Detailed Report on Crew Performance and Behavior Issues

This report provides a detailed analysis of crew performance and behavioral issues on a Mediterranean cruise liner, addressing observations made by the Chief Mate. The report identifies several potential causes for these issues, including long periods at sea, repetitive itineraries, cultural clashes, family problems, poor communication, and personality conflicts. To confirm the actual causes, the report suggests a thorough investigation involving questionnaires, mental and physical fitness checks, and observation of crew interactions. Recommended actions include psychological assessments, fostering a culturally competent environment, facilitating interaction among crew members, providing guidance on family matters, and implementing an open-door policy. Success indicators are proposed to measure the effectiveness of these interventions, such as increased motivation, reduced cultural differences, improved conflict resolution, and enhanced communication. The report concludes with a summary of the findings and recommendations to improve crew performance and well-being on the cruise liner.

Introduction
The luxury cruise liner that is being operated in the Mediterranean consists of the crew that is
spending long periods on board. There are total of 24 crew members including masters and 8
officers and the overall staff belongs to different countries – Britain, India, Portugal and
Indonesia. The Chief Mate has made some serious observations regarding performance and
behavior of the officers as well as ratings. So, it is pertinent at this point for the 2nd Officer to
present a detailed report carrying possible causes with their recommendations.
Possible Causes
1. The crew and ratings have been working on the cruise liner for a long time so it is not easy
for them to live below the waterline as it poses mental and physical challenge for them. So, it
becomes depressing for them to continuously work in those conditions. Moreover, the cruises
of Caribbean and Mediterranean have the same itineraries throughout the year, thereby
making them boring for the crew (Soriani, Bertazzon, Cesare, & Rech, 2009).
2. The existence of the cliques points toward the clash of cultural identities. Such as the ratings
belonging to countries like India must be finding hard to put trust in the crew belonging
Portugal.
3. The isolated crew members might be going through some family problems.
4. The poor communication during the safety drills is possibly due to the lack of multicultural
education as it plays a crucial role in promoting better communication among the crew who
come from different background, cultures and nationalities.
5. Personality conflicts are something that inevitably arise due to the changing dynamics among
the crew on account of differing backgrounds, ideas and agendas. This ego clash generally
takes place because of the personal one-upmanship over the other (Arnold & Pulich, 2003).
6. Although the Third Mate is responsible, technically sound and competitive, he often fails to
make effective communication. This could be attributed to the fact that misunderstandings
occur on account of different nationalities. In this case the actions, attitudes and intentions
could be misconstrued.

Actual Cause Confirmation
1. The overall crew will be approached with a list of relevant questions to understand what
issues they are facing. Their mental and physical fitness will be checked by using various
techniques. Experienced and proficient people would be entrusted with this task.
2. It will be noted as to how these different cliques behave and interact when they will be
addressed together. The fact that groups view the society whether it is individualistic or
collective. So, they will be provided with the goals to understand collective cultures.
3. The crew members that have isolated themselves will be asked to tell about their family
background, experiences and personal anecdotes. Then they will be suggested solutions.
4. The crew members will be questioned as per the complaints made by the passengers.
5. Both the competent crew members will be approached together and their views about
different situations will be taken. A solution will be find so that they could balance each
other’s strengths and weaknesses.
6. It is an essential part of International Safety Management Code (ISMC) that the proper
interpretation of commands and their responses is used (Mandaraka-Sheppard & Mandaraka-
Sheppard, 2007). So, the Third Mate will be assessed on the basis of this approach.
Recommended Actions
1. The crew members should be assessed with the help of psychological procedures. As the
members have become bored so they are needed to be motivated and making them know how
to stay calm under pressure. Playing different sports can be a useful solution.
2. As far as different cliques and their cultural differences is concerned, an atmosphere of
relevant policies, procedures, programs and processes will be incorporated to enhance values,
beliefs, assumptions and customs. Therefore, a culturally competent atmosphere enhances the
knowledge about various groups of people ("Understanding cultural differences", 1990).
3. The isolated crew members will be made to interact with all the other members. A proper
guidance will be given them regarding their family matters.
4. There will be proper dissemination of multicultural education to crew members if need be.
5. First of all we will need to assess as to what are the negative and positive aspects of the
conflict. The approach should be creating a goal of finding solution rather than looking it as

winning or losing. Using role-playing techniques such as putting oneself on his competitor’s
shoes might help a lot. The competitors will be made to understand each other’s perspectives.
6. As we know that the multicultural attribute of the crews has been a cause of concern as far as
miscommunication is concerned (Banks, 2002). So, an open door policy can be incorporated
so that Third Mate can freely talk to the Chief, crew and ratings about anything that he wish
to without having to worry about the negative consequences. This will help build the
confidence and trust that he needs to put on the others. Finally, it is important to enhance the
team dynamics.
Success Indicators
1. After implementing the recommended procedures, the motivation level of those particular
crew will be assessed. So, the success will be measured based on their increased level of
energies.
2. The formation of an effective culturally competent atmosphere will indicate their reduced
levels of differences.
3. These crew members will be visited and interviewed again after some time in order to
understand their predicament. If they react positively, then it will be an indication of success.
4. It will be assessed that how much the crew members have understood their cultural barriers.
5. The different personality aspects of the two competent and conflicting crew members will be
assessed at the end. Their behavior and way of communication will be studied obviously
after allowing them go through different activities. So, if they have learnt to resolve the
conflicts, it will be an indicator of success.
6. The Third mate will be assessed on the basis of how much he is communicating now. So, his
interaction will indicate his success.
Conclusions
The above report is all about the detailed analysis regarding the possible solutions,
recommendations and success indicators of the issues arising among the crew members. These
issues have been put across on the basis of observations made by Chief Mate.

References
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Banks, J. (2002). An introduction to multicultural education. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Mandaraka-Sheppard, A. & Mandaraka-Sheppard, A. (2007). Modern maritime law and risk
management. New York: Routledge-Cavendish.
Soriani, S., Bertazzon, S., Cesare, F., & Rech, G. (2009). Cruising in the Mediterranean:
structural aspects and evolutionary trends. Maritime Policy & Management, 36(3), 235-251.
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