Teamwork as a means to safer performance in the complex system of the shipping industry

Abstract

Teamwork as a part of the human factor is considered to be an important factor for safe performance in the shipping industry. The first aim of this study was to investigate how the domain specific CRM model and the domain independent Big Five in Teamwork Model (Big Five model) captured the reflections of three teams on different levels in the shipping industry as a complex sociotechnical system. The second aim was to examine these two models across the different levels. The study was carried out in a large ship owning company’s organizational network, performing 39 SWOT based interviews on three levels: employees in ship management companies (the Core team), and the crew on board vessels divided into officers (the Top officers) and ratings (the Ratings). The results showed that in total, the CRM model captured 90% of the descriptive information gathered during the interviews, while the Big Five model captured 60%. The results of the analyses across the levels showed that the Ratings holds a significantly lower number of statements compared to both the Top officers and the Core team, whereas there is no such difference between the Top officers and the Core team. Nevertheless, there is no significant difference in the percentages of SWOT statements covered in the two models across the three levels, which indicates that the difference is due to the gap in reflection levels between the Ratings and the two other teams, and that the models are applicable to the same extent in all three levels.