AARHUS UNIVERSITY 6. AUGUST 2012 CHALLENGES IN MARITIME CULTURAL COMMUNICATION

Transkript

1 CHALLENGES IN MARITIME CULTURAL COMMUNICATION UNI VERSITET

2 CONTENT The Study National culture and the impact on maratime safety 1. Power distance 2. Uncertainty avoidance 3. Individualism Danes as head-quarter nationals 1. Current challenges 2. Future oppotunities 2

3 THE STUDY Three vessels: 1. Full crew : Philippines 2. Mixed crew : Danes and Philippines 3. Mixed crew : Danes, Croatians, and Philippines. Participant observation: Ten days on board each ship participating as motorman, and ordinary seaman. Interviews Approx. 60 interviews with all crew members 3

4 WHY IS CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION SO DIFFICULT? 4

5 POWER DISTANCE SAFETY ON BOARD Def. PDI: [...]seeks to demonstrate the extent to which subordinates or ordinary employees submit to authority. Danes: Så må man jo, så må jeg jo vide: har du understand eller har du not understand? "not understand" - fint så kom vi så langt, manden har ikke forstået det. Men det er deres måde at være på, det er sku ikke for at sige at nu vil jeg ha nakket overstyrmanden eller ham, det er deres måde, sådan er de sku, det er slet ikke ment negativt. Men hvor de slet ikke siger fra, at det har jeg sku ikke forstået. Har man ikke forstået en ordre så kan man heller ikke udføre den vel? Phillipines: Yes, I like Danish people. They are very good. Especially but not all. Sometimes they are bad. Some Danish guy are no good very strict. 5

6 POWER DISTANCE: SAFETY BETWEEN LAND AND SEA Def. PDI: [...]seeks to demonstrate the extent to which subordinates or ordinary employees submit to authority. Danes: Jo, jo men jeg skriver, og jeg opfører mig ordentligt så godt jeg kan. Selvfølgelig gør jeg det, det skal man jo. Man kan jo ikke bare stå og skabe sig, så er der jo ingen der gider høre på en. Men man kan jo godt råbe lidt op. Phillipines: But when you are here, and you work for them, then I think they feel that you have to accept what you are giving and then you have to shut up. Otherwise they will just put someone else in you place and kick you out. Shut up and say nothing that is my policy 6

7 MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS Def. PDI: [...] demonstrate the extent to which subordinates or ordinary employees submit to authority. Please discuss safety and managerial implications of power distance and how you would address them.. On board: Be explicit, and control. However avoid signs of frustration. Accept your role as authority. Land-sea: Be carefull with two direct and negative remarks via mail or phone 7

8 UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE: ON BOARD Def. UAI: [ ]uncertainty avoidance dimension expresses the degree to which employees feel uncomfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity Danes/Phillipines: [ ]som dansker, håndværker, handsker, på en drejebænk, det er no-go. Men resultatet var jo så at han fik rykket nogle fingre af. Så laver jeg en instruktion i hvordan man bruger den hvor jeg skriver det med handsker og løse ting så næste dag er der sgu en der står og gør nøjagtigt det samme. Indians Men danskerne er sgu også sådan mere cowboyagtige, bare af sted og så kører vi og så får vi tingene løst. Og det er ikke altid til det gode. Men jeg synes at, inderne kender godt reglerne men nogle gange ved de ikke hvorfor vi gør det. 8

9 UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE: SAFETY BETWEEN LAND AND SEA Def. UAI: [ ]uncertainty avoidance dimension expresses the degree to which employees feel uncomfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity. Danes/Philippines: Danskerne og filippinerne ligner lidt hinanden. De kan godt lide de har lidt frihed til at gøre tingene som de selv har lyst til Indians The Indians just write extremely long mail, and ask about this and that. They are also very good at the vetting because the know how to write long answers that sounds good in English. 9

10 MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS Def. UAI: [ ]uncertainty avoidance dimension expresses the degree to which employees feel uncomfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity Please discuss safety and managerial implications of uncertainty avoidance and how you would address them On board: Create a learning environment on board. Rules and regulations will seldom work. Land-sea: More communication as to reduce uncertainty. Fight for your right at vetting. Improve english skills. 10

11 INDIVIDUALISM AND COLECTIVISM: SAFETY ON BOARD Def. ICI: Individualist culture highlights personal interests while collectivists highlight group interest Danes: Jeg kan godt lide det der med at man bare går og passer sig selv. Det er filippinerne ikke så meget for. De render altid rundt I store klumpler ude på dækket. Philipines: I don t know if the Danes don t like us. Sometimes I think they dont even like themselves. They never come to sing kareoke, or do something at night with us. 11

12 INDIVIDUALISM AND COLECTIVISM: SAFETY BETWEEN LAND AND SEA Def. ICI: Individualist culture highlights personal interests while collectivists highlight group interest Danes: Det er da klart jeg tænker på hvad de kan gøre for mig inde på land. Så kan det da godt være jeg råber lidt op engang imellem men det er trods alt min karriere. Når de laver en fejl så jeg ikke kan komme hjem så bliver jeg sgu sur Philipines: The Danes keep all their anger in their mouth. The Philippines keep their anger in their hart.

13 MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS Def. ICI: Individualist culture highlights personal interests while collectivists highlight group interest Please discuss safety and managerial implications of individuality and collectivism and how you would address them On board: Show interest and never communicate critique publicly create balance Land-sea: Remember that the one you speak with will continuously seek balance, and avoid conflict Ask for help to help himself. Don t demand it. 13

14 BREAK!!!! UP NEXT: A NEW DAWN FOR DANISH SAILORS 14

15 DANES: ARE WE SPECIAL OR LIKE THE REST? Jeg tror ikke på vi får danskere mere. Men de har jo stadig et aspirant program, men hvor pokker de danske aspiranter skal hen når de bliver færdige det ved jeg ikke. THERE IS AMONG THE DANES GREAT UNCERTAINTY ABOUT THE FUTURE. 15

16 DANES: ARE WE SPECIAL OR LIKE THE REST? IMPLICATIONS FOR THE CURRENT MARATIME MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION: HQ-SHIP The special role of the Danes increases the necessity of communication compared to non-danes 16

17 DANES: ARE WE SPECIAL OR LIKE THE REST? IMPLICATIONS FOR THE CURRENT MARATIME MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION: SHIP-SHIP There is a tendency to create nationality based country clusters with in the firm impairing sharing of know-how 17

18 DANES: ARE WE SPECIAL OR LIKE THE REST? IMPLICATIONS FOR THE CURRENT MARATIME MANAGEMENT ANXIETY BASED LEADERSHIP Filippinerne ser det som værende en direkte konkurrent, der kommer ind. Danskerne har set, at der historisk er kommet mange indere som har besat deres stilling, og danskerne vel vidende at de er meget dyre, så har de den der frygt indbygget. 18

19 DANES: ARE WE SPECIAL OR LIKE THE REST? VETTING: Buttom line er ligesom at vi vetting mæssigt ikke kan se forskel på om kaptajnen er fra Danmark, Indien eller et andet sted. Det eneste vi kan se forskel på er at Danskerne er meget dyrere. Jeg gør hvad jeg kan men jeg skal jo også kunne forsvare overfor bestyrelsen hvor vi bliver ved med at bruge danskere. 19

20 DISCUSSION Please discuss what you believe Danish seamen can contribute with in terms of leadership and communication? 20

21 DANES: ARE WE SPECIAL OR LIKE THE REST? IMPLICATIONS FOR THE CURRENT MARATIME MANAGEMENT [ ]fordi søfartsstyrelsen siger jo også at de kunne godt tænke sig at komme væk fra denne her compliant struktur. Fordi ISM, altså international safety management system, og alt hvad der foregår til søs, det er rigtig meget compliants. Og compliants kommer på et eller andet niveau til at virke begrænsende i stedet for at virke udviklende. 21

22 DANES: ARE WE SPECIAL OR LIKE THE REST? TIGHT CONTROL HAS A TIPPING POINT: The problem is that our walls are so full of rules and regulations that nobody notice them anymore. So what are they good for then? 22

23 DANES: DO WE HAVE A FUTURE TRENDS IN INDUSTRIES AND MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS: TREND TOWARDS PUSHING RESPONSIBILITY FROM HEAD QUARTER AND INDUSTRY PLAYERS TO SUBSIDIARIES FROM TIGHT CONTROL TO (SHARED) RESPONSIBILITY 23

24 SUMMING UP! Leadership is all about managinng relations In an international environment like the maratime sectors two dimesions seem of specific importance: Culture, and headquarter nationality REMEMBER THAT EVERY RELATION IS UNIQUE 24

25 QUESTIONS? 25