When decisions are made in isolation during critical operations, such as navigation, the consequences of improper execution can be negative, Gard Club warns. Namely, in an isolated decision-making style decisions are made without consulting the people who will be impacted by the decision.
The decision makers expect their subordinates to understand the reasoning behind the decisions and to comply with the decision. This gap between the team leader or master’s expectations and the understanding of any team members is characteristic of a culture of ‘high power distance’. When decisions are made in isolation during critical operations, like navigation, the consequences of improper execution can be dire.
Various flag-state reports on navigational incidents suggest that a complete breakdown of communication between the master, or the pilot, and his bridge team can lead to an incident. A breakdown in communication may not necessarily mean no communication, it can very well be one-way communication from those making the decision to those executing them without the opportunity to provide feedback.
Lack of collaboration
Lack of communication among the members of a bridge team is usually because of a culture of high power-distance. In high power-distance cultures less powerful members of an organization accept and expect power to be distributed unequally. A culture of high power-distance isolates the leader from people, compromising the overall efficiency and safety of the operations and of the vessel.
While the impact of high power distance is felt mainly in the junior ranks, a change is not achieved by simply educating them to ‘speak up’. Cultures can be understood, measured and changed provided there is commitment from the top management ashore as well as on-board.
Closing the gap
According to Gard, the first step to reduce the power distance is to consult those who execute the decisions made by the leaders. A system of collaborative decision-making where subordinates are consulted before critical operations is a way to reduce the power distance on board ships.
For example, involving important team members like the chief engineer, officers of the watch, lookout and the helmsman on a briefing of the voyage plan is one way to allow them to communicate their issues and more importantly, encourage them to speak-up during the execution stage of the voyage plan
When a collaborative decision making is established, the next step could be to facilitate decision making by individuals that have the information, for instance at the time of crisis the crew should be allowed to respond without excessive interference from the office on shore, or in cases where there may be a conflict between safety and commercial matters, the ship’s staff should be empowered to decide that safety comes first.
