I understand you didn’t mention following the line, my response was a general comment toward that attitude from others that feel that way.
As far as command vs. management is concerned, I am not particularly interested in what those with a “business” background feel or understand about shipboard life. Mariners are paid for what they know and may be called on to perform. An MBA does not, as a regular course of their job, deal with really big pieces of moving equipment that can seriously injure or kill someone. This is the old argument of the military; you don’t manage your troops up a hill, you LEAD them. Can maritime schools do a better job of teaching “management” to potential officers? Sure, but management is a function of the business side of sailing, not the leadership side. An understanding of ship’s business is important to an efficient operation, but leadership and command are still essential.
How do you “manage” people in a shipboard emergency? There is no time to do a power point on fire fighting; you step up to the plate and LEAD your crew in your efforts to protect your men, save the ship, and then the cargo. NOTE: Crew, ship, cargo. Because of the nature of seafaring, it is not practical to manage a ship and crew one moment and command it the next. Management skills are a subset of leadership, the converse is not true. Maritime command is one of the last great independent jobs left. YOU are it, the master; it is all on you. Down the chain of command it is the same, a young deck or engine officer needs to be the direct line to the ultimate authority of the Master. As a young third I learned that lesson very well when I botched a mooring operation and had to stand in front of the captain and explain my actions. I will never forget his words, " YOU are the officer, YOU are in charge, NOTHING will take that responsibility from you on this ship until you sign off, quit, or I fire you. You don’t take suggestions from the crew in critical spots because if it is wrong, you are STILL responsible."
Am I saying that we all act like Horatio Hornblower and say nothing to the crew but “ahems”? No, but the responsibility and burden on an officer to his crew and owners are far more precious compared to the day to day work of someone ashore. Money can be earned again, but a man’s life is far more valuable. I am veering off topic here but it frustrates the heck out me when it appears as though office staff are more concerned about paperwork instead of keeping a happy crew which then means an efficient ship, which leads to satisfied charterers/customers, which finally leads back to a good record for the fleet and more work. That seems so simple, doesn’t it?
Ships are not, by their very nature, the place to run a democratic form of leadership. The Master is in command and until the shoreside management of every fleet running can convince the regulators that responsibility for incidents will be equally divided among all involved from the galley utilityman to the Master, I can see no other way to run a vessel than by the absolute authority and under the command of the person in the pilothouse with the four gold stripes.
