Multinational and multicultural seafarers and MET students : a socio-cultural study for improving maritime safety and the education of seafarers

MULTINATIONAL AND MULTICULTURAL
SEAFARERS AND MET STUDENTS: A SOCIOCULTURAL STUDY FOR IMPROVING
MARITIME SAFETY AND THE EDUCATION OF
SEAFARERS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Being one of the World Maritime University’s students was one of what I had
dreamed of. When the dream came true, I promised to myself and those who
supported me that I would not make them disappointed. The challenges, hard times
and joyful times have been the romance of life in this world-class university. I could
not pass those times without supports. Thanks to The Almighty Allah who always
gives me His bless with health and spirit. Without His permit, I would never be in
Malmö. I would like to express my great sincere to The Nippon Foundation who
provide the donor through Sasakawa Fellowship program to support my study at
World Maritime University (WMU).
I extend my appreciation to my institution, Merchant Marine Polytechnics of
Makassar (PIP Makassar), the Indonesian Ministry of Transportation’s Education
and Training Agency and Maritime Education and Training Center, as the Maritime
Administration, who nominated and granted me to attend the study at WMU.
My great appreciation is also passed on to those at WMU : Professor Takeshi
Nakazawa, the head of MET specialization, for motivating me; Professor Jan Horck,
as the Supervisor of my dissertation, for giving the valuable advices, corrections,
suggestions and materials to support my dissertation; Mr. Clive Cole as my English
language supervisor; all WMU professors and lectures that are not mentioned in this
paper; all other WMU staff and librarians; and all my colleagues and respondents
who have given the great support for the completion of this dissertation.
I am also grateful to those onboard various ships as the respondents for the great
contribution, especially under Kustvaartbedrijf Moerman BV company. They have
happy live onboard although the crews are of different nationalities. The last and the
greatest, my beloved husband Susetyo Hari Mardhiko, my son Satrio Hanif Tanribali
Susetyo and my mother Dinar Sehu. Thanks for always giving me the spirit and
motivation to keep me concentrate on my study and feel comfortable when I’m
away. May Allah bless you all.
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ABSTRACT
Title of Write my thesis – Dissertation : Multinational and Multicultural Seafarers and MET
Students: A Socio-cultural Study For Improving
Maritime Safety and the Education of Seafarers.
Degree : Master of Science
The declining number of seafarers from major ship owner countries (EU, USA,
Japan, etc) has been one of the reasons which pushed the ship owners and
employers to man their ships with crews from various nationalities. The tendency to
employ multinational crews is not without any problem. The consequences for both
the employers and the crews, such as miscommunication, communication
constraints, alienation and discrimination due to race, culture and religion
differences, can not be avoided. Those consequences may lead to serious safety
risks on board when not being overcome. This dissertation will review the tendency
of employing multinational/multicultural crews, as well as the cultural background
and characteristics which are divided into two major parts, i.e. Western and Eastern.
Research and investigation results on the multicultural crewing are analyzed and
examined and literatures are viewed to assess the effectiveness and problems
which may arise from the mixed-crews employment, as well as the root causes of
the problem. The use and effectiveness of maritime English as maritime common
language is evaluated.
The concluding chapter provides some recommendations and proposals concerning
with the need of various culture education/familiarization for seafarers and cadets.
This may benefit the seafarers and employers themselves as the crews will be more
adaptive when assigned to the ships with mixed nationality crews. Thence, the
cooperation and working environment among crew will be better without one being
alienated by the others. This is for one purpose: safety.
Key words : Multicultural seafarers, Maritime safety, Human element, Sociocultural study, Technical and soft skills, Education and training.
v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Declaration ii
Acknowledgement iii
Abstract iv
Table of Contents v
List of Figures viii
List of Tables x
List of Abbreviations xi
Chapter 1 Introduction 1
1.1 Aim and objectives 2
1.2 Background of a global maritime dilemma 2
1.3 Statement of the problems 3
1.4 The significance of the study 4
1.5 Research questions 4
1.6 Author’s pre-comprehension 4
1.7 Comprehensive research summary 5
1.8 Write my thesis – Dissertation outline 6
Chapter 2 Multicultural Crews – Cultural Diversity 8
2.1 Global culture 8
2.2 Eastern and Western cultures 10
2.3 Yin and Yang philosophy: The concept of harmony 12
2.4 A global maritime dilemma in multinational and multicultural crews 13
2.5 Shipping challenges with multinational crews 17
2.6 Chapter conclusion 19
Chapter 3 A Socio-cultural Study For Improving Maritime Safety 21
3.1 The Human element 22
3.1.1 Communication skills 25
3.1.2 Human relationships and social interactions 28
3.1.3 Behaviour 29
vi
3.1.4 Cultural intelligence 29
3.1.5 Leadership 31
3.2 Culture shock 33
3.3 Adaptation and adjustment 35
3.4 Relevance with a reference to maritime safety 36
3.5 Chapter conclusion 37
Chapter 4 Research Methodology 39
4.1 Qualitative and quantitative methods 39
4.2 Research structure 40
4.3 The questionnaire 41
4.4 The conversation 42
Chapter 5 Survey Findings 43
5.1 Respondent demography 43
5.2 Respondents’ professional backgrounds 44
5.3 Survey findings 45
5.3.1 Seafarers 45
5.3.2 Non-seafarers 50
5.4 Sample from the respondents answers 54
5.5 Chapter conclusion 59
Chapter 6 Conclusions and Recommendations 61
6.1 Conclusion 61
6.2 Study recommendations 64
Chapter 7 Homework help – Discussion 66
7.1 Additional remarks 66
7.2 Further research 68
7.3 Weaknesses of the current study 68
References 70
Appendices 78
Appendix A Differences between Westerners and Asians 78
Appendix B Culture shock adaptation and adjustment 80
Appendix C Request letter to the respondents 81
Appendix D List of respondents that returned questionnaires 82
Appendix E Conversation topics (Seafarers) 84
vii
Appendix F Questionnaire (Seafarers) 85
Appendix G Questionnaire (Non-seafarers) 87
Appendix H Summary of respondents (Seafarers) 89
Appendix I Summary of respondents (Non-seafarers) 92
viii
LIST OF FIGURES
Page
Figure 1 WMU International Day’s event, 2010 9
Figure 2 Yin and Yang symbol 13
Figure 3 Various hazards 16
Figure 4 World fleet developments 17
Figure 5 A ten-year trend of accidents attributed to human error 22
Figure 6 Main reasons of casualties 23
Figure 7 Diagram of culture shock 33
Figure 8 Research structure 40
Figure 9 Respondents’ demography 43
Figure 10 Professional background 44
Figure 11 Seafarers that have sailed with multinational crews 45
Figure 12 Did your company require sufficient English language both written
and spoken of you?
46
Figure 13 What language did you use to communicate onboard ship? 46
Figure 14 Do you find any differences between crew members from Western
and Eastern cultures?
46
Figure 15 What source of differences did you find? 46
Figure 16 Did you have experience constraints/problems work with mixedcrews?
47
Figure 17 Constrains/problems with mixed-crews onboard ship 47
Figure 18 Did you socialize with other mixed-crews after duty? 47
Figure 19 Are Human relations and social interactions important? 47
Figure 20 Is the socio-cultural approach important in the multinational
environment onboard ships?
48
Figure 21 Do you think socio-cultural approach can harmonize the working
environment?
48
ix
Figure 22 Respondent’s view on Socio-cultural education and if it helps
seafarers dealing with mixed-crews on board ship.
49
Figure 23 Should the socio-culture subject be included in the curriculum? 50
Figure 24 Should IMO recommend a publication (guideline similar with Model
Courses 3.17 or the SMCP) related to socio-cultural subject.
50
Figure 25 Multinational and multicultural is a challenge in the maritime
industry.
51
Figure 26 Is it easy to adapt and to adjust to the multinational and multicultural
environment?
51
Figure 27 Did you have any experience of culture shock? 51
Figure 28 What sources of constraints/problems did you find? 51
Figure 29 Human relations and social interactions are needed. 52
Figure 30 Cultural intelligence is vital in the multinational & multicultural
environment.
52
Figure 31 Do you think the socio-cultural approach improves the human
element and maritime safety?
53
Figure 32 Is socio-cultural education necessary to be provided in maritime
institutions?
53
Figure 33 Your government (Maritime Administration) should take initiative to
provide practical study/curriculum for improving cultural awareness
(social skills) and propose it to IMO when possible.
53
x
LIST OF TABLES
Page
Table 1 Differences between Western and Asian: Values, Communication
styles and Organizational patterns.
11
Table 2 Number of EU and non-EU seafarers onboard EU registered
ships.
18
Table 3 Maritime accidents due to cultural and language problems. 24
xi
LIST OF ABREVIATIONS
EU : European Union
IAMU : International Association of Maritime Universities
IResearch essay writing service – MLA : International Maritime Lecturers Association
IMO : International Maritime Organization
ISM : International Safety Management
ITF : International Trade Federation
MET : Maritime Education Institution
OECD : Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
SMCP : Standard Maritime Communication Phrases
SMNV : Standard Marine Navigational Vocabulary
SOLAS : Safety of Life at Sea
STCW : Standard Training Certification and Watch keeping
UK : United Kingdom
USA : United states of America
WMU : World Maritime University
1
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
“Culture is a complex system of interrelated parts that must be understood
holistically.”
(Harris et al., 2007, p. 10)
Nowadays, the shipping industry has developed rapidly because of advanced
technology and human needs, the involved parties including ship owners and
Maritime Education and Training (MET) institutions. In this respect, the international
shipping fleet is challenged to improve maritime safety; specifically the human
element is a major priority. The human factor and maritime safety are two
interrelated elements in shipping. These factors render human behavior and
performance as potential leading components in maritime safety. Moreover, it must
be noted that the marine industry should make the human element a key concern.
IMO has put the human factor as a great concern. This is shown by the numerous
actions and regulations made by IMO specifically for this matter (de Oses et al.,
2002).
A major concern of the shipping industry tends to focus on multinational seafarers,
because several companies man their fleets with cross-cultural crews. The
merchant fleet is an international workplace and has a long tradition sailing with
crews that represent many different nationalities; two thirds of the world merchant
marine vessels have crews that are multinational and multilingual (Horck, 2005).
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Consequently, international shipping demands seafarers to have competence not
only in technical skills, but also non-technical skills, soft skills. With multinational
working conditions aboard ships, culturally mixed-crews have to adapt and
cooperate both socially and professionally. Since most accidents and incidents are
caused by human error nowadays, this concern is important. Therefore, quality
seafaring has been taken seriously by IMO as is the existence of seafarers. This has
been emphasized by the Secretary General of IMO, Eftimious E. Mitropoulos in his
statement to the world that 2010 is the Year of Seafarer (IMO Council, 2009).
1.1 Aim and objectives
The aim of this dissertation is to make readers (in particular the maritime society)
realize and become aware of the importance of a socio-cultural education in
multinational shipping in order to minimize the safety risks. The discussions mainly
focus on the socio-cultural approach in the light of the human element (human
factor). The objectives of current dissertation are to:
1. Describe the multicultural manning phenomenon in maritime shipping nowadays.
2. Identify and discuss the main problems/constraints of culture shock within
mixed-crews onboard ship.
3. Homework help – Discuss and analyze the role of the socio-cultural approach in multinational and
multicultural shipping in order to improve maritime safety.
4. Homework help – Discuss and analyze the role of concerned parties, such as MET institutions,
Maritime administrations and IMO, in the implementation of a socio-cultural
study of seafarers.
5. Formulate recommendation(s) related to socio-cultural training in maritime
institutions and shipping/manning companies.
1.2 Background of a global maritime dilemma
The growth of the international shipping fleet contributes to the employment of
seafarers from different countries to work both at sea and/or ashore. In particular,
the number of seafarers has declined in the European Union (EU) since the early
3
1980s. Regarding this phenomenon, the employment of multinational seafarers has
become a problem for the ship owners.
A future problem of scarcity of nationals going to sea is the possible impact of the
recruitment of foreigners to work in the head offices of the shipping industry. This
becomes a new challenge as it is not an easy task for the owners and the shipping
companies to recruit crews from different nationalities. It will grow unless there is a
sustainable way on how to work together and make a good cooperation with less
prejudice and stereotyping in this multicultural-setting (Horck, 2005). Regarding this,
the human element should be put as the major priority to harmonize the working
conditions in the multicultural and multilingual environments. Wherever they are
from, they should work together professionally and socially, and this is for safety
reasons. Shipping companies (Horck, 2004). Besides the multinational crewing
dilemma, another burden is the decrease in the number of seafarers. In fact, this
profession is not a lifelong career. It is considered that being a seafarer, is presently
no longer attractive. Although the shipping industry is growing, enough seafarers are
not available to meet the requirements of the industry.
The challenges of multinational crews in shipping needs to be realized by the
concerned parties including MET institutions. In particular, there is no formal
education provided concerning the multicultural life of seafarers. The concept of
multicultural study is one part of the human element which needs to be formulated.
However, there are still pros and cons that need to be discussed. Whatever the pros
and cons are, multicultural study is basically aimed to fulfill the shipping industry’s
expectation of quality shipping and quality crews.
1.3 Statement of the problems
The challenges concerning multinational and multicultural seafarers in global
shipping are highlighted in discussions. Moreover, the problems are emphasized in
this dissertation, as follows:
 Communication problems.
 Diversity challenge (multicultural challenge).
 Reducing interest of a seafaring career.
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 Cultural education challenges in MET institutions and in shipping companies.
1.4 The significance of the study
The essence of this study is to seek the seafarer’s overall performance in ship
manning within the multicultural and multilingual environment. The significance of
this study emphasizes the useful socio-cultural approach in the maritime field in
dealing with the multicultural crew’s environment onboard, so that they work in
harmony to improve safety. The matter of the human element is also highlighted in
this study. In relation to humans, socio-cultural training can give advantages for
seafarers in improving cross-cultural awareness, communication skills and good
leadership in multinational shipping. In applying this course, related parties need to
work together by issuing a publication (such as a guideline) in order to realize a
socio-cultural education and its curriculum design in MET institutions. By providing
such a kind of education for cadets/seafarers, at least incidents and accidents
caused by communication and cultural problems (human errors) can be prevented.
1.5 Research questions
Several concepts and ideas to be observed in relation with multinational and
multicultural seafarers in the context of socio-cultural approach are as follow:
1. What are the main challenges related to multinational crews onboard ships?
2. Is a socio-cultural approach needed in order to improve safety in multinational
shipping?
3. Why is the socio-cultural approach important in multinational shipping?
4. Should maritime institutions conduct a socio-cultural course?
5. Should IMO recommend a publication (a guideline similar to Model Course 3.17;
or the SMCP) related to the socio-cultural subject?
1.6 Author’s pre-comprehension
A good dissertation is very much dependent on how the researcher can support the
research. The author has collected data from questionnaires and conversations
before a textual analysis. The author’s academic background together with gender
5
has a significant importance for the reader to evaluate the fruitfulness of the
research report (Horck, 2006). The relevance of an author’s professionalism, natural
attitude and her historical context are therefore a huge concern for the reader. In this
case, the author’s empathy to the samples has developed her understanding and
effort in making the observations. The motivation and concern with the humans and
socio-cultural aspects within the research are relevant to the author’s interest,
educational background and career at the MET institution in Indonesia. Therefore,
the author believes that from a socio-cultural point-of-view, seafarers can be more
adaptive to cultural diversities and to customize themselves within differences.
The observation emphasizes the human element in multinational shipping. After
being educated at Sun Moon University in South Korea, the author understands the
importance of multinational environments, not only academically, but also socially.
Communication skills, social relationships and good cooperation among students
and civil societies are very important to be taken into consideration in human
relationships. Her knowledge in the grade transcripts from Sun Moon University
includes international and Korean Cultures and Confucianism. The study was
completed in one year. Having studied social science and human studies at
Hasanuddin University, Indonesia, this has made her understand the socio-cultural
aspects of the human being. In 2009 to 2010, the author studied at World Maritime
University in Malmö, Sweden in the specialization Maritime Education and Training
(MET). This led her to conduct the observation in diversity which has strong
relevance with the multinational and multicultural issues of seafarers and nonseafarers. The difference can only be seen from the physical atmosphere: on land
and the rest at sea, as a workplace. The author believes that self-learning is very
much more effective to face real situations especially in diverse environments.
1.7 Comprehensive research summary
Due to the rapid development in shipping industry, all the maritime concerned
parties are challenged to improve maritime safety, specifically to the human element
as the major priority. The human factor and maritime safety are two interrelated
elements in shipping. The international shipping fleet is growing and therefore it
requires more employment of multicultural crews. Seafarers are required to have
both technical and soft skills/competences. Concerning this, MET institutions are
6
challenged with providing the seafarers with both skills. As there is still no particular
model course for the soft skills, MET is encouraged to run such courses on a
proactive base. Beside the challenges of multinational and multicultural crewing, the
decreasing number of seafarers shows that seafaring presently is not an attractive
profession. This has become a dilemma in commercial shipping.
1.8 Write my thesis – Dissertation outline
This dissertation describes and analyzes the phenomenon of multicultural crew
employment, its benefits and disadvantages, the importance of the socio-cultural
aspect in multinational and multicultural shipping as well as proposing the solutions
concerning the matter discussed. The content is eight chapters, as follows:
Chapter 1, Introduction: identifies the aim and objectives of the study being to
improve the seafarer’s adaptive capability to multinational and multicultural
situations, and describes the background of the global maritime dilemma. This
chapter also affirms the statement of the problems, the significance of the study and
observations. The author’s pre-comprehension and outline are also presented in this
chapter.
Chapter 2, Multicultural crews-a cultural diversity: describes in general global culture
and the Yin and Yang philosophy as the concept of harmony, as well as presenting
the differences between Western and Eastern cultures. This chapter also affirms the
global maritime dilemma of multinational crews that this has become a challenge in
global shipping.
Chapter 3, A Socio-cultural study improving maritime Safety: analyses and
discusses several aspects related to the human element, such as: communication
skills, human relationships and social interactions, behavior, cultural intelligence and
leadership. The impact of a global culture is apparent in the presence of culture
shock. This can be solved by adaptation and adjustment, and is supported by
reference to maritime safety.
Chapter 4, Research methodology: presents the qualitative and quantitative
approaches that are used in survey data and it affirms the structure of the research.
The methods of questionnaires and conversations are prescribed in this chapter.
7
Chapter 5, Survey findings: presents the demography and professional description
of the respondents. The shipping challenges caused by cross-cultural seafarers
assigned in chapter three are identified and analyzed. Here, survey findings focus
on identifying and analyzing the data measurement taken from seafarers and nonseafarers respondents. This chapter also presents opinions and suggestions from
conversations that were incorporated in the topic sample from the respondents’
answers.
Chapter 6, Conclusion and recommendations: concludes the findings with the
author’s own part of the chapter and formulates a few recommendations on the
issues discussed.
Chapter 7, Homework help – Discussion: discusses several remarks that are not necessarily related to
the sample but are needed to make the picture complete. This chapter also
proposes further research as well as presenting weaknesses of the current study.
The author is de facto part of the study because of the conversations.
8
CHAPTER 2
MULTICULTURAL CREWS – CULTURAL DIVERSITY
“Broadly, speaking, Western society strives to find and prove “the truth”, while
Eastern society accepts the truth as given and is more interested in finding the
balance. Westerners put more stock in individual rights; Easterners in social
responsibly”.
(Bibikova et al., 2001)
2.1 Global culture
The root of the word culture is the Latin colere which means to cultivate. It is defined
as a whole that makes up every human being on earth (Wikipedia, 2010). The
characteristics of everyday existence (as a diversion of a way of life) are shared by
people in a place or in a time with customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits
of an ethnic and social group. Moreover, culture is concerned with the senses of fine
arts, humanities and the broad aspects of science as distinguished from vocational
and technical skills (Merriam-webmaster, 2010). Culture in general is concerned
with beliefs and values on the basis of which people interpret experiences and
behave; individually and in groups. Broadly and simply: culture refers to a group or
community with whom you share common experiences that shape the way you
understand the world (Bibikova et al., 2001).
With globalization, the author refers to the compression of the world and the
intensification of its consciousness as a whole. In thought and action, it makes the
world a single place. What it means to live in this place, and how it must be ordered,
is a universal question. Such questions receive different answers from individuals
and societies that define their position in relation to both the system of societies and
9
the shared properties of humankind from very different perspectives (Robertson,
1992).

Figure 1.WMU International Day’s event, 2010 (Author’s collection).
Figure 1 shows the global culture at World Maritime University. The photo is from
The International Day celebration in 2010 where many students from different
nationalities exhibit their different cultures. To meet many different cultures enriches
diversity thinking and emphasizes the spirit of shoulder to shoulder. It strengthens
the sustainability of maritime activities.
Every society has its main culture and its subcultures. The major culture represents
the country and symbolizes its society, personality and way of life. In most advanced
nations, the main culture tends to be open and easily comprehensible, to both its
own members and visitors alike (Huer, 2009). However, there are sometimes found
arguments and disagreements of one culture that do not fit another new culture.
“The confrontation of their world-views means that globalization involves
comparative interaction of different forms of life” (Robertson, 1992, p.27). Similarly, it
is complex to make an exact definition towards an international or global culture.
Global culture means people sharing values, ideas, beliefs, customs, traditions and
norms. Through the internet and mass media become available sources of culture
transformation (Rehman, 2007).
10
2.2 Eastern and Western cultures
Eastern and Western cultures are reflected in the many different characteristics of
people. Since they consist of multinational ships, then the differences of the
conceptual way of thinking, behavior, attitude of mariners as human being are much
influenced by the root cultures where they are from, namely West and East. In
common sense, Western society strives to find and prove the truth, while Eastern
society accepts the truth as given and is more interested in finding the balance.
Westerners put more stock in individual rights whilst Easterners in social responsibly
(Bibikova et al., 2001).
The world’s cultures are divided into two major parts. The majority are the Western
and Eastern cultures. The classification of West and East is made primarily
according to the location of the societies on earth and the skin color of the people of
these societies. The West refers mostly to the part where people live in the continent
from Greece to the North-West, as the ancient Greeks (and Romans) produced
major civilizations, famous for their contributions to philosophy, literature, fine art
and government. The people living in that area are light skin people. The continent
is known as Europe. The name Europe is perhaps derived from Europa, the
daughter of Phoenix in Greek mythology, or possibly from Ereb, a Phoenician word
for sunset (Wikipedia, 2010). Due to the expansion of colonization by the
Europeans, the West expanded and was referred to not only as Europe, but also
America and Australasia, even though within Europe itself there is Western and
Eastern Europe which also have significant differences in culture.
With East the author refers to the Asian countries: 论文帮助/论文写作服务/负担得起我及时提交我最好的质量 – China, Japan, India and the
مساعدة التعيين – خدمة كتابة المقالات من قبل كبار الكتاب العرب, Arabic world. Although the cultures are different among these countries, all of them
are well-known for politeness. The Eastern philosophy is a group of philosophies
and religions that originated in India, 论文帮助/论文写作服务/负担得起我及时提交我最好的质量 – China, Japan, Southeast Asia, and مساعدة التعيين – خدمة كتابة المقالات من قبل كبار الكتاب العرب, Arabic
countries. Christianity also originates from Asia geographically, but culturally it is
considered to be a Western religion and originates from the Mediterranean region
(Bibikova et al., 2001).
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Table 1. Differences between Western and Asian: Values, Communication styles
and Organizational patterns
Western cultural views Asian cultural views
Values
Democracy Hierarchy
Equality Inequality
Self determination Fatalism
Individualism Collectivism
Human rights Acceptance of Status
Equality for Women Male dominance
Social mobility Establish social class
Statues through Achievement Status through British and Wealth
Facts and Figures Relationships
Social justice Power structures
New solutions Good precedents
Vigor Wisdom
Linear time Cycle time
Result orientation Harmony orientation
Communication styles
Direct Indirect
Blunt Diplomatic
Polite Very courteous
Talkative Reserved
Extrovert Introvert
Persuasive Recommending
Medium – strong eye contact Weak eye contact
Linear active Reactive
Unambiguous Ambiguous
Decisive Cautious
Problem solving Accepting the situation
Interrupt Does not interrupt
Half listen Listen carefully
Quick to deal Courtship dance
Concentrates on power Concentrates on Agreed agenda
Organizational patterns
Individual as a unit Company and society as a unit
Promotion by achievement Promotion by age and seniority
Horizontal and matrix structures Vertical structures
Profit orientation Market share priority
Contracts as binding Contracts as negotiable
Decision by competent individuals Decision by consensus
Specialization Job rotation
Professional Mobility Fixed Loyalty
(Source: Lewis, 2003)
Table 1 identifies the different characteristics of Western and Asian cultures. There
are many things that work differently in their respective homelands. The language,
12
the social system, the way of thinking and beliefs are amongst the differences which
are found to be strange. Consequently, there can be a possibility to be alienated
when people are reluctant to make relationships and cooperation within the crosscultural environment (Horck, 2008). For instance, when a European (white-skinned)
tourist visits a local tribe in the heart of West Papua in Indonesia, he/she will
sometimes be regarded as a guest-star. He/she may have a special welcome from
the tribe leader. However, he/she should follow and respect the tradition of the tribe
when a being welcomed. The procedure most probably will not be in the same way
as at home.
The same thing might happen when an Indonesian visits a European country. When
dining, Indonesians hold the spoon in the right hand and the fork in the left hand.
They eat with the spoon in the right hand. In Indonesia, to eat with left hand is not
polite. However, in most European countries, dining is a special occasion. Table
manners are also to be respected. It is normal in Europe to use the knife in the right
hand and the fork in the left hand. The differences between Western and Asian
cultures are presented in Appendix A.
2.3 Yin and Yang philosophy: The concept of harmony
In general, the world consists of two major pairs which oppose one another. The
great common things such as heaven and earth, masculine and feminine, red and
blue, hard and soft, success and fail have existed since the world and human beings
were created. There is a famous philosophy from 论文帮助/论文写作服务/负担得起我及时提交我最好的质量 – China which represents the pair in
life. Chinese affirmed the symbol of harmony as Yin and Yang (Figure 2). Some
people see the symbol as two fishes swimming head to tail. In the early 4th century
BC the Chinese philosophers wrote about Yin and Yang which literally refers to the
dark and sunlit sides of a hill. They also refer to the opposite and complementary
forces.
Figure 2 represents the philosophy of balance and harmony. Yin is associated with
everything dark, moist, receptive, earthy and female whereas Yang is bright, dry,
active, heavenly, and male. According to the spiritual philosophy of the Tzu and
Ching, the created universe carries the Yin at its back and the Yang in front; through
the union of the pervading principles it reaches harmony. The great one produces
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the two poles Earth and Heaven, which in turn gives rise to the energies of the dark
Yin and the light Yang. These two energies then transform themselves, one rising
downwards, and the other descending upwards (Magno, 2004).
Figure 2. Yin and Yang symbol1
In relation with human beings, the universal philosophy of Yin and Yang contributes
great energy for people living in the world. It is the way of how to create the balance
of life within the environment. It symbolizes cooperation with all the various things,
different people from different nation, cultural background, belief, education, etc. In
this philosophy, they find they can work and live together comfortably and make
good relationship with others as one unity in diversity. The philosophy of Yin and
Yang was believed to combine various proportions and to produce different objects
in the universe. Although Yin and Yang could be viewed as opposites, however they
are really complementary pairs. Life mishaps and problems are caused not by
opposing forces, but by disharmony or imbalances in the environment. Balance is an
essential part of harmony (Maidment, 1998).
2.4 A global maritime dilemma in multinational and multicultural crews
A ship in international trade is a site where people (the crews) are living in the same
place for a certain period of time. Most of the ships serving in international trade are
manned not only by a single nationality, but tend to be more complex. Sixty percent
of the world’s merchant fleet is now staffed by multinational crews. Some of them
work out of ports not in their own homeland from different parts of the world with

1
Figure in this page retrieved from source: “Yin and Yang: Understanding the Chinese
philosophy of opposites and how to apply it to your everyday life” (Palmer, 2007).
14
crew members of different ranks by network shipping agencies (ITF, 2002). Working
with people from various nationalities, it is a very attractive to observe how things
work within a small population of people who have different languages, different
traditions and different religions living in one restricted place.
In the past and still today, there are differences between Eastern and Western
people in the case of employment terms and conditions. Many recruiters (crew
managers) prefer senior officers from OECD and East European countries and
junior officers and ratings from the Far-East, Southern Asia and Middle East
(Kahveci et al., 2009). However, the author believes that with the advancement of
technology, exchange of information can be established in an easier manner; so
that, the boundaries between West and East are not an obvious limit anymore.
The migration from East to West and vice versa contributes to a cultural mixture and
integration. However, most Eastern people can not leave their identities and
characteristics brought by the blood line of their ethnic backgrounds. Even though
migration does happen, in the new world, immigrants tend to live in a society where
most people come from the same ethnic area. 论文帮助/论文写作服务/负担得起我及时提交我最好的质量 – Chinatown in America/Europe, some
Afro-American neighborhoods in United States, مساعدة التعيين – خدمة كتابة المقالات من قبل كبار الكتاب العرب, Arabian communities in Sweden are
some examples of this. This migration is also what occurs on board ships with
multinational crews. When a foreign crew is assigned to serve on a ship with a
certain flag/nationality, it can be said that the crewmember has temporarily migrated
from his/her home country to the country of the ship, which is represented by the
ship itself which is also a sub culture. On board ship, the crew must follow the rules
and regulations which may be applied by the ship’s flag state (government). A crew
is hired temporarily to work and live in the “country” (the ship) until his/her
employment contract is terminated.
Diversified cultures promote good opportunities for seafarers and ship owners. Not
only in the economic perspective, but also the exploration of knowledge and
experiences from mixed-crews can give certain advantages. “Different culture
practice and forms were the topic of interest for seafarers who often discussed and
explored these differences with one to another; they can operate extremely
successful both company and seafarers” (Kahveci et al., 2002, p. ii). Furthermore,
15
the some benefits of manning the ship with multinational crew members can be
recognized, as follows:
 Crewmembers from different cultures may tend to use different intellectual
processes and patterns, providing a diverse range of responses and input.
 By ensuring a broad mixture of nationalities, the captain’s authority is unlikely to
be challenged by strong national groupings.
 By working in a multicultural crew, each member’s knowledge of the world will
be improved. This may be of advantage to the company later, if a seafarer
transfers to a shore-based job where such knowledge can translate directly into
a business advantage.
 Recruiting seafarers from developing countries often provides support to those
countries from remittances sent home to families. The impact on the economy
can improve maritime training in those countries, which in turn again improves
the candidates from which ship owners may recruit (Horck, 2005, pp. 16-17).
Multinational seafarers’ employment in global shipping is a dynamic discussion
since its recruitment has increased because for economic reasons. Ship owners and
shipping companies search for seafarers to man their ships in low-cost crewing
countries (Horck, 2006). Mixed-crews from developing countries are cheap (Kahveci
et al., 2002). Consequently, multinational officers and ratings give an advantage to
the world shipping fleet from an economic point-of-view.
Besides benefits, the disadvantages of recruiting multinational seafarers are
affected, however. Multicultural crews have become a critical issue in the
development of ship manning (Thoung, 2007). The shipping companies do not take
full advantage of this situation and even find problems. Many owners have
difficulties in managing crews from different nationalities. Moreover, several remarks
on multicultural crews have been made (Kahveci et al., 1992), as follows:
 Language was found to be a critical issue for multinational crews. The use of
mother tongue rather than a common language (English) fostered suspicion
amongst multilingual crews so that this could result in frustration.
16
 Faith was a fundamental part of many seafarers’ lives. Some seafarers regretted
that only Western religious holidays were marked aboard many vessels.
 Stereotyping is apparently diminished with contact. Thus, seafarers were less
likely to have stereotyped understandings with whom they had sailed regularly
and were more likely to generalize about national groups with whom they had
little contact (SIRC, 2002, pp. i-ii).
Besides the multinational crewing dilemma, another burden is the decrease in the
number of seafarers. In fact, this profession is not a lifelong career. It is considered
by many that being a seafarer is presently no longer attractive. Although the
shipping industry is growing, enough seafarers are not available to meet the
requirements of the industry, especially in the near future.
Figure 3. Various hazards (Source: Marinebuzz, 2008).
Various hazards are the main reasons why the young generation is not particularly
motivated to choose seafaring career. In global shipping there are hazardous
problems, such as: professional hazard, personal hazard, social hazard and legal
hazard as shown in Figure 3. The various hazards are explained as follows:
 Professional hazards. Very few seafarers can only take up shipping as their life
time profession. At the end of their life, they realize that no significant
achievements were made.
17
 Personal hazards. Seafarers are not lucky to remain with their family members
throughout their career. Seafarers cannot be with other family members. They
have to forget about birthdays, Christmas and any other social and family
events.
 Social hazards. Many seafarers are not able to mix in a heterogeneous society
as they interact with a limited member of people throughout their career.
 Legal hazards. For example: Pollution. If a ship pollutes the sea due to
whatsoever reasons, the ship’s crew including the captain of the ship may have
to face legal actions (Marinebuzz, 2008).
The remarks above obviously have an effect on the reduced number of seafarers.
“There is a general worry that there will be an international shortage of crews in the
near future. Some young people that have decided on a career at sea change their
minds and seek work ashore” (Horck, 2006, p. 43). Considering IMO´s declaration
on 2010 as the year of seafarer, therefore, shipping people including MET
institutions should work together to discover proper strategies on how to attract the
young generations to enter a seafaring career.
2.5 Shipping challenges with multinational crews
Today, the decline in the number of EU seafarers impacts on the choice of
employment for non-EU seafarers. Global shipping employment is increasing with
multinational crews that contribute to the multicultural and multilingual environment
aboard ships (EU Commission, 2001).
Figure 4. World fleet developments (Source: EU Commission, 2001).
18
Figure 4 indicates the increase in world merchant shipping. This has gradually
improved from 1988 until 2000. For the EU fleet over 300 GT, it shows that there
was a reduction in the number year-by-year from the beginning of 1995 until 2000.
The side-effect of the growth in the world fleet for ship owners and shipping
companies is focused on the recruitment of multinational seafarers.
Table 2. Number of EU and non-EU seafarers onboard EU registered ships.
(The figures (*) for UK and Greece are from 1996)
Year
Officers Ratings Total
EU Non-EU EU Non-EU EU Non-EU
1985 58 140 1 144 120 496 27 781 205 637 28 926
1990 158 457 27 579
1995 52 255 2 551 76 473 30 480 128 728 33 031
1989-99
120
541(*)
34
534(*)
(Source: EU Commission, 2001).
Table 2 shows that seafarers from EU and the countries of Non-EU that are
belonging to the Organization for Economic Countries and Development (OECD)
are decreasing. In reverse, there is an increasing number of seafarers employed
from Asia including the Philippines (20%), Indonesia, India, 论文帮助/论文写作服务/负担得起我及时提交我最好的质量 – China, Vietnam, etc. and
also from Baltic states, such Poland and former Soviet Union countries (Horck,
2006).
The most challenging issue regarding multicultural and multilingual crews is the
human element onboard ship. This concerns how to work together and cooperate
within mixed-crews onboard ships. Various nationalities represent different cultures
with different languages. The barriers which tend to affect the human element
include a lack of cultural awareness and communication failure. The International
Maritime Organization (IMO) has reported that by far the majority of accidents at sea
are caused by human error, and one of the main causes of these accidents and
incidents is due to the poor standards of Maritime English (Ziarati et al., 2009). A
19
lack of cultural awareness has become an important issue due to the cultural
differences onboard ships. Moreover, cultural differences brought by mixed-crews
bring complexity when they find disharmony caused by miscommunication and
misunderstanding. This becomes a vital problem in social interaction within the
multicultural and multilingual environment. There should be appropriate solutions to
be discovered to solve the phenomenon to avoid further risks.
The impact of multinational and multilingual crews in global shipping on MET
institutions is how to provide the appropriate education of soft skills. There is still no
national policy provided by flag states regarding cultural awareness unless the
communication requirement becomes part of the ISM Code (Thoung, 2007). In
order to be able to work in a culturally diversified environment, each crewmember
needs to have the technical skills and non-technical skills. Of course, the technical
skills include the competence to hold a certain rank and task on board. The nontechnical skills include the understanding of cultural differences and the ability to
socialize in a multicultural environment. In this respect, I believe that both subject
areas are tasks for maritime institutions, including MET to care for in preparing for a
seafaring career. MET institutions should adapt the courses to satisfy the individual
students and to meet their wishes to build a career within the industry and this also
after a time at sea (Horck, 2006). Therefore, the education of the multicultural
subject as a soft skill needs to be considered to fulfill the global industry’s
expectation.
2.6 Chapter conclusion
Global culture means people sharing values, ideas, beliefs, customs, traditions and
norms. Among many cultures, there are two dominant cultures in the world, namely
Eastern and Western cultures. However, due to globalization both cultures have to
collaborate and to cooperate each other. As an effect of the globalization, there is a
tendency to employ ship’s crew from various nationalities. Manning ships with
multinational and multicultural crews brings challenges on the one hand, and
benefits on the other hand. The most challenging issues regarding mixed-crews
employment are the communication and human factors. When these challenges can
20
be well managed, such as by improving the technical and non-technical skills, the
benefits from the employment of multicultural crews will be optimimal.
21
CHAPTER 3
A SOCIO-CULTURAL STUDY FOR IMPROVING
MARITIME SAFETY
“We may have different religions, different languages, different colored skin, but we
all belong to one human race.”
(Kofi Annan)
In the 20th century the shipping industry was challenged BY multicultural ship’s
crews. In fact, this is not a new phenomenon in multinational shipping as this
industry have been operated for many hundreds of years in an international setting
(Horck, 2008). Working together with mixed-crews onboard ship can possibly open
opportunities for misunderstanding and miscommunication. The socio-cultural
approach emphasizes on how to deal with the multinational and multicultural
environment. A knowledge of the socio-cultural approach tends to enhance on
understanding of the social and cultural aspect of humans (Ageyev et al., 2003).
Therefore, people can adapt to differences and adjust the problem of culture shock.
Since the human element has become a major priority in global shipping, seafarers
as humans need to socialize with other cross-cultural crew members. In this regard,
the aspects of the human element need to be taken into consideration. These
consist of communication skills, interrelationships, behavior, strategies to adjust the
culture shock and good leadership. A socio-cultural education improves awareness
and respect with crews members from other countries. However, the socio-cultural
22
approach does not intend to master the whole thing concerning ethnicity and
traditions of people (Thuong, 2007).
3.1 The human element
The human element is a critical feature of all aspects of ship operation or system
design, tiredness, boredom, cultural differences and affects the way in which a ship
is operated (Koester, 2005). Nowadays, one important challenge in international
shipping is to minimize the risks caused by the manning of multinational crews.
Since there is no formal international standard definition on the human element and
human factor, therefore, the interest areas related to the cognitive, psychological
and human aspects are used to incorporate the human element (ibid, 2005). The
number of accidents and incidents at sea shows to be far greater caused by human
error, including communication failures and cross-cultural problems (Ziarati, 2007).
Moreover, the percentage of accidents explained by the human aspect is 70 to 80
percent (Horck, 2005). Casualty reports have shown that many more accidents have
occurred on ships manned by mixed-crews than operated by a single nationality
(IMO, 1994).
Figure 5. A ten-year trend of accidents attributed to human error
(Source: ABS project, 2004).
Figure 5 indicates ship accidents due to human errors that have increased gradually
since 1994. It is a fact that the human element is the most frequent reason that
leads casualties (de Oses et al., 2002). There are several important accident
reasons which are relevant to the human factor problematic with mixed-crews, such
23
as: miscommunications, lack of social interaction, misconceptions, power distance
and wrong stereotyping. Some casualties tend to be communication failures
onboard ships with mixed-crews can be seen in the Figure 6 below.
Figure 6. Main reasons of casualties (Source: Ziarati, 2006).
Figure 6 illustrates the ships casualties caused by human errors. The causes consist
of use of navigation equipment (28%), Communication (24%), Equipment failure
including engines (16%), Confusion due to standard and regulations (12%), the
inadequacy of standards/applications by third parties (8%), Unknown (12%). A part
of the cause is communication failure. Although these problems are recognized as
big challenges in multinational shipping, this factor is not treated as a major priority
of investigation. Sometimes the human factor can be seen as a significant element
in an accident that is never reported entirely (Koester, 2003). “A deeper
interpersonal reason is seldom reported and casualties investigators rarely ask
about communication and social relations between the persons involved in an
accidents either at or before the accidents” (Horck, 2008, p. 2). According to IMO
analysis reports, most accidents were caused particularly due to ineffective
relationships between master and crew members in bridge resource management.
This often occurs because of cultural differences and language barriers (IMO-STCW
& Human Element Section, 2002). The table below shows several marine accidents
related with communication and cultural constraints.
24
Table 3. Maritime accidents due to cultural and language problems.
Type of
accident Ship/s by name
Ship’s
nationalit
y
Year
Constraints
Com
*)
Culture
**)
Grounding Torrey Canyon – LR 1967 √ √
Collision Seadaniel Testbank PN GR 1980 √
Collision Achat Oslo2 GR NR 1987 √
Fire Scandinavian Star – BS 1990 √
Grounding Enerchem Fusion 1990 √
Grounding Lake Anina 1990 √
Collision Stanyslaw
Kulcinsky
Kattwykbridge PL 1991 √
Collision Tuo Hai Tenyo Maru 1991 √
Grounding Irving Nordic 1991 √
Grounding Malinska YG 1991 √
Grounding Braer – LR 1993 √
Collision Butt Fishing
vessel
GR HL 1993 √
Almost
collision
Etilico Major channel
buoy
SP 1994 √
Collision Aphrodite Anglia GR ML 1995 √
Collision Alexandria Xin Hua 7 LR CN 1995 √
Grounding Wealthy River Sky hope CN 1996 √
Grounding Anjola AG BB 1996 √
Collision Bright field Quayside
shopping cent
CN 1996 √
Grounding Algolake – CA 1997 √
Collision Tidan Anglo SW NO 1998 √
Collision Xu Chang Hai Aberdeen PA BS 2000 √
Crew death Sally Maersk – DK 2000 √
Grounding Sea Mariner – CY 2002 √
Collision Silja Opera Several SE 2003 √
Collision Tricolor Kariba NO BS 2003 √
Collision Hyundai Dominion UK HK 2004 √
Grounding Domiat – EG 2004 √
Explosion Bow mariner – GR 2004 √
Collision Fu Shan Hai Gdynia CN CY 2004 √
Fire Maersk Doha 2006 √
Grounding Crimson Mars SN 2006 √
(Source: Compiled from Horck (2006, p. 38) and Thoung (2007, p.13))
Some examples of casualties rooted in communication and cultural constraints are
identified in Table 2. However, human error as well as the human element is not

Note: *) Communication, **) Culture. Bearing in mind that cultural problems are not clearly
mentioned in casualty investigation reports.
25
only a causal problem, but it can also become an opportunity as well. For this
reason, there is a need to discover appropriate and effective solutions in order to
minimize accidents in multinational shipping.
3.1.1 Communication skills
Good communication contributes to good cooperation and less misunderstanding
onboard ships. Multinational shipping is a unique maritime industry because of the
variety of people speaking different languages. Such a mixture is an interesting part
of the maritime industry. It is said to realize the fact that accidents and incidents at
sea show that human error increases (Ziarati et al., 2009). Within the multicultural
and multilingual environment, effective communication ship to ship and between
ship and shore is vitally important for seafarers from many countries who are sailing
in international ships to all parts of the world (IMO-STCW & Human Element
Section, 2002).
IMO has analyzed the reports of marine casualties to find if there are any lessons to
be learned for the future. Many investigated accidents are caused by operational
issues such as improper procedure, maintenance and design, although
communication difficulties also often occur in circumstances that are due to cultural
differences and language barriers. Poor skills in the English language are a
significant factor in the human errors that lead to about 80 percent of accidents at
sea (Safety at Sea, 2010). IMO states that about 80 percent of accidents at sea are
caused by human error, and one of the main causes of these accidents and
incidents, some involving loss of life, a large number of injuries and extensive
financial loss, is the crews poor standard of Maritime English (Ziarati, 2007).
Therefore, seafarers must better apply the English language as a standard
communication at sea and as required by IMO. “Seafarers need to make more use
of the International Standard Marine Communication Phrases-SMCP (Trenkner,
2010, p. 27).
The IMO Secretary General, Eftimious E. Mitropoulos stated that today more than
90 percent of global trade is carried by sea which has fostered interdependency
between people who would previously have considered themselves completely
unconnected. In this respect, there is a need for a working language and that would
26
largely be Maritime English (Cole & Trenkner, 2009). Therefore, IMO developed the
Standard Marine Navigational Vocabulary (SMNV), adopted in 1977 and amended
in 1985. Later, the SMCP was adopted in November 2001, resolution A.918 (22).
The SMCP is often referenced in conventions, protocols, resolutions, etc. and those
are listed in Annex 1 of the article IMO-SMCP (IMO, 2002).
There was an international seminar on Maritime English held at Istanbul Maritime
University in Turkey where a presenter presented several ship casualties that were
rooted in communication barriers. The facts emphasized miscommunication and
addressed the serious problem and loss of life (IMO-STCW & Human Element
Section, 2002). In addition, a burden with differences in accent and pronunciation
might lead to misunderstanding in relationships. Consequently, ineffective
communication brings about serious problems which cause damage and risk.
Various examples of ship accidents caused by communication failure as illustrated
are the following:
 Tanker mooring accident. A 56,000 GT Bahamian flag tanker berthed at an oil
terminal in the UK when a mooring line parted and struck a crew member of a
mooring boat. The mooring line causes serious crew injuries. The pilot intended
to run the breast line ashore but not to make it fast until the ship was alongside
and had believed that the master understood his intention. However, the master
thought that the line should be heaved tight and instructed the mate accordingly.
Communications between the master and the crew were in Korean, in which the
pilot had not understood that language until the accident happened. The
accident was identified to be caused because of the failure in communications
between the pilot and the ship’s master.
 Bulk carrier grounding. A 36,000 GT Panama flag bulk carrier left port under
pilotage and grounding. The pilot was conning the vessel and gave instructions
to the helmsman but his attention was distracted and he failed to correctly check
the actions of the helmsman. The pilot failed to hear the helmsman’s replies and
the ship swung out of the channel and went aground. The accident was
identified to be poor communications between the helmsman and the pilot.
27
 Passenger ship fire. 158 people lost their lives because of a small fire that
started in the bedding and spread throughout the ship. Escape routes were
filled with smoke and people unfamiliar with the ship needed the assistance of
the crew who gave signals on how far the way out. The signs were not in a
language familiar to the passengers, so that it had provided an ineffective mean
of giving safety instructions. The officers and many crews did not share a
common language was not the same as most of the passengers. Although the
fire was not related to poor communications between officers and crews, the
poor safety management coupled with the inability of the officers to
communicate with all crews and the inability of the ratings to communicate with
the passengers result the loss of life (Source: IMO-STCW & Human Element
Section, 2002).
The above causalities show examples of accidents that happened in multicultural
ship environments. The mixed-crews had problems in language communication. It
can be inferred that English communication plays an important role for interaction
between ship and ship and ship to shore. Moreover, Maritime English language is
standardized to be used in shipping in order to improve maritime safety (Cole and
Trenkner, 2003).
Maritime English is required to be used for seafarers onboard based on the SMCP
in which its formulation took seven years to complete and was ultimately adopted in
2001 and published in 2002 (Cole, 2003). Maritime English is not only used during
ship operations, but also it can be useful as a tool for social interaction within
multinational crews (Froholdt & Knudsen, 2007). Moreover, while IMO has clearly
made substantial efforts to strengthen provisions concerning Maritime English
requirements, this does not necessarily mean that the graduates of maritime
academies are consistently well prepared and that the levels of competence
attained during training match the sufficient levels envisaged (Cole & Trenkner,
2009). However, if there is a high motivation from cadets to put an effort into
practicing their English language, it will be more helpful in improving their
communication skills.
28
Proper Maritime English communication competence is not the only solution
onboard ship for better safety because there is also non-verbal communication,
namely sign language. This needs to be taught, as many people consider that sign
language, (especially professional signals) is an important communication method
onboard ship (Thoung, 2007). This type of language can also be used to
complement spoken English, particularly for non-native speakers when in
emergency and distress or involved in panic situations. In Japan, as an example,
sign language is used in noisy machinery spaces from the 1950s (Nakazawa, 2004).
3.1.2 Human relationships and social interactions
Relationships and interactions are two domain parts in social community that both
are interconnected with human beings. Different cultures involve different styles of
interaction. Multicultural crews can create more constraints in comparison with
monoculture crews (Thuong, 2007). In fact, social isolation has been found as a
significant problem for seafarers (Thomas, 2003). Hierarchy and power distance can
result in social pressures in a cross-cultural environment. In addition, communication
also affects lack of interpersonal relationships that possibly will address the risks
(Horck, 2008). Apart from the human element, therefore, human relationships and
social interactions are important to be considered as they help crews to avoid being
isolated and alienated.
Furthermore, crewmembers can be exposed to mental and psychological
constraints which can create disharmony. As an instance, living in a hierarchical
structure for long periods of time at sea possibly may create opportunities for
psychological pressure. The “Torrey Canyon is a typical example of hierarchyworking environment leading to miscommunication. The officers were afraid of
communicating with the master” (Horck, 2006, p. 39).
This reason can be a considered to be direct or indirect root cause of accidents and
incidents of shipping casualties. Regarding working conditions onboard,
harmonization and cooperation among multicultural crews should be considered.
Being tolerant to cultural differences can make better working condition. It should be
29
considered that every society has a unique culture. Good coordination and effective
communication are both vital things to avoid severe damages (Horck, 2008).
3.1.3 Behavior
Attitudes are the established ways of responding to people and situations that we
have learned, based on the beliefs, values and assumptions we hold. Therefore
attitudes become manifested through our behavior (Bibikova et al, 2001). The need
of human beings to express themselves can not be separated from their social
existence through their individual lives. Regarding West and East, the different
behaviors can clearly be seen from in way of communication. Westerners prefer
direct communication. Easterners see such communication as confrontational,
especially to one in a culturally superior position (Amstrong, 2008).
In terms of cultural diversity with mixed-crews, the challenge tends to be mostly
differences of attitude and behavior. Human characteristics can be recognized within
the interaction among crews with their own root culture. Humor is another element of
social interaction and integration. However, a poor working language onboard could
lead to frustration (Thuong, 2007). Although various casualties are caused by
human error, this element is still not treated as a major priority of investigation. A
deeper inter-personal reason for maritime accidents is seldom reported. Even the
casualties’ investigation reported in the International Maritime Organization (IMO)
resolutions, it appears that the casualty investigators rarely ask about the social
relations between the persons involved in an accident or before an accident (Horck,
2008).
3.1.4 Cultural intelligence
The socio-cultural aspect has an important role which is part of the human element
in the multinational and multicultural environment. Since multinational ships are
manned by crews from different nationalities and different cultures, the aspect of
human element should be more emphasized rather than only focusing on ship
technology and its automation (Horck, 2004). Human element as well as the human
factor defines as systematic methodology for improving the way people work
together. It produces an atmosphere where teams operate to their full potential
30
utilizing every member’s contribution, everyone tells the truth, and each person
takes full responsibility for his or her behavior and feelings (Schutz, 2002).
“…Human factors are the number of human related factors, which can also be
dominated as human element in the safe and efficient ships operation” (Koester,
2003, p. 2). Therefore, in order to reduce safety risks, the critical issue of the human
element is needed to be put consideration onboard ship.
A global workplace requires individuals to be sensitive to different cultures, to
interact appropriately with people from different cultures, and to be able to analyze
new cultures as they are encountered. To do this, whether they are at home or
abroad, need cultural intelligence (Tan, 2004). Cultural intelligence is defined as the
ability to make oneself understood and the ability to create fruitful collaboration in
situations when cultural differences play a role. It consists of the three dimensions of
the classical division between emotion, understanding and action (Plum, 2007). It is
vital to avoid misunderstandings and conflicts in order to create collaboration and
good cooperation within mixed-crews.
Cultural intelligence concerns the ability to make adjustments within diversified
cultures. It is about cultural strategical thinking. The author refers partly to the
human thinking skills that individuals use to create an understanding on how and
why people in a new culture act as they do. In multinational and multicultural
environments, the phrase “cultural intelligence” can be described as a soft skill.
Attitude and behavior are naturally reflected by people own culture. Cultural
intelligence is referred to the ability to be flexible and open minded in a crosscultural environment. As a result, psychological constraints and culture shock can be
prevented. It is necessary to manage the stress and confusion that can cause
frustration and clash (Tan, 2004). In this regards, adjustment from culture shock
needs to be considered in a cross-cultural environment. Motivation is also another
important aspect. Personal knowledge of people is not enough. The importance of
motivation leads people to learn and to know the differences between people who
have different cultures and different perspectives. Motivation and spirit derive
advantages to create mutual conditions. There is an example that shows how
precious motivation is, as follows:
31
“They were trying not to listen to me; sometimes they were changing the
topic after my speaking. They were not paying attention. It went on like
this for at least one or two months, and this was a bad experience. Later,
I just gave up trying to speak” (Tan, 2004, p. 20).
One Korean manager with a lot of experience on sailing with multinational crews
was able to understand what was going on and why, but he had not been motivated
to try to deal with the cultural situation. His attitude reflected his own low motivation
and lack of self-confidence in his ability to work effectively. Consequently, he
suffered from his teamwork. Cultural intelligence means to know and to try. In terms
of motivation, the manager should not escape from mental difficulties. Think
positive, be optimistic and keep on being motivated, and it solves a lot of problems. I
believe that a positive mind-set and with an appropriate strategy when arriving in a
new culture can make people discover values and experiences that will effect
growth and maturity.
3.1.5 Leadership
In a multicultural environment, a successful organization can be measured on how
the leader applies the generous strategies within his managerial and leadership
style through employees who are from different nationalities. The successful
businessmen are those who learn to accept the small differences that make them
work together for the greater good the working environment (Bordas, 2007). In this
regard, the capability of a person to influence, to motivate, and to enable others to
contribute achievement in the working environment are parts of leadership.
However, it should be considered that not two people come from exactly the same
background (Robert, 2004). Even though there are similarities, every employer and
manager is unique.
Today’s leadership models, although they may differ from person to person and
method to method, generally have a common bias toward their own cultures.
“Multicultural leadership encourages an inclusive and adaptable style that cultivates
the ability to bring out the best in diverse workforce of community with people from
many parts of the globe” (Bordas, 2007, p. 180).
32
At sea, leadership is not only measured by seafarer competence in navigating and
engineering; technical skills on a professional perspective. Leadership is one part of
the human element, a non-technical skill. This element is vital since its function is
aimed at managing and organizing a ship’s crews by using human intelligence, such
as cultural behavior and patience dealing with crews from different cultures. A leader
needs to exhibit humility and sincerity and wishes to learn other cultures handling a
multinational and multicultural workforce (Rentfrow, 2007). Moreover, leading
multicultural crewmembers is an activity which is strongly integrated with humility
approaches since crews are human beings. It can affect a crew’s productivity and
motivation to work collaboratively onboard. Leadership corresponds to a supportive
strategy in the multinational and multicultural environment. Although comprehension
of cultural values and behavior will not guarantee organizational success, it should
provide leaders with an initial awareness and understanding of the critical aspects of
effective leadership within a specific culture (House, 2004). For example, personality
traits and behavior of being fair, flexible, a good listener and responsible were highly
rated in leadership effectiveness for Japanese managers. In contrast with
Americans, personality traits, behavior intelligence, honesty, understanding and
verbal skills are strongly endorsed (Bordas, 2007).
In the position of the managerial level onboard ship, a shipmaster, therefore, should
broaden his mind-set and his strategies to handle mixed-crews. A modern master
should not be over proud on his seniority and hierarchical position. A person who is
selected for multinational leadership must work to adjust his or her strong sense to
the national culture by adopting a multicultural mindset (Rentfrow, 2007). However,
there is no absolute system and right leadership strategy to be implemented
elsewhere, as it obviously depends on individual characteristics and the style of the
leader. The style of leadership can be influenced by education, personality and
culture (House, 2004). Moreover, openness and a flexible manner in leadership
especially in the cross-cultural environment influences the effectiveness and
efficiency that will improve the safety of life at sea. In a multicultural context
onboard, a master should emphasize good cooperation and harmonization.
33
3.2 Culture shock
The multinational and Multicultural environment has become a challenge in today’s
global society. Consequently, it affects constraints to people. “…its effect can be
much deeper and more prolonged if it is not dealt with effectively” (Marx, 2001 p. 7).
It demands that people need to know how to deal with new situations which are
totally different to the daily activities that we are familiar with. Changes are
discovered in uncertain conditions as well as in many differences in routine,
relationships, cultures, values, languages, customs, foods, etc. These differences
affect anxiety and create constraints which can cause culture shock.
The inability to use an appropriate language to communicate with crews from
different countries is an instance causing a constraint. Onboard ship, Maritime
English has been internationally required as a standard communication language,
both oral and written, for seafarers according to the STCW ´95 Reg. I/4 a, SOLAS
´74 Chapter V Reg. 14 and the ISM Code Chapter 1.33 and 6.7 (Horck, 2008).
Therefore, communicating English is useful to make effective interactions both
personally and socially. In interpersonal relationships, usually crews tend to stay
with others who have similarities, such as: cultures, viewpoints, norms, values, etc.
Figure 7. Diagram of culture shock (Source: Culbetson, 2002)
Figure 7 illustrates a culture shock framework. Culture shock reflects the anxiety
feelings (of surprise, tension, frustration, embarrassment, confusion, etc.) when
34
people have to interact within many different things and unknown culture. This
natural feeling is encountered when people come to a new country. It grows out of
the difficulties in assimilating the new people from a different culture (Wikipedia,
2009). An insecure feeling rooted in confusion and not knowing the new culture may
lead to frustration. The cultural adjustment period usually includes some
disorientation brought on by such things as being confused as to where the cultural
boundaries are (Culbertson, 2002). Consequently, mental pressure and
psychological constraints can occur. People encounter psychological experiences
during the time of cultural adjustment that accompanies a period of cultural
socialization or acculturation. If the feeling of boredom and alienation cannot be
solved, it may lead to risks (Horck, 2008). Therefore, a good way to make
interpersonal relationship is chatting and to share feelings.
Regarding the matter of cross-cultural context, sometimes there is a gap between
crew members from eastern and western cultures. Some European crews who work
with people from Eastern cultures prefer to stay in groups in order to easily
communicate and share similar values. People in groups of more than four persons,
tend to take their culture with them to their new environment (Horck, 2005). If
nationality and culture are linked to religion then religious activities are performed
together. However, the gap should not occur if westerners and easterners can be
humble to learn new cultures and open minded in socio-cultural adaptation (Bochner
et al., 2001). There are four phases of culture shock, namely:
 Honey moon phase; exciting and intriguing phase. It is also called the distress
phase; the confusion feeling and struggling when arriving in the new culture.
 Adjustment phase; irritated and frustrated with the cross culture life, probably
compares the new culture with own home culture; consciously or unconsciously
may assess and evaluate of them.
 Autonomy phase; learning to accept the different culture, socializes and makes
adaptation.
 Independent phase; completely understands and adjusts to the host culture. The
feeling is like a second home country (Ibid, 2001).
35
Moreover, culture shock is now understood much better than it was 15 years ago,
and it is guided by theories taken from various areas of social-psychology, mental
and physical health. In this sense, to prevent the psychological constraints and
culture shock, it is important to learn the new culture before starting to interact it.
People can experience considerable stress and anxiety when they are living in a
new culture with different values from their own. The areas of religion, moral
behavior, norms and ethics are areas where there may be a great deal of cultural
relativism; People living and working overseas need to learn to deal with these
differences in a relaxed and non-judgmental way. The differences and similarities
are discovered as added values (Lancaster University, 2007). Therefore people
possibly find many constraints and difficult situations if they are not be pro-active to
find solutions on how to deal with the new culture.
However, although the diversity environment is a complex atmosphere, it still can be
coped with. It depends on how people deal with it. Everyone can learn from others.
Therefore, people possibly find many solutions on how to deal with it.
3.3 Adaptation and adjustment
People learn from others how to exchange information and to share their
experiences to survive; and this wherever they are in a cross-cultural atmosphere.
Understanding other cultures can be assumed as cultural intelligence. As human
beings, interaction is needed for our social existence. The key matter in a new
culture is how to diminish the culture shock by making adjustments and adaptations
in order to prevent risks. Several remarks on how to solve culture shock are
identified in Appendix B.
Onboard ship, mixed-crews need interaction to avoid alienation. This may affect the
psychological constraints which possibly address frustration. “A crew member not
being able to communicate easily becomes alienated and thereby a safety risk”
(Horck, 2008, p. 1). However, culture shock can be managed by developing and
maintaining social support to share experiences or just being with people who we
feel comfortable with (Jacobs, 2007).
A person needs to put down ego-identity roots in the new host culture and feel more
at ease with themselves and their surroundings. That correct attitude will naturally
36
develop intercultural interaction skills. Doing this, people will become happier and
more productive at work and at home or while being within the society at large.
Possibly, people will no longer be negatively affected by unconfirmed expectancies.
Furthermore, social surroundings can give a good impact or vise versa whereas this
can not be neglected through human life. “In general, we are influenced by the
world: our mental processing, our knowledge, our opinions, and our attitudes are
about the world and shaped by the property of the world” (Koester & Pyne, 2005, p.
3).
A huge resource for dealing with cultural differences is valuable in making an extra
effort to develop new networks both personally and professionally; to feel more
settled. Humans need to control their minds positively and to protect themselves
from psychological constraints. When adaptation and adjustment can be achieved,
the author believes that people grow up and mature following the learning process in
cross-cultural environments.
3.4 Relevance with reference to maritime safety
The human element is a complex multi-dimensional aspect that affects maritime
safety, security and marine environmental protection. It involves the entire spectrum
of human activities performed by ships’ crews, shore based management, regulatory
bodies and others (IMO, 2005). All need to cooperate to address human element
effectively. Therefore, competent seafarers who are the key persons to manning the
ships shall apply the IMO-STCW ´95, ISM Code and SMCP fully with the purpose to
minimize casualties. Since time of manning ships with multinational seafarers,
Maritime English must be applied effectively onboard ship in accordance with the
SMCP. Furthermore, to work together with mixed-crews, harmonization and good
cooperation should also be emphasized to increase safety at sea.
In relation with seafaring career, MET institutions have an important role in
international maritime industry to provide appropriate curriculums according IMOSTCW ´95 regulations and the flag states policy; not only regulated in technical skills
for navigation and engineering study, but also human element subject as soft skills,
such as communication skills and cultural sensitivity as well as cultural awareness in
socio-cultural subject. Multinational seafarers should be educated in cultural
37
awareness instead of having to learn the hard way to prevent the mistakes that
obviously become costly to the ship-owners (Horck, 2006). Therefore, the
intelligence in cross-cultural perspective should also be emphasized in maritime
institutions including MET as voluntary subject in order to meet the real diversified
cultures onboard ship. According to Hansen (2002), to be professional seafarers,
cadets’ attitude should be improved and be helped by providing model course on:
 How to collaborate and to cooperate
 How to find expertise people and ask them the relevant questions
 Changing mentality to be more helpful and realize the benefits of assisting
colleagues
 Learning how to work together in teamwork efforts
However, a model course concerning a socio-cultural subject has not been provided
yet in maritime institutions including MET. Cultural intelligence is an education about
Intercultural competence or global mindset (Early, 2004). In the context of
multinational shipping, socio cultural is a relevant approach dealing with crews from
different nationalities and different cultures. If this can be implemented properly in
education educated, the author believes that MET institutions will contribute in
supplying competent seafarers. Not only technical skill, but also human skill in order
to fulfill the shipping industry expectation. Therefore, maritime administrations
should proactive involving a policy related socio-cultural subject in maritime
institutions. Education of multicultural at least will improve cadets cultural
understanding, so that they will be able to interact easily and to cooperate with
cross-cultural crews in working environment onboard ships (Rehman, 2007).
3.5 Chapter conclusion
The human element is a critical aspect in shipping since it has been claimed to be
the root cause of many marine accidents, of which some have been caused by
human error. Reports have shown that many casualties have occurred more often
on ships manned by mixed-crews than operated by a single nationality. The
difficulties often occur regarding with part of cultural differences. Therefore, in the
38
multicultural context, the communication skill is an absolute skill. The solution to the
communication problem among multilingual crews is Maritime English. However,
this factor/element is not treated as a major priority of investigation. Good
communication skills and cultural intelligence would support good human
relationships and social interaction as well as effective leadership. The solution of
the communication problem among multicultural crews is not only Maritime English,
but also cultural intelligence, which is the ability to adapt to and make adjustments
with the new diversified cultures.
Moreover, the gap between the crews from different nationalities still exists due to
the cultural adjustment problem (culture shocks). Therefore, culture shock can be
prevented by striving to become more flexible in thinking and behavior by
developing a real enthusiasm for learning about the host culture and forming
intercultural relationships. When this problem is not solved, there is a tendency for
further problems which lead to safety risks. A type of education in soft skill, such as
international culture knowledge, is needed. Maritime institutions including MET hold
the important role in providing this type of education for seafarers to strengthen the
human element in multinational shipping. However, a publication such as a model
course issued by IMO related to cross-cultural matters has not yet been provided.
39
CHAPTER 4
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
“Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.”
(Carl Sagan, 1934-1996)
4.1 Qualitative and quantitative methods
In the terms of the research method, the author relies on the qualitative approach.
This emphasizes the understanding of social phenomena through direct
observation, communication with participants and analysis of texts. The current
research is based on observation in the field and by collecting data from sampling.
The questionnaire is addressed to seafarers and non-seafarers by distributing
directly, electronically and by posting through mail addresses. As there was a
limitation of time frame, these are valuable devices and effective in inductive
research. Besides this, the observation was conducted by individual conversations.
Seafarers (and former seafarers) that have seafaring experiences with mixed-crews
were interviewed. The samples interviewed are from Indonesia, Iraq, Madagascar,
Malawi, Netherlands, Sweden, Turkey and UK. In addition, the conversations were
recorded with the average time being 35 minutes and without recognizing the
questions in advance. The conversation topics discussed concerned the sociocultural aspects in the multicultural context.
40
The literature research was carried out from books, magazines, articles and other
reliable sources. A study of inductive reasoning is generally carried out within the
field recognized as informal sense or critical thinking (Burney, 2008).
Besides the above, a quantitative approach was also used in the current research.
The number of respondents were pooled in the summary (Appendix G and Appendix
H) and all the data pooled and kept confidentially. The responses consisted of Yes
and No, Agree, Disagree, Not sure and Disagree.
4.2 Research structure
The author has incorporated the check and balances between several hints;
literature search, observations, questionnaires, conversations and her own
experience of studying in a multicultural environment. From the retrieved
data/materials, a comparative approach is included. The questionnaires and
conversations were designed as instruments collecting the respondent’s opinions.
Since this research tends to focus on the social-cultural and human aspects, a
qualitative study is an appropriate approach to be used. This approach is useful in
obtaining insight into people’s attitudes, behaviors, value systems, concerns,
motivations, aspirations, culture or lifestyles (Ereaut, 2007). It is realized that
collecting and analyzing this unstructured information has been very time consuming
because of the manual method required.
Figure 8. Research structure
1. Literature search
5. Data management
4. Conversations
3. Questionnaires
2. Observations
6. Survey findings
41
The phases of this research are structured as follows:
1. Literature search, the materials were collected from libraries and search engines
in order to find relevant information. Literature search is useful due to enrich the
study from theories before incorporate them into analysis and synthesis.
2. Observations. The activities in the fieldwork were conducted at two sites;
onboard merchant ships and at WMU. In addition, respondents were categorized
into two, seafarers and non-seafarers and they were considered to have work
experience in multicultural environments.
3. Questionnaires. Questionnaires were given to a sample who serve on
multinational ships that operate in Europe and to WMU´s students who are from
different nationalities. The feedback from the samples has shown a positive
response with a return rate of 75 percent.
4. Conversations. Individual conversations were conducted face-to-face onboard
ship and at the WMU premises. In addition, verbal data samples were recorded
by using audio recording and written notes.
5. Data management. The entire materials were carefully collected from the
sample. During data processing, the answers were sorted and typed everyday in
Word and Excel programs. In addition, the data taken from conversations were
recorded and transcribed manually.
6. Survey findings. The responses from questionnaires and individual
conversations were indicated and discussed in survey findings. The
questionnaires were arranged in the connection of the research objectivities.
The survey data were measured and inferred in the statistics.
4.3 The questionnaire
In this method, the respondents were chosen randomly. The Questionnaires were
answered by ticking Yes or No; Strongly agree, Agree, Not sure or Disagree. Some
answers were put comments or opinions. All these responses are kept confidential.
Furthermore, Entire responses were returned directly; some were sent electronically
and others were posted by mail address. It is realized that there is no perfect way to
accomplish this survey that these methods still need many input and advice in order
42
to improve further research, however. To the author, this research has given
valuable experience. A socio-cultural study in the light of multicultural crews gave an
opportunity to the author to closely learn about cultural diversity and human aspects
in the maritime field. Moreover, this study enriches the author’s understanding of
how important the human elements in the global environment are in order to
improve maritime safety in shipping.
4.4 The conversation
There are several roles that should be considered by an interviewer, for instance:
locating and enlisting respondents, motivating respondents to do a good job,
clarifying any confusion/concerns, observing quality of responses and conducting a
good interview (Trochim & Donnely, 2006). Individual conversations were also
conducted in this survey. To enhance the data collection, the author conducted
interviews from seafarer respondents (and former seafarers). The interviewees
expressed their opinions and viewpoints with open mind. The topics of conversation
are highlighted as follow:
1. What is your opinion about a global culture?
2. What are the challenges within multinational crews onboard ship?
3. If you worked with mixed-crews, did you find any constraints or difficulties? Give
your comment!
4. What is your opinion about socio-cultural approach in multicultural environment?
5. Do you think a socio-cultural study is important to be taught in maritime
institutions? Why?
6. Should IMO recommend a socio-cultural publication? Why?
The average duration of the conversations was about 35 minutes. The topics were
broadened to more than five questions as well. The conversation topics are mainly
related to cross-cultural situations onboard which the interviewees familiar with;
what is the language used to communicate and what approach is appropriately
useful when dealing with multicultural and multilingual crews. Moreover, the
questions were also related to the importance of socio-cultural education in maritime
institutions due to the safety of life at sea. The interviewees posed their own
comments openly in responding to the issues.
43
4
1
2
2
1
1
4
1
4
2
4
1
29
2
2
8
4
4
19
1
2
1
3
10
3
1
2
3
3
5
2
2
6
1
3
1
3
9
1
2
1
1
3
2
4
3
2
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Algerian
Argentine
Bahamian
Bahrain
Bangladeshi
Benin
British
Brazilian
Cape Verde
Chilean
Chinese
Colombian
Dutch
Egyptian
Ethiopian
Filipino
Ghanaian
Indian
Indonesian
Iranian
Iraqi
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Madagascar
Malaysian
Malawian
Mozambican
Myanmarese
Portuguese
Pakistani
Peruvian
Russian
Senegalese
Sierra Leonean
Sri Langkan
Spanish
Swedish
Saudi مساعدة التعيين – خدمة كتابة المقالات من قبل كبار الكتاب العرب, Arabic
Syrian
Yemeni
Senegalese
Tanzanian
Thai
Tunisian
Turkish
Uruguaian
Respondents
CHAPTER 5
SURVEY FINDINGS
“All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover
them”
(Galileo Galilei)
5.1 Respondent Demography
A total of 188 respondents participated in this survey (n=188). The respondents
were from almost all the inhabited continents in the world: Africa, America, Asia,
Middle East and Europe.

Figure 9. Respondents’ demography
44
Seafarer,
52%
NonSeafarer,
48%
5.2 Respondents’ professional backgrounds
The respondents presented their unique opinions in the light of multicultural issues.
As this research deals with the seafaring profession, the author has classified it into
two categories based on the respondents’ professional backgrounds, i.e. seafarers
and non-seafarers. 52 percent of the seafarers respondents (including former
seagoing) and 48 percent non-seafarers participated in this survey (Figure 10).

Figure 10. Professional background
WMU is an example of multinational and multicultural student’s environment in the
maritime field. It is a unique international university under the umbrella of the UNIMO that contains colleagues from different nationalities; having different cultures,
different professions and different educational backgrounds. Likewise, diversified
cultures reflect not only WMU, but also Malmö. People from different countries live
in this city. Although this part of the sample is not necessarily coming from a
seafaring career, generally, this city is familiar with multicultural people. The areas
of sample consist of: WMU students; multinational seafarers and inhabitants of
Malmo city. The respondents that have returned the questionnaire are listed in
Appendix D.
45
No, 21%
Yes, 79%
5.3 Survey findings
5.3.1 Seafarers
97 respondents, both active and former seafarers, participated in this survey. The
active seafarers are those who were serving with multinational crewmembers when
the onboard survey was conducted. Former seafarers involved are those who
studying at WMU and had sailed with mixed-crews. This specific selection of
respondents is aimed at focusing on the viewpoint of seafarers through the issues of
socio-cultural education for cadets/seafarers in the light of the multinational and
multicultural environment onboard. This is the main objective of this study.
Seafarers’ respondents are from various countries including Cape Verde, Indonesia,
Madagascar, Netherlands, Russia, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.

Figure 11. Seafarers who have sailed with multinational crews
In this survey, about 79 percent of the respondents worked with multinational crews
and a small number worked within a monocultural environment onboard (Figure 11).
Onboard ship, English communication is an absolute means to exchange
information with multicultural and multilingual crews. As is generally known, Maritime
English is the most common language in the international maritime industry. The
question “Did your company require sufficient English language both written and
spoken of you?” is included in this survey. 77 percent respondents were required to
have sufficient English by their company, however, a small portion was not required
to have sufficient English because they work with mono-cultural crews
(domestic/local trade) (Figure 12).
46
Yes
77%
No
23%
24
6
57
10
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Others
Spanish
English
مساعدة التعيين – خدمة كتابة المقالات من قبل كبار الكتاب العرب, Arabic
Yes, 83%
No, 17%
15
16
22
25
19
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Others
Food
Behavior
Culture
Belief
Figure 12. Did your company require
sufficient English language both written
and spoken of you?
Figure 13. What language did you
use to communicate onboard ship?
In practice, 57 out of 97 ticked English as the language used for communication
onboard ships (Figure 13). This response proved that English is mostly used as a
working language and that it helps crews working together as well as socializing.
Working with mixed-crews has been a challenge for the respondents since various
barriers related to humans may arise. Consciously or unconsciously, a crews’
behavior can be influenced by an individual culture. Many differences between
Western and Eastern crews can be recognized by: food, belief, culture behavior, etc.
In practice, many respondents ticked “culture” and “behavior” as major differences
among mixed-crews (Figure 14 and Figure 15).
Figure 14. Do you find any differences
between crew members from Western
and Eastern cultures?
Figure 15. What source of
differences did you find?
Not being adaptable with differences can possibly correspond with many difficulties,
such as psychological constraints, mental pressure, stress and culture shock.
47
15
8
20
21
33
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Respondents
Others
Humor
Power distance
Human relation
Communication
Yes, 67%
No, 33%
No, 28%
Yes, 72% Yes, 74%
No, 26%
Figure 16. Did you have experience
constraints/problems working with
mixed-crews?
Figure 17. Constrains/problems with
mixed-crews onboard ship
About 81 percent of seafarers found several constraints within cross-cultural crews.
Some of those constraints are communication, human relation, power distance and
humor (Figure 16 and Figure 17). In practice, a communication problem is a
dominant portion on board ship (33 respondents). For example, unclear
pronunciation and accent problems lead to misunderstandings and misinterpretation
(ambiguity). This can impact on the risks of ship operations. Therefore, it is
necessary to use clear and correct pronunciation and be well understood.
Socializing and sharing may help to enhance the emotional balance within crews.
Moreover, it functions to avoid boredom and loneliness.
Figure 18. Did you socialize with other
mixed-crews after duty?
Figure 19. Are Human relations and
social interactions important?
About 72 percent of respondents (seafarers) socialized with their mates from
different nationalities after duties, but some preferred not to do so because of certain
reasons (Figure 18). Human relationships and social interactions are two things that
can not be separated socially and professionally. Responses concerning the
48
Re sponde nts
No, 22%
Yes, 78%
No, 18%
Yes, 82%
importance of human relations and social interactions show that 74 percent
respondents ticked “Yes” (Figure 19). Although its necessity is obvious, some
respondents prefer not to get along because it is sometimes complex to interact with
crews from different countries, but it depends on each individual personality.
Another issue is the socio-cultural approach. This feature concerns the ability to
understand humans, socially and culturally. At sea, crews need places where they
can meet and share in a more relaxing situation, especially after stressful work. At
such gatherings, the socio-cultural approach will take over the role in building the
interaction.
Figure 20. Is the socio-cultural
approach important in the multinational
environment onboard ship?
Figure 21. Do you think a sociocultural approach can harmonize the
working environment?
82 percent of the respondents ticked “Yes” to the question: “Is socio-cultural
important in multinational environment onboard ships?” (Figure 20). “Do you think a
socio-cultural approach can harmonize working environment?” Regarding this
question, about 78 percent (76 respondents) answered “Yes” (Figure 21). It can be
inferred that a socio-cultural approach is important to be considered in the
multicultural and multilingual context. This is a key matter for supporting safety
within mixed-crews onboard ships. This approach is intended to help people to
understand and to adjust themselves in cross-cultural environments. Unfortunately,
there is no education provided concerning the cross-cultural approach. Since human
errors are mainly related to a lack of communication and lack of cultural awareness.
Therefore, socio-cultural course should be provided at MET institutions and/or in
shipping companies. A question to investigate the necessity of socio-cultural
education is presented in Figure 21.
49
25
45
22
5
0
10
20
30
40
50
Respondents
Strongly
agree
Agree Not sure Disagree
Figure 22. Respondent’s view on Socio-cultural education and if
it helps seafarers dealing with mixed-crews onboard ship.
45 respondents agreed and 25 more strongly agreed with this idea (Figure 22), that
asocio-cultural course is important as it helps crews to understand new or other
cultures. Therefore, it can be inferred that socio-cultural knowledge is needed for
seafarers as it helps to strengthen social skills and the mental framework. This soft
skill enables seafarers to bridge the differences in a cross-cultural setting. A Dutch
crew respondent expressed his opinion regarding this matter: “There should be an
education about how to learn the host culture where crews are going to sail to a
certain country”. At least human errors can be reduced which eventually minimizes
the incidents and accidents. Therefore, such education should be provided.
In MET institutions and/or shipping companies, a socio-cultural subject can be
provided as a non-technical skill. Such an ability is needed to be tough to
cadets/seafarers in order to improve their sensitivity with humans and their cultures.
With the ability gained, cadets are intelligent on how to respect other crews with
their own unique characteristics in the multicultural environment onboard ship.
Therefore, there is a need to put a socio-cultural subject in the curriculum.
50
16
53
17
11
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Respondents
Strongly
agree
Agree Not sure Disagree
No, 30%
Yes, 70%
Figure 23. Should the socio-culture
subject be included in the curriculum?
Figure 24. Should IMO recommend a
publication (guideline similar to Model
Courses 3.17 or the SMCP) related to
the socio-cultural subject.
Responding to the question “Should socio-culture subject be included in
curriculum?” in this survey, about 70 percent of the respondents ticked “Yes” with
this idea (Figure 23). It can be inferred that the subject of socio-culture should be put
in the MET curriculum as non-technical education. To support this education, related
parties need to work together to realize it in the field. That IMO should issue a
guideline related to socio-cultural education (similar to Model Course 3.17 and 1.21),
about 53 respondents ticked “Agree” and 16 more “strongly agree” with this
statement (Figure 24). It can be concluded that it is important to include crosscultural education in the curriculum. In this respect; related parties including IMO
should consider recommending a guideline related to a socio-cultural subject similar
to Model course 3.17 and 1.21. In these IMO Model courses, Maritime English and
Human responsibility are deliberated. However, cultural knowledge and its
understanding are not provided in specific/detail.
5.3.2 Non-seafarers
91 non-seafarer respondents participated in this survey. These were from, Africa,
Asia, Europe and the Middle East. This survey was a fruitful study because
colleagues are from different nations and different cultures that represent
multinational and multicultural societies. The multinational respondents selected are
from WMU, Lund University, Chalmers University and locals in Malmö city. The
latter represents a multicultural environment since immigrants have different
nationalities. Many people live in Malmo for some reasons such as: war,
refugee/asylum, ambassador, missionaries and looking for a safer place. In the
51
5
11
23
27
25
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Respondent s
Food
Humor
interpersonal skills
Communication
Social interactio
Yes, 79%
No, 21%
Yes, 23%
No, 77%
No, 33%
Yes,67%
cross-cultural environment, different people have different experience in adapting
and adjusting themselves.
Figure 25. Multinational and
multicultural is a challenge in the
maritime industry.
Figure 26. Is it easy to adapt and to
adjust to the multinational and
multicultural environment?
The fact that nationality and cultural differences become challenges in the maritime
industry is proven in this survey, as seen in Figure 25. On the question “Is it easy to
adapt and to adjust with multinational and multicultural environment?” 77 percent of
the respondents answered “No” (Figure 26). It can be concluded that it is not easy to
deal with the challenges of a multinational and multicultural environment. Cultural
aspects is a sensitive matter since many different things may result in people having
a complex culture shock, especially when people can not reach their expectations
within another other culture. In this survey, 67 percent of the respondents had have
experience of culture shock (Figure 27).
Figure 27. Did you have any
experience of culture shock?
Figure 28. What sources of constraints/
problems did you find?
Not being adaptable to new cultures affects culture shock. Consequently, the
constraints such as social interaction, communication, interpersonal relationships,
52
34 36
18
3
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Strongly
agree
Agree Not sure Disagree
Resp ond ents
27
38
19
7
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Strongly
agree
Agree Not sure Disagree
Respondents
humor and food more intensively occur in multicultural people compared with the
monocultural environment. In practice, 27 respondents have a communication
constraint dealing with the cross-cultural society (Figure 28). Using mother language
within respondents from similar culture becomes a barrier and it affects cultural
constraints, such as miscommunication and misunderstanding. The issue of human
relationships and social interaction can not be neglected since good interpersonal
relationship leads to good cooperation.
Figure 29. Human relations and social
interactions are needed.
Figure 30. Cultural intelligence is vital
in the multinational & multicultural
environment.
Figures 29 and 30 show the importance of human relations and social interaction in
the multicultural environment. In this survey, 38 respondents ticked “Agree” with this
idea (Figure 29). A small portion of the sample responded “Disagree” for a particular
reason. Therefore, it can be inferred that human relationships and social interactions
are needed in a global society. The statement that cultural intelligence is vital in the
multinational & multicultural environment resulted in 34 respondents ticking “Strongly
agree” and 36 respondents ticking “Agree” (Figure 30). Therefore, it can be inferred
that its importance is to derive better relationships in the cross-cultural environment.
Learning from casualties, the challenge of human error should be solved. A
preventive action should be undertaken. A question is assigned: “Do you think
socio-cultural education in cross-cultural environment can improve safety?”
53
27
30
25
9
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Strongly
agree
Agree Not sure Disagree
Respondents
No, 29%
Yes, 71%
Yes, 77%
No, 23%
Figure 31. Do you think the socio-cultural approach
improves the human element and maritime safety?
In this survey, about 71 percent of the respondents ticked “Yes” concerning the idea
of a socio-cultural education can improve safety in a cross-cultural environment
(Figure 31). Regarding this, a cross-cultural education can be provided in theory
and/or in practical onboard training ships. This subject aims to help people solve
culture shock; to improve cultural understanding and to respect people from other
cultures. The socio-cultural education contains the human skills, such as:
communication skill, cultural intelligence and leadership skill. The observation on
the necessity to conduct a socio-cultural course in maritime institutions can be seen
in Figure 32.
Figure 32. Is socio-cultural
education necessary to be provided
in maritime institutions?
Figure 33. Your government (Maritime
Administration) should take an initiative to
provide practical study/curriculum for
improving cultural awareness (social
skills) and propose it to the IMO when
possible.
54
About 77 percent of the respondents answered “Yes” (Figure 32) to the question
“Should maritime institutions provide a socio-cultural course?”. From this result, it
can be inferred that socio-cultural education is necessary to be provided in maritime
institutions. This study is pertinent for the people (seafarers) who work in a
multinational situation. In supporting this course, Governments (Maritime
Administrations) should take the initiative to provide practical study/curriculum for
improving cultural awareness (social skills) and propose it to IMO when possible. In
this survey, 57 respondents (about 63 percent) responded “Strongly agree” and
“Agree” with this idea (Figure 33). However, some answered “Disagree”. Possibly,
the reason is because there is still no IMO guideline concerning cultural knowledge
which is applicable into a curriculum. IMO should facilitate such a kind of published
document that is applicable for cadets/seafarers in maritime institutions. As an
example, the Maritime English curriculum has been made as in the IMO Model
Course 3.17 and SMCP. Similarly, there should be such a guideline for sociocultural knowledge from which the curriculum can be formulated. As cultures and
humans have broad interpretations, no exact standard can be implemented in all
countries. “…IMO can require each member state to send its unique features that
this country needs the shipping world to know…nobody understands other cultures
better than the person who belongs to this culture” (Thuong, 2007, p. 36). Therefore
IMO needs to work together with its member states (Maritime Administrations). IMO
should require each country to collect its national standard of culture that needs to
be recognized in the world maritime society. When the data from the countries have
been collected, IMO can formulate a recommendation appropriately.
5.4 Sample from the respondents answers
The characteristics of people from different countries are clearly unique. Cultures
can influence how people express themselves in the work environment or in social
life. Onboard ships, the multinational environment challenges the human element.
The following conversations were taken from multinational seafarers who are
familiar with the mixed-crew environment onboard ships. The topics concern the
cultural issues. The abbreviation IR stands for the interviewer and IE stands for the
Interviewee.
55
Excerpt 1: general idea of global (international) culture as well as the differences
between West and East cultures.
IR: What is your opinion about international culture?
IE: The culture amongst nations. That culture gives impact with behavior,
attitude, (yes…yes…) that is totally true.
IR: What is your opinion about differences between Western and Eastern crews?
IE: There are characteristics between Eastern and Western. (Mmm…) for
example: the notions of punctuality, family, work (profession) and discipline.
You have to know cultural background. It was very complicated when I found
mixed-crews from Moslem country. (mmm…) each of them eat certain food.
There were certain ways. For example: eating `Halal` food. (hh…yes…)
Belief can impact culture. It should be respected when you are working with
people from different nationalities. Another thing is communication, onboard
ship, I found mostly they prefer to collect with crews from same countries
and using their mother language, instead of English. Between Eastern and
Western almost has same behavior. (Mm…) may be because easy to them
express their feeling (laughing).
IE affirms an opinion about global culture. According to IE, it is the culture amongst
nations. Those cultures are reflected in attitude and behavior. In his comment, there
are the distinctive characteristics of the Easterner and Easterner. In the matter of
belief, IE also affirms about food. Moslem crews can only eat the Halal foods and
beverages. To harmonize the differences, non-Moslem crews’ onboard ship should
respect with other friends, and vice versa. IE speaks enthusiastically about this
issue.
Opinion(s) from a Swedish interviewee regarding the respective issues were also
recorded, as follows:
IR: Can you see the differences between East and West?
IE: Yes, of course many. Completely different. But instead of differences,
there are also similarities because we are humans… (Laughing…). The
way of communication is two completely difference. Western is quite
direct. (ee..)…if he does not like or disagree something… he speaks
directly. But I find my friend from USA said Swedish communication is very
56
indirect.. is quite subtle and peaceful..(hhmm). In Eastern, is quite not easy
to speak disagreement to reach directly on that person. Somehow I
interpret the meaning on indirect communication. (…) to handle this, I
sometime ensure myself to check it again whether my speaking is
understood. For me, the most significant is.. me as a western, I want to
know the Eastern culture.. Eastern culture is not appropriate to say that
you do not agree with your boss, and is not appropriate to ask many
questions because it will appear that you do know anything. (Mm…) So,
even when I communicate with someone, for e.g. from Indonesia, I have to
double check that they also understand the information. Because I tell
them into direct….
IR: Onboard ship, did you find difficulties so far to communicate?
IE: At sea when I speak with eastern culture, even more is subtle, could be
more indirect (…) me as a Swedish guy sometimes I find difficult to know
what my friend say from Indonesia, actually are trying to say.. But they are
deep in someway (hehe..) that I suppose to understand, but is not always.
IR: What about a leadership?
IE: From my own experience I can say leadership in western focused on
result (…) whilst eastern tend to concentrate in the process… Another
thing is some eastern emphasize to follow the rule, (hh…) others
emphasize to take initiative on the situation; of course different approach
can be good or bad… (ja..ja..).
IE expressed how Western and Eastern people communicate with each other. This
concerns communication style. IE speaks directly and open mindedly. IE´s behavior
and the way of speaking represent a Westerner. IE comments that although
Westerners are known for directness, sometimes indirect style communication is
adopted when speaking with European people.
IE from Madagascar gives an opinion on the different perspectives. IE emphasizes
communication in group onboard ship. Onboard ship, crew members from similar
countries prefer to speak in group with each other rather than chatting with crew
members from other countries. Naturally, this is a normal interaction that can not be
forced.
57
Another topic which concerns culture shock is transcribed below:
Excerpt 2: the topic is about culture shock and how to make adaptation and
adjustments.
IR: What is your opinion about culture shock?
IE: It is coming from misunderstanding or not knowing. When one culture and
you are shock what seems to be happened.
IR: How to adapt within culture shock?
IE: Well…it depends on every individual. If you work with whatever type of
ships, you will work with prior embankment on board. Which nationality or
which cultural origin you work with. It is very important to spend few times
studying prior working onboard. What I believe is to adapt and to adjust.
The interviewee expressed an opinion concerning culture shock. IE affirms that
culture shock is caused by misunderstanding or not knowing other cultures that
causes confusion. In this sense, it depends on ones own personality and individual
characteristics and how to deal with it. IE shares the importance of adaptation and
adjustment with new cultures. Good interpersonal relationships can result in a
harmonious working environment where cooperation fully functions. However, the
inability to communicate, such as an inadequacy in the English language, leads to
constraints both professionally and socially. In this conversation, IE expresses the
importance of English in ship manning as a part of the human element; that this
element is a main concern in the mixed-cultural environment.
Excerpt 3: the topic is on how socio-cultural approach can effectively address safety
operations in the cross-cultural environment.
IR: What is your opinion about socio-cultural approach onboard ships?
IE: Human element is a center piece of (ee…) every system onboard. It is major
element that operates the ship. If you do not aware the aspect of human
element/socio-cultural background, it might be dangerous, or it can lead
misinterpretation the order…instruction. Therefore, socio cultural aspect of
human element has a big role to play and it is very important, indeed (hh.. yes)…
IR: Do you think this approach is important? Share your opinion!
IE: Yes, it is important. Why? It will help in understanding amongst crews. Because
that is a basic foundation in conducting any activities onboard. If there is
58
understanding in every activity, it will be very effective. We have leadership
onboard also, to be more adapt as well. ….It helps crews to adapt themselves to
the environment, leadership onboard, the way of working, the way of giving
instruction to the crews, the way to motivating, to adapt within environment to
corporate. To manage in productive way the crew onboard. As part of sociocultural study, the real of communication, (….) language is paramount. By
means every crew should know English as it is international language in
shipping.
Excerpt 4: The topic is about the recommendation of socio-cultural guidelines by
IMO
IR: The term of IMO´s role, do you have any comment?
IE: Instead of SMCP, the only IMO can do is … giving some incentive for member
states to improve the…to advice the member states to emphasize the subject
of socio-cultural matter.
IR: In your opinion, is it needed to be regulated/recommended by IMO?
IE: Well…Not really as regulation. But recommendation. Such kind of advisory
guideline for cultural study (similar with SMCP). Advice to maritime institutions
to emphasize socio-cultural subject. Not really regulation, but advisory in term
of guideline. IMO gives an incentive to flag state to improve or to advice
maritime institutions to establish socio-cultural study.
A Swedish crew member shared his viewpoints concerning IMO´s role:
IR: What is your opinion concerning IMO´s role through a socio-cultural
education?
IE: Need to be regulated such as cultural training. …to reach the overall goal can
be increased safety and reduce casualties. IMO should look into possible way.
Important thing is cultural training. On how to learn cultural difference as a
subject. When I was on training ship, we learn how to talk in radio but we
never learn how to interpret the message. What they actually mean. In
different culture, it can mean different something…a lot of misunderstanding
could not be avoided. It is important that training to be regulated because not
easy to skip the course in maritime institutions if they are not regulated. IMO
should consider to be regulated this course.
59
IE emphasizes the importance of socio-cultural training that needs to be provided in
maritime institutions. IE says that IMO should recommend a guideline similar to its
Model Courses 3.17 and 1.21 and/or SMCP. IE gives an enthusiastic opinion. IE
strongly agrees with that statement. Sometimes, IE stresses by using the word
“why?” to ensure IR that the issue of human element and socio-cultural approach
are obviously useful when addressing safe manning. During the conversation, IE
believes that communication skills and good leadership in the multicultural
environment are important, especially for those who have a function at the
management level. As part of the non-technical skills, this approach is useful and
applicable in working onboard. The way IE expresses his viewpoints is supported
with gestures and body language throughout. Once in a while, IE shows a serious
mimic too. Moreover, IE expresses broad insights about the cultural phenomenon
that social and cultural approaches are relevant in multinational shipping nowadays.
It may transform a positive impact on harmonizing working conditions onboard
ships. From the interview, the IEs expressed their opinion that the approaches,
socially and culturally, are important in multicultural and multilingual environment in
order to improve maritime safety.
5.5 Chapter conclusion
The research and survey shows that the majority of respondents, both seafarers and
non-seafarers, found several constraints within the cross-cultural environment, such
as communication, power distance, social interaction and humor, where the
dominant problem is the communication (language). In other words, to adapt and to
adjust with people from different nations and different countries are not easy tasks.
Both seafarers and non-seafarers need to socialize in the multicultural environment
onboard ships as well as ashore. The conversations within seafarer respondents
are also transcribed in this chapter. Topic discussions concerning the issue of
multicultural seafarers onboard ships. The interviewees express their opinions and
comments related to usefulness of the socio-cultural approach to harmonize
seafarers working conditions; the roles of stakeholders in conducting this education
for cadets/seafarers and some respected issues are also expressed. Although they
have different perspectives and opinions, their visions are obvious to address safety
onboard ships. The majority of respondents also see that cultural awareness,
60
human relations and social interactions are important. Therefore, they agree with the
idea that socio-cultural study is useful and should be provided in maritime
institutions in order to improve safety operations in multinational shipping. Related
parties including IMO and its member states should recommend a socio-cultural
education in the maritime industry and issue a publication related to the subject as
follow up to the successful 2010, Year of the Seafarer campaign.
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CHAPTER 6
CONCLUSION AND STUDY RECOMMENDATIONS
“How wonderful that we have met with a paradox. Now we have some hope of
making progress”.

(Niels Bohr, 1885-1962)
6.1 Conclusion
The rapid development in the shipping industry, mostly in the increasing number of
merchant marine fleets, has affected the increasing demands on qualified seafarers
whilst the number/percentage of seafarers relative to the fleet number is in
imbalance. There is even a lack of qualified seafarers as many young people are not
interested anymore in the seafaring profession. Solving this dilemma, the shipowners and employers seek seafarers not only of their own nationality, but also
other nationalities, to man their fleets. Therefore, there is more employment of
multinational crews. Nowadays, many ships are manned with crews not only of one
nationality, but of several nationalities. Since different nationalities have different
cultures, there are consequences on manning the ship with multicultural crews, both
positive (benefits) and negative (disadvantages).
The human factor (human element) and maritime safety are two interrelated major
concerns in shipping. As an effect of multicultural manning, seafarers are required to
have both technical and soft skill/competences to maintain good working conditions
and safety onboard. Concerning this matter, MET institutions as the professional
seafarer resources providers are challenged to provide the seafarers with both skills,
as there is still no particular model course for the soft skills (yet).
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Reports have shown that casualties occur more often on ships manned by mixedcrews than operated by a single nationality. Human error has been claimed to be the
root cause of such accidents, of which some are caused by communication failure.
However, this factor is not treated as a major priority of investigation by many official
investigators. The communication gap between the crews from different nationalities
still exists due to the cultural adjustment problem (culture shock). Therefore, in the
multicultural context, communication skills is an absolute skill. However, the solution
for communication problems among multicultural crews are not only an adequate
literacy in Maritime English, but also intelligence in cultural and human. A senses
which is the capability to adapt and to make adjustments in new diversified cultures.
The majority of respondents in this survey affirmed that the companies (maritime
institutions) where they are serving have been requiring sufficient English literacy for
the employee for sometime. The respondents are both seafarers and non-seafarers.
This proves that English is being used as the common international language. As
most of the companies are international companies, English was chosen to bridge
any differences (cultural) among the employees, who are from different nationalities
with different cultures. By this means, it helps people (ship’s crews) to interact within
the mixed social community onboard.
However, some other respondents affirmed that their companies did not require very
good English literacy for their employees, as long as they are able to work. In this
case, English literacy is not an absolute requirement. They use another way to blend
in to the work situation onboard. For blending-in, they must be able to adapt
themselves to the community by knowing the behavior of the community. This
means that cultural awareness is needed. “…Changes is situation over time require
proper situation awareness and corresponding adjustments of communication and
behaviors” (Koester & Sorensen, 2004, p. 226). Many Asian ratings (seafarers) do
not have sufficient English literacy, but they can make good relationships and a
good working environment with the other crew members from other nationalities
onboard. Thus, the socio-cultural approach is needed because it helps people to
understand and to adapt to other cultures. In other words, socio-cultural study can
not be neglected as it helps to provide social skills and to improve the mental
framework that enables people to bridge the differences in the cross-cultural setting.
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The need for a socio-cultural study is supported by the fact that there are more
multicultural seafarer employments and they still find many differences and gaps
among cultures, especially East and West. The different attitudes and behavior
among Eastern and Western crews consciously and unconsciously is reflected in
the daily life at sea. In fact, it is not easy to deal with crews from different
nationalities and different cultures. Most people experience culture shock during
adaptation and adjustment to the multicultural environment.
In general, seafarers found several challenges within multicultural crews, such as
communication, power distance and social interaction, as has been found in the
survey. The dominant problem is communication (language). Realizing the
constraints, as social human beings, seafarers tend to socialize with their colleagues
in many possible occasions onboard. Relaxation time and a place where they can
share time with other are needed. This is shown in the survey data. However, some
people prefer to be alone after their work for certain reasons. Not all seafarers like to
socialize after work. Therefore, in the multicultural context, to socialize with others is
a personal need to avoid loneliness and alienation, at least. Being intelligent in the
cross-cultural environment can help people/crew members to work with better
collaboration in ship operations. Furthermore, a good and safe working situation
onboard, as well as the social relationship, also depends on good leadership. Good
communication skills and cultural intelligence supports good leadership in
multicultural context. Good leadership reduces the negative impact of power
distance among crews. If these challenges can be well managed, such as by
improving the technical and non-technical skills, the benefits from the employment of
multicultural crews will be optimal.
Socio-cultural awareness is important in the multinational environment. Sociocultural study helps seafarers in order to harmonize the working conditions and
improve safety. A type of education in soft skills, such as international culture
knowledge, is needed. MET institutions, as the educated seafarer providers, hold an
important role in providing this type of education. In other words, maritime
institutions should conduct a socio-cultural course. However, a model course in
multicultural subjects has not yet been provided by IMO.
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Socio-cultural study is a wide and universal study which is not easy to implement in
MET institutions which are designed as places for maritime technical skill study.
Therefore, the practical curriculum in soft skills needs to be designed. As local MET
institutions are under the direction and supervision of their Maritime Administrations
(governments), the involvement of the administration in designing the curriculum on
this subject is necessary. In this regard, the formulation of the curriculum refers to
the guidelines as recommended by IMO. However, the guidelines have not yet been
provided. Therefore, IMO should provide a recommendation for the guidelines on
this issue. However, before issuing a recommendation on this issue, IMO requires
the inputs and participation of each Maritime Administration. In other words,
feedback and cooperation between Maritime Administrations and IMO is required.
6.2 Study recommendations
In response to the conclusions, eight recommendations on the issues are discussed,
as follows:
1. The socio-cultural education is chosen as an appropriate solution in
multinational shipping. This study emphasizes the cultural intelligence that
benefits the human element in the maritime field. As the socio-cultural education
is universal and probably will be too complicated and take a large part of in the
curriculum, the study may be minimized and emphasized on the basic
languages. This is also what has been applied at several international
institutions/colleges and at WMU. The students are given a familiarization
orientation of the local culture/customs.
2. IMO should issue a publication related to socio-cultural study that could be a
guide at maritime institutions. Such an instrument can function to develop
cultural education for seafarers. Model courses 3.14 and 1.21 have been
published, but details about cross-cultural and human skills are not included.
Therefore, a socio-cultural model course for maritime purposes is needed.
3. Maritime administrations should take the initiative to be pro-active in proposing
socio-cultural education in MET institutions.
65
4. MET institutions should be pro-active to conduct education in non-technical
subjects. A socio-cultural subject needs to be included in the curriculum.
Moreover, MET and related research organizations should be more active in
conducting further research in socio-cultural studies in the cross-cultural context.
Expertise and maritime experts’ who are related to the field area should be
consulted and included for further research.
5. Shipping companies and manning agencies should take the initiative to provide
short course/training related to cultures. This course should be conducted before
the seafarer signs on a ship.
6. As language is the dominant human interaction barrier, the lecture hours of
Maritime English in the MET syllabus should be extended to non-English
speaking countries. The assessment (passing grade) in this subject should also
be stricter.
7. Students in MET institutions should be enriched with internationally known
language knowledge other than English, such as Spanish and French, because
language is one of the ways people can blend into another culture. The portion
for this study has to be through glossaries and at least simple/common
conversations. Students can learn further themselves.
8. Before joining a ship, a seafarer should be informed about the nationalities of the
crew onboard. This can be known by providing the intended ship’s crew list to
the manning office. The manning office should then provide a short course
regarding the culture/language of the nationalities of the onboard crew. The
lecturer of this short-course could be a former or active seafarer who has broad
experience of sailing with the nationality. This aims to solve the problems of
culture shock, especially for the in-experienced/fresh graduate seafarer.
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CHAPTER 7
DISCUSSION
“Reality cannot be found except in one single source, because of the connection of
all things with one another”.
(Leibniz, 1670)
7.1 Additional remarks
The research on the issue of multicultural manning has been an attractive and
valuable opportunity for the author who had has to deal with people from different
cultures and nationalities, especially when dealing with merchant seafarers. There
are still many other issues that can be the subject of research, related to culture and
human element, other than topics mentioned in this paper.
Concerning personal behavior, which seems to be a part of the mentality developed
by the culture, some seafarers complain about shipmasters and department heads
(Chief Officers or Chief Engineers) that always use abusive language, rather than
giving wise and corrective directions, when minor mistakes or problems are made by
their sub-ordinates. This behavior is neither productive nor to be maintained. Due to
the use of provocative words, other crew members living onboard of mixednationalities can react emotionally. The way people react depends upon several
factors, such as their mental state as affected by their culture and religion, their
psychological condition and the working environment onboard. Some people take it
easily. However, others may take it seriously and it may become a more serious
67
problem involving a person’s life, either individually or collectively, based on
racial/nationality groups. There are several incidents/reports of shipmasters or
department heads who were threatened, killed or thrown overboard by their subordinates due to their own behavior. This proves that social life is also an important
matter in the safety of life. As has been mentioned earlier that one who is good in a
social group (culture) is not always good in another social group, people (seafarers)
need to learn the behavior of people from other cultures to avoid misunderstandings
in conduct.
Research on personnel cleverness or overconfidence could be an interesting one
related to safety matters. Onboard ships, various crews with different educational
backgrounds meet each other. Related with culture and nationality, some crews
from certain nationalities are still thinking that they have a higher level of knowledge
or education compared with people from other countries. Therefore, they
underestimate the other people and are overconfident themselves. This is also what
can be found on board. Some crewmembers still underestimate their superordinates if they come from a country with a lower level of economy (third world).
They sometimes think that they are cleverer than their super-ordinates, which is
shown by arguing or debating with the super-ordinate’s orders, rather than giving
their opinions or ideas in a polite manner. Sometimes there are accidents, which are
not officially reported, caused by the disobedience of a crewmember against his/her
super-ordinate’s orders/instructions. The crewmember thinks that his way of work is
better than the instructions/orders given by his super-ordinate because he thinks
that he is “more experienced” than his super-ordinate and he is from a country which
is “more civilized” than his super-ordinate’s country. However, the super-ordinate
has given the instructions/orders according to the correct procedures which are
possibly not known yet by the crewmember. This thought of overconfidence should
not be brought into personnel mentality. Therefore, a study regarding the matter and
its effect on safety could be an interesting one.
The research, recommendations and proposals concerning the issues of
multicultural manning are not conducted for nothing. The experts have been carrying
out this research spending their time and expenses on the important purposes, i.e.
to contribute in the development of the maritime sector in general and to improve
68
maritime a safety specifically, as well as to promote the seafaring profession as a
safe, respected and promising profession. This is also to support the “2010: Year of
the Seafarers” IMO initiative to be more realistic.
7.2 Further research
In order to improve the human element, the need for a socio-cultural course such as
soft skills should be emphasized within further research, as follows:
1. Identify the cultural constraints on deck and in the engine room.
2. The impact of cultural constraints on seafarers as well as solving the
problems.
3. Fatigue versus culture.
4. Research on how seafarers spend their leisure time onboard.
5. Research on former seafarers who have been involved ashore and those
who can not stand a seafaring career any longer.
7.3 Weaknesses of the current study
The research on the issue of multicultural manning has been an attractive and
valuable opportunity, as the author has had to deal with people from different
cultures and nationalities, especially merchant seafarers. The people involved in this
research have different visions of the seafaring profession and maritime sector.
Even though these visions and opinions are different, they are all intended for the
same purpose, i.e. the better development of the maritime sector and safety.
However, there are several limitations found that have affected this research. The
study on this issue was limited by time, as the author only had 4 (four) months to
complete ambitions her task. This study required more time to find more chances
into sailing surveillance in multinational shipping in order to obtain more evidence for
the surveys findings. To cope with the limitations, the author took several reliable
written references/literature which have been recognized internationally and
consulted with the experts in this field.
The data collecting has also had its limitation. The samples and interviewees can
not be taken from all parts of the world. Although the participating respondents were
69
from different nationalities, this could still only be a relatively small sample.
However, the study from literature reviews integrated with one’s own cultural
experience could balance this limitation to present a better approach of the study.
Another difficulty found during the survey was the difference of sensitive value in
every culture. One which is good in one social group (culture) is not always good in
another social groups. The value derived from a culture can not be used as the
standard value to assess things in common. Therefore, the author emphasizes the
use of common sense in relation with cultural diversity and the mixture in the global
maritime industry.
Not being a seafarer and a non-native English user are barriers for the author. It is
not easy to obtain samples from ships worldwide within a four-month period.
However, the multinational challenge has given opportunities both formal and
informal to study the socio-cultural aspects in the maritime field framework. The
study of maritime affairs in MET specializations at WMU gave the motivation to
elaborate the study of socio-culture in the multinational and multicultural context.
Hopefully, at least this may contribute something useful to maritime communities in
order to improve safety and the human element in shipping.
70
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78
APPENDIX A
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN WESTERNERS AND ASIANS
Westerner Asian Westerner Asian
1. Opinion 2. Way of life
3. Contact 4. Anger
5. In the restaurant 6. Queuing when waiting
79
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN WESTERNERS AND ASIANS
Westerner Asian Westerner Asian
7. The boss 8. Handling the problem
Me
(Source: Armstrong , 2008)
80
APPENDIX B
CULTURE SHOCK ADAPTATION AND ADJUSTMENT
What people can do to
successfully transit through
Culture Shock
What friends can do to help culture shock
and adjustment?
1. Recognize anxieties-pinpoint
the problems, needs and
concerns.
2. Learn the new culture as soon
as possible. Be humble and
open to learn good things.
3. Immediately begin establishing
relationships with good friends.
Meet locals who can assist you
in your adjustment to this new
culture-build trust especially
with people that are going to
help you.
4. Try new things gradually but
persistently. Do not let an initial
setback stop you from trying
again. When you fail, try again.
We are not perfect.
5. Be flexible. Cultural adjustment
is hard work. Take time to rest
and reflect on your adjustment
experience.
6. Participate in social events on
and off the campus to become
more familiar with the host
culture and lifestyles.
1. We should be aware of the process of
cultural adjustment and culture shock.
Share that information with our
international friend as a form of
encouragement and reassurance. Most
incoming students are not aware of that
adjustment process.
2. We can become the cultural informant for
our international friend. Help explain how
things work. Homework help – Discuss our local idioms off
the wall, I smell a rat, speak slowly.
3. Work at better understanding our
international friend’s cultural background.
It will not only provide topics for
conversation, but also sow we care
enough to engage in true cross cultural
dialogue.
4. Know the limits of your involvement
Financial, academic or psychological
problems should be directed to the right
people who can help close friends,
advisors or especially, to his or her pastor.
5. Do not always come across as the expert.
Work toward a relationship of equals. Allow
for reciprocity in the relationship. It is easy
to always be the one giving. Allow our
friends to invite us for tea, a meal, or a
movie.
6. Be a good listener and ask questions.
Trust is the bridge for cross-culture
communication. Forgiveness as a life style;
Love and respect are the key.
(Source: Wikipedia, 2009)
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APPENDIX C

Re : A request to the respondent
Malmo, ………….. 2010
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am a student at the World Maritime University, Malmo. As a requirement of the
academic program (dissertation), I am carrying out research related with the
importance of culture education/familiarization for seafarers to improve the working
conditions and safety on board ships, especially on the ships manned with
multicultural crews. This is also intended to better a seafarer’s social life and safety
on board ship.
Write my thesis – Dissertation title:
“Multinational and Multicultural Seafarers and MET Students: A Socio-cultural
Study for Improving Maritime safety and the Education of Seafarers”
In the attachment to this letter you will find a questionnaire. You are kindly solicited
to fill the questionnaire. Please answer each question by marking the tick box and
write your opinion if necessary. You may tick more than one box for one question,
depending on your opinion. There is no right or wrong answer. Your data and
answers will be kept strictly confidential and will not be mentioned specifically in the
report. Your data/answer is a part of global findings.
Your support and time in completing this questionnaire is very much appreciated. I
thank you very much for your cooperation and support.
Sincerely yours,
Didin Alfiani Susetyo
82
APPENDIX D
List of respondents that returned questionnaires
No Nationalities Returned
1 Algerian 4
2 Argentine 1
3 Bahamian 2
4 Bahrain 2
5 Bangladeshi 1
6 Benin 1
7 British 4
8 Brazilian 1
9 Cape Verde 4
10 Chilean 2
11 Chinese 4
12 Colombian 1
13 Dutch 29
14 Egyptian 2
15 Ethiopian 2
16 Filipino 8
17 Ghanaian 4
18 Indian 4
19 Indonesian 19
20 Iranian 1
21 Iraqi 2
22 Italian 1
23 Japanese 3
24 Korean 10
25 Madagascar 3
26 Malaysian 1
27 Malawian 2
28 Mozambican 3
29 Myanmarese 3
30 Portuguese 5
31 Pakistani 2
32 Peruvian 2
83
List of respondents that returned questionnaires
No Nationalities Returned
33 Russian 6
34 Senegalese 1
35 Sierra Leonean 3
36 Sri Langkan 1
37 Spanish 3
38 Swedish 9
39 Saudi مساعدة التعيين – خدمة كتابة المقالات من قبل كبار الكتاب العرب, Arabic 1
40 Syrian 2
41 Yemeni 1
42 Senegalese 1
43 Tanzanian 3
44 Thai 2
45 Tunisian 4
46 Turkish 3
48 Uruguaian 2
49 Vietnamese 6
50 Yemeni 1
51 Unknown 6
Total number 188
84
APPENDIX E
CONVERSATION TOPICS
(Seafarers)
Duration : ………
1. What is your opinion about a global culture?
2. Do you find any differences between crew members from West and East
cultures? If so, what are their differences?
3. Do you think that multinational crewing are challengeing onboard ships? Why?
4. Is leadership important? Give your opinion!
5. Do you find any difficulties or constraints dealing with mixed-crews onboard
ship? If so, give your comment!
6. Do you think that socio-cultural education is useful to be taught for
cadets/seafarers? Why do you say so?
7. What is your expectation(s) for cadets/students in global shipping for future?
8. Should IMO recommend a socio-cultural publication? Why?
Thank you very much for taking your time!
85
APPENDIX F
QUESTIONNAIRE
(SEAFARERS)
Name : ………………………
Name of ship : …………………
Nationality : ………………………
Age : ………………………
Religion : ………………………
1. Have you sailed with multinational crews?
Yes No
2. Was your company required sufficient English language both written and
spoken to you?
Yes No
3. What language did you use to communicate onboard ship?
مساعدة التعيين – خدمة كتابة المقالات من قبل كبار الكتاب العرب, Arabic English French Spanish Others
4. What does global culture mean to you?
…………………………………………………………….
5. Did you find any differences between crew members from West and East
cultures?
Yes No
6. If yes, what source of differences did you find?
Belief Culture food behavior Others
7. Did you find constraints and difficulties experience with mixed-crews?
Yes No
8. If yes, which difficulties did you find?
Language Power distance Human relation Humor
9. Did you socialize with other mixed-crews after duties?
Yes No
10. Human element is important in multinational and multicultural environment
onboard ship
Strongly agree Agree Not sure Disagree
11. In your opinion, are human relations and social interactions important?
Yes No
12. Do you think socio-cultural approach can harmonize working environment?
86
Yes No
13. Socio-cultural education is useful to helps seafarers dealing with mixed-crews
onboard ship.
Strongly agree Agree Not sure Disagree
14. Should socio-culture subject be included in curriculum?
Yes No
15. MET institutions/shipping company should conduct a socio-cultural course.
Strongly agree Agree Not sure Disagree
16. Should IMO issue a publication (similar with Model Course 3.17 or the SMCP)
related to socio-cultural subject.
Strongly agree Agree Not sure Disagree
17. Would you suggest other things related to the socio-cultural approach in
multinational shipping?
…………………………………………………………….
Thank you for taking your time!
87
APPENDIX G
QUESTIONNAIRE
(NON-SEAFARERS)
Name : ………………………
Nationality : ………………………
Age : ………………………
Religion : ………………………
1. Did your company require sufficient English language both written and spoken
to you?
Yes No
2. What language did you use to communicate?
مساعدة التعيين – خدمة كتابة المقالات من قبل كبار الكتاب العرب, Arabic English Spanish Others
3. What does global culture mean to you?
…………………………………………………………….
4. Is Multinational and multicultural issues challenging in global shipping.
Yes No
5. Is it easy to adapt and to adjust with multinational and multicultural
environment?
Yes No
6. Did you experience any problems/constraints dealing with other people from
different countries?
Yes No
7. If so, which constraints or difficulties did you meet?
…………………………………………………………
8. Human relation and social interaction are needed.
Strongly agree Agree Not sure Disagree
9. Cultural intelligence and leaderships are useful to harmonize working condition
in cross-cultural environment.
Strongly agree Agree Not sure Disagree
10. Socio cultural approach improving maritime safety in multinational shipping?
Strongly agree Agree Not sure Disagree
11. Socio-cultural approach helps people to understand and to adapt with other
cultures.
Strongly agree Agree Not sure Disagree
88
12. Is socio-cultural education useful in order to improve maritime safety?
Yes No
13. Should maritime institutions conduct a socio-cultural course?
Yes No
14. Your government (Maritime Administration) should take initiative to provide
practical study/curriculum for improving cultural awareness (social skills) and
propose it to IMO when possible.
Strongly agree Agree Not sure Disagree
15. Would you suggest other related issues in order to improve maritime safety?
…………………………………………………………….
Thank you for taking your time!
89
APPENDIX H

90
91
92
APPENDIX I

93
94
95

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