Leadership and Decision-Making

Requirement

Leadership and Decision-Making Assignment

Solution

Introduction

The luxury cruise liner that is being operated in the Mediterranean consists of the crew that is spending long periods on board. There are total of 24 crew members including masters and 8 officers and the overall staff belongs to different countries – Britain, India, Portugal and Indonesia. The Chief Mate has made some serious observations regarding performance and behavior of the officers as well as ratings. So, it is pertinent at this point for the 2nd Officer to present a detailed report carrying possible causes with their recommendations.    

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Possible Causes

  • 1.    The crew and ratings have been working on the cruise liner for a long time so it is not easy for them to live below the waterline as it poses mental and physical challenge for them. So, it becomes depressing for them to continuously work in those conditions. Moreover, the cruises of Caribbean and Mediterranean have the same itineraries throughout the year, thereby making them boring for the crew (Soriani, Bertazzon, Cesare, & Rech, 2009).

  • 2.    The existence of the cliques points toward the clash of cultural identities. Such as the ratings belonging to countries like India must be finding hard to put trust in the crew belonging Portugal.

  • 3.    The isolated crew members might be going through some family problems.

  • 4.    The poor communication during the safety drills is possibly due to the lack of multicultural education as it plays a crucial role in promoting better communication among the crew who come from different background, cultures and nationalities.

  • 5.    Personality conflicts are something that inevitably arise due to the changing dynamics among the crew on account of differing backgrounds, ideas and agendas. This ego clash generally takes place because of the personal one-upmanship over the other (Arnold & Pulich, 2003).

  • 6.    Although the Third Mate is responsible, technically sound and competitive, he often fails to make effective communication. This could be attributed to the fact that misunderstandings occur on account of different nationalities. In this case the actions, attitudes and intentions could be misconstrued.   

Actual Cause Confirmation

  • 1.    The overall crew will be approached with a list of relevant questions to understand what issues they are facing. Their mental and physical fitness will be checked by using various techniques. Experienced and proficient people would be entrusted with this task.

  • 2.    It will be noted as to how these different cliques behave and interact when they will be addressed together. The fact that groups view the society whether it is individualistic or collective. So, they will be provided with the goals to understand collective cultures.

  • 3.    The crew members that have isolated themselves will be asked to tell about their family background, experiences and personal anecdotes. Then they will be suggested solutions.

  • 4.    The crew members will be questioned as per the complaints made by the passengers.

  • 5.    Both the competent crew members will be approached together and their views about different situations will be taken. A solution will be find so that they could balance each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

  • 6.    It is an essential part of International Safety Management Code (ISMC) that the proper interpretation of commands and their responses is used (Mandaraka-Sheppard & Mandaraka-Sheppard, 2007). So, the Third Mate will be assessed on the basis of this approach.  

  • 1.    The crew members should be assessed with the help of psychological procedures. As the members have become bored so they are needed to be motivated and making them know how to stay calm under pressure. Playing different sports can be a useful solution.

  • 2.    As far as different cliques and their cultural differences is concerned, an atmosphere of relevant policies, procedures, programs and processes will be incorporated to enhance values, beliefs, assumptions and customs. Therefore, a culturally competent atmosphere enhances the knowledge about various groups of people ("Understanding cultural differences", 1990).

  • 3.    The isolated crew members will be made to interact with all the other members. A proper guidance will be given them regarding their family matters.

  • 4.    There will be proper dissemination of multicultural education to crew members if need be.

  • 5.    First of all we will need to assess as to what are the negative and positive aspects of the conflict. The approach should be creating a goal of finding solution rather than looking it as winning or losing. Using role-playing techniques such as putting oneself on his competitor’s shoes might help a lot. The competitors will be made to understand each other’s perspectives.

  • 6.    As we know that the multicultural attribute of the crews has been a cause of concern as far as miscommunication is concerned (Banks, 2002). So, an open door policy can be incorporated so that Third Mate can freely talk to the Chief, crew and ratings about anything that he wish to without having to worry about the negative consequences. This will help build the confidence and trust that he needs to put on the others. Finally, it is important to enhance the team dynamics. 

Success Indicators

  • 1.    After implementing the recommended procedures, the motivation level of those particular crew will be assessed. So, the success will be measured based on their increased level of energies.

  • 2.    The formation of an effective culturally competent atmosphere will indicate their reduced levels of differences.

  • 3.    These crew members will be visited and interviewed again after some time in order to understand their predicament. If they react positively, then it will be an indication of success.

  • 4.    It will be assessed that how much the crew members have understood their cultural barriers.

  • 5.    The different personality aspects of the two competent and conflicting crew members will be assessed at the end. Their behavior and way of communication will be studied obviously after allowing them go through different activities. So, if they have learnt to resolve the conflicts, it will be an indicator of success.

  • 6.    The Third mate will be assessed on the basis of how much he is communicating now. So, his interaction will indicate his success.    

Conclusions

The above report is all about the detailed analysis regarding the possible solutions, recommendations, and success indicators of the issues arising among the crew members. These issues have been put across on the basis of observations made by Chief Mate. 

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References

  • Arnold, E. & Pulich, M. (2003). Personality Conflicts and Objectivity in Appraising Performance. The Health Care Manager, 22(3), 227-232. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/00126450-200307000-00007

  • Banks, J. (2002). An introduction to multicultural education. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

  • Mandaraka-Sheppard, A. & Mandaraka-Sheppard, A. (2007). Modern maritime law and risk management. New York: Routledge-Cavendish.

  • Soriani, S., Bertazzon, S., Cesare, F., & Rech, G. (2009). Cruising in the Mediterranean: structural aspects and evolutionary trends. Maritime Policy & Management, 36(3), 235-251. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03088830902861128

  • Understanding cultural differences. (1990). Choice Reviews Online, 28(04), 28-2221-28-2221. http://dx.doi.org/10.5860/choice.28-2221

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