability
Leadership capacities
Analytical Ability
Judgement and Common Sense

This list is by far not yet complete. A proper basic and professional education does not
guarantee that the above mentioned criteria are been met. It remains a matter of either
careful selection and testing (like a psychological test) and training, supervision (in order
to gain experience) + a lot of time.
One of the motives for emphasizing skills, is the connection with risk. Lack of formal
knowledge is only in a limited number of cases causing accidents and poor performance.
All the above mentioned factors are deemed important in combination with a good
health, the correct formal education and a high level of motivation to obtain good results.
The tools to obtain improvement or satisfactory results in the above mentioned criteria
cannot be found in training alone. These factors are partly inborn or a result of earlier
experience in life or have to be taught via long practice in a suitable work environment.
Should for instance appear that an employee is lacking risk awareness, he should be
involved in risk assessment activities. Lack of independence –if really required for the
job- may be taught by performing difficult tasks independently but under supervision of a
senior employee.
The conclusion of this section is that the decisive Skills usually cannot be obtained by
additional training.
Given the need for managing behaviour, it is vital to identify the critical behaviour related
factors first and consequently apply this “profile” in recruitment, selection, monitoring,
coaching, training, appraisal and promotion.
Consider not only the formal tasks, but also the criteria needed to maintain good social
relations. This profiling is called “Competency Profiling” and will be explained in the last
Chapter.
Especially appraisal is a delicate issue and heavily culture related. For instance in
collectivist countries, like the Philippines, social harmony is an important ingredient for
organizational functioning, even more important than formal individual performance and
an appraisal program that harms the former eventually damages the latter. Personal
appraisal may have to be given in an indirect way.
How to identify which competencies are required?

For this a function assessment should be done. Every function is connected to tasks,
which are related to work processes.
For each and every work process, or sub process, the objectives (output) can be
identified and the risk related to it. This is called the “Job Risk Factor” (JRF)
Task analysis
System Process
Activity
C Tasks
C
Critical Taks
Task
C
Version 27-7-2005 Slide 4

Departing from the Tasks and the Risk related to the tasks, the relative importance of
specific requirements w.r.t. skills can be identified. This should be done more or less
identical to Risk Assessment for operations.
In the aviation industry strict safety rules apply and the flying staff is carefully selected
and assessed in their competencies to act accordingly.
Once again we see the interdependence between Staff/ Skills and –for instance-
Systems.
If the work changes, or the conditions, the people have to change also, partly by training,
but mostly by more specific and situation-bound methods.
Once the key competencies have been identified, the recruitment, selection and
familiarization criteria can be entered in a ranking list (3 or 4 levels of importance).
People who score low on the key competencies should not be selected/ promoted for the
particular job or at least be guided and submitted to intensive supervision in the first
stages of employment.
In other words: the more specific task bound and risk based function criteria are,
the more effective recruitment, selection, performance evaluation and promotion
will be. It should be avoided to compile a competency list in which all positive
human behaviour factors are included, because such people simply do not exist, it
will only lead to unnecessary frustration or loss of trust in the instrument and
divert the attention from the real critical few.
4.6.3 Staff and Skills in Shipping
As long as there is no headway in this element, shipping will suffer the consequences.
Probably the most critical factor in a shipping company is Staff. Ships can be bought,
hired, chartered etc…-even overnight. But competent, motivated personnel (according to
ISM 5.1.1 and 6.2) are not readily available on the market.
There is a shortage of this type of personnel on the labour market, although there are
sufficient people looking for a job…
Although modern organizations consider quantitative personnel management as

obsolete, staffing of the ships is still predominantly based on “safe manning +…”
Additional tasks have to be carried out (e.g. Security activities and the ever growing
administrative jobs) by the same personnel.
In the most ideal cases, there is some training or instruction to prepare them for these
additional tasks, but it is rare to find additional or even specialized ship’s staff to handle
such tasks.
Apart from this, the quality of the job changes; modern management systems require
other skills and attitude: openness, pro-activity, involvement etc.
Also, as a result of changes in the business, shipboard personnel should become more
“part” of the entire organization, which requires insight in areas in which they have no
formal education.

The continuing complication and impact of International, national and regional

regulations and the increasing interference of –for instance- port state and other
authorities, require additional social/ political skills.
Knowledge of the English language is becoming more and more important. In other
words: shipping is not only matter of navigation and seamanship anymore; additional
skills (especially relational skills) and sometimes another attitude are indispensable.
And this, when the majority of seafarers is still hired via manning agencies and –
consequently- the retention rate of officers and crew is relatively low, if compared with
shore based industry. So much for Human resources…..
The key question is: what is required?

The answer always lies in the tasks, the operations, the complications of modern society
combined with reduced man-power to do the job.
Departing from the tasks, in particular the critical tasks, conclusions can be drawn with
respect to the “competencies” (referring to excellent performance criteria, not identical to
“competences”, which is simply the minimum, the basics, for the job) required for a high
level of performance of the critical tasks and operations, a competency profile can be
made.
Such a profile consists of a limited number of critical competency criteria. How to obtain
such a profile will be explained in Chapter 6.
Majority of sea-going staff still hired via third party

Cultural factors insufficiently taken into account
High Turnover hampers process of building up professionalism, familiarity with specific Company-Style/
systems and shore-based staff
Estrangement between ship and shore staff
“Safe” Manning still dominates staff decisions; reality of new tasks (e.g. administration) requires complete
new analysis of needs
Extra tasks and new types of tasks performed by same staff….
New situation requires exchange of information/ experience, break the spell of “us and them”
New skills needed: Relation-oriented skills (1st, 2nd and 3rd parties), HRM skills, and insight in economical
and financial policies, QHSE- related skills, based on the Risk Factor of each function, special attention for
language skills.
Motivation for specific tasks (e.g. “incident reporting”) still an area of concern: E=Q x A.
Competency is the result of the following factors:
Professional education
Individual skills (including intelligence, analytical, emotional and social)
Experience, gained over the years
Personality, consisting of :
“Permanent” elements (Character)
Elements which may be learned/ changed
Attitude, based on Values, experience
Perception, as a result of various factors

The only component, which cannot be modified is “character”; hence people with an
undesirable character should never be hired in the first place and already be filtered out
in the recruitment stage.
It is obvious that a mature human resources approach requires a dramatic improvement

in retention rate, especially as far as officers are concerned. All officers, because the real
problem is not how to educate a Master, but how to ensure that also the junior officers
will develop to the desired level of competency. This may be one of the reasons why the
TMSA program gives a high value to retention rate of officers.
How competency management can be applied in shipping organizations will be

explained in chapter 6.
Knowledge is only the first step (like a black and white schematic picture without background)
Insight (like a three dimensional full colour picture) requires efforts and time
Less time is needed if more experience is gained
Experience is always connected to “activities”
These may be: real events in which one is involved, or witnessed or discussed (like in Risk
Assessment) or hypothetical events which are discussed with more experienced people
Hence the “activity” is physical or psychological
The key issue is actual behaviour in predefined situations, whilst certain tasks have to be carried out
This leads to identification of required competencies
Not only regarding task performance, but also related to social behaviour
Which should be the basis of al further activities w.r.t. human resources management
Multi-disciplinary experience increases insight more than mono-disciplinary experience (overview,
similarities, big picture etc)
One of the objectives of crew development is to speed up gaining experience (preferably in a non-
destructive way)
This requires e.g. a high retention rate and gaining experience in shore-based organization
4.7. Shared Values
The last of all the 7 S elements of the model.
Shared Values may also be called “Organization / Corporate Culture”; it is the actual,
day to day behaviour of personnel in an organization, based on a set of explicit and
implicit opinions, feelings, norms and values.
Being familiar with the culture makes it easier to understand specific situations and the
way activities in the organization are being handled.
It often reflects in the type of personnel, in the lay out of offices, accommodation spaces
(one canteen for all or separate for blue and white collar workers) and especially in the
overall work-atmosphere (strict, clean, formal or informal, slightly disorganized, casual).
Not everybody feels at home in every situation; individual well-being depends heavily on
the work atmosphere.
There is a strong connection between structures and shared values; in an adhocracy for
instance the atmosphere is usually more casual (equity and open ,direct communication
are needed in this environment), whereas a more bureaucratic and formal atmosphere

will be found in a machine bureaucracy (also ministerial departments can be

characterized as such).
Shared Values
The way we do things around here”

Actual behaviour and attitude as a result of an explicit or implicit set of opinions, values and ethical rules
Has a tremendous impact, but hard to measure
Company Culture, National Culture or Professional Culture?
Visible in e.g.:
The way the job is done
The way authority is organized (centralized hierarchy and distance between managers and workers)
The way people are rewarded (individual or collective)
The climate w.r.t. initiative and obedience expected from employees (strict and detailed rules or
freedom to decide)
The way communication works (open, free, two way or the reverse)
The way people are treating each other (e.g. macho culture)
Culture may be defined as “the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the
members of one group or category of people from another”
Consequently, organization culture can be defined as “the collective programming of the
mind that distinguishes the members of one organization from another”
As a reaction on the book “In search of excellence”, which appeared in 1982, the idea of
the need for a strong organization culture arose.
Most people who write about it agree that organizational culture is:
•
•
Holistic: referring to a whole that is more than the sum of its parts
•
Historically determined: reflecting the history of the organization
•
Related to the things anthropologists study: like rituals and symbols
Socially constructed: created and preserved by the group of people who together
•
form the organization
•
Soft: although, “soft is in fact “hard”
Difficult to change
A strong organizational culture may arouse positive feeling in some people, but also
negative in others. Not all cultures agree with having strong cultures is positive; French
authors consider it a “new church”
A lot of nonsense has been written and said about the company cultures; some critics
call it “Taken for granted ideas leading to blind spots” or: “Closed system of ideas and
meanings, preventing people to critically explore new possibilities”, or: “Mixed bag of
conflict, ambiguity, and fragmentation” , “Sacred cow to which people are committed”
etc.
It is essential to understand that organizations have a culture (not are); be it explicit, be it
implicit, or more correctly stated organizations have their “own practices (and a few
values)”

The differences have been stated in chapter 2 and the relevant figure has been copied
below.
Level
Gender/
National Family
Values
Social Class
Occupational
School
Industry
Practices
Organizational/
Work
Corporate
Effective shared practices are the reason that multinationals can function at all.
Employing personnel from a variety of nationalities, they cannot assume common
values. If common values are found in such organizations, this is often the result of
recruitment and selection of people, with –regardless their national cultural background-
certain common values. Values are not entirely based on national /ethnic roots; there are
sub-cultures in every society (like: social level in a country).
Six Dimensions of Practices
Pragmatic
Results
Closed Parochial
Loose
Employee oriented Job oriented
Tight
Professional Open
Process
Normative
Figure 19: 6 dimensions of Company “cultures” (Practices)
4.7.1 Six Dimensions of Organization culture
Although the following culture types of organizations hardly exist in a pure form, and
usually two or more elements of the other types can be found in every organization, one
of the types is probably dominant.

1. Process Orientation:
Key issue: avoiding risk; every day pretty much the same. Typical for standardization of
work processes (like chemical industry); determined by the type of work the organization
does. Correlation with large power distance. Material intensive units.
2. Results Orientation:
Key issue: maximum results every day new challenges. Usually strong cultures
(effective, but not always efficient). Determined by type of work of the organization. In
this case e.g. an airline, customer focus. Correlation with flatter organization, smaller
power distance and labour intensive units.
3. Employee Orientation:
Key issue: attention for the individual worker; individual job satisfaction of every
employee is dominant. In its most extreme form the only reason for working together
may be that facilities, such as an office, computers, library and secretarial support can
be shared. Important in such a culture is proficiency and competence.
Decisions are taken by consensus or not at all. De quality of the arguments is decisive,
not the formal position of the participants. In some cases the most competent
professional may get a coordinating role. The practical management of the facilities will
usually be trusted to a landlord/ manager, whose main task it is to ensure facilities and
resources are available. Strong differing opinions internally may become a threat for the
continuity of the organization. This type of culture can be found in organizations with a
Professional bureaucracy structure (lawyers, software specialists). Usually there is a
budget (internal standard) as a dominant evaluation tool.
4. Job Orientation
Behaviour of employees in this type of culture depends on the tasks to be done. Nothing
is admitted that may threaten the job to be done. Systems and decision making
processes are less important. Decisions are taken by those directly involved based on
what in that particular moment is found necessary to get the job done The power of such
a culture is its flexibility and its focus on the objectives to be achieved. A negative point
may be that too much pragmatism may lead to sloppy work standards and unrest.
Usually there is an external standard, like market profits, as a dominant evaluation tool.
5. Parochial
Refers to units whose employees derive their identity largely from the organization. More
traditional paternalistic culture and smaller organizations with a traditional technology.
No long term orientation (things will probably continue for a long time) E.g.: Small
traditional breweries. People do not take their work problems home (possibly the other
way around). Often lower level of education.
6. Professional
Opposite to the former, in this type of organization employees identify themselves with
the job. The company should not interfere in their private lives, but they tend to take their
work home. Usually larger companies with modern technology. Long term orientation.
Less labour union membership. Higher average education.

7. Open system
The key items show that in the open system units, members consider both the
organization and its people open to newcomers and outsiders, almost anyone will fit into
the organization and new employees will only need a few days to feel at home. There is
more correlation with national cultures: weak UAI fosters open systems. Higher average
seniority.
8. Closed system
The opposite of above. The organization and its people are closed and secretive, even
among insiders; only very special people feel at home and it takes a long time to become
familiar and feel an insider. Strong UAI correlates with closed systems. Lower average
seniority.
9. Loose control
The opposite of the next is related to the internal structuring. No one seems to think of
cost, meeting times are kept approximately and jokes about the company are frequent.
Higher average education level. Low absenteeism. Managers are more involved in
talking with personnel on the work floor
10. Tight control

Very cost conscious, strict dress codes, higher absenteeism and no jokes about the
company. Managers are more involved in reading and writing reports and memos. Lower
average level of education.
11.Normative
Perceive their tasks toward the outside world as the implementation of inviolable rules.
Key item is to correctly adhere to organizational procedures, more important than
results. Business ethics and honesty, the unit’s standards must be high. Usually public
services, like the police tend to be more normative.
12. Pragmatic
Market orientation high: customer’s needs, results are more important than correct
procedures, pragmatic principles are preferred over dogmatic principles. Usually the
private sector tends to be more pragmatic.
It will be clear that every organization may have a relative position in several (or all) of
the above mentioned 6 cultural dimensions at the same time
The grade of adaptation of an individual to values and standards of an

organization depends very much on the degree in which the organization enables
him to achieve his individual goals.
4.7.1. Shared Values in Shipping
In shipping, a mix of cultures is the rule, the exception is to have mono-cultural crew of
the same nationality as the shore-based company organization. This sometimes leads to
intercultural bias. Even if people speak the same language –the work language- the
perception of what is said, intended and understood differs from culture to culture.

The only way to overcome this is to ensure long term co-operation and a high return
rate. A few companies intentionally mix nationalities, but good results may be obtained,
provided (semi-)fixed labour relations and a clearly distinguished professional and
company culture.
It takes a long time and a transparent policy to achieve such results with mixed crew, but
it is the only way to build teams.
Understanding inter-cultural differences is a key issue and should be included in the

management training of all with a leading position in shipping (ashore and on board)
Single nationality crews as such do not guarantee a strong team spirit. As an example,
the eastern European crews, frequently mono-cultural, do not always fit in the modern
management style, required by the ISM Code. Safety Management departs from
openness and no-blame. Openness is not the first cultural feature of such cultures and a
no-blame policy has to be demonstrated in practice
Apart from intra-ship cultures, the need to achieve an intra-company culture is growing.
Due to modernization in the shipping industry, resulting in (explicit or implicit) changes in
the organization structure, the modern shipping company is becoming more complex,
which requires more intensive exchange of information and clear common goals.
The machinery of modern shipping companies can only run smoothly if all parts of the
organization are coordinated and in line.
This makes it even more logical to hire personnel on a more permanent basis, not only
shore-based staff, but also shipboard staff, in particular the officers.
The tendency to draw a line between senior and junior officers does not make any
sense; the juniors are the seniors of the future. In order to be prepared for the future this
should be reflected in long term work relations.
• Shore based organization culture differs from culture(s) of shipboard organization

A key issue is how to find a way out of the dilemma between:
• Ensure a smooth operation with the required exchange of communication

• Achieve long term improvement in (safety/quality etc) management
The challenges (some call it problems) are related to the shared values. Are there any
shared values in modern shipping companies?
Given the –sometimes big- differences between national cultures, this almost seems
impossible. The consequence would be the desired smooth organization will never be
achieved!
Although it is clear, that “Shared Values” is the single most complicated element to deal
with, it is not impossible to bring it in line with the other elements in a satisfactory way.
There are a few encouraging facts:
•
•
All human beings have a number of basic needs in common
•
The higher the professional level of people, the more they have in common
Seafarers tend to be more adaptive and open minded towards others cultures
•
than those who never leave their home country
Loyalty demonstrated by the employer usually is rewarded by loyalty shown by
the employees

Policies which will support the growth of shared values in a company are:
•
•
Fixed employment for all officers (not only senior officers).
Avoid dependency on sub-contractors (manning agents); be –as a Company-
•
actively involved in hiring and placement of personnel
•
Preferably single nationality of officers; also single nationality of ratings
Careful recruitment of personnel along the lines of modern HRM (described in the
•
last chapter), taking into account a certain required common attitude
A strong cultural awareness should be developed. The national cultures
employed in the company and the organizational identified practices should be
•
discussed in order to get a better picture of the cultural profile.
The desired practices and behaviour should be compared with this profile in
order to decide about changes in existing policies to this end; Structure should
•
follow Culture
•
Remember: every cultural dimension has its positive and negative sides (table 8)
Modern shipping however requires (due to imposed legislation and systems) a
•
relatively Western-type of organizational approach
•
The consistency between the elements and policies should however be high
Professionalizing contributes to desired behaviour (being one of the components
•
active in the process leading to behaviour.
The Company should therefore take the lead in professionalizing of her
•
employees
Appoint shore based staff from same national culture (e.g. Indian
•
Superintendents for Indian manned ships)
Fair treatment, in terms of contract length, welfare, accommodation, food and
other facilities will reflect the Company’s concern for its most critical and valuable
•
asset.
Encourage and support a professional work atmosphere, by providing required
tools, equipment etc. promptly and also promote the use of uniforms and good
•
quality Company work clothes
Regardless the national culture of the crew, everybody needs appreciation (you
are important), fulfilment of basic needs, a good work atmosphere, job security
•
and involvement as a professional
The style of management, the way of communicating procedures and instructions
•
should be reviewed for its suitability in relation to the particular cultural features.
It goes without saying, that a change of manning (replacement of crew by a crew
of another culture) is a major change, with an extremely high impact on all the
other elements of the organization. Management of Change: risk based!
PDI Small: Acceptance of responsibility PDI Large: Discipline

UAI Weak: Basic Innovations UAI strong: Precision
Collectivism: Employee commitment Individualism: Individual motivation and
openness
Femininity: Socialization; support to the Masculinity: Competition; strive for the
weak best results
STO: Flexibility; quick results; analytic LTO: Perseverance; Focus; synthetic
Table 8: Positive effects of the 5 cultural dimensions

Chapter 5: Technical and “Human” systems

5 Technical and “Human” systems
5.1 Introduction
Most people try to keep life simple. This applies also to setting priorities. Although the
most critical and complicated asset in organizations, especially in shipping organizations
is the human “element”, most of time and energy of management seems to be dedicated
to the hardware.
In a matrix consisting of the two dimensions “importance” and “performance”, technical

management would appear in the quadrant of “very important” and “very well
performed”. In such a matrix human resources management would be in the quadrant of
“Very important” but “poorly performed”
The reason is probably, that we tend to be involved in those areas. Activities in which we
feel confident, at ease and well-performing. And on the other hand, we avoid activities
and areas in which we feel unfamiliar and poor performing. Such activities we tend to
delegate to others.
In shipping the “others” are manning agencies. It is at least questionable if a manning
agency can do a better job for the company than the company itself.
Apart from this, it is not logical to leave the most critical and –basically- most
complicated activities to sub contractors, who have mainly economical interest in the
business.
Although manning agencies are developing their skills and level of professionalism and
many of these agencies have become professional crew management suppliers, it
remains unsatisfactory to see that a medium size to large size company does not take
care of this extremely critical task itself.
The least what can be expected from a company is to keep a tight control on the
manning agency, by performing regular second party audits (another TMSA performance
indicator).
In this chapter we compare technical systems (“organizations” of hardware) with
“Human” systems (organizations of people). The conclusion will be that the latter
deserve far more attention and that planned maintenance philosophies related to
hardware can be translated to “organic” systems. This slightly “disrespectful” approach
will proof to be a more professional and employee friendly policy than the present one.
5.2 Technical systems
Technical systems consist of hardware components. Such systems are man-made and
have a clearly defined purpose. An auxiliary engine has to provide the power to drive a
generator, whereas a main engine is used for propulsion. A drill can be used for drilling,
but not for cutting trees and so forth.
Consequently, technical systems have a clearly defined output, usually restricted to a
small number of tasks and require also a clearly defined input in terms of what will be
consumed/ transformed (like the type of fuel for an engine). Apart from this, technical
systems require means like lub-oil, software, tools etc. to operate.
The fourth factor is what is needed to “control” the system: feed back sub-systems,
alarms, trips, electrical, mechanical, hydraulic or pneumatic activators, sensors etc.

It is usually relatively simple to predict or describe what the failure modes may be. By
applying techniques such as HAZOP, it is possible to obtain a prediction score of 95-
98%. Quantitative risk assessment –provided failure rates of components are available-
even allows the technicians/ safety specialists to predict the probability of failure and in
what areas of the system the weaknesses are and what may be done to mitigate failure.
Technical systems are designed and tested, drawings are made, piping, electrical and
instrumentation diagrams are prepared and comprehensive and detailed maintenance
schedules and operational instruction manuals put together.
In order to keep the system under control, “performance indicators” in the form of
pressure, temperature gauges, alarms, controls, flow meters etc… can be installed to
closely monitor the performance of practically every function of the system.
This is possible, because the number of functions is limited (e.g. a pump has the function
to transfer –usually liquid- material from one place to another in a predefined quantity,
with a predefined delivery pressure etc), the functions are standardized and can be
made visible, measurable and repairable.
Consequently, technical systems are usually well managed. The most important basic
causes for failure are the design and quality of materials used and the way the
equipment is maintained and operated (by the “human” system: organization and
individuals.)
ICOM
Control
•Gauges •PMS
•Alarms •Diagrams
Input Output
Machinery Revolutions
Fuel Raw materials Hardware Pressure
Air Data
Equipment Delivery
Products
MEANS/ RESOURCES
Manpower Lub oil
Tools Software
Devices
Version 11/08/2005 Slide 3
Figure 20: A model of a hardware system
The relatively excellent control we have over hardware and technical systems is due to
the facto that it was designed by human being and for human being. This is entirely
different with “Liveware” and organic systems (organizations in which communication,
information, ٛ behaviour patterns, feelings, motivation, attitudes etc. are playing the
overwhelming role).
Although organizations are man-made, they consist of the components of the SHEL
model; hardware is just secondary and especially the Liveware-Liveware factors are
important.

5.3 “Human” Systems
If we concentrate on the human factor, the “liveware” the following characteristics are
apparent:
A simple definition of “output” is mostly unavailable; we have to react on all kind of

signals and information under different –not predefined- conditions. The tasks to be
performed are various in quality, complexity and quantity. Even a job description is just a
simplification of daily reality; the same applies to check-lists, which do not reflect the
complete set of tasks, activities, points of attention related to a task.
Due to the complexity of functions to be performed under different conditions and by

such complex “systems” as human beings, it is difficult to precisely indicate the failure
types causing things to fail. Every incident ends with the conclusion that obviously there
was “human failure” in play, but only a full investigation and analysis will reveal the most
important factors, which contributed to the event.
All the basic factors, which have been identified in e.g. DNV’s MSCAT (marine
systematic cause analysis technique) are related to human failure, including design.
At the same time, the input is mostly ill-defined (information, muscular power, grey
cells?), the means and resources ditto (physical and physiological capabilities,
knowledge, experience, attitude, skills, instructions, procedures, communication,
equipment and tools) and the control instruments also (standards, feed back)
Technical
Function definition explicit
Works as an entity
Entity = sum of the parts
All sub functions closely monitored
Detailed Control system
Objective performance measuring
Relatively simple
Standard functions
Limited number of functions
Relatively reliable
Human
Function definition may vary
Should work as an entity
Entity > sum of the parts
Most sub functions not monitored
Control system weak
Subjective performance measuring
Relatively complex
Multi functions
Large amount of functions
Relatively unreliable

Generally spoken, the human factor is infinitely more complex than the most complicated
technical system, it is fallible in a far higher degree and usually insufficiently controlled.
It deserves far more attention than any hardware system, but in practice it does not get a
fraction of the required attention.
If only the Human Resources would get the same kind and degree of attention as the
Technical Resources, a great improvement would be obtained.
A relatively limited and modest improvement of the attention paid to hiring, placing,
testing, monitoring and correcting the “Live-ware” factor already brings a considerable
improvement in the output.
This is why a Planned Maintenance System for Human Resources is recommended.
This system is called “Competency Management”
Technical Human
Propulsion system ship-board + shore-based organization
working as a combined team
Main Engine ship-board team
Engine components individuals
Genuine spare parts reliable and competent relievers
Technical specifications competency specifications
Manufacturer’s standards job performance requirements based on
specific tasks/ roles on board
Machinery break-down team failure/ wrong decision
Component break down individual human error
Poor machinery performance poor job performance
Analysis of causes of break down analysis of causes of human error
Monthly engine performance report periodical staff appraisal report
Periodical inspection periodical observation of ٛ behaviour/
performance
Repair/ overhaul corrective/ preventive action w.r.t.
Performance improvement (e.g. training)
Running hours time on board/ in the job
Detailed operation manual detailed job description/ work procedures
Overdue jobs lack of rest hours/ staff
Conditions of Class serious deficiencies of competency/
performance
Piping and Instrumentation diagrams Organization diagrams

Team Work
Energy; Self
Stamina Motivation
Stress
Reliability
Resistance
Performance
Analytical
Motivation
Skills
Leadership
Skills
Chapter 6: Competency Management

Individuals and Teams

6 Competency Management
6.1 Introduction
Time and again it appears that accidents take place where Risk Assessment classified
the risk as being acceptable.
The basic philosophy of Risk Assessment is “prevention” of whatever incident foreseen.
This insight should be based on experience (former incidents).
In Job Safety Analyses tasks are submitted to assessment, critical task steps scrutinized
for risk, potential consequences identified and safeguards discussed. We have seen
many JSA’s in which the conclusion was, that the existing safeguards were satisfactory.
In other words: “everything seems to be under control”
Material breakdown is unlikely because of a PMS, people will not get hurt because of
their training, safety meetings, work instructions, permits, PPE etc.
From day to day reality however we know better. Here Murphy’s law strikes again and
again: “what may go wrong, will go wrong once…”
The conclusion is that comparison between Incident Analysis and Risk Assessment
unveils a “gap”. Partly this is due to a lack of thoroughness and partly a result of a lack of
sense of reality put into the risk assessment. There is nothing wrong with Risk
Assessment as such, but most of the time, the reality of the individual(s) involved in the
execution of the job is not sufficiently taken into account.
Having a permit system does not mean that people will apply it properly. Having had a
training does not automatically lead to practicing what was taught. Although all drivers
have a driver’s license, all cars are regularly inspected, everybody involved in traffic has
the knowledge and the skills to drive safely, the roads are well constructed and traffic
signs are clear, car crashes take place on a daily basis. The gap between scenarios,
identified in a superficial risk assessment and what happens in real life is too big to be
acceptable.
This gap is simply “Human Behaviour”.

What makes one person behave this way and another behave completely different?
Reference is made to the SHEL(L) model. An individual operates systems, takes
decisions, acts in one way or another in an environment, partly created by the
organization (like: planning, work stress, supervision, conflicting or unclear goals etc),
partly physical (darkness, noise, ship’s movements, dangerous environment etc), gets
input from Software (instructions, data, information), operates hardware (design,
equipment, tools) and communicates with liveware (co-operation, team work,
communication, language etc). All these factors around him may lead to false
interpretations and wrong decisions in one way or another.
The decisive factor however is the ability of the operator to handle these factors. It
makes a big difference who does the job although all kind of unfavourable factors may
be present.
And this is not only a matter of “knowledge”. Not even of knowledge + experience; it is a
combination of personality (attitude and character), intellectual and emotional capacities,
experience, knowledge and skills which makes the difference.
The diagram on page 54 shows the combination between Task Complexity, (relevant)
Operator Ability and Work Conditions (which may be physical or psychological) and the
likelihood of human error as a result in the table.

HUMAN Work Error
Operator
Ability
Task
Complexity
“Environment”
Environment”
Figure 21: Simplified model of Human Failure
Although the safety management system of the company is meant to mitigate the
negative work conditions (poor planning, lack of supervision and organization of the
work, bad work atmosphere, poor employment conditions etc), to ensure reliability and
user-friendly hardware, provide clear, transparent software (instructions, procedures etc)
and conditions to ensure a good communication between the employees, the individual
ability of the “operator” makes the big difference.
Basic Factors like: poor planning, poor design, lack of adequate instructions, lack of
supervision, conflicting goals, lack of resources, stress etc.. do not automatically lead to
sub-standard acts, practices or conditions, such factors create the “favourable
conditions”, the breeding ground for these.
Even if the above mentioned factors/ conditions are positive, lack of operator ability will
still lead to incidents and also the opposite is true.
This ability can be identified as a number of specific and generic “competencies”.
By taking into account the required competencies of the operator to do the right things, it
all of a sudden starts to become “real life” ; we are actually talking about what is meant
with “negligence and carelessness”.
Competency Management
TASKS
Situational
Awareness
Energy; Self
Stamina Motivation
Stress
Reliability
Resistance
Performance
Self
Motivation
Criticism
Leadership
Skills
Figure 22: A Simplified model of Competency management

Successful operations not only depend on the right people on the right position but also
on the right behaviour on the right moment.
Behaviour may be Task oriented and Relation oriented.
Task orientation is focused at the (critical) task performance ; this is a Risk based
approach in which we apply the SHEL(L) model and ask questions about what may
happen, what the behaviour of the person should be and what is needed for that in terms
of Knowledge, Skills and Attitude. These can be translated into “competencies” , or
descriptions of what is needed to perform the task safely.
Relation orientation is equally important. An excellent individual operator may fail as a

team member or colleague. Therefore on an individual basis, skills, attitude is identified
based on the social work environment requirements.
As a company, there may be a few additional core competencies added, which are
related to the overall company strategy. An example may be individual integrity and
openness (needed for an open communication between ships and office).
All these components together lead to a list of competencies for each position on board.
Some competencies can be developed, changed, others are more or less static.
The competencies require also gradations; not everything has to be 100% for each
function; a third officer should be able to take right decisions even if the traffic situation is
difficult, but he has always the master to coach him.
Development to higher levels of performance in several competencies is one of the
objectives of this system.
Entered in a polar diagram a competency profile is obtained and visualized. This is the
basis for recruitment, selection interview, evaluation, appraisal and additional learning
activities.
It is also a basis for development to promotion.
Competency Management is a risk based tool, which departs from the tasks to be
performed, in particular the critical tasks (which includes certain administrative and
communicative tasks, like dealing with authorities and keeping statutory certificates up to
date).
For the critical operational tasks (like watch keeping on the bridge in restricted waters)
the SHEL(L) model may be used.
It can be applied as a “checklist” to identify, what kind of behaviour is required and what
this means in terms of competency and to what degree.
It is a specific type of Risk Assessment concentrated on the required behaviour of the
operator, which should be translated into the necessary competencies.
If we take as an example watch keeping on the bridge. Regardless the rank of the OOW,
he has to perform a number of tasks. Some of these are relatively simple and non
critical, others are more complicated or critical.
Critical means that the activity/ task have a high loss potential.
A critical task is for instance collision avoidance.

Situation: Confined waters with limited manoeuvring space (e.g. Dover Strait), traffic
separation, fishermen around, some ferries crossing with high speed and visibility
moderate. A more or less standard situation in such areas.
Risk Scenarios: Overtaking ships, ships changing course and getting too close, crossing
vessels not observing rules of the road. Summarizing: collision risk.
Required behaviour: Track down and select the few high risk ships –not just on ARPA,
also visual- assess timely course and speed, decide measures to take, take these and
monitor the new situation. Where needed contact other vessel and communicate clearly
what to do. Change course and speed, if needed and stay away from navigational
hazards. Be continuously aware of anything that changes around you and know what
action to take and what the effect may be. React in time and stay calm.
Competencies: knowledge regarding collision avoidance rules, ship’s manoeuvring
characteristics, relative and true motion, the operation and limitations of available
equipment etc (knowledge competencies/ basic qualifications), workload management,
sense of responsibility, attentiveness, situational awareness, position awareness,
information analysis, communication skills, planning and anticipation, decisiveness.
This list seems extensive, but it applies to most of the critical bridge and deck
operations. Once the required behaviour has been discussed, the related competencies
chosen, the next step is to decide how to verify of these competencies are available and
to what degree. This applies to all stages of employment (recruitment and selection,
preparation, appraisal and promoting).
For good understanding of the competencies we have included a short dictionary of
generic competences as a guideline. Some competencies can be developed (learning
process) , other competencies are relatively “stable” and should be present from the
beginning. Applicants for a job should have these competencies, otherwise they should
not be hired. This filtering has to be done during the selection process.
6.2 Behaviour and Competencies
Behaviour may be considered the visible “output” of an individual in a specific situation. It

becomes apparent in the way people act, what they “do”. If we consider the example of
the OOW when the pilot is on board and the vessel is in confined waters, we would like
to see that –although the master and the pilot are on the bridge- he still monitors the
position of the ship, the traffic situation, the communications and the weather-/current
conditions. In addition, that he warns the Master or the Pilot when he thinks there is a
risk of running aground, or a risk of collision. We want him to act in a certain way, which
can be predefined during a session in which competent and responsible staff is
participating.
How people act in a certain situation under given conditions depends on:
•
•
Personality (some parts –Character- hard to change; others may change )
•
Intelligence (Fixed: IQ; Developed: Emotional Intelligence)
•
Attitude (can be developed partly, but strong link to valuesÆ culture)
•
Knowledge & Skills (can be trained)
•
Experience (can be built, but takes time and coaching)
Perception (input: motivation, attitude, personality, info, can be developed )

All these elements are involved in the identification of competencies, some are more or
less “nature” and cannot easily be developed or learnt, others are “nurture” and can be
learnt or developed, although usually not “easily”.
The mental steps for identification are:
•
•
Operation? (navigation)
•
Situation? (e.g. vessel under pilotage in confined waters)
•
Task? (OOW, monitoring position, traffic, communications)
•
Action? (What has to be done: e.g. warn captain; advise pilot)
•
Difficulty? (What makes it difficult: e.g. amount of data; hierarchy)
•
Needed? (What is needed: e.g. situational awareness, self confidence)
Satisfactory? (What makes it satisfactory: e.g. message transferred,
understood, action timely taken without irritation, stress)
This type of discussion around activities/ operations leads to identification of the most
appropriate behaviour to obtain a satisfactory result, which delivers a relatively precise
description of the required competencies. As a “checklist” , the SHEL(L) model may be
applied.
It is very important to obtain the precise description of what the operator has to do
(action) in order to obtain a satisfactory result of his activities. In other words, an answer
like: “I have to ensure the ship does not run aground and that the captain is
informed”(the objective of the activity) is not enough. We need to know what he does,
and what –given the difficulties connected with the situation- is needed for that.
Only than it is relatively simple to give a definition of the key-competencies needed for
the relevant action.
The next steps are:
•
•
Give a description of effective behaviour in relation to the task
•
Mention the relevant competences needed for this
•
Decide the level of competency for the different ranks
•
Verify that there are no inconsistencies between identified competencies
•
Enter it in the competency profile
Make a short description of the competency profile and mention the essential
competencies.
The difference between a Job description with a Competency description is that the
former mentions responsibilities, authority, interrelations and possibly required
educational level, whereas the latter describes what is needed for an excellent
performance of the function.
Competency description gives a good basis for recruitment, selection, evaluation and
promotion. Not only what is the job content, but what is required to do a good job.
What makes somebody a good Chief Officer? Not only that he does the job according to
the job description, but that he behaves according to high competency standards. On the
other hand, we have to be careful with issuing too many “competencies” for every

position on board. Many of such competencies are not really relevant for the tasks or the
position of the employee and sometimes even contradictory, like: “initiative” and
“obedience”.
The importance of the Job Description (structure/ static) declines and the value of
Competency Profile (staff/skills/ behaviour/ dynamic) grows.
6.3 Examples of Competencies
A: Knowledge:
•
•
Rules and Regulations (e.g. Colreg)
•
Navigational knowledge
•
Meteorological knowledge
•
Operating Procedures Radio & Navigational Equipment
•
Maintenance of equipment
•
Computer Software (e.g. PMS)
•
Language
•
Specific Company procedures
•
Cargo / stability calculation
•
Risk related to hazardous materials
•
Lay-out and operation of machinery, piping, electrical diagrams
•
How to analyse incidents, perform risk assessment
•
Emergency operations
•
Ship-handling
Administrative tasks, reporting requirements
B. Skills:
•
•
Physical and physiological skills
•
Analytical skills
•
Social and communicative skills
•
Problem solving skills
•
Dexterity
•
Feeling for materials, tools, machinery
•
Leadership skills
•
Learning skills
•
Planning and organizing
•
Language skills
•
Cogency (ability to convince)
Writing skills
C. Capacities:
•
•
Analytical and Verbal Intelligence
•
Spatial feeling
Emotional Intelligence:
o Self-consciousness (ability to be aware of its own feelings)
o Self-regulation (ability to control its own emotions and impulses)
o Self-motivation (ability to persevere also in case of failure and misfortune)
o Empathy (ability to sense others emotions)
o Social skills (ability to adequately handle emotions of others)

D. Attitudes:
•
•
Motivation
•
Fear
•
Inclination to give in or resist
•
Attraction
•
Satisfaction
•
Organization identification
etc
E: Character Basic Characteristics:
The “big five”:
O: Openness to experience versus rigidity (from curious, creative, original, progressive

to conventional, limited, pragmatic, docile)
C: Conscientiousness versus undependability (from careful, punctual, disciplined,
diligent to lazy, careless, sloppy, easy-going)
E: Extraversion versus introversion (from open, active, optimistic to taciturn, non
communicative, reserved)
A: Agreeableness versus ill-temperedness (from friendly, helpful, accommodating,
sensitive to cynical, indifferent, dictatorial, domineering, suspicious)
N: Neuroticism versus emotional stability (from calm, relaxed, sober, impassive to
nervous, uncertain, emotional, worried)
These 5 basic dimensions are widely accepted as being the basis for other personal
characteristics, they are also difficult to change.
Character is usually considered to be overwhelmingly “nature”(innate) ; or it has been

developed during the early stages of development and can not easily be modified.
F: Competencies derived from personality characteristics, which can be developed (to

certain extend); the “difficult” competencies are in Italic.
Examples:
Ambition Striving to obtain a higher / more prominent position; takes pains in

developing himself to achieve this
Adaptability Being able to act effective by adapting itself to a new environment, tasks,
responsibilities and people
Resistance to stress Ability to continue acting effectively under time pressure, in case of
misfortune, resistance or disappointment
Perseverance Ability to adhere to a certain plan of action or an opinion, until the objective
has been achieved or ceases to exist as reasonably achievable
Vision Ability to adopt a helicopter view; concentrate on the big picture and the
long term
Sociability Ability to deal with other people, to take the initiative to contact them and to
feel at ease in their company
Co-operation The tendency to contribute to a common goal, even when the contribution
itself is not of any individual importance
Problem analysis Identify problems; detecting the essential information; connecting the key
facts; identify the possible causes and finding the relevant data.

Performance motivation Behaviour that shows high quality standards for the own performance. Not
satisfied with a mediocre result.
Initiative Detects opportunities and acts accordingly. Prefers to take action by itself
rather than to wait passively
Integrity Values the generally accepted socials and ethical standards in activities
related to the job
Individual leadership Ability to effectively coach and direct a fellow-worker in his duties
Group leadership Ditto, but in addition, the ability to establish and maintain a certain level of
internal coherence in order to achieve common goals
Flexibility Ability to adapt the style of behaviour to achieve a certain objective in case
problems arise or new opportunities present themselves
Energy Being able to maintain a high level of activity during a longer period of time
if the job requires so; stamina.
Discipline Following the policies and instructions. In case of changes seeks
permission with higher authorities
Courage Is not afraid to take a challenge with the objective to obtain a certain
predefined benefit
Creativity Find original solutions for problems related to the job. Find new methods to
replace existing
Resolution To take decisions by means of action or commitment by expressing an
opinion
Delegation To transfer own authority and responsibility to the right personnel in a clear
and transparent way
Customer focus Take the clients interest as a point of departure and act accordingly
Listening Ability to pick up important information from verbal communication. Wishes
to know more, reacts on what is said
Management Identification Identification with the interest and problems of management; wish to be
informed about this
Care for detail Being able to handle detailed information in an effective way during a long
time
Environmental awareness Demonstrate to be well informed about the society and political
developments and to apply this knowledge for the own function or
organization
Situation awareness The ability to keep an oversight of what is going on around you and to
detect any changes which may become a risk
Independence Undertaking action which is primarily based on own conviction that on the
motive to satisfy other’s wishes. Stay on own track; peer pressure does not
lead to adapting behaviour
Sound judgment Ability to consider and evaluate the relative importance of available data
and possible activities and obtain a realistic decision
Honesty, trustworthiness Despite sometimes negative impact on the opinion of others, be able to
admit own shortcomings and stick to what was agreed although this may
result in negative effects
Reliability People around you know that you will act as agreed and if a deviation is
needed, they will be informed
Loyalty Will be loyal to his superiors as far as execution of work is concerned
Innovative dealing Is multisided, is continuously trying to find better solutions; considers
change as a challenge as long as it leads to improvement
Sense of responsibility Does not need any external pressure nor stimulation to act in the interest of
the organization or his colleagues
Workload management Being able to stay focused and calm even if the work load is high for some
time.
Work control Being able to resume the threads of an activity after a short interruption or
absence
Self criticism An attitude of check, re-check and double check; does not allow
complacency; not afraid of admitting mistakes
Activeness Continuously active in trying to find things to do and be productive in one
way or another.

6.4 Competency profiling
Once the critical (few) competencies have been identified (classified in knowledge/ skills
competencies and attitude/ behaviour bound competencies), these may be entered in
either a table or a (polar) diagram.
Such a diagram contains the key competencies for a task at several levels of
development. As has been said before, some competencies can hardly be further
developed, being firmly integrated in a person’s character (e.g. an introvert person will
never become extravert and vice versa).
Those competencies which can be developed by means of training, coaching, practicing
and in general: gaining experience under more or less safe conditions, can be entered in
3 or 4 levels of competency. This indicates also that certain competencies have to be
present in all ranks of deck officers for instance, but that it is acceptable that juniors have
a lower level of achievement than a senior.
It should be avoided to enter more than 10 specific competencies in the profile. Apart
from the described “risk assessment” method of identification of required competencies,
it is also very practical to try and get some relevant clues from previous incidents. What
would have made the difference?
The entire operation may seem time consuming and difficult, but we would like to remind
the reader that accidents take place precisely because of certain behaviour on a critical
moment, which 9 out of 10 can be linked to a key competency.
For shipboard use this profiling should not be too extensive, because of the limited
number of critical tasks and the similarity of tasks, although at different levels.
Once the profiles have been made, this should be used as a support during all stages of
employment.
In the next paragraphs we will give a short instruction on how this may be used for
recruitment and selection (6.5), monitoring and appraisal (6.6) and development and
training (6.7).
Polar Diagram: Competency Match Individual/ Function
Team Work
Energy; Self
Stamina Motivation
Stress
Reliability
Resistance
Performance
Analytical
Motivation
Skills
Leadership
Skills
Figure 23: Example of a Competency Diagram

6.5 Recruitment and Selection
Whatever the job profiling may be, competencies have to be identified, explicitly or
implicitly.
In to day practice, shipping organizations tend to consider only job competences related
to knowledge and possibly, a few skills.
It will be clear, that this is a serious underestimation of personality and capacity factors,
which are so decisive in daily life.
Everybody knows, that 2 individuals with exactly the same level of education may
perform on a complete different level, take different decisions and have different
attitudes. And, the difference between the right decision and a wrong decision, success
and failure is most of the time a matter of the “human operator” and not only because of
this formal knowledge and skills.
It is therefore, that –one way or another- an organization should more carefully specify
what exactly it expects from its employees in specific functions and situations. Only this
will give a certain guarantee that junior employees will be able to develop into the right
direction and perform satisfactorily, not only in a short term but also on a long term.
Motivation is not a matter of satisfying some basic needs, but is strongly connected with
the perspective of the individual that he will be successful.
“Learning” is based upon the law of the effect, which states that behaviour is a function
of its consequences.
Behaviour with a positive result will be repeated. “Result” refers to what somebody
experiences as a “reward”
It appears that one of the basic human needs (top needs of Maslow) is “being
successful”. This experience is the reward for the activity.
People who learn something and notice a substantial effect of the training, tend to feel
much more motivated than those who just follow a training and do not experience any
increase in their skills, insight or knowledge, even when a certificate is issued.
This also implies that if certain key competencies (due to lack of certain capacities or
basic personality characteristics –one of the big 5) are absent in an individual, the
potential for being successful is too low and de-motivation will be the result.
The profile for each function serves as a basis for recruitment and selection.
A Company probably will try to recruit people who have the potential to become
successful in its organization. Potential means, that although candidates may not yet
fully comply with the identified competency-profile, but that they have the potential to
develop certain competencies to the desired level.
Shipping industry depends strongly on the competencies of its employees. Recruitment

and –in particular- selection should preferably be performed by company personnel
itself.
Each candidate for each position, at least all officers, should be interviewed. This should
be done by 2 interviewers, one of these with a relevant professional background.
Sometimes it is better to have two separate interviews and compare the results later.
What should be verified is at least: does the candidate have the required knowledge and
experience and does the candidate comply with the competency profile for the job.

During the interview, attitudes, language skills etc can be picked up and tested in a more
or less “natural” way.
The interviewer applies the competency profile by application of the STAR method.
For each competency the questions have been prepared and the following stages have
to be completed:
• Situation? ( Take the competency –e.g. “social sensitivity” as a point of

departure and ask questions related to experiences of the candidate of a
situation in which this issue was relevant; prepare such questions on before hand
•
and of-course- relevant for the shipping industry)
Task? ( Ask the candidate what his task/ role was in that situation; e.g. showing
•
an arrogant and unfriendly inspector around the ship)
Action? ( How was the action taken to handle this situation; how did you
experience it, what did you feel, what was the difficulty…e.g. stayed calm and
polite, took the initiative to show him spaces and demonstrate equipment
although he did not request this, showed him your confidence although nothing is
•
perfect and you were open to the “valuable” remarks from his side…)
Result? ( What was the result of your action and what did you learn from it? E.g.:
the inspector obviously calmed down, changed his attitude and obviously felt a bit
flattered that he was treated this way. It appeared later that the guy just left
another ship, where they tried to cheat him. This explained a lot about his initial
attitude. He left the ship without any written remark, although there were a few
small deficiencies. I learned that you catch more flies with honey than with
vinegar...)
A number of examples have been included in the appendix of this course, but it is
recommended to develop and apply “own” questions for each competency. This is not as
difficult as it seems, because the competencies were identified during a brainstorming
session before. In this session, the critical tasks were taken and the difficulties, roles and
tasks, what was needed etc…This was not purely theory, because the own “incident-/
non conformity” experience was considered during this activity.
The better prepared the interviewer is, the more effective and satisfactory the interview
will be and the likelihood of hiring somebody with a serious and non- repairable lack of
competencies will be very low.
Of course, knowledge, skills and personality may also be tested (examination, simulation
centre and/or psychological test). Even if a company decides to apply such professional
tools, it is still recommendable to interview every candidate, who has passed the test.
If possible, it is very useful to have the newly recruited officer in the office for (part of) a
day and give him some introduction in the company’s policies, familiarize him with the
organization and provide him with some basic safety instructions. It is well-known that
such activities tend to loose effectiveness when new personnel have to be familiarized
when they join the ship. Everybody is running around, people may be tired from
travelling and everything is new. The initial ship-board familiarization should be restricted
to the few key issues, like lifeboat, alarms, emergency stations and operation of
important equipment.

It will be clear that it would not be logical for the ministry of defence of a country to
delegate the administration and maintenance of its secret weapons to a sub-contractor
and to take care of the catering department itself. Although personnel is not precisely a
“secret weapon”, it certainly is the most critical and valuable asset of a shipping
company.
In this respect it is worth mentioning that shipping companies should pay more attention
to any sub-contractors involved in manning.
The following classification could be given:
• The shipping company takes care of the entire process of recruitment,

selection, evaluation and (re-)placement of all officers. In fact, officers have a
•
fixed employment agreement with the company
Same as above, but only senior officers have a fixed employment agreement
•
with the company (and so on..)
The shipping company has delegated the human resources activities to a
highly professional (proven not corrupt) crewing management organization,
•
but is actively involved in the final selection of all officers
The shipping company delegates all activities to a professional crewing
management organization and carries out periodical audits to verify its
•
continuing level of quality, active involvement in final selection Master etc
•
Delegation as above, but there is no active involvement in final selection
The company has all human resources activities sub-contracted to a crewing
agent.
In the first options the control of professionalism and competencies of the employees is
far better than in the last option, where the company does not play any significant role in
its manning policy. It goes without saying that such an approach cannot possibly achieve
a high level of performance in the TMSA scales
“ KPI” related to Recruitment/ Selection

Recruitment/ Selection by Company: Fixed Employment Officers
Ditto; Fixed employment Senior Officers
Deleg Crew Management Org/ active inv selection/ audits
First part same/ no involvement / audits
Ditto, but no audits
Crewing Agent does all
Figure 24: Grades of Recruitment/ Selection Standards

6.6 Monitoring and Appraisal
From day 1 onward, newly joined staff should be monitored and supervised by a senior
colleague. This does not require a lot of extra time or energy. It is simply a natural task,
assigned to relevant personnel.
Similar principles apply to machinery and equipment. Every engineer has an assigned
area of the technical systems, for which he is responsible. The same applies to deck
officers, who have certain areas of responsibility.
Why should such be restricted to machinery, administration, equipment, charts and
publications and not be applied to –the extremely critical factor of- human “capital”?
It may be a good idea to include the ability to guide and instruct junior colleagues
(individual leadership) in the competency profile of each officer.
The monitoring activity is aimed at the “soft” (an slightly unsuitable term, because of their
impact on job performance) key competencies, but also the “hard” competencies like
“knowledge and skills”
After a certain period of time the head of department (CO/ Master/Cheng) has evidence
of observed behaviour, related to the key competencies.
Once again, it should be underlined, that we are dealing with actual behaviour, not with
“opinions”, “impressions”, “feelings” .
One of the reasons why being submitted to “appraisals” is so unpopular, is related to
this: people often get the feeling, that the person who has made the appraisal just has
followed his “nose” in stead of having observed actual behaviour.
An appraisal is always an opinion, but when the opinion is closely connected with facts,
actual behaviour etc, it will be more reliable and undisputable, hence the acceptance
level will be higher.
Apart from this, the appraisal we refer to, is not the one at the end of the contract of
Master or Officer –in a moment where there is no opportunity left to improve one’s
behaviour. This appraisal is a “development- appraisal” and aimed at developing the
areas which need to be developed.
• Name, function, period, performed by, date etc..

The form to be used should at least contain the following sections:
• Key Competencies, segregated Knowledge/ skills and other competencies

• Level of achievement in comparison with required level according to profile
• Examples of behaviour related to the evaluation
• Analysis of factors contributing to either “sub-standard” performance (what are
the causes of the shortcomings?) or “excellent” performance (what is the “secret”
• This requires that the appraisal focuses on both Personal Factors (individual,
of your success?)
• It is important to take also such “indirect” players into consideration (also

social competencies) and Job Factors (mostly a result of competencies of others)
• Agreed plan of action, containing concrete action to take, how and when to
supervisors and shore-based personnel have their competency profile)
evaluate, what would be an example of achievement of required behaviour, what

is needed from management (master/ cheng/ choff) and from the side of the

employee. The objectives should be SMART (specific, measurable or visible,
•
achievable, realistic and time-bound)
The definitions of the relevant competencies could be included in full text and
description of the levels of achievement or just refer to such a description and
only display a number (an example is included in the appendix)
In general such a form should not be too complicated or elaborate. It is strongly

recommended to ensure all people submitted to this type of appraisal are provided with
the relevant competency profile and description of the meaning of these competencies
and prepares himself for the appraisal.
As there is no connection between salary and this appraisal, the likelihood to have a
constructive discussion, concentrated on development and learning, rather than
statement of a “verdict or sentence”, is much higher.
At the same time it should be avoided to bring up the issue of “re-hiring” . Especially the
threat of “not going to be rehired” spoils the entire activity of appraisal. If the company
decides to play a more central role in the process of manning (like: recruitment done by
the sub-contractor, but selection is the prerogative of the company) this destructive
pressure will be removed for the greater part.
Personal factors; something “wrong” with:
• Physical capabilities (hearing, vision, strength etc…)

• Mental capabilities (intelligence, memory, reaction, judgement etc..)
• Physical stress (fatigue, work environment, alcohol..)
• Emotional stress (monotony, frustration, confusing demands, preoccupation with problems,
emotional overload…)
• Knowledge (experience, basic training, education, orientation, risk awareness…)
• Skills (Instruction, practice, coaching, infrequent performance…)
• Motivation (internal -frustration, aggression, discipline, optimism wrt risk, wish to save time or
effort…… external - peer pressure, toleration, lack of example, lack of feedback, lack of
incentives….)
• Personality and Attitude (adaptation to- colleagues, -safety culture, -teamwork, acceptance of-
rules and instructions, -hierarchy, -roles, responsibilities and authority, independence in decision
taking, w.r.t. improper behaviour of others, internal moral values….)
Job factors; something “wrong” with:

• Organization-Communication (unclear or conflicting goals, standards, policies, roles,
responsibilities, interrelations, reporting lines, delegation, transparency, performance criteria,
inadequate transfer of responsibilities/information, inadequate staff)
• Planning- Preparation ( inadequate consideration of (suitable) tools, equipment, personnel,
human limitations, work environment, budget, time, instructions, documentation, standards,
including for sub contractors), lack of (thoroughness) of risk assessment)
• Leadership-supervision (inadequate performance feedback, performance measurement, match
task-operator, supervision, instructions, orientation, training (given) , monitoring of activities)
• Change management (inadequate identification/evaluation of changes, inadequate
re/assessment, insufficient organizational flexibility, (rigidity of budget, rules, planning)
• Engineering, Design (inadequate -consideration of loss exposures, human factors/ ergonomics -
design standards, specifications -monitoring of initial operation /assessment of operational
readiness)

• Maintenance (system, standards, schedules, assessment of priorities)

• Resource management (assessment of needs and risk- personnel, tools, equipment,
qualifications, service suppliers, inadequate standards and instructions,- availability,- operational
freedom, shore based advisory support)
• Purchasing, Specification, Standards (Specifications, requisitions, research on materials-
equipment, mode or rout of shipment, receiving inspection/acceptance, handling, storage,
transporting, hazardous items identification, selection criteria contractors)
• Risk Based Standards/Policies/Procedures ( development - risk based, professional
(involvement employees), practical (KISS), balanced, consistent, implementation- publication,
distribution, work language, training, motivation, maintenance- measuring effectiveness/ efficiency,
updating, analysis of deviations
6.7 Training and development
Nobody is a born professional. In the past, a fresh cadet (having obtained his basic
qualifications as an officer) would be received by senior ship-board personnel with words
like: “O.k., welcome on board, now forget all the rubbish you learned at school, because
the real learning starts today”.
Of course, what was taught at school was relevant and important, but nothing can
replace experience. And experience takes time and/ or concentration, planning and
energy.
Learning is not identical to training. It would –for instance- not make any sense to follow
training for a competency like “independence”. Although this competency may be one of
the key competencies for a certain function, development of this competency requires
guidance, supervision and the opportunity to gain experience under controlled
conditions. Training is just one of the methods which can be applied to learn. Most skills
and competencies we have as a human being are not trained.
We prefer therefore to use the term “development” or “learning”, rather than “training”
In a development matrix, the basic competencies (both knowledge/ skills = related to
actual training and behaviour related competencies, usually not “covered” by training)
may be entered (e.g. horizontally: the competency profile as required for the function and
vertically the competency profile as displayed by the individual employee or the group of
employees.
Should there be any general gaps between available competencies and required
competencies, the company should organize development activities for the relevant
category of personnel. This usually refers to “hard” competencies (e.g. new legislation,
new systems, new equipment etc) and may require training for such a group. An
example is when the company decides to qualify for an ISO standard, which requires
active participation of all employees to a certain extend.
In such a case, it should be taken into consideration that training is just one step in the
process of implementation and the following questions should also be considered:
•
•
To what strategic objective contributes this competency
•
Is there any need for general training
•
How to translate company goals into training objectives
•
How to integrate the newly obtained competence in daily practice
•
How to evaluate the effectiveness thereof
How to ensure that newly obtained knowledge becomes part of the system

In a standard shipping company, the above mentioned category is usually restricted to

new legislation (ISM, ISPS, Ballast Management), new tools (like PMS software), new
equipment (like ARPA, ACDIS, DP systems), new systems (like ISO standards), new
policies (like: introduction of Competency Management).
Another category of development is the individual development of competencies of

employees. This is meant to fill the gap between individual competency profile and the
competency profile for the present function or a higher function (in case of preparation
for a higher rank).
Before decisions are made about development of competencies, a few questions arise:
• Are the relevant competencies liable to develop (or simply part of the more or
•
less “unchangeable” personality characteristics)
What is the significance of development of the competency (what difference does
•
it make?)
•
What are the (SMART) objectives
What is the most appropriate method (training, education, coaching, supervision,
•
traineeship in another function, intensified experience)
What should be the result in terms of behaviour
“Learning” is the most suitable word, when competencies are to be developed.

The question is, what kind of learning?
• Simple learning: Understand what the consequences are of certain behaviour are
There are three levels / categories of learning:
• Twofold learning: Obtain insight in why the consequences of certain behaviour

and which existing rules should be applied.
• Threefold learning: Be familiar with the basic principles which lead to the insight
should be modified and certain existing rules are required
in the consequences of certain behaviour and be able to develop the most

suitable behaviour.
Example:
An employee does not take the right decisions and it appears that he does not know the
required rules (requires simple learning)
An employee strictly follows the instructions, but he does not see the background for the
instructions (if one point is not mentioned on the checklist, it does not appear to him to
go beyond the checklist) (requires twofold learning)
An employee is reluctant to take more responsibility, because he feels to be too busy
with his own tasks. In this case, the employee demonstrates why he is not motivated to
change his behaviour. Not only his behaviour has to change but also his attitude
(requires threefold learning)
• Present behaviour. The employee is aware of his present behaviour, understands

The stages in the process of developing new behaviour are:
• Future behaviour. The employee knows what the desired behaviour is, is aware
that this is not adequate, wishes to improve and is willing to take action.
of the need to obtain this behaviour in order to perform as required

• Learning. Employee has a good idea of his learning capabilities and applies his
•
capabilities, is eager to improve
Integrating. Employee understands his dependency on the environment, tries to
utilize available competencies from colleagues and compares his progress in the
•
development of the competencies.
Differentiating. Employee begins to see opportunities to distinguish himself and to
develop certain (hidden) competencies on a more individual way. He is available
•
to share his recently obtained competencies with others.
Inspiring. He is fully aware of his role and the impact on his work environment, he
considers it important to have added value for his environment, a source of
inspiration to others and he exercises a positive influence on his environment.
As far as the learning stage is concerned a few remarks.
First of all there should be an external or (preferably) internal urge, desire to learn; he
should feel motivated and be ware of the relevance for his function.
Secondly, learning should be done in various ways: instruction, practical involvement,
reading, finding out yourself, problem solving, preparing presentation for colleagues,
practising.
Thirdly, application of what has been learned as soon as possible, avoid “drying out” of
recent “knowledge. This is a typical defect of IT training which was given one year before
the actual hard-and software was installed.
The sooner things are brought in practice, the faster the process of Head (rational
understanding), via Heart (feeling the importance and being motivated to apply it) into
Hands (being familiar, what was learned has become an integrated part of normal
behaviour)
This sequence can also be characterized as follows:

Awareness – Acceptance – Application – Assimilation
6.8 Training and Experience
Although one of the most important activities to manage skills is training, it is not the
only tool and certainly not applicable for all kind of performance defects.
A lot depends on experience. Nothing replaces experience. It is widely accepted, that
theoretical knowledge is just a basis on which competence should be build. In order to
be able to gain experience, personnel need :
•
•
Adequate Basic knowledge
•
Supervision and Leadership
•
Time to learn
Situations, which present an opportunity to learn
Well directed experience has a positive effect on Attitude (depends partly on own
experience in life), Skills , some elements of Personality (leadership can be learned),
Motivation (I “can” and I “want” are not completely distant concepts; they are rather poles
on one sliding scale) and indirectly: Perception.

Especially Supervision and the required leadership’s skills from senior personnel appear
to be difficult to achieve. Partly due to shortage of experienced staff and partly due to
lack of the required skills to provide effective guidance to juniors.
Time requires a certain retention rate.
The best results can be achieved if there is a high level of staff retention, sufficient and
skilled seniors to provide guidance in a challenging work environment, where active
participation is required (learn by doing under close supervision).
The tendency to try and compensate lack of experience by extensive use of check-lists
leads to becoming a “ follower” rather than somebody who develops his capacities in
order to become a professional. In daily practice people are expected to take decisions,
often under unforeseen conditions. This policy carries the risk that the wrong
competencies are developed. In stead of “initiative and sound judgement”, the officer
obtains a behaviour dominated by: “obedience and being guided by blinkers”.
Checklists should be used prudently, only as a memory support for some critical jobs,
with the remark not to follow them, but to consider them as a general guideline and
remain alert for “new” situations all the time.
The more experience one has, the better insight in what is needed in the future. The
simple model of the butterfly demonstrates this. A follower will never be able to identify
risk in the future, because he was never challenged to think about risk, just to apply
prescribed rules.
Learn, decide and apply
E P
X R
P E
I V
R E
I N
E T
N I
C O
E N
The Past NOW The Future
Learn from the past; apply in the future and decide NOW
Figure 25: The butterfly model shows the link between

The level of experience and the ability to assess Risk
6.9 Teams and Leaders
The difference between a group of people and a team is comparable to the difference
between a number of loose rope strands and a properly twined rope.
Individuals –albeit professional- have their own “program” and objectives. If a group of
professionals is brought together, but the internal coherence is absent, everybody will
just behave and act along the lines of his own program. Despite job descriptions and
work procedures, in such a case, things may easily fail. Shortcomings of one individual
in certain moment will not be identified and compensated by his colleague.

Individual motivation is not sufficient to obtain the best results in a group of people. Good
example is the “organization” . It is more and more obvious, that things usually go wrong,
not because of some individual mistake, but due to organization failure. An organization
consists of individuals, working together, but not necessarily as a lubricated machinery.
A team is more than the sum of the individuals; if an individual fails, the team still may be
successful. But also, if all individuals are skilled, the team still may fail.
It is therefore important to ensure all individuals are skilled and in addition that people
are getting used to work as a team. This requires good internal communication.
• Professionalize and coach teams like individuals are developed and coached
The basics are:
• Training as complete teams in for instance in Risk Assessment and Problem
• Involve more people in incident analysis and lessons learnt

Solving
• Decisions are taken based on consideration of all input (no “winners”)

• Members perceive they “ make the difference”
• All members have adequate professional knowledge
• Achievable goals (the can-do attitude)
• Team incentives
• Five teams of 6 persons is easier than one team of 30 people
• Avoid informal teams to develop their own “objectives” and standards; try to keep
team dynamics in line with wider objectives of the organization (the ship or the
• Also in teamwork, cultural awareness is critical

shore based organization)
In modern society in shipping the bond between all personnel should be strengthened by
mutual visits and even the kind of “ trainee-ship” as referred to in the TMSA program
Generally spoken, two types of teams may be distinguished; routine teams (like
anchoring, mooring operations, planned maintenance) and crisis teams (like fire fighting
and crisis management ashore or on board).
Teams usually have a leader; the most ideal situation is when the manager is also the
leader. This is the case when dealing with routine teamwork. In case of crisis
management, leaders may pop up from any side.
Leadership is not an innate competency; it depends also from the situation. People who
distinguished themselves as good leaders in a particular emergency situation could fail
in another.
We believe that also for contingencies, competency profiles should be identified,

including the roles of the leader. This will support the training of fire fighting teams and
shore based emergency response teams although it will not guarantee that everything
will run as foreseen in a real emergency.
Acting in an emergency differs from acting under normal conditions, because extra
stress is present in such cases. Some people can handle stress better than others, but
also a well-functioning team may suddenly collapse if the team starts to fail.
Crisis teams have to be flexible and extremely well prepared to act at a “routine-based”
level or a “rule-based” level. Flexibility is required in the sense that normal “organization

– structures” cannot always be adhered to. The best man for the job is required; this
requires another view of “authority” (style) than in a standard setting. In this respect is
seems logical to reconsider the practicality of standard musterlists, on which all pre-
defined roles and tasks are laid down, as it where a routine operation. In this type of
informal, occasional “organizations” it would be better to train all staff for all tasks and if
the time should come that roles have to be distributed and orders have to be given, take
those who –at that moment- are in the best (physical and mental) condition for the
respective tasks.
Drills are meant to prepare people to act on a rule based level even under the most
difficult conditions.
Rasmussen developed a model for these three levels. People may act at three levels:
“Skill” (like: walking, typing, steering a car), “Rule” (like: drawing a rumb line on the chart,
switching from one software program to another, fixing a position, applying the traffic
rules whilst driving etc) and “Knowledge” (like solving a difficult problem).
Failure at the Skill level is called a “slip” and is not subject to learning, but to improving
design or marking the relevant area (like one low door entrance amidst many standard
height door entrances). Failure at the “Rule” level may be because the operator assumes
it is a task at Skill level (like opening a valve upside down) but certain predefined “rules”
have to be applied, or that the operator is not sufficiently familiar with the correct rules
(delete text in stead of copy and paste). This behaviour can be learned. The highest
level of brain activity is when problem solving is required by the operator (of course, the
relevant problem may be at rule level for another, more experienced colleague). Fire
fighting is a complicated affair under harsh conditions and consequently requires a
relatively high level of brain activity. But fighting a fire at a “knowledge-based” level is
practically impossible, due to the enormous stress (big hazard and short time) involved.
Such requires better preparedness in order to prepare the fire fighting team for fighting a
fire at a Rule level (“if this, then that”)
SRK Model of Rasmussen
goals
Knowledge
based
behaviour Decision
Assessment planning
of task
Rule
based Association Stored rules
recognition
behaviour state/task for tasks
Automated
Skill- sensory-motor
based
behaviour
perception patterns
Action
Input
Figure 26: The SRK Model of Rasmussen (individuals and teams)

Also routine teams may face stress (like bridge teams when in crowded waters), but
these situations are easier to predict and prepare for.
Such teams are more formalized than the “occasional” crisis-teams and could be
compared with football teams. The trainer (leader) decides which roles are to be played
by whom and how the tactics will be. If team members do not play as team members but
as individuals, the team will fail. The Dutch football players are considered among the
best of Europe –individually-, but it regularly happened that the Dutch national team lost
a match against a team consisting of players with a better team-spirit, although less
individual skills compared to the Dutch.
For the tasks to be performed by such teams a number of competencies and rules of the
game have to be identified and brought into practice.
Bridge Team Management courses are designed from that. One of the key issues is to
maintain a high level of situational awareness, which again is a combination of a number
of skills and attitudes in a specific environment.
The high risk is again false perception of the situation, due to lack of Situational
Awareness. This may be caused by lack of Management Skills, Communicative Skills,
Experience, Knowledge, Spatial Orientation, Rest, improper attitude (like fear to warn a
higher ranked person that he is about to make a serious mistake). Situational awareness
is the result of a number of basic competencies required for the task.
Symptoms that a serious risk of loosing situational is imminent are found to be:
•
•
Ambiguity
•
Distraction
•
Feeling of Confusion/ Inadequacy
•
Breakdown in Communication
•
Improper Conn/ Lookout
•
Violation of Rules/ Laws
•
Departure from Passage Plan
Complacency
6.10 Leadership
After having read all the previous, it will be clear that “the” leader does not exist. It is
always a leader in a specific setting.
We believe that leadership is rather related to performance of the organization, than of a
particular person.
Although it is a fact, that some people have better relational and communicative skills
(which also may be a prerequisite of the function) than others, leadership cannot be
seen separated from the specific work situation and the type of activities to be
undertaken, the type and level of education of the employees, their cultural background
etc..
There are mainly four important components for Leadership:
The personality of the leader
The attitude, needs and other features of the employees
The features of the organization, such as: objectives, structure, field of activities
The socio-economical and political environment
The required qualities of the leader, needed to become a successful leader, depend very
much on the other 3 factors.

This leads to the conclusion that leadership is not a simple quality of an individual, but a
complex of relations between these variables.
The old question if the leader creates history or history creates the leader has been
solved now. Both statements are more or less correct.
This fits neatly in the 7-S model, where it has been stated before that all the elements
have reciprocal influence.
A good leader in the 19th century is not necessarily a good leader in modern society. A
good leader in the Western European setting may be a poor leader in the East Asiatic
cultural environment
Although “the” universal leader does not exist and probably more people could be good
leaders, this does not mean that everybody can become a leader.
“Leadership” as a competency has different components : Group-oriented Leadership

and Individual-oriented Leadership. This implies, that these 2 aspects of leadership
competencies exist. In the right setting (all the 4 factors) these competencies will
contribute to successful performance in a commanding position.
variables:
Personality of the “leader” (e.g. Master)
Attitude, needs, culture and other personality characteristics of workers
Organizational features, like objectives, structure, area of activity
Social, economical and political environment
Leaders in the 19th century differed from those nowadays
A successful “leader” in organization A may fail in organization B
A leader in US differs from a leader in Japan
The Bad news: there is no recruitment agency specialized in universal leaders
The Good news: provided the right combination, leadership can be created/
organized.
Good management is the key factor for leadership
Leadership is the key factor for team building
A team is the key factor for a common professional and successful culture
Conclusion: Leadership is not what the individual achieves, but what the
organization achieves
Leadership is situational. This means that depending on the situation, the team
members, their skills and motivation, the leader should adapt his style of leadership.

Roughly, four combinations can be distinguished:
• Instruct : Emphasis on Control. Tell them what to do and verify the execution
• Consult: Accent on Control and Support both. Ask for input from employees and
take decisions yourself, monitor the execution closely
• Participate: Accent on Support. Request input and active involvement in
decision taking and execution. Support them in the execution
• Delegate: Little Support and Control. Decisions are left to the employees
including responsibility of the execution.
H
H Employee’s Competence L
Motivation Motivation
HIGH LOW HIGH LOW
Support/ relation oriented
Pa
rt l t
ic su
ip n
at Co
e
In
te s
ga tr u
ele ct
D
H
Control/ task oriented
Figure 28: Situational Leadership

Chapter 7: Summary

7. Summary
In this course we followed a risk-based approach with regard to Human Behaviour.

It appears that there is a gap between what –theoretically- may happen and can be
identified in Risk Assessment and what happens in reality.
According to most of the Job Safety Analysis we have seen, risk has been identified,
safeguards have been developed and implemented and consequently the remaining risk
has been mitigated on paper.
If we analyse the Incidents however, a complete different picture appears; despite all the
safeguards, laid down in instructions, procedures, checklists, equipment etc, things still
go wrong, because of “human failure” (this is “the” –obvious- cause frequently found
mentioned in such reports)
The gap lies in human behaviour. There may be predefined measures, but –for various
reasons- people do not always apply these in practice, there may be predefined
scenarios, but reality cannot be laid down in scenarios alone. Human behaviour is the
big question mark and should be better understood, otherwise all safeguards will still fail
to prevent accidents.
Unfortunately, in the shipping industry, the human factor does not get a fraction of the
attention usually paid to technical factors. Technical systems are far better defined,
standardized, predictable and simpler than “human” systems (individuals and
organizations), yet it seems as if the industry prefers to improve technical management
beyond perfection and delegate the far more critical human resources management to
sub-contractors.
We compared this with a ministry of defence, which delegates the maintenance of her
secret weapons to a sub-contractor, but wishes to manage catering activities by itself.
The conclusion can only be, that Human resources management deserves much more
attention, which can be found reflected in the Tanker Management Self Assessment
Program of OCIMF.
As the maritime industry has the world as a playground and many nationalities are
involved in managing, manning, chartering, inspecting, surveying, operating and owning
ships on board and ashore, the cultural reality has to be taken into account.
The classical organization theories have predominantly been developed by Western
investigators and scholars, which does not always make these theories suitable for other
cultures.
We discussed the 5 main dimensions of national cultures, with their respective

characteristics and in combination with each other. In order to make this information
suitable for application in day to day shipping organizations, we prepared a few simple
checklists, which will help to screen policies, practices, procedures and instructions for
anything which may have a –disturbing- cultural impact, or to make these more culture-
friendly.
We focused at the factors which may be distinguished in Human Behaviour, the degree
of stability of these factors and the chain of factors leading to behaviour.

In order to understand human behaviour in the context of an organization, the central

model applied is the 7-S model by Mc.Kinsey and we placed this in the maritime setting.
Of the 7 elements, 4 elements are related to “human resources”: style of management,
staff, skills and shared values. In popular terms called “soft” elements, not because
these are less powerful than the other 3 (strategy, structure and systems), but because
these factors are less visible, tangible and they cannot be formalized (in manuals, for
instance).
All the 7 elements are equally important and interdependent; which means that if one
element changes, this will affect the other elements in one way or another.
The introduction of the ISM Code in particular caused a “landslide” in shipping; other
organization structure, new strategies, new connected systems, consequences for
personnel and so on.
It has been explained how shared values (culminating in an overall “company” culture)
may be obtained, although the reality of modern ship management shows many
unfavourable factors, like a high turn-over of personnel and a decreasing mutual loyalty.
The last part of our course is dedicated to optimizing the fit between staff, skills and the
tasks to be performed.
As a modern tool, competency management may be applied, which departs from the risk
pattern related to each activity, in particular to critical tasks (with a high loss potential).
Competency management starts with the composition of a Competency Profile, based
on behaviour task analysis of the most critical tasks. This should be done for both
individual-bound and team-bound tasks.
Competency management should be applied during the three main stages of
employment: recruitment and selection, monitoring and appraisal and development and
training (for present and future ranks)
Although, these activities may be considered “time consuming”, the overall potential for
improvement of safety management is high. What deserves much attention should get
much more attention.
Human Resources Management is not a “hobby” for softies, but a prime condition to
ensure modern shipping organizations’ ability to cope with the growing quality and
safety demands of modern society.
We strongly support the idea that Shipping Companies should become more involved in
active participation in recruitment and selection of ship-board staff.
The artificial and senseless distinction between so called “junior officers” and senior
officers should be abandoned, because the junior of today are most likely the senior of
tomorrow and the importance of a consistent policy of developing competencies and
preparation for higher and more demanding positions requires equal attention for all
officers.
Given the investment in time and efforts and the –often delicate- balance between the
competencies needed to run the fleet safely and in good harmony between ships and
shore-based organization, it is wasteful to shift from one crew to another as seems still to
be common practice nowadays.
The OCIMF appreciation for a high retention rate, combined with professionalizing of all
involved therefore deserves widespread support, not only on tankers but on all ship-
types.

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Behaviour-/Human Resources Management

In the Shipping Industry

© DNV Rotterdam 2005 JWIJ Page 1 of 98

© DNV Rotterdam 2005 JWIJ Page 2 of 98

The world is changing, so is the shipping industry.

© DNV Rotterdam 2005 JWIJ Page 3 of 98

© DNV Rotterdam 2005 JWIJ Page 4 of 98

There is a gap: RA and IA

© DNV Rotterdam 2005 JWIJ Page 5 of 98

What is Human Behaviour, or simply in this context: “Behaviour”?

The shipping industry operates in an extremely internationalized environment. Not only

© DNV Rotterdam 2005 JWIJ Page 6 of 98

In Chapter 5 we briefly compare Technical systems with Human “systems “(individuals,

© DNV Rotterdam 2005 JWIJ Page 7 of 98

© DNV Rotterdam 2005 JWIJ Page 8 of 98

2. Introduction to Human Error and Cause Analysis

SHEL(L) model (Task oriented)

Figure 2: The SHEL(L) Model; Factors leading to Failure

2.1 The SHEL(L) Model

© DNV Rotterdam 2005 JWIJ Page 9 of 98

 Unfit for duty (physically, intellectually)

 Design, Ergonomics, Controls, Overview

Liveware-Software. This encompasses humans and the non-physical aspects of the

 Instructions /procedures/ standards/ policies/ organization/ information/ data

Liveware-Environment. The human-environment interface is one of the most dynamic

•Time Pressure/ stress / fatigue/ jet lag ...

© DNV Rotterdam 2005 JWIJ Page 10 of 98

•Group influences, work culture, peer pressure

2.2 The tree-model

© DNV Rotterdam 2005 JWIJ Page 11 of 98

Personal Factors & Job Factors

SOIL System Controls/ Policies etc.. Causes

Fig.3: The Tree Model: Layers of Causes

• Lack of (control of) recruitment : putting somebody on board with insufficient

© DNV Rotterdam 2005 JWIJ Page 12 of 98

Basic/ Underlying Factors are:

Root Causes are System Failure:

All comes down to Organizing

Personal Sub standard

Organization Job Substandard

Fig.4: Link between Organization Performance and Individual Performance

© DNV Rotterdam 2005 JWIJ Page 13 of 98

2.3 Human Failure and Human Performance

Incidents are caused by substandard acts/practices or by substandard conditions. The

© DNV Rotterdam 2005 JWIJ Page 14 of 98

© DNV Rotterdam 2005 JWIJ Page 15 of 98

Figure 5: Factors relevant for Behaviour

© DNV Rotterdam 2005 JWIJ Page 16 of 98

3 levels of mental programming

Specific Inborn and

Universal Human Nature Inborn

Figure 6: Three levels of uniqueness in mental programming

© DNV Rotterdam 2005 JWIJ Page 17 of 98

Figure 7: The learning of Values and Practices

© DNV Rotterdam 2005 JWIJ Page 18 of 98

Based on the extensive field research as mentioned before, Hofstede comes to 5

• Individualism ÆÅ Collectivism (IDV)

3.2.1 Power Distance Index (PDI)

Unfit for duty (physically, intellectually)

Design, Ergonomics, Controls, Overview

Instructions /procedures/ standards/ policies/ organization/ information/ data

Strategic planning: to do the right things (effectiveness)

Balance: All elements have equal value