CADETS INDUCTION TRAINING

COURSE
Recommended Downloads
for Cadets Induction Training Course
and VECP & Marine Environment Familiarization Course:

www.engineer.od.ua/full/ITN.zip

www.engineer.od.ua/full/VECP.zip
UNDERSTANING CULTURE
Is this possible?
Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Sri Lankan,
Ukrainian
 Cultures:

Organizational

Professional

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 National Culture

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 Group
• Maintains harmony
• Avoids confrontation and so may sugar coat the message
• Mistakes mean Loss of face for the group
• Often supresses the truth
• Often say “yes” so the group will not loose face
• Work’s well in a group and has a group leader

Individual
• Speaks out ones mind
• Mistakes mean loss of self respect
• Measure of independence from others
• Information is made explicit and resides in the message

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 POWER DISTANCE
Large Power Distance
• It is only natural to have a big difference in status of a person
• People expect to be told what to do
• Do not question your superiors
• Respect for rank, seniors
• Often dependant on their bosses – But surprisingly they either
prefer autocratic managers or reject them
• Either way, they are less likely to spend much time
consulting those above them

• Small Power Distance

• It is only natural NOT to have any difference in the status of
a person
• People expect to be consulted
• Both sides expect to be consulted.
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 Power distance index (Geert Hofstede)

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 Uncertainty Avoidance
Low uncertainty avoidance
• Do not plan for the future
• Precision and keeping time needs to be learnt
• Generally accepts change
• Generally accepts different new ideas and behaviours
• comfortable with unfamiliar risks, innovation and living each
day as it comes
• They are less comfortable with excessive rules and displays
of emotion

• High Uncertainty avoidance

• Plans carefully
• Precision and being on time are a part of life
• Generally resist change
• Generally resist different ideas and behaviours
• they need to feel busy and they see time as money.
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Seafarers from different nationalities are generally sensitive
about:
• Tapping their shoulders; instead tap their backs. Shoulders show that
you are a child like
• Displays aggression if you tap their heads or their backs hard
(aggression), pushing with elbow.
• Summoning by using a finger
• Reprimanding or being accused in public
• Speaking against the family
• Being reprimanded in front of others
• Shouting

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Group culture
1. Loss of face
2. Avoid confrontation
3. Maintain harmony
4. Stands as one / Emotional
5. Hospitable / Unity
6. Gestures are dis-respectful
7. Pleasing others. Decisions – Do not want to hurt the others feelings.
8. Sensitive / Teamwork
9. Do not want to be reprimanded in front of others
10. Optimistic to accomplish goals together
11. Relying on your group and on your superior
12. Superstitious
13. High respect for superior’s
14. Harmony and bonding
15. Loyal to the group
16. Not used to be shouted at especially in front of others
17. Say YES to instructions without not understanding fully (impressing,
senior Master/ CE, pride) – negative reports, think badly about you.
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 Philippines:
• Displays aggression if you tap their heads or their backs hard (aggression),
pushing with elbow.
• Summoning by using a finger
• Reprimanding in public
• Speaking against the family
• Liked to be encouraged and appreciated
• Shouting
• Bad language
• Don’t argue too much in English
• Indian:
Speaking against family
• Religious sentiments.
• Vegetarian
Ukrainian
• Liked to be wished at the table ‘bon appetite’ – manners
• Whistling
• Touching

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 Chinese:

• Do not tap their shoulders instead tap their backs. Shoulders show that you are a
child like

• Do not turn a fish upside down on a plate.

• making fun of the Chinese language

• Making fun of Chinese products

• Eating food like snakes

• When chop sticks are vertically placed in food

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Bad language

Do not like if someone tries to put our culture down

Do not like it when other nationalities use their local language in front in
public

Do not like others to lie to us during our work

Arguments in the work place

Do not like anti-national comments

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• DON’T assume that other people know what you know
• Everyone around you got here by a different route and all
have different pressures on them

 Puzzled about someone’s behavior?

- DO consider asking them before you act – perhaps they
know something you do not know
 Is it possible to have more in common with someone from a
different culture than your own?
 Need to see the world through someone else’s eyes?
- Five WHYS technique invented by Sakichi Toyoda to solve
training problems at TOYOTA.
- To use it DO ask them “WHY” they did what they did?
- Then “why” again
- By the time you get to the fifth “why” you will get to the
problem
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 Example: A vessel goes aground because a
senior Chief Officer (from an “Individual”
culture) did not see the “isolated danger mark” buoy. The lookout
though (from a group culture), did see the buoy but did not report it
 WHY did you not keep a proper lookout? But I did
 WHY did you not see the buoy then? But I did see the buoy
 WHY did you not inform the C/O then? Because I was afraid that
he would shout at me
 Why were you afraid that he would shout at you? Because he
shouted at me 20 minutes before the vessel grounded
 WHY did he shout at you earlier? Because I reported sighting a
buoy earlier and he said “Don’t you think I can’t see the buoy?
Keep a look out for fishing vessels and traffic. So I thought that the
buoy was not important to Chief Officer & I did not want to be
shouted at again
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 Question:
What is your “culture” in respect of taking risks?
What do you do?

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