Cross-cultural issues in shipping industry - an aspect of communication

• Main Author: Liu, Meixi
• Other Authors: Kenneth Tan
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences::Communication::Cultural studies
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/64201
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This paper examines cross-cultural communication issues present in the current shipping industry in Singapore. Data is mainly collected from interviews with shipping professionals in Singapore working or used to be working in three different functional groups: commercial, operational and on board the vessel. Cross-culture issues are then examined in three aspects, language barrier, communication style and communication channels. From the results of the interviews, the findings show that different issues are present in different groups. For example, language barrier is not a problem for operational professionals but a major concern for seafarers working on board. Different communication styles may present bigger challenges for professionals in commercial and operational function but less likely to do so for seafarers on board the vessel. Lastly this paper proposes several ways such as promoting social drinking, common maritime language as well as training focusing on Cultural Intelligence (CQ) improvement, to help companies better handle the cross-cultural communication problems.